The global political scene was recently sent into a tizzy when Donald Trump, the former US President, casually remarked that he wanted to "buy Greenland." The Danish Prime Minister shut that idea down with a sharp, "Greenland is not for sale," and the island has been embroiled in mass protests ever since. Honestly, you have to admire the sheer audacity of a real estate tycoon-turned-president; while us regular folk might treat the idea of shopping for a country like a game of 'Monopoly', he was actually trying to pull it off in real life.

To us gamers, however, Greenland is already a familiar territory. It’s the land at the edge of the map, a barren frozen wasteland, a sanctuary for indigenous people, a vault of hidden secrets, and a sprawling, beautiful wilderness that feels like the last bastion of humanity even after the apocalypse. I’ve rounded up the top 5 games that capture the essence of Greenland so perfectly that I’m half-convinced Trump’s desire to purchase it was born from his gaming sessions.

In 'Hearts of Iron IV', the grand strategy game covering World War II, Greenland is a Danish territory that acts as a surprisingly useful piece of real estate in the North Atlantic. Through 'National Focus' trees, Denmark can develop this desolate land, but its value truly 'skyrockets' the moment the mainland falls to Nazi Germany. Once Denmark is occupied, the US can swoop in with a cheeky, "Don't worry, we'll look after that for you," effectively annexing the territory. Perhaps Trump’s purchase offer wasn't as baseless as we thought.

Depending on the player's choices, Greenland can become an Axis forward base aiming for a North American invasion or an unsinkable aircraft carrier protecting Allied supply lines. The infrastructure is abysmal—building a single runway takes an eternity—but its geopolitical position is top-tier. Recently, some modders have even added event chains for Donald Trump’s purchase offer, proving that if there’s one thing history buffs are good at, it’s an obsessive commitment to historical accuracy.

The endless snowy plains of Greenland are the perfect backdrop for a sense of isolation. The third episode of 'Stories Untold' takes place in a remote meteorological station on the island. You play as 'James', performing repetitive, mundane tasks like tuning radio frequencies and operating machinery. Outside, a blizzard rages, and the radio emits incomprehensible noises. It’s the ultimate, chilling expansion of that feeling you get when you’re the last one left in the office working overtime.

In reality, the Greenland in this game isn't so much a physical location as it is a projection of the protagonist’s crumbling psyche. The cold, the isolation, and the bizarre phenomena are manifestations of his own guilt and subconscious. The final act, where you venture out of the base, plays out like a sequence from a brain surgery or a cardiac arrest. It’s a terrifying look at the horrors hidden behind beautiful auroras—if Trump spent a single night here, he’d likely drop the idea of buying Greenland in a heartbeat.

Greenland is the world's most sparsely populated place, with just over 57,000 people spread across a vast expanse. Fewer people means a lower chance of getting caught, which is why the prologue mission for the 2016 'Hitman' game kicks off in an ICA secret training facility buried deep within a snowy mountain in Greenland. From the outside, it’s just a snow-capped peak, but inside lies a high-tech complex complete with a luxury yacht set and a military base simulation. This is where the legendary assassin 'Agent 47' was born.

The facility is a clandestine spot for training killers and simulating past missions, and despite being underground, it’s vast enough to accommodate large transport helicopters. It’s a setting that only works because Greenland is perfectly isolated from the outside world. Clearly, the cold is where you learn to be a bald assassin who spends his days poisoning drinks and strangling targets. Perhaps Trump is just a true believer in the conspiracy theory that a secret base like this actually exists hidden somewhere in those mountains.

Greenland isn't always cold and gloomy. For those who love vast natural landscapes like snowy peaks and glaciers, it’s a paradise. The 'Asphalt' racing series features Greenland as a course that offers a little bit of everything. With a 'Land of Fire and Ice' theme, you have glaciers collapsing on one side while volcanoes erupt and lava flows on the other. Players drift over ice and jump over molten rivers, tearing through the Greenlandic wilderness.

Could it be that President Trump played the 'Asphalt' series and expected this exact scenery? If so, I have some bad news: there are no active volcanoes in Greenland, so the game’s historical accuracy is effectively zero. The visual spectacle is something you can only enjoy in games, not in reality. Then again, given the current state of affairs, I wouldn't be surprised if the gods of Greenland were angry enough to make a volcano appear.

If you ask players of 'Plague Inc.' which country is the hardest to conquer, twenty out of ten will scream, "Greenland!" In this game about wiping out humanity, Greenland is the final boss—the 'Wall of Lament' itself. There are no airports, no roads, only ports. The moment a single person sneezes anywhere in the world, they immediately declare, "Oh? A virus? Time to shut the port down," and lock the whole island up. It is notoriously difficult to spread a virus there.

Even as the rest of the world falls to a zombie apocalypse, Greenland remains a pristine, untouched zone, which is enough to make any player’s blood boil. You can upgrade cold resistance, master water transmission, and try every trick in the book, but if your luck is bad, it’s game over before you conquer the island. It’s no wonder people joked during the pandemic that even COVID-19 couldn't penetrate Greenland. Trump clearly played this game and thought, "If I own Greenland, I can survive the end of the world!"