There are many video game worlds that I definitely wouldn’t want to visit in real life. The wastelands of Fallout immediately spring to mind, alongside the terrifying, fleshy horrors of the world where Scorn is set.
On the flip side, however, when I’m curled up on the couch playing a game, the weather is terrible outside, and payday is still a week away, there are a number of beautiful digital locations I would absolutely love to visit in reality.
With that in mind, here are my top six video game locations where I wouldn’t mind taking a cheeky holiday.
Firewatch
Set in the breathtaking Shoshone National Forest in Wyoming, USA, Firewatch puts you in the shoes of Henry, a man who spends his summer in a fire watchtower, chatting to a fellow ranger over a walkie-talkie.
It is a stunning location that has left me dreaming of those tower views and the incredible sunrises and sunsets you experience. There is even a lake to swim in.
Aside from the minor inconveniences of being knocked out by a stranger and the looming threat of a massive forest fire, I would love to visit this place. The lure of the game is so strong that I have genuinely fantasised about leaving London to become a real-life Firewatcher.
Firewatch from Campo Santo was a strong pioneer of the walking sim genre that heavily populates the market today. These games maintain a certain pace that some might find boring or lacking in purpose. I, of course, strongly disagree. It is all about the story and taking in those spectacular views. Long, leisurely walks through a national forest, complete with a little bit of climbing, a lot of chatting, and a touch of investigating – that is all there is to do, and for me, it is absolutely perfect.
Cyberpunk 2077
We all know how this game launched. But even back then, amidst the strange bugs and cars raining down from the sky, there was something undeniable about Cyberpunk 2077’s Night City.
Following numerous patches and a massive DLC expansion, the game has only gotten better, and this futuristic megacity has never looked so good. I love that it feels like a real, functioning place, even though it is entirely make-believe. It boasts a sense of scale and verticality that I have never seen anywhere else in gaming. It doesn’t feel ordered or sanitised like other virtual locations, and it offers a hugely varied array of districts, from corporate penthouses and bustling food markets to neon-lit cybersex streets.
I would quite happily book a weekend city break to Night City just to see the sights. If you can simply ignore the blatant murders on the streets, the rampant drug-taking, and the violent cyber wars, I think it ranks right up there with a weekend in Prague.
Granted, you might struggle to find a travel insurance company willing to cover the trip, but when you do, just imagine the sights you will see and the smells you will experience. It might even be worth the trip just to pick up some cheap cyber implants from a back-alley Ripperdoc.
And if you’re really lucky, you might even catch Johnny Silverhand playing a live set.
Red Dead Redemption 2
I am including all the fictional locations within Red Dead Redemption 2 as one collective entry, if only as the map is a beautiful representation of different parts of America, all seamlessly crammed together – from snow-capped mountains to murky swamplands.
After sinking over 100 hours into this world, it remains the only game where, upon stopping, I genuinely missed simply being there. I longed to be travelling across the beautiful wilderness on my beloved horse for hours at a time, eagerly waiting to see what secrets and surprises this magnificent game had to offer me that day. This is a place where the setting sun is a cue to stop whatever you are doing, sit back, and relax. It is a place where it feels genuinely nice to just set up a campfire, eat some stew, and take a breather. It holds mysteries around every corner – some of which are still being discovered years after the game’s release.
For me, the appeal also lies in stepping back in time. How I would love to stroll through the bustling streets of St. Denis and take in a theatre show, or return to the lakeside camp with the gang to drink whisky by the fire. I would happily travel across the mountainside, taking in the crystal-clear waterfalls and amazing skies. In fact, I am loading up Rockstar‘s masterpiece again as I write this…
Skyrim
Skyrim may be the oldest game on my vacation wishlist, but it is a game that simply refuses to die.
Remembering the very first time I stepped into this cold, mountainous northern province on the continent of Tamriel is something truly special. Once again, it felt like a real, lived-in place. Even amidst the magic and dragons, there were ordinary people going about their daily jobs and drinking in taverns. The scale felt monumental, complete with the northern lights glistening in the night sky.
There is a quest quite early on called ‘The Way of the Voice,’ which tasks you with climbing a mountain via its 7,000 steps. You do encounter a few enemies along the way, but overall, it is an amazing, immersive hike.
This is the kind of experience people would pay a premium for on a boutique adventure holiday. While I would love to explore all the places Skyrim has to offer, this specific walk would be the icing on the cake. When you reach the top, you find a monastery where you learn dragon shouts, but it is also simply a great place to explore and a satisfying end to a long journey.
Five stars on TripAdvisor – if you overlook the occasional wolf attack.
Grand Theft Auto V
This is a location that holds a special place in almost everyone’s heart, given that people have been playing Grand Theft Auto V and GTA Online for well over a decade now.
I can hear you asking, “Why include this one when you could just go and visit the real LA tomorrow if you wanted to?” The truth is, it isn’t the real-world Los Angeles I want to visit; it is the GTA version; familiar, yet fundamentally different.
Los Angeles becomes Los Santos, and the surrounding state is San Andreas. Here, you have an amazing city to explore that mirrors its real-world counterpart while maintaining its own unique flavour. Who can forget those long, late-night drives around the entire map with the radio blaring from a freshly stolen car? Or scaling Mount Chiliad to examine those strange symbols that no one has completely figured out, before launching yourself back down on a motorbike without a single care for your own personal safety?
I want to visit the GTA version of LA – a place where pure chaos reigns, but you always walk out of the hospital unscathed. It is going to be incredibly interesting to see what happens to this world when GTA VI finally drops. Will they shut down the current online servers, or will both coexist? Whatever the case, thank you, GTA 5, for the memories and a lovely bit of California dreaming.
No Man’s Sky
This final entry is the ultimate wildcard. You see, in No Man’s Sky, there isn’t just one location; there are 18 quintillion randomly generated planets to visit. Granted, some of these planets are absolute hellholes where spending more than two seconds on the surface will instantly kill you, or where massive alien creatures want nothing more than to eat you alive. But then there are the others…
I have played this game since its famously troubled launch, sinking hundreds upon hundreds of hours into it. I have visited certain planets where I would happily spend a long, peaceful vacation. I am talking about planets where the temperature is absolutely perfect; never too hot or too cold. The flora and fauna are friendly and have no desire to harm you. I have built homes on these planets, watched the stars come out at night, seen the sunrise in the north, and felt perfectly content.
I would also thoroughly enjoy travelling from galaxy to galaxy at lightspeed for a bit, simply seeing what secrets the universe has to offer. I would visit alien traders, swap trinkets, and share stories. It would be a long holiday, and the jet lag would be an absolute killer, but it would be entirely worth it.
So, there you have it: my top six video game locations to visit on vacation. These picks certainly won’t be for everyone, and I am sure some of you are already typing furiously in the comments about all the fantastic places I have either forgotten or chosen to omit.
But that is the beauty of holidays, isn’t it? Everyone enjoys something different, from soaking up the sun to chasing high-adrenaline adventures, and who are we to argue?
Happy holidays!
