History WhereTheHellIsSpringfield / VideoGames

* The eponymous team of {{occult detective}}s in ''VideoGame/DetectivesUnited'' are headquartered in a location called Silent Hollow, as is sister organization the Mystery Trackers. However, the games never say where Silent Hollow is supposed to be. The only clue is that it's probably somewhere in the United States, because the main characters are indicated to have driven to Louisiana in the first game's bonus chapter.

* ''VideoGame/{{Fallout}}'' is usually very clear about where it takes place, complete with recognizable landmarks. ''VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas'' continues this trend: the game is set in the remnants of Clark County, Nevada. Its DownloadableContent [[ExpansionPack Expansion Packs]] have their own maps with their own set locations: ''Honest Hearts'' takes place in Zion National Park, Utah; ''Old World Blues'' takes place at Kingston Peak, California;[[note]]This is never outright stated, unlike the other two, but it's given by a few details. Joshua Graham says that it's south of Death Valley and near the 127 and 88 roads.[[/note]] and ''Lonesome Road'' takes place around Death Valley, in California. However, ''Dead Money'' never states the location of its setting, the Sierra Madre, beyond specifying that it's not near any major cities. The fact that Dog/God can drag you there from New Vegas (possibly on a raft given that he kidnaps you near the Colorado River), plus the architecture having a Spanish Mission Revival style, obviously places it in the American Southwest, and the [[DownerEnding bad ending]] implies that it's ''east'' of California, but beyond that no details are given. This contributes to the quasi-mythical feel of the expansion; notably, you can't return to the Sierra Madre after leaving, unlike other DLC locations.

** ''VideoGame/ResidentEvilOperationRaccoonCity'' is allegedly set in “the American Midwest”. This is contradicted by very variable geography, very warm autumns, and a sign with a 212 area code (which is Manhattan in New York City). Fan speculation puts it in either Colorado or Pennsylvania; the novelizations put it in Pennsylvania. (The remake of ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil2'' further adds, not in so many words, that it's in the Rust Belt as well as near mountains, which would be in line with Pennsylvania, specifically the western, Pittsburgh area.)

** ''VideoGame/ResidentEvilOperationRaccoonCity'' is allegedly set in “the American Midwest”. This is contradicted by very variable geography, very warm autumns, and a sign with a 212 area code (which is Manhattan in New York City). Fan speculation puts it in either Colorado or Pennsylvania; the novelizations put it in Pennsylvania.

** Silent Hill itself is all over the place. The original manual describes the town as being in New England, but the first two games have what appear to be Michigan license plates, and ''Downpour'' and ''Shattered Memories'' both suggest Michigan as well. The atmosphere and environment fit both locations. The town also happens to be near a body of water called Toluca Lake, which does exist – in California. Other games suggest it’s specifically in Maine. And the [[Film/SilentHill movie version]] is very strongly inspired by Centralia, Pennsylvania, a real-life GhostTown thanks to a decades-old underground coal fire, but it’s explicitly in West Virginia.

** A background detail in Half-Life 2: Episode One practically confirms the city as Riga, Latvia. There is a map showing City 17 with a river called the Daugava flowing through it. This is the name of a real river that flows through... you guessed it, Riga. There are also other bits of evidence. The skyline of Riga resembles City 17's, City 17 is coastal and borders a sea (Riga is the only coastal city that the Daugava flows through), the lettering on most signs is Russian suggesting an ex-Soviet country, and there's also occasionally Swedish lettering, suggesting that City 17's not too far away from Sweden (Latvia is a stone's throw away from Sweden, and hosts many Swedish businesses). Finally, there's numerous restaurants with signs that translate to "Café Baltic", which would match Riga's location in one of the Baltic States.

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** ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil5'' is set in Kijuju, a {{Bulungi}} in what is supposed to be northwest Africa. Its official language is Swahili, though, which is spoken in East Africa. Its currency is the Naira, which is used in Nigeria. The flag on Irving’s boat is just the Pan-African flag with stars added to it. Basically, it’s all over the continent.

* ''VideoGame/HarvestTown'' often makes references to real life people, countries and shows, and one character is explicitly stated to be a fan of Japanese heroism and ''Franchise/{{Naruto}}'', indicating that the town is set in the real world. However, Harvest Town itself is clearly not based on any specific location in the real world.

