7 Best Patriotic Games to Play for the 4th of July, From Fallout 76 to Broforce

With the United States marking its 250th year of independence this July 4, gaming outlet Insider Gaming has put together a list of the seven titles it reckons best capture the holiday’s mix of fireworks, freedom and star-spangled bravado. According to Insider Gaming, the picks range from post-apocalyptic MMOs to side-scrolling shooters, and lean heavily on satire, alternate history and frontier nostalgia rather than straightforward flag-waving.

Fallout 76 leads a list built on satire, not just celebration

Topping the list is Bethesda’s Fallout 76, which Insider Gaming describes as one of the most patriotic games ever made almost by accident. The MMO is set around America’s tricentennial in 2076, tasking vault dwellers with rebuilding a irradiated Appalachia while dodging mutants and raiders, and it even lets players deck their characters out in Americana-themed outfits complete with fireworks and cannon props for the in-game holiday.

That framing fits neatly with where the game currently sits in its live-service life. Bethesda has continued layering content onto Fallout 76 years after its rocky 2018 launch, and the studio has recently been teasing next-generation console improvements and new playable options for the game, according to Shane the Gamer’s earlier coverage of developer comments on the title’s roadmap.

Read also: Fallout 76: Devs Talk Next-Gen Update, Tease Super Mutant Playable Race

Revolution, resistance and the open frontier

Insider Gaming’s second pick, Ubisoft’s Assassin’s Creed 3, drops players into the American Revolution as Connor, a half-Native protagonist who ends up loosely aligned with George Washington’s Continental Army while uncovering an ancient order of assassins. It remains one of the series’ most historically grounded entries, built entirely around the founding of the United States rather than a modern-day framing device.

The list then turns to The Division 2, Ubisoft’s multiplayer shooter in which players take on the role of a sleeper agent restoring order in a Washington DC devastated by a biological attack. Insider Gaming notes the game is still receiving updates nearly seven years after launch, giving it staying power among the games chosen for the roundup.

Rounding out the more grounded entries are Homefront: The Revolution, described as a scrappy resistance shooter against an occupying force on American soil, and Red Dead Redemption alongside its 2017 sequel, which Insider Gaming frames as capturing frontier-era American identity even if their outlaw protagonists are technically fighting the establishment rather than upholding it.

Alternate history and chaotic parody close out the list

MachineGames’ Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus makes the cut for its brutal alternate-history premise, casting players as B.J. Blazkowicz fighting to liberate a United States occupied by a fascist regime. Insider Gaming calls it a stark, well-realised picture of what might have unfolded had history taken a darker turn eight decades ago.

Closing things out is Broforce, the tongue-in-cheek run-and-gun title that leans fully into parody, with over-the-top action-movie “bros” causing maximum destruction. It’s the list’s most self-aware entry, poking fun at the machismo and explosions often associated with American action cinema rather than presenting any serious political statement.