Unique Video Game Settings

[Elfgore]

I feel that Greedfall has a pretty unique setting. At the least, I can't think of any other video game that combines 18th/19th century architecture and general atmosphere with fantasy elements like magic.

Closest would be Assassin's Creed 3, but the magic isn't really there for the player.

 

[09philj]

The city in Disco Elysium is pitched just right between familiar and unfamiliar to get the player to feel the same amnesia as the character. It's a world which is alien enough that characters talking about specific things is often confusing, but you can generally get a handle on what's going on.

 

[Dalisclock]

Interesting you mention Greece, though there are quite a few games set in ancient Greece, usually playing to the Olympus setting, historic Greece as a setting is quite uncommon. But with regards to Assassin's Creed: Odyssey, my one massive gripe (strictly about said setting, that is), was the omission of Thessaly almost entirely. They smunched down the area between Macedon and Boeotia quite hard, so the world map does come off as weird looking (not quite Saboteur weird, but still).

I haven't played Origins so I can't criticise its writing, but having played Odyssey I would have to say it was very hit and miss. Thing is with Chinese history though is that as far as the Empire was concerned, any period in which one dynasty replaces another would be ripe for interpretation, since a lot would be happening, invariably. Rise of the Ming-dynasty in 1368 would be good, I think, as you could have an Connor-esque take on Washington with the player character looking on as the Hongwu Emperor takes the throne.

Odyessy's map wasn't perfect by any means, and yeah, the northern edge of the map got a bit...distorted. There's also some inferred wierdness when you realize some of the easternmost islands are literally right off the coast of Anatolia so they kinda moved some of the islands west to give a nice clean ocean border on the western edge of the map(Samos and Lesbos have a big ass Turkish peninsula between them IRL which isn't there in the game)

Origins story is better in some ways and worse in others. It's primarily Bayek and his wife getting revenge for the death of their son(because they were trying to pressure him to open a mysterous ancient door under the local temple). He's got a hit list he's slowly working down and gradually learning that the group is called The Order of the Ancients, are obsessed with ancient ruins(and the advanced ISU tech within) and yep, they're basically Templars before they had that name.

The problem being that once the Romans start getting involved in the story about midway the story starts getting notably linear and worse, and the final assassination feels very tacked on because Caesar is in the game and if anyone knows one fact about Caesar, it's how he died.

For chinese history, I take it there's a bit of "History being written by the Victors" going on? Or is it more of record keeping being less then complete? I'm inclined to believe the former because China is stereotypically obsessed with bureaucracy(thus paperwork).

I don't dislike Connor(I feel like I'm one of the few people who didn't) but now I'm getting wierd visions of a Chinese AC character somehow showing up at every iconic event in Chinese history like Connor ended up doing.

 

[Dalisclock]

The city in Disco Elysium is pitched just right between familiar and unfamiliar to get the player to feel the same amnesia as the character. It's a world which is alien enough that characters talking about specific things is often confusing, but you can generally get a handle on what's going on.

DE city and world was fascinating. The wierd feeling how Revachol feels like it's stuck in this intersection of real world history(Communist Revolutions) and cities(Such as Paris and Berlin) yet parts of the world, such as the Pale, are completely weird and alien.

It feels vaguely like China Melville's Bas Lag and New Crobuzon, though those are more explicitly fantasy.

 

[BrawlMan]

Evil West has a unique take on how vampire society functions and the different types of vampiric creatures out there.

Hi-Fi Rush literally looks like a early 2000s anime inspired cartoon. Also love how everything moves and rhythm to the beat for each stage. Everything.

 

[hanselthecaretaker]

Caelid.

 

[Worgen]

Beacon Pines, especially if you know the terrible secret of space.

Monster Train, its not often you are fighting the forces of haven (who are dicks) as demons seeking to relight the fire of hell and all the levels aren't just stereotypical demon shit.

Freedom Planet, got an interesting world that clearly has Asian inspiration.

Hedon, a cave world filled with buff orc's where humans and elfs are the cultist enemies.

Xcom Chimera Squad, it takes the normal world of an alien invasion and goes to its logical progression once the invasion is thwarted. I mean if your whole planet is being invaded by essentially slave races, they don't just die when you win, they would still be around and have to be integrated in some way and Chimera Squad does it really well.

Spirit Farer, one of those afterlife's that I think everyone kinda wants.

 

[Xprimentyl]

Caelid.

Caelid is a uniquely unnerving area. The tense music, the eerie red mist, of course the rot swamp, etc.. the whole place just makes me uncomfortable. Whenever I go there, I feel like Bruce Willis in Die Hard 3 where he's forced to stand on a street corner in the projects wearing a sign that says "I Hate N-words," like, I don't belong here, and this is really dangerous.

 

[The Rogue Wolf]

I always thought that the alien world in Out of This World was starkly beautiful.

Plus there's the fact that every native animal is both equipped for and intent on murdering you.

Beacon Pines, especially if you know the terrible secret of space.

