The History Respawned Podcast

John welcomes Maggie Greene, assistant professor of Modern Chinese History & East Asian Cultural History at Montana State, to talk about Total War: Three Kingdoms. Creative Assembly’s latest Total War effort makes some interesting departures from previous traditions in the series, largely informed by a willingness to adopt some of the more romantic, “epic” aspects of this period in Chinese history...

Bob and John discuss Hearts of Iron IV, in particular the game's DLC Waking the Tiger and Man the Guns. John praises Waking the Tiger's depiction of Asia in WWII, while Bob takes issue with Man the Guns' counterfactual scenario based around the Confederacy in America. They both talk a lot about history in grand strategy games before moving on to John's playthroughs of The Division 2 and AC Odyssey...

Bob talks with Andrew Reinhard about Heaven's Vault, the latest game from Inkle Studios. Topics include archaeology, the depiction of archaeologists in games, parsing ancient languages, tavern archaeology, artifact colonialism, and archaeogaming. Please consider supporting us on Patreon! www.patreon.com/historyrespawned Music is Symphony 40 in G minor by texasradiofish (c) 2015 Licensed under a Cr...

Bob talks with Meaghan Walker about Lucas Pope's Return of the Obra Dinn. Topics include seafaring in the Napoleonic Era, nostalgia for the Age of Sail, the Memento Mortem and historical deduction, the history of the East India Company, and mythical sea creatures. *The final question at 24:32 includes spoilers for the game. Please consider supporting us on Patreon! www.patreon.com/historyrespawned...

Bob talks with Dr. Charlie Thomas about Far Cry 2. Topics include postcolonial African warfare, Cold War ideologies in postcolonial struggles, mercenaries in modern history, the importance of the environment in African combat, the role of displaced populations in Africa, and the United Nations in Africa. Please consider supporting us on Patreon! https://www.patreon.com/historyrespawned Music is Sy...

Bob talks with game designer Chris Bateman about his new historical video game, Silk, set on the Silk Road in 200 CE You can learn more about Silk and its Kickstarter by going to https://blog.ihobo.com/silk.html Please consider supporting us on Patreon! www.patreon.com/historyrespawned Music is Symphony 40 in G minor by texasradiofish (c) 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Noncomme...

Bob and John discuss John's latest history and games course, and talk about John's playthrough of Red Dead Redemption 2. Please consider supporting us on Patreon! www.patreon.com/historyrespawned Music is Symphony 40 in G minor by texasradiofish (c) 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial (3.0)license.dig.ccmixter.org/files/texasr…iofish/49560 Ft: W. A. Mozart, Big Bonobo...

John talks about Bethesda's latest entry into the venerable Fallout series, Fallout 76. The attempts to create a different experience to previous games have caused for a mixed reaction from long time players, but a lack of NPCs and a renewed focus on the use of postwar power tools raises some interesting points for historians. You can watch the video episode here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a...

Bob talks with Esther Wright about Red Dead Redemption 2. Topics include Rockstar Games and history; Red Dead 2's depiction of women, race, and Native Americans; and the ways in which Rockstar games are promoted and discussed in games media. *Warning: this episode contains spoilers for the entire main story in Red Dead Redemption 2. Check out Esther's recent article on Bullet Points about Red Dead...

Bob talks with Dr. Kate Cook about Assassin's Creed Odyssey. Topics include the Peloponnesian War, life in Athens and Sparta, women in ancient Greece, the importance of the arts and artists in Athenian society, the politics of Greek plays, and the nature of myth and religion in ancient Greece. *Special thanks to Dr. Hannah Culik-Baird for helping to set up this episode. Please consider supporting...

Bob talks with historian Holly Nielsen about her research on modern British board games, her play-through of Assassin's Creed Odyssey, historical accuracy in games, and using dice in the archive. Check out Holly's review of AC Odyssey in The Guardian: https://www.theguardian.com/games/2018/oct/11/assassins-creed-odyssey-review-ubisoft? CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other Please consider supporting us on Patreo...

Bob and John discuss Assassin's Creed Discovery Tour, museums, edutainment, Yakuza 0, The Last of Us, Zelda Breath of the Wild, Red Dead Redemption 2, Battlefield V, and Civilization VI on the Switch. *We lost our first recording track around the 9 minute mark, and we switched to an inferior backup. Sorry for the drop in quality! The History Respawned website is back! Please check it out and let u...

