One of the most powerful things a videogame can do is make you feel like you’ve been completely transported to another world. That’s what makes this medium the most effective form of escapism, particularly in the following PC games. For different reasons these are all incredible virtual places to lose yourself in, from the desolation of Mad Max to the sweeping grandeur of The Witcher 3—and you don’t even have to leave the comfort of your chair to visit them.

The Witcher 3

Whether it’s the rugged European expanses of Wild Hunt or the lush Mediterranean charms of Blood & Wine, the world of The Witcher 3 is always stunning. From the deep boreal forests and dramatic, mist-shrouded mountains of the Skellige archipelago, to the rolling vineyards and fairytale castles of Toussaint, every location feels wild, organic, and alive.

Read more Faces of Novigrad: a closer look at The Witcher 3's biggest city

Dishonored

With its mix of strange magic, Victorian imperialism, and whale oil-powered steampunk, the rat-infested city of Dunwall is an incredibly unique, evocative setting. And in the sequel’s own city, Karnaca, the cobbles and smokestacks are replaced by jungles, colonial architecture, and sweltering sunshine, giving a sense of this world’s cultural and geographical richness.

Read more Dishonored 2 gallery: character portraits from Karnaca

American Truck Simulator

No, really. This truck simulator might not have the lavish production values of some of the other games on this list, but in the dead of night its deserts are beautifully atmospheric. There’s something compelling about those quiet, lonely stretches of road, dark except for the glow of your headlights and the occasional neon motel sign buzzing in the distance.

Read more In the desert at night, American Truck Simulator becomes one of the most atmospheric games ever

Grand Theft Auto 5

The city of Los Santos is an intricate, staggeringly detailed urban sprawl, and one of the most incredible cities on PC. Then you leave the city limits behind and find yourself in a vast expanse of countryside dominated by the towering silhouette of the colossal Mt. Chiliad, where, from its peak, you can see the skyscrapers of downtown Los Santos far in the distance.

Read more My trip to a GTA 5 roleplay server was like an episode of Black Mirror

Subnautica

In this vivid ocean you’ll find fields of dancing kelp, caves illuminated by fluorescent fungi, bubbling thermal vents, and sandy plains sprinkled with glowing plants. It’s a diverse, vibrant setting that feels truly alien, and the hand-crafted nature of the world means exploration is genuinely rewarding. The deeper you go, the deeper the mystery becomes.

Read more Subnautica's hands-off approach to storytelling is brilliant

Mafia 2

In 1940s, Empire Bay is bleak and wintry, with military planes in the sky and off-duty soldiers on the streets reminding you that World War II is still in full force. Then Vito ends up in jail, returning in the 1950s to find the city sunny, optimistic, and vividly colourful. It’s not as detailed or big as the cities of GTA, but makes up for it with an incredible sense of place and atmosphere.

Read more Why Mafia 2's ambitious mob tale is worth a revisit

Mad Max

Avalanche’s vast desert wasteland has a surprising amount of colour, variety, and unexpected weather effects, which collectively create an intoxicating vision of the post-apocalyptic expanse the movies are famous for. It captures the desolation and loneliness of a post-nuclear world better than most games, including the cluttered, distraction-filled Fallout series.

Read more Mad Max is one of the most atmospheric open worlds on PC

Deus Ex: Human Revolution

The dystopian city of Hengsha isn’t huge, but the use of neon lights, colourful advertising, and narrow streets creates a convincing sense that you’re at the bottom rung of a two-tiered futuristic city. Nothing feels over-designed, which cyberpunk settings are frequently guilty of, and while Mankind Divided is technically superior, this is a more compelling space.

Read more Deus Ex: Human Revolution is still a great immersive sim

Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture

This slice of rural Britain is one of the most lavish and well-observed settings on PC. The sleepy villages, rolling farmland, and holiday camps of Shropshire perfectly capture the feel of the British countryside, and provide an eerie, unsettling backdrop for the game’s melancholy sci-fi storyline. The marriage of the mundanely pastoral and frighteningly supernatural is incredibly eerie.

