History AlternateHistory / VideoGames

* ''VideoGame/HalfLife'' and its expansions are set in the year 200X, though it is commonly agreed among fans to be set in May 16, 2003. Due to the Black Mesa Incident, the multi-dimensional empire referred to as "the Combine" took control of Earth and are still in control as of 202X.
** ''VideoGame/{{Portal}}'' is set in the same Universe as the Half-Life franchise. In the timeline, Portal is set in 2010.

* ''VideoGame/HalfLife'' and its expansions are set in the year 200X, though it is commonly agreed among fans to be set in May 16, 2003. Due to the Black Mesa Incident, the multi-dimensional empire referred to as "the Combine" took control of Earth and are still in control as of 202X.
** ''VideoGame/{{Portal}}'' is set in the same Universe as the Half-Life franchise. In the timeline, Portal is set in 2010.

** Some of the most high-profile mods for the above are ones that make the starting scenario alternate -- ''VideoGame/HeartsOfIron'' have ''VideoGame/KaiserreichLegacyOfTheWeltkrieg'' (German victory in the Great War), ''Victoria'' has ''Divergences'' (Plantagenet victory in the Hundred Years' War)...

** Some of the most high-profile mods for the above are ones that make the starting scenario alternate -- ''Hearts of Iron'' have ''VideoGame/KaiserreichLegacyOfTheWeltkrieg'' (German victory in the Great War), ''Victoria'' has ''Divergences'' (Plantagenet victory in the Hundred Years' War)...

* ''Videogame/EverybodysGoneToTheRapture'' is set in a [[TheEighties 1980’s]] English village where the protagonist discovers that everyone in the village and possibly the entire world has disappeared, taken by something called 'the pattern' which may or may not be an extraterritorial intelligence.

* ''Videogame/EverybodysGoneToTheRapture'' is set in a [[1980’s TheEighties]] English village where the protagonist discovers that everyone in the village and possibly the entire world has disappeared, taken by something called 'the pattern' which may or may not be an extraterritorial intelligence.

* ''Videogame/EverybodysGoneToTheRapture'' is set in the late 20th century, specifically TheEighties and the protagonist discovers that everyone in a small English village and possibly the entire world has disappeared, taken by something called 'the pattern' which may or may not be an extraterritorial intelligence.

''VideoGame/EverybodysHasGoneToTheRapture'' is set in the late 20th century, specifically TheEighties and the protagonist discovers that everyone in a small English village and possibly the entire world has disappeared, taken by something called 'the pattern' which may or may not be an extraterritorial intelligence.

''VideoGame/EveromesGomeToTheRapture'' is set in the late 20th century, specifically TheEighties and the protagonist discovers that everyone in a small English village and possibly the entire world has disappeared, taken by something called 'the pattern' which may or may not be an extraterritorial intelligence.

** Some Sixties elements ''do'' pop up, but the implication is that a lot of those elements were delayed some 110 years... meaning that they were still new-fangled things that hadn't had time to fully spread through society by the time the bombs fell (for instance, transistors ''were'' invented but seemingly only recently enough that computing was still in the vacuum tube-transistor hybrid period).

** ''VideoGame/ExpeditionsViking''[='s=] starts out with the subtly different detail that the famous Viking raid on Lindisfarne which kicked off UsefulNotes/TheVikingAge happens around 789, rather than in 793 as it did in OTL. Over the course of the game's story, it is possible to have the Player Character's viking expedition be the spearhead for a Norse conquring of Britain a 100 years before that was a historical reality in real life. It can then be taking further, culimating in [[spoiler:the Player Character leading the Danes and Northmen to conquer all of Pictland and Northumbria as part of a Northern Scandinavian Empire. Essentially establishing the Danelaw at least a century too early, and the North Sea Empire 3 centuries too early]].

* ''VideoGame/TheNewOrderLastDaysOfEurope'' is a VideoGame/HeartsOfIron GameMod in which the Axis powers are able to win UsefulNotes/WorldWarII. A combination of the Soviets having different (and less compitent) leadership and America wanting to stay isolationist allows for the Germans and Japanese to carve up the world. The game starts in the 1960s, with a cold war between Germany, Japan, and the United States.

** ''The Tyranny of King Washington'', the ''VideoGame/AssassinsCreedIII'' expansions, asks WhatIf UsefulNotes/GeorgeWashington had accepted the title of King instead of President. This is one of the only scenarios deliberately included for the sake of the alternate scenario in the entire series--even Connor is surprised to learn of all this in-game because ''he's'' basically been transplanted from in-universe actual history, too.
** Generally speaking, a lot of discrepancies in ''Assassin's Creed'' concerning some locations is at least partly justified with the FramingDevice of the Animus--simply put, the game isn't portraying history exactly as it was in-universe ''or'' in real-life, but a computer reconstruction of it--and the in-game encyclopedia even lampshades it at time (the Queen's Staircase in Nassau in ''VideoGame/AssassinsCreedIVBlackFlag'' is explicitly stated to be included because it's such an iconic landmark despite not being built until half a century after the game takes place). Some others are justified by being a result of real-life hardware limitations, such as the attempt on Lorenzo de Medici's life in the second game taking place ''outside'' the Florence Cathedral instead of inside like it actually did because the developers couldn't get the scene to take place inside and then move outside. Most of the others can be handwaved by incomplete historical records in real-life, such as Anne Bonny's role in ''Black Flag'' working because no one really knows what happened to her after 1720.

