The realism in LA Noire is absolutely insane. When it came out, I showed it to my dad who grew up in LA in the late 50s. There used to be a jungle themed restaurant called Cliftons that he loved as a kid. So we figured out where it used to be and went there in the game and the restaurant was there, perfectly recreated as he remembered it!
@@withoutthejuice7193 It was regarding your mention of Ubisoft and their attention to detail and that triggered two specific games of theirs that he and I enjoyed.
TLOU2 was really a "nothing like it" experience for me as someone who lived in seattle. It really is such an accurate depiction, and I had so many "yo wait, i've been here!" moments playing it. From the beginning when Ellie arrives on her horse, I literally said "are we getting on I5?" only to lose it seeing the street sign lol. So many times i had to stop and take in the city i knew falling apart, it was so surreal
I'm right there with u. My sister is in Takoma (Stationed there) and when I first finished tlou2, I went for a visit and she took me to all the locations. I did the same thing with days gone and traveling through Oregon (I live in Cali so gotta go through Oregon to get to my sister) it was an awesome visit seeing tlou2 areas and days gone areas. Even got to visit bend studios and they were amazing, they walked me around, showed me the giant deacon statue, introduced me to some of the devs who worked on the game etc. Great experience
I live just outside of Seattle and after realized mid-mission that I was in the “Home Depot” just South of the stadiums. Incredible attention to detail.
As a Chicago native, the first watch dogs was a fairly accurate recreation of the city. It's weird that it's not represented more in all forms of media.
I’m from Hong Kong and Sleeping Dogs really deserves some credits. The dev team did a fantastic job of capturing the essence of the city. I was studying abroad when it first came out, and the game reminded me of home big time
The detail about the cathedral on AC unity, is so detailed that the game was used as model to rebuild and restore the place after it was burned down is quite amazing
@@prolific1518it does. He’s saying that Ubisoft themselves admitted the recreation in game WAS NOT used to recreate the real place, when asked in an interview with The Guardian Whether that’s true or not, idk. But his comment does make sense.
They didn't use the model of the game to recreate the destroyed parts, but in fact ubisoft, donated money and the research they made for modeling the cathedral, like pictures and blueprints.
@@N0TrespasslngI’m not saying anything one way or the other. I was just clearing up the comment before me. You said it best, they helped to fund it, and research for it, but the actual game files weren’t used
I still remember how surreal it was when I played True Crime Streets of LA as a kid and suddenly realized I knew where I was in the city, which made me go investigate landmarks I could drive to through memory of the real world. The experience really reminded me I was in a video game because my knowledge of the real locations was constantly confronting the compromises being made to represent those locations in an early 2000s open world video game. It is weird how in retrospect, I didn't experience that dissonance when I played GTA San Andreas which heavily invokes LA, but since it is still ultimately a fictional location and to feel like LA, I didn't think about it as much.
I've spent more than the past decade describing what i want in gaming, basically saying "you know what they do with GTA or Assassin's Creed? I want more of that." Like my favorite thing in video games is having a detailed, real, or realistic world to explore. I imagine the same is true of many people who love exploration but don't have the money (or willingness to put up with airports' BS) to travel.
A lot of people wonder why Bethesda games sell 60?+ mil copies (Skyrim) cuz the gameplay is kinda thin. i just say there are a lot of players, such as yourself for whom the moment-to-moment gameplay isn't so important, and it's more about the game being greater than the sum of its parts.
@savagesounds7754 honestly i hate to steal from the video but Microsoft flight simulater is probably one of the coolest. The CDProjektRed, bethesda, rockstar, and ubisoft open world games all have fun worlds to explore despite all the problems with each company overall. Truck simulator is good
Kinda surprised and a shame the Yakuza/Like a Dragon games weren't in this list. They are infamously known for their accurate representation of the actual real world places/town let alone the time period of the setting the game takes place on i.e Kamurochō/Kabukichō from Tokyo,Dōtonbori/Sotembori from Osaka,Yokohama, Onomichi,Kyoto etc. Each and Every shop,bar and restaurants you come across were actual real places with one of the most popular one being the super store,Don Quijote..RGG really did their homework when it comes accuracy and playing the games really worked well as a tourist attraction
I was gonna suggest this lol. Kamurocho is my favorite video game city. I've played all the Yakuza games that Kamurocho just feels like home and i know where everything is.
The Getaway should've definitely gotten a mention. It's so accurate to central London that my dad was a taxi for me, when I was a kid trying to find out where to go
Same! When I was in central London for the first time as a kid, I was the tour guide for my family, and knew how to get everywhere because of that game. I still have it on PS2
The Division 2's rendition of DC is amazing! One of my earliest memories of dating my husband is our visit to the Air & Space Museum and the first time I did the mission in that location I was quite overcome with nostalgia. Sadly my daughter's current apartment was only one block outside the Div 2 map. I soooo wanted to send her a photo postcard of 'me' standing outside her building!
My favourite video game franchise is assassin's creed and one of the reasons for that is simply because of the fantasy of exploring the almost authentic old/historical settings. I guess that's almost all ubisoft open world games which are also some of my favourite games of all time. Great video btw👍
No mentioning of The Getaway and the sequel The Getaway Black Monday? They scanned the enitre London City Center 1 to 1 back in the early 2000s, making it one of the most expensive games back then. Plus the real life Cars and even Stores made the game absolutely immmersive. If you ever make a second video with real life places, you should definetely include those games.
Imagine putting all that time and money into a game, and not bothering to create an in game camera, creating an horrendous experience 😂 don’t allow nostalgia to blind you and those games are god awful
I've just mentioned this game, it was ages ago, on the fecking PS2, it was groundbreaking and the best to life representation in a game for a long time.
I only played the demo version of that game but I can confirm it was visually interesting to play in but the controls did not hold up over time. Very frustrating to play by today's standards.
Test Drive Unlimited 1 and 2 should have been given a spotlight as they take place in Oahu and Ibiza. Both locations are fairly detailed, while also being the size of their real life counterparts.
Thank you for including LA Noire, I loved that game, the city realism and facial capture was amazing back then. Also, it was just in the intro, but the New York public library was rendered very realistically in Dead to Rights in 2002. I think the city itself was pretty realistic too in Dead to Rights & Retribution.
