Open-world video games offer an unprecedented level of freedom for players, and they’re only getting better, more complex, and more detailed as time goes on. The most recent open-world games sport some truly massive cities that could theoretically double for the real thing, and more effort is going into making them as interactive as humanly possible.

  • The video game industry has moved further and further into the realm of open-world gaming. Audiences absolutely love exploring these detailed environments, and throughout recent history, there have been some gorgeously designed cities in some of the biggest releases that are well worth diving into.

Some of these games try their best to duplicate existing real-world cities, while others take inspiration from them to create new urban hubs. While some open-world games offer too little content, others offer maps overflowing with areas to explore and things to do.

Assassin’s Creed (2007-)

Ubisoft has been creating immersive worlds for years. It’s difficult to narrow down just a single city which has been adapted in Assassin’s Creed, with the franchise usually turning to real-world locations across history to help craft their incredible narrative-driven environments.

Thus somewhat of an honorable mention, players are getting pretty used to jumping into a brilliantly designed setting when playing an Assassin’s Creed game, whether it’s Rome at the height of its power, or perhaps Florence or Paris in all their glory.

The Simpsons: Hit & Run (2003)

The Simpsons has given audiences Springfield, a chaotic setting in the United States, with a band of quirky characters populating it. Audiences have always wanted to step into Springfield and explore the iconic locations that make up this bustling community.

Hit & Run was a brilliant Simpsons game, a complete marvel from Radical Entertainment that genuinely lived up to the status of the show. While it’s universally beloved, it also allowed its fan to drive, walk and potentially even fly across the city, whether that was to the classic Simpson household, the school, the nuclear power plant, or even a Krusty Burger.

Horizon Zero Dawn (2017)

Horizon Zero Dawn might be quite an unusual inclusion for focusing on open-world cities. However, the title from Guerrilla Games presents audiences with a different type of functioning society, with its communities, hunting grounds, and variations on cities.

While their structural makeup is unique, what’s also special is being able to explore the cities that once existed on Earth, before whatever apocalypse wiped them out. Thus, this use of setting works on two different levels, and is so inventive in its imaginative creation.

Yakuza 0 (2015)

The Yakuza saga has allowed its fan to step into this gritty realm of gangsters and hard crime. Yakuza 0 in particular crafts a gorgeous location, with the game focusing on Kamurochō, Tokyo in the 1980s. That’s a lot to unpack, from the time period to the density of the city itself.

A lot of work clearly went into ensuring there’s an authenticity to the Japanese region, from the advertising on the local businesses to the small stalls and makeup of the streets. It’s a gorgeous region for the story to unfold in, with a gritty beauty built from Sega and Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio’s geniuses.

Watchdogs 2 (2016)

The second Watchdogs game moved the action from Chicago to a loosely adapted San Francisco, and it was a step up in every way. Praise was given to the manner in which San Francisco was developed; it wasn’t large enough to be overwhelming, yet it wasn’t small enough to discourage exploration and sightseeing.

Watchdogs 2 takes a few cues from Grand Theft Auto’s approach to city building, particularly when it comes to immersion. Citizens and roaming NPCs help sell the authenticity of the city, while a mixture of great lighting and other graphical tricks give it some genuine life.

Fallout 4 (2015)

Fallout 4 has almost as many hilarious glitches and bugs as Skyrim, but one thing it does get right is its main environment. The game takes place in a large province known as the Commonwealth, and one of its most recognizable areas is the city of Boston. Though not an accurate real-world remodel of the actual city, it’s nevertheless one of the best open-world urban areas in any video game.

There’s a lot to see and do, with hidden loot, dangerous enemies, and a bunch of explorable buildings to find. The inclusion of a few community mods can also help enhance the vanilla version of the city with better graphics, new interiors, and a few other surprises. Either way, Boston has a lot to offer Fallout fans.

Batman: Arkham City (2011)

While Arkham City wasn’t the last in the series to take place inside Gotham City, it was the first to do it so well. Arkham City moved the action of the previous Batman title from the asylum to the concrete jungle. The result was one of the best open-world cities ever seen in a video game, with all the rich history of the Batman comics to back it up.

Gliding over the rooftops of Gotham is a sight for the ages, as is getting down in the muck to battle thugs on the city’s streets and alleyways. Gotham City is modeled beautifully, with 19th-century architecture and gothic motifs mixed with a creeping 21st-century outgrowth. It serves the storyline and missions quite well, creating the ultimate Batman game in the process.