*** ''[[VideoGame/CommandAndConquerRedAlert2 Red Alert 2]]'' made it much harder to make a consistent timeline leading from an Allied victory to the Brotherhood of Nod running around in the open by 1996, leading to a persistent fandom interpretation that, while the Allied ending to ''[=RA1=]'' lead to ''[=RA2=]'', the ''Soviet'' ending lead to ''Tiberian Dawn'' - that the [[AlwaysChaoticEvil mass-murdering Soviet forces]] winning [[MissingStepsPlan somehow allows for the UN-backed Global Defense Initiative to be created]]. All WordOfGod eventually said on the issue was that the ''Red Alert'' and ''Tiberium'' series were now entirely separate from each other.

* The ''VideoGame/DynastyWarriors'' series has always contained a certain degree of Alternate History - though largely limited to the outcome of China's 'Three Kingdoms Era' civil war. In the older games, you basically changed history based on which character or faction you chose to play as, but the more recent games have put more effort into depicting the actual history. in ''7'', you actually played through the historical era, with each campaign basically covering the 'era of greatness' for that particular kingdom, culminating in a newly-added campaign for the kingdom of Jin - who, historically, were the ones to finally reunite China. Perhaps in response to this, ''8'' featured the most direct and elaborate application of Alternate History - each kingdom's campaign 'branches' at a crucial point, where you have the ability to direct the story down its historical path or - if you have changed history enough during earlier battles, usually by saving characters who would normally have died - take it down the 'Alternate' path by winning a great battle that they historically lost, and then going on to uniting the empire in their own way.
** The ''Xtreme Legends'' add-on throws even MORE 'what-if' scenarios into the mix, such as Yuan Shao winning the Battle at Guandu, defeating Cao Cao and becoming the primary power of northern China - leading to Cao Cao fleeing south and allying with Wu for an alternate version of the historic Battle at Chibi. Or Shu maintaining their alliance with Wu by ceding the Central Plains, avoiding the betrayal that would historically lead to the death of Guan Yu at Fan Castle, and eventually launching a joint attack against Wei.
** One might also mention a certain, inherent 'Alternate History' value in the weapons being wielded, which start with AutomaticCrossbows and get progressively more ridiculous from there - most notable in the warriors of Jin, who are 'late' in the history of the Three Kingdoms (That is, around the year 250 AD) who wield, amongst other things, a rocket-powered 'Siege Lance', a huge, mechanical drill, and a miniature gatling-gun with a giant bayonet. A DLC-pack adds several more weapons to the mix, including one literally referred to as the 'Automatic Crossbow', which appears to be an arrow-based version of a GAU-10 autocannon. Alternate, indeed...

** On a more lighthearted note, an article in the old ''Boston Bugle'' building in ''VideoGame/{{Fallout 4}}'' notes that the Boston baseball team who played in Fenway Park (basically, the Red Sox) was up three games to none in the best-of-seven 2077 World Series, on the verge of breaking a 159-year-old championship drought - the {{Curse}} of the Bambino[[note]]the supposed explanation as to why the Red Sox did not win another World Series after selling Babe Ruth to the New York Yankees in 1919[[/note]] remains alive and well in the ''Fallout'' universe when the RealLife Curse was broken in 2004. Note the use of present tense - Game 4 was scheduled for the day the world nuked itself. When we said a more lighthearted note, keep in mind this is ''[[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt Fallout]]'' [[BlackComedy we're talking about]].

* The game ''VideoGame/FreedomFighters2003'' takes place in an alternate history in which two key things changed - first, the Soviets invented the atomic bomb and used it to end UsefulNotes/WorldWarII in Europe, and secondly, the Cuban Missile Crisis was resolved in their favor. The strategic and political repercussions of these changes allowed the Soviet Union not only to survive, but to begin an invasion of the US in the early 21st century.

* ''VideoGame/IntoTheRadius'' has history deviate in 1987 when 'Pechorsk Event' leads to [[RealityIsOutToLunch laws of physics become more of a suggest]] in Pechorsk and its surrounding area, creating Pechorsk Radius, admistered by the UN.

* Virtually all grand strategy games made by Creator/ParadoxInteractive allow this - to a ''very'' big degree. Brabant ruling half of North America and the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth colonising Australia? [[NintendoHard With a bit of knowledge and some skill]], [[BadassBoast it's certainly possible]]...

** Until the sequel, ''Terranigma'', where Dark Gaia comes back and completely wipes out the Earth again. The hero is sent out to the surface to revive everything, turning the world into a mix between Alternate History and Anachronism Stew- Christopher Columbus exists alongside modern New York and futuristic Tokyo.

* ''Enigma: Rising Tide'' is a naval simulation game set in alternate 1937, where Imperial Germany (now called the German Weltreich) dominates Europe, as a result of the RMS ''Lusitania'' never being sunk, and the US never joining UsefulNotes/WorldWarI. There are three sides in the game: Germany (maintaining a large fleet of U-boats and battleships), US (carriers and destroyers), and the League of Free Nations (submarines and the HMS ''Hood''). The LFN is composed of Imperial Japan and the British government-in-exile headed by Churchill. Interestingly, the ending of chapter 1 (chapter 2 was never made due to the developer going out of business) implies that the Americans are evil in this version of history, as their surprise attack on Scapa Flow, crippling the German fleet, has clear parallels to Pearl Harbor in our history. Chancellor von Richthofen (yes, [[RedBaron that one]]) gives a speech eerily similar to FDR's own following the attack and declares the end of the age of the battleship. The ending cutscene shows the ''Bismark'' and the ''Tirpitz'' being converted into a new class of ship - the battlecarrier, featuring a flight deck but still having large forward-facing guns.