As someone who can’t really go out into the world with how expensive that is. At least video games, movies, and shows have my back 😂 I get a taste. Even if it is a little bit. Of what it’s like to be out of America. And I’m thankful for it! Seriously, from games like Assassins Creed, Persona, and even the Yakuza games. I really appreciate the level of detail some of these devs do. It’s so cool!
Yes, for sure! This video has made me realize that part of why I love open world games so much is my desire to travel and explore. I'm limited in real life due to disability and lack of funds. Games help to scratch that itch.
Surprised that the Horizon games didn't get included. It's impressive how easy it is to recognize landmarks in them. And Vegas in HFW is just incredible.
Agreed. The “Denver” comment got a laugh out of me seeing as Denver is one of the main locations in Zero Dawn and Guerilla included a lot of the city’s landmarks as part of the ruins.
I agree with this comment. Zero Dawn gave us so many goodies, but Yellowstone and Ole’ Faithful really stand out for me. But, I feel like since so many post apocalyptic mentions were given with real world locations, Forbidden West gave us places like the Golden Gate Bridge, the Hoover Dam, Zion National Park, the Hollywood…
Just to add on to the AC Unity. The Notre-Dame Cathedral was so exact in the game that after the devastating fire, they used the 3D game model to help rebuild the Cathedral. Such an awesome story of the good video games can do for the world.
As always, an extremely cool video guys, thanks for that. However, I missed a game that would have definitely fit on the main list. The Fallout 4 version of Boston includes some sights. Fenway Park aka Diamond City in particular is quite detailed. ✌
I went to school in Manhattan for 4 years, exploring the city as well. So when Spiderman came out, I loved walking down the streets and avenues, looking for landmarks and places of been. Obviously not exact but I was surprised at how nearly accurate some things were.
The rolling hills in Kingdom Come: Deliverance are like nothing we've ever really seen before and when it rains while riding your horse across these fields they almost look photorealistic. Quite an achievement. These devs seem to be the only ones who've ever got this right.
It honestly drives me nuts that we don't get more games these days that seek to recreate, in as much detail as possible, parts of our world. I think there's a huge appetite for this kind of game. Like how big is that Truck sim game on steam vs how many people actually want to pretend to be a truck driver? I think most people are clearly interested in that game because it allows you to explore a lot of places.
The True Crime games L.A. and New York were recreated almost accurately in those two games back on the PS2 and XBox, it was wild to see an almost accurate L.A. and New York in those games back then, It was well done with the hardware/software it was done with at the time.
It definitely is. I recently replayed it, and it is still a super solid experience. The city is really lovely to just be in and explore, and the gameplay and hacking/drone puzzles are interesting and fun. Baffling that Legion had none of that...
I work in central London and Watch Dogs: Legion is so accurate to even the small side streets that I could direct my way around without using the map. Not the best game but so impressive
I cannot explain just how much I would love to see a follow up to L.A. Noire. With today's advancements in game technology it could be an amazing achievement. The game doesn't even have to be a direct sequel or called L.A. Noire 2. Just take any other big city of that time (Chicago Noire, Miami Noire, NYC Noire) and go all in on something that could be a total classic in the making.
Damn Falcon lol, you forgot to add for AC Unity that Notre Dame was so accurately recreated that the companies doing the reconstruction to Notre Dame IRL are actually using Unity as a big reference due to the near-perfect accuracy
Kingdom Come: Deliverance and L.A. Noire are two of my favorite games, primarily because of the crazy amount of immersion. If you're familiar with the area and know where some of the old landmarks are, you can even drive by landmark, as most local Angelinos do. Especially in Hollywood. The First National Bank is right where it should be at Hollywood and Highland, the Brown Derby's just south of Hollywood on Vine, Graumann's Chinese is there on Hollywood, as is the Egyptian, Musso & Frank Grill and the Roosevelt Hotel; The Mocambo Club is on Sunset... I used to drive by that big church at the corner of Highland and Franklin on my way to work every day. I've found a few places that weren't included, but kind of rare; they did their homework.
This list needs a Part 2, please. There's numerous comments with valid mentions of other games including, but not limited to, Yakuza series, Euro truck simulator 2, American Truck Simulator, Test Drive Unlimited, The Getaway. The list can go on.
Another game like this would be the Yakuza series, while certain places aren't real, some of the parts of Kamarocho that you explore are actually real places you can go to!
Here you go people: 0:17 - Dead Island 2 (Los Angeles) 1:59 - Assassin's Creed Unity (Paris) 3:55 - Watch_Dogs 2 (San Francisco) 5:18 - Kingdom Come Deliverance (Sázava?) 6:46 - Marvel's Spider-Man (New York City) 8:38 - The Last of Us Part II (Seattle) 10:07 - Ghostwire Tokyo (Shibuya) 11:46 - L.A. Noire 13:28 - The Division 2 14:58 - Flight Simulator 2020
I'm a bit surprised that Deus Ex and the Battery Island level didn't come up. I recently went on a trip to New York City, and I was having serious deja vu walking the corridors.
As someone who used to spend summers in Venice Beach with his aunt I can still remember the feeling of playing Tony Hawk 2 and getting to the Venice Beach Graffiti Pit level and screaming "I skate there at the top of my lungs"
i am surprised HITMAN triology didnt make it to the list. 😅😅 I mean they have literally covered every part of the world and that to with extreme details.
FINALLY some love for Ghostwire. Having been to Tokyo more times than visiting my own hometown (literally), the area around Shibuya is indeed a 1:1 representation. I went to Tokyo just after finishing the game, and walking the same way I did in real life vs the game, it is absolutely spot on, even in measurement. The street furniture, general signage, and down to the convenience stores are all very well done. There are also lots of cultural references that any western gamer can learn just be playing the game and exploring its open world.
I've seen a post about a school group that got lost while touring a city in Italy, and one if the boys led them through the back streets to the church they got lost trying to get to. When the teacher asked if the boy had been to Italy before, the boy said no, he knew where to go from playing Assassin's Creed Brotherhood. Some games are crazy accurate with their locations And them there's games like Minecraft, where players can build replicas of cities that are scarily accurate given the materials available, but that's a topic for another video :)
Will never forget the first time I played assassin’s creed 2 and I loved the freedom it gave you so cool you could say oh see that building there? Yeah you can climb it in real time
I was waiting all the time just for commenting shit like "LA Noire is playing Golf" or something like that, but then it finally showed up in the Top 3, and I am glad you mentioned it. Rockstar's most underrated game.
