What are the best medieval games to play today?
Medieval Times; affectionately looked upon by gamers as one of the most intriguing eras to base a game around.
Guilds, castles, crusades and cathedrals dominate this era known as the Dark Ages.
There are plenty of games out there that delve into the captivating Middle Ages, but which ones are the best? Read on to find out the 20 best medieval games to play today.
20. Mount & Blade: Warband
Besiege castles and rule your faction!
Featuring a world torn apart by constant warfare, Mount & Blade: Warband is one of the few games that recreates the sensation of living in a medieval world. To survive you must assemble your own band of warriors and enter the chaos, expand your realm, and battle your way to the ultimate prize: the throne of Calradia.
- Become the ruler of a faction and convince lords to become your vassals.
- Realistic battle mechanics: Soldiers will break away and run if their morale gets too low.
- Multiplayer capability up to 64 players.
Deathmatch; Team Deathmatch; Capture the Flag; Conquest; Battle; Siege
19. Mount & Blade Bannerlord 2
Mount up! War is coming
The exciting sequel to Mount & Blade: Warband is set 200 years prior and expands the world of Calradia. Civil war can work to your advantage as you construct siege machinery, engage in diplomacy, craft and name your own weapons and experience the ebb and flow of a simulated feudal economy. The name of the game is power, and to get it you can bombard mountain holds with siege engines, establish criminal empires or take the old fashioned route and charge into battle for glory!
- In depth diplomacy – ability to strike peace deals to win land, engage in a new barter system, and offer marriage or treason pacts
- Siege gameplay – construct, position and fire heavy machinery in sieges or fortify your castle against a siege
- Sandbox economy – prices ebb and flow with supply and demand. Ability to invest in farms and workshops to stimulate the economy.
18. Gloria Victis
Choose your nation and be willing to defend it
An open world MMORPG designed to emphasize realism. Gloria Victis gives players the opportunity to be part of a living society. Action-based, non-target combat means your skills and tactics actually matter, whether you choose to become a soldier, archer, assassin, huntsman, blacksmith or any number of selections. Gloria Victis challenges the player to conquer land, siege castles and build fortifications to gain and keep territory control.
- Wide variety of character options ranging from knight to merchant to healer and more.
- Build your own character or choose from premade builds.
- Choose between four nations, each based on a real medieval power.
- Besiege castles to rule your own land, build your own house, and fortify your village with your fellow guild members.
17. Kingdom Come: Deliverance
Experience medieval bohemia firsthand
A peaceful life is shattered when Henry, the son of a blacksmith, witnesses a mercenary raid on his own village and is helpless as his friends and family are slaughtered. Barely escaping with your life, you join Lord Radzig Kobyla, who forms a resistance against the invaders. Build your character’s skills, earn perks, and forge your own equipment in a stunning replica of medieval Bohemia.
- Non-linear story gives you the ability to solve quests in multiple ways and face the consequences of your decisions.
- Unique combinations available in battle including melee, distance and stealth.
- Meet real historical characters from medieval Bohemia.
16. Kingdoms and Castles
Build your town and keep it happy and maybe the dragon won't attack
The main objective of Kingdoms and Castles is to build your city and survive Viking raiders or the occasional dragon. You start with a small hamlet and have nearly limitless ways to build your kingdom and castle. To survive and thrive you must strategically create a town that can protect itself against attack, but also a town that attracts new residents; after all, taxes can’t pay for your castle if there are no people to tax!
- Strategy required – Keep in mind Viking raiders are not the only threat; plague and unhappy townsfolk can destroy your kingdom just as easily.
- Wide variety of construction/fortifications available; higher archery towers mean longer range, but are more expensive to build.
- Your town is a living beast of its own; you can set up stone quarries for building supplies, send wood cutters to collect wood, and farm the land to provide food for your people.
15. Kingdom: Classic
Classic side-scrolling game
Kingdom Classic is a 2D side-scrolling strategy game that puts you, a monarch, astride a horse that can only travel left or right across your kingdom. The idea is to spend your coin wisely to buy resources and peasant loyalty that will help your kingdom flourish and help you survive attacks on your kingdom during the night. Mysterious forests are also accessible and hold artifacts to aid your kingdom.
- Very little initial guidance adds to the fun of figuring the game out
- No direct interaction with the world means strategy is key when spending coin
- Must rely on your resources to protect you – makes exploring beyond your walls dangerous… and exciting!
