From war zones to coal mines to POW camps, a new generation of video games is helping museums bring history to life and reach audiences beyond their walls.
What does war look like from the eyes of children? For people far from the conflict, it may be difficult to imagine. A new narrative adventure game, We Grew Up in War, attempts to answer that question through the stories of Mac, Anna, Valerie, and Melisa.
Developed jointly by Prague-based studio Charles Games and Sarajevo’s War Children’s Museum, the game is based on real testimonies from children who grew up in the conflict.
The museum was founded in the aftermath of the 1992-1995 Bosnian war and is building one of the world’s largest archives of wartime childhood. The agency is part of Sites of Conscience, a global network of organizations that confront difficult pasts to foster dialogue.
The game reflects that work, providing not only a record of events, but also a window into what war feels like from a child’s perspective.
“We Grew Up in War” is not a traditional game. No points, no advances, no wins. Based on the real-life experiences of children growing up in conflict zones, mainly Bosnia and Ukraine, it uses immersive wartime sketches to bring their stories to life and foster empathy and awareness among players.
This approach is part of a broader EU-funded research effort known as MEMENTOES, in which museums, historians and game developers will explore how video games can tell difficult stories of the past and reach audiences beyond traditional exhibitions.
They use virtual reality and other immersive technologies to make painful history more tangible for players.
“This game is not just about suffering and portraying survivors as victims,” said Jasminko Halilovic, founder and director of the Sarajevo Museum, which focuses on childhood experiences during the war. “It’s also about family life, friendships, education, and having dreams and hopes.”
A new way to tell old stories
Museums have long grappled with how to tell their complex and often traumatic histories. Through the MEMENTOES collaboration, researchers from Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Greece, Ireland and the Netherlands set out to test whether video games could offer new ways to reach broader, younger audiences.
We Grew Up in War is one of several titles developed by the MEMENTOES team of curators, researchers, and game designers.
Nikolaos Dimitriou, senior researcher and project coordinator at the Center for Research and Technology Hellas (CERTH) in Thessaloniki, Greece, was a little skeptical at first, but was intrigued by the idea of interactive storytelling.
“When I was younger, I played video games just for fun,” he said. “At one point I thought maybe I was spending too much time on them. But this is different. It’s like taking a history lesson, but in a more engaging way.”
step into the past
Alongside “We Grew Up in War,” the MEMENTOES team has created two other very different gaming experiences. One of them, “They From Below,” uses virtual reality to reimagine the 1956 mining disaster in Marcinelle, Belgium.
Developed in collaboration with Causa Creations, and also provided with information from Le Bois du Cazier Museum in Marcinelle, another site of conscience in the network, and the relatives of the victims, players are placed inside a coal mine and confronted with the harsh realities faced by miners.
Another game, Gulag Diaries, takes players to a forced labor camp in Soviet-era Siberia.
It was developed by researchers from the Computer Science Institute of the Hellas Research and Technology Foundation (ICS-FORTH) in collaboration with Gulag.cz, a Czech-based research and education initiative that documents the history of labor camps (forced labor camps) through expeditions, survivor testimonies, and digital reconstructions.
The game, based on real-life expeditions and historical data from Gulag.cz, follows researchers as they travel through the Siberian wilderness to explore the ruins of a fictional concentration camp, connecting players with the experiences of the victims.
“Players discover objects left behind by prisoners,” said Stavroula Ntoa, who led the scientific research on the project. “Each item has a personal story and helps players understand what life was like at the camp.”
walk a thin line
Using games to explore sensitive historical topics comes with unique challenges. Unlike traditional exhibits, games are interactive, which raises questions about atmosphere, accuracy, and respect. It may be a very fine line to judge.
“What we’re trying to do with the game is the same thing we’re trying to do with the exhibition: show how complex these experiences are,” Halilovic said. However, striking the right balance is not always easy.
“One of the challenges was not to ‘gamify’ the experience too much,” Ntoa said. “The goal was not to make it fun, but to make it an engaging and valuable learning experience.”
Achieving that balance required close collaboration between developers, historians, and those who inspired the game’s story.
“Using authentic testimonies can make them unique and identifiable,” Halilovic explained. “We worked closely with our contributors to ensure they were happy with the way their stories were presented.”
More than just information
The game attracts visitors and focuses on historical injustices. “Games are a great tool for making cultural heritage tangible, accessible and memorable for the public,” Dimitriu said.
But their real strength may be in building empathy by putting players in someone else’s shoes and having them experience events from the inside.
“If players can understand the multi-layered effects of war on children, it will also help children understand the importance of peace,” Halilovic said.
Early findings suggest this approach could have real impact. In some cases, researchers have found that having middle school students participate in “Growing Up in War” can change their attitudes toward refugees.
And the lessons learned are not limited to the past.
“These issues are not just historical issues,” Dimitriu said. “Children are still growing up in combat zones, and helping people empathize with those experiences is so important.”
Beyond a museum visit
The research collaboration behind these games ended in 2025, but the work is far from over. We Grew Up in War is planned for a wider release, including educational and commercial versions on the Steam video game platform.
For Halilović, the possibilities go far beyond a single project.
“This game allows people from all over the world to participate in our collection,” he said. “That wasn’t possible before.”
As museums seek new ways to connect with audiences, digital tools are becoming increasingly important, as are efforts across Europe to digitize cultural heritage and make it more widely accessible.
Games are beginning to play a key role in that change, especially when leveraging immersive technology and rich digital archives to bring museum messages into players’ homes and classrooms.
“These allow us to extend the story beyond the walls of the museum,” Halilovic said. “And to reach people who might never otherwise walk through our doors.”
This article was originally published in Horizon, EU Research and Innovation Magazine.
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