Read more Everybody's Gone to the Rapture 4K gallery

Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag

Black Flag absolutely nails the feeling of being a pirate, giving you the freedom to explore a huge chunk of the West Indies including Cuba, Jamaica, the Bahamas, and countless other small islands. Sailing those crystal blue waters, listening to your crew sing shanties, is absolutely transporting, and arguably the best-realised setting in the series’ long history.

Read more The assassins of Assassin's Creed, ranked from worst to best

Sleeping Dogs

While Rockstar seems mainly interested in bringing American cities to life, Sleeping Dogs is a strong attempt at replicating another part of the world. United Front’s vision of contemporary Hong Kong is a beautifully constructed thing, with neon advertising signs reflecting in puddles, crowded markets, traffic-clogged streets, and food stalls you can almost smell.

Read more Sleeping Dogs review

Dark Souls 3

From the faded grandeur of the colossal Lothric Castle to the haunting, wintry Irithyll of the Boreal Valley, this is one of FromSoftware’s greatest artistic achievements. And as well as looking pretty, the locations fill in the blanks left by the sparse, enigmatic story, with places such as the Cemetery of Ash providing subtle clues about the series’ rich mythology.

Read more Dark Souls 3 and the tragedy of a fallen knight

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

You get a sense that Skyrim is a vast country, rather than a small section of a larger world. Each area has its own distinctive history, culture, and climate, from the bubbling, sulphuric hot springs of Eastmarch to the icy, snow-battered coastline of Winterhold. Skyrim is still one of the most enjoyable virtual worlds to just exist in for a while.

Read more An Illusionist in Skyrim

Batman: Arkham Knight

Rocksteady went from creating a convincing but isolated setting in Arkham Asylum to a wonderfully grim and complex urban sprawl in Arkham Knight. Decorated with a Blade Runner-ish mix of neon lights and endless rainfall, it’s one of the best open world settings around, even if the game’s tiring use of the Batmobile muddies your perception of it a little bit.

Read more Let's rank the Arkham games from worst to best

Yakuza 0

The Yakuza series has finally come to PC, and this prequel features two beautiful, atmospheric chunks of Japanese cities to explore: Kamurocho in Tokyo and Sotenbori in Osaka. Both perfectly capture the feeling of being in a bustling, vibrant Japanese city, and the 1980s setting is brilliantly fleshed out with era-appropriate technology and fashion.

Read more Yakuza 0 review

Half-Life 2

From the muted streets of City 17 to the zombie-infested Ravenholm (we don’t go there), Valve’s visual storytelling is still unparalleled. Half-Life 2 has dated, inevitably, but its environments still have the power to dazzle. Over the course of the game a detailed picture of this bleak, hopeless world is subtly pieced together, and all through details in the environment.

Read more Half-Life 2 review

Metro: Last Light

The Metro series offers the most beguiling and tonally bleak post-apocalypse around, whether you’re in the irradiated overworld or one of those detailed underground settlements filled with NPCs. From a wrecked passenger plane, skeletons still buckled into their seats, to an abandoned, rain-soaked tenement block, misery has never looked quite so attractive.

Read more Going underground in Metro: Last Light

Alan Wake

Alan Wake’s misty forests, empty cabins and eerily unpopulated towns are the perfect setting for this mostly nighttime horror shooter. A clever recurring technique used by Remedy is the teasing of enemies and new locations in the far distance, something made possible by game engine tech originally put in place when Alan Wake was going to be open-world.

Read more Alan Wake review

Firewatch

Campo Santo’s stylised Shoshone National Forest feels sun-parched, wild, and rambling, which combined with some remarkable ambient sound design makes for an incredibly convincing natural setting. The game is linear, but there are plenty of opportunities to ramble, finding clues about the other lonely people who have escaped there over the decades.

Read more Firewatch review

BioShock

Rapture is so bloody strange in its mix of sci-fi otherworldliness and art deco. It’s perhaps the strongest instance of fiction and setting working together on this list. An unforgettable journey under the sea, to a setting soaked with history and purpose. You feel like people actually lived and worked here before everything went to shit, with echoes of life all around you.

Read more The making of Fort Frolic

Like most open world games, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt has enjoyed loads of sky-beautifying mods since launch. Hyadum's New Heavy Clouds, however, may well be the prettiest cloud-enhancer I've seen to date. Let the footage above wash over you. 

