Unique Video Game Settings

[PsychicTaco115]

Title says it all

For me, I think one of the most interesting ones is the Dive to the Heart in the Kingdom Hearts series. The fan wiki says it's framed as "a world within a dream" but what really drew me to it was the stained-glass imagery that serves as the ground to walk on.

Also, the music is appropriately dreamy and mysterious, VERY cool.

 

[JoJo]

Bioshock's Rapture. Love the underwater aesthetic and the whole atmosphere of the place.

Spoiler

 

[Aiddon]

The Titans in Xenoblade 1 and 2, Mira in Xenoblade X

 

[Elfgore]

I think Horizon: Zero Dawn's version of Earth is quite unique. The whole society regressing to previous states after cataclysm has been done before, but it's rare for one to blend technology so well with the more primitive human societies.

 

[Kyrian007]

Actually I'm pretty used to videogames having fairly fanciful settings. The one I find most unique... is probably the one I found least fanciful.

Far Cry 5

The reason I found it so unique... the setting, the terrain, nature and man made structures, were all places that exist in the state I live in or neighboring ones. Place I could DRIVE to, places I've been to. Videogames just aren't set here (things like farming simulator aside.) Playing a game set somewhere like that, especially as action heavy a game as FC 5, was really a bizarre feeling no other game really ever gave me.

 

[SilentPony]

Space Marine. A forgeworld invaded by Orks with all the absurdity that comes with 40k. A bridge as tall as the Empire state building, random documents and audio logs showing just how bleak being a menial in a forge world is.
And loads of faces that need squishing

 

[BrawlMan]

Odin's Sphere has a unique take on Norse mythos. It's literally a storybook in an action-rpg brawler game. Vanillaware is the king of excellent 2D artwork in the modern gaming sphere.

I love the world of Viewtiful Joe. The cel-shading still holds up great and shows art style trumps over realistic graphics any day of the week. Speaking of cel-shading Killer 7 & Killer Is Dead. Killer 7's is the most unique, because the world of K7's is f#cked up. The cel shading and how it's done emphasizes this. Dark shadows, the ambient, and quiet environments.

Shadows of the Damned had unique setting for hell, as it was not cliche fire and brimstone. Still horrifying and creepy, yet more low-key than the usual depictions.

EDIT:

Comix Zone. There has yet to be another game like it; other than Comic Jumper. Bet that's a game a lot of you forgot on XBLA. Comix Zone was literally a game where you fight in the creators own comic book. A late Genesis title that pushed the system to its absolute limit. The background details are great and almost as good as Earthworm Jim. Every panel as a unique encounter with multiple pathways, puzzles, and enemy encounters. The grunge soundtrack makes it even more memorable as not a lot of games have style of genre. Especially back then. The only thing that sucks is the difficulty is absurd. You only get one 1 life, with two more added every other act in a episode. Meaning a total of three lives and no continues. If Sega ever decides too reboot/remake this, please add in an actual live, continues, and checkpoint system.

 

[hanselthecaretaker]

Needs no introduction -

 

[thebobmaster]

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.

 

[Gordon_4]

Outside of RTS entries I struggle to think of many games set in Fantasy Ancient China like Jade Empire; one of my favourite BioWare games.

 

[Neurotic Void Melody]

I agree with the BioShocks, except all of them really. And the Horizon Zero Dawns. Love the setting of Transistor, rather appeals to an artsy melancholic side with shades of class awareness. Lately been adoring the setting of Control, it just clicked despite the heavy reliance on grey tones and reading. The semi-satirical take on an inexperienced scientific approach towards a bureaucratic lovecraftian presence is definitely appreciated. I cheer a little inside whenever the board comes for a chat, talking about company healthcare packages and shit from its ominous upside down pyramid.

 

[SckizoBoy]

Outside of RTS entries I struggle to think of many games set in Fantasy Ancient China like Jade Empire; one of my favourite BioWare games.

There are typically a couple of problems with this (the biggest one being Chinese officialdom being horridly myopic): from the outside China and its history (except to those with an explicit interest) is homogenous and somewhat turgid and, more importantly, not noteworthy; how the country is now (even CCP virus BS notwithstanding) discourages this interest (and will continue to do so as far as I can tell); the Chinese themselves have zero interest in either producing or consuming non-mobile based games with that sort of setting, so what hope would that give the rest of us.