* A big reason why Creator/ParadoxInteractive games, most notably ''VideoGame/EuropaUniversalis'', are so popular. With over 200 nations represented across the world (and each and every one of them being playable - that said, some are more playable than others), a lot of this is likely to happen in any game even without player involvement. This has led to the concept of "hands-off games" where the player picks an out of the way island nation like Ceylon or Iceland, disables pop-ups, leaves the game running for a few hours and then comes back to see what {{Hilarity Ensue|s}}d, or alternatively just uses the "Spectator Mode" console command which lets an AI take over the player nation and reveals the entire world map. In the hands of a player meanwhile, countries can get up to all kinds of wacky shenanigans: Milan conquering most of Europe, England and Scotland getting gobbled up by a united Ireland or Northumbria, Syria becoming Protestant, the west African kingdom of Mali becoming a colonial powerhouse in the Americas and Asia, and Ming China colonising the east African coast. Taking obscure one-province minors like Navarra and Trebizond and turning them into world powers is practically a pastime for experienced players.

* ''VideoGame/TurningPointFallOfLiberty'' starts in an alternate 1953 where, due to Winston Churchill being killed by a taxi cab in 1931, Britain was unable to resist the German onslaught and fell to the Nazis in 1940. With no hope for the European continent, America continued its policies of neutrality as Germany solidifies its foothold on Europe and becomes the Greater German Reich, building its military power and allowing Japan and Italy to share in its successes into the 1950's, while America remains one of the few remaining bastions of freedom in the world, led by president Thomas E. Dewey, who [[DeweyDefeatsTruman defeated Truman in 1948.]] This all comes crashing down in 1953, when Germany launches a massive invasion of America and kicks off the plot of the game.

** ''Hearts of Iron IV'' gives players the option to enable or disable historical focuses for AI-controlled nations. If enabled, Germany and the USSR sign the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, Japan attacks Pearl Harbour, etc. If disabled, you get crazy shit like Germany staying a democracy and reaching a peaceful conclusion over Danzig, Britain becoming an ''absolute'' monarchy under King George VI and attempting to reconquer the United States, Japan embracing communism, the Republicans winning the Spanish Civil War resulting in the Spanish [[BombThrowingAnarchists Anarchists]] kicking off a global revolution...

* According to the backstory of ''VideoGame/MaceTheDarkAge'', neither Christianity and Islam exist in this game’s timeline, and as such, Europe and Arabia are highly balkanized and divided thanks to the Covenant of the Seven's actions. Meanwhile in Asia, UsefulNotes/GenghisKhan's descendants continue to rule.
* ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid3SnakeEater'' does this by explaining that the Cold War happened because the Soviet Union, China and America originally plotted together to combat the Axis Powers and that after the war there has been a power struggle to reobtain the vast amount of wealth they have pooled. Other oddities created by this include the existence of the Cobra unit and mobile nuclear death machines. This, in turn, has also caused things like virtual reality training, nanomachines, various war robots, and cyborgs to become widespread across the world by 2018. As you can see by looking around, that sort of stuff isn't visible now.

* ''VideoGame/{{Fallout}}'': In the ''Fallout'' universe, TheSixties never occurred, and the sociopolitical standards of TheFifties continued well into the 21st century, with all the extenuating political, artistic, and scientific implications:
** The Cold War never ended, and China became the United States' ultimate enemy.
** The US invaded Mexico in 2051 and annexed Canada in 2076.
** Computing evolved to the degree at which robots were commonplace and sentient computers were uncommon; however, said computers are still powered by vacuum tubes and have monochromatic monitors as the Transistor wasn't invented until much later, hence the micronization of technology never happened (the world nuked itself before it could take off).
** Cold fusion was discovered (from [[{{Powered Armor}} Power armor]] research) and even some cars run on nuclear batteries (as evidenced in ''VideoGame/{{Fallout 3}}'', when you blow up a car and a ''mushroom cloud'' forms).
** There are minor changes in the history of the Fallout universe pre-[=WWII=]; witness, for example, alien abductions at least since 1603 and the Sunset Sarsaparilla est 1918. UsefulNotes/AbrahamLincoln's [[http://americanhistory.si.edu/Militaryhistory/collection/object.asp?ID=3 gold-plated Henry repeater]] actually existed -- although in the Fallout universe, it was chambered in .44 Magnum, rather than .44 Henry.
** On a more lighthearted note, an article in the old ''Boston Bugle'' building in ''VideoGame/{{Fallout 4}}'' notes that the Boston baseball team who played in Fenway Park (basically, the Red Sox) was up three games to none in the best-of-seven 2077 World Series, on the verge of breaking a 159-year-old championship drought - the {{Curse}} of the Bambino[[note]]the supposed explanation as to why the Red Sox did not win another World Series after selling Babe Ruth to the New York Yankees in 1919[[/note]] remains alive and well in the ''Fallout'' universe when the RealLife Curse was broken in 2004. Note the use of present tense - Game 4 was scheduled for the day the world nuked itself. When we said a more lighthearted note, keep in mind this is ''[[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt Fallout]]'' [[BlackComedy we're talking about]].
--->'''''Boston Bugle'' article''': On Saturday, October 23rd, 2077, the only thing that could snatch away victory is an act of God, or [[TemptingFate some obscene calamity of man]]. Tomorrow, my friends, [[ProphecyTwist the unthinkable will finally come to pass.]] [[ExactWords And life in Boston will never be the same again.]]
** Some Sixties elements ''do'' pop up, but the implication is that a lot of those elements were delayed some 110 years... meaning that they were still new-fangled things that hadn't had time to fully spread through society by the time the bombs fell (for instance, transistors ''were'' invented but seemingly only recently enough that computing was still in the vacuum tube-transistor hybrid period).
** Some events from the Fallout universe also sync up with our own, but with different contexts. This can be seen with the space race: on May 5, 1961, the same date that Alan Shepard became the first American in space in real life, Carl Bell became not only the first American but the first human in space... and also its first casualty (in real life that "honor" went to Vladimir Komarov, in 1967). His orbit lasted twelve minutes and seven seconds, went once around the Earth, then crashed on reentry. The first moon landing also took place July 16, 1969, but the ship was called ''Valiant 11,'' piloted by Richard Wade, Mark Garris, and Michael Hagen.
* ''VideoGame/RaidouKuzunohaVsTheSoullessArmy'' and its sequel, ''VideoGame/RaidouKuzunohaVsKingAbaddon'', do this quite discreetly, by using the Japanese calendar and noting the year as Taisho 20, when in real history, the Taisho era only lasted fifteen years. It's noted in the first game that, should the timeline remain unpolluted, the result would have been the CrapsackWorld that is ''VideoGame/ShinMegamiTenseiI'' and ''VideoGame/ShinMegamiTenseiII''. After the modifications imposed by a time-traveling villain, the timeline's implied to have diverged irrevocably into the world where the other ''Devil Summoner'' games and the ''Franchise/{{Persona}}'' series all take place.