* ''VideoGame/HalfLife2'' is set in City 17; all we know about it is that it’s somewhere in Eastern Europe. [[http://half-life.wikia.com/wiki/City_17#Background_and_origins_of_City_17 The Half-Life wiki]] suggests that it’s based on Sofia, Bulgaria; the game’s art director is from there, and various Cyrillic signs are in Bulgarian. But it’s also implied that it’s a former Soviet country, putting it further north; the canal system and forest imply St. Petersburg, although Riga, Latvia is another candidate. The Overwatch Nexus is modeled after the [[http://images3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20100330155939/half-life/en/images/a/a6/Overwatch_Nexus1.jpg Parliament]] of [[http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f9/Belgrad2006parlament.jpg Serbia]]. And the second ''VideoGame/DestroyAllHumans'' game has a throwaway joke that City 17 was once the game’s own Eastern European Springfield, Tunguska.

* Carcer City from ''VideoGame/{{Manhunt}}'', through references and CanonWelding with the ''Grand Theft Auto'' games, is located somewhere close to Liberty City. Most {{fanon}} puts it in [[{{Joisey}} New Jersey]], specifically in Newark or Camden, two cities with reputations as real-life {{Wretched Hive}}s not unlike that of Carcer City.

* While later ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAuto'' games were set explicitly in pastiches of UsefulNotes/NewYorkCity, UsefulNotes/{{Miami}}, UsefulNotes/LosAngeles, UsefulNotes/SanFrancisco, and UsefulNotes/LasVegas, two of the earlier games keep the location of their cities deliberately ambiguous.

** Liberty City in ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoIII'' was located somewhere on the East Coast, based primarily on New York but also taking influence from other cities in the northeastern US. ''[[VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoLibertyCityStories Liberty City Stories]]'' increased the New York influence, most notably by adding a Little Italy, but by ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoIV'', they eventually gave Liberty City a complete redesign to make it into an explicit expy of New York.

** ''VideoGame/Hitman2'' continues the trend with the fictional [[Suburbia Whittleton Creek]] in Vermont.

** The [[VideoGame/{{Persona}} first game]] is set in Mikage-cho, apparently part of an unnamed larger Japanesecity. There is a Mikage-cho very close to Kobe in real life, but we don't know if it’s the right one.

** The [[VideoGame/{{Persona}} first game]] is set in Mikage-cho, apparently part of an unnamed larger city. There is a Mikage-cho in Japan, very close to Kobe, but we don't know if it’s the right one.

** ''VideoGame/Persona3'' features the city of Iwatodai; all we know about it is that it's located on the coast and pretty much owned by the fictional [[MegaCorp Kirijo Group]].

* The ''VideoGame/{{Persona}}'' series likes to do this, which is odd because most other games in the ''Franchise/ShinMegamiTensei'' series are explicitly set in Tokyo.
** The first game was set in “Mikage-cho”, apparently part of an unnamed larger city. There is a Mikage-cho in Japan, very close to Kobe, but we don't know if it’s the right one.
** The ''VideoGame/Persona2'' duology invented Sumaru City, which was somewhere on Japan's east coast, near to but distinct from Mikage-cho. Then again, most of the first game’s cast is also present, implying that Mikage-cho is part of Sumaru.
** ''VideoGame/Persona3'' featured the city of Iwatodai; all we know about it is that it’s pretty much owned by the fictional [[MegaCorp Kirijo Group of companies]].
** ''VideoGame/Persona4'' is set in the countryside, in the large rural DyingTown of Inaba.

* ''Franchise/{{Hitman}}:

** ''VideoGame/{{Bayonetta 2}}'' is primarily set around Noatum, a fictitious town somewhere in Kazakhstan according to the pre-Chapter 1 map cutscene.

