An important part of making a good game is finding the right setting. Picking the right era, environment, or the right culture can really impact how much the audience enjoys a game and how deeply it moves them. The United States provides a really good setting for a lot of different games.
Its history is rife with struggles for freedom and equality, periods where outlaws and lawlessness ruled the land, and a melting pot of all different cultures. There's been a lot of great games set in the Land of the Free, Home of the Brave, and here are the Top 10.
10 Watch Dogs 2
Watch Dogs 2 is the sequel to the 2014 game Watch Dogs, which was set in Chicago. Watch Dogs 2 is set in California in a fictionalize San Francisco Bay area. Taking place three years after the events of the first game hacker Marcus Holloway joins the group DedSec, a group of hackers intent on taking down ctOS.
The game is completely open-world from the start, with players encouraged to explore. Ubisoft Montreal put a lot of work into researching the Bay Area to put as many cultural landmarks as they could.
9 Assassin's Creed III
Assassin's Creed III takes players out of the Mediterranean and brings them to the United States in the 18th century during the War of Independence. Players take control of a half-English half-Mohawk man, whose village was attacked by the Templar order.
The game spans Connor's life from when he was a child into his adult years as an assassin, taking down members of the Templar order and aiding the Patriots in the Revolutionary War. The game takes players through several of the original 13 colonies during the United States' colonial period.
8 No More Heroes
No More Heroes is a game for the Wii that came out in 2008. The protagonist of the game is Travis Touchdown, an otaku who wins a beam katana from an online auction, and sets out to become the top-ranked assassin in an organization for assassins.
The game is set in a fictional town called Santa Destroy. While it doesn't have locations in-game based on real-world places in California, it has quite a few cultural references to locations in other parts of the United States. For one, the trains and subways resemble ones in New York.
7 Grand Theft Auto V
Grand Theft Auto V is set in the fictional state of San Andreas, based on Southern California. Players can roam the streets of the Los Angeles based city of Los Santos and either play the story or play online where they can create their own character and participate in cooperative and competitive games.
Many of the in-game areas are directly based off of locations and sites in L.A. and its surrounding neighborhoods. The Vinewood sign is of course based on the Hollywood sign and the Von Crastenburg location for Franklin's assassination mission is based off the Roosevelt Hotel.
6 Detriot: Become Human
Detriot: Become Human takes place in a futuristic version of Detriot, where androids take care of humankind's every need. The game follows three androids: Kara the housekeeper, Markus the caretaker, and Connor the police investigator android.
Each of their stories intertwines in a bigger plot about Deviants, androids who gain artificial consciousness and deviated from their programming. Detriot was picked specifically by David Cage (the game's director) because of its history of being an "industrial giant," going through "hard times" and "trying to be reborn again" set the perfect stage for the game's story.
5 Spider-Man (2018)
Our friendly neighborhood Spider-Man has always been a New Yorker, so any Spider-Man game should have the Big Apple as it's setting. 2018 Marvel's Spider-Man does not disappoint, as the game's open-world is set in the borough of Manhattan.
Spider-Man has to battle against a super-human villain called Mr. Negative and his own personal issues as Peter Parker. Players can use Spider-Man's abilities to freely move in any direction they want as he web-slings around the city. There's even a fast travel option system that uses an in-game New York City subway system!
4 Far Cry 5
Far Cry 5 is the first in the Far Cry series to take place in the United States. Set in a fictional town called Hope County in the northwestern state of Montana, players face against a doomsday cult called Eden's Gate, led by the charismatic but fanatical Joseph Seed.
Players must work alongside a resistance group to liberate the town from the Seed family. While Hope County is fictional, the game actually bases the natural wildlife, scenery, and some locations on real places in Montana.
3 Red Dead Redemption 2
Pretty much every game in the Red Dead series takes place in the United States during the Old West. Red Dead Redemption 2 is the newest installment and focuses on the decline of the Wild West.
While the locations in the game - Ambarino Lemoyne, New Hanover, West Elizabeth, and New Austin are fictional - it's believed that these locations are based off real-world ones. Lemoyne being an amalgamation of several Southeast states with its bayous and humid weather. Furthermore, the game location Saint Denis resembles the city of New Orleans.
2 Resident Evil 2
Resident Evil 2 originally came out in 1998 and got a remake early this year. The story in the remake is the same as it was in the original; two months after the events of Resident Evil, Leon S. Kennedy and Claire Redfield arrive in Raccoon City. They get separated and each faces their own set of horrors as they try to survive.
Raccoon City has always been set in the United States, in the fictional Arklay County located somewhere in the Midwest, though its exact location has never been specified.
1 The Last Of Us
The Last of Us tells the gripping story of survival in a post-apocalyptic future set in the United States. Players take control of Joel, a smuggler, who escorts a teenage girl, Ellie, across the United States. The game tells a story of survival and horror as the two have to fight against infected humans and desperate survivors.
The Last of Us begins with Joel and Ellie in Massachusetts and, through every season, has them traveling the United States: Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Colorado, and finally Salt Lake City, Utah.