Favorite Setting in Video Games

[Castle]

Okay so visually rich virtual environments is the biggest reason I play video games. I'm not usually in it for the challenge, I often stay for the story and characters, but it's the prospect of exploring fantastic worlds that really draws me in.

Here's my Top 7 Favorite Video Game Lands/Settings/Worlds... in no particular order. What's yours?

1.) Myst Island - Myst
Myst was my first video game love affair, and like many people it was the first time it felt like you were really there in a video game. Because of its presentation, Myst offered visuals well ahead of its time and really garnered a lot of attention. Cyan World's "Surrealistic Adventure That Will Become Your World" is brimming with atmosphere, ambiance, and whimsy. While Myst Island is hardly a place that makes any sort of sense as a habitable space (where are the beds? the toilets? kitchen? - no! but there's a couple of giant gears and a spaceship!!) the strange whimsy of the environment is catching and exudes mystery around every corner.

2.) The 5th Age, Riven: The Sequel to Myst
So Myst took the world by storm for a while, and of course the sequel was inevitable. And boy did it deliver. Offering up visuals with astounding photorealistic quality, the sequel to Myst took us to Riven, a grungy steam punk desert island chain with impressive mechanical infrastructure and gorgeous natural scenery. The 5th Age is a sprawling massive expanse brimming with detail and drenched in surrealism. More than that, Riven feels like a home. It is lived in, and its environs tell the sad story of the people who live there. Riven is a world with so much character it sometimes feels more like a person than a place.

3.) Hyrule - The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
Hyrule's 3D debut took people's breath away. From the intimate whimsical environment of Kokiri Forest to the impressive sprawling expanse of Hyrule Field and the lands beyond, Hyrule is a land with secrets and wonder behind every corner. The thing I love most about OoT's Hyrule is it feels like an old land full of forgotten places. I just adore standing in the distant reaches of the land feeling like I'm the only person who's been there in ages. OoT's Hyrule makes me feel like a pioneer, an intrepid adventurer paving new trails, meeting new people and discovering lost places.

4.) Hyrule - The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
I gotta say, even though TP is my all time favorite Zelda game, it's still less than half the game it should have been. TP's Hyrule is as vast and well realized as any incarnation of Hyrule to date. I'd rank it higher on the list if TP's portrayal of Hyrule had gone its length to show us so much more of the vast land of Hyrule, but what we do get to see incites the imagination. From the mystic distant slopes of Snowpeak and the haunting anomalous ruins upon it, to the magnificent grandeur of castle town, to the confounding fortress of Arbiters Grounds, the majestic waters of Lake Hylia, to the otherworldly mystique of the Sacred Grove which is seeped in memories of ages past, the expansive bridges, stark crevasses, rugged water ways and intriguing old ruins, Hyrule has a whole lot going on. And once again it feels like an old land with many forgotten corners.

5.) Rapture - Bioshock
What happens when you mix Art Deco with ruin porn and put it all under water? Awesome. Awesome happens. More specifically you get Rapture, Andrew Ryan's Objectivist paradise turned insane apocalyptic nightmare. Every wall, floor and corner of Rapture is dripping with Art Deco style, a magnificent metropolis fallen into ruin and decay. The underwater views and lighting all come together to make for one helluva heavy dose of the surreal. Rapture is a spooky, haunting place as far from civilized humanity as you can get on this earth, making for the perfect place to be stranded alone with crazed spliced up psycho killers.

6.) Arkham City - Batman: Arkham City
Batman: Escape from Gotham puts you in the role of Snake Plissken- I mean The Batman, recently interred on the streets of Arkham City, Gotham City's slum turned open air prison. This old stretch of Gotham's got olde timey bars, a gothic cathedral, the City's old upscale commercial district with its ruined walkways and covered plazas, the Monarch Theater where The Batman was born, a decrepit industrial zone, dank sewers, magnificent train stations and abondoned subway tunnels, Selina Kyle's humble walkup, and Oswald Cobblepot's swanky museum/lounge. Oh, and there's a whole forgotten city beneath this old part of town. Wonder City, where turn of the century world's fair goes underground - literally - to make for one of the most crazy surreal environments in any video game. Arkham City maintains Gotham's dark outlandish visuals, with spotlights and zeppelins and giant creepy cat faces while creating an extensively realized environment loaded with detail.