I mean, I can only recall (in addition) Assassin's Creed Chronicles (at a stretch you could so Odyssey: Journey to the West, even though it's more of a Chinese legend inspired as opposed to its setting), and I'd like to see more of it too, but don't hold much hope or expectation of it (I mean, if Mercedes-Benz gets roasted for using a Dalai Lama quote in a photo-ad, I'd shudder to think of what the reaction is to a game set in a fantasy counterpart of Chinese history). I can pretty much guarantee that if Jade Empire were to be made now, it'd never see publication, or even announcement, rather depressingly.

OT: The Lizardmen in Warhammer, more relevantly, how they're portrayed in Total War: Warhammer II. Granted it's very derivative of medieval/ancient Latin/South American culture in a mish-mash style, but it's very rare for the culture (as opposed to just the architecture) to be represented in games (despite being more overt in Medieval 2: TW - Kingdoms).

 

[Chimpzy]

Off the top of my head:

Omikron - The Nomad Soul. Takes place in a futuristic dome city on a planet that froze over after its sun died. It's divided into 5 sectors, and since people aren't allowed to move between those, each sector developed independently with its own look and culture. Not a good game by any means. It has a whole bunch of mechanics and gameplay styles, none of which are implemented well, and also, well, David Cage. On the other hand, David Bowie is in it, and also did some of the music, so the soundtrack is excellent.

 

[BrawlMan]

Mad World is another unique game setting. One of Platinum's first titles to come out exclusively on the Wii. The motion controls worked near perfectly with a few exceptions. Once you knew the trick or how you should do different swing, the controls became more manageable. MW is one of the very few games that takes place entirely in black n white, Sin City style, with no grey color in between or at all. The only colors are blood red, and yellow for your mini-map indicators. The game is a beat'em up, but it is more so based on multipliers and how you kill your enemies in an over-the-top fashion. Instead of being the standard combo based. There are tons of environmental hazards that can effect mooks, and certain mini-bosses in a variety of ways. Mad World, along with Anarchy Reigns & SF III: 3rd Strike, are one of the few games with a indie hip-hop soundtrack. All of the songs are better than most modern rap from the early 2000s or 2010s. Most bosses are a fun spectacle, but nothing too special. Most of them have great designs though. The game can be described as Escape from New York meets the Running Man in terms of tone and atmosphere.

The game's combat commentators Howard and Kreese are best characters you only hear and never see in a video game. Those two are a riot, and I never play the game without hearing their voices. If you don't like them, you have the option to turn them off, but I recommend you hear them on your first or second playthrough.

​

Spoiler: Blood Color

There is aqua blue blood for the aliens in the sci-fi level for those who try to point this out.

 

[Dalisclock]

I mean, I can only recall (in addition) Assassin's Creed Chronicles (at a stretch you could so Odyssey: Journey to the West, even though it's more of a Chinese legend inspired as opposed to its setting), and I'd like to see more of it too, but don't hold much hope or expectation of it (I mean, if Mercedes-Benz gets roasted for using a Dalai Lama quote in a photo-ad, I'd shudder to think of what the reaction is to a game set in a fantasy counterpart of Chinese history). I can pretty much guarantee that if Jade Empire were to be made now, it'd never see publication, or even announcement, rather depressingly.

I'm kinda shocked Assasins Creed never did a mainline game based on China. It felt like they were clearly hinting at that on numerous occasions and insteaded shunted her into a side game because....I guess the reasons you mentioned, with the CCP being all fucking butthurt at anything they find offensive(including Winnie the Pooh, which still strikes me as hilarious when it isn't depressing).

 

[Dalisclock]

Off the top of my head:

Omikron - The Nomad Soul. Takes place in a futuristic dome city on a planet that froze over after its sun died. It's divided into 5 sectors, and since people aren't allowed to move between those, each sector developed independently with its own look and culture. Not a good game by any means. It has a whole bunch of mechanics and gameplay styles, none of which are implemented well, and also, well, David Cage. On the other hand, David Bowie is in it, and also did some of the music, so the soundtrack is excellent.

I tried playing that way back before I knew who cage was and couldn't get very far into it, which is a shame because the idea of being able to jump bodies as a main game mechanic sounded cool. I guess I'm glad to hear I didn't miss much

 

[SckizoBoy]

I'm kinda shocked Assasins Creed never did a mainline game based on China. It felt like they were clearly hinting at that on numerous occasions and insteaded shunted her into a side game because....I guess the reasons you mentioned, with the CCP being all fucking butthurt at anything they find offensive(including Winnie the Pooh, which still strikes me as hilarious when it isn't depressing).