14. A Plague Tale: Innocence
Avoid the swarms and the dark disease they carry
The year is 1349. Your enemy is a swarm of rats bearing a devastating disease that has ravaged the Kingdom of France. If that weren’t enough, the inquisition is on the hunt for you as well. You play Amicia, a 15 year old girl on the run with her little brother, Hugo. To survive you must join forces with other children, create fire and light to keep the swarms at bay, and work together to combat one of the darkest hours of history.
- Depth to the storyline makes caring for the characters easy and even heart-wrenching.
- Use stealth to sneak around rat hordes or the inquisition.
- Delve into a unique storyline with a grim twist on the already gritty history of the Black Plague.
13. Stronghold HD
misson-based strategy game
Stronghold HD includes 21 missions to test your skills against four renegade lords set in medieval England. To complete the missions and overthrow the traitorous lords you must gather resources, build weapons, and design a castle with a working economy that will buffer your strategy for victory. Some missions come with a time limit that must be adhered to, such as tasking players to gather resources and build weapons.
- See the whole playing field with the capability to zoom out and play in real-time.
- Take on all 21 unique missions that give you direction to complete the game.
- Two single player campaigns available or up to 8 players online.
12. Battle Brothers
Lead your mercenaries to victory!
Battle Brothers puts you front and center in a band of mercenaries. You get to decide where to go, what contracts are worth fighting for, whom to hire to fight with and how to train and equip your men. To succeed you must travel the world map and take contracts that earn you coin, find enemies worth pursuing and places worth looting.
- Manage a medieval mercenary company in an open world
- Characters come with their own unique background story – want a witch hunter? Drunken disowned noble? You got it!
- Each weapon grants a unique skill – form a spear wall, split shields with axes, and stun enemies with maces.
11. Crusader Kings II
Live through the ages as you try to keep your family's legacy alive
Crusader Kings II is all about keeping your dynasty alive and thriving. You choose a Christian lord for your character anywhere between the year 1066 and 1337. Keep in mind the historical accuracies of the year you choose to start, as some lords will face more difficult tasks depending on when you start. This game takes place over centuries as you play a succession of descendants through the ages. You must keep your feudal domain from falling apart by unravelling the plots of your vassals, fighting heathens and heretics and defending against the Mongol Horde.
- Use strategy and manipulation to unravel plots within your own domain – each courtier and vassal has their own opinions and agendas.
- Pick a Christian Lord anywhere between the years 1066 and 1337 of the Dark Ages; your choice will have consequences!
- Take up the Cross and fight in the crusades against the Moor, the Heathen and the Heretic.
10. Life is Feudal MMO
Off with his head!
In the world of Abella the goal is to survive and flourish in an unforgiving medieval world. You must use a wide range of strategy and survival skills complemented by a thriving economy, community building, diplomacy and warfare to succeed. Use non-target PVP and massive sieges to gain loot, weapons and experience.
- Raid villages of the mysterious natives of Abella to uncover their secrets.
- Political sandbox style with guilds of all sizes, real map land control, alliances, and vassals
- Physics parameters are taken into account – your weapon must actually hit an opponent to inflict damage.
9. Mortal Online
As if you weren't already afraid of small spiders...
In the huge open-world MMORPG that is Mortal Online, you must survive by building your skills. You can choose to focus on PvP or PvE, both of which share the same world. Choose a profession that will keep you alive whether it is combat, crafting, magic, trading or a number of other available careers. You can choose to go solo or join/create a guild with friends to build a keep or even an entire city. Looting capabilities means there’s a chance you will lose all your items when you die, so survival is key!
- Choose your character based on a variety of races and decide your own style of play (PvP or PvE)
- 500 + skills available to master
- Rule an entire nation when you achieve enough power, diplomacy, or, if you’re the chaotic evil type, violence; the choice is yours!
8. Sekiro Shadows Die Twice
Fly through the sky and drink from the sweet nectar of revenge
The sweet and satisfying taste of revenge is the goal in Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice. You must combine stealth, vertical traversal, and head to head combat to succeed in rescuing the young lord you were bound to protect. Using powerful ninja capabilities and the use of deadly prosthetic tools, you face foes in a dark and twisted world set in the late 1500s Sengoku Japan.
- Play the “one-armed wolf,” a disgraced and disfigured warrior who failed to protect the young lord he was bound to.
- Re-playable with four different endings including different boss fights.
- Explore feudal Japan in a realistic representation of 1500s Japan.
7. Dark Souls 3
Take on skeletons and other dark creatures
In Dark Souls 3 your goal is to return the five Lords of Cinder to their thrones at Firelink Shrine in order to link the flame again. As an Unkindled, you will face colossal enemies in the world of Lothric and must use a variety of weapons, items, and magic to succeed in battle. A new combat system gives you additional weapon-specific skills that deliver powerful special attacks and provide power-ups.
