Best Middle Ages Aesthetic Games to Play in 2024

Dampness, knightly armor, and the Crusades, add a bit of dragon magic and fire – it sounds like the setting for a book or game you hide away in on a cold winter evening.

The European Medieval period has long inspired classic low fantasy and strategy games. We've compiled a list of titles from this era that may inspire you to dive into some truly immersive medieval experiences.

Turn on something like "Relaxing Medieval" on YouTube and enjoy reading.

Manor Lords

Spend hours crafting the village, managing villagers, and building a city with trade routes. Manor Lords lets you create your own experience, whether by tending to your people or raising an army to expand your domain, with customizable difficulty.

It is a stunning medieval city-builder that captivated me for hours, crafting cozy hamlets, though it still feels early in its Early Access development. Resource management is central to the gameplay, with different goods needing transportation and processing. Players engage in tactical battles that emphasize strategic positioning and troop management. The game offers a gridless city-building experience, inspired by the natural growth of medieval towns. Historical accuracy is a key focus, with seasonal demands and environmental factors influencing the challenges faced.

Crown Wars: The Black Prince

Edward of Woodstock, eldest son of Edward III of England, was a respected military leader known for victories at Crecy and Poitiers. Though he never became king, he was highly regarded by both commoners and nobles and was a founding member of the Order of the Garter.

In Crown Wars: The Black Prince, immerse yourself in the tumult of the Hundred Years' War as the leader of a noble family. From your castle, recruit, equip, and train soldiers to battle rivals and safeguard your people in this epic tactical turn-based strategy game. Weapons similar to those on the cover or, for example, from The Lord of the Rings can be found at Battlemerchant shop, where you can also dress accordingly to the era. Seek glory and shape the fate of your house.

Fear & Hunger

Fear & Hunger is a horror dungeon crawler set in a dark fortress where adventurers uncover ancient secrets. The fortress is a nexus for different planes, caught in turmoil as gods fight for power. Players navigate survival horror, roguelike, and JRPG elements, with intense atmosphere and brutal difficulty.

Featuring four unique character classes and numerous recruitable allies, the game offers unforgiving, strategic turn-based combat with a dismemberment system. Randomized elements ensure each playthrough feels fresh, while the combination of pixel art and digital painting creates a haunting visual style. The original ambient soundtrack enhances the grim mood, drawing players deeper into a world where survival is uncertain and every choice is fraught with peril.

Crusader Kings Series

Crusader Kings is a dynasty simulator where players manage a family’s growth across four centuries, overseeing its political, military, economic, and religious affairs. The game features continuous time, with players pausing to make decisions, navigate random events, and manage appointed councilors. Characters can rise in status through territories and titles or fall by losing land. By the way, if you enjoy the medieval vibe, I recommend checking out Battlemerchant.com – it's the perfect place if you've ever wanted to wear armor over a tunic and wield a rapier! Let's return to the game, it ends if no direct family member holds a noble or royal rank.

In this game, you take on the role of a single individual in the Middle Ages, whether a minor county ruler or the sovereign of a vast empire. Over time, you manage your realm, building infrastructure, forming alliances through marriage, and expanding your territory through both legitimate and fabricated claims. Resources reflect your status – gold can be used for bribery or constructing barracks, but prestige, piety, and renown are the true currencies. The choices you make are political, focusing on diplomacy and strategy rather than town planning or military command.

Pentiment

Obsidian Studios, known for their role-playing games, surprised many with the announcement of Pentiment, a historical adventure featuring an artist protagonist. As someone familiar with the game's time period, I was intrigued despite rarely playing adventure games. Pentiment stands out with its unique visuals and content, yet still carries familiar elements for fans of Obsidian’s work.

Pentiment is set in 16th-century Tassing, where artist Andreas Maler investigates a murder at Kiersau Abbey to clear his friend Brother Piero. The game focuses on dialogue and exploration, with no action or leveling. Similar to Night in the Woods or Oxenfree, it has limited traversal, guiding Andreas through a few fixed locations.

Dante’s Inferno

In Dante's Inferno, players journey alongside Dante on a harrowing descent through the nine circles of Hell, as envisioned by Dante Alighieri: limbo, lust, gluttony, greed, anger, heresy, violence, fraud, and treachery. It is an action-adventure game where players battle through fast-paced combat, platforming, and environmental puzzles. Combat includes quick time events, especially during boss fights, and players can upgrade skills and abilities using souls collected from enemies or soul fountains.

Dante wields a scythe for melee attacks, a Holy Cross for ranged energy blasts, and magic abilities fueled by a mana pool. The game features a branching Holy skill tree, allowing players to unlock powers as they absolve enemies and famous historical figures, determining their fates through a mini-game. Platforming challenges involve hazards like fire and blades, while puzzles often require moving objects or activating levers. Hidden passages reward players with Biblical relics that enhance Dante’s abilities. Dante's Inferno is only available on PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and PlayStation Portable, leaving PC players without access to this epic adventure.

