One of best things about gaming is exploring hidden worlds that have been intricately designed down to the last detail
Whether it’s the vast plains of the American West in Red Dead Redemption 2 or the rocky, beautiful landscapes of Ancient Greece in Assassin’s Creed Odyssey, you can easily spend your time wandering around the map thanks to these captivating settings.
And whilst we’ve all spent copious amounts of time in various US cities for the Grand Theft Auto series or seen them turned in wastelands in the Fallout series, there are so many places across the world that are left out from the gaming world.
A new campaign by Currys PC World has tasked three games designers to re-imagine 10 overlooked cities around the world as games locations, complete with ideas of what kind of games would take place there. The artists, Eva Kedves, David Tilton and Dominik Zdenkovic, have previously worked on games including Call of Duty and Assassin’s Creed, so they know their stuff.
From the UK’s very own Birmingham, to Sydney in Australia and Ushuaia in Argentina, here are the new Unexplored cities series.
Click through the gallery above to see all the locations and here are some highlights.
Birmingham, England
Birmingham was chosen as the setting for fictional game The Steampunk Detective, which sees a world-weary detective grapple with a rapidly mechanising city.
Given its setting for the hit series Peaky Blinders, it's ripe for a period video game.
Speaking about the design, Dominik said: “A murky steampunk city with canals and some detective action, what’s not to love! As soon as I saw the pictures of old Birmingham, I immediately knew what I would want to feature: some canals and some old coal barges in the scene, with smokestacks and factories in the background. I also had the idea of the detective following people around.”
Ushuaia, Argentina
Whilst South America is often portrayed as home to palm trees and beaches, Ushuaia is instead a cold, frostbitten stretch of land.
18th-century fictional game The End of the World is based in this cold land, which imagines the ocean giving rise to unearthly forces.
David said: “My approach for this image was to gather references and read up on folklore and tales from the region. Whilst doing this, I also created composition sketches. I wanted to have this scene take place by the ocean since that is a big part of the tribes’ culture in Argentina.
“From there, I began painting the final image based on one of my sketches.”
Cape Town, South Africa
A young treasure hunter is looking to make his fortune and give his family the life they deserve, so Eva decided to set it in Cape Town, South Africa. The city has a layered past, with hundreds of things to see and do, perfect for a video game.
Eva says she used the idea of freedom to explore when creating this design.
“When I think of freedom, my mind always turns to my early attempts to skateboard. There’s a certain rebellion in this picture that I like. To put it together, I gathered references, put together a mood board, sketched an initial scene, and then finalised it with photo bashing and overpainting techniques.”
Explore all the Unexplored locations on this interactive map