Where are the Space Robots when we need them?!

 

[Worgen]

Where are the Space Robots when we need them?!

They took a wrong turn at Albuquerque.

 

[Hawki]

I always thought that the alien world in Out of This World was starkly beautiful.

That's "Another World," scrub!

Snark aside, I sort of agree, but then the game spends most of its time with Buddy's species, and I'd argue, is a bit too vague for its own good. I get the gist of what's going on (slave uprising and all not), but even so...

 

[hanselthecaretaker]

Caelid is a uniquely unnerving area. The tense music, the eerie red mist, of course the rot swamp, etc.. the whole place just makes me uncomfortable. Whenever I go there, I feel like Bruce Willis in Die Hard 3 where he's forced to stand on a street corner in the projects wearing a sign that says "I Hate N-words," like, I don't belong here, and this is really dangerous.

The places that make me uncomfortable in FROM games are always the deepest, darkest indoor locations. The Depths, the sewers under Leyndell, etc. That shit stirs up some claustrophobia in me. Caelid is so wide open that I’m usually just like, “Ok Torrent, run like the wind.”

 

[BrawlMan]

Seeing this game for the first time in 2001 was breathtaking. I knew about Oddworld, and seen the game in stores, but didn't think much about it until getting the game for free on PC.

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[BrawlMan]

Dancin' Divas is a Tex Avery cartoon in brawler form. Can't wait for the final release on Steam. I want this game to do well enough to get ported to consoles as well.

Dancin' Divas (Early Access 2022 DEMO) by MrPr1993

Toon beat em' up with lounge singers!

mrpr1993.itch.io

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[Absent]

Cuphead, alas I have decided that the gameplay would have been too stressful for me to enjoy the setting.

Also, if you count levels within games, NOLF 1 & 2 have some to offer. Sinking ships are too rare environments in games. Houses lifted and dismantled by tornadoes aren't immensely commonplace levels either.

Greek landscapes and mythology are underused aswell, and I respect Titan Quest a lot for its rendition.

Also have I mentionned Lousiana recently ?

 

[BrawlMan]

Cuphead, alas I have decided that the gameplay would have been too stressful for me to enjoy the setting.

At least you can watch The Cuphead Show. No stress, and you got 3 seasons.

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[The Rogue Wolf]

That's "Another World," scrub!

They couldn't call it that here in the States because there was a TV show that already had that name. (And then another show called "Out of This World" came out the same year....)

 

[Dalisclock]

Caelid is a uniquely unnerving area. The tense music, the eerie red mist, of course the rot swamp, etc.. the whole place just makes me uncomfortable. Whenever I go there, I feel like Bruce Willis in Die Hard 3 where he's forced to stand on a street corner in the projects wearing a sign that says "I Hate N-words," like, I don't belong here, and this is really dangerous.

There is very much a "You came to the wrong neighborhood" vibe too it. And when I say that,I'm well aware this is a FROM game and almost every place in the game is some variety of "Fuck you" town.

 

[Dalisclock]

Also have I mentionned Lousiana recently ?

Have you played Read Dead Redemption 2, by chance? Because if you want Lousiana, well, there's some wonderfully depicted NotLousiana in that game including a stunning NotNewOrleans. Just don't go riding through the swamps at night.

Seriously, just don't.

 

[Hawki]

Okay, I'll name some. Bear in mind that "most unique" is not the same as "most fleshed out" (for instance, Mass Effect is well fleshed out, but it's not particuarly unique in its setting, being an amalgamation of sci-fi tropes).

-Ace Combat (in the sense that its "Earth but not quite" setting is fairly unique)

-Anthem (you'll probably roll your eyes, but I'm serious - I can't think of a setting that uses the same tropes as Anthem combined)

-Assassin's Creed (sort of - the whole "secret war/Illuminati" thing is nothing new, but as a series whose main conciet is living memories across time periods to find McGuffins in the present? I'm sure there's something similar, but regardless, the animus thing kind of pushes it into this territory)

-BioShock (both Rapture and Colombia, but mostly the former)

-Call of Duty: Ghosts (how many military settings have South America uniting to invade North America? Not saying that's a plausible plot point, but hey, least it's not Russians again)

-Ecco the Dolphin (name a setting where a dolphin fights against aliens to save the ocean's sea life from being harvested in a time travelling adventure that spans millions of years. Try it!)

-Fallout (eh, sort of? I've never been able to get into Fallout, and post-nuclear apocalypse is hardly unique, but its alternate history/sense of style arguably carries it forward)

-Gears of War (in the sense that Sera is its own world, takes inspiration from Earth, yet very much isn't Earth - really, see what I said about Ace Combat, the same principle applies)

-Metal Gear (bonkers 20th/21st century history that I'm not sure has an equivalant)

-Resistance (alternate 20th century history crossed over with alien invasion seems straight out of Turtledove, but I'd say it earns a spot)

-Xenoblade (without hyperbole, this might be one of the most bonkers settings I've ever seen. EVER.)