- Plenty of Lore – the world of Lothric is thriving with in-depth NPCs, gruesomely unique enemies and a fantastical environment.
- Use a variated arsenal of weapons, magic, and items to defeat your enemies.
- Recover the five Lords of Cinder to their throne at Firelink Shrine to link the flame and keep it alive!
6. Witcher 3
Learn the lore behind the monsters you hunt, and use it to your advantage to find their weaknesses
Playing the Witcher Geralt, your ultimate goal is to find Ciri, the Child of Prophecy that can alter the shape of the world. During your quest you’ll have to earn coin by hunting monsters, winning horse races, and playing card games. Use an arsenal of upgradeable weapons and armor, as well as combat magic, to survive exotic monsters and collect your pay before moving onto the next town, pirate island, mountain pass, or wherever the next contract takes you.
- Huge open world with in-depth lore on all the exotic beasts, monsters, and supernatural entities you face. Learn how to bait a gryphon, destroy a banshee, and cure a werewolf!
- Upgrade your combat magic with each level progression and use mutations to select the magical abilities most suited to your playing style.
- Unique in-game card playing and horse racing.
5. Skyrim (With Credo Mod)
Elder Scrolls gameplay
The fifth installment in the Elder Scrolls Series puts you in the role of the Dragonborn, a mortal born with the soul and power of a dragon. Your goal is to defeat Alduin the World-Eater, a dragon prophesized to destroy the world. To do this you’ll have to carefully build your characters skills in a variety of different genres such as Smithing, one- and two-handed combat, sneak, archery, destruction magic, conjuration, and many others. Learning dragon shouts will help you in your questline, as will completing side quests to earn coin to buy materials and upgrade your weapons and armor.
- Huge open world where you can travel anywhere you have already discovered or learned/heard about.
- Credo Mod puts a medieval spin on many of the characters, changing their armor to resemble the medieval period.
- Upgrade your character based on your style of play; magic, combat, archery, light armor, heavy armor, etc. The choice is yours!
4. Conan Exiles
Build your character bigger than life
In Conan Exiles you start as a lowly peasant rescued by Conan himself, and must build your way up to a ferocious barbarian. The goal of this online multiplayer game is to survive. To do this you’ll have to endure freezing temperatures and sand storms, hunt animals for food and resources, and build your domain piece by piece. Use swords, bows, siege weapons and even avatars of the gods to defeat your enemies and reclaim the Exiled Lands.
- Survive in an open world sandbox with real-life dangers such as extreme temperatures and hunger.
- Use powerful building systems to create anything from your own small home to entire cities.
- Control giant avatars of the gods to crush your enemies in battle.
3. Chivalry: Medieval Warfare
Immerse yourself in a fascinating and gritty medieval world
The objective of Chivalry: Medieval Warfare is to besiege castles, raid medieval villages and fight for glory in the arena. An online first-person slasher game, you must use weapons from a choice of up to 60 weaponries ranging from battle axes and maces to swords and longbows in order to defeat enemies in battle. Siege weapons are also available to batter down your enemy’s gates and castles.
- Choose from a huge range of responsive combat options including siege weapons.
- A dynamic objective system utilizes team tactics and strategy to achieve victory.
- Transport yourself into a lush environment that mimics a gritty and immersive medieval world.
2. For Honor
Choose your faction and fight. For honor!
For Honor lets you choose between three of the fiercest warrior factions; knight, Viking, or samurai, all dependent on your playing style. Once you choose, the object is to join the war and fight for your faction’s honor. During battle you will switch between three weapon stances to cut around your opponent while parrying their attacks. Gain rewards using the new training modes to go from Apprentice to Master, and take your new skills into battle. For honor!
- Choose from thousands of gear items to customize your hero
- Once you select a faction you can still choose from 18 different heroes, all with unique skills to fit your playing style.
- Story-driven campaign is co-op friendly. Multiplayer modes available for 1v1, 2v2, and 4v4 battles.
1. Mordhau
Mordhau gameplay
The object of Mordhau is to fight. Use combinations from a huge arsenal of weapons and equipment to take on enemies and cut them down in this medieval first & third person multiplayer game. As a mercenary, your quest is to engage in battles ranging from small skirmishes to 64-player all-out war and to achieve victory in those battles.
- Experience ladder fights, cavalry charges and operate ballista and catapult siege engines.
- Customize your character in a number of different ways; pick out individual pieces of armor, create weapons from parts, and sculpt your own face.
- Free-form melee and ranged combat allows you to gain complete control over your attacks and develop your own unique style of combat.
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