Developers make increasingly beautiful video games as technology advances. It’s remarkable how immersive video game landscapes and worlds are becoming.
In this post, the best video game landscapes are presented briefly. The list includes games according to video game art design and game graphics. There will be plenty of stunning game titles that anyone who plays video games wouldn’t want to miss.
Hogwarts Legacy (2023)
The most recent Hogwarts Legacy is a staggeringly beautiful game. The map is huge: it encapsulates the castle, the Forbidden Forest, Hogsmeade, and the Scottish Highlands. Besides, there are plenty of landmarks to be found. All the vegetation, the mountains, the rivers and the buildings look fantastic during all the seasons of the year. You can enjoy the sights form the ground or from the air mounted on your broom.
The interiors of the castle and other buildings are thoroughly detailed. Every house in Hogwarts conveys their own personality through their design. All the rooms and classrooms are perfectly laid out and look like they do in the Harry Potter films. There are numerous hidden passages too. Every element is designed carefully: the walls, the carpets, the paintings, the sculptures, the furniture, and so on.
To top it all, the sceneries are full of life. The forest is populated by many animals and fantastic beasts. Also, every time you revisit a place, you’ll find different people doing different activities. It’s a complete experience with one of the best video game scenery that the fans of the Harry Potter series, but not them exclusively, will love visiting.
Metro Exodus (2019)
Metro Exodus is a first-person shooter game developed by 4A Games and published by Deep Silver. One can notice that the game artists put a commendable effort into making this fictional world feel real. The landscapes are not exactly beautiful, but they create an immersive game space, and they vividly show the devastation of a post-apocalyptic world, ravaged by a global nuclear war.
The settings are varied and immersive, offering players a sense of exploration and adventure in a dangerous and desolate world. The game begins in the dark and claustrophobic tunnels of the Moscow Metro. As the game progresses, players explore a range of different landscapes, including forests, swamps, deserts, and snowy wastelands.
One of the best video game landscapes is the Volga River region, where players must navigate through an open world filled with abandoned buildings, ruins, and flooded areas. This region is home to a variety of creatures, including giant catfish and mutated shrimp.
Another notable landscape is the Caspian Desert, a vast arid expanse of sand and ruins. Players must navigate through the dunes, avoiding deadly sandstorms and battling enemy forces. In the Taiga region, players find themselves in a dense forest covered in snow and ice. The game’s final landscape is the Dead City, a ruined metropolis. A haunting setting, with ruined skyscrapers and abandoned vehicles.
Red Dead Redemption 2 (2018)
Red Dead Redemption 2 is a 2018 action-adventure game developed and published by Rockstar Games. It’s modeled after the American Old West and it offers beautiful game art design. Environments and characters were inspired by 19th-century painters, including those from the Hudson River School.
This is a nature-filled video game with one of the best renditions of flora, fauna, and weather in video game history. Its art director himself, Aaron Garbut, confessed that they wanted to render a tangible atmosphere, so the player could almost feel the wind, rain, and mist on their face as they ride across the landscapes.
Throughout the game, the player ventures into numerous regions. It starts in the southeastern state of Lemoyne, characterized by rolling hills, grassy meadows, and large farms. The story continues in the eastern state of New Hanover, north of Lemoyne. It’s a land of plains, forests, mining towns and oilfields.
In the north, there’s the state of Ambarino, with some of the most breathtaking views. This is a mountainous region with snow-capped peaks, icy rivers, impressive glaciers and powerful geysers.
In the west, there’s the state of West Elisabeth. It contains many different landscapes, from a mountainous region covered in forests, through rolling hills with low-lying vegetation and few trees, to redwood forests, similar to those of Sierra Nevada in California.
The fifth state is New Austin, in the southwest, characterized as a rugged and arid desert. There, players will come across steep cliffs, dry canyons, sand dunes, rocky outcroppings, and cacti.
Ghost of Tsushima (2020)
Ghost of Tsushima is an action-adventure video game developed by Sucker Punch Productions. It’s set in a stunningly beautiful and vast open world inspired by medieval Japan. Tsushima is a large and varied island with a diverse range of natural features, including forests, mountains, rivers, and beaches. There you can discover many hidden areas, like shrines, temples, and other ancient ruins.
