With a lot of the world still in lockdown, travel has become nonexistent. However, there are still ways you can travel to other lands, without having to leave your couch.
Here’s a few open-world games that can help you take your mind off real life and immerse yourself in a new world.
London’s Calling
London is always heavily featured, especially in Ubisoft Games. Not one, not two but three of their games include the English capital.
Watch Dogs: Legion and Assassin’s Creed Syndicate fully focus on London, with the map not including any other destination.
Watch Dogs: Legion gives us the more modern-day look of London but with a twist. Set in the late 2020s to early 2030s, this game shows London after the events of the United Kingdom leaving the European Union. The city has been overtaken by technology, with big brother watching your every step. Very futuristic vibes.
Assassin’s Creed Syndicate is set in Victorian London, at the high of the Industrial Revolution. Players get to meet Charles Darwin, Charles Dickens and even Queen Victoria makes an appearance. It really is a game for those interested in the history of London.
Assassin’s Creed Valhalla samples what London, or Lunden as it was called, would have been in the 872-878 AD. The city still has a heavy Roman influence and famous landmarks such as Lundenwic Abbey, Saint Paul’s Cathedral, and Londinium Amphitheatre all being included. It looks nothing like the London we know today.
GTA’s Love Story with Modern-Day America
You may not be able to travel to America right now but get a feel of being in the country through the Grand Theft Auto series. In the history of Rockstar Games prestigious GTA series, we haven’t seen the game series venture out of the states for their main title location.
Yes, the maps are fictionalised versions of the places they are trying to depict but you can see the similarities between the GTA world and the real world.
Not once but twice have we seen GTA feature the fictional state of San Andreas.
In GTA: San Andreas, players get to visit Los Santos, a fictional Los Angeles, San Fierro, a fictional San Francisco, and Las Venturas, you guessed it, a fictional Las Vegas. Later on in GTA V, we revisit Los Santos but till time San Fierro and Las Venturas aren’t included. Instead, we get Blaine County, a blend of numerous Southern California counties.
If the West Coast isn’t your thing, you can also visit New York, or Liberty City, in GTA IV and Miami, known as Vice City in the GTA world, in GTA: Vice City.
Somewhere No One's Been
If you want to go somewhere completely off the grid and fictional, look no further than these titles.
Set in the Continent, The Witcher series is a fictional world where monsters and magic prevail. The open-world is heavily based on Slavonic Mythology, with fans seeing the comparison to European countries on the map. Theories include Toussaint being based on France, The Skellige Isle on Ireland, and Velen on a mix of Poland and The Baltics. Although it isn’t one of the more colourful maps, it’s easy to get lost on Geralt of Rivia’s world.
Breath of the World broke the internet when fans could open explore the in-game world of Hyrule for the first time. Link takes you on a journey across the medieval-based land and of course, it’s full of foes for Link to beat. The map focuses on the hot areas of Gerudo and Eldin, the frosty mountains of Tabantha and Hebra, the wetlands of Lanayru plus the Kingdom of Central Hyrule. Even if you’re not a fan of The Legend of Zelda, BOTW is certainly an open world to be explored by all.
Another classic of the open-world games is Tamriel, the continent home to the Elder Scrolls series. The land is full of multiple different types of landforms, ranging from beautiful forests to icy tundras. The entry The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim is one of the most popular games to date with people still exploring Tamriel for the first time in 2021.
Where do you like to go in the gaming world to take you away?