7.) Arkham Island - Batman: Arkham Asylum
Arkham Asylum has had many portrayal throughout Batman fiction, but my favorite is hands down the Arkham Estate from Batman: Arkham Asylum. 1.) It's on an island, lending it that extra special remote feeling that walls just cannot provide on their own. 2.) It was originally a residence- a family home. History practically drips off the walls of Arkham Island, within its expansive grounds, the vast halls of the Arkham family mansion and the various medical facilities, and the crypts, caverns and vaults beneath its surface. There are all sorts of nooks and crannies. One of the islands most interesting features is the ruins of a collapsed building in one far corner. The game never explains what the building was, but it really gets the imagination going. It's little details like that that give places like these their appeal.

EDIT: there are no longer 7 items on a top 5 list.

 

[Spirit]

1. Everywhere in Wind Waker

2. Zora's Domain in Breath of the Wild

3. Phendrana Drifts in Metroid Prime

4. Isle Delphino in Super Mario Sunshine

5. The Mansion in Luigi's Mansion

 

[Dio]

1) Skellige isles- Witcher 3. This is my favourite location in the game. Beautiful mountain scenery with a real nordic feel to it similar to Skyrim but prettier. I love the cold so this kind of wintery setting makes me feel at home.

2) Hyrule- TP. This land was designed so you could see a place in the distance such as Arbiters Grounds or Death Mountain and really want to go there and it was always a reward when you finally did.

3) Halo- It features a variety of different alien environments and I love the fact you can see the whole world just by looking up. Unfortunately you can't just travel anywhere on the ring but it would be great if you could.

 

[DoomDash]

1. PSX version of Doom's Hell (PSX version because the soundtrack made me get more into it)
2. Final Fantasy VII's Nibelheim (for all the memorable flash backs and returns here. So much happened in this town)
   
3. Resident Evil's Mansion.
4. New Vegas's Wasteland.
5. Final Fantasy VII's Midgar

Honorable mention, all of Witcher 3. Man I love Witcher 3.

 

[el :BeoWolf:]

1. Hyrule in TP
2. Mushroom Kingdomi in Paper Mario
3. Isle o' hags n Banjo Tooie
4. The Universe in Super Mario Galaxy
5. Skyrm in the Elder Scrolls V

 

[Castle]

1) Skellige isles- Witcher 3. This is my favourite location in the game. Beautiful mountain scenery with a real nordic feel to it similar to Skyrim but prettier. I love the cold so this kind of wintery setting makes me feel at home.

My favorite of Witcher 3's regions. Of course, none of them compare to Blood and Wine's Toussaint.

DoomDash mentioned New Vegas. I forgot to mention Fallout 3's Capitol Wasteland. My trip to DC was one of the most memorable vacations I've had, but I really enjoyed comparing all the places to their depiction in Fallout 3. Not only does the ruins of DC fit the American pop culture theme of Fallout perfectly, but to see it represented in a ruined state is fascinating. I remember going through all the metro stations from the game. They have the same names.

 

[Ronin]