Batman: Arkham Knight (2015)

Batman: Arkham Knight might be the next game in the Rocksteady series, but it’s important to note that the Gotham City presented in comparison to Arkham City is wildly different. Is much bigger, more detailed, with an infrastructure that’s designed to be able to hold the journeys of the Bat Mobile.

It lives and breathes in a way that Arkham City’s iteration began to, but does it on a much larger scale, and one that visually seems even more stunning. It’s so difficult to not spend plenty of time navigating the streets of Bruce Wayne’s world, getting sidetracked by the comic book setting come to life.

S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow Of Chernobyl

This dreary and frightening cult classic boasts one of the most ominous cities ever committed to video game form. The fact that it’s based on a real-life catastrophe is simply icing on the cake. S.T.A.L.K.E.R. took a few geographical liberties to merge the Chernobyl nuclear power plant and surrounding area with the nearby city of Pripyat.

The result is a game that plays fast and loose with authenticity for the sake of exploration. Pripyat itself is smaller than its real-world counterpart, but it’s an excuse to wade through one of the most dangerous and haunting places on Earth, complete with all the horrors that lurk within.

Marvel’s Spider-Man (2018)

The only downside to Marvel’s Spider-Man is the fact that it’s a PlayStation exclusive. This means many gamers may never get the chance to web-sling through the massive city of New York, complete with all the sights, sounds, and over-the-top Spider-Man boss battles to go along with it.

Previous open-world Spider-Man games helped build the foundation for what would eventually become this 2018 super-hit, and the freedom of exploration went a long way toward that success. Nothing can compare with the feeling of depth and scale when running upside a building to gaze out over the horizon of New York, which is comprised of over 1 million square feet of space.

Saints Row 4 (2013)

Essentially a parody of the Grand Theft Auto series, Saints Row 4 is an open-world action game that’s light on realism and heavy on comedy. It’s a combination that works in tandem with a sprawling open-world city where anything can—and does—happen.

Though much of the focus of Saints Row 4 is on the action, the city plays a major role as host to all the carnage and silliness. Steelport has five major areas to explore, each with its own signature look, economic class, and landmarks.

L.A. Noire (2011)

Replicating the city of Los Angeles circa 1947 is no small feat, yet developer Team Bond deserves a lot of credit for doing just that. The detective thriller title L.A. Noire has one of the most historically authentic open-world cities of any video game, and it helps set the tone for the detective noir narrative.

In fact, aerial photos were used to accurately model the city, right down to landmarks and traffic routes, while still allowing for a bit of artistic flexibility. Players can explore the city to their heart’s content, which is akin to going back in time and walking the streets of a real-world city.

Infamous 2 (2011)

The first Infamous game helped revolutionize the open-world action genre by giving players the entirety of Empire City to explore. Infamous 2 took that initial framework and built upon it to deliver New Marais, an even more detailed and interactive open-world city based largely on New Orleans.

New Marais is comprised of five districts, including the low-income bayou, a red-light district, and a gas works area. It’s also one of the most dangerous open-world cities in video gaming, which is prime real estate for the kind of action that the Infamous series is well known for.

Cyberpunk 2077 (2020)

Though marred by a disastrous glitch-ridden launch, Cyberpunk 2077 is nevertheless a technical marvel. It borrows many of its gameplay elements from open-world titles like Grand Theft Auto V, especially when it comes to the sprawling metropolis known as Night City.

The level of interaction and liveliness is amazing. Night City feels authentic, with sections that are laid out logically, and packed with civilians on every corner. It’s the perfect open-world city for gamers to explore, if for no other reason than to see how much detail went into every nook and cranny.

Grand Theft Auto V (2013)

GTA V is finally starting to show its age, but it took a long time. This finely polished open-world title boasts one of the most detailed and believable cities ever created, and gamers can replay it for years on end without seeing everything it has to offer.

Los Santos is the perfect backdrop for the story, as well as an excellent playground to tackle side missions, buy properties, and extend the player’s mark on the game. The inability to enter the vast majority of the game’s buildings hinders the title’s immersion factor, but it’s doubtless that future titles will rectify this by building on GTA V’s open-world groundwork.