Hey YouTube, Jim here!
Welcome to Top10Archive!
As our more frequent viewers probably already know, we love diving into mythology.
Greek, Persian, Malaysian, Japanese, Hindu – the list of the many mythos we love to
explore is quite extensive.
Our appreciation for mythology isn’t just delegated to Top10Archive.
Like many of our viewers, we also enjoy dabbling in fictional and exaggerated versions found
in a large selection of video games.
This list of ten is among our favorites when we need our mythology kick… but don’t
feel like reading.
Looking for your own frequent dose of mythology?
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Are you a gamer and have a few suggestions of your own?
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10.
Tomb Raider Considering the many lands that adventurer
and raider of tombs, Lara Croft, visits during her gaming career, she’s bound to happen
upon mythological references and figures along the way.
Throughout the series, Croft has squared off against many beasts inspired or pulled from
ancient mythologies - such as Egypt’s Ammit in Lara Croft & The Temple of Osiris and various
references to Norse Mythology in Tomb Raider: Underworld.
Croft has also stumbled into Aztec, Japanese, and Grecian folklore, often represented by
puzzles and texts discovered by the Tomb Raider. 9.
Max Payne The focus of Max Payne is a disgraced DEA
agent and former NYPD officer who’s on a quest to seek justice for his slain family.
Though the third-person shoot ‘em up, which essentially introduced bullet time into gaming,
seems like your classic, run-of-the-mill revenge story, it’s speckled with hints to Norse
mythology.
The drug responsible for Max’s losses, Valkyr, references the Norse figure responsible for
deciding who lives and who dies in battle.
There’s also mention of Ragnarok, the Norse version of the end and rebirth of the world.
Asgard even makes an appearance as a building used as a meeting place for a secret society.
8.
Titan Quest This one-off from now-defunct video game developer
Iron Lore Entertainment was originally released in 2006 for PC.
More than 10-years-later, it’s still popular enough to warrant an iOS/Android release and
a port to the PS4, Xbox One, and Switch.
The Diablo-style gameplay and design worked well to bring to life the world of Grecian
mythology, which was conceptualized by Brian Sullivan, designer for Age of Empires.
Titan Quest features a host of mythical beasts from Greek mythology in a story revolving
around lesser Titans and the salvation of Olympus.
7.
Dante’s Inferno Loosely based on Inferno from Dante Alighieri’s
Divine Comedy, Dante’s Inferno amps up the blood and nudity as players control crusader
Dante as he traverses the Nine Circles of Hell.
Marked by Death to damnation for his many sins committed during the Third Crusade, after
his assassination, Dante defeats death, learns of his wife’s murder, and descends into
Hell to save his beloved’s soul from Lucifer.
The digitized version of the Nine Circles are filled with grisly creations and recognizable
figures from Alighieri’s depictions of hell.
Players will float along the River Styx, break into the City of Dis, make their way through
Purgatory, confront King Minos, Judge of the Damned, and slay Cerberus, the hound of Hades.
6.
Darksiders Centered around the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse
and, unsurprisingly, the apocalypse itself, Darksiders takes elements from the New Testament
and puts gamers in the shoes of War.
Summoned to bring order to a war-torn world no longer inhabited by humanity or watched
over by the forces of Heaven, War sets out to clear his name after being accused of causing
an early apocalypse.
Darksiders introduces elements from the Bible including the Garden of Eden, the Tree of
Knowledge, the angel Azrael, and the Endwar, or Last Judgment.
5.
Okami Clover Studio’s action-adventure game, Okami,
pulls its title character straight from Japanese mythology.
Set in classical Japan, players play as Okami Amaterasu, the Japanese goddess of the sun,
who appears as a white wolf.
The game’s title also refers to the Japanese white wolf, an extinct species of wolf that,
in local folklore, was associated with the mountains and was thought to be both a benevolent
and malevolent force.
Amaterasu descends upon Nippon to remove a curse set upon the land by Orochi, the eight-headed
demon.
The journey is speckled with nods to Japanese mythology, including wood sprites; Susanoo,
the Shinto god of the sea; and Kushinadahime, the Shinto goddess of rice and wife of Susanoo.
4.
Digital Devil Story: Mega Tensei In 1987, video game developer Atlus introduced
gamers to Digital Devil Story: Megami Tensei, a role-playing adventure set in a world ripe
with demons and references to such mythical characters as Lucifer, Loki, and Izanami,
Japanese goddess of creation and death.
Rather than focus on one mythology, Megami Tensei – and the subsequent series of games
that followed – touches on a host of different regions to create the extensive roster of
enemies and key players.
In the 1987 RPG, players control Akemi Nakajima, the reincarnation of Izanagi, a Japanese God
born of the seven divine generations and fight against demons pulled from Egyptian, Greek,
and Christian mythologies. 3.
Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice When Ninja Theory independently developed
and produced Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice, it did so with the intention of tackling the
issue of mental health and internal suffering.
On the surface of Senua’s journey to save the soul of her deceased lover is a hefty
use of Norse mythology.
The start of the Pict warrior’s quest takes her to the border of Helheim, or the Nordic
underworld.
Ninja Theory imbued the game with legends like that of Gram, the sword used to kill
the dragon Fafnir (FAFF-near) , and Valravn, a supernatural raven rooted in Danish folklore.
Aiding Senua are the “Furies,” or the whispering voices in her head, which are more
connected to Greek mythology as three female deities of vengeance.
2.
God of War It’s impossible to mention the word “mythology”
in a video game discussion and for the God of War series not to come up pretty quickly.
The original series, which spanned four console and two handheld releases – not including
HD collections or mobile games – follows tragic Spartan warrior Kratos (kray-toas)
on his literal war against the Gods of Olympus.
Zeus, Hercules, Athena, the Kraken, and Medusa are just a small selection of the many mythical
figures in the God of War series; and the list will only grow when Kratos takes on Nordic
figures in the warrior’s 2018 return.
1.
Age of Mythology If you know gaming at all, you probably knew
this was going to be in the #1 spot.
In fact, any fewer than several dozen predictions in the comments is simply unacceptable!
Spun off from the popular Age of Empires real-time strategy series, Mythology sends players across
multiple mythos, including Greek and Egyptian, as an Atlantean admiral and war hero.
Along the way, players square off against Kraken, minotaur, cyclops, and centaur in
a rather robust tale that involves Zeus, Loki, the Trojan Horse and war against Troy, Agamemnon,
and Osiris.
Thanks for watching!
Know of some other games which make use of mythological figures or places?
Tell us about them in the comments.