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[olemars]

I was also going to mention AC, since it's made me look up so many things. Though yes, it's mainly limited to architecture and specific historical characters.

I would otherwise recommend Sword of the Samurai, one of Sid Meier's slightly lesser known classics. Features tea.

[Owlbread]

Kid you not. Load up M2TW and that claim is actually in the text somewhere. I was devastated that this was being passed to millions of less-discerning gamers as "history" when it's pretty corny and obviously an urban legend. The middle finger arose as an insult probably due to a vague similarity to genitalia, not corny pop-history connected to English longbowmen. 

The person making the loading screen quotes and the background info for units has been phoning his job in for quite some time. This is a buyer beware for the Total War series. Play these games because they're fun. Never repeat anything in them on a history exam! There's no real push to maintain accuracy, even when it has nothing to do with the gameplay.

You think that's bad, what about the fact that every single highlander looks like Mel Gibson and his pals from Braveheart?

[Rakonas]

CK2 Sword of Islam made me feel pretty immersed into medieval muslim culture, same with Spice Trader or something along those lines, though it's a pretty mediocre java game.

[Man of Paper]

Europa Universalis is a very accurate and well-designed sandbox of the world where you can jump in at any point after 1399 (in the base game) and develop your economy and power as any country you want: from the powerhouse Spanish Castille to a minor kingdom in what is today Nigeria. It is only super immersive if you consider a good model of medieval economics and politics immersive, otherwise each country is pretty similar to each other country.

While it doesn't give too much information historically, and can vary widely from our history (as Paradox games tend to do) I will say that if you're a fan of strategy games that this is a must play, for reals. I'm fairly new to it, but so far nothing has felt better than  having my Burgundian king declared Holy Roman Emperor, destroying upstart Austria, and waging war against invading French and Castillian armies only to push them into the seas and force them to release every country they've taken over.

I feel like a god amongst men. Not many games let me feel truly powerful.

[Pakhawaj]

If you're going to recommend a Europa Universalis game wouldn't II make more sense than III given that it's a lot more historical?
The time period covered in Europa Universalis II is modern rather than ancient but it still gives a good historical perspective of things, and you will learn a lot. Try it out, it's pretty old so it's probably very cheap now (maybe even free?) and download the AGCEEP mod for even more historical events- particularly in Asia.

I wish Chinese companies would translate more games into English, there have been quite a few games set in the Three Kingdoms period that've interested me but there's no way I'm tackling all those squiggles.
If you can read Chinese (and you're watching a Chinese let's play, so it is possible!) play Legend of Wulin Heroes, it looks so interesting, but it's so text driven that there's no way I could play it.

Edit: Just read the second page and you already mention it, haha. What are the chances.

[lordcooper]

If I understand right, you don't require historical accuracy, but in-game cultural immersion for whatever culture the game gives.

Yes

In that case, Armageddon MUD.

[Neonivek]

If I understand right, you don't require historical accuracy, but in-game cultural immersion for whatever culture the game gives.

Yes

In that case, Armageddon MUD.

I am really not interested in that world and how rape is considered a fun pass time... err or is that HellMu... or is that both? hmmm

Though yeah the Fallout series does count.

[lordcooper]

Armageddon is to HellMoo what The Walking Dead is to RapeLay.  Don't let the distastefulness of a terrible game put you off a completely unrelated great one.

E: There's even a rule stating that out of character consent must be given for all sexual RP prior to the event.

[Virtz]

I'd go with Morrowind, though you've probably played that already. It's probably the game where this sort of thing worked best for me. I was genuinely interested in what happened to the Dwemer and the cultural oddities of Morrowind were pretty interesting, even outside of the lore books.

And while not ancient, Pathologic has a bit of a superstitious and weird culture to it. Though it's plagued with broken English as well.

[Neonivek]

Armageddon is to HellMoo what The Walking Dead is to RapeLay.  Don't let the distastefulness of a terrible game put you off a completely unrelated great one.

I kinda like Rapelay. It is a VERY weird game but it actually has a few great concepts and sometimes it actually outright succeeds at being a creepy horror game even inspite itself.

Though yeah I'll try not to get them confused.

And speaking of confused... I mixed up "RapeLay" with Illbleed WONDERFUL! Yeah Illbleed is the game I sorta like.

Yeah I am hopeless and you should give up on me Lordcooper.

"I'd go with Morrowind, though you've probably played that already"

Never played it. My first Elder Scrolls game was Oblivion

[Trollheiming]

M2TW was not made by the uk creative assembly team, but a different team in australia (which is currently called sega studios australia). Although there are historically wrong bits you could have picked from a game they actually made, even so the titles are well research and mostly accurate.

The other example was from Empire Total War. You failed to explain how that "well-researched" product can claim Jefferson made a quote about the Constitution giving the "right" to pursuit happiness when he really said it was a "self-evident truth" of all mankind in the Declaration. This is elementary school stuff here, man. If a real historian had passed over the quotes and background information with a single cursory glance, much of it could have been avoided. It's clear that the historical part is regarded as mere filler to be filled in.

I've got a long line of inaccuracies and outright falsehoods queued up to go on any given TW product. It's not made by people who really are inspired by history. The mistakes are often easily researched and avoided, and would not impinge on gameplay. TW series is a crass money-grab that pretends to be inspired by history as a gimmick.

You think that's bad, what about the fact that every single highlander looks like Mel Gibson and his pals from Braveheart?

Well, yeah, excellent case-in-point, but then there was a certain cultural momentum built up behind that image. They'd have to be brave to tackle it. On the other hand, they butcher history willfully even when there's no harm to established modern perceptions or gameplay. It's just filler to them.

[Man of Paper]

@Pakhawaj: Like HoI2, I've heard it's better than the game I play, but haven't gotten around to getting it. Probably would have suggested it myself if I played it, considering how much I hear people making brainlove to it.

And lordcooper, you gave me my first chuckle of the day. Neonivek, my first hearty fit of laughter. Great way to wake up.

More on topic: If you can find a good emulator (what's this forum's policy on discussing emus?) or an SNES, Liberty or Death is another game made by the dudes who did Nobunaga's Ambition, which was also mentioned earlier in this thread, and also just as awesome. I've also played The Guild 2: Renaissance. While it may not focus on history much at all, it is still a little fun. Finally, it's still in barebones and doesn't include much but the character, world, and a bunch of pretty multitile trees, but Ultima Ratio Regum will eventually be generating civilizations and their histories, tying in their mythologies to sites in the world, and creating their own languages. But I think I've seen you in that thread, so you probably know all that.

[Virtz]

Never played it. My first Elder Scrolls game was Oblivion

Try it, then. The settings of Oblivion and Skyrim ain't got nothing on Morrowind's. It's way more foreign and unusual.

[Shakerag]

LegendMUD.  Text based goodness, and the entire world is based on the myth and legends of each area for that time period.  Ancient Ireland?  You get the wild hunt.  Medieval Romania?  Vampires.  Industrial France?  Phantom of the Opera. 

Plus it's made by Raph Koster, for those to recognize the name.

[RedKing]

KOEI has a ton of games which are drenched in Japanese and Chinese history, in the same way that you could expect Sid Meier's Gettysburg to have a lot of American history in it.

Then there's the Dynasty Warriors series, which while not historically accurate, are culturally accurate in depicting characters and events the same way that a game of Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter might. 

The characters are well known, and bear more than a passing resemblance to traditional depictions, but it's definitely been wuxia'd up (but then, movie, TV and comic book adaptations have been as well, so maybe it's not as much artistic license as it first appears.)