History ShownTheirWork / VideoGames

* ''1893: A World's Fair Mystery'' contains a wealth of information on the 1893 Columbian Exposition. Not only is everything in the game described in detail, but most things have period photographs in the sidebar and you can look up additional info on some of the important things in the guidebook.

* The ''Big City Adventure'' series has a wide variety of interesting facts about tourist attractions in cities from San Francisco to Tokyo. Similarly, 80s edutainment game ''Are We There Yet?'' gave basic facts about two mostly-obscure tourist attractions for every state in the US.

*** Related to the above, while Diamond City (located in the real-world Fenway Park) [[BrandX has no references to the Boston Red Sox since Bethesda couldn't afford the rights]], many other details from the real-world park are still kept. For example, where the Nuka-Cola sign is located in Diamond City, there's a large Coca-Cola sign in approximately the same location and style in our Fenway Park. Also, the huge scoreboard that the residents of Diamond City revere as "the Wall/Green Guardian" is a real feature of Fenway Park's design, and its actual nickname is "the Green Monster." And if the player character looks up into the bleachers, they can find a single red seat -- representing where Ted Williams hit the furthest ball in Fenway Park history, 502 feet from home plate. (As a side note, Bethesda snuck in a TakeThat against the Red Sox, since the banners depicting the teams' World Series victories end in 1918, implying that in the AlternateHistory of the Fallout universe, the Red Sox would not win any of their championships in the early 21st century.)

* The developers of ''VideoGame/{{Scribblenauts}}''. Over 22,802 words, and artists have to draw a sprite for every word. Wow.
** Technically less than that, since a lot of sprites have multiple names applied to them, but it'd still be an impressive number regardless.
* The shipwreck-diving game ''Sea Rogue'' has a manual which lists hundreds of shipwrecks ranging from Viking boats from circa 1000 AD to the Titanic. The developers themselves include a disclaimer that this is not, and cannot be, all completely accurate information, but it is very impressive.

* Compared to fellow CrossoverCosmology the ''Shin Megami Tensei'' franchise mentioned above, ''VideoGame/TokyoAfterschoolSummoners'' isn't very strict or verbatim in referring to its source materials when designing their mythology-based player characters, however there is still one or two accurate mythological references per character. For example, Typhon in Housamo is a BigFun SurferDude shark BeastMan, a far cry from TheDreaded EldritchAbomination he was in the original Myth/ClassicalMythology. However, he has a FearOfThunder, which nicely ties into the tale of his mythological self's defeat by Zeus, the god of ''thunder''.
* ''VideoGame/TotalWarShogun2'' uses a woodblock printing art style all over the place. Creative Assembly had their artists study traditional techniques for over a year to get it right.
* ''VideoGame/TotalWarThreeKingdoms'' continues in the same way. For instance, faction banners use the correct characters for the Warlord's name, using the regional and/or politically appropriate choice of the two period-accurate written languages in use at the time.

* ''VideoGame/TraumaCenter: Under The Knife'' has the GUILT diseases being based very real and very frightening diseases not well known by the average joe. Also it subverts the idea of using a Defibrillator to get a pulse during the first game (which is a huge no-no in reviving a person's heart)
** Sequel ''Trauma Team'' pays even more attention to detail by making one of the six gameplay modes be based on diagnosing illnesses. As a result, the [[spoiler:super-virus of the game, Rosalia, can feel more threatening and realistic, despite still being outside the realm of possibility.]]

* ARK:

