Historical games about not being violent

[alias_sqbr]

During the family Christmas Zoom call Mum asked if I had any recs for historical computer games in which the protagonist does not commit acts of violence. When I asked what kinds of gameplay she enjoyed she just said "nothing too hard".

So here's what I came up with after exploring the historical and education tags on steam, if anyone has any recs or anti-recs please let me know!

Mum really likes art history which is why some of these are more art than history.

Games I have played:

World of Art: Jigsaw puzzles of paintings, plus quizzes https://store.steampowered.com/app/1303670/WORLD_OF_ART_JIGSAW_PUZZLES/

Never Alone: Indigenous-made game about Alaskan mythology. I found the jumping parts too hard but it's very pretty. store.steampowered.com/app/295790/Never_Alone_Kisima_Ingitchuna/

Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego: Children's educational game about learning and answering quizzes on various facts about the world as you chase down a thief. I enjoyed it as a child in the 90s but am not sure how fun it would be for an adult in 2025 https://store.steampowered.com/app/1246950/Where_in_the_World_is_Carmen_Sandiego/

The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles: Play as a young 19th century Japanese law student who gets caught up in various murder mysteries by finding clues and winning legal arguments. Often very silly, but it's legitimately interested in exploring the changing relationship between England and Japan during this time https://store.steampowered.com/app/1158850/The_Great_Ace_Attorney_Chronicles/

Games I have not played but which have good reviews and look promising:

Art Reborn: Painting Connoisseur Create an art museum and "fight" people by finding their favourite painting https://store.steampowered.com/app/2064490/Art_Reborn_Painting_Connoisseur/

Silk Roads 2: play as a trader on the silk road in medieval times. https://store.steampowered.com/app/3667850/Silk_Roads_II_Paths_of_Fortune/

Pixel Museum: Explore an art museum by doing logic puzzles. I am not sure if you enjoy this kind of puzzle, but if you do it looks fun. https://store.steampowered.com/app/3204020/Juufuutei_Radens_Guide_for_Pixel_Museum/

Pentiment: Solve murders in medieval times by talking to people. I hear this is very good but kind of dark. https://store.steampowered.com/app/1205520/Pentiment/

Citizen of Rome - Dynasty Ascendant: Help a roman family succeed. https://store.steampowered.com/app/1063790/Citizen_of_Rome__Dynasty_Ascendant/

Thriving City Song: Run a city in Song dynasty China https://store.steampowered.com/app/1956800/Thriving_City_Song/

Astrologaster: a comedy game set in Shakespeare’s London. Play as 'Doctor' Simon Forman and treat his patients using astrology https://store.steampowered.com/app/742520/Astrologaster/

Road to Empress: Try to survive and become empress in the Tang Chinese court, inspired by real historical figures and events https://store.steampowered.com/app/3478050/Road_to_Empress_I/

80 Days: Play through the plot of "Around the World in 80 Days" and try to make it around the world in time https://store.steampowered.com/app/381780/80_Days/

Britannic: Patroness of the Mediterranean: Explore a historical ship https://store.steampowered.com/app/1259560/Britannic_Patroness_of_the_Mediterranean/

Socrates Jones Pro Philosopher: Argue philosophy with various famous philosophers from history https://store.steampowered.com/app/2120060/Socrates_Jones_Pro_Philosopher/

Cats of the Song Dynasty: Find hidden cats in a painting. Not very deep, but free https://store.steampowered.com/app/3157910/Cats_of_the_Song_Dynasty/

Elisonore: Play as Ophelia, stuck in a time loop trying to prevent the tragedies of Hamlet https://store.steampowered.com/app/512890/Elsinore/

Games which technically fit the criteria which I am not reccing:

Games about having sex with historical figures

Oregon Trail

Furry Hitler 2

Comments

[izzet_bedtime_yet]

I played the Yukon Trail a lot as a kid. Travel from Seattle to the Yukon, encounter various historical figures, stake a claim. There are various decision points that affect your odds of a good score, but the number one is finding the claim site that in reality did have huge amounts of gold. MECC is apparently still selling it for large dollar amounts but it's available to play online: https://oregontrail.ws/games/the-yukon-trail/

[scytale]

I really love Astrologaster! It's really darkly funny and the music is a delight, including cheery songs about the plague and all the patients. They based it off the casebooks of the real Simon Forman. Apart from Simon Forman himself, Robert Devereaux and Emma Lanier, who are both historical people, are patients.

I don't remember Simon commiting any acts of violence, but it's been a while. His patients absolutely are committing violence offscreen though, and he's definitely giving medical advice to a woman who is using it to murder her husbands though. Also, I'm pretty sure I caused at least one patient to die because I gave bad medical advice (but I wasn't trying to! I really believe in my malpractice!) Also, what I wrote about it when i played: "Whether or not I'd recommend it depends on your tolerance for the MC being a horrible person in pretty much every possible way (including sexism and period-typical racism), and the game not being shy about depicting period typical attitudes, though without endorsing them."

It is definitely an easy game, though perhaps a bit harder if one is going for 100% achievements.

...also wow I have completely misosmosed what Ace Attorney is about.

[skygiants]

Big rec for 80 Days! It's not entirely free from violence but you can usually avoid it, although you don't always necessarily know how an option will fully play out.