Is there a Nigerian open-world crime game? Open-world games set in Lagos

It is one of the most common things Nigerian gamers ask: where is our one? The big open-world crime games are set in versions of American cities. You drive, you run from the police, you do jobs for dodgy people, and you can lose a whole weekend in the side streets. Why is there no version set in Lagos, a city with more character, traffic, hustle and comedy than any of them?

Here is the honest answer, the Lagos games that do exist, and the one we made.

The short answer

As far as we could find, there is no big-budget, console-sized open-world crime game set in Lagos. The large open worlds that are set in Africa, such as Assassin’s Creed Origins (ancient Egypt, 2017) and Far Cry 2 (an invented African country, 2008), were made by Ubisoft Montreal, and neither is anywhere near Lagos.

Smaller independent games are a different story. A free multiplayer web game called Surviving Nigeria is also set in Lagos street life; we compare it fairly, with others, in games like Surviving Nigeria.

Nigeria’s own studios have made plenty of games about Lagos, but they are mostly small mobile games, not open worlds. Making a world the size of a console blockbuster takes large teams and years of work, and Nigerian studios have had to start smaller.

Games set in Lagos that do exist

• Danfo by ChopUp: a racing game built around Lagos’s commuter buses.
• Gidi Run by Gamsole: an endless runner through the streets of Lagos.
• Okada Ride (now Okada Rider) by Maliyo Games: a Lagos motorbike taxi game that started as a free web game in 2012.
• Disney Iwájú: Rising Chef by Maliyo Games: a mobile game for Android and iOS, tied to the Disney+ series set in a futuristic Lagos, released in February 2024.

All of them are worth a go. None of them lets you walk out of your front door and wander the city.

AJ Cities: a Lagos open world in your browser

That is the gap we set out to fill. AJ Cities is a free open-world game set on the edge of Ajegunle, Lagos, the neighbourhood everybody calls AJ City, beside the Apapa and Tin Can Island ports. It is ours, so judge it for yourself, but here is what it is and what it is not.

What it is

• A small, dense open world. Not a whole city: a fictional walled estate, Abraham Adesyan Estate, where Navy Town meets Kirikiri. One main street, June 12 Street, a rooming house, a clinic, a restaurant, a club called Prizm, a bush with a street football pitch, and a beach beyond it. Across the road is the wall of Kirikiri prison, and port cranes stand on the skyline.
• A crime story for adults. You play AJ, deported from London, beaten in a cell and broke on a veranda bench. The police at the gate want ₦2,500,000 before they will open it, and the man who owns the club down the street wants something too. The story deals with crime, police corruption and a dodgy club owner, which is why the game is 18+.
• Street-level comedy. Police who smoke while lending you a gun, gate officers who tease AJ about Libya and want money, a bookie called Tunde Lines who is not Officer Tunde. A light touch of Pidgin for the punchlines.
• Fights, and very little shooting. You punch and kick. Day to day, nobody shoots in the estate. The one gun in daily life is a shotgun you borrow from the officers in the bush to shoot bottles and cans, and you give it back before you leave. How Chapter 1 ends is another matter, and we will not spoil it.
• A hustle. You earn the gate money as a ball boy at the bush football, ₦1,000 a break, and by betting on Creek Rovers against Palm United. It is game money only.
• A live side. Besides the single-player story there is a live estate where adults sign in, make their own character and meet other players, up to 60 per estate.

What it is not

• It is not a console blockbuster, and it is not a copy of one. It is an original game with an original map.
• It is not a map of real Lagos. The estate and everyone in it are invented. Ajegunle, Kirikiri and the ports are real places that give it its setting.
• It is not a download. It runs in the web browser on a phone or a computer, and it was built phone first, down to older browsers back to Chrome 87 on Android and Safari on iOS 15.

Why Lagos deserves an open world

Lagos has everything an open-world game needs. Traffic you can lose hours in. Danfos, okadas and kekes. Markets, ports, police checkpoints, power cuts and the generators that answer them. Neighbourhoods with their own music and their own footballers: Ajegunle alone counts Daddy Showkey and Odion Ighalo among the people who come from there. A city like that does not need to be dressed up. It needs to be built.

AJ Cities starts with one street on the edge of one neighbourhood, because that is where real Lagos life happens: on the veranda, at the coal pot, in the queue at the gate.

How to start

1. Open ajcities.com on your phone or computer.
2. Choose AJ’s story. No sign-in needed.
3. Talk to Chuks at his coal pot for a walk round the estate, then head for the bush.

The full walkthrough is in how to play, the keys and touch buttons are in controls, and every place is on the places page.

For more games from home, see our list of Nigerian video games, and for big worlds from the rest of the continent, African video games.

Is there a Nigerian open-world crime game?

There is no big-budget console one set in Lagos that we could find. AJ Cities is a free open-world crime story set on the edge of Ajegunle, Lagos, played in the browser. It is for adults, 18+.

Is AJ Cities a real map of Lagos?

No. The estate and its people are invented. It is set beside real places, Ajegunle, Navy Town, Kirikiri and the Apapa ports, but the map is original.

Can I play AJ Cities on my phone?

Yes. It runs in the phone’s web browser with nothing to install, and it was built for phones first.

Can you shoot in AJ Cities?

Day to day, only in the bush beside the estate, with a shotgun you borrow from the officers to shoot bottles and cans. There is no shooting on the estate’s streets.