Game Locations & Their Synonyms

Games are often a rich tapestry of different biomes from forests to mountains, from icy lakes to boiling lava. If you’re struggling to come up with game locations for your own adventures, check out our list of locations and their possible names!

Out in the grasslands

A classic location for a first level, game locations with a wide open area of grass might be called:

Garden, Fields, Plains, Grasslands, Hills, Path, Park, Clearing / Glade (when near trees), Meadow, Farm, Heath, Foothills, Prairie, Savannah, Tor, Greens, Scrub, Steppe, Moor, Trail, Ranch, Lowlands, Country / Countryside, Pasture or Wold.

Forests and places with trees

In temperate locations, names for forests can include:

Forest, Woods, Acreage, Oaks, Grove, Thicket, Tangle, Weald, Backwoods, Vineyard, Coppice or Copse.

For something a bit more tropical, you can try Jungle, Bush or Rainforest.

Caves and other holes in the ground

Caves are tricky, since you may have ideas for specific elemental caves in your game. For this list we’re assuming you want a brown, muddy hole. In that case you could call it:

Cave, Burrow, Tunnel, Trove, Hollow, Nook, Mineshaft, Den, Underground, Dome, Well, Underpass, Cavern, Chasm, Hole, Pothole, Hovel, Retreat or Pit.

In or near the ocean

For the body of water itself you can use:

Ocean, Strait, Lagoon, Gulf, Sea, Reef, Atoll, Channel, Firth, Pool, Deep, or Brine.

Under the water you might find a Trench or a Grotto.

And for any land nearby you can have:

Seafront, Coast, Island, Archipelago, Bay, Cove, Estuary, Causeway, Beach, Resort, Paradise, Inlet, Peninsula, Shore, Cliff, Cape, Headland, Islet, Shoal, Bluff, Harbour or Outcrop.

Fresh and not-so-fresh water

Areas with fresh water in games might include:

Lake, River, Pond, Stream, Waterfall / Falls, Brook, Bank, Bight, Fjord, Delta, Cascade, Weir, Rapids, Lakefront, Oasis (in a desert) or Wetlands.

Meanwhile, a place with filthy or stinky water could be called:

Swamp, Bog, Marsh, Bayou, Quagmire, Fen or Mire.

Deserts and wastelands

Players love to traverse some kind of hot, desolate, sandy area and developers love to make them. There’s no shortage of names for these including:

Desert, Wasteland, Western (and then a noun), Dunes, Badlands, Pyramids, Mesa, Wilds, Wastes, Wilderness, Hinterland, Outback, Valley, Canyon, Ravine, Gorge, Gulley, Gulch, Quarry, Frontier or Sticks (as in, “out in the sticks”).

Mountains and places with ice

First of all, tall areas of land with or without ice might be called:

Mountain, Peak, Ridge, Plateau, Stack, Butte, Crevasse, Highland, Summit, Rock, Crag, Palisade, Heights, Pass, Vale, Glen, Precipice or Mound.

While flatter areas with ice could be called:

Tundra, Glacier, Ice Shelf, Iceberg or Permafrost.

Volcanoes and their relatives

Hot places with lava, magma or steam. You know the drill, for this we’ve got:

Volcano, Fissure, Forge, Cone, Geyser, (Hot) Springs, Crater, Basin, Cauldron, Vent and Slab.

Towns, cities & buildings

There are LOTS of names of settlements full of buildings where your characters can live, which include:

City, Town, Village, Hamlet, Backstreets, Square, Capital, Outskirts, Terrace, Bazaar, Plaza, Metropolis, Borough, Burg, Port and Suburb.

Areas with an urban vibe that you may be using as levels in your game include:

Bridge, Dump, Scrapyard, Junkyard, Sewer, Pipeline, Tube, Festival, Carnival, Circus, Theatre, Funfair, Casino, Toy Store / Toy Box, Library, Factory, Laboratory, Depot, Headquarters, Power Plant, Observatory, Hideout, Corporation, Clock Tower, Warehouse or -Works (preceded by a noun).

Of course, most settlements don’t even end with an obvious noun like “Town” or “City”, they might have suffixes like -ton or -ville, or not have a very town-y sounding name at all.

Dungeons and spooky places

No game is complete without a level full of ghosts, ghouls, skeletons and pumpkins… but where do they live? You might find them in a:

Graveyard, Cemetery, Boneyard, Necropolis, Memorial, Burial Ground, Haunt, Dread, Catacombs, Ruins, Tomb, Henge or Crypt.

Perhaps your spooky place is still occupied by the living, in which case maybe go with:

Dungeon, Castle, Temple, Prison, Penitentiary, Pantheon, Museum, Palace, Chateau, Manor, Mansion, House, Fortress, Colosseum, Chamber, Tower, Gate, Pillar, Shrine, Altar, Arena, Fort or Citadel.

In the monster’s nest

Sometimes your players will need to delve deep into the belly of the beast – both literally and figuratively. This section may partly be covered by areas above, such as caves and forests, but some names are reserved specifically for monsters’ homes such as:

Hive, Nest, Honeycomb, Anthill, Mound, Apiary, Lair and Den.

Other Places

And here are a handful of terms you can use for levels that don’t quite fit in any other category!

• For space levels: Moon, Galaxy, Nebula, Star, System, Planet, Meteor or Asteroid
• Food levels might include words like: Chocolate, Cheese, Cake, Milkshake, Ice Cream, Fruit, Vegetable, Bubble Gum or Candy.
• Pirate ships may be called: Ship, Abandoned Ship, Sunken Ship, or Saint (and then a name).
• A level in the sky could include the word Sky itself or Clouds, Rainbow, Wonderland, Heights or Heavens.

We hope this guide helps to inspire you to come up with levels for your own games, if you think of any additions feel free to leave them below!