While I'm not that shocked, just kinda disappointed, but there are a few problems with it, the obvious one being the aforementioned butthurt (wherein, by this point, it honest to goodness does not matter how well characters are portrayed, they'll ***** and moan about some shit or other (or rather, all of it), the most mine strewn field being the voice cast and presence of foreigners in the setting).

From a practical perspective, the main problem is finding a time period with sufficient known historical personalities that could act as neutrals/support/Assassins/Templars without needing to time-shift too many people or make up assassination targets etc. While Ubisoft has done this liberally in most titles, I feel a medieval/ancient Chinese setting would suffer more from this (unless it's something like the Three Kingdoms and surrounding period). Then there's where to set it as it might need to receive the AC:III treatment of shrinking a large patch of land with a few cities in it to catch all of the places that the story takes place in. There's no real problem finding times with morally grey surroundings, but deciding who takes on the ideals of each faction can be kinda troublesome because of how Macedonian Chinese politics could be (but it'd be nice to have that Haytham type character who makes the Assassin question what they're fighting for etc.).

Personally, I do think that it's possible to make a game of the post-3K era with the fall of Wei and rise of Jin (loads of suspect deaths in a relatively small area for less than a generation). But tis a pipe dream, regrettably.

 

[Dalisclock]

While I'm not that shocked, just kinda disappointed, but there are a few problems with it, the obvious one being the aforementioned butthurt (wherein, by this point, it honest to goodness does not matter how well characters are portrayed, they'll ***** and moan about some shit or other (or rather, all of it), the most mine strewn field being the voice cast and presence of foreigners in the setting).

From a practical perspective, the main problem is finding a time period with sufficient known historical personalities that could act as neutrals/support/Assassins/Templars without needing to time-shift too many people or make up assassination targets etc. While Ubisoft has done this liberally in most titles, I feel a medieval/ancient Chinese setting would suffer more from this (unless it's something like the Three Kingdoms and surrounding period). Then there's where to set it as it might need to receive the AC:III treatment of shrinking a large patch of land with a few cities in it to catch all of the places that the story takes place in. There's no real problem finding times with morally grey surroundings, but deciding who takes on the ideals of each faction can be kinda troublesome because of how Macedonian Chinese politics could be (but it'd be nice to have that Haytham type character who makes the Assassin question what they're fighting for etc.).

Personally, I do think that it's possible to make a game of the post-3K era with the fall of Wei and rise of Jin (loads of suspect deaths in a relatively small area for less than a generation). But tis a pipe dream, regrettably.

At this point I'm not worried about Ubisoft being able to scale a map both depict a large area but also be traversable in a reasonable period of time. Greece and Egypt in the recent games feel like they're well scaled despite the massive area they're covering(even if that means Egypt goes from being 90% desert to a few KM that feels desolate). You're right that finding the right period would be rough though, and I'd rather Ubisoft not just make characters up like they did in Syndicate. The big bad in that game literally doesn't exist and was made up, because apparently Victorian England had a lack of suitable asshole capitalists to use as enemies), yet they could shoehorn Karl Marx and Charles Darwin in for support characters because.....they're famous I guess.

Sadly my knowledge of Chinese history is fairly limited so I'm not sure when would make a great period. The idea of having uncertain sides would have been something old ubisoft could have pulled off(Revelations and AC3 both had both sides as morally grey) but the new writers haven't shown a lot of promise with that.

 

[Thaluikhain]

Exile/Avernum. The entire surface of the planet (more or less) is run by a human empire, and they teleport their unwanted population into a big underground cave like it's Australia. They have fairly standard non-human races like the cat people and the lizard people, but also have fantasy Roswell Greys coming out of hibernation as a major NPC race.

 

[SckizoBoy]

At this point I'm not worried about Ubisoft being able to scale a map both depict a large area but also be traversable in a reasonable period of time. Greece and Egypt in the recent games feel like they're well scaled despite the massive area they're covering(even if that means Egypt goes from being 90% desert to a few KM that feels desolate). You're right that finding the right period would be rough though, and I'd rather Ubisoft not just make characters up like they did in Syndicate. The big bad in that game literally doesn't exist and was made up, because apparently Victorian England had a lack of suitable asshole capitalists to use as enemies), yet they could shoehorn Karl Marx and Charles Darwin in for support characters because.....they're famous I guess.

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).

Yeah, Syndicate stuck in so many people for no real reason than 'just cos', which annoys me somewhat.

Sadly my knowledge of Chinese history is fairly limited so I'm not sure when would make a great period. The idea of having uncertain sides would have been something old ubisoft could have pulled off(Revelations and AC3 both had both sides as morally grey) but the new writers haven't shown a lot of promise with that.

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.