* Several realistically-toned RealTimeStrategy and {{Simulation Game}}s released in the late '90s through the 2000s use the classic "The UsefulNotes/ColdWar [[WorldWarIII went hot]]" plot :
** ''VideoGame/WorldInConflict''
** ''VideoGame/OperationFlashpoint''
** ''Cuban Missile Crisis: The Aftermath''
** ''VideoGame/WargameEuropeanEscalation''
** ''VideoGame/FlashpointCampaigns''
* The old UsefulNotes/PlayStation2 game ''VideoGame/RingOfRed'' asks what if the atomic bombs were never dropped, and instead, the US and Soviet Union invaded Japan... Oh, and what if HumongousMecha were developed in the war.
* Forms the crux of the plot of ''{{VideoGame/Persona 2}}: Eternal Punishment.'': [[spoiler:Philemon erases the global-scale destruction that took place during ''Innocent Sin'' by erasing the day that the protagonists (Tatsuya, Maya, Eikichi, Jun, and Lisa) met as children, resulting in a brand-new timeline with several changes. Some are minor (Jun's father is alive and his family life is much more stable; the fake band that Lisa was set up to participate in is a real band made genuinely in ''Eternal Punishment''), some major (the new Joker is Tatsuya Sudou, who was TheDragon to the Joker in ''Innocent Sin''). The Joker curse itself is also different, as are the rumors that are spread and turned real. A point of conflict is the fact that Tatsuya retains his memories of the now-destroyed reality from ''Innocent Sin,'' which not only gives him two sets of memories, but allows for [[BigBad Nyarlathotep]] to repeat the events of that game in ''Eternal Punishment''.]]
* The game ''VideoGame/FreedomFighters2003'' takes place in an alternate history in which two key things changed - first, the Soviets invented the atomic bomb and used it to end UsefulNotes/WorldWarII in Europe, and secondly, the Cuban Missile Crisis was resolved in their favor. The strategic and political repercussions of these changes allowed the Soviet Union not only to survive, but to begin an invasion of the US in the early 21st century.
* ''VideoGame/{{Resistance}}: Fall of Man'' takes place in an alternate history where, in the 30s, TheVirus appeared and swept across Europe in place of the Nazis. The game takes place in the early 50s, by which time it's reached England.
** According to the website for the first game the point of divergence for the timeline was the Spanish-American War not happening, even after the USS Maine incident. Instead Cuba gets its independence without bloodshed. For some reason after that event, the White Russians won the Russian Civil War, the United States did not pass the Smooth-Hawley Tariff Act so it only faced a recession instead of the Great Depression, and without economic collapse Germany stayed with the Weimar Republic. The real point of divergence, of course, was when TheVirus arrived in Russia with the meteor that hit during the Tunguska incident, ultimately resulting in every other divergence from real history [[ApocalypseNow not really mattering]]. The upside, at least, is that technology advanced far quicker than in reality, with the Western powers making use of tilt-rotor transports to deliver infantry using what is effectively the M14 EBR with a wooden stock in 1950.
* The RolePlayingGame ''VideoGame/LionheartLegacyOfTheCrusader'' is set in the 16th century, in a timeline where an event in the Third Crusade caused all variety of mythical creatures to become real.