1. Planet Mira in Xenoblade Chronicles X. A huge alien world featuring five continents to explore and an abundance of extraterrestrial wildlife taking residence in almost every corner. At first, the task of ensuring humanity's survival might be daunting, but once you get a Skell everything up to the sky is practically yours.
2. Hyrule Kingdom in Breath of the Wild. Hands-down the absolute best variation of Hyrule to date. The entire landscape is open to exploration and restored the sense of adventure that made Zelda iconic. If not for some stormy elements, this might've placed higher.
3. Bionis/Mechonis in Xenoblade Chronicles. Just what could be more epic than traversing the remains of two Titans locked in a timeless battle? Each setting on the Bionis was tremendously beautiful and vast while the Mechonis is more linear, yet equally impressive.
4. Nord Highlands from Trails of Cold Steel 1/2. Being a fairly typical JRPG, most of the areas in ToCS are linear paths lined with enemies, but the Nord Highlands marked a welcome departure by opening the world up to faring on horseback. The rolling hills and suggestions of Celtic ruins off in the distance accentuate the carefree atmosphere perfectly.
5. City Ruins/encompassing regions in Nier: Automata. Occupied only by machines, the ruined city and the outlying areas provided a desolate sense of emptiness. An exceptional soundtrack at the forefront made exploring every inch of the scenery a memorable experience.

Skyrim and Witcher might have made the list if their generic fantasy lands had more variety than unnavigable mountains and pine forests.

 

[Castle]

3. Bionis/Mechonis in Xenoblade Chronicles. Just what could be more epic than traversing the remains of two Titans locked in a timeless battle? Each setting on the Bionis was tremendously beautiful and vast while the Mechonis is more linear, yet equally impressive.

Oh yeah this! so much this

 

[Draymorath]

Lordran - Dark Souls
Almost as soon as you arrive at Lordran you begin to notice how twisted and off-putting the land and its denizens are. Being my first Souls game, and one of my first experiences with the dark fantasy genre, I wasn't entirely sure what to expect. But my first time traveling through Lordran gave me a bizarre feeling quite unlike anything I'd felt before. As I made my way through Lordran that feeling never faded, rather it simply changed as I came to understand the world better. By the end, I felt like I had unraveled many of the mysteries surrounding the land, and yet many others still evaded me. And I truly cared to know about them.
It also features the series' staple great level design.

Certain parts of Boletaria - Demon's Souls
While this precedent of Dark Souls was certainly not bad by any stretch of the imagination, the land of Boletaria is not quite as gripping as Lordran. However, there are a few things it does do better. For example, Latria has a wonderful and effective horror aesthetic that is unlike anything in Dark Souls. Special props also to the hub area of the Nexus. On the other hand, Stonefang Tunnel, while not bad, was pretty much just a run-of-the-mill volcanic mining area, and Valley of Defilement a poison swamp. Despite this, Boletaria has nasty surprises hiding around every corner, that make it (most of the time) quite a joy to explore.

Yharnam - Bloodborne
I feel similarly about Yharnam as I do Lordran, however at this point I'd experienced enough Souls games to have an idea of what to expect, and my initial feeling from Dark Souls had faded away. Nevertheless, Yharnam had it's own breed of dark secrets, awesome sights, and weirdness. The beast-infested streets of Yharnam and its surrounding areas have a wonderful Gothic aesthetic. Many other areas connected to Yharnam are otherworldy and at times break the very laws of physics. While at first it seems to lack variety, by the end of the game you'll have gone through a slew of unique places each with their own flavor.
Also good-ass level design, as to be expected from a Miyazaki headed game.

Hyrule - Twilight Princess
I feel as though Twilight Princess's rendition of Hyrule is the most wholesome out of all of them. I personally have spent over 200 hours traversing this Hyrule (not even joking, this is a thing I am proud of). It's full of worthwhile findings, hidden grottoes, caves, etc. and the areas themselves are memorable and well designed, and it's denizens as well. It had a habit of foreshadowing dungeons and such (a practice also common to the Souls series) from before you've even reached them.

Hyrule - Breath of the Wild
While I don't think it has the same depth as Twilight Princess's overworld (a consequence of the enormous size of it), Breath of the Wild's version of Hyrule is full of things to do, and looks absolutely gorgeous. It expands a lot on the cultures of some races (though others, such as the Gorons, suffer) and even added distinct lingual traits to some. There are a lot of really amazing things to discover, and not looking up a guide or anything is something I'd definitely recommend for this one, because it's so worth it to just discover these things for yourself.