Bob and John talk about E3’s slate of games with historical settings or themes. There were a lot, as usual! Topics include Assassin’s Creed Odyssey, Fallout 76, Battlefield V, Skull and Bones, Wolfenstein: Youngblood, Ghost of Tsushima, Nioh 2, Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, Resident Evil 2, and Cyberpunk 2077. Please consider supporting us on Patreon! www.patreon.com/historyrespawned Music is Symphon...

Bob talks with writer Rob Rath about his column Critical Intel, his new gig with Extra History, and historical video games. *Interview recorded March 2018. Read more from Rob at his website: https://robwritespulp.com/ Please consider supporting us on Patreon! www.patreon.com/historyrespawned Music is Symphony 40 in G minor by texasradiofish (c) 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution No...

John invites Bob and special guest Robert Greene II to discuss the treatment of twentieth century American history in Machinegames' Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus. We discuss representations of the Black Panther movement, American racial issues prior to World War II, and the importance of games like this in informing public conversations about the history of Nazis and World War II.

Bob talks with Harvard Egyptologist Peter Der Manuelian about Assassin's Creed Origins. Topics include Ptolemy, Cleopatra, Cultural Imperialism, "Blackwashing" vs. "Whitewashing," the Giza Pyramids, and tourist traps. Please consider supporting us on Patreon! https://www.patreon.com/historyrespawned Music is Symphony 40 in G minor by texasradiofish (c) 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attrib...

Bob and John discuss John's recent History and Games class, Bob's playthrough of Assassin's Creed Origins, and the historical worldview of the Metal Gear Solid series. Support History Respawned on Patreon at www.patreon.com/historyrespawned Music is Symphony 40 in G minor by texasradiofish (c) 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial (3.0)license.dig.ccmixter.org/files/texa...

Bob discusses the coverage surrounding Call of Duty WWII, and considers problems related to public memory and scholarship.

Bob and John discuss Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus. Topics include the popular memory of Nazi Germany, and the usability of alternate and counterfactual histories. This episode includes spoilers regarding the entirety of The New Colossus. Support History Respawned on Patreon at www.patreon.com/historyrespawned Music is Symphony 40 in G minor by texasradiofish (c) 2015 Licensed under a Creative...

Bob and Dr. Zach Doleshal discuss Lucas Pope's Papers, Please. Topics include life under communism, the Eastern Bloc in the 1980s, secret police and government surveillance. Dr. Zach Doleshal profile: http://www.shsu.edu/academics/history/faculty/zachary-doleshal-phd Support History Respawned on Patreon at www.patreon.com/historyrespawned Music is Symphony 40 in G minor by texasradiofish (c) 2015...

Bob is joined by Dr. Michelle Brock to discuss Diablo 3. Topics include historical depictions of angels, demons, witches, demonic possession and hell. Dr. Brock's book: https://www.routledge.com/Satan-and-the-Scots-The-Devil-in-Post-Reformation-Scotland-c1560-1700/Brock/p/book/9781472470010 Dr. Brock's Washington Post Op Ed: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/made-by-history/wp/2017/10/18/no-ther...

Bob welcomes John to chat about indie game Four Horsemen, the historicism of dystopia in Guerilla Games’ Horizon: Zero Dawn, and plans for programming for the rest of the fall season. We will be releasing episodes on Assassin’s Creed: Origins, Call of Duty: World War II, and Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus. Another great season for history-themed games lies ahead. Support History Respawned on Pat...

Bob talks with Ubisoft's Resident Historian Maxime Durand about Assassin's Creed: Origins and the newly announced Discovery Tour Mode. Topics include historical research, Ancient Egyptian history, and game based education. Support History Respawned on Patreon at www.patreon.com/historyrespawned Music is Symphony 40 in G minor by texasradiofish (c) 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution...

John welcomes University of California, Davis professor Michael Dylan Foster to discuss Team Ninja’s Nioh, a complex action game that takes liberties with interpretations of Japanese folklore. As Michael explains, this is nothing new: the concept of yokai more broadly is relatively modern, and reinterpreting existing traditional tales is very much in line with how these tales have evolved over the...

Bob and Professor David Andress discuss Assassin's Creed Unity. Topics include the contested memory of the Revolution in France as well as the triumphs and failures of Ubisoft's version of Revolution-era Paris. Originally released on YouTube on January 19, 2015.