* The RTS version of ''Axis & Allies'' features two campaigns: one for the Allies and one for the Axis. The Axis campaign diverges with the Battle of Crete going well for the Germans. Afterwards, Rommel takes El Alamein and the Suez Canal, followed by Manstein seizing Stalingrad. The Japanese invade Australia, depriving the Americans of a staging area in the Pacific. The Allies launch the D-Day Invasion, but Rommel and Rundstedt drive them back, setting the stage for victory in Operation Sea Lion. The Japanese then stomp out the last British resistance in India and later aide the Germans in the capture of Moscow. Finally, Admiral Yamamoto wipes out the American fleet, captures Midway and Hawaii, leaving the Americans unable to continue fighting.

* ''VideoGame/AztecWars'': The Aztecs decided to move out of the Americas before their discovery by Columbus, and proceeded to conquer most of the world. The Russians and Chinese are the only ones holding out against them. All sides use {{Steampunk}} liberally.

* ''VideoGame/DeusExHumanRevolution'', while taking place in the future, reveals itself to be this in the background material. For starters, the level of prosthesis technology had advanced to such a degree that in the early 2000's, U.S Soldiers were using early mechanical augmentations in Iraq and Afghanistan. Another point of divergence is that [[PrivateMilitaryContractors Blackwater]] completely broke up, rather than reforming into Xi, allowing for the rise of Belltower.
* ''Videogame/Battlezone1998'' takes place in the [[TheSixties 1960s]], during UsefulNotes/TheSpaceRace. However, instead of simply launching a couple of men into space, the USA and the USSR have been launching hundreds of soldiers to the moon and other planets in order to find more of the [[UnObtanium Bio-Metal]] that allows them to create extremely advanced {{Hover Tank}}s in [[RidiculouslyFastConstruction mere seconds]]. The first mission starts off panning around the Apollo 11 lander sitting on the lunar surface, then spins around to show an entire military base in the background, with a hover tank driving towards it.
-->'''Grizzly One:''' [[UsefulNotes/{{NASA}} Armstrong and Shephard]] get all the credit. But we all wanted to win the UsefulNotes/ColdWar. And we were ready to commit our lives to getting more of the Bio metal... [[UsefulNotes/YanksWithTanks They]] went looking for a [[AcePilot few cowboys]] to do the job. So in the end, they created the [[TheGreatestStoryNeverTold world's biggest cover-up]].
** ''Battlezone II: Combat Commander'' takes place [[TheNineties 30 years]] after the first game. Bio-metal is now public knowledge, though the real events of the Space Race are still top secret. The International Space Defense Force possesses huge interplanetary carriers, laser cannons, and fusion reactors.
* ''VideoGame/BodyHarvest'' starts out as this. The aliens attack in 1916 in the middle of UsefulNotes/WorldWarI, and then slowly annihilate mankind by returning once every 25 years to consume entire countries.

* The ''VideoGame/DynastyWarriors'' series has always contained a certain degree of Alternate History - though largely limited to the outcome of China's 'Three Kingdoms Era' civil war. In the older games, you basically changed history based on which character or faction you chose to play as, but the more recent games have put more effort into depicting the actual history. in ''7'', you actually played through the historical era, with each campaign basically covering the 'era of greatness' for that particular kingdom, culminating in a newly-added campaign for the kingdom of Jin - who, historically, were the ones to finally reunite China. Perhaps in response to this, ''8'' featured the most direct and elaborate application of Alternate History - each kingdom's campaign 'branches' at a crucial point, where you have the ability to direct the story down its historical path or - if you have changed history enough during earlier battles, usually by saving characters who would normally have died - take it down the 'Alternate' path by winning a great battle that they historically lost, and then going on to uniting the empire in their own way.
** The ''Xtreme Legends'' add-on throws even MORE 'what-if' scenarios into the mix, such as Yuan Shao winning the Battle at Guandu, defeating Cao Cao and becoming the primary power of northern China - leading to Cao Cao fleeing south and allying with Wu for an alternate version of the historic Battle at Chibi. Or Shu maintaining their alliance with Wu by ceding the Central Plains, avoiding the betrayal that would historically lead to the death of Guan Yu at Fan Castle, and eventually launching a joint attack against Wei.
** One might also mention a certain, inherent 'Alternate History' value in the weapons being wielded, which start with AutomaticCrossbows and get progressively more ridiculous from there - most notable in the warriors of Jin, who are 'late' in the history of the Three Kingdoms (That is, around the year 250 AD) who wield, amongst other things, a rocket-powered 'Siege Lance', a huge, mechanical drill, and a miniature gatling-gun with a giant bayonet. A DLC-pack adds several more weapons to the mix, including one literally referred to as the 'Automatic Crossbow', which appears to be an arrow-based version of a GAU-10 autocannon. Alternate, indeed...
* In ''VideoGame/CrashBandicoot3Warped'', Cortex was able to use N. Tropy's Time-Twister machine to insert himself into positions of power throughout history, which you see evidence of as you play through the levels. For instance, the ancient Egypt stages have hieroglyphs that portray Cortex as the Pharaoh, the motorbiking stages (set in 1950's America) have billboards promoting Cortex as the local mayor, and he features as the emperor of the Roman empire during the colliseum boss fight against Tiny.
* ''VideoGame/HotlineMiami2WrongNumber'' reveals that the series takes place in an alternate history where the Cold War escalated to the point that Russia invaded Hawaii and eventually [[spoiler: dropped a nuke on San Francisco, forcing America into a Russian-American coalition that ends when 50 Blessings assassinates the leaders of both countries and Russia nukes America into oblivion in retaliation.]]