The Bionis and the Mechonis - Xenoblade Chronicles
The idea of an entire story taking place on the bodies of a couple of enormous titan corpses is a unique concept that I believe Xenoblade Chronicles executed rather well. It's super cool seeing people colonize different parts of the body and having it labelled as such, and yet to you it just looks like a regular environment; from your perspective you can't tell what you're standing on is actually a massive being. It's awe-inducing and gives you an almost Lovecraftian feel of smallness and awesome scale. I'll never forget the first time I watched the intro to the game and the camera began to zoom out further and further until you could see what the characters had been standing on.

I'll likely be adding Lothric from Dark Souls 3 to this list eventually, so stay tuned for that I guess.
I might have added Termina at one point, but I'm afraid it's been so long since I've played Majora's Mask that I can't remember everything that I liked about it (I know I liked the characters and the overall atmosphere).
Honorable mention is Lazulis Island from The Last Story, which while I enjoyed it at the time, I can't really say it left that huge of an impression on me in the long run.
Will update this list if I think of any others.

 

[Shroom]

1. Rapture: I think, as you said, Rapture really captures this creepy, yet intriguing world of death and wonder. A sort of failed social experiment in a way? I love the wear and tear of the world and how the tapes you find sort of explain to you how the world was built and how it functioned. How do you get places? Giant tubes. How can I breathe underwater? They bring down oxygen and also have plants. The list goes on.

Another thing that I really appreciate about Rapture is how it totally just "works" in a game. You are a bit cramped in tubes when moving around, but it makes sense because the world is built around that. There are also giant open rooms, but it never really feels that constricted to me. I really appreciate how you can look outside and see other parts of the city that you'll eventually travel to, but you never feel stuck like how you do (or at least, how I did) in games with an open environment. If we go back to like, N64 era games, there was always some invisible barrier that kept you inbound, and it sort of ruins the immersion of the game. Why can't I go across the horizon? Oh, because the game doesn't want me to. And I get, limitations and all that, and having a game of that size would sometimes be more of a negative, but with Rapture, it answers itself. Why can't I go past this boundary? Oh, because I'd be trapped underwater and drowned. The city is its own boundary, but not in a way I felt that broke immersion. You can't go to those areas you see in the far off distance because you'd die. Bioshock 2 sort of breaks this a bit, but I think the original captured it perfectly.

2. Gruntilda's Tower- Banjo Kazooie: Totally nostalgia. Music is good, the dialogue is fun, the colors are nice, and it had a natural sense of progression because the farther you got in or up the tower, the closer you were to the end. I like that.

I could add more, but really, those two are the ones I think of immediately, and Rapture really takes the cake for me.

 

[DoomDash]

My favorite of Witcher 3's regions. Of course, none of them compare to Blood and Wine's Toussaint.

DoomDash mentioned New Vegas. I forgot to mention Fallout 3's Capitol Wasteland. My trip to DC was one of the most memorable vacations I've had, but I really enjoyed comparing all the places to their depiction in Fallout 3. Not only does the ruins of DC fit the American pop culture theme of Fallout perfectly, but to see it represented in a ruined state is fascinating. I remember going through all the metro stations from the game. They have the same names.

Yeah DC was probably tied w/ NV for me honestly.

 

[Dio]

My favorite of Witcher 3's regions. Of course, none of them compare to Blood and Wine's Toussaint.

DoomDash mentioned New Vegas. I forgot to mention Fallout 3's Capitol Wasteland. My trip to DC was one of the most memorable vacations I've had, but I really enjoyed comparing all the places to their depiction in Fallout 3. Not only does the ruins of DC fit the American pop culture theme of Fallout perfectly, but to see it represented in a ruined state is fascinating. I remember going through all the metro stations from the game. They have the same names.

When I was considering a top 5 rather than 3. Fallout3's world would have made my list. There were a lot of ruins of buildings I recognised. Wheras in Poo Vegas and Fallout 4 I didn't know any of them.