History, Time and the Past in Radiant Historia

The document analyzes how the Japanese role-playing game Radiant Historia (2010, 2017) explores themes of history, time, and the past, arguing that it functions as a historiographical game. The analysis focuses on textual elements and game structure across both the Nintendo DS and 3DS versions. The central thesis is that Radiant Historia, despite not being a traditionally "historical" game representing real-world events, engages with ideas of history and its construction more freely than games constrained by historical accuracy expectations.

The paper highlights that the game's narrative, involving protagonist Stocke navigating parallel timelines and an extradimensional realm to configure a "true history," metaphorically represents the act of writing history. Dialogue, particularly with the denizens of Historia and the self-proclaimed historian Nemesia, reinforces this theme of historical writing and rewriting. The study posits that the game initially presents a reconstructionist and deterministic view of history but then deconstructs it through player interaction, emphasizing the reconfiguration of events.

A key finding is that Radiant Historia foregrounds a sense of history emerging from the relationship between past and future, grounded in the present, aligning with Koselleck's concept of historical time. The document concludes that the game's "non-historical" nature allows for conceptual playfulness, enabling developers to circumvent player expectations of historical "facts" and offer a nuanced articulation of history beyond simple gameplay. The analysis contributes to historical game studies by examining how games can trouble disciplinary frameworks and explore historical thinking, rather than just historical content.