Games Where The World Is A Memorable Character

Summary

• Talos I in Prey and its gameplay-centric setting shine, overshadowing other characters.
• Arkham City in Batman series reflects characters, setting, and Gotham’s history unique allure.
• Night City in Cyberpunk 2077 is an enticing character within a game brimming with political drama.

There are a lot of parts that go into making a game memorable. Maybe it’s the gameplay, the story, the music, a little bit of everything. A lot of the time, it’s the characters in the game that draw you in the most and keep you coming back. And in some instances, it’s the very world itself that feels like the most prominent character.

These games have worlds that feel more alive and as personable as any character within them. They are the most prominent part of the games they come from, and are the thing you’ll remember long after you’ve stepped away from the game. In these games, the world itself is the greatest character.

10

Prey

Talos I

Despite carrying some heavy bags in the game, Arkane’s stab at Prey is an incredible one. A shining jewel in the immersive sim genre, Prey takes place all in one seamless space station, crafted with an aesthetic that just never stopped after the moon landing. There are lots of other characters here, but they all pale compared to Talos I itself.

The Talos I space station is logically built, but with everyone scattered and aliens invading, interacting with the station becomes the focal point. You need to learn its layouts, why it isn’t working and how to outsmart it to actually navigate. The station doesn’t feel like a helpless bystander, but a location holding so much emotion. That of everyone in it, and its own.

9

Batman

Arkham City

Batman is a character with a massive legacy, and a ginormous rogue’s gallery to match. The Arkham games are some of the best superhero games committed to the medium, and they pull from his history to craft impressively immersive worlds. Batman is more than just the characters though, with the setting being just as important.

Arkham City feels like the perfect microcosm of the character. It houses so many characters, reflecting the villains and Batman’s own restraints, while showing you just enough of the larger Gothan to attach you to the rest of the world. As such, Arkham City ends up feeling like something entirely unique, a city on the edge of breaking point, yet with so much history around every corner.

8

Cyberpunk 2077

Night City

The setting of Cyberpunk 2077 isn’t brand-new, pulling instead from Mike Pondsmith’s own Cyberpunk TTRPG. That said, the rendition of Night City that CD Projekt RED has created is one that’s hard to forget. Cyberpunk 2077 is packed with great characters and weaving politics that reflect our own world, and that’s part of why Night City is so memorable.

It feels real, it feels alive. The city is defined by the people living in it, but its own reputation is oozing from it, calling people to help it prosper. It’s symbiotic. Alive only by the people in it, yet attracting those self-same people through its assumed appeal. It’s an incredibly enticing city that feels like it has a life of its own.

7

Final Fantasy 7

Gaia And The Lifestream

Every Final Fantasy game has an interesting and unique setting, though the wordl of Final Fantasy 7 is uniquely enticing. That’s probably part of the reason it got a whole remake project. And while it’s hard to argue that the world of FF7 is more memorable than its many iconic characters, it’s important to recognise the Lifestream and the planet of Gaia for the importance it holds.

The Lifestream is, quite literally, a living thing. It is the lifeforce of the planet of Gaia, its nervous system in a sense. It holds the memory of everyone who has ever lived, and passes that energy into new life. The Cetra were those who could most keenly recognise this, though the Lifestream is present no matter what. Gaia is its own body, though it can exist everywhere. The Lifestream is more than just energy, it is life itself, and the foundational for everything and everyone in FF7.

6

Alan Wake

Bright Falls

There are countless games inspired by the late-and-great David Lynch, but Alan Wake is likely one of the most obvious in its inspirations. Twin Peaks is felt prominently in the sleepy town of Bright Falls, though the encroaching darkness makes Bright Fall feel like more than just the characters within it. It feels like there is something in the town.

Bright Falls has plenty of eclectic characters, but the town itself feels like its influencing them. They are puppets in a play with Bright Falls the stage and proprietor. You can’t escape it, no matter how hard you try. It’s a black hole that sucks everything in. The quaint tourist town that you never want to leave. That you never will leave.

5

Bloodborne

Yharnam

FromSoftware has made plenty of memorable worlds, and have copious characters that have spawned fandoms of their own. Bloodborne is different though. While its characters are good, the city of Yharnam is layered with culture, history, and secrets. Bloodborne is less about your own grand goal, and more about unraveling the mysteries of the city itself.

Named after Lady Yharnam herself, the city of Yharnam is built on lies, and grown by religion. Blood ministration is the city’s calling card, and it’s own downfall. The city calls those afflicted like a moth to a flame, yet offers so little of the outside world. To those within Yharnam, it is the whole world, a cultural power that wishes to control all of know and see.

4

Mirror’s Edge

The City

Art direction is incredibly essential to every game, but Mirror’s Edge speaks so much more through its style than anything the characters or story tells you. A world stripped of diversity and forced into uniformity, splashes of colour and some unconventional movement are the last semblances of individuality left.

Hammering home the intentionality of the point, the city is literally called The City. Sleek skyscrapers and gleaming windows. Everything perfectly proportioned and bright. A shining jewel of authority, a gleaming prison cell. The City is oppressive, and Faith and her bright red shades are some of the only elements of resistance. It is an astounding world in achieving its themes.

3

Resident Evil 7

The Baker House

Many of the Resident Evil games have iconic settings, from the vaguely Spanish setting of Resident Evil 4 to the Spencer Mansion of the original Resident Evil. And while it is debatable as to which setting is the greatest, the atmosphere of Resident Evil 7 is simply unbeatable.

The Baker family estate is a reflection of the family living there, and also a character in its own right. That deep south Louisiana culture, the murky swamps where anything could be hiding. Creaking floorboards and rusted machinery. Gunked-up refrigerators and moth-eaten lamp shades. The house is vile, but every dusty step is packed with character.

2

Xenoblade Chronicles

The Titans

Each and every Xenoblade Chronicles game has a different world and focus, but that is also their binding thread. The world’s are always central to the story, and are as much a character as everyone else, if not more so. The original Xenoblade Chronicles has the most prominent example of this, though the sequel perhaps takes it more literally.

The Bionis and Mechnois are massive titans on which all life dwells, yet have their own distinct personalities defined by the people who created them. In the sequel, every titan is an actual living being, making them both literal parts of the world and characters.

1

Yakuza

Kamurocho

Really, there are few cities in gaming quite as remarkable as those depicted in the Yakuza and Like a Dragon series. While the games started with fictionalised versions of real cities, in time they just used the real locations. It’s most memorable of all has taken on a personality independent of the district it was based on to become one of gaming’s most memorable cities.

Kamurocho is an incredible recreation of Tokyo’s Kabukicho district, but its presence across multiple games has only strengthened it. Seeing the city at day and night, in different filters and colour grading. Seeing shops open and close, characters reappear, and brand-new areas open up as the city grows with each game. No matter what characters are in the game, the city is always present, evolving alongside those who live there.