Video games can take place in all sorts of locations. There aren’t really many limitations, outside of creativity. Of course, if you’re making a historical game, you may need to use specific locations, as that is where the events took place. In most games, though, the main setting and the places you visit are up to the developers.
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That said, many of them stick to types of locations players are aware of and can relate to. So, even in a fantasy world, you see places similar to what we have on Earth. There is nothing wrong with that, but developers perhaps overuse the following locations.
8 Dark Caves
Exploring caves isn’t unheard of in real life, as some people do it as a hobby. Yet, it isn’t incredibly common except in the video game realm. Many games have you exploring dark and likely damp caves in an effort to locate precious loot. Sometimes, you do find some nice things, but often, you also run into beasts that will try to kill you.
These sorts of caves are often seen in RPGs, particularly those that are open-world or contain open areas. They serve as extra places to explore that feel like a natural addition to the game world.
7 Abandoned Houses
A lot of games are set in dangerous post-apocalyptic worlds or places that have been ravaged by war. Therefore, the general area is usually in bad shape, and some people may have even fled or been forcibly removed from their homes. This is why there are a lot of abandoned houses around for you to scavenge supplies from.
These are good places for developers to leave valuable things for you to find, as they could’ve realisticly been left by the previous tenants. It makes a lot more sense than people just randomly leaving valuable items out in the wild. Also, the houses being abandoned means you don’t have to feel bad about taking stuff, as there is no sign that the owner is coming back.
6 The Desert
Traipsing through the desert seems like it would be a very unpleasant experience in real life. The heat burning you up and the sand getting everywhere seems like it would be horrible.
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Yet, it is something games make you do quite often. Games like Uncharted 3, Gears 5, and Assassin’s Creed Origins all have sequences where you travel around a desert. The constant usage of these types of locations is likely down to how visually distinct they are compared to most other locations. There are no trees or buildings in sight, and the brightly-colored sand is often easy on the eye.
5 Jungles
Action-adventure games love a good jungle level. In fact, one of the reasons why the Uncharted and Tomb Raider series are always compared so much is the fact that they often have you explore jungles. These environments are regularly used in the platformer genre, too, as shown by the Crash Bandicoot and Donkey Kong games.
They do make for interesting locations. You have trees to climb and vegetation to admire. Plus, developers can naturally include animals for you to fight or hunt in a jungle without it seeming forced – that is, unless the animal is something like a fish or an elephant.
4 Space Stations
In real life, space travel hasn’t gotten to the level yet where the average person can pop in and out of a space station. However, this is seen in a lot of video games, namely those in the sci-fi genre. Many make for iconic locations, such as The Citadel from Mass Effect.
Games that have you exploring space often use these stations as hub worlds where you can stock up on resources and talk to a bunch of NPCs. Yet, that isn’t how space stations are always used. Sometimes, these places are mostly deserted apart from a bunch of monsters, as seen in Prey and Alien: Isolation. A mostly empty space station makes for a great horror game location because being in the middle of space makes you feel more isolated and gives you no chance to really flee.
3 Taverns
Taverns are a common sight in games, particularly in the RPG genre. In fact, it’s hard to think of many fantasy-themed games that don’t include some sort of tavern, inn, or pub.
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Games set in more contemporary worlds typically have bars instead of taverns, but they function in a similar fashion. These places are typically for you to rest, eat, trade, and pick up quests. They usually serve as a nice, safe hub for you to enter, away from the enemies and monsters out in the wild.
2 Sewers
The sewers aren’t the nicest places to visit. After all, they’re wet, grimy, and smell horrible. Yet, developers love to include them in their games. A countless number of games feature sequences where you need to wade through the sewers. It doesn’t matter if the genre is RPG, FPS, action-adventure, survival, or whatever else; there is likely to be a sewer in the game somewhere.
It isn’t clear why developers use sewers so much. Perhaps the lack of need for NPCs in these sorts of locations is one of the reasons why. Also, they’re great options for when characters need to leave or enter a city without being seen because guards famously don’t check the sewers when looking for missing characters.
1 New York
A lot of games use big cities as primary locations, which makes sense as there is a lot you can do in a big metropolitan area. What makes less sense is why many developers believe that the city should be New York. Other real-world cities feature in games, too, but none of them feature as much as New York.
Usually, these titles are open-world affairs, meaning you get to roam around the famous city and maybe find some landmarks. The global fame of New York likely contributes to its overuse in video games. After all, Leeds from the UK is a major city, but many people in other countries have likely never heard of it.
