Traveling costs a lot of money and wears you out. Use these video games to go to Italy instead.
The Italian Peninsula is one of the most fascinating places in the world. It has many historical sites, beautiful cities, and amazing landscapes. So it’s no surprise that some of our favorite games use it as a background.
Yes, Italy is the setting for a lot of sports games. But since Brazil has some of the best soccer teams and Formula 1 tracks in the world, we wanted to look at games that let you experience the country itself. Here are some of the best games that take place in Italy, from the time of the Renaissance to the 1970s.
10,000 Bullets
When it came out, the third-person shooter 10,000 Bullets for the PS2 didn’t get a lot of attention, but looking back on it now, it sure knew how to make a fun bullet time. In the game, you play as Crow, a hitman working for the Tonio Family of Rome who is trying to find out who killed his mother.
After doing your first missions in the capital of Italy, you’ll slowly end up in Japan, where you’ll try to figure out what happened to your mother. The game takes place in Rome, which is a bit over the top, but that’s how most Japanese games are, and that’s why we love them.
Assassin’s Creed
How can we talk about games that take place in Italy without mentioning the one game that made the country famous? The Assassin’s Creed games with Ezio Auditore are still some of the best in the series, and the setting in the Renaissance makes it all look so beautiful.
From the first scene on the Ponte Vecchio in Florence to the Carnival in Venice and a Rome run by the Borgia family, you’ll see all the beauty of Renaissance Italy. It really is a game that will last forever.
Wheels Of Aurelia
Wheels of Aurelia is a great little independent game that takes place on the Aurelia road in Italy in the 1970s. Through its detailed story, the game shows some of the truths of the time. Meeting a lot of different people in the game makes it fun to play and play again.
The game is based on the movies Out Run and Il Sorpasso. You start your trip from Rome and drive to France. You can only play for about 10 to 15 minutes at a time, but there are 16 different endings, and the game is very true to history.
Isonzo
Isonzo is a unique game about the First World War that takes place in the Italian Alps. It puts you in one of the lesser-known battlefronts of the war and shows you how intense the fighting could be in such rough terrain.
With the free Caporetto expansion, you’ll see one of the worst defeats for the Italian army during the war. It was so bad that people still talk about it as the defeat of Caporetto.
Sniper Elite 4
After talking about World War I, we couldn’t forget about World War II, which is where Sniper Elite 4 comes in. The game takes place in the south of Italy, and you play as OSS sniper Karl Fairburne on a mission to kill as many Nazis and fascists as you can.
The game doesn’t take place in an actual Italian city, but it does lead to the Allies landing on Italian shores and fighting with local partisans from Sicily to the Gustav Line.
Imperium Civitas
There are a lot of books set in ancient Rome, but the Imperium Civitas series is one of the ones that doesn’t get enough attention. You play as a Roman governor who has to turn his territory into a full-fledged city in this game.
This city-building game has some historical details that you might not find in other games from the same time period. One of the most realistic parts is that families could be labeled as enemies of the state and their money could be taken. This was a common thing to do during the Roman Empire.
Uncharted 4
In the 16th chapter of Uncharted 4, you play as the Drake brothers looking for your mothers’ diaries. Even though it’s not mentioned, this mission takes place on the Amalfi Coast. The bay in front of the villa is the same view you can see in any picture of Salerno bay, so you can tell.
Inside the villa, there are also a number of Easter eggs with statues from the Roman and Etruscan times that point to the place.
Vampire Survivors
Vampire Survivors, one of the most popular independent roguelikes of 2022, takes place in Italy. In the original description of the game, it says that the story begins in a small town in Italy, where Bisconte Draculó is using dark magic to take over the world.
You and the Belpaese family (that’s a nickname for Italy) have to fight off hordes of enemies and bring back the peace that used to rule in rural Italy. Well, that is, only if you can stay alive.
Martha Is Dead
In Martha is Dead, a psychological thriller told from the first-person point of view, you are in the middle of the Tuscan countryside. When you put a beautiful setting next to a scary story, it will give you chills.
You play as Giulia, a heartbroken sister who wants to find out what happened to her sister Martha in the last years of World War II. When you play the game, you’ll find out how far people will go to save face and how this death affects the Tuscan family.
The Forgotten City
The Forgotten City was first released in 2015 as a mod for the game Skyrim. If you’ve played Slope Game, you might have heard of it. But because of how well it did, the people who made the mod decided to turn it into a full game on its own.
During the Roman Empire, the game takes place near the Tiber River in a mysterious underground city where you have to figure out its rules and morals. Unfortunately, if you break any of them, the people of the forgotten city will be turned into gold statues. Still, it’s one of the best games for consoles with a story, so you should try it out whenever you can.