* Starting with ''[[VideoGame/BatmanArkhamCity Arkham City]]'', the ''VideoGame/BatmanArkhamSeries'' has suggested that it takes place in one of these, as one of the levels in ''City'' revolves around a place called Wonder City, which Gotham was built on top of, having technology powered by one of Ra's al Ghul's Lazarus pits and fully-functioning robots, and a partially-crumbled plaque above the gates of the titular Arkham City suggests the prison was opened sometime during the 1990s, rather than the 2000s (as ''[[VideoGame/BatmanArkhamAsylum Asylum]]'' was released in 2009) or 2010s (as ''City'' was released in 2011). A sidequest in ''[[VideoGame/BatmanArkhamOrigins Arkham Orgins]]'' had functional automobiles in 1855, as opposed to cars only first showing up in the 20th century, and in general a lot of technology was more advanced than what was around in 2001 (canonically, ''Asylum'' takes place eight years after ''Origins''). ''[[VideoGame/BatmanArkhamKnight Knight]]'' has Deathstroke, who is 55 around the game (his age was listed in ''Origins'' as 45 and ''Knight'' canonically takes place 10 years after it), suggest that like his comics counterpart, he took part in the UsefulNotes/TheVietnamWar.
* ''VideoGame/WeHappyFew'' is set in a 1960's Britain where the Nazis lost control of Germany, which became the German Empire; instead of Hitler, ''Rommel'' got control of Germany. The Empire started World War II, and went through with a full-blown invasion of Britain. America retained its policies of neutrality due to Roosevelt being assassinated and replaced with a less competent leader, meaning Britain was by itself when the Germans invaded. ''However,'' the war ''still'' did not go well for them, with the Soviet side of the war progressing mostly unaltered, forcing Germany to take more and more desperate measures as the Soviets advanced, including conscripting everyone who was at least [[ChildSoldiers thirteen]] in the parts of Britain they managed to occupy in order to fight against the Soviet Union. Wellington Wells became involved when what appeared to be a German armored regiment surrounded their town and demanded their children; to save the town from apparent destruction they acquiesced to their demands, but later discovered that the "tanks" were fakes, having been built to conceal just how badly the German armies were struggling and that Wellington Wells could very easily have resisted their rule if they had chose to do so. To add icing to this horrifying cake, the children from Wellington Wells were killed before they even made it to the training camp when their train was bombed, essentially rendering Wellington Wells' surrender completely [[AllForNothing pointless.]] Wellington Wells was so [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone horrified at their deeds]] that they devoted their entire society to [[LetUsNeverSpeakOfThisAgain forgetting it ever happened]] and [[FalseUtopia pretending everything was fine]].
* Touched upon in ''VideoGame/EternalDarkness'', where certain key events of history (namely the assassination of Emperor UsefulNotes/{{Charlemagne}}, UsefulNotes/WorldWarI and the UsefulNotes/GulfWar) turn out to be plots by the antagonists in order to keep humanity from unifying by slaughtering itself.

*** The second is ''The Red Flood'' by Lithuanian author Ignas Šeinius, instead differs greatly from both the Kaiserreich timeline and our own. '''The Red Flood'' uses the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brusilov_Offensive Brusilov Offensive]], which failed in the Kaiserreich timeline, as its point of divergence and with an overwhelming Russian victory in the battle, Austria-Hungary is forced to withdraw from the Weltkrieg in 1916, setting the stage for an Entente victory without American intervention. After the war, Germany is gripped by a syndicalist revolution and Russia suffers a coup by Admiral Alexandr Kolchak, who leads a totalitarian, ultranationalist dictatorship. Before long, Germany and Russia locked in an incredibly bloody stalemate in Eastern Europe centered in Šeinius's home country of Lithuania and Britain is considering taking action against the German syndicalists.
* In ''Aotearoa'' the continent of Zealandia didn't sink during the Cretaceous period and still has dinosaurs.