I remember getting the first Watchdogs because I lived in Chicago at the time. Downtown was well done, while surrounding neighborhoods were abridged, to put it mildly. Expected it to be though :p
Fun fact, Ubisoft actually helped rebuild the Church of Notre dame when it was burnt down. They provided the authorities with all the data they collected to recreate the church in the game which was used to recreate it IRL. Life imitating Art, Imitating Life.
I was hoping Crysis 2 would make this list. Not only were the buildings there, it was also geographically accurate to a large extent which made it the first game I already mostly knew my way around the first time I played it.
In TLOU2 the first time I went through the arcade/bar/restaurant, whatever the hell the place is supposed to be (Envision a Dave and Buster's, I guess), I took my time and looked around at everything and was blown away by the detail. I couldn't help but think, "I wish a place like this really existed in our city." Not sure if it's modeled after a real business, but if it is then that place must be jumpin' with people all the time. Multiple bars, a sit down restaurant area, an adults only lounge area for sports games and shit on the TV, multiple game/arcade areas and even prizes available, and a separate area for PC gaming, maybe to host local e-sport competitions. It's crazy.
Division 2's Lower Manhattan from the Warlords of NY DLC is also INSANE too. One of my good friends was a tour guide from BigBus and he loved being able to recognize actual landmarks he would be able to point out in-game. It was to the point where we discussed putting together an in-game tour of Lower Manhattan interspersed with real-life videos and discussions from actual tour guides. Unfortunately, due to family health issues, he had to move out to Missouri before we could sit down and really turn that from a concept to a product. :\
I have to check out the DLC. I played the first one and it was close to NYC but very shrunk down. So navigating was hard because I'd go back and forth between the game map and the real map that I'm used to.
I remember having to drive through West Virginia with my girlfriend and passing by the iconic Capitol building there. She's a massive fan of Fallout 76 and she was shocked at seeing a place she had been to virtually many times and felt a bit of unease seeing the downtown locations in person, before the apocalypse.
@@bearpoop720 Oh yeah, there's no comparison between how it was at release and now. I'm not saying it's the best game in the world but I've had a lot of enjoyment from it - it has plenty of that Fallout charm and vibe.
@le126 I went white water rafting on the New River in 1980 and met my future husband on the trip. It was a blast! One day I'll get back there (I'm from the UK).
I love it, You guys are so inspiring! Great Idea with this one, playing Assassins Creed Odyssey made me want to visit Greece! I had no idea there were so many islands!
The Get Away for the PS2 was crazy good back in the day. I played it with my uncle when it first came out and we found his place of work just by following the streets he memorised working in the city
As someone who lives in New York, Spider Man 3 was way more accurate than the new Spider Man 2. In the old SM3 game I was able to find where all of my houses have been, where as in the new SM2 none of those places exist in the game. SM3 went the extra mile.
I personally love exploring DC in The Division 2. It needed more people on the streets aside from the patrols and gang on gang fights. Having regular people surviving on their own, our character could supply goods and even a side quest with a unique reward. It would have given me better experience but other than that, I still enjoy enjoy playing Division 2 and experiencing its cool looking world.
I love it when developers recreat real-world locations in video games! I love the realism, and as someone who can't travel super easy, it's nice to be able to explore the real world.
A fishing game around my areabased loosely on my life would be a top hit. Mechanics are: 1. Minivan vehicle with a roof mounted kayak in a national park 2. Perhaps limited fuel 3. Selling fish for money that are hard to find in the first place 4. Unkillable bears that might bother you 5. Bushcraft survival mechanics such 6. Hunger
Yeah flight simulator is awesome for exploring the whole world it’s great being able to just think of a town or country and just instantly fly there - even though tbh I use the drone cam more than actually flying so you can freely look around the world without worrying about crashing 😊
Appreciate the work you do Falcon! ❤️❤️❤️ Though, I'm surprised how Horizon Zero Dawn and Horizon Forbidden West is not included considering you explore remnants of the old worlds, including Los Angeles and Las Vegas. But good work all the same.
I was really impressed by Ghostwire Tokyo. Just walking down the streets and backalleys in this game is so much fun, since I'm a fan of japan. ^^ Have to install this game again and finish it again. :D The first time I was that impressed by an open world of a game was with AC Syndicate. ^_^
@pikachu9443I would say the shenmue games on the Dreamcast are pretty authentic and the fact that in the first game you could open every drawer and cupboard made it seem so realistic
Fun fact - The team in charge of rebuilding Notre Dame Cathedral after the fire used AC Unity as a kind of 3d blueprint. The game is apparently perfect down to the smallest brick and it allowed them to get to places and see details they wouldn't otherwise have been able see.
If you brought up Flight Simulator I would like to give an honorable mention to Euro (And probably American) Truck Simulator. While the roads in each city are quite limited you do get recognizable landmarks everywhere. My home town has buildings I have seen in real life before and I recognize cities I have visited while travelling IRL. Not to mention they have added photo op locations for extra awesome landmarks, think Hagia Sofia or Berlin TV Tower. Absolutely amazing (and educational!) to hop behind the wheel and discover Europe.
I was playing American Truck Simulator and I set my home base in my home town, as you do if it's an option; Colorado Springs. My first mission was to take a load to Denver. So I hop on I-25 heading North, and seconds after passing the North Nevada exit in the Springs, I was in Denver. It was so jarring that I missed the exit I needed and had to backtrack. I knew it wouldn't be 1-to-1, but I expected some empty highway driving between the two; we aren't exactly neighbors.
Watch Dogs 2 was the main reason I wanted to visit San Francisco, and when I was there I mostly listened to the game's soundtrack and radio playlist while roaming. It was incredibly fun
I'm sure i heard somewhere that after the Notra Dame fire, architects actually consulted Ubisoft regarding using their representation of it to help with repairs.
Macron pledged, officials didn't take. According to what I read on an article on Artnet, planners seemed to say they didn't want to rely on the newer technology in fear that it wouldn't stand the test of time, the potential of artistic license deviating on what really was, and to rely on classical methods.
thanks falcon//. your voice is like a therapy for me .. i sleep to u taalking about random gaming stuff.. i love it.... gameranx is fun! its all i need '
The mmorpg car game Test Drive Unlimited 2 has the most realistic world you rldriving in. It's actually so realistic that you can use Google Map to plan routes. You can even show your own house to other players. Sadly, you can't go in to them.
