You’ll notice thatmost popular video games set in America take place on the American coasts, either inCalifornia, New York, or any othermajor citythat you’ve seen in any blockbuster.
Because the U.S. is such a massive country, its culture and environment can be best divided into five regions:Northeast, Southwest, Southeast, West, and Midwest.
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Not only is each state distinct from the other, buteach region has a different geography with stories and unique cultural phenomena.
For some reason, other thanhunting, fishing, and theoccasional racing or stunt driving game, there is a severe lack of games set in the American Midwest.
I admit that there really aren’t a lot of interesting things of note in the Midwest. Butas fellow writer Elena suggests,it has more to offer than people give credit for.
There aren’t a lot of games that primarily take place in the Midwest, but here are some of the very few games that we’ve found that have any of the Midwestern states as a primary setting.
This includes any game that takes place near or in the area of the following American states considered the Midwest by the Census Bureau: Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, and Wisconsin.
Somewhere In Upper Michigan
Now, this might be a stretch becausePortal 2takes place entirely indoors, but you might remember thatthe endings of both the first and second games have you escaping the Aperture Science facilityafter defeating the big bads.
InPortal 1,Chellends up passing out in front of the Aperture Science parking entrance after blowing up GLaDOS.
Portal 2,on the other hand,has Chell escape the facility by taking a long elevator ride and being serenaded by hundreds of choir-singing turrets,and opening a door that leads to freedom in a never-ending cornfield.
The Aperture Science Enrichment Center, which is where the games take place and is the headquarters of Cave Johnson’s company,is located in Upper Michigan, as seen in a newspaper clipping that can be found in the games.
Blackwater, Missouri
Red Dead Redemption 2
ThecinematicRed Dead Redemptionduology takes place in a fictionalized version of the United States during thelate 1800s and early 1900swhile you play agunslinging outlaw,so it’s no surprise that a Midwestern state would be featured as a location.
Blackwater is one of the more infamous locations, as it is not only one of the more industrialized areas of the country,but it is also the most dangerous settlement for the Van der Linde gang due to a botched bank robbery that turned deadlyprior to the events ofRed Dead Redemption 2.
Dutch’s plan failed,probably because he didn’t have enough money.
Due to the immenselyhigh bountieson the Van der Linde gang,entering this area is fatal for Arthur Morganunless you’re playing after the game’s events or if you’re playing onRed Dead Online.
Named and modeled after a real-world town in Missouri,Blackwater also draws inspiration from the city of St. Louis,both nicknamed “The Gateway to the West” and are port towns where travelers would stock up before continuing on their journey westward.
7Resident Evil 2
Raccoon City, Missouri
Resident Evil 2
Raccoon City is undeniably the most iconic location in theResident Evilfranchise, as it has at least a dozen games taking place in this fictional Midwestern city.
It is also the centerpiece of the franchise’s most infamous incidentsinvolvingWesker and the t-VirusduringResident Evil 1and2.
A humble industrial city in the fictional Arklay County,the mountainous regions surrounding Raccoon City are quite reminiscent of the Missourian Ozarks.
Despite no official records explicitly stating so, it would seem to be agreed within the fan community that Raccoon City is most similar to Missourian cities like Springfield.
Due to Umbrella Corporation’s research on bioweapons,Raccoon Citywas tragically destroyed after the t-Virus broke out, causing the U.S. government to bomb the city into oblivion.
6Project Zomboid
Louisville, Kentucky
Project Zomboid
Project Zomboidis an open-world isometric survival game where you play as a random survivor left behind in thequarantined zombie-infestedKnox County (now Knox Country).
The question isn’t about if you’ll die, but more sowhen you’ll die. Even the game says so itself.Survival is just a matter of delaying the inevitable, even with thebest weapons.
Not to be confused with the counties of the same name in Tennessee, Ohio, Indiana, and Maine,Project Zomboid’sKnox Count(r)y is located in Kentucky.While generally considered to be in the upper regions of the American South, Kentucky borders Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio.
With that said, the Midwestern aesthetics manifest more so in the moreurban, salt-of-the-earth, andsmall-town vibesthat are prevalent inProject Zomboid.
5Robocop: Rogue City
Detroit, Michigan
RoboCop: Rogue City
Despite itsrecent successful efforts to reduce the crime rate, the city of Detroit has cemented its reputation as one of the most dangerous cities in the country.