* ''VideoGame/{{BioShock}}'': Eccentric billionaire Andrew Ryan, disgusted by those he deems parasites hampering societal progress, decides to create his own society devoted to Objectivism, free will, and self-improvement. This becomes Rapture, a city built on the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean between November 5, 1946 and late 1951. Many prominent figures disappear from the surface to live in the city, free to exercise their creativity free from things like "petty" morality. This leads to major advancements in technology and genetics, including the discovery of a wonder drug called ADAM, but all residents are forbidden from contacting the surface. Clashing ideals and ideologies lead to a civil war in the city, with the protagonist arriving during a plane crash one year later to discover the aftermath. [[spoiler: Of course, he's not as much of an outsider as one may initially think.]]
** ''VideoGame/BioShockInfinite'': Self-proclaimed prophet Zachary Hale Comstock, with assistance from Rosaland Lutece and the U.S. Government, creates the floating city of Columbia to champion American exceptionalism. The city appears at the Chicago World's Fair in 1893, goes on a tour around the country and then the world. However, when Americans are taken hostage during the Boxer Rebellion, Columbia goes in and reveals itself to be a floating fortress. The United States ordered Columbia to return to sovereign soil, but Comstock responded by declaring their secession on July 6th, 1902. After that, Columbia disappeared into the clouds. The city then became something of an unsolved mystery to the world along the lines of the Bermuda Triangle. In March 1981, a building from Columbia was found high in the Alps, having apparently fallen out of the sky. [[spoiler:In at least one timeline, Columbia (lead by an elderly Elizabeth) goes on to destroy New York City in 1984.]]
* ''Franchise/{{Castlevania}}'' takes place in a timeline where once every century, Count Dracula ravages Europe with his army of monsters, requiring a member of the Belmont family to put him down until the next generation. He has emerged during several periods in time, with Creator/BramStoker's [[Literature/{{Dracula}} novel]] being considered canon with the series' events (although the game's version of those events is [[BroadStrokes somewhat different]]; Quincey Morris dies without children in the novel, while in the games he had a son and is part of an entire offshoot family of the Belmonts), and according to ''[[VideoGame/CastlevaniaBloodlines Bloodlines]]'', World War I was provoked by one of Dracula's minions. His allegedly final appearance would be in 1999, during a [[GreatOffscreenWar devastating war]] whose details seem intentionally vague, but was said to be so destructive that it couldn't be given justice if depicted in any game. Other differences include that Literature/{{Frankenstein}}'s monster exists (fought as a boss in several games) and the surrealist painter Victor Brauner had children, only to lose them in UsefulNotes/WorldWarI, leading him to become a vampire.
* The ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaLordsOfShadow'' reboot series is more explicit about being alternate history than the original continuity, since during 1047, Europe has fallen under the grasp of a trio of {{Evil Overlord}}s and there is also a long-destroyed ancient civilization of immortal humans that created giant statues. In the [[VideoGame/CastlevaniaLordsOfShadow2 second game]], the centuries-long struggle between Count Dracula and the Brotherhood of Light are recorded historical facts by the modern day, as the final battle against him resulted in a great explosion that leveled the battlefield and could have been seen from space.
* In ''VisualNovel/IkemenSengoku'', the main character and Sasuke unwittingly create an alternate timeline by preventing the historical deaths of [[UsefulNotes/OdaNobunaga Nobunaga Oda]] and [[UsefulNotes/UesugiKenshin Kenshin Uesugi]], respectively, and these characters eventually participate in opposing sides of a war that never occurred in the main character and Sasuke's original timeline.

* ''VideoGame/EightyDays'', rather than being a straight adaptation of its [[Literature/AroundTheWorldInEightyDays source material]], takes the characters and basic premise of the novel and places them in an alternate Earth featuring {{steampunk}} technology, examining the effects that technologies such as robots (called automata in the game) would have on 1872 society.

* ''VideoGame/CultistSimulator'' has an interesting take: there is one future, but there's more than one history. 5 major branches of histories existed, with the 2nd being implied to be ours, and apparently a lot of smaller branches existed as well. Also, ''all'' of them are true. At once. Or at least some of the part is, considering that most likely the Hours pick and choose various parts of histories and blended them together to the current present.
* The English localization of the ''Franchise/AceAttorney'' series is this thanks to its insistence on the series taking place in California. The localization team had to handwave away [[DubInducedPlotHole the increasing amount of Japanese cultural elements]], as well as the distinctly Japanese court system, by claiming that in the universe the series takes place in, California never enacted any anti-immigration laws, explaining the increased proliferation of Japanese culture, while the court system was revamped at some point in time to prioritize reaching verdicts as quickly as possible.
* ''VideoGame/IronHarvest'' takes place in an alternate 1920s Europe where HumongousMecha and PoweredArmor were developed instead of tanks during World War I. In addition, Europe has been changed in other ways such as Saxony-Goethburg apparently unified Germany instead of Prussia and Grigori Rasputin is a Russian rebel leader.
* ''VideoGame/TurningPointFallOfLiberty'' starts in an alternate 1953 where, due to Winston Churchill being killed by a taxi cab in 1931, Britain was unable to resist the German onslaught and fell to the Nazis in 1940. With no hope for the European continent, America continued its policies of neutrality as Germany solidifies its foothold on Europe and becomes the Greater German Reich, building its military power and allowing Japan and Italy to share in its successes into the 1950's, while America remains one of the few remaining bastions of freedom in the world, led by president Thomas E. Dewey, who [[DeweyDefeatsTruman defeated Truman in 1948.]] This all comes crashing down in 1953, when Germany launches a massive invasion of America and kicks off the plot of the game.
* ''VideoGame/ProjectWingman'' has a worldwide catastrophe called [[ApocalypseHow the Calamity]], which saw tectonic and volcanic activity skyrocket along the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ring_of_Fire Ring of Fire]], changing the world map and almost bringing humanity down with it. 400 years later, technology is back at a level similar to ours (save for artillery-sized railguns becoming standard weapons on ships and bunkers) with [[{{Unobtainium}} Cordium]] and geothermal energy becoming the world's most used energy sources. The biggest and most powerful nation of the world is the Pacific Federation (englobing all the Eastern Asian coast, a very large chunk of Russia, Japan, Indonesia, Hawaii and Australia) and its member (or rather puppet) states, with the plot of the game kicking in when Cascadia (covering the whole American Western seaboard from Alaska to southern Mexico), a Federation-affiliated state, breaks off to gain independence.
* ''VideoGame/GirlsFrontline'' starts diverging from our timeline at the Tunguska Event, caused by the Russian Empire finding and mishandling artifacts and technology from [[{{Precursors}} an unknown civilization]]. After World War II, the discovery of a corpse from that civilization and the Allies fighting each other over the Nazi research on it before the UN steps in after discovering more artifacts causes [[TheVirus ELID]] outbreaks. The breaking point happens in 2030 as a sealed-off site gets destroyed by the Chinese following an ELID outbreak, nearly wiping out humanity, who start producing [[RidiculouslyHumanRobots Autonomous Dolls]] as manpower.
* In ''VideoGame/AncientWarsSparta'', the Greek and Egyptian campaigns diverge from real life. In the former, King Xerxes is killed in Salamis (a battle the real one didn't even partake in), and in the latter, Inaros' rebellion succeeds (when in real life it was crushed).
* ''VideoGame/IntoTheRadius'' has history deviate in 1987 when 'Pechorsk Event' leads to [[RealityIsOutToLunch laws of physics become more of a suggest]] in Pechorsk and its surrounding area, creating Pechorsk Radius, admistered by the UN.

