A setting is as important to a story as the characters, as it sets the foundation of a people’s entire livelihood. All walks of life are represented in various fictional settings, fromlarge, urban citiesto a suffocating wilderness.
Small towns are a common, relatable setting that many fictional stories have used as their backdrop – and this, of course, includes video games.
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These small towns in video games are often the starting point for a lot of characters' adventures, a humble beginning for our fantastical heroes.
Whether connected to childhood, first encounters, or some other reason, these small towns have left their mark on gamers and their overall experience. In fact, these towns have cemented themselves in the video game Hall of Fame for gamers of all kinds.
10Monteriggioni
Assassin’s Creed II
Assassin’s Creed 2
The story ofAssassin’s Creed IIis nothing short of tragic, with the inciting action of the game being the unjust deaths of a father, of two brothers – of family. When life fell apart forEzio Auditoreand the remaining survivors of his family, they fled Florence, running towards safety until they meet up with Ezio’s Uncle Mario in his home ofMonteriggioni.
To put it lightly, the town needs a significant amount of work, work that, coincidentally, the Auditore family is able to fund and manage. Throughout the game, players are able to make investments into improving Monteriggioni, which genuinely pays off as you earn income from it.
This is a town that becomes a vital safe haven for the Auditore family, of the literal assassin’s creed, and of the residents that live and work there. Plus, it’s just plain fun and satisfying to improve and expand Monteriggioni, a mechanic that unfortunately doesn’t return (at least to this extent) in otherAssassin’s Creedgames.
Monteriggioni is an excellent example of turning a house into a home, by turning a run-down slum into a tiny, hidden paradise from the world. It’s quaint, it’s useful, and a passion project all at once.
9Valentine
Red Dead Redemption 2
The opening toRed Dead Redemption II, for lack of a better term to describe it, is grim. It’s cold, loss and fear weigh heavily on the gang as it becomes increasingly clear to the player that something very wrong happened in Blackwater.
As the group survives and makes their way out of the harsh winter mountains, they set up theHorseshoe Overlook campsite, which is easily one of the more nostalgic locations in the game. However, the group needs to reconnect with civilization to make money – and it just so happens they find it in the closest town,Valentine.
Valentine is where the plot not only starts to really pick up for players after they learn the bare-bones essentials, but it’s where the open world starts to finally – well, open up. It’s one of the first spots where players encounter a gun store and other businesses, which makes the town a go-to while they explore the map.
It’s a typical, Wild Western town, but there’s a sense of nostalgia to it, especially for players of the firstRed Dead Redemptiongame.
8Riverwood
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrimhas always been a masterclass when it comes to world-building and environmental storytelling, which of course, shows in the settlements throughout the map.
While, of course, after the events of Helgen, players are able to go anywhere they wish, but most often, they find themselves following the main story leading to Whiterun.
For most players, however, they end up stopping at a much smaller town on the way to Whiterun Hold, and it’s the quiet little town ofRiverwood. Located at the base of the mountain leading to the Throat of the World, Riverwood serves as a tutorial area for many Dragonborn,introducing them to particular side questsand characters they’ll remember strongly.
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After surviving a literal dragon attack in the middle of your impromptu execution, Riverwood is a place of refuge, with players feeling much safer in walls that haven’t been demolished by Alduin yet.
Plus, if players arebuilding a house, they’ll often find themselves returning to Riverwood for supplies, either with the blacksmith, the trader, or some other resource. It’s a simple spot that lets players get started with all their essential needs, which makes for a memorable place for the Dragonborn to resupply.
Even as players make their way to the fan-favorite Whiterun, the memory of Riverwood will linger the same way a childhood home would.
7Arcadia Bay
Life is Strange
InLife is Strange,the entire game takes place in a sleepy Oregon town calledArcadia Bay,the fate of which rests entirely in your hands. Playing asMax Caulfield, a teenage girl with unexplained time-traveling abilities, you soon realize the catastrophe that the butterfly effect has.
You spend the entire game in Arcadia Bay, working tirelessly to save it from the incoming storm, only to realize that you have to sacrifice your best friend,Chloe Price, in order to protect it. Of course, players can choose to sacrifice Arcadia Bay instead.
The town overall doesn’t have much going for it, as it’s essentially a glorified rest stop for truck drivers, with a history that many of the residents aren’t even aware of. You get to know all who live there, stepping into their lives and, in some cases, keeping them alive. It genuinely feels like an authentic, small American town.
It’s a quaint fishing town that many Pacific northwesterners would find themselves connecting with, finding a home amongst digital nostalgia and turmoil.
6Goodsprings
Fallout: New Vegas
No game has had an impact on a real-world city the same way thatGoodsprings, Nevadahad fromFallout: New Vegas. Located in the Mojave Wasteland, this NCR-funded mining town is where you first start in the game, with all the essential tutorial quests and shops laying a foundation for the players.
