When money, work, and global pandemics prevent travel in real life, the gaming industry can be a great equalizer for virtual tourists hoping to travel the world from the comfort of their homes. Video games that feel like relaxing holidays are often open-world, free roam, or highly-detailed and immersive, featuring relaxing recreational activities and side quests, beautiful scenery, and comforting travel companions. The very best have realistic depictions of landmarks, authentic culture and mythology, and characters and NPCs of native cultures and ethnicities.

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Several legendary franchises specialize in creating immersive worldwide locations, namely the Hitman, Uncharted and Assassin’s Creed Series, which provide perfect open-world escapes for living room tourists, sometimes even setting missions in hotels for the elite upper class. For better or worse, the following games are the ones to play to simulate the feeling of being on holiday all around the world without ever leaving home.

6 A Highland Song

Scotland

• Platforms: Nintendo Switch, Microsoft Windows
• Release Date: December 5, 2023
• Developer: Inkle
• Genres: Adventure, Platofrmer

Don’t be fooled by the torrential rain; Scotland is a gaming holiday destination. Forza Horizon 4 proves that Edinburgh is the perfect place for a drive, and the open-world grounds in Hogwarts Legacy are a magical glimpse of the Scottish Highlands. However, A Highland Song is one beautiful trek through the Scottish Highlands via a 2D side-scrolling platformer, where the infamously terrible Scottish weather has a realistic effect on the player’s health and stamina.

Main character Moira sets off on an adventure to visit her Uncle on the coast, allowing players to rock-climb their way across the Highlands at their own pace. While not a fully 3D hyper-realistic immersive experience, A Highland Song captures the essence of Scotland, with real Scottish myths, folklore, accents, scenery, and songs all weaved into the narrative. The level designer, Natalie Clayton, spent her life traversing Scotland, meaning the scenic details in this title are truly authentic for anyone curious about the best games for a holiday in Scotland from the comfort of their home.

5 Paperbark

Australia

• Platforms: Android, Microsoft Windows, iOS
• Release Date: June 21, 2018
• Developer: Paper House
• Genres: Indie Game, Adventure, Walking Simulator

Few games are actually set in Australia, which is surprising considering that Australian wildlife alone is terrifying enough to be a good subject for many horror games. While some driving games have raced across Australia, next to none have truly stopped to admire the natural wonders of the continent quite like Paperbark. In this short game, players point and click to lead a sleepy wombat through the bush, a forested terrain in Australia populated with unique wildlife.

Starting on a pure white background, watercolors bloom around the adorable wombat as it moves to create a tranquil landscape, where players must spot plants for the wombat to eat, shelters, and other native Australian animals. Similar to animal survival games like Might and Delight’s Shelter, the peaceful gameplay in Paperbark sours when a bushfire destroys the paperbark tree in which the wombat lives, prompting players to move through blackened ash to find a new home for the creature. The developers, Paperhouse, are based in Melbourne, Australia, and their game is both an attempt to raise awareness for the wildlife devastated by bushfires and a love letter to rural Australia.

4 Xuan-Yuan: Sword 7

China

• Platforms: Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, Playstation 4
• Release Date: October 6, 2020
• Developer: SOFTSTAR, DOMO Production
• Genre: RPG, Fighting Game, Action Adventure

The successful Xuan-Yuan: Sword Series has been thriving since 1990 and is the longest running Chinese RPG; their newest title, Xuan-Yuan: Sword VII was only released in 2020 in the Western market, with a fantastical depiction of the rural Chinese countryside. The game is not open-world, so players can only travel to set destinations rather than roaming freely, and while the map doesn’t accurately reflect modern China, it is a fantastical depiction of Ancient China with supernatural elements woven throughout. Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty exists within the same genre of historical fantasy RPGs and is set in a similar time period within the Han Dynasty, but Xuan-Yuan: Sword VII contains a few extra features that really encapsulate the feeling of exploring China.

Developed by two Taiwanese companies, the game audio is voiced entirely by Chinese actors, with English subtitles, with no chance of immersion being shattered by a cheesy English dub. The feel of a group holiday comes from the company of the party that players fight and travel with, including the main character’s childhood best friend and little sister. Savoring the save points around campfires is crucial to learning the lore, embracing Chinese mythology and fully enjoying the character interactions and development. Paired with beautiful secluded landscapes and peaceful villages teeming with locals, all set to a calming soundtrack composed with traditional Chinese instruments, Xuan-Yuan: Sword VII may not be the perfect holiday, but it is a family trip to treasure.