* ''Franchise/{{Castlevania}}'' takes place in a timeline where once every century, Count Dracula ravages Europe with his army of monsters, requiring a member of the Belmont family to put him down until the next generation. He has emerged during several periods in time, with Creator/BramStoker's [[Literature/{{Dracula}} novel]] being considered canon with the series' events (although the game's version of those events is [[BroadStrokes somewhat different]]; Quincey Morris dies without children in the novel, while in the games he had a son and is part of an entire offshoot family of the Belmonts), and according to ''[[VideoGame/CastlevaniaBloodlines Bloodlines]]'', World War I was provoked by one of Dracula's minions. His allegedly final appearance would be in 1999, when a [[GreatOffscreenWar devastating war]] whose details seem intentionally vague, but was said to be so destructive that it couldn't be given justice if depicted in any game.

* ''Videogame/BattleZone1998'' takes place in the [[TheSixties 1960s]], during UsefulNotes/TheSpaceRace. However, instead of simply launching a couple of men into space, the USA and the USSR have been launching hundreds of soldiers to the moon and other planets in order to find more of the [[UnObtanium Bio-Metal]] that allows them to create extremely advanced {{Hover Tank}}s in [[RidiculouslyFastConstruction mere seconds]]. The first mission starts off panning around the Apollo 11 lander sitting on the lunar surface, then spins around to show an entire military base in the background, with a hover tank driving towards it.

** ''[[VideoGame/{{Battlezone 1998}} Battlezone II: Combat Commander]]'' takes place [[TheNineties 30 years]] after the first game. Bio-metal is now public knowledge, though the real events of the Space Race are still top secret. The International Space Defense Force possesses huge interplanetary carriers, laser cannons, and fusion reactors.

* Naval Assault: The Killing Tide uses an alternate history World War 2 with some major alterations to benefit the naval combat of the game. The Nazis emerge victorious over the Soviets in 1943 and as a result of the Royal Navy not sinking the French fleet at anchor Germany is able to press both of their fleets into German service greatly strengthening their naval surface forces but the Royal Navy still controls the North Atlantic. Apparently the Japanese never attacked Pearl Harbor as the US is at peace when the Germans launch a massive surprise naval attack in 1944 all up and down the American east coast hoping to cripple the American navy and ensure their own NavalBlockade of England is a success. History proceeds quite differently as the Allies which consist of only the US and UK at this point launch a land invasion of France via the Bay of Biscay which is quickly routed by German forces and the US Navy is forced to retreat back to the US where it's revealed [[spoiler:with most of the US military either in England or retreating from the failed Biscay landing the German military is able to successful land and occupy Long Island New York and are transporting two nuclear warheads to the territory in order to force the Americans to surrender. The US Navy destroys all of the German Naval forces around New York harbor and successfully intercepts the submarine transporting the nukes, however it's very obvious the war is nowhere near over yet as the game ends. ]]
* ''VideoGame/MarchOfWar'' takes place in alternate DieselPunk version of the 1940s with World War 2 being waged by six superpowers and alliances.

* ''VideoGame/GirlsFrontline'' starts diverging from our timeline at the Tunguska Event, caused by the Russian Empire finding and mishandling [[{{Precursors}} Unknown Civilization]] artifacts and technology. After World War 2, the discovery of an Unknown Civilization corpse and the Allies fighting eachother over the Nazi research on it before the UN steps in after discovering Unknown Civilization artifacts handling causes [[TheVirus ELID]] outbreaks. The breaking point happens in 2030 as a sealed-off Unknown Civilization site gets destroyed by the Chinese following an ELID outbreak, nearly wiping out humanity, who start producing [[RidiculouslyHumanRobots Dolls]] as manpower.

** ''[[VideoGame/CommandAndConquerRedAlert3 Red Alert 3]]'' confuses the situation even more, when a Soviet time travel experiment causes Einstein to be removed from time in the '20s, causing a 3-way war between the Allies, the Soviets, and the Japanese.
* Several realistically-toned {{RTS}}es and {{Simulation Game}}s released in the recent decade use the classic "The UsefulNotes/ColdWar [[WorldWarIII went hot]]" plot :

** According to the website for the first game the point of divergence for the timeline was the Spanish-American War not happening, even after the USS Maine incident. Instead Cuba gets its independence without bloodshed. For some reason after that event, the White Russians won the Russian Civil War, the United States did not pass the Smooth-Hawley Tariff Act so it only faced a recession instead of the Great Depression, and without economic collapse Germany stayed with the Weimar Republic until all of Europe fell to the Chimera.
*** The real POD was when TheVirus arrived in Russia shortly after the Tunguska incident.