Octopath Travelers Series

Octopath Traveler is an RPG where you follow eight characters, each with their own story and unique path. Choose from multiple jobs in battle and explore a beautifully crafted world by Square Enix! Octopath Traveler's stunning visuals and fresh approach to turn-based combat make it a JRPG that moves the genre forward instead of just honoring the classics.

Players begin by selecting one of eight protagonists, each starting their journey in a unique part of the world. The chosen protagonist remains in the active party until completing their four-chapter story arc, while other characters can be recruited at their starting points. Each character has a fixed primary job, but players can unlock and assign "subjobs" from different characters, allowing for flexible customization. Subjobs can be changed freely but are limited to one character at a time.

Dark Souls

Dark Souls uses minimalist storytelling, relying on player interpretation to uncover its plot and lore. The narrative is conveyed through NPC dialogue, item descriptions, and environmental design, with many details left implicit. Player actions heavily influence how the story unfolds, allowing for varied progression.

Dark Souls is a third-person action RPG centered on exploration. Players must proceed carefully, learn from failures, and discover alternate paths. The game features a large, interconnected world with areas linked through a central hub, though certain zones require prerequisites to access. Bonfires, a key gameplay element, act as checkpoints where players can heal, refill their Estus Flask, level up, and manage equipment. However, resting at bonfires respawns most enemies except bosses, mini-bosses, and friendly NPCs.

Assassins Creed

The beginning of the great Assassin's Creed series takes us to the Middle Ages in the Near East. This open-world action-adventure game is set in three historical cities: Acre, Damascus, and Jerusalem. A hidden blade for silent assassinations, and a white hood, the hallmarks of an assassin.

I've played through this game twice, and I must say the dark atmosphere of ancient times hangs heavy in the air, especially in Acre. I had the chance to travel on horseback, move across rooftops, hide in haystacks, sneak up on targets from behind, and deliver a blade to their back. Real historical events serve as the canvas upon which the writers weave the story of Assassin's Creed. The game features adaptive stealth and sword combat, a wanted system with vigilant guards, and hideouts for escape. Take on the role of the assassin Altair, who can influence events during the Crusades.

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

Skyrim is a cold, mountainous region in the north of Tamriel, divided into nine areas called "holds," each ruled by a jarl. Larger and more powerful settlements include Solitude, Windhelm, Markarth, Riften, and Whiterun. The land is filled with forts, camps, and ruins, some built by the ancient Dwemer. The Nords, a human race, consider Skyrim their homeland, but people from other races also live there.

At the start, players choose their character’s gender and race, with 10 options available, including humans, elves, and orcs. Skyrim is a fantasy action RPG where players can explore a vast open world set in a Scandinavian-inspired landscape. The world features wilderness, dungeons, cities, towns, and villages. Players can travel quickly by riding horses, using city stables, or fast-traveling to known locations. Skyrim is a unique and highly rewarding RPG, offering one of the best role-playing experiences available.

Dragon Age: Inquisition

Every choice matters when the fate of all Thedas is at stake. Create your hero, choose skills, and build a team to rid the world of evil. Dragon Age: Inquisition may not have the best story, but it focuses more on deep RPG systems, bringing the series back to its roots.

Dragon Age: Inquisition is an action role-playing game. At the start, players choose their character’s race (human, dwarf, elf, or Qunari) and customize their appearance and gender. Players can also use the Dragon Age Keep to import decisions from the previous games without replaying them.

The Witcher Series

The Witcher is a great game for PC RPG fans. It offers fun combat, a well-crafted world, and a good story with three possible endings. Become Geralt of Rivia, a professional monster hunter caught in a web of intrigues between forces fighting for control of the world. The Witcher offers three camera styles: two isometric views controlled mostly by the mouse, and an over-the-shoulder perspective that brings the player closer to the action but limits vision.

The gameplay of The Witcher 2 differs significantly from its predecessor. Combat is more complex, with new abilities for laying traps and using ranged weapons. Geralt’s offensive and defensive options are enhanced, including melee and ranged weapons, armor, bombs, traps, and secondary weapons like hatchets and shovels. Upgrades are divided into four paths: a training path for core abilities, swordsmanship to enhance combat, alchemy to reduce potion side effects, and magic to improve Witcher Signs.

In the third game of the series, the world is open and nonlinear, offering a vast environment that is thirty times larger than the one in The Witcher 2. The storyline with whole side quests takes around 100 hours. A character-driven, non-linear story that emphasizes player choices, tactical combat, and a rich, immersive world.

The fourth installment has officially entered the large-scale development phase, but it is unclear when it will be ready. Forget about 2025, and maybe even 2026, and just enjoy the cinematic trailer in the upcoming game announcements at TGA 2024. The fourth part will feature a new story with a bright and morally strong protagonist.

Here’s a list of games for the next year if you want to dive headfirst into medieval magic. Among these games, you'll find many epic spectacles, heroic feats, and bloody battles.

The Adventure RPG genre is very popular for this aesthetic, which kind of reminds me of theater. Classic plays performed by theaters in any country often depict the Middle Ages. Stories about kings and knights serve as an inspiration for artists and developers across many fields, and for games, this is especially a fruitful resource, as I haven't even listed the fourth one above.