Livin’ It Up in the City: The Top 21 Big Cities in Video Games

Cities in video games tend to showcase the best ideas the devs have to offer. From fantasy to future-tech, here are the best cities in gaming!

Written by Tink Edwards

The sights! The sounds! Nothing beats the experience of exploring a great video game city, so let’s look at some of the best metropolitan areas gaming has to offer. Please, no jaywalking! It’s dangerous and illegal.

21. Raccoon City — Resident Evil 2

Raccoon City is likely the most well-known city on the list, so I won’t waste too much of your time on it. There are dozens of adaptations of Raccoon City, with my favorite being the original Resident Evil 2 version, which, granted, mostly gives you a glimpse into the interior of the city’s police department. But you still get to see zombie-littered streets and that one gun shop. You know, with the guy with the super Canadian accent? “Soory” about that! I love you, Canadian reader.

20. Goldenrod City — Pokemon Crystal

Coming in hot at #20 is Goldenrod City — a metropolis so debaucherous they let a little kid gamble away all his hard-earned cash. Jokes aside, it’s a proper city, with golden skyscrapers (you know, like the ones you’ll find in normal cities), a multi-floor department store, and… a radio station. It’s also important to the plot, as you get a bicycle here AND meet up with Bill. Good old Bill and his technology that allows you to store Pokemon in a personal computer. They’re happy in there. Probably. Oh, Goldenrod City is also home to Whitney and her infamous Miltank who will stomp unsuspecting players with a move called Rollout. Miltank is a BEAST.

19. Auria — Breath of Fire

What’s with the 90s and buildings made from gold? Auria is home to the most bougie people in Breath of Fire Land (I don’t know the continent's name, so let’s look it up… “unnamed medieval world”... well, alright). The streets are paved with gold. The houses are made of gold. The main quest here involves buying a gold bar for an insane amount of Zenny. I bet Zenny is gold, too. Anyway, the Auria music is so good that it boosted it into the top 20. I bet it’s a GOLD record, hah hah!

18. Haven City — Jak and Daxter 3

Haven City appears in multiple Jak games, with 3 being the one I’m the most familiar with. You spend more time in sewers and underground areas than the city itself, but it has a neat Blade Runner aesthetic. It also reminds me of that city scene from Attack of the Clones with the flying cars and whatnot, but I don’t want to think about that movie if I don’t have to.

17. Shibuya — Shin Megami Tensei IV

You see a lot of dark and dreary parts of Japan throughout the SMT series, with IV’s rendition of Shibuya being my favorite locale. It’s so grimy and oppressive, with demons lurking around every corner. For the uninitiated, Shin Megami Tensei games are like Persona games minus the social links. That aspect of the game is replaced with EVIL. Lots and lots of evil.

16. Nokron, Eternal City — Elden Ring

I reckon a lasting memory from Elden Ring for most people is the moment they discover the elevator to the underworld. A game world within a game world?! Those magicians at FromSoftware never disappoint. Dive deeper into the area, and you’ll eventually traverse the rooftops of the dilapidated city of Nokron. It’s the area where you find the Mimic Tear Ashes, which briefly broke the game with how overpowered they were until a patch nerfed them.

15. Imperial City, Cyrodiil — The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion

A lot of golden cities and fourth installments on this list. The Imperial City is a beautiful, sprawling city with lots of points of interest. The thing I most associate with this place is the arena, which rewards you with the companionship of that neon-yellow-haired superfan upon finishing its myriad tests of skill in battle. I still hear the arena announcer shouting, “GOOOOOD PEOPLE OF CYRODIIL, BEHOLD! THE BLACK ARROW!”

14. Baldur’s Gate — Baldur’s Gate

Baldur’s Gate had a heck of a year, huh? And for good reason. Baldur’s Gate 3 is great. The titular city is jam-packed with things to do and people to meet. It’s permeating the mainstream in a big way, too. It was name-dropped multiple times in 2023’s Dungeons & Dragons film. Excuse me, I mean the criminally underappreciated Dungeons & Dragons film. Seriously, go watch it. It rules.

13. Rubacava — Grim Fandango

Grim Fandango is Tim Schafer’s masterpiece. This lovingly crafted game about the Land of the Dead partially takes place in the jazzy seaside port city of Rubacava, and the aesthetics are sublime. As grim reaper turned nightclub manager Manny Calavera, you run around Rubacava solving puzzles and piecing together an incredible mystery, all set to some wonderful brassy jazz that feels like something you’d hear walking the streets of New Orleans.

12. City 17 — Half-Life 2

Who could forget being chased through city sewers and subway stations by the masked Civil Protection officers of City 17? It has an Orwellian feel, especially with malevolent overlord William Breen keeping an eye on you as you scamper through run-down apartments in a naive attempt to escape his all-seeing gaze.

