7 Amazing Fictional Video Game Cities

Why visit a real city when these are so inviting?

BioShock Infinite DLC Burial At Sea
2K Games

Whilst not all fictional cities in video games would be a great location to visit in real life (I like to keep my body relatively bullethole free thank you very much), the majority of them are wonderful to explore from the comfort of your home with a keyboard and mouse/controller in hand.

A city lends itself well to all types of video games. Want to make an open-world game? A city is a pretty good choice. Want to make a level-based linear game? Well ever heard of a district? Make the different districts levels and you're good to go. Want to make a huge RPG? Well just create a number of different cities lob them in a field and there you have it.

As video games get more advanced the cities within them improve. Just look at how much more detailed Los Santos is in Grand Theft Auto V in comparison to Liberty City in Grand Theft Auto III. Los Santos feels like somewhere you could actually live, whilst Liberty City feels simply like a fictional city.

So which fictional cities in video games felt alive, and made us think "this city could definetly be a real place"?

7. Columbia - Bioshock Infinite

BioShock Infinite DLC Burial At Sea
2K

Columbia from Bioshock Infinite is shrouded in mystery which makes learning about it from character dialogue, voxophones, kinetoscopes and the environment very interesting although you'll probably need a notepad to piece together the story of Columbia.

Other than piecing together the story of the multiple dimension spanning Columbia, Bioshock Infinite's floating city has a lot more to offer. The American 1910s aesthetic is a wonder to look at, and the floating city leads to a lot of interesting gameplay. The most notable mechanic introduced due to the floating city is the Sky-Line, a floating rail of sorts which allows Booker to surf across the air.

Variations in the environments isn't a problem with Columbia, with all the locations being different from one another whilst still keeping the 1910s American look. Areas such as Battleship Bay and Comstocks House (which is scarier than anything the first Bioshock offers may I add) are standouts in this city.

Columbia truly is amazing and whilst not as interesting as Rapture from Bioshock (and that's coming from someone who actually prefers Bioshock Infinite), Columbia's greatness is almost infinite.

Contributor
Contributor

Has a degree in video game development. Is kinda addicted to video games, television, and films. Probably needs some help, to be honest.