The details in the TLOU universe are insane. I remember there was a creator who visited most of the main locations for a video to do a side by side recreating aone of the scenes 😂 it genuinely feels like thats what Seattle would become in an apocalypse. Great watch as always 👊🏿
Watch Dogs 2's San Francisco and Spider man's Manhattan are not the exact reproduction but a shrunk down version. However there is a video game franchise which you didn't even mentioned: True Crime. They were reproducing the exact Manhattan in the second game and big part of the real L.A in their first game
As a Flight Simmer, I can wholly understand how "niche" the platform is and admittedly, most people will "try" the Sim through Cloud Gamimg or download it to only play for an hour and get bored. But I have nearly 400 hours of Flight Time and it NEVER gets boring.....because the Sim didn't just feed my passion for aviation, it awakened it. However, I am seeing more and more people realize it's more than "just a game". They start out just fooling around in the free planes and next thing you know, they're doing an international long haul (or even on their way to a real-life PPL, in some cases). I'm so glad you featured Flight Simulator in the top spot.
Also Far Cry 6. The capital of Yara does an amazing job of recreating Havana. Especially with how much harder and/or difficult it is to film/extract data from Cuba. First time I played it, I showed it to my dad and he actually recognized a few spots
Chernobylite used real 3D scanned images of the Pripyat Exclusion Zone, which is just bananas, especially since they spent actual years capturing it. Obviously like many things like this there were changes made to make it work as a game and such, but that's still wild, especially since they're not AAA. It's not technically in the world but Elite Dangerous lets you explore the Milky Way and they say they kept the proportions of everything which is mind blowing to even think about. That's so big that we can't even really properly conceptualise it.
My buddy showed me where he used to live in flight simulator. Spent 20 minutes circling his town in f18s at like 3 or 4am and I pointed out a football field. He knew where to go from there and crashed into his old front door.
The realism in LA Noire is absolutely insane. When it came out, I showed it to my dad who grew up in LA in the late 50s. There used to be a jungle themed restaurant called Cliftons that he loved as a kid. So we figured out where it used to be and went there in the game and the restaurant was there, perfectly recreated as he remembered it!
That’s so cool
Holy crap thats awesome
Cliftons is still around
Just started playing it, it’s awesome
I’d love a LA Noir remake with todays tech. It would be amazing. It still is but I’d love all the great Rockstar games remastered well.
Ubisoft’s attention to detail when it comes to world design is astounding. If only they put that much effort into the rest of the games they put out.
I will say, regarding that, my brother loved the Resident Evil series and I loved Splinter Cell.
Ubisoft games are shit 😂
@@bobhill3941 I will say, regarding that, that I have no idea what those games have to do with my comment
@@withoutthejuice7193 It was regarding your mention of Ubisoft and their attention to detail and that triggered two specific games of theirs that he and I enjoyed.
@@bobhill3941Resident Evil is Capcom, mind you
TLOU2 was really a "nothing like it" experience for me as someone who lived in seattle. It really is such an accurate depiction, and I had so many "yo wait, i've been here!" moments playing it. From the beginning when Ellie arrives on her horse, I literally said "are we getting on I5?" only to lose it seeing the street sign lol. So many times i had to stop and take in the city i knew falling apart, it was so surreal
I'm right there with u. My sister is in Takoma (Stationed there) and when I first finished tlou2, I went for a visit and she took me to all the locations. I did the same thing with days gone and traveling through Oregon (I live in Cali so gotta go through Oregon to get to my sister) it was an awesome visit seeing tlou2 areas and days gone areas. Even got to visit bend studios and they were amazing, they walked me around, showed me the giant deacon statue, introduced me to some of the devs who worked on the game etc. Great experience
I can only imagine how weird and creepy that must have been! TLoU2 is so atmospheric and sad.
That's how I felt with TLOU in SLC. It was so damn cool and felt surreal.
I wonder if it’s also the case with Santa Barbara
I live just outside of Seattle and after realized mid-mission that I was in the “Home Depot” just South of the stadiums. Incredible attention to detail.
Ive always loved the assassins creed series for this exact reason... especially the Desmond Miles arch is filled with truly amazing reconstructions
As a Chicago native, the first watch dogs was a fairly accurate recreation of the city. It's weird that it's not represented more in all forms of media.
I remember a TV show that showed "O'Hare Airport" with mountains surrounding it. It's like they took "Mt. Prospect" literally.
@@BuildinWings that's hilarious. It's because no one actually wants to go there. It's a truly awful place to live lol.
No McCormick place though.
It would be great for a GTA
@@prolific1518 agreed!
I’m from Hong Kong and Sleeping Dogs really deserves some credits. The dev team did a fantastic job of capturing the essence of the city. I was studying abroad when it first came out, and the game reminded me of home big time
The detail about the cathedral on AC unity, is so detailed that the game was used as model to rebuild and restore the place after it was burned down is quite amazing
Not actually true, even by the admission of Ubi to The Guardian when asked directly about it. They donated money, but that is it
@@mattyt1961your comment doesn't even make sense.
@@prolific1518it does. He’s saying that Ubisoft themselves admitted the recreation in game WAS NOT used to recreate the real place, when asked in an interview with The Guardian
Whether that’s true or not, idk. But his comment does make sense.
They didn't use the model of the game to recreate the destroyed parts, but in fact ubisoft, donated money and the research they made for modeling the cathedral, like pictures and blueprints.
@@N0TrespasslngI’m not saying anything one way or the other. I was just clearing up the comment before me. You said it best, they helped to fund it, and research for it, but the actual game files weren’t used
I remember playing the Division 2 and realizing I’m standing next to my real world office building recreated shockingly accurately. Very cool.
Kingdom Come was such an underappreciated game on so many levels.
its one of the most underrated games of all time
no one plays first person RPG's
Huh? So what about Skyrim, Fallout and Cyberpunk?
@@melchorguisewtf are you on?
