Best RPGs With Futuristic Cities

Even if they aren’t filled with fearsome dragons or brave paladins or teenagers using the power of friendship to defeat God, all roleplaying games are fantasy. Or a fantasy, at least. The player is not simply using the character as a vessel to shoot and kill things, but instead, is transporting themselves into another world, a world where the rules may be different and the people may be alien but, functionally, still a world where the mirror is being held up to our own.

This is why sci-fi titles that use roleplaying elements are so fascinating. The mirror to our world isn’t so much a mirror as a portent. This is how things could go. This is how things might go if we go wrong, or this is how things might go if we keep down the same path we’re on. Whether a warning, a dream, or an utterly alien interpretation of modern society, many futuristic settings exemplify their message to the present through their cities. These RPGs have excellent futuristic cities with personalities of their own and unique stories to tell.

7 Mass Effect

The Citadel Is A Marvel Of Worldbuilding

There was this fantastic concept with older BioWare games like the original Mass Effect , which can be seen clearly in the Citadel. Even though the player can only explore a handful of hubs in this game the design of this city emphasizes how huge it is.

Every open section of the Citadel has shots showing teeming residential areas or sprawling artificial forests in the distance, reminding players that this area is actually an idyllic mega-bastion of galactic civilization.

6 Outer Worlds

Byzantium Is A Lush, Vibrant Crown Jewel

Byzantium absolutely deserved more attention in The Outer Worlds, but that didn’t stop it from being one of the most lush and stylish places for players to explore. This forbidding capital really exemplifies everything the Halcyon ruling class represents.

Being dazzled by the exotic skies, the unique architecture, art-deco meets retro-futurism, everything about the player’s fleetingly brief time with this troubled city is sure to leave an impression.

5 Cyberpunk 2077

Night City Has A Life Of Its Own

Part of what makes Night City so engaging for players is its realism. Actual city planners helped with its design, and every neon-soaked alleyway and street has so much personality attached to it.

Night City is dangerous and grimy and really should stand more as a warning to people than a glossy sea of alluring holograms and aesthetic aspirations, but maybe like fish to a glowing lure, the bright lights of this city continue to attract us, as much as the characters of Cyberpunk, to their unwitting doom.

4 Final Fantasy 7

Midgar Is One Of The Most Iconic Settings Ever

While fans wait for the final game in the Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth trilogy to be released, they have two games to explore one of the most unique cities ever to be put to a video game. Midgar is a grimy industrial metropolis with few equals.

This brutalist city and its corporate oligarchs make for a fantastic foil to Cloud and his party’s ambitions for a world free from the rampant consumption that will shortly bring about its doom.

3 Shadow Run: Dragonfall

Berlin Is Run Down But Infinitely Charming

A fantastic title not just as a CRPG but a tabletop game as well, the Shadow Run series is one of the best takes on Urban Fantasy as a genre that players can experience today, and the stable anarchy ‘Flux State’ of Berlin is reflective of this.

Berlin has trolls and orcs playing dice, elves pushing magic spells, and doctors who can give you robotic arms, all sharing the same streets and frequenting the same coffee shops. It’s a magical melting pot that deserves far more attention.

2 Colony Ship: A Post-Earth Role Playing Game

The Decaying Cities Of This Game Are Fantastic

• Platforms: PC
• Released: 23 January 2020
• Developers: Iron Tower Studios
• Genre: RPG

Counting itself as one of the best games to fuse sci-fi elements into the CRPG style, the decaying cities and hubs of Colony Ship are a stark and brutalist environment to remind players about the severity of their situation.

There are very few hugs or happy endings aboard the Colony Ship, and the frayed wires, greasy puddles, and general air of sadness this colossal ship-city brings with it make sure that no one ever forgets that.

1 Starfield

Cities Like Neon Have Lots Of Personality

Bethesda’s latest sandbox may bite off more than it can chew in a few sections, but one particular area that it shines is in the handcrafted environments of the more settled planets within the galaxy.

Neon is vital and tantalizing, with many secrets beneath its glossy exterior. It’s the perfect place for a player to take on more dubious jobs and forge themselves as a criminal contractor, or simply lose themselves in the sights of this ever-vibrant city.