Ever since Yu Suzuki's Shenmue sent gamers on a mission to find sailors at the docks, race forklift trucks, and dishing out beatd𓄧owns to punks and bad guys in the rꦕealistic setting of Yokosuka, Japan, gaming worlds changed forever. The Dreamcast showed the world what could happen if you set a video game inside of the real world.

Two years later Grand Theft Auto 3 widened the scope, with its rendition of New York City (Liberty City) on the PlayStation 2. Since these titles were released, video games have evolved enough to provide gamers with a true means of escapism. Resultantly, allowing us to explore and travel to famous locations from the comfort of our sofas. It has gifted players with, not just the ability to be someone else capable of physical feats that wouldn't otherwise be possible, but the ability to see the world in news ways. External factors including finances, time, or mobility can make traveling to Rome, Tibet☂, or New York i𒅌mpossible, but in games: anything is possible.

As technolog🐼y has improved over the year, so have developers' ability to creatively and accurately transport the player to almost pinpoint recreations of cities and lands. Here are fifteen gaming worlds that show us the true meaning of escapism in the medium we love.

15 The Last Of Us - Salt Lake City 💎

The Last Of Us is an action-adventure survival horror game developed by Naughty Dog, the same developers who were responsible for the Uncharted series. The horror title is considered one of the most significant g♛ames of the 🦄seventh generation of consoles and is critically acclaimed for its deep narrative, that managed to convey realistic relationships between the characters on an emotional level.

In The Last Of Us, Salt Lake 🏅City was the last city Joel and Ellie visited on their way to see the revolutionary militia group The Fireflies. The city provided the backdrop for one the most memorable scenes in the game in 🍷terms of its story and emotional impact.

Although The Last Of Us 𒁃didn't provide a point for point realistic rendition of Salt Lake City, there were still several of the cit⛄y's landmarks on display — like the Salt Lake Temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as shown above.

14 ꦦ Far Cry 4 - Nepal

Far Cry 4 is an open-world action adventure game that uses a first-person perspective for its stea🍃lth and shooter mechanics. The game's setting and certain aspects were loosely based on the Nepalese Civil War.

Far Cry 4 was praised for its plot, memorable villain, surprisingly deꦜep RPG elements and most importantly its incredible world setting.

The fictional Himalayan setting of Kyrat was a faithful recreation of Nepal and its lands that contain sprawling mountains, water systems, and architecturallyꦑ accurate villages specific to𝓀 the Nepalese people.

It's very obvious that the developers went⛎ to great lengt🌜hs to accurately capture the Nepalese setting, with varied lands and terrain for gamers to explore.

13 Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood - Rome 🤡

Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood was the second installment of the Ezio trilogy and is consider🐼ed one of the best games in the long-running series. Like the rest of the series, this massive open-world game is played in a third-person perspective.

The title is𓃲 set in 16th Century Rome, and you are freely able to explore every historical landmark the city has become synonymous with, such as the Pantheon and the Roman Colosseum.

Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood's exploration of its ruins provides so many memorable moments in the game, enough so that its Roman setting becomes a character of its own. Brotherhood's Rome is so pa🐟cked and full of things to do that you can't fail t꧒o lose yourself in its world.

12 Sleeping Do🔯gs - Hong ♏Kong

Sleeping Dogs was the spiritual successor to the True Crime series and put you in the shoes of an undercover cop struggling with his morals as he caught between his friendships with people involved in the criminal underworld and hi🦂s duties as a poli꧑ce officer.

The fantastic combat system and martial arts theatrics aside, Sleeping Dogs plays very similarly to your standard open world crime game like the Grand Theft Auto series. Nevertheless, it was the Hong Kong theme that set it apart from other ga꧑mes of this type us🌠ually set in a typical American or European environment.

Although the game wasn't geographically accurate to Hong Kong, it did manage to capture the atmosphere and neon lights associated with the region. The crowded city streets and authentic feel and still great visuals help make ꦛthe game come to life.

11 ♏ Infamou🐬s: Second Son - Seattle

Sucker Punch's Infamous: Second Son is open-world superhero action game that puts the player in the shoes of its central protagonist Dꦑelsin Rowe. Delsin is known as a Conduit (like a mutant from the X-Men) who is capable of permanently absorbing the powers of any Conduit he touches.