* Heavily PlayedWith in ''VideoGame/ArkSurvivalEvolved''. The game takes [[ArtisticLicensePaleontology many liberties with the design of its prehistoric creatures]][[note]]Most of which is a mix of RuleOfCool and RuleOfFun[[/note]], but it also does take the latest research on the field of paleontology in accord. A good example is ''Spinosaurus''. Fossil evidence in 2014 shows ''Spinosaurus'' had very short hindlegs, as opposed to its popular depiction of having long hind legs typical of carnivorous dinosaurs. Ark is probably one of the first dinosaur-related media to portray the creature in the new short-legged depiction. [[note]]Although the game depicts it as a full-blown quadruped, which is controversial. A TLC update gave Spino a stance system, allowing it to switch between a swifter quadruped mode and a more powerful upright mode.[[/note]] Yet, Ark also fails in other aspects like having some dinosaurs such as ''Utahraptor'' being largely scaly (yet the ''Troodon'', ''Megalosaurus'', and ''Therizinosaurus'' have feathers) and almost all the dinosaurs having the wrong wrists[[note]]This may seem like a very minor detail to the uninformed, but dinosaur wrists face out to the sides rather than up and front like a human (or old dinosaur books). Their wrists would break if they were positioned like a human[[/note]].
** The sheer existence of ''Yutyrannus'' in ARK, given that the genus was first identified in ''2012''.
** Most of ARK's pterosaurs have pycnofibers, a hairy coat analogous to fur or feathers but distinct from both.
** Although ''Utahraptor'' is mostly scaly, the ''Deinonychus'' introduced with the Valguero map is fully feathered, has correctly jointed wrists, and uses a unique "latching" combat mechanic consistent with current theories about how they would have hunted larger prey.
* ''VideoGame/ARK2'':
** The ''Tyrannosaurus'' in the announcement trailer is portrayed as being very slightly feathered. While there is still an ongoing debate over whether ''Tyrannosaurus'' had feathers, the spots where it has feathers don't conflict with any skin impressions recorded in the fossil record.
** The ''Pteranodon'' in the announcement trailer are shown taking off by vaulting with their wings, although the previous game got this right. Unlike in the previous game, however, its wing structure is accurate, with the membrane supported by only one long finger and the tips being rounded.
** The raptors in the second trailer are shown with a body coat of feathers, rather than being predominantly scaly as in the original game. They also have their second and third fingers fused, something media often forgets.
** Both the ''Tyrannosaurus'' and raptors have non-pronated hands.
** Unlike in the last game, ''Smilodon'' will be correctly depicted with a short tail, a stocky body, and a more machairodont-like skull according to the concept art.
** The concept art of ''Carnotaurus'' shows it with its osteoderms distributed throughout its body, as per recent scientific discoveries, rather than being limited to its back.
** While the concept art of ''Ankylosaurus'' still shows it with spikes protruding from its body and tail club as in the last game, its armor is correctly portrayed as a really tough hide embedded with bony osteoderms rather than a StuddedShell.
** ''Brachiosaurus'' is correctly shown with spines along its back and the underside of its neck, and its nostrils located on its snout instead of the top of its head.

* ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid'' loves doing this to the point where it starts messing with the dialog. We ''know'' you researched Aleut languages. In retrospect, it was probably a bad decision, because any attempt to write this knowledge into the story makes for some really awkward dialog.
** Less annoyingly, the military tends to get a realistic presentation in the games, though it goes back and forth. The CQC featured in the games was developed by the series' military advisor, Motosada Mori, a former mercenary and SWAT instructor. He explains in an [[http://www.konami.jp/gs/game/mgs3/english/system_cqc.html interview]] that it is best used in built-up areas during situations where there are multiple enemies close to you. He goes on to explain that it is a high level professional tactic that requires extensive experience with knives and firearms and will not necessarily work to your advantage in a fight. He also stated that it is best suited for use by Special Forces personnel. In other words, while it is a very useful technique, it doesn't make you [[OneManArmy nigh invincible]] in hand-to-hand combat as portrayed in the games.

** Sometimes, it gets to the point where a character's only purpose is to demonstrate the amount of research that went into making the game. Nastasha from ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid'' was pretty much there to spout off technical info on nuclear weapons and the equipment you picked up, as well as ranting about nuclear proliferation. Sigint got this role in the third game as well. Both characters have worked for intelligence agencies and are on hand as experts in their field, and [[spoiler:Sigint went on to become the head of DARPA]], so it makes sense that their role is pretty much to spout random facts.

** In MGSV, the TGS 2014 gameplay footage showed Big Boss shaking his limbs as an idle animation while climbing. This is an actual climbing technique used to reduce lactic acid buildup... being used by a character who is strong enough to lift a giant robot, and sprint for extended periods without rest. Still, if it'll increase his already-prodigious endurance...
** Apparently writer/director Creator/HideoKojima is excessively fond of this trope, as his prior work ''VisualNovel/{{Policenauts}}'', in addition to being unavailable in English, deterred fan translations because of the precise technical terminology used in the Japanese release of the game, including the results of research in biology, astronautics, and history. In fact, an independent translator named Marc Laidlaw (not to be confused with the Creator/ValveSoftware writer), spent time with a number of textbooks and other sources of research in an attempt to decipher the decidedly native-centric text dump which included college level colloquialisms and kanji.