The Copper Agein human history (c. 5000 BC - 2000 BC) is a significant transitional period. It was a time when our ancestors stopped bashing rocks over their heads and started using sturdier and more specialized tools for murder. That was all thanks to copper. They discovered that copper doesn’t break easily after coming into contact with their neighbor’s skull, unlike stone.
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Of course, warfare wasn’t the only application. Copper tools proved more useful for agriculture than stone tools. And this sparked off a steep human development trend all the way to the modern age. What does this mean for video games? Well, what happened in the Copper Age has led to this day, an era where regular Homo sapiens could play great educational video games, among other contemporary comforts. In turn, these followingvideo games gave the Copper Age its proper recognition.
7Age Of Empires
The “OG"Age of Empireswas always so fond of the early stages of human civilization. It starts off in the Stone Age and stops at the Iron Age when nations started getting too imperialistic. Next to the Stone Age is the “Tool Age” or the combination of the Neolithic and Chalcolithic Age (also known as the Copper Age).
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Players could stop there if they wanted and purposely halt the progression to the Bronze and Iron Ages. In any case,Age of Empiresis one of the few games that acknowledges the Copper Age’s existence and significance all the while teaching players the value of resourcemanagement and strategic planningfor their chosen ancient faction.
6Rise Of Nations
Rise of Nationshad an even bigger ambition and scope thanAge of Empires.Instead of stopping at the Iron Age and continuing onwards via a sequel,Rise of Nationslets players begin from the Stone Age all the way up to the Information Age. It’s like an RTS version of theCivilizationgames.
But as expected, a lot of human technology is compressed here. The Stone, Copper, and Bronze Ages (c. 10,000–800 BCE) were compressed into the Ancient Age. Truth be told, the game is somewhat primitive if limited during that era, but at least players get a general idea of how much metallurgy and the discovery of copper tools (and eventually bronze) have impacted mankind.
5Empire Earth
BeforeRise of Nationsstarted expanding on the concept of RTSCivilization, there wasEmpire Earthwhichwas equally ambitious. It divides its ages into “Epochs” or specific time periods starting from the Prehistoric Age to the Space Age (quite a dizzying scope). Copper Age, which is the third Epoch onEmpire Earthlasted from 5000 BC to 2000 BC, which is about right.
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Likewise, players get to pick their favorite civilization in a tech, military, and domination race against other nations. It also makes for a good history lesson as the Copper Age or Epoch 3 introduces agriculture and its corresponding buildings to the tech tree, highlighting how copper changed the way humans lived forever.
4Civilization 6
This one’s a given already.Civilization 6and its predecessors have longexplored human historythrough a playful tone. Like the other historical games,Civilization 6has its own eras for mankind. Copper Age here falls in the Ancient Era (4000 BC - 1000 BC).
It’s sadly a time period in the game that goes by fast because there’s not much fun technology and policies to help players. But that only further reinforces the idea of how much has changed once humans have started bending metal to their will. Like in previous games, players also get to choose their civilization and their civ leader in a comedic re-enactment of human history.
3Old World
Old Worldis one of the most comparable games toCivilizationsince it’s also a 4X title that makes human historyits chess board. However,Old Worldhas a narrower focus. It starts in the Ancient Age and ends in the Classical Age. That gives players enough time to explore the Copper Age which is bundled into the Ancient Age era.
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The faction choices here are also more limited. There are seven kingdoms to choose from each with its own noble families (sub-factions). Historically, this is more fitting since it was only during the Copper Age that people started claiming land en masse through complex agricultural villages and began forming something reminiscent of nations. So there’splenty to learn here while having fun.
2Pharaoh
Pharaohis all about ancient and classical Egypt, but don’t expect it to play out likeOld WorldorCivilization. This one is a city-builder where players need to build up a city until they’re eventually promoted to Pharaoh status (totally not how it works, by the way). The game explores the many eras of Ancient Egypt starting with its Predynastic period all the way up to Cleopatra VII of the Hellenistic Period.
After the Predynastic period is the Archaic period, and the Copper Age spans both eras. Players will be able to see some changes in the lifestyles and architectures of their citizens during such transitions as they bring about new resources and quality-of-life improvements to their cities. Just don’t skip the tutorial; the game is notorious for its steep learning curve.
1Dawn Of Man
All these grand and ambitious games with the Copper Age can get tedious and stressful at times. So here’s another city-builder as a counterbalance.Dawn of Manexplores human civilization from the Paleolithic Age (Stone) up to the Iron Age. Players start off as a roaming Stone Age tribe until they develop enough technology and tools for agriculture (Copper Age) andsettle into kingdoms.
Eventually, they’ll start discovering iron and crucifying some guy named Jesus; then before you know it, they’ll be waging a virtual war on Twitter. They grow up so fast. In any case, players are there to ensure that that Stone Age tribe survives long enough to make privileged descendants that could neither hunt nor farm.
