12 Stunning Video Game Locations You Must Visit Before You Die

8. Columbia - BioShock: Infinite

Irrational Games had a tough task in convincing BioShock fans that leaving Rapture was the best thing for the series, but it really outdid itself when it gave us the skybound city of Columbia. It's the zealous embodiment of the things that defined America at the turn of the 20th century, blown up by a million. The architecture of Columbia is an exaggerated version of the American colonial style, with plenty of pillars, bright brickwork, and building fronts lined with those horizontal wooden slats. Many of the more lavish interiors are filled with gilded passageways and Romanesque statues, reflecting the righteous spirit of its leader Zachary Comstock. Different sections of Columbia float in the sky at slightly different heights, giving it a higgledy-piggledy charm, despite the city's almost intimidatingly spectacular design. Wandering around Columbia before you start tearing it to shreds feels dreamlike, and the city's ever-blue skies and golden sunlight make you believe for a moment that maybe it really is paradise; at no point do you feel this more than at the spectacular beach at Battleship Bay. But even when everything looks superficially dandy, Columbia is still laced with clever details that make you sense that not all is as idyllic as it seems on the surface. The numerous signs of racial segregation, the ruthless message of the Duke & Dimwit shows, and the propaganda messages conveyed through the kinetoscope movies all reveal Columbia's true colours, making the city's eventual descent into conflict seem inevitable.