The arrival of Grand Theft Auto VI later in the fall will probably feel like a milestone moment in the gaming industry. Years in the making and with a budget upwards of $1 billion, it is arguably the ‘biggest’ video game in history, if not the most anticipated. Its success will be a barometer for the health of the video games industry. There’s a lot riding on it. 

The GTA series also offers a somewhat wry eye on America. It is intended to be satirical, an exaggeration of the American dream, perhaps something akin to what Scarface did in the 1980s. But does it capture the spirit of America? It’s an interesting question. And if not, which games do?

What, though, do we mean by the American spirit? It’s a concept that is pretty flexible. Sometimes it can mean celebrating the imagery and iconography of the USA, such as what you might see with the Stars & Stripes and bald eagle symbolism of American-themed slot games, but it can also mean capturing the zeitgeist of the nation at a particular time, or within specific groups. Below, we highlight some games that have, in different ways, achieved that. 

Red Dead Redemption 2 

The video game equivalent of the heyday of Western movies in the mid-20th century. RDR 2 captures everything about – capitalism, freedom, expansion, violence – that defined the American West. 

Grand Theft Auto V 

We will have to see how GTA VI showcases America when we get our hands on it, but GTA V remains one of the great satires of the American dream, covering everything from inequality to the strange worship of fast food. 

 America trying to rebuild America

Underneath the RPG is essentially an argument about what kind of society America should be. There is some worship of the 1950s ideal – the nuclear family – and it really plays into some of the conservative movements of today as America is attempted to be reshaped. 

 American exceptionalism

Perhaps even more explicitly American than the original. The unsettling thing is that its imagery is deliberately beautiful. It examines the distance between America's glorious story about itself and the people historically excluded from that story.

 America after the institutions disappear

Joel and Ellie travel through Boston, Pittsburgh, Wyoming, Colorado and Utah, passing through the empty shell of America. However, at heart, it also honors American ideals, like self-reliance. 

An unusual – and not particularly subtle – fusion of Americana, religion and violence. There is also a touch of that oh-so American trait – suspicion of federal power. Montana is an exaggerated version of the rural American mindset. 

The Oregon Trail doesn’t aim for the kind of satire or violence of other games on this list. There is a purity about the game, looking at the simple idea of families heading west to find a better life. There's a good argument that this is the most quintessentially American videogame ever made.

Its fictional 1968 New Orleans is particularly good at showing the America that patriotic mythology often leaves out. The southern setting is perfect for a game that touches on everything, from civil rights to muscle cars, that defined 1960s America. 

 America's information machine

Maybe an odd choice because it is Japanese-made, but remarkably prescient about the idea of military power and surveillance, something that is coming to the fore again when we talk about digital media and privacy.