Traveling the world is both expensive and time-consuming. The real deal would be great, but if it’s just not feasible, why not turn to video games? These amazing titles will allow you to explore the world in both the past and present in surprisingly realistic detail.
6Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024
Naturally,Microsoft Flight Simulatoris primarily notable for, well, being a flight simulator. It has very realistic controls and flight mechanics, being about as close as possible to flying a real plane without actually doing it. Like all simulators, it’s not a perfect recreation and it certainly wouldn’t substitute for real flight training, but it’s darn close. But aside from its depiction of flight,Microsoft Flight Simulatoralso renders the real world, well, realistically.
The simulator uses real-time data to generate its simulated world. Alotof data. The newest entry from 2024 has tens of thousands of hand-crafted locations for you to explore, while procedural generation handles the billions of buildings, trees, and other aspects of our planet. Despite being a game about flight, you can land your plane anywhere in the world and get out to explore incredibly detailed biomes on foot. The world isn’t just a dead simulation either: wildlife and human traffic is everywhere, and the weather patterns are dynamic too.
The game also uses real-time data from satellites and maps to capture more of the current world than any other game. Needless to say, you can visit major cities, real landmarks, and even your own town or city, all modeled with beautiful graphics. Not everything is perfect: if you live in a tiny village in the middle of nowhere, it’s probably not modeled true to life. But even so,Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024is the best pick if you want a game that lets you explore the entire world from your couch.
The game is definitely a bit more complicated than an arcade flight game, but don’t worry: it’s still simple enough to be played on a console controller, and there are training missions and tutorials to help you grow familiar with the game.
5Assassin’s Creed
There was a time when theAssassin’s Creedserieswas relatively historically grounded. Admittedly, that has changed in more recent iterations, but even so, the series is a great way to explore a number of historical locations that are depicted at least somewhat close to the real deal.
For many of the earlyAssassin’s Creedgames, like all of Ezio’s trilogy, historical consultants were brought in to advise on the design of cities like Florence and Rome.
They aren’t perfect one-to-one recreations, but general architecture, culture, art, fashion, and landmarks are pretty close and definitely give you a sense of exploring a brand new place. The same can be said for other entries in the series that allow you to explore ancient Egypt, colonial America, or London.
If you want to take it a step further or don’t care much for the gameplay itself, you’re able to turn to some of the newerACentries, such asAssassin’s Creed: OdysseyorOrigins.These games have a special “discovery tour” mode, which foregoes regular AC gameplay and simply allows you to go through guided tours of these ancient cultures, learning about landmarks, philosophy, religion, culture, and much more. It’s a great way to learn about these civilizations in a fun, engaging manner.
4Euro Truck Simulator 2
Euro Truck Simulatoris a lot likeMicrosoft Flight Simulator,except it’s about, you know, driving trucks around Europe. It’s also, admittedly, quite a bit older than the newest iteration ofMicrosoft Flight Simulator,so it doesn’t look nearly as gorgeous, but as far as its representation of real-world places in Europe is concerned,Euro Truck Simulator 2does a very good job, with lots of people singing its praises for accuracy.
Of course, accurate or not, it’s not perfect. Games still have limited storage space, and unless you want a title that’s several terabytes in size, there’s no way you are getting a completely perfect, good-looking replica of all of Europe. The content in this game is what’s known as “prototypical.” It looks and feels right, but it’s been scaled down to fit the limitations of a video game. For example, you won’t have to actually drive several hours on a highway to reach your destination.
That said, the game only reaches any sort of real accuracy with the DLC. Plenty of players and real European drivers have stated that the base game was pretty far off-base, so you may have to invest a little more in this title if you want the most realistic experience possible. If you’re the kind of gamer who likes to cruise around and see the sights, you can visit a lot of fairly accurate cities inEuro Truck Simulator 2.
LovingETS2? Make sure you check outAmerican Truck Simulatortoo!
3Kingdom Come: Deliverance
There are many, many reasons whyKingdom Come: Deliveranceand its sequel are such great games. I’d recommend anyone to play them for being such well-executed RPGs. But one of its aspects that sometimes goes unappreciated is how accurate the game world is to historical Bohemia, which is today part of the Czech Republic. That should come as no surprise since the studio that developed the game is Czech.
This also means that said studio really did their homework when developing these games, doing their absolute best to adhere to historical accuracy. Many of the places you visit inKingdom Come,such as Kuttenberg, Rattay, and Sassau, are cities that still stand today, and while they have changed quite a bit since 1403, you may actually identify many segments of the historical city in real life. This is one of those games that is so accurate you could use your game experience to navigate a real place in person.
In fact, if you engage with theKCDcommunity, you’ll doubtless find dozens of players who visited in-game locations in real life and took pictures to compare them to the game world. The resemblance is uncanny. Even ignoring historical accuracy,KCDis a great game for exploring what actually feels like a real place, connected by roads that make sense, with signs, shops, and buildings that should be there. It feels like a place where people actually live, and it’s a great way to explore a pretty close idea of what the Czech Republic used to look like.
2Train Sim World 5
As you may probably imagine from the other simulator titles that have been mentioned on this list so far, the point ofTrain Sim World 5is to operate trains. Lots and lots of trains. I’ll admit, I was never the type to enjoy trains that much, and you probably have to be really into trains to enjoy the type of gameplayTrain Sim World 5offers, which is, you know operating a train and tending to other tasks like checking tickets and ensuring passenger safety.
Maybe that type of gameplay isn’t up your alley, but if you’re looking for a game that allows you to explore the real world, you can do that inTrain Sim World 5,which is set in the real world and usually has you working as a conductor on real routes, like the New York-Long Beach or Peterborough-Doncaster lines. You’ll usually be taking your train along these real routes across scenery and locations that you could visit in real life.
And if you want to get really crazy,Train Sim World 5has a free roam mode where you can make your own routes that inexplicably go anywhere you want, allowing you to explore areas with a train that would realistically not be possible. The only major downside here is that you’ll need to buy a whole lot of DLC if you want the full experience that the game has to offer, though there are still lots of cool, beautiful locations in the base game for you to tour as well.
1The Division 2
It’s highly specific, but if you ever wanted to visit Washington D.C. but just couldn’t afford to do it or couldn’t find the time,The Division 2actually has an incredibly accurate rendition of the city, albeit one that’s swamped with chaos and full of trouble, not to mention falling apart or being overrun with vines. When I say that the game is incredibly accurate, I mean that it’s practically 100%.
The developers not only used satellite imagery to help make the outer city incredibly accurate, but they sent people to tour the insides of buildings to ensure those interiors were accurate as well. Plenty of people who live in D.C. have gone on record attesting to how uncannily accurate the streets, buildings, and layouts are. Sure, you won’t see every real Pizza Hut in the city and everything is scaled down, butThe Division 2is still one of the rare games to get an almost perfect rendition of a real-world place for you to explore.
Of course, there’s still a whole game to play here, and it won’t be like touring the real deal simply because buildings are falling apart, plants are taking over the city, and people are constantly shooting at you. So in that sense, it’s probably not a good pick if you want a game that’s actually focused on some sense of tourism. But if you only care that a real-world place is properly rendered in any genre of video game, you can’t go wrong withThe Division 2.
Ultimately, there are many, many more games out there that will allow you to visit real-world places or at close renditions of them. There are plenty of other simulator games out there that place a lot of focus on getting those types of details right, and plenty of games that take place in ancient cultures if you want a more historically focused exploration of the world. Just keep in mind that there’s usually still a game attached to these adventures, so you might have to do something besides explore along the way.