I mean, there’s apopular catchphrase-turned-meme where you can’t have anything in Detroit because it’ll get stolen,not even a porch.
This reputation was often perpetuated by popular media, which centered their crime dramas and thrillers around Detroit due to its major issue with poverty.
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One of the most prominent pop culture relics that takes place in Detroit is theclassic ’80s franchiseRobocop.While it spawned many spin-offs, remakes, and video games, the most recent tie-in game was 2023’sRobocop: Rogue City.
As an AA game created by Teyon and published by Nacon,Rogue Cityfeatures a completely original storyline set in Old Detroit, where players get to experience thepower fantasy of being a badass cybernetic cop who can indiscriminately shoot criminals.
While it doesn’t have the best graphics or story,it’s a fun game that’s received rather fair reviewsand is worth trying out.
4Deus Ex: Human Revolution
Deus Ex: Human Revolution
You’ll probably notice that thecrime-riddled Detroit is going to be the setting for many crime-based games featured here,andDeus Ex: Human Revolutionis no exception.
As the hometown of protagonist Adam Jensen and one of the major visitable locations, Detroit is home toSarif Industries Headquartersand isan economically segregated city marred by class divide and abject poverty.
With two regions clearly separated by class via environmental design and NPCs, the Detroit inDeus Ex: Human Revolutionenhances the socioeconomic issues the city struggles with in the cyberpunk dystopian nightmare portrayed in the game.
3Watch Dogs
Chicago, Illinois
Watch Dogs
As the third-largest city in the Midwestern state of Illinois and the third largest in the United States,Chicago has been the setting for many pieces of media in pop culture.
The first two that come to mind are the moviesIndependence Dayand Michael Bay’sTransformersmovies.
But of course, who could forgetWatch Dogs,a hackingcrime gamecreated by Ubisoft, a company that isbest known for trying to accurately portray the cities their games are based around?
While not every Chicago native might agree withWatch Dogs’portrayal of the city,most would agree that it got the vibes and tourist hotspots right.
Thankfully, Ubisoft eventually learned their lesson and did much better in their more accurate portrayal ofSan Francisco in the sequel.
2Far Cry 5
Hope County, Montana
Most games in theFar Cryfranchisetake place in a country or region that is often considered exotic, likeFar Cry 3’stropical Rook Islands or4’sBangladesh/Tibet-inspired Kyrat.
Meanwhile,Far Cry 5dares to challenge that concept by placing its story right in the middle of a fictionalized Montana,which is arguably a Midwestern state due to its proximity to the Dakotas and its location in the Great Plains.
Channeling the wilderness of rural America not often seen in video games,Far Cry 5explores the domestic backdropbyportraying a lawless and hostile nation in the form of the brainwashed Hope County in Montana,led bycult leader Joseph Seedand his three lieutenants.
Far Cry 5has a much morevibrant landscapeandhits home to many American audiences who might feel at home with the classic Americana rural setting,fishing and hunting, and maybe even the slight religious trauma, especially for those who grew up in conservative households.
WhileFar Cry 5is grounded in reality,itscanon yet bad endingresults in nuclear devastation that leads toFar Cry: New Dawn,which takes place in a Montana reborn in Seed’s image.
1Detroit: Become Human
Detroit: Become Human
DespiteDavid Cage’seccentric and sometimes frustratingly on-the-nose narrative style, you can’t deny thatDetroit: Become Humanis one of the most popular and well-received video games in recent memory, though not without its detractors.
Withmultiple storylinesthat flow concurrently with each other,Detroit: Become Humanlets you play as three androids in a dystopian futuristic version of Detroit in a burgeoning rise of android sentience reminiscent ofKlara and the SunorWestworld.
While I greatly enjoyedDetroit: Become Human,it has arather weak Civil Rights allegorythat is Markus’s android revolutionary storyline and felt incredibly hamfisted. Kara’s exodus to Canada can be considered decent,depending on your playthrough.
Still, because of the public perception surrounding Detroit, the best stories often revolve aroundpolice investigations, namely Connor’s storyline, which perhaps has the most Detroit-y vibes out of the three.
It also has thebest-written storylinethat’s well-supplemented withBryan Dechartand Clancy Brown’s talented acting.
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