10 Worst Video Game Universes To Live In, According To Reddit

10 Worst Video Game Universes To Live In, According To Reddit

Video games offer players all kinds of vibrant and immersive worlds to explore, whether that means the post-apocalyptic environment of Horizon Forbidden West, the mysterious worlds of Kirby and the Forgotten Land or anything between. Gamers can get lost in these universes for hours, whether they choose to carve their own path in an open-world environment or follow the story of an RPG character.

However, not every video game world is a utopia. Some titles place players in a dystopian environment that’s full of horrors and hardship. On Reddit, gamers have discussed the worst video game universes to find themselves in.

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Grand Theft Auto

Every city in the Grand Theft Auto franchise is a bad place for gamers to be stuck in. Despite having some memorable characters like Lazlow Jones, CJ Johnson, and Trevor Philips, living in a GTA city means that players will have to deal with street fights, drug dealers, and hostile drivers.

Redditor Rupispupis emphasizes that the law enforcement system in the GTA universe is broken, as cops “shoot first” and “ask questions later”. The open-world environment of GTA where players can do whatever they want is truly a double-edged sword as it also permits chaos and societal dysfunction to thrive.

Dark SoulsA still from an early cutscene in the first Dark Souls game.

It’s no secret that life can be difficult and miserable for players and characters in Soulsborne games. Dark Souls, FromSoftware’s spiritual successor to Demon’s Souls, is set in the land of Lordran, a place where lords once flourished, but is now in a state of ruin and deterioration.

Apart from the monsters that roam Lordran, which include giant wolves, horrifying rats, and an undead dragon, SkiingLunatic adds that Dark Souls is also a place where players “die and get resurrected” again and again. Repeatedly dying from terrifying creatures will surely break the soul of players who dare live in the Dark Souls universe.

Forsworn/Falmer arrows in The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim.

The beloved game franchise The Elder Scrolls primarily takes place in the mythical land of Tamriel. While Tamriel allows players to wield magic, find powerful items, and go on extraordinary adventures, it also has a lot of societal horrors that would make it hell for the everyday man.

For one, crime runs rampant in The Elder Scrolls universe. The items that would keep a player safe were most likely pulled off a dead body or stolen from another individual. In a Reddit comment, BehindYourLeftEar says that there are also “random creatures” that “spawn in large masses” in Tamriel, which means that players might not wait for a long time before death creeps up to them in The Elder Scrolls universe.

Animal Crossing

Animal Crossing Open World Game Features

On the surface, Animal Crossing is a quaint game franchise where players can live a peaceful life building their own house, going fishing, catching bugs, and planting various crops. But in order to advance in the game, players must work hard to earn and collect bells.

Redditor Pinkman40 thinks that Animal Crossing is a bad game universe to live in, as players are “stuck in a fake town” while “shaking trees for bells” to pay off “a house loan”. They add that “it’s a purgatory” players can’t escape from and the distant islands that they can visit also have dangerous beings like spiders and scorpions.

Red Dead RedemptionRed-Dead-Revolver-1

The tail end of the 19th century is not a good time for anyone to find themselves in, especially if they reside in the Wild West. Unfortunately for the NPCs and players in stuck in the world of Red Dead Redemption, they have no choice but to make decisions that could affect their survival in the game’s rough universe.

In a Reddit thread, Alihrb007 notes that there’s “no law” and there are “gangs everywhere” in Red Dead Redemption. What’s more, players are prone to making mistakes in Red Dead Redemption that could cost them their life, which includes ignoring NPCs and properly calibrating their horse’s stamina.

Borderlands

Borderlands Psycho

Borderlands is set on a planet named Pandora, which has been designed as a secure prison for the Destroyer, an intergalactic beast who has terrorized an ancient Eridian race. Despite the danger it holds, Pandora has captured the attention of Vault Hunters, scientists, and thieves as it is also littered with various treasures.

Reddit user namwei727 points out that living on Pandora means that the outdoors would get a player killed, “either by the wildlife or the people”. Thankfully, players can meet likable and heroic characters in the Borderlands universe that could help them survive, such as Athena and Maya.

Dead Space

Dead Space Remake Sci-fi Horror EA Motive

Set in the year 2508, Dead Space offers players a chance to explore an Earth that has experienced an extinction-level event. In order to survive in the harsh world of Dead Space, players will need to look for other planets and gather their resources using the mining ship USG Ishimura.

Despite the hope that the USG Ishimura brings, there are still a lot of nightmarish events and entities that plague the Dead Space universe. In a Reddit comment, yvaN_ehT_nioJ lists some of these down, which include an “energy crisis”, cults that “control the largest religion and government”, and “strange rocks” that transform people into scary “space zombies”. Truly, living in the Dead Space universe wouldn’t feel like living at all.

Saints Row

Saints Row embraces the absurdity of being a high-profile criminal in an open-world sandbox game.

In a lot of ways, Saints Row is reminiscent of another popular open world franchise, Grand Theft Auto. However, the Saints Row universe manages to kick things up a notch by having an over the top gameplay that includes extremely bizarre weapons, plenty of pop culture parodies and homages, as well as weird mods.

Reddit user laststandman “feels bad for the NPCs” living in Stilwater, a fictional city in the game franchise. They add that every single day a player lives in the Saints Row universe could be their last, as they have to live in a “society where gangs are celebrities” who have unlimited resources.

Resident EvilNine different actors have now voiced Resident Evil's Rebecca Chambers.

No matter which entry in the franchise, it would be an extremely unfortunate experience for players to find themselves living in the Resident Evil universe. Being a citizen of Raccoon City means that gamers will have to avoid the viruses that the Umbrella Corporation has created, as well as try to exterminate those who have been infected and used by the evil pharmaceutical company.

User Cloud-strife-VII highlights in a Reddit comment that aside from threats of bioterrorism and zombies, there are also a lot of “weird psychological s— going on everywhere” in the Resident Evil universe. That means that besides trying to keep themselves physically fit and healthy, players will also need to fortify their mind in order to survive.

Rimworld

RimWorld screenshot of sky lantern ceremony from Ideology expansion's store page

Rimworld is a simulation game where players need to ensure the survival of their colony in a distant future by creating a ship that could help them find new worlds. However, this is not an easy task to do, as there are a lot of environmental factors that could greatly influence the survival of the colony.

Redditor SneeringJanissary takes note of the procedurally generated aspect of Rimworld and says gamers will find it hard to endure in its universe as they don’t know if they’ll fight a “technologically superior fallen empire” or a “human-hating machine race”. What’s more, players will also need to fend for themselves and fight off terribly diseases. In the Rimworld universe, gamers won’t know what to expect next, which would force them to hope for nothing but the survival of their colony.

NEXT: 10 Worst Video Game Movies, Ranked According To Metacritic

Author: Deann Hawkins