@@Seismo2077 Borderlands
I still remember how surreal it was when I played True Crime Streets of LA as a kid and suddenly realized I knew where I was in the city, which made me go investigate landmarks I could drive to through memory of the real world. The experience really reminded me I was in a video game because my knowledge of the real locations was constantly confronting the compromises being made to represent those locations in an early 2000s open world video game. It is weird how in retrospect, I didn't experience that dissonance when I played GTA San Andreas which heavily invokes LA, but since it is still ultimately a fictional location and to feel like LA, I didn't think about it as much.
I remember asking my dad if he could help me find staples center. We were both stoked once we found it lol. Awesome moment .
My cousin did the exact same thing when he went to LA after playing GTA San Andreas. New York was also realistically rendered in GTA 4.
I've spent more than the past decade describing what i want in gaming, basically saying "you know what they do with GTA or Assassin's Creed? I want more of that." Like my favorite thing in video games is having a detailed, real, or realistic world to explore. I imagine the same is true of many people who love exploration but don't have the money (or willingness to put up with airports' BS) to travel.
what are your top recommendations?
A lot of people wonder why Bethesda games sell 60?+ mil copies (Skyrim) cuz the gameplay is kinda thin. i just say there are a lot of players, such as yourself for whom the moment-to-moment gameplay isn't so important, and it's more about the game being greater than the sum of its parts.
@@Boss_Fight_Index_muki yeah its about there being this whole world to explore, sonce my ability to explore the real one is so limited by money.
@savagesounds7754 honestly i hate to steal from the video but Microsoft flight simulater is probably one of the coolest. The CDProjektRed, bethesda, rockstar, and ubisoft open world games all have fun worlds to explore despite all the problems with each company overall. Truck simulator is good
Kinda surprised and a shame the Yakuza/Like a Dragon games weren't in this list.
They are infamously known for their accurate representation of the actual real world places/town let alone the time period of the setting the game takes place on
i.e Kamurochō/Kabukichō from Tokyo,Dōtonbori/Sotembori from Osaka,Yokohama, Onomichi,Kyoto etc.
Each and Every shop,bar and restaurants you come across were actual real places with one of the most popular one being the super store,Don Quijote..RGG really did their homework when it comes accuracy and playing the games really worked well as a tourist attraction
I was gonna say the same
I was gonna suggest this lol. Kamurocho is my favorite video game city. I've played all the Yakuza games that Kamurocho just feels like home and i know where everything is.
THIS IS AN OUTRAGE, THE DISCRIMINATION MUST STOP😡😡😡😡😡😡😡😡😡😡😡
Not to mention how they represented the area across different decades going through the series!
Let's put Falcon for ten years in the joint for not mentioning Yakuza
The Getaway should've definitely gotten a mention. It's so accurate to central London that my dad was a taxi for me, when I was a kid trying to find out where to go
Ha you beat me to it.... I loved that game, way ahead of its time
God I miss that period of gaming.
Same! When I was in central London for the first time as a kid, I was the tour guide for my family, and knew how to get everywhere because of that game. I still have it on PS2
The Division 2's rendition of DC is amazing! One of my earliest memories of dating my husband is our visit to the Air & Space Museum and the first time I did the mission in that location I was quite overcome with nostalgia. Sadly my daughter's current apartment was only one block outside the Div 2 map. I soooo wanted to send her a photo postcard of 'me' standing outside her building!
My favourite video game franchise is assassin's creed and one of the reasons for that is simply because of the fantasy of exploring the almost authentic old/historical settings. I guess that's almost all ubisoft open world games which are also some of my favourite games of all time. Great video btw👍
Yeah I think Ubisoft gets dunked on a bit too much.
I absolutely agree... the AC worlds are amazing.. and especially the games in the Desmond arch... they show a very amazing reconstruction
They make good open worlds, but fill it with all the same boring content.
@ModestPavement yeah like rockstar i think some of their corporate practices can be a bit scummy but at the end of the day they make great open worlds
Same. I've always loved it
No mentioning of The Getaway and the sequel The Getaway Black Monday? They scanned the enitre London City Center 1 to 1 back in the early 2000s, making it one of the most expensive games back then. Plus the real life Cars and even Stores made the game absolutely immmersive. If you ever make a second video with real life places, you should definetely include those games.
Played both loved them both
Imagine putting all that time and money into a game, and not bothering to create an in game camera, creating an horrendous experience 😂 don’t allow nostalgia to blind you and those games are god awful
@KezVanBeck go to bed mate, you seem abit confused
I've just mentioned this game, it was ages ago, on the fecking PS2, it was groundbreaking and the best to life representation in a game for a long time.
I only played the demo version of that game but I can confirm it was visually interesting to play in but the controls did not hold up over time. Very frustrating to play by today's standards.
Test Drive Unlimited 1 and 2 should have been given a spotlight as they take place in Oahu and Ibiza. Both locations are fairly detailed, while also being the size of their real life counterparts.
Thank you for including LA Noire, I loved that game, the city realism and facial capture was amazing back then. Also, it was just in the intro, but the New York public library was rendered very realistically in Dead to Rights in 2002. I think the city itself was pretty realistic too in Dead to Rights & Retribution.
Watch dogs 2 is probably my all time favorite real world game setting.
Can't wait for dogs 3
Watch Dogs 2 is super underrated in general
@@switchipedegames 4 you mean?
And sadly according to Ubisoft, Legion was the last watch dogs they're making.
Same it was so good it reminds me of my trip to San Francisco and I get such nestalgia.
@@switchipedegamesprobably can’t watch dogs again bro
As someone who can’t really go out into the world with how expensive that is. At least video games, movies, and shows have my back 😂 I get a taste. Even if it is a little bit. Of what it’s like to be out of America. And I’m thankful for it! Seriously, from games like Assassins Creed, Persona, and even the Yakuza games. I really appreciate the level of detail some of these devs do. It’s so cool!
So many people I can imagine know Shibuya like the back of their hand after Yakuza games haha
Thats why a lot of us do it! Its so expensive to travel!
Yes, for sure! This video has made me realize that part of why I love open world games so much is my desire to travel and explore. I'm limited in real life due to disability and lack of funds. Games help to scratch that itch.
Mobility scooters are an affordable option for those who are not able to go out into the world. I hope you find your peace.
Surprised that the Horizon games didn't get included. It's impressive how easy it is to recognize landmarks in them. And Vegas in HFW is just incredible.