That’s not all, either, asFalloutended up making this town just as iconic on a real-world map the same way it is on thePip-Boy. To this day,fans of the game hold annual meet-ups at the real Goodsprings town in Nevada, booming the town’s industry with tourism of an entirely new and unique kind.
The town itself is rather minimal in resources, home to only a saloon, a general store, a gas station, and Doc Mitchell’s house. That said, it’s not a barren wasteland, just a small location of reprieve amidst the insanity out in the Mojave.
To think that your average, quiet, spaghetti western-type of town would have such an impact on actual local infrastructure is insane, and it’s just a simplified recreation, not even 1-to-1. It’s a spot that had a much larger influence on gamers than many initially would have realized.
5Your Town
Animal Crossing
Animal Crossing: New Leaf
Genuinely, one of the more iconic examples of a small town in a video game is the veryTownthat you create in theAnimal Crossinggames. InNew Horizons,it’s an island, but it’s a town in nearly every other entry.
You’re in charge of upkeeping the town and managing the villagers within (typically only a handful), designing the space, and setting things up to be to your exact vision.
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This town becomes your baby, essentially, with each passing day, meticulously and methodically crafting your home and caring for the landscape. This isn’t even considering when terraforming was introduced.
Players get to name their town whatever they want, even having the option to reset and start again if it’s not to their liking. However, this town will always be held in a special place in players' hearts.
4Mineral Town
Harvest Moon
Story of Seasons: Friends of Mineral Town
TheStory of Seasons(previously known asHarvest Moon)games are notoriously cozy and comforting to players worldwide, withHarvest Moon: Friends of Mineral Townbeing one of the most popular releases in the franchise. It was remade in 2019 asStory of Seasons: Friends of Mineral Town.
This game is a farming simulator, taking place in the titularMineral Townthat players will become quite attached to. Genuinely, it’s one of the few games where farming (in both the literal and gaming definitions) is tons of fun and rewarding.
With each weed that they pull and crop that they harvest, players will find themselves thinking about what they can do next to make the town better. They’ll start finding improvements in every corner.
Just be sure tokeep an eye on thecalendar. The time of year changes the types of crops that you’re able to plant, just as that would be a real-life concern for farmers worldwide.
3Pelican Town
Stardew Valley
Stardew Valleyis an adorable slice-of-life game that opens with players moving into a new town:Pelican Town.This is the main residence where players will meet the other villagers and get to know the game and its world, and it becomes a genuinely nostalgic spot right away.
It’s a small town in literally every sense of the word, capturing the same feeling that hole-in-the-wall American towns have when driving past them on a road trip. It’s got the basics, but there’s heart behind all of it, and it’s where everything happens.
It’s a perfect representation of the kind of small community that humans are accustomed to (and honestly, tend to crave), where everyone is familiar and friendly with each other, but there is still more to uncover.
Pelican Town is a wonderful representation of that overall vibe, and as an American, I can’t help but find elements of home in it myself.
2Kakariko Village
The Legend of Zelda
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
The Legend of Zeldahas continuously set the tone for some of gaming’s most iconic settings and characters, including the small towns.Kakariko Village, in particular, stands out not just for all types ofZeldafans, but for gamers overall.
For most whose childhood was defined by theNintendo 64era of gaming,Ocarina of Timetends to be the first exposure for this town.Twilight Princesswas the first exposure for me, so take with that what you will.
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Perhaps, the best example of how Kakariko Village is done, though, is how it’s depicted inBreath of the Wild(and its sequel,Tears of the Kingdom). This is a town that’s definitely still small, but it’s not as desolate as it was in the classic games.
Either way, it’s an iconic spot in the entire franchise, one that constantly serves as a learning point for Link in each entry.
1Silent Hill
Silent Hill
Silent Hill 2
Perhaps one of the most iconic small towns in all of gaming isSilent Hill, from the horror games by the same name. When players were first introduced to the town in 1999, not much was really known about it, but whenSilent Hill 2came out, it described how sleepy and calm this town really was.
TheSilent Hill 2 Remaketook things one step further, by adding a pop-quiz type of puzzle in theOtherworldofBrookhaven Hospital, asking about various pieces of trivia about the town if you’ve done enough exploring.
Silent Hill is a sleepy, lakeside town off of foggy and coastal Maine, with its main industry coming from lakeside tourism. When not considering the cult and the monsters and all the other horrifying imagery that the series will subject you to, it’s actually a beautiful town that many would have found themselves touring if it was available today.
Genuinely, though, when thinking of small towns in video games, Silent Hill almost always creeps its way back into someone’s mind. If that doesn’t tell you the impact the scares have on the human psyche, perhaps it might be a good idea to give the game a shot for yourself.
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