gaming

5 Video Game Worlds We Want to Inhabit Immediately

Rockstar Games

Published Jul 3, 2019

When it comes to video games, specifically the ones that are more story-driven, the setting is often just as important as the story, characters and gameplay. In many cases, the landscapes act as a character.

Sure, gameplay and story are vital to any video game. After all, if it’s not fun to play and the story doesn’t capture your imagination, then why should you be playing it? However, they are just two pieces of the puzzle. Landscapes help paint the picture and reinforce a narrative, provide challenges for the player to overcome and actually make you care about what’s going on in the game.

As games continue to outpace movies and television as the most profitable medium in entertainment, and professional actors continue to become a part of them, the worlds that are constructed for players to “live in” become all the more vital.

These settings are, let’s face it, more exciting than our own, which got us thinking: What video game worlds would we like to call home? Here are some of our top choices.

1. Skyrim

Bethesda

Few games were able to capture what it is like to play a game in a “living, breathing” game quite like 2011’s The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. Set in the fictional world of Tamriel, and more specifically the province of Skyrim, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim puts players in the shoes of the Dragonborn, who sets out to prevent the end of the world.

The map is full of cities, mountains, forests, ancient dungeons and so much more, all which serve as a means for players to do almost anything their heart desires.

Want to join sides in a civil war? Sure, you can do that. Become a wizard or a deadly assassin? Why not.

Skyrim was a no-brainer to include on our list.

2. The ‘Mass Effect’ Franchise

Bioware

The Mass Effect franchise is one, much like Skyrim, that truly took the concept of a living world to the next level. It’s set in a future where humans have caught up to the rest of the galaxy in terms of technology, as we discover faster than light travel, which allows the player to embark on a series of adventures. The landscapes and set pieces that the player visits are stunning and are among the best in all of gaming.

Sure there is the looming threat in the game of galaxy-wide destruction, but being able to call a galaxy where you’d be able to live on almost any planet of your choosing sounds pretty good to us. Not to mention you get to pal around with a bunch of cool aliens (shoutout Garrus.)

3. 'Star Wars' Galaxy from ‘Knights of the Old Republic’

Bioware

This choice is cheating a little bit, considering the fact that these games take place in the Star Wars universe aka one of the biggest and most detailed settings in entertainment, but the setting of Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic and its sequel Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic—The Sith Lords is not the movies.

Taking place thousands of years before the films, this series of games allows players to visit some familiar locations and new ones, and also dives deeper into the lore of the Jedi and their villainous counterparts, the Sith. Similar to Mass Effect, being able to live in space with hundreds, if not thousands, of planets to visit sounds like a dream come true.

Plus, we would jump at the chance to become Jedis. A blue lightsaber would be a great addition to any ‘fit.

4. The American Frontier from ‘Red Dead Redemption II’

Rockstar Games

There aren’t many settings that evoke a sense of wonder and amusement quite like the Wild West, and no game series has done it better than the Red Dead franchise. Building on what the first game had done, Red Dead Redemption II took landscapes to a new level, with snow-capped mountains, booming cities, dry deserts, swampy marshes and endless forests that were all open for the player to roam around in.

If you wanted to live in the big city, you could do that, or if a more laid-back lifestyle is your thing, then the frontier is open to you as well. You can hunt, fish, play cards or hell, you can just go out drinking if you want to (there’s a mission within the story that completely revolves around that).

Red Dead Redemption II already had one of the best stories of the year, if not of all time, so the setting served as the perfect accompaniment to that narrative.

5. Minecraft

Mojang AB/4J Studios

Who needs someone else’s created world, when you can construct your own? Minecraft has become one of the most profitable and most played games of all-time—and with good reason. The freedom it affords the player to do almost anything their heart desires is something that few games, if any others, have yet to accomplish.

Players have been able to create their own worlds or have even recreated the settings of shows like Game of Thrones and Star Trek. Minecraft doesn’t set a cap on the player's imagination and needless to say, we’d jump at the chance to join that world.

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