The powers that Delsin posse𝕴sses perfectly allows the player to explore and speed around a beautiful recreation of Seattle. You can even climb to the top of the Seattle Space Needle and jump off the top. No other medium has the ability to allow its subject the complete freedom to achieve impossible feats like this and survive.

The attention to detail in Seattle's recreation was so intricate that the developers actually auditioned real-life residents of the city and 3D-scanned them into the game. InFamous: Second Son was once the game to show friends 🥀what the PlayStation 4 is capable of, and remains one of the most stunning games on the system to date.

10 ⛎ Gray Matter - Oxford 🎃

Gray Matter is a point and click adventure game in a similar to the likes of the Broken Sword and Gabriel Knight series. The game puts you in th♛e shoes of a street performer and magician Samantha Everett, who uncovers a mysterious plot involving the paranormal and a series of bizarre events in Oxford University.

Although exploration is limited by the genre🎐, the game managed to bring an almost fairytale-like feel the areas in Oxford and contained many real-life landmarks like Saint Martin's Towe🌳r in Carfax.

The city was lovingly rendered with an almost hand-painted quไality not seen in many modern games. As in real-life, the 12th-century architecture contrasts well with the very modern world and lifestyle of the city.

9 🍎 𓂃 Fallout 4 - Boston

Fallout 4 is a post-apocalyptic open-world action role-playing game that puts you in the shoes of the sole survivor of Vault 111. The survivor emerges 210 years to the day of an event known as the 'Great War.' The event wiped out the majority of k𒐪nown human civilizations across the world. As a result, giving birth to treacherous and unꦉforgiving wastelands across the United States, such as the game's setting of Boston.

Boston's recreation in Fallout 4 provides and eerie and unsettling site, twisting everything we know about the city's familiar sights and landmarks —like Salem Witch Museꦯum and Bunker Hill— and creating something that matches its post-apocalyptic theme.

Despite the level of destruction, the player w🃏ill see when exploring the land, there's something quite beautiful about it all, as the games city definitely takes center stage ov༒er everything else — a sort of destroyed beauty, if you will.

8 🅰 Persona 5 - Yongen-Jaya And Sangen-Jaya

Persona 5 is a Japanese role-playing game and a spin-off series that is set in the same universe as the Shin Megami Tensai series. The Persona games are renown🌞ed for their deep storytelling and matur💟e approach to teenage school life, while mixing in supernatural elements of the occult.

Persona 5 takes place in Yongen-Jaya which is based o♌n the real-life Sangen-Jaya. Although the representation isn't an exact like-for-like replica, many of the game's locations are definitely recreated lovingly with a lot of attention to the finer details.

The similarities൩ of Yongen-Jaya train station matches up almost exactly with its real-life counterpart, as well as the real-life cafes in the district. All of which help bring a level of authenticity to the Japanese setting of♓ the game - which helps set it apart from the usual fantasy themes often found in RPGs.

7 The Div♓ision - New York ✤

The Division is an online open-world shooter, with deep role-playing game elemen꧟ts. The game'sཧ setting is a near-future New York that is dealing with the aftermath of a smallpox pandemic.

The player's role is to help rebuild operations in New York, aꩲnd protect the citizens from the crim👍inal element that has arisen to take advantage of the remaining survivors of the outbreak, in the absence of a government body.

The Division's 1:1 scale recreation of New York is one of the most beautiful city replica's you'll find this generation. Whether you're playing the game on a PC o🔯r on a console, the level of detail in this game𓆉 offers a degree of authenticity and visuals that other games open or otherwise, can only dream of.

6 🅺 Metro 2033 𝓀

Metro 2033 is an atmospheric video game based on the novel of th𝔍e same name. Its setting is in the ruins of a post-apocalyptic Moscow. The game mechanics are basically a first-person shooter mixed with survival-horror elements.

The game uses a ꦗlot of authentic and real sights that are unique to Kreshchatyk and Paveletskaya of the Kiev and Moscow stations. Adding more depth♎ and layers to a setting that's very rarely used as a video gaming backdrop.

You can pick up the remastered versions of the game coupled together with its sequel Metro: Last Light as part of the Metro: Redux edition.