15 Best Video Game Locations In Recent Years

THE LAKE OF NINE (GOD OF WAR)

The Lake of Nine is the sort of area we could never have imagined seeing in a God of War game. Here’s a series that had been strictly linear and narrow in its design for years and year, with God of War (2018) itself starting out in similar fashion as well. The moment Kratos and Atreus row their boat out of a stream in a cave and enter this huge, completely open lake, it takes a few seconds to register just what the game is telling you- go wherever you want, do whatever you want. It’s not quite open world, and it’s not the largest hub area you’ll ever see, but the Lake of Nine is littered with enough interesting stuff that you can easily spend stretches of hours ignoring the main story entirely.