One enterprising player has created a timeline that would allow gamers to go through the span of human history, offering a sequential experience of the evolution of society.
Of course they could have just put Spore or Civilisation on the list, but that wouldn't have been a particularly interesting post. On the Gaming subreddit the timeline comes courtesy of user ucankabak with a list of over 20 titles that charts human history from pre-history all the way to the distant future.
The chart has invited conversation and debate as well since commentors argue what has been left out and what should have been included. The timeline does rely heavily on the Assassin's Creed series, which is famous for dropping in on many different time periods, from Revolutionary Paris to Ptolemaic Egypt to Ancient Greece.
Pre-history is also represented with the likes of Far Cry Primal and Ancestors: The Humankind Odyssey, when humans used more primitive tools and technology, were hunted as well as hunters, and were expanding across the world from its African origins.
The Medieval period finds titles like Plague Tale Innocence while non-Western society is represented by the likes of Ghost of Tsushima. In fact, there could be more games on the list that show the breadth of humanity over the ages and the list unwittingly reveals the overrepresentation of America and western countries for games' settings, while Japan is one of the few Asian societies on there, with Yakuza also getting featured. There is a cultish mention of 2009's The Saboteur, an action adventure developed by Pandemic Studios for EA set in Nazi-occupied France.
Moving into more modern times, we see Red Dead Redemption 2, Mafia 3, and GTA 5 showing us how crime is a part of human society, although punishment and regret is often a part of the theme of these games.
As we move beyond the present, we enter science fiction although obviously it'll be some time before we know how accurate the predictions these games have made. There is Detroit Become Human and Cyberpunk 2077 with their depictions of tech augmented humans. Then, the Outer Wilds dreams of a spacefaring race. Finally, Horizon Zero Dawn offers an ominous view of the future, one where humanity has had to reboot since humans wiped out much of modern civilisation due to hubris and unseen technological ramifications.
Let's hope crime, dystopia, and assassins are not just the fate of humanity, but then again it is fun to play in the safe fictional worlds of video games.