* The ''VideoGame/{{Persona}}'' series likes to do this, which is odd because most other games in the ''VideoGame/ShinMegamiTensei'' series are explicitly set in Tokyo.
** The first game was set in “Mikage-cho”, apparently part of an unnamed larger city. There is a Mikage-cho in Japan, very close to Kobe, but we don’t know if it’s the right one.
** The ''VideoGame/Persona2'' duology invented Sumaru City, which was somewhere on Japan’s east coast, near to but distinct from Mikage-cho. Then again, most of the first game’s cast is also present, implying that Mikage-cho is part of Sumaru.

* ''VideoGame/{{FEAR}}'' is set in Fairport, whose location is never officially stated. [[AllThereInTheManual The third game’s strategy guide]] claims it’s in the Northwest, but that doesn’t fit with the Point Man landing there in a helicopter he took all the way from Central or South America.

** A background detail in Half-Life 2: Episode One practically confirms the city as Riga, Latvia. There is a map showing City 17 with a river called the Daugava flowing through it. This is the name of a real river that flows through... you guessed it, Riga. There are also other bits of evidence. The skyline of Riga resembles City 17's, City 17 is coastal and borders a sea (Riga is the only coastal city that the Daugava flows through), the lettering on most signs is Russian suggesting an ex-Soviet country, and there's also occasionally Swedish lettering, suggesting that City 17 s not too far away from Sweden (Latvia is a stone's throw away from Sweden, and hosts many Swedish businesses). Finally, there's numerous restaurants with signs that translate to "Café Baltic", which would match Riga's location in one of the Baltic States.

* ''VideoGame/SplinterCellPandoraTomorrow'' has a clever spin on this; the good guys know that the BigBad is planning to deploy some sort of weapon in “the Springfield demonstration”, but they don’t know which one because there are so many Springfields in the country. It’s theorized that this is why the BigBad chose a Springfield as a target.

* Earlier ''Franchise/MetalGear'' games tend to take place in unspecified locations. Outer Heaven in ''VideoGame/MetalGear'' is supposedly 200 miles north of the Galzburg region of South Africa, which is itself a Springfield. Zanzibarland in ''VideoGame/MetalGear2'' is only mentioned as being part of the former Soviet Union, while the real island of Zanzibar is off the coast of Tanzania. Later games, though, tend to take place either in real locations or fake ones explicitly marked on a world map.

* Darkmoon Island, the site of the monthly Darkmoon Faire on ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft''. While the exact location of the island is a mystery, it's likely to be between the Maelstrom and Northrend, due to being in the Great Sea, ability to catch fish found only in northern Azeroth, and there's occasionally a tuskarr visiting the faire. (Tuskarr are said to die just a few days after leaving their own climate, so the island is likely close to Northend.) In any event, it can only be accessed during the Faire; despite (or possibly because of) shipwrecks around the island, it can't be reached by ship, even though it does have a dock.
* ''VideoGame/PAYDAYTheHeist'' has several heists that looks like they take place in either Chicago or Pittsburgh due to how the cities look in each level, but [[ShrugOfGod even the developers don’t exactly know where the heists take place in]]. The Undercover heist is explicitly stated by one of the characters to take place in Washington D.C. ''VideoGame/PAYDAY2'' does take place in Washington D.C. (though a good chunk of the DLC heists take place outside of it), but it's not really stated which neighborhoods the levels take place in.

* ''VideoGame/SaintsRow1'' and ''VideoGame/SaintsRow2'' take place in the fictional city of Stilwater, which has been implied to be a city in the Great Lakes region. Possibly in Illinois or Michigan. ''VideoGame/SaintsRowTheThird'' takes place in Steelport, which is loosely based on [[XMeetsY New York City and Pittsburgh]]. It’s safe to say that Steelport and Stilwater are close to each other; Steelport could also be in the Great Lakes region, as it’s surrounded by water, or it could be in western Pennsylvania like Pittsburgh.

* ''SaintsRow'' and ''SaintsRow2'' take place in the fictional city of Stilwater, which has been implied to be a city in the Great Lakes region. Possibly in Illinois or Michigan. ''VideoGame/SaintsRowTheThird'' takes place in Steelport, which is loosely based on [[XMeetsY New York City and Pittsburgh]]. It’s safe to say that Steelport and Stilwater are close to each other; Steelport could also be in the Great Lakes region, as it’s surrounded by water, or it could be in western Pennsylvania like Pittsburgh.