Las Vegas is one of the best settings for video games. The Strip and casinos across Sin City provide an extraordinary backdrop that’s been used as the setting for more than 80 video games. While many of these are casino or racing games, a number of first-person shooters and even RPGs have been set in Las Vegas as well.
Let’s dive into three of the best games ever set in Las Vegas.
1. Fallout: New Vegas
Any discussion of video games set in Las Vegas has to include Fallout: New Vegas. The game is set in the year 2281, four years after the events of Fallout 3. Since Fallout games depict a post-apocalyptic world left in the wake of a nuclear war, the game features a Las Vegas that’s very different from today. In fact, it has been renamed New Vegas and has its own attractions such as the Lucky 38 Resort and Casino.
Fallout: New Vegas was critically acclaimed and also a financial success. It still maintains a cult following. If you’re a fan of RPG games and missed New Vegas, it’s worth picking up a copy on Steam.
2. Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six: Vegas
There have been more than 20 Rainbow Six games with the newest offering, Extraction, coming out in 2022. Perhaps the most popular games in the series were Rainbow Six: Vegas and its sequel Rainbow Six: Vegas 2.
The game involves locations all across Las Vegas including the “Nevada Dam” and fictional casinos like the “Calypso Casino.” While the settings might have fake names, the game feels quintessentially Vegas and it also proved to be one of the best FPS games of its generation. In its first year, the game would go on to sell more than 1.7 million copies, enough to warrant a sequel that would be released in 2008.
3. Duke Nukem Forever
Let’s just get this out of the way: Duke Nukem Forever did not live up to the hype. The game was wildly promoted in the late ‘90s and then spent 14 years in development hell before finally being released on June 10, 2011. Across that time, it remained a very influential game that was discussed and eagerly awaited across gaming sites, forums, and communities.
The game is also set across Las Vegas and its surrounding area. Players begin in a lobby and emerge into a smoldering Vegas battling an alien invasion. Looking back at Duke Nukem Forever more than a decade after its release, the game wasn’t bad enough to warrant its many inclusions on the worst game of the year lists for 2011. A nostalgic play-through of the game proved better than we imagined and its burning Vegas settings rank up there with the best video game representations of the city.
Other Notable Games Set in Las Vegas
This list is just a few games set in Las Vegas. If you’re looking for some more ideas here are five more games that feature Las Vegas:
- Horizon Forbidden West: Released in 2022 to fantastic reviews, Horizon Forbidden West is an action RPG that allows you to journey through the ruins of Las Vegas.
- Asphalt Racing Games: This series of racing games often featured Las Vegas courses.
- BattleTanx: A 1998 Nintendo 64 game that took players across a post-apocalyptic United States. The game was most beloved for its four-person multiplayer.
- Tom Raider II: Features a level in Las Vegas.
- F1 Manager 2023: With F1 coming to Vegas for the first time in 2023, the city now is part of racing simulation games as well.