Their game artists create a lovely atmosphere by using cherry blossoms. In some areas, the blossoms form a kind of pink cloud, giving the landscape an otherworldly beauty that is both enchanting and haunting.
Other memorable settings are the hills and the grasslands. This type of landscape is characterized by its warm, golden hues and its sense of openness and freedom. Yet, one of the best video game landscapes are the mountains. These towering peaks are home to ancient shrines, hidden pathways, and treacherous terrain, making them a challenging but rewarding area to explore.
However, if you prefer the coast, you’ll find crystal-clear waters, white sandy beaches, and rock formations. There you can explore caves, hidden coves, and other hidden areas along the coast. All the areas combined contribute to the sense of beauty, mystery, and adventure. You’ll surely be impressed by the attention to detail and the vivid depictions of Japan’s natural beauty.
The Last of Us Part II (2020)
The Last of Us Part II is a post-apocalyptic action-adventure game that takes place in the United States 20 years after a fungal infection has decimated most of humanity. The video game design is exquisite. The landscapes are richly detailed and evocative, adding an additional layer of realism and immersion to the game’s world.
The game’s primary setting is the largely abandoned city of Seattle. The city is beautifully rendered, with the game’s artists paying close attention to the details of the environment. For example: the intricate graffiti on the walls and the overgrown foliage that has overtaken the buildings.
The game also takes place in Jackson, Wyoming, where a group of survivors have established a fortified commune. The Old West style town is made up cabins and buildings with plenty of detail.
Santa Barbara is another location that appears. Its landscape is dominated by sandy beaches, crashing waves, and palm trees, which make for a stark contrast to the other locations. In order to get from one place to another, the player has to make their way through dense forests, desolate highways, and abandoned towns.
No Man’s Sky (2016)
No Man’s Sky is a space exploration game that features procedurally generated game environments. As a result, the scenery can vary wildly, from lush forests and rolling hills to desolate wastelands and barren planets.
One of the most striking features is the game’s vibrant and diverse color palette. Players can encounter planets with pink skies, purple oceans, and green forests, as well as planets with red deserts, orange canyons, and blue ice fields.
Some planets are home to towering trees and dense forests, while others feature bizarre rock formations and underground caves. The game’s landscapes are also affected by various weather conditions. These can dramatically alter the appearance of a planet, with lightning illuminating the sky during a thunderstorm, or snow covering the ground during a blizzard.
To sum up, No Man’s Sky offers players an immersive and unforgettable experience with as they explore some of the best video game landscapes in the vastness of space.
Cyberpunk 2077 (2020)
Cyberpunk 2077 is a 2020 action RPG developed by CD Projekt Red. You won’t find much natural scenery in this game, but it will bring you plenty of enjoyment and concepts to think about if you appreciate architecture.
One of the best video game landscapes in Cyberpunk 2077 is the cityscape of Night City itself. The City Center is the heart of Night City, and it’s characterized by its glittering skyscrapers, flashy neon lights, and futuristic architecture. The Combat Zone, on the other hand, is characterized by its gritty, run-down buildings and its dark alleyways.
Forza Horizon 5 (2021)
For those who are into racing and enjoy driving throughout different locations, Forza Horizon 5 is a great choice. It’s an open-world racing game set in a fictionalized representation of Mexico with a magnificently realistic art design.
The map is the largest in the video game series and features 11 distinct biomes to explore. These biomes include the sprawling Canyon, the luscious Tropical Coast, the dry Farmland, the Arid Hills, the foliage-filled Jungle, the rocky and drought-ravaged Living Desert, and the Rocky Coast.
The other locations, include the open Sand Desert, the marsh-filled Swamp, the large Volcano, and the urban city of Guanajuato. While Guanajuato is the largest urban setting in the game, there are other towns from Mexico, including Mulegé, and some recreations of rural areas.
Moreover, there are unbelievably high-quality recreations of up to 56 landmarks. Players can drive by real ancient ruins from the Mayan era, like Ek’ Balam, Tulum, Uxmal, and Teotihuacan. They can also visit places like the Sierra Verde Dam, the arch of Cabo San Lucas and the Cascadas de Agua Azul.
Text edition:
Miguel Ángel Gacituaga Esquinas
