VIDEO GAME ARCHITECTURE DESIGNS THAT ARE ABSOLUTELY GORGEOUS

BIOSHOCK

Developed by 2K Boston and 2K Australia, Bioshock is a

first-person shooter video game set in 1960 in the underwater

city of Rapture. Bioshock´s outlandish architecture and

locations were greatly inspired by Art Deco, an influential 

visual arts design style that originated in France.

SIMCITY

First published in 1989, SimCity is a popular open-ended 

city-building video game in which the player is given the task

of founding and developing a city, while maintaining the

happiness of the citizens and keeping a stable budget.

Developed in Orinda, California, SimCity’s game mechanics

are heavily based on 20th-century California development.

ASSASSIN´S CREED

Assassin’s Creed is an action-adventure video game set in a 

fictional history of real world events. It follows the centuries-old

struggle between the Assassins, who fight for peace with free will

and the Templars, who desire peace through control. In the game,

players navigate through real cities and sites such as the

Colosseum in Rome and Hagia Sophia in Istanbul.

THE ELDER SCROLLS III: MORROWIND

Released in 2002, The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind is an open world 

fantasy action role-playing video game developed by Bethesda

Game Studios. There are several playable races in the game,

each of them having their own skills, culture and setting.

The Bretons and their architecture, for example, are

influenced by Brittany, a real region in north France.

FINAL FANTASY

A fantasy role-playing video game created by Japanese designer

Hironobu Sakaguchi in 1987, Final Fantasy takes place in a

fantasy world with three large continents. Apart from

majestic buildings and temples, the player also encounters

forests, caves, mountains, swamps, underwater

caverns and other locations.

MINECRAFT

The third best-selling video game of all time, Minecraft is an

iconic sandbox video game originally created by Swedish

programmer Markus “Notch” Persson in 2011. While cubes

may seem simple as building blocks, players have been

able to create massive structures that rival some of

today’s most respected architects.

MIRROR´S EDGE

An action-adventure platform video game by EA DICE, Mirror’s

Edge is set in a futuristic dystopian society, in which a

network of ‘runners’, including the main character, Faith,

act as couriers to transmit messages while evading

government surveillance. The player guides Faith over

rooftops, across walls, through ventilation shafts and

otherwise within urban environments.

L.A. NOIRE

L.A. Noire is a neo-noir detective video game developed by 

Team Bondi and published by Rockstar Games. Set in Los

Angeles in 1947, the game draws heavily from both the plot

and aesthetic elements of film noir – stylistic films made

popular in the 1940’s and 1950’s that share similar

visual styles and themes, including crime and

moral ambiguity.

BORDERLANDS

An action role-playing first-person shooter video game developed

by Gearbox, Borderlands takes place on a fictitious planet 

called Pandora on which players try to find and open an alien

structure called a “vault.” The architecture surrounding this

exotic quest has a futuristic and post-apocalyptic design.