This is Virtual Cities: a book about, well, virtual cities from 45 different games spanning numerous genres. Penned by Konstantinos Dimopoulos and illustrated by Maria Kallikaki, Virtual Cities takes us through an in-universe perspective on a number of high-profile virtual environments we have likely spent many hours wandering. Upon first hearing the concept I was very intrigued and now that I have had an opportunity to check the book out for myself I can’t wait to share my thoughts on it with you!
Aesthetics
Before we dive in, let’s take a moment to look at the overall quality of the book as a whole. Yes I know, you aren’t supposed to judge a book by its cover, but when it looks good I want to take a minute to appreciate it! The base cover is pure white and accented with a red and black overhead map with the Virtual Cities title taking center stage. The subtext for this being a video game atlas is also proudly displayed along with author Konstantinos Dimopoulos’ name. As most of you all hopefully know by now, I love it when a cover gives an excellent representation of what it contains inside and Virtual Cities does exactly that!
Moving on to the back cover we have a number of illustrations of the cities contained within the book and a nice outline of what it is about. A short bio for Dimopoulos and Kallikaki can be found just beneath this, giving us insight into the minds that brought this book to life. For this hardcover release, the 214 pages have a good thickness and feel with a strong binding holding it all together. Compared to some other hardcover books I have bought recently, Virtual Cities feels very premium, which is exactly how I like all of my video game related items!
Just a side note here, my impressions are all based upon the retail version of Virtual Cities that is available as of November 10, 2020. If you were lucky enough to get into the crowd-funded version you are getting something that looks altogether different and I am jealous of you all!
Content
The information contained within the pages of Virtual Cities is conveyed in an interesting way and one I didn’t think would come off as good as it did. Each of the 45 cities covered throughout the book is described from an in-universe perspective. While this approach doesn’t seem too complicated for cities like Whiterun from The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (which has tons of flushed out in-game lore and is fully explorable to players), covering a beat-em-up city like Metro City from Final Fight or racing backdrop Olympic City from Need For Speed Underground are a different story. Both of them have a fun story given to them thanks to Dimopoulos’ writing. Then there are the takes on Raccoon City and Silent Hill which offer a completely unique spin compared to some of the other entries, that being a post-apocalyptic perspective.
There is such a great range of games covered, spanning 35 years of gaming history from the iconic ZX Spectrum up to the modern-day of Xbox One, PS4, and Switch. The full list of cities is covered in the table of contents at the start of the book allowing readers to dive right into their personal favorites. The entries for City 17, Clock Town, Tarsonis, and The Citadel were my first stops, with each offering new takes on familiar locations! Each of the in-universe descriptions is accompanied by Maria Kallikaki’s illustrations to further help convey the information on hand. Following each description is a section on design insights, explaining some of the concepts behind what makes these cities work and function within their respective games. A number of these design insights segments have information from their original developers, which is always a welcome read!
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What I personally think Virtual Cities does best with its selection of cities is make you want to go and visit them. After reading through a selection of entries all I wanted to do was go and roam the streets of that particular location and take it in from a new perspective I hadn’t ever considered before. A lot of these locations have always been little more than backdrops to me, while others I had no problem as seeing as living places. The technology and genre of each title have likely played into this viewpoint for sure, but it has been fun to go back and take a second look.
What It Could Have Done Better
While I have enjoyed my read of Virtual Cities, even the cities from games I don’t play, the whole experience has left me with a few thoughts. It would have been cool to see more insights from developers on a greater amount of the included games and maybe concept art of the city to accompany the stylized renditions. There is a ton more I would love to learn about the history of the making of these cities now, but that falls outside the scope of this book so now I am hoping for a volume 2 that might dive into such things.
Verdict
Virtual Cities gives you the exact journey it sets out to do: a look into life within 45 video game cities. The read is fun and gives you new perspectives on some of these iconic settings you might have never thought of before. The hardcover offering is also well put together and will look good on display or on a shelf and make a good addition to any collection. Now in the words of Konstantinos Dimopoulos, I am going to “take the time to explore the cities presented in its pages.”