11. New Vegas — Fallout: New Vegas

It’s Las Vegas with robots.

10. Undercity — World of Warcraft

The Undercity stands out among Warcraft cities with its circular design and a river of slime reminiscent of the stuff bubbling underneath the streets of New York City in Ghostbusters 2. Remember when they used the slime to gain control of the Statue of Liberty? They used an NES Advantage controller to make the statue walk somehow. Did they plug the controller into the slime? I love that scene, but now my head hurts. Oh, Undercity. Right. Yeah, it’s a pretty good city! If you’re into a spooky but fun aesthetic, you’ll enjoy running around trying to find your guild master. Or maybe you won’t because it does get tedious.

9. City of Tears — Hollow Knight

City of Tears is a mega bummer, like the rest of Hollow Knight. Aesthetically, it’s beautiful, with its magnificent glass windows overlooking an endless rainstorm that engulfs the city and a sweet-yet-melancholy piano tune playing softly in the background. You can tell that this place used to be magical and alive. But now its ornate halls are shrouded in death and darkness. Again, like the rest of Hollow Knight. Man. I think I want to replay Hollow Knight.

8. New Pork City — Mother 3

New Pork City is reminiscent of the evil Biff future in Back to the Future Part II, with [character name redacted for spoilers] having built his ideal debaucherous society in a futile attempt to recapture his youth. There are a ton of Earthbound (Mother 2) easter eggs here, including an arcade reminiscent of the one found in Onett and a theater running a movie that features moments from that game. More on Earthbound later… (mysterious music plays)

7. Midgar — Final Fantasy VII

For many-a gamer, Midgar was the first big 3D city they experienced in a video game. Cloud’s adventure through the first quarter of disc 1 is based in Midgar, and there are so many highlights, from exploring the slums where “this guy are sick” to thwarting the gross lothario Don Corneo to basically toppling the Donald Trump empire in the Shinra (Trump) Building. As a bonus, the Midgar experience ends with a riveting motorcycle chase out of town.

6. SimCity — SimCity (SNES)

If the number of cities was a contributing factor to the rankings here, SimCity would be #1, and it wouldn’t be close. But the real reason SimCity (specifically the SNES version) is a “Top 10 Big City” is the music and Nintendo-yness of it all. I’m a sucker for Soyo Oka scores, and she absolutely nailed this one. Add in Dr. (Will) Wright plus a little Bowser Godzilla, and you’ve got a big city stew going.

5. Fourside — Earthbound

I told you this would happen! Earthbound’s Fourside squeaks inside the top 5 on the back of probably my favorite city theme of all time, plus some wild adventures through an alien-infested Macy’s department store, a café (a BAR in Japan) where you experience an alternate reality, the rescue of the Blues Brothers, and yet another stand-in for Trump tower.

4. New York City — Spider-Man 2

This is cheating, right? It sure feels like cheating. It seems obvious the world’s most famous actual city also makes a good virtual city. It’s a blast swinging around town and taking in the noise and beauty of NYC. And would you look at that… Fisk Tower. We can’t escape it.

3. Vice City — Grand Theft Auto: Vice City

Vice City is one of those city experiences in games that sticks with you for years. Making it a period-specific place did it a lot of favors, with the neon 80s glow of the city streets and Flock of Seagulls jamming in the background. Rockstar absolutely crushed the feeling of cruising the Miami strip in your bright red Ferrari, looking like Don Johnson in your white suit jacket.

2. Qeynos / Freeport — EverQuest

I’m up to my cheating ways once again by including two cities in this spot. They’re so linked in my mind, though, that it was impossible to choose between them. They each have their distinct look and feel, with Qeynos’ major theme setting a royal and benevolent tone, while Freeport feels more like a place of commerce and labor. The East Commons trading tunnel outside of Freeport makes the city feel alive. I have many fond memories of making the perilous trek between the two cities, dodging werewolves and gnolls along the way, hoping to pass by some kindly druid whose buffs would make the journey a tad easier. Ah, EverQuest.

1. New Donk City — Super Mario Odyssey

This is THE city. From the moment you pop in and that jazzy city tune begins to play… It’s perfection. There’s so much going on, and you can explore every inch of the place, gathering up musicians to join Mayor Pauline’s swing band, snagging the many collectible moons hidden throughout the city, taking over the minds of townspeople in a nightmarish, ethically upsetting way. And it all culminates in the single most emotionally charged moment in video games for me — the New Donk City celebration of everything Mario. I smile just thinking about it. Jump Up, Superstar! New Donk City is the best!

Did I miss any big cities? Let us know in the comments! Maybe we’ll make a part 2 using your suggestions! Anything can happen in the city. If you can make it there, you can make it anywhere. Or so I hear.