Agreed. The “Denver” comment got a laugh out of me seeing as Denver is one of the main locations in Zero Dawn and Guerilla included a lot of the city’s landmarks as part of the ruins.
I agree with this comment.
Zero Dawn gave us so many goodies, but Yellowstone and Ole’ Faithful really stand out for me. But, I feel like since so many post apocalyptic mentions were given with real world locations, Forbidden West gave us places like the Golden Gate Bridge, the Hoover Dam, Zion National Park, the Hollywood…
Just to add on to the AC Unity. The Notre-Dame Cathedral was so exact in the game that after the devastating fire, they used the 3D game model to help rebuild the Cathedral. Such an awesome story of the good video games can do for the world.
As always, an extremely cool video guys, thanks for that. However, I missed a game that would have definitely fit on the main list. The Fallout 4 version of Boston includes some sights. Fenway Park aka Diamond City in particular is quite detailed. ✌
I went to school in Manhattan for 4 years, exploring the city as well. So when Spiderman came out, I loved walking down the streets and avenues, looking for landmarks and places of been. Obviously not exact but I was surprised at how nearly accurate some things were.
The rolling hills in Kingdom Come: Deliverance are like nothing we've ever really seen before and when it rains while riding your horse across these fields they almost look photorealistic. Quite an achievement. These devs seem to be the only ones who've ever got this right.
They made it with cryengine so yeah
It honestly drives me nuts that we don't get more games these days that seek to recreate, in as much detail as possible, parts of our world. I think there's a huge appetite for this kind of game. Like how big is that Truck sim game on steam vs how many people actually want to pretend to be a truck driver? I think most people are clearly interested in that game because it allows you to explore a lot of places.
Great sound design too. All the benefits without the downsides like crime, terrorism, or disease.
@@brodriguez11000 great point!
Half of the games in this list are not over 5 years old. Do you live in another timeline or something
It's a lot of time and effort to put into something that the majority of people won't get.
The True Crime games L.A. and New York were recreated almost accurately in those two games back on the PS2 and XBox, it was wild to see an almost accurate L.A. and New York in those games back then, It was well done with the hardware/software it was done with at the time.
Watch Dogs 2 is such a underrated masterpiece
It definitely is. I recently replayed it, and it is still a super solid experience. The city is really lovely to just be in and explore, and the gameplay and hacking/drone puzzles are interesting and fun. Baffling that Legion had none of that...
I work in central London and Watch Dogs: Legion is so accurate to even the small side streets that I could direct my way around without using the map. Not the best game but so impressive
I cannot explain just how much I would love to see a follow up to L.A. Noire. With today's advancements in game technology it could be an amazing achievement. The game doesn't even have to be a direct sequel or called L.A. Noire 2. Just take any other big city of that time (Chicago Noire, Miami Noire, NYC Noire) and go all in on something that could be a total classic in the making.
NY noire wouold be awesome
Unity is so immersive, Ubisoft is insanely good at that with Assassins Creeds, Watch Dogs, The Division etc..
Damn Falcon lol, you forgot to add for AC Unity that Notre Dame was so accurately recreated that the companies doing the reconstruction to Notre Dame IRL are actually using Unity as a big reference due to the near-perfect accuracy
Really? Damn.
Unity despite all of its problems as a game, actually saved real life historical place. Gotta give credit for that.
Kingdom Come: Deliverance and L.A. Noire are two of my favorite games, primarily because of the crazy amount of immersion.
If you're familiar with the area and know where some of the old landmarks are, you can even drive by landmark, as most local Angelinos do. Especially in Hollywood. The First National Bank is right where it should be at Hollywood and Highland, the Brown Derby's just south of Hollywood on Vine, Graumann's Chinese is there on Hollywood, as is the Egyptian, Musso & Frank Grill and the Roosevelt Hotel; The Mocambo Club is on Sunset... I used to drive by that big church at the corner of Highland and Franklin on my way to work every day. I've found a few places that weren't included, but kind of rare; they did their homework.
I lived in Seattle for 20 years...and now I have to play "The Last of Us 2".
Thank you _so_ much. 😋
This list needs a Part 2, please. There's numerous comments with valid mentions of other games including, but not limited to, Yakuza series, Euro truck simulator 2, American Truck Simulator, Test Drive Unlimited, The Getaway. The list can go on.
It definitely needs a part 2. Good call. I just remembered two myself, the Forza Horizon/Horizon Motorsports series, and Mafia 1,2,&3.
Another game like this would be the Yakuza series, while certain places aren't real, some of the parts of Kamarocho that you explore are actually real places you can go to!
Here you go people:
0:17 - Dead Island 2 (Los Angeles)
1:59 - Assassin's Creed Unity (Paris)
3:55 - Watch_Dogs 2 (San Francisco)
5:18 - Kingdom Come Deliverance (Sázava?)
6:46 - Marvel's Spider-Man (New York City)
8:38 - The Last of Us Part II (Seattle)
10:07 - Ghostwire Tokyo (Shibuya)
11:46 - L.A. Noire
13:28 - The Division 2
14:58 - Flight Simulator 2020
You are a legend
You're a hero.
Pity this channel is so fucking lazy that they can't bother to do this.
I'm a bit surprised that Deus Ex and the Battery Island level didn't come up. I recently went on a trip to New York City, and I was having serious deja vu walking the corridors.
This video is significantly cooler with 40% more real world pictures of the places that are referenced.
at this point, I'm conviced Gameranx makes these top 10 videos as an excuse to get to talk about Kingdom Come more often. haha
Notre-Dame in Unity was apparently so accurate that the game was used to aid in the reconstruction of the cathedral after the fire.
As someone who used to spend summers in Venice Beach with his aunt I can still remember the feeling of playing Tony Hawk 2 and getting to the Venice Beach Graffiti Pit level and screaming "I skate there at the top of my lungs"
Horizon Zero Dawn uses Denver as a setting. Red Rocks Amphitheater and Mile High stadium are both major locations in the game.
You guys are amazing truly. Bringing fresh content daily, making my dinner perfect🤌🏼
The ghostwire entry makes me appreciate persona 5 more lol didn't realize how well they made Shibuya in it
The very reason why I'm into gaming is virtual tourism. I love exploring places of the world that I may not have chance to visit in my lifetime.
i am surprised HITMAN triology didnt make it to the list. 😅😅 I mean they have literally covered every part of the world and that to with extreme details.
