Often the key to a good video game is location: it is one of the first things we notice about a game and it can immediately impress or repel, and it is often the factor that turns a good game into a enduring, memorable experience. Its for this reason that Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare was such a huge success, amongst the myriad of WW2 shooters wed gotten every year it did something different, taking the action to more modern time-period and venue. A unique and engaging setting is immediately more interesting than a typical one. That being said, one of the most important things about a games setting may not be its uniqueness but its immersion: some maps may not seem like that different to what weve seen before but the level of detail and atmosphere, variety of side missions, diversity in weather and the size of the map can be key features. Unfortunately sometimes such features still dont make a great setting, for example Mafia II was set in New York and the graphics were decent, it varied in seasons and it was a good size, but rather fatally, the map felt dead. The game lacked side missions and there was no encouragement to drive around and explore, you simply drove from mission to mission. On the flip side of that The Last of Us didnt have an open-world map but the locations for each section of the game felt real, lived in and deserved to be explored as much as possible. To be fair its probably much easier to do that on a smaller scale, as nothing is stretched too thin, but then there are countless open-world games that are great at it, as you'll see later in this list. This is a celebration of 8 of the most memorably beautiful game settings of recent memory, so sit back, set your jaw to shock and awe and enjoy...
8. American Frontier Red Dead Redemption
This is a tough one for me because Red Dead Redemption is probably my favourite game, period. For that reason I could easily have listed this higher but when compiling this list I realised that it simply wasnt as atmospheric or unique as the others I had come up with. That being said I still think this is one of the greatest settings ever to grace a video game. Everything in Red Dead Redemption was great, from the fleshed-out, interesting characters, fun and diverse gameplay and the map was a paramount feature of its charm. First and foremost Red Dead Redemption was a very big game, it was long and it was huge with loads of side missions and challenges to keep you busy, it had a lot of replay value. Similarly to an RPG, any open-world game has to have an interesting, compelling map and Red Dead is up there with the best. When starting Red Dead Redemption I remember thinking there was no way Id be able to memorise the map the way you can with GTA etc., in those games you play for long enough and the map begins to engrave in your head. I thought this due to Red Dead being a western with no huge buildings or highways or even real roads to mark your way, however much sooner than I imagined possible I was riding around and not needing the map to guide my way. Vast open plains with tumbleweed and cacti meant that you could see far in the distance and towns like Armadillo often came into view long before you neared them. Its for that reason that the rendering in RDR cant be taken for granted, its the reason you could see towns, rock formations and carriages in the distance to help you on your way. You can compare that to the rendering in a game like Prototype, which is simply awful. The attention to detail in the RDR map is astonishing. Be it the suitably gritty graphics, array of wild animals to skin and sell, the almost-impossible to reach treasure chests and the variety of locale from the snowy mountaintop of Tall Trees to the red rocks of Gaptooth Ridge and from the dirty Mexican town of Escalera to the more modern Blackwater. The game was not simply a re-skin of Grand Theft Auto, which many assumed it would be, rather it was a labour of love that paid off big time. The setting of Red Dead Redemption is one of the most memorable Ive ever played; simply riding a horse at sunset has rarely felt so real and beautiful.