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Over the last month, I’ve been taking my time with a replay of Red Dead Redemption 2. It’s the first time I’ve revisited it since completing it for the first time around 2020.
Not that you really needed any reminding that this is a video game on an entirely different level from many others, but I’ve really been struck by Rockstar’s impeccably detailed world. I’d almost forgotten just how good it is.
Every field, town, and woodland is brimming with atmosphere, each NPC feels dynamic and alive, and the game’s slower pace forces you to just take it all in.
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With this realisation, though, I really started to think about other video game worlds that have won me over across the years. So over on the Push Square YouTube channel, I decided to go on a deep dive across 10 such settings, ranging from entire video game settings to specific levels or areas within PlayStation games.
This was a really fun video to make, exploring my all-time favourite video game worlds including the massively underrated PREY and a very specific level from IO’s Hitman trilogy. I dig into aspects like environmental detail, atmosphere, and lore to fill out why I think these worlds hit, even to this day.
You can check the video out now, and let me know what your favourite video game worlds are down in the comments!
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OG FF7, Chrono Trigger and Cross, Dark Cloud (building the towns custom was awesome) and Vice City for old school. Both Ghost games from SP and Skyrim for more recent.
Mass effect is the first game that comes too mind
I always thought Gravity Rush’s Hecksville had a charm to it. Despite it being fantastical, it felt very alive and full of life.
Hong Kong in Shenmue 2 just absolutely blew me away. I already loved the original, but the scale of the sequel was utterly incredible to me.
I'd actually have to think pretty deeply about this, but right off the dome: The Witcher 3, Skyrim, Red Dead Redemption 2, Bloodborne, AC Origins, Riven, and Cyberpunk 2077.
Dark souls and dark souls 3. Sekiro was bloody good too. Seeing as I'm currently playing halo it reminds me how much I loved the halo verse. So many memorable worlds I've immersed myself in over the past 40 plus years.
Skyrim. I think it's the best overall world that Bethesda's ever made. Is it a predictable pick? Probably, but I know that map like the back of my hand.
The vibes are so cohesive, the music ties it all together. It honestly feels like going back to a second home whenever I boot it up.
The world of Nino Kuni, perhaps? So beautiful. So charming.
The original Bioshock.
A place where the artistically and intellectually elite are isolated from the drooling masses, where they can creatively thrive…that’s the place to be. You better believe there would be no live service slop, no ai, no microtransactions and no all digital future down there.
‘Hideaki Nishino, Hermen Hulst, Lin Tao, Would you kindly report to Dr Suchong for evaluation?’
Game world I want to visit = Lands between
Game world I don't want to visit = Raccoon City 😬
Rapture from BioShock 1 & 2. That environment was almost a character in and of itself. Never been so impressed with and immersed in a game's environment or world in my life.
Skyrim, Sleeping Dogs, Saints Row 2, GTA San Andreas to name a few.
Might sound basic, but BotW's Hyrule is quite easily the most magical video game world I've ever experienced. The Great Sea is also pretty high up there.
The worlds of Gravity Rush, Horizon, Xenoblade, Bioshock, Crimson Skies, Bananza, Splatoon, Dragon Quest,etc. are also pretty special to me. I could really go on ad infinitum.
EDIT: JET SET RAAAADDDIIIIOOOOO!!!
EDIT-EDIT: Ghostwire Tokyo. I really could just go on and on... Body Harvest.
LAST EDIT: Is Azurik an instrument?
@Oram77 I reckon you'd have a better chance of surviving Raccoon City, honestly.
Underrated one maybe, but loved Sleeping Dogs' Hong Kong
Shropshire, England. Everybody's gone to The Rapture. It had no photo-mode but I rigged one together by aiming an SLR at the screen, with a tripod too obviously.
It was my first walking simulator and I wanted to capture the memory @Oram77 I know what you're going to say.
In no particular order...
-BioShock series
-God of War series
-Red Dead Redemption 1
-Tomb Raider series and it's varied locales
-Fable series, Albion
-Darksiders series
-Hyrule, other than BotW & TotK
-Elder Scrolls
-Assassin's Creed series. Every locale in the series is stunning, but Odyssey most of all because Ancient Greece is a favorite setting of mine.
Honestly for me its The Division 1 and 2. The lore and books I have read about this world is just mindblowing and even 7-8 years afer the Release of the second Game I jump back in every 2 months or so.
From old to new
Story of Thor
Zelda Ocarina of Time
Shenmue (2)
Bioshock trilogy
Red dead Redemption 2
Kingdom Come Deliverance (2)
Love to see that I'm not the only fan of Rapture
The one I live in...
Spider-Man and Spider-Man 2
The Division 1 and 2
I adore Rapture from Bioshock, it's a world I was so desperate to explore I learned how to play FPS never had any interest before that.
The Mansion/RPD/Raccoon City from the OG Resident Evil trilogy have a special place in my heart, the mansion in RE1 completely blew me away it was the first proper jump from 2D to 3D for me and it's an experience that stuck with me. The remakes made it special all over again and returning to the city in Requiem made me pretty emotional.
I was raised on 2D Sonic so anything from the 16 bit or Mania is a joy to run through.
Shadow Moses from MGS was another that I couldn't get enough of returning there in MGS4 was much like returning to Raccoon City.
Yharnam is also sublime, the first FromSoft world that pulled me in.
@RoomWithaMoose
Body Harvest. Now that was a great game. I loved the Russian level.
It’s a very good question, in the sense of the game world I’ve loved delving into the most. Very good in the sense it’s actually made me realise that after all this time none come to mind!
Favourite games, definitely, game worlds? Two very different set of answers. I loved Mario 64 to the point I’d play it most days for years growing up, but that world as such isn’t even much more than an empty carcass for the most part.
Ratchet and Clank, Marathon, Destiny and a few others I have played in recent memory really speak to me design language wise, the world that’s possible from them. With those three mentioned I think more about what could be possible in those amazing worlds artistically and thematically rather than the actual game story provided. So I’d say them most recently.
@Oram77 id take my chances in RC 😃
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