10 Video Games That Got History Wrong

1. Ryse: Son Of Rome

Assassin's Creed III
Crytek

Crytek's big Xbox One launch title Ryse: Son of Rome is basically an unlicensed move tie-in of Gladiator, following the story of Roman soldier Marius Titus as he avenges his murdered family. Somehow, it manages to be even more historically inaccurate that Ridley Scott's epic.

Though the studio pleaded that they "respected history", they also contradicted themselves within the same breath, adding "but we wanted to be creative with it."

Nevertheless, Crytek said history buffs would love the "depth of accuracy". Depth which extended to mythical figures of Greek mythology such as Nemesis and Damocles popping up in the flesh. Even the most basic details of names Ryse plucked from actual antiquity were about ten million miles wide of the mark. For whatever reason, Emperor Commodus is the son of the fictional protagonist, whilst famous fiery fiddler Nero ambles along as an old man - despite the fact he was just 30 at the time of his actual death.

Oh, and then there's Celtic Queen Boudica sacking Rome with war elephants. Highly-trained, military-grade British war elephants.

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Editorial Team
Editorial Team

Benjamin was born in 1987, and is still not dead. He variously enjoys classical music, old-school adventure games (they're not dead), and walks on the beach (albeit short - asthma, you know). He's currently trying to compile a comprehensive history of video game music, yet denies accusations that he purposefully targets niche audiences. He's often wrong about these things.