I love Infamous Second Son's depiction of Seattle. Thank you Falcon and GR Community❤!
FINALLY some love for Ghostwire. Having been to Tokyo more times than visiting my own hometown (literally), the area around Shibuya is indeed a 1:1 representation. I went to Tokyo just after finishing the game, and walking the same way I did in real life vs the game, it is absolutely spot on, even in measurement. The street furniture, general signage, and down to the convenience stores are all very well done. There are also lots of cultural references that any western gamer can learn just be playing the game and exploring its open world.
The attention to detail in Kingdom Come Deliverance is amazing.
Shout out to The Getaway series. Had come out a few years before I moved to London and I used it to get my bearings around central London
I've seen a post about a school group that got lost while touring a city in Italy, and one if the boys led them through the back streets to the church they got lost trying to get to. When the teacher asked if the boy had been to Italy before, the boy said no, he knew where to go from playing Assassin's Creed Brotherhood. Some games are crazy accurate with their locations
And them there's games like Minecraft, where players can build replicas of cities that are scarily accurate given the materials available, but that's a topic for another video :)
Will never forget the first time I played assassin’s creed 2 and I loved the freedom it gave you so cool you could say oh see that building there? Yeah you can climb it in real time
I was waiting all the time just for commenting shit like "LA Noire is playing Golf" or something like that, but then it finally showed up in the Top 3, and I am glad you mentioned it.
Rockstar's most underrated game.
I remember getting the first Watchdogs because I lived in Chicago at the time. Downtown was well done, while surrounding neighborhoods were abridged, to put it mildly. Expected it to be though :p
Even Legion does London well.
Fun fact, Ubisoft actually helped rebuild the Church of Notre dame when it was burnt down. They provided the authorities with all the data they collected to recreate the church in the game which was used to recreate it IRL. Life imitating Art, Imitating Life.
I was hoping Crysis 2 would make this list. Not only were the buildings there, it was also geographically accurate to a large extent which made it the first game I already mostly knew my way around the first time I played it.
In TLOU2 the first time I went through the arcade/bar/restaurant, whatever the hell the place is supposed to be (Envision a Dave and Buster's, I guess), I took my time and looked around at everything and was blown away by the detail. I couldn't help but think, "I wish a place like this really existed in our city."
Not sure if it's modeled after a real business, but if it is then that place must be jumpin' with people all the time. Multiple bars, a sit down restaurant area, an adults only lounge area for sports games and shit on the TV, multiple game/arcade areas and even prizes available, and a separate area for PC gaming, maybe to host local e-sport competitions. It's crazy.
Division 2's Lower Manhattan from the Warlords of NY DLC is also INSANE too. One of my good friends was a tour guide from BigBus and he loved being able to recognize actual landmarks he would be able to point out in-game. It was to the point where we discussed putting together an in-game tour of Lower Manhattan interspersed with real-life videos and discussions from actual tour guides. Unfortunately, due to family health issues, he had to move out to Missouri before we could sit down and really turn that from a concept to a product. :\
I have to check out the DLC. I played the first one and it was close to NYC but very shrunk down. So navigating was hard because I'd go back and forth between the game map and the real map that I'm used to.
LA noir blew me away when I first played it such a detailed game!!!
I remember having to drive through West Virginia with my girlfriend and passing by the iconic Capitol building there. She's a massive fan of Fallout 76 and she was shocked at seeing a place she had been to virtually many times and felt a bit of unease seeing the downtown locations in person, before the apocalypse.
I've been playing 76 since release and I soooo want to go to West Virginia and see all the locations!
@@Out_on_a_Limb_Life76 since release? Have they fixed that piece of crap?
@@bearpoop720 Oh yeah, there's no comparison between how it was at release and now. I'm not saying it's the best game in the world but I've had a lot of enjoyment from it - it has plenty of that Fallout charm and vibe.
@le126 I went white water rafting on the New River in 1980 and met my future husband on the trip. It was a blast! One day I'll get back there (I'm from the UK).
DayZ is a 235 sqkm exact representation of Usti in the Czech Republic. It's so accurate that even the in game bushes exist in real life.
I love it, You guys are so inspiring! Great Idea with this one, playing Assassins Creed Odyssey made me want to visit Greece! I had no idea there were so many islands!
The Get Away for the PS2 was crazy good back in the day. I played it with my uncle when it first came out and we found his place of work just by following the streets he memorised working in the city
As someone who lives in New York, Spider Man 3 was way more accurate than the new Spider Man 2. In the old SM3 game I was able to find where all of my houses have been, where as in the new SM2 none of those places exist in the game. SM3 went the extra mile.
@@nevousabonnezpas4286 damn right 😎 lol I just mean that they replicated the city better in the 2007 SM3 game.
I personally love exploring DC in The Division 2. It needed more people on the streets aside from the patrols and gang on gang fights. Having regular people surviving on their own, our character could supply goods and even a side quest with a unique reward. It would have given me better experience but other than that, I still enjoy enjoy playing Division 2 and experiencing its cool looking world.
As a citizen of Detroit, i can confirm RoboCop Rogue City is about 79% like Detroit irl.
I love it when developers recreat real-world locations in video games! I love the realism, and as someone who can't travel super easy, it's nice to be able to explore the real world.
How did you miss out on 'The Getaway' series which perfectly recreated the WHOLE of London?!
A fishing game around my areabased loosely on my life would be a top hit. Mechanics are:
1. Minivan vehicle with a roof mounted kayak in a national park
2. Perhaps limited fuel
3. Selling fish for money that are hard to find in the first place
4. Unkillable bears that might bother you
5. Bushcraft survival mechanics such
6. Hunger
Flight Simulator is something else. I live in a pretty rural area and I even managed to find my house. That's insanely impressive
Yeah flight simulator is awesome for exploring the whole world it’s great being able to just think of a town or country and just instantly fly there - even though tbh I use the drone cam more than actually flying so you can freely look around the world without worrying about crashing 😊
8:42 imagine doing all that work just for gameranx to say there's something wrong with you 😂
Appreciate the work you do Falcon! ❤️❤️❤️
Though, I'm surprised how Horizon Zero Dawn and Horizon Forbidden West is not included considering you explore remnants of the old worlds, including Los Angeles and Las Vegas. But good work all the same.
