Featured Photo above is by Evgeniy Kondratiev on Unsplash.
Video games, since their conception, have been used to explain stories and enthrall players in the stories. Most people and I would agree that video games let you feel a story through the graphic, the audio, and the haptics. It gives you an immersive and vivid experience; it even captures small details like the sound of the grass rustling and music changing to match the surrounding.
You have all played or at least seen a video game; if not, you live under a rock. This blog will cover the four best hand-picked games based on Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey. These video games tell the story of both the Iliad and the Odyssey realistically and engagingly. In addition, these games bring the Iliad and Odyssey to reality.
4⁄4 Total War Saga: Troy
Total War Saga: Troy © Creative Assembly LTD.
Total War Saga: Troy is a turn-based strategy game inspired by the Iliad. It was released in 2020; the game was developed by Creative Assembly Sofia and published by Sega. The players’ aim in this game is to fight or protect troy, depending on the character used by the player. The player could choose between the Greek and Trojan sides among eight characters. If a player chooses a greek hero like Achilles, the player aims to defeat the Trojans, but if the player decides on Hector, the player seeks to defend the Trojans and defeat the Grecian army.
We can see that the Iliad influences the game because the game uses characters found in the Iliad, like Achilles, Hector, Agamemnon, and so on. The game also shows the event in the ten years of war between Greece and Troy. The game also features places in the Iliad; it has mount Olympus, the city of Troy, and the Aegean sea. Check the game out here on their website, and check out the gameplay video below.
3⁄4 Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey
Assassin’s Creed Odyssey © Ubisoft Entertainment.
Assassin’s Creed Odyssey (AC: Odyssey) was developed by Ubisoft Quebec and released in 2018. It is a single-player Action and adventure role-playing game in which a Spartan mercenary sails on the Aegean sea. The game is playable with two characters, either Alexios or Kassandra. The character in the game aims to explore the Aegean sea and eliminate the Cult of Kosmos. Players also complete side quests by battling NPCs (Non-Playable Characters) called mercenaries, and they can also compete in the Gladiatorial arena.
GIF by Alsidsds on Tenor.
We can tell that the game is related to the Odyssey because mythological creatures and gods can be found in the game. For example, in the Odyssey, Odysseus is trapped in the cave of Polyphemus, and he blinds the cyclops, and in one of the missions, the character has to fight with a cyclops, and the character steals the cyclops’ eyes. You can check out the game on their website and see the gameplay video below.
2⁄4 God of War: Series
God of War Ragnarok © Sony Interactive Entertainment LLC.
David Jaffe created God of War in Sony’s Santa Monica Studio in 2005. The game is a series, and the latest installment is God of War Ragnarok, released on November 9, 2022. God of War is an action game based on the fictional character Kratos who was referred to as the Greek god of war. Kratos is the game’s leading character, while his son Atreus is the second leading character. In the game, Kratos, a servant of Ares, is tricked by Ares, the real god of war, into killing his whole family, and the main aim of Kratos is to hunt down and kill Ares. Kratos’s weapons are a Leviathan axe and blade of chaos, and his son Atreus has a talon bow and fights alongside his father.
Kratos and Atreus © Sony Interactive Entertainment LLC.
In God of War, Kratos does similar things seen In the Iliad and the Odyssey; for instance, he blinds the Cyclops as seen in the Odyssey. You can check out the game on their website and see the gameplay video below.
1⁄4 Hades
Zagreus © Supergiant games.
Hades is a roguelike dungeon crawler game inspired by the Iliad. It was developed by Supergiant Games in 2020. The game is an isometric game, which means it’s viewed from an angle, making it look three-dimensional even though it’s two-dimensional. In the game, the player controls Zagreus, the underworld prince. He is trying to escape from his father, Hades (King of the Underworld), to his mother, Persephone, who is in the mortal world. However, Hades finds out about Zagreus’s plan to escape and sends monsters to hinder his plan. In the game, Zagreus is given Boons, skills provided by the Olympian gods during the runs. Zagreus could also win the trust of the gods. Although Zeus and most Olympian gods have Zagreus’s back, his father, Hades, is the antagonist because he thwarts Zagreus’s attempt.
House of Hades © Supergiant games.
Zagreus has to go through a series of rooms to escape the Underworld. To clear the room, Zagreus has to fight a monster or complete a mission. When Zagreus dies in the game, he wakes up in the pool of the house of Hades, which is the starting point, and he has to devise a new escape plan. Zagreus’s skills must be upgraded in his room by interacting with the Mirror of Night to escape. We can see that the Iliad inspires the game; it has the gods and characters found in the Iliad.
Zagreus in front of the Mirror of Night © Supergiant games.
Hades game has won many awards; it even won the game of the year award in 2020. Check out the game on their website and watch the gameplay video below.
Let’s wrap it up…
My thought on the four best games influenced by Homer’s works is the list above. Myths and epics are ancient, and video games are the modern ways of reviving stories more realistically and engagingly. Thanks for your time, and happy gaming!!!