With so many nooks, crannies, sidequests and characters, The Witcher 3's Continent is a wonderful playground. But I suspect New Heavy Clouds will force your gaze upwards, as you take in the beauty that now stretches out above. 

Like this: 

And these: 

And this:

And, just, wow: 

"Not much to say, this mod changes the clouds textures used in heavy weathers," explains Hyadum on the mod's Nexus Mods page. "I've been trying to mod clouds for quite a bit and I think I got an interesting result, so here it is. I wanted them to be 'heavier' in looks and not too flat like sometimes vanilla ones can look. Obviously not perfect, but who cares."

I think you're selling yourself short there, pal. Take a bow. 

Installation instructions for Hyadum's New Heavy Clouds live this-a-way. 

Until today, our Witcher Netflix TV series: release date, Henry Cavill is Geralt and everything we know rundown was pretty wholesome, but lacking key information on the show's female cast. Now, Netflix has revealed who will play both Yennefer of Vengerberg and Ciri. 

Both stars will feature alongside Henry Cavill's Geralt of Rivia, of course—news which birthed this wonderful header image. In an interview with the Hollywood Reporter, showrunner Lauren Schmidt Hissrich revealed Freya Allan (of Into The Badlands fame) as Ciri, and Anya Chalotra (of Wanderlust notoriety) as Yennefer. 

We know Queen Calanthe will be played by Jodhi May (The Last of the Mohicans), whereas "fledgling sorceress" Fringilla will be played by Mimi Ndiweni (The Legend of Tarzan; Mr Selfridge).

From top left to bottom right there, the cast appears as follows: Henry Cavill, Anya Chalotra, Freya Allan, Jodhi May, Mimi Ndiweni, Therica Wilson-Read, Millie Brady, Adam Levy, Björn Hlynur Haraldsson, and MyAnna Buring.

CD Projekt has responded to a demand for payment by The Witcher’s original creator, Polish author Andrzej Sapkowski.

Eurogamer reported that CD Projekt received the demand yesterday, in which lawyers acting on Sapkowski’s behalf filed a demand of payment of PLN 60m, (£12.4m/$16.1m) in additional royalties.

Sapkowski has previously expressed his regret that he rejected CD Projekt’s offer of a percentage of their overall profits when he sold the rights to a videogame adaptation of his work. In an interview with Eurogamer’s Robert Purchase, he explained that he demanded an up-front payment in full. “I was stupid enough to leave everything in their hands because I didn't believe in their success,” Sapkowski lamented. “But who could foresee their success? I couldn't."

CD Projekt posted a PDF copy of Sapkowski’s original demand online. Sapkowski’s plenipotentiaries state that the existing royalty agreements between Sapkowski and CD Projekt “cannot (even assuming that they contain the relevant provisions) effectively indemnify you against future claims by the Author.”

The document then points to Article 44 of the Act on Copyright and Related Rights, going on to state “it may be assumed that standard royalty rates associated with use of a work, particularly in adaptations, are approximately 5-15% of the profits generated.” The demand’s conclusion is that Sapkowski should be compensated with “at least” 6% of profits obtained by CD Projekt.

In addition, the document claims that, “Careful reading of your contracts concluded with the Author might lead one to conclude that, if the company did effectively acquire any copyright at all, it concerned only the first in a series of games, and therefore distribution of all other games, including their expansions, add-ons etc., is, simply speaking, unlawful,” although the document then goes on to state “Naturally, we do not intend to engage in a debate with you on this point.”

CDProjekt posted its response above the receipt, stating. “In the Company’s opinion the demands expressed in the notice are groundless with regard to their merit as well as the stipulated amount. The Company had legitimately and legally acquired copyright to Mr. Andrzej Sapkowski’s work, i.a. insofar as is required for its use in games developed by the Company. All liabilities payable by the Company in association therewith have been properly discharged”.

It appears that CD Projekt is confident in its position, given that it has responded immediately and rejected the demand outright, while also making both its own position and that of Sapkowski’s transparent for everyone to see. Nonetheless, it’s a strange twist. CD Projekt still intends to reach an "amicable resolution" on the matter. "However, any such resolution must be respectful of previously expressed intents of both parties, as well as existing contracts."