The concrete jungle can be a nauseating maze even in a digital space. From time to time, it’s to touch grass and see some trees; getting in tune with nature can be often therapeutic and for video games, it’s also a great way to flex their impressive graphics engines. That’s why a lot of games set in rural environments are often pretty or have a unique artistic value.
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Rural environments, be it small provincial towns or sprawling foliage fields also have their own calm and relaxing atmosphere. Players can even treat it as a digital vacation if the graphics are realistic or pretty enough. So for those tired of the digital hustle and bustle of cities, space stations, or other planets, then these video game rural towns are open for tourism.
8Stardew Valley
Technologically,Stardew Valley’s graphics aren’t really stunning, but that’s part of its charm. The game is a stress-free farming sim that’s also a dating sim with all the hot rainbow-haired singles in the town of Stardew Valley. The game is also aware of its target audience.
Its story starts off with a weary yuppie who’s tired of his dead-end corporate city life. He was lucky enough to have a grandfather who owned a plot of land in Stardew Valley and was also willing to give him the farmstead. If anything, players can treat this game as their dream idyllic early retirement in the provinces.
7Outlast 2
So not all games set in rural towns are out to give players a tranquil escape.Outlast 2is the kind of rural town game that also offers a literal escape because the whole town of Temple Gate is out to kill them. It’s home to a legion ofdoomsday cultistswhose pastime activities are morally bankrupt and nauseatingly surreal.
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Players, for the most part, are armed only with a camcorder with questionable battery life. So they must record the whole thing while narrowly avoiding certain death and mutilation by sneaking around. At the same time, players discover something more harrowing than what they’ve seen initially.
6Far Cry 5
Far Cry 5is also another game set in a rural town mostly ruled by a doomsday cult but the difference is that this game gives players a fighting chance. It’s a shooter game that comes from a long tradition of games that are set in off-the-beaten-path areas. That means mostFar Crygames fall on this list.
It’s just thatFar Cry 5encapsulates the best rural town atmosphere complete with the buzzing of gnats and the occasional roadkill of North American roads. Players take on the role of thenameless protagonistas they fight the tyranny of Joseph Seed and his flock in the fictional town of Hope County, Montana.
5The Long Dark
The Long Darkis an FPS survival game set in a random Canadian winter wasteland that used to be a bustling town. It takes place after a geomagnetic storm plunged the Earth’s northern hemisphere well below subzero temperatures. So it’s up to the players to survive.
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It’s not exactly the most calming rural town experience here butThe Long Darkbalances out its tense and deadly moments with picturesque sceneries. It makes players better appreciate thefragility of their life, knowing that there’s still beauty in the struggle they’re experiencing.
4Firewatch
Firewatchis a short story-driven puzzle game where Henry, a man undergoing a tough middle-aged life decides to have a retreat in the Wyoming wilderness atop a tower. It’s also a gig where players need to watch for smoke and potential forest fires all in isolation.
The only human contact Henry has is a person on the other end of a walkie-talkie who’s also contributing to the Firewatch. This game is all about immersing oneself in the shoes of anormal adult humanbeing as he goes through an unforgettable soul-searching vacation.
3Farming Simulator 22
Just about anyFarming Simulatorgame will do. This series is one of the most popular and most realistic farming simulators in the industry and it manages to balance that out with streamlined gameplay.Farming Simulator 22is the latest among them.
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Thus, it has the best graphics out of all the games.Farming Simulator 22, like those that came before it, isn’t also just about tending to crops but also includes other facets of agriculture such as animal farms, production challenges, and other obstacles from nature.
2Kentucky Route Zero
Craving for more story-driven games set in rural towns likeFirewatch? ThenKentucky Route Zerois one of the closest narrative experiences. It’s a point-and-click adventure game that takes place on a secret highway situated through a cave under the state of Kentucky.
Sure enough, this secret highway can only be accessed by unique and peculiar individuals. It just so happens that they have some interesting stories to tell and some odd interactions with the players. This game isart in motionand often compels players to both think and ponder on existence.
The firstRed Dead Redemptionalso counts here but the sequel is simply more phenomenal and more beautiful both graphically and artistically. It’s not just a marvel of video gaming but also a masterpiece of storytelling as it features some of the most endearing and most human characters in all of video game history.
Red Dead Redemption 2is a prequel story that chronicles the downfall ofDutch van der Linde’s gang of outlaws. Players mostly assume the role of Arthur Morgan, Dutch’s favorite gang member, as the gang blunders around the North American frontiers avoiding the encroaching advances of civilization and law. One could even say that the game forces players into its rural landscapes.
