The architecture blog BldgBlog has posted an article by British videogamer writer Jim Rossignol about the architectural shorthand used by game developers to convey the sense of evil.

There's barely a necromancer in existence whose dark citadel doesn't in some way reflect real-world Romanian landmarks, such as Hunyad or Bran Castle. The visual theme of these games is so heavily dependent on previously pillaged artistic ideas from Dungeons & Dragons and Tolkien that evil ambiance is delivered by shorthand...Where the enemy is extra-terrestrial, HR Giger's influence is probably going to be felt instead.

But, I suspect, these signposts - or the ways in which game designers architecturally represent evil - are becoming too much a part of our everyday imaginative discourse to remain affecting.

It's a good overview that mentions a couple of games with exceptional architecture, but it's more notable for overlooking gems like Mirror's Edge, Assassin's Creed, Crackdown, Fallout 3, de Blob, Mercenaries 2, and SimCity Societies, all with unique takes on where you find the bad guys. The blog's comments section furthermore mentions Portal, Ico, and Silent Hill, all good points. And that leaves aside just games with interesting architecture, period.

It used to be all good and well to criticize videogames for creative bankruptcy in any number of departments: writing, music, graphics, gameplay, characters. As Mr. Rossignol demonstrates, it's getting harder.