The Copper Age in 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.
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 following video games gave the Copper Age its proper recognition.
7 Age Of Empires
- Release year: 1997
- Platforms: Microsoft Windows, Windows Mobile, Macintosh
The "OG" Age of Empires was 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).
Players could stop there if they wanted and purposely halt the progression to the Bronze and Iron Ages. In any case, Age of Empires is one of the few games that acknowledges the Copper Age's existence and significance all the while teaching players the value of resource management and strategic planning for their chosen ancient faction.
6 Rise Of Nations
- Release year: 2003
- Platforms: Microsoft Windows, OS X
Rise of Nations had an even bigger ambition and scope than Age of Empires. Instead of stopping at the Iron Age and continuing onwards via a sequel, Rise of Nations lets players begin from the Stone Age all the way up to the Information Age. It's like an RTS version of the Civilization games.
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.
5 Empire Earth
- Release year: 2001
- Platforms: Microsoft Windows
Before Rise of Nations started expanding on the concept of RTS Civilization, there was Empire Earth which was 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 on Empire Earth lasted from 5000 BC to 2000 BC, which is about right.
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.
4 Civilization 6
- Release year: 2016
- Platforms: Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Android, Xbox One, Microsoft Windows, iOS, Linux, Mac operating systems
This one's a given already. Civilization 6 and its predecessors have long explored human history through a playful tone. Like the other historical games, Civilization 6 has 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.
3 Old World
- Release year: 2021
- ​​​​​​​Platforms: Microsoft Windows, macOS, Linux
Old World is one of the most comparable games to Civilization since it's also a 4X title that makes human history its chess board. However, Old World has 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.
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's plenty to learn here while having fun.
2 Pharaoh
- Release year: 1999
- ​​​​​​​Platforms: Microsoft Windows
Pharaoh is all about ancient and classical Egypt, but don't expect it to play out like Old World or Civilization. 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.
1 Dawn Of Man
- Release year: 2018
- ​​​​​​​Platforms: PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Microsoft Windows, macOS, Mac operating systems, Classic Mac OS
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 Man explores 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) and settle 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.