“I don’t see there ever being a Denver game.” Meanwhile Denver is one of the main locations in Horizon Zero Dawn 😂
Man said “The Noter Dame Cathedral” 🤣
I was really impressed by Ghostwire Tokyo. Just walking down the streets and backalleys in this game is so much fun, since I'm a fan of japan. ^^
Have to install this game again and finish it again. :D
The first time I was that impressed by an open world of a game was with AC Syndicate. ^_^
I felt the same way about the Dead to Rights and Hitman franchises.
@pikachu9443I would say the shenmue games on the Dreamcast are pretty authentic and the fact that in the first game you could open every drawer and cupboard made it seem so realistic
Denver deserves a game! The weather simulations would be ground breaking! If you know, you know
Hello, Falcon!!
Hey
Fun fact - The team in charge of rebuilding Notre Dame Cathedral after the fire used AC Unity as a kind of 3d blueprint. The game is apparently perfect down to the smallest brick and it allowed them to get to places and see details they wouldn't otherwise have been able see.
Thanks for the confirmation, I thought that game developers would jump at the opportunity to scan Notre Dame as it was being resurrected.
If you brought up Flight Simulator I would like to give an honorable mention to Euro (And probably American) Truck Simulator. While the roads in each city are quite limited you do get recognizable landmarks everywhere. My home town has buildings I have seen in real life before and I recognize cities I have visited while travelling IRL. Not to mention they have added photo op locations for extra awesome landmarks, think Hagia Sofia or Berlin TV Tower. Absolutely amazing (and educational!) to hop behind the wheel and discover Europe.
Yeah surprised these weren't on there. I play them almost daily and can confirm. They're legit deserving for this list.
Flight Simulator is using Bing maps data. The truck sim games don't even compare. Moron.
I was playing American Truck Simulator and I set my home base in my home town, as you do if it's an option; Colorado Springs. My first mission was to take a load to Denver. So I hop on I-25 heading North, and seconds after passing the North Nevada exit in the Springs, I was in Denver. It was so jarring that I missed the exit I needed and had to backtrack. I knew it wouldn't be 1-to-1, but I expected some empty highway driving between the two; we aren't exactly neighbors.
True Crime LA was on point 👌🏼
Metal gear solid master collection is a world where you can explore places like enemy's. It's a great game.
Plus Assassins creed series. Yeah.
👍🏼
Watch Dogs 2 was the main reason I wanted to visit San Francisco, and when I was there I mostly listened to the game's soundtrack and radio playlist while roaming. It was incredibly fun
Fun fact In the real world you can also visit real world places
😅
When your life campaign starts not the role which has been given to actors lol I’m still here though 🤣🤣
I'm stuck on the tutorial
I'm sure i heard somewhere that after the Notra Dame fire, architects actually consulted Ubisoft regarding using their representation of it to help with repairs.
Game studios could make a good side-business with virtual tourism and historical recreations.
Macron pledged, officials didn't take. According to what I read on an article on Artnet, planners seemed to say they didn't want to rely on the newer technology in fear that it wouldn't stand the test of time, the potential of artistic license deviating on what really was, and to rely on classical methods.
Thanks for the Cedar Rapids, Iowa shout out. You know you've made it when falcon acknowledges your existence 😂
Cleveland looks a lot like a Fallout game. Does that count?
thanks falcon//. your voice is like a therapy for me .. i sleep to u taalking about random gaming stuff.. i love it.... gameranx is fun! its all i need '
Thanks for the consistently great content, makes my day
The fact that Unity was used to aid in the restoration of the Notre Dame after the fires was just amazing
LA Noire desperately needs a sequel. I’d love one set maybe in 70s LA. It was a great concept and deserves to be revisited.
assassins creed unity and syndicate will forever remain the masterpieces that never got love.
I’ve spent many real time hours in Ghostwire Tokyo just admiring the beauty of the landscape, the attention to detail is incredible
The mmorpg car game Test Drive Unlimited 2 has the most realistic world you rldriving in. It's actually so realistic that you can use Google Map to plan routes. You can even show your own house to other players. Sadly, you can't go in to them.
I have a friend living in Ibiza one of the map in the game. And you could drive up to his irl house.
The second map was O'ahu.
Flacon acknowledging Laredo Texas getting a shoutout made my day
The details in the TLOU universe are insane. I remember there was a creator who visited most of the main locations for a video to do a side by side recreating aone of the scenes 😂 it genuinely feels like thats what Seattle would become in an apocalypse.
Great watch as always 👊🏿
Another Gameranx banger, thanks Falcon!!
Im so glad that you put LA noire and watch dogs 2 here ! Nice video❤
Watch Dogs 2's San Francisco and Spider man's Manhattan are not the exact reproduction but a shrunk down version.
However there is a video game franchise which you didn't even mentioned: True Crime. They were reproducing the exact Manhattan in the second game and big part of the real L.A in their first game
As a Flight Simmer, I can wholly understand how "niche" the platform is and admittedly, most people will "try" the Sim through Cloud Gamimg or download it to only play for an hour and get bored.
But I have nearly 400 hours of Flight Time and it NEVER gets boring.....because the Sim didn't just feed my passion for aviation, it awakened it.
However, I am seeing more and more people realize it's more than "just a game". They start out just fooling around in the free planes and next thing you know, they're doing an international long haul (or even on their way to a real-life PPL, in some cases).
I'm so glad you featured Flight Simulator in the top spot.
Also Far Cry 6. The capital of Yara does an amazing job of recreating Havana. Especially with how much harder and/or difficult it is to film/extract data from Cuba. First time I played it, I showed it to my dad and he actually recognized a few spots
Chernobylite used real 3D scanned images of the Pripyat Exclusion Zone, which is just bananas, especially since they spent actual years capturing it. Obviously like many things like this there were changes made to make it work as a game and such, but that's still wild, especially since they're not AAA.
It's not technically in the world but Elite Dangerous lets you explore the Milky Way and they say they kept the proportions of everything which is mind blowing to even think about. That's so big that we can't even really properly conceptualise it.
My buddy showed me where he used to live in flight simulator. Spent 20 minutes circling his town in f18s at like 3 or 4am and I pointed out a football field. He knew where to go from there and crashed into his old front door.