3 Uncharted: The Lost Legacy

India

Indian-inspired locations feature in a few games with some accuracy and authenticity, including Age of Empires III, Street Fighter VI, and Total War: EMPIRE, but warfare of some kind is the main focus of their gameplay. One of the many maps in Hitman 2 includes a close representation of city life in Mumbai, but the violence diminishes the true feel of exploring modern India. The art style in side-scrolling platformer Assassin’s Creed Chronicles: India stands out for its colorful, visually pleasing depiction of historical, 19th Century Indian architecture, and the inclusion of Punjabi in the dialogue, but gameplay itself is considered very lackluster.

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These games hardly recreate a relaxing holiday in India, when gunfire is not just in the background but a genuine threat to the player. Some gamers concur that Uncharted: The Lost Legacy is the most calming gaming experience, and the closest to wandering the jungles of the Indian Peninsula. This hyper realistic open-world game is predominantly set in the breathtaking ruins of ancient temples of the Hoysala Empire, with players organically learning about Ancient Indian history throughout the game. Uncharted: The Lost Legacy might be the closest players can get to taking an educational tour of the wilderness in the Western Ghats without hopping on a plane and visiting these wonders in person.

2 The Wagadu Chronicles

Africa

• Platforms: Microsoft Windows, Mac
• Release Date: February 22, 2022
• Developer: Twin Drums
• Genre: RPG, Afro-Fantasy, Action Adventure, Online Multiplayer

For a continent with such beautiful landscapes, incredible culture, and wildlife that the world clamors to see, representation of African countries in video games has ranged from mildly satisfying to disappointing, culturally insensitive, and controversial; Resident Evil 5 being a prime example of insensitive game design misrepresenting or degrading the people of Africa. Titles praised as the best games to explore Africa include Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End’s portrayal of Madagascar and missions in Metal Gear Solid 5 addressing the real issue of child labor in Angola, alongside their high quality character designs. Assassin’s Creed Origins is perhaps the closest players can currently get to an open-world game immersed in the beautiful sands of Ancient Egypt; players can freely roam in Assassin’s Creed Origins, enjoying gorgeous sun-soaked pyramids, detailed cities teeming with politics, and a humanizing, multi-faceted portrayal of Egyptians

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Unsurprisingly, one of the most culturally-rich early access video games was made by Twin Drums Studios, based partly in Ghana and led by Black creatives whose loyalty to creating a homage to African traditions is embedded in every pixel of The Wagadu Chronicles. It should be noted that Wagadu is a fictional West African country based on Soninke mythology, spanning generations of history. This “afro-fantasy” sandbox RPG has some of the most groundbreaking, diverse, customizable character designs for Black characters in gaming, and allows players to be fully immersed in African culture and landscapes.

1 Shadow Of The Tomb Raider

South America

South America is a hugely popular video game location, home to treasure-hunting adventure games that let players explore South America. However, few immerse players fully in the holiday experience quite like the 2018 installment of the Lara Croft Tomb Raider series, Shadow of The Tomb Raider. Players embody tourists from the first opening sequence, set in Mexico, enjoying festivities and experiencing the culture during Day of the Dead, watching fireworks, trying local food, dancing, and wearing traditional Calavera masks. Croft then travels to South America for the remainder of gameplay, specifically Paititi, a legendary lost city rumored to be in the remote rainforests of Peru.

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Gamers fully immerse themselves in open-world gameplay, admiring clear blue waters and spectacular plant life and walking among extraordinary animals, including tapirs and squirrel monkeys. Shadow of The Tomb Raider is brimming with traditional leisure activities for holidaymakers, including abseiling, ziplining, swimming in Peruvian waters, camping, meeting locals, enjoying native wildlife, and even taking holiday snaps with a new camera feature. As long as occasional enemy attacks, plane crash landings, fending off vicious jaguars, and accidentally triggering a Mayan apocalypse doesn’t “kill the holiday vibe” for gamers, Shadow of The Tomb Raider is an incredible ‘all-inclusive’ gaming experience for home-bound virtual tourists.

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