Cold War Heroics A study of narrative in FPS games based on the Cold War (2000 – Present).

The Cold War is a dominant period that historically inspired video games choose to depict. However, the narratives that these video games are offering, is unfortunately underexplored in the field of historical video game studies. Whilst scholars have explored certain events in these video games individually, there is a gap in analysing how when analysed together, games can formulate entire narratives about the Cold War which are then presented to players. As many people engaging in video games are not necessarily interested in history, it is important in understanding what themes and ideas these games put forward about the Cold War as they may offer biased or overly simplistic representations of what was a multifaceted and complex global conflict. This thesis aims to fill in this scholarly gap and serve as a starting point from which a more general consensus can be built around how historical video game portray narratives of the Cold War. By studying two titles from different developers and regions, an understanding about how FPS games generally construct narratives around the Cold War can begin to be formulated.