Most Iconic Cities In Open-World Games, Ranked

The allure of the big city doesn’t just pull starry-eyed country girls looking to put their name in the stars, the victims of an ever-increasing cost of living and an opioid crisis, and deranged serial killer drifters. Gamers everywhere have always longed to be where other people are, surrounded by imposing architecture, bustling markets, honkey-tonk bars, and undying traffic.

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The big city is where the action is, and while towns and settlements are still fun places to visit, they tend to be a dime a dozen. On the other hand, a city is a magnum opus, a grand work that requires an eye for detail, massive amounts of variety, and a constant rush of lights and sounds on the developer’s part to work convincingly.

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Night City – Cyberpunk 2077

A Corporate-Captured Culture Of Shallow Pleasures And Metalic Body Horror

Of all the characters in Cyberpunk 2077, Night City is probably one of the most memorable. As V likes to say, “The city always has a promise,” which is why so many flock to the corporate-captured dystopia. With its record-breaking poverty rate and terrifying levels of violence, only those with dreams behind their artificial eyes could find a way to go on each day without dipping out.

However, for the power-hungry psychopaths and untroubled mass-murderers that Cyberpunk 2077 shapes players into (at least in-game), the city is the perfect (if often janky) playground for mayhem and macabre bio-mechanical hackery, especially with military-grade self-defense cyberware for sale.

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Arkham City – Batman Arkham City

A Slice Of Gotham Gifted To The Criminally Insane

Although flapping around dressed as a bat powered by crime-fighting gadgets that only a billionaire could afford in an insane asylum was fun and all, what Batman fans craved was the free movement afforded by the Dark Knight’s stalking grounds, Gotham City, and some awesome traversal gadgets. After Arkham Asylum, the next logical step was bringing the Caped Crusader into an open world in Batman Arkham Asylum.

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Although Gotham proper is not available to play around in, the tightly designed portion cut off for the ostensible purposes of rehabilitating the criminally insane, Arkham City, gives players a map with enough content density to contend with, as the area is dense with low-lives. As a result, there is an atmosphere thick with fear and danger.

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NYC – Marvel’s Spider-Man

The Larger-Than-Life Hangout For A Larger-Than-Life Wallcrawler

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Despite New York City appearing in pretty much every Spider-Man game, Marvel’s Spider-Man manages to present the Big Apple as fresh and crunchy without having to rehash the Webhead’s backstory.

The scale and movement make swinging feel epic, and the detail, from the just-convincing-enough crowds and cleverly-rendered building interiors, bring the concrete jungle to life. Of course, the city is dense with meaningful collectibles and challenges that feed into the fan-favorite superhero wardrobe system that lets players unlock suits and new powers and gadgets.

The Unoccupied Seat Of A Great Empire

The Elder Scrolls series is known for having a huge number of settlements to explore. However, while many iconic places call themselves “cities” (for example, Skyrim‘s Whitertun, which, upon close inspection, appears to be a one-to-one knockoff of Lord of the Rings‘ Rohan), many look and feel very scaled down due to Bethesda’s commitment to allowing players to interact with every NPC and enter every building.

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However, the one exception to this is Oblivion‘s Imperial City, an imposing circular hub broken into ten districts. While the city’s depiction was drastically different from The Elder Scrolls‘ lore (for example, the city was originally spread across eight islands, with the vast metropolis stretching across swamps and wetlands, with much of its older parts lost to the surrounding jungle), the Imperial City feels distinct and sizable, with every interior still explorable and every citizen interactable with their own unique dialogue.

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Liberty City – Grand Theft Auto 4

The Four Boroughs Where Anything (Inequitable) Is Possible

From films and plays to video games, New York City has appeared countless times across various mediums across time. However, Grand Theft Auto 4‘s setting does not seek to recreate the iconic East Coast city but rather lift its vibes and spirit. As a result, Liberty City feels like a condensed and flavorful doppelganger despite the liberal use of brown and gray shaders typical of 2000s game design.

The city comes to life thanks to the ambient barks of pedestrians, the furious yapping of road-raging riders, the memorable side-story character stories that players can happen upon while wandering the streets, the iconic drive-time music, and, of course, the often-bizarre radio talk shows and commercials that can give natives an idea about what living in America feels like to non-Americans.

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Novigrad – The Witcher 3

The Colorful Free City Of The North

While The Witcher 3 is not the most depressing or grimdark fantasy world, much of its landscape, including Velen and much of the early-game scenery, can be a touch bleak. When Geralt reaches Novigrad, there is a drastic tone shift. Its citizens have much more of a “can-do” and aspirational attitude, and the streets are decorated with more color and liveliness.

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Many of the most memorable characters can be found in Novigrad, and the masquerades, musical performances, and theatre plays further lighten up The Witcher 3‘s world. However, there is, of course, a dark side to the powerful free city reflected from top to bottom, from its corrupt elite and their subtle power plays at the top to the roaming gangs, rampant poverty, and non-human discrimination at the bottom.

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Los Santos – Grand Theft Auto 5

A City Of Highrises, Lowlives, And Falling Stars

To say nothing of its evolving online counterpart, Grand Theft Auto 5‘s Los Santos is a masterfully crafted (and highly satirical) snapshot of life in America following the 2007 Great Recession. Like every city in the GTA universe, Los Santos takes heavy inspiration from the West Coast Los Angeles, but the creative freedom allows for an even more detailed and lived-in place.

From the plastic-fantastic of Vinewood to the gang and drug-addled East LS, there are a plethora of activities beyond car-jacking and heists that make the city feel like a destination rather than just an open-world level, from tennis and yoga to competitive jogging, social media stalking, and stock market trading.

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