The Game with the Greatest Atmosphere

[Vigormortis]

For me, four games spring to mind. These games just sucked me right into their respective worlds and refused to let go. One of many reasons they remain some of my favorite titles.

Half-Life series
Bioshock
Metroid Prime
Homeworld

 

[Gitsnik]

I have to say S.T.L.K.E.R.: shadow of chernobyl.

No other game has made me jump an inch of my seat or had me genuinly scared to go around the next corner.

QFT. Housemate knocked on the wall next to my open door and had a knife sail past them I was so tripped on this game.

One I haven't seen yet, Giants: Citizen Kuboto (spelling ). The game wasn't necessarily the best in terms of graphics but I was finding myself genuinely rushing to complete missions in time and feeling sympathetic for the little smarties.

 

[looka]

Pirates, Elite, Dune II, Syndicate, UFO ...... just before I grew up!

 

[Ragamuffin]

Just parroting what others have said, but Silent Hill and Bioshock stand out most for me, especially Bioshock. It's not just the sound and all, but the Splicers. Sure, after a while the limited number of personalities and models they have gets bit old, but when they play dead, or shut off the lights and screw with you, or pretend to be statues, it's fantastic.

 

[poleboy]

Most Valve games, Grim Fandango and Super Mario Sunshine. The first Silent Hill, because when I played the second I knew what to expect. The first one scared the hell out of me.

 

[The_Toe_Bighter98]

I haven't read all the posts

Why not?

Well, who wants to read an entire topic? Time is money Static, and JD's rolling in it.

but I'm pretty sure Conker's Bad Fur Day isn't in there/
C'mon guys...Conker was amazing
horny bees, busty flowers, Nazi teddy bears, german weasels, hick pitchforks

tht game was awesome and the multiplayer 2...i loved the multplayer in tht game
D-Day wit squirrels (srry if i spelled it rong) capture the flag, bank heists, and cavemen stealing raptor eggs

You know that game existed pre-xbox, right? Wrong is spelled with a 'W', you actually DID spell "squirrels" correctly, but spelled multiplayer, that (twice!), with, sorry, and wrong incorrectly. And you replaced "too" with a number.

Your single handedly the worst grammer nazi I have ever seen. You continue to glance but not read, otherwise you would see that JD mentions the multiplayer which never made it to the new Conkers Bad Fur Day, so it is implied that his talking about the N64 game. Ahhh, if they only kept the old multiplayer the game might be thanked for being a straight out port. Might.

You did well on spelling and looking like a arrogant git, however you failed by NOT READING. God, if that other nazi was here he would show you how its done. But, his too busy pointing out childrens spelling mistakes even though their only eight. Thats a true grammer nazi, or communist as he likes to think.

It was so innovative wit all sorts of random colorful ideas
Way better than Zelda or Portal (if ne 1 said tht)

It wasnt innovative in the slightest, it was childish humor. Unless you consider childish humor to be "innovative."

Though your right about it not being innovative, its hardly "childish humour". God, the game was rated for teens and adults! ... though that didnt stop me from getting a copy when I was ten.

Also, Conker is hardly an "immersive" game, maybe look up what that word means, and you might have a better ability to respond.

Any game can be immersive, just start playing and when you die of starvation you will know its immersive.

 

[stompy]

I gotta go with Bioshock. The music was wonderfully done, and the way it played with you... to bad the actual game was easy as hell. HL2 also has good atmoshpere ('specially Ravenholm).

 

[tooktook]

Bioshock hands down for me. Haven;t played many horror games though so take with a pinch of salt.

I don't get it, so many people say Bioshock. Is this because they don't know any better?
Play some games from before 2003!

Speaking of which.

Dark Seed, strange twisting of reality, artwork by H R Gieger, then the game starts addressing you directly.
The only game to ever make me shake.

Yeah, I'm sorry. I edited the post. (Starcraft)
You see there's actually two people who write under "tooktook."
Me and my older brother.
When the post is smart, less friendly and sometimes controversial, it's usually me.
I do find it ironic that my older brother is the one who acts like he "hasn't played a game before 2003"

 

[KamikazeSailor]

I thought of another one, and usually an RTS can't fit into an "atmosphere" category... but Age of Empires 2 was an awesome game that really immersed you into the civilizations you were building (talking single player here)... I still love to go back and play through those campaigns every now and then and listen to the stories... the game really does a great job of making you feel like you're building an empire and going through the troubles those people faced... not always completely historically accurate, but it tries and does really well...

 

[poleboy]

HL2 (and the episodes) is pretty much an exercise in atmosphere and immersion, so that gets my vote. Always got my adrenaline pumping when combine start swarming an area and the fighting music starts.

Another vote for Flashback and the prequel (Another World?)

 

[Mikit0707]

Shadow of the Colossus. Butt loads of atmosphere!

And Outcast (1997 Infogrames) had really cool atmosphere... please tell me somebody else has played that game. Man it did not get the praise it deserved.

 

[JaguarWong]

Your single handedly the worst grammer nazi I have ever seen.

"You're"
;-)

Oh, and "grammar"

 

[zari]

Back to read what others said (and see if there was anything I didn't play ;P).
Anyhow, while readying I thought of a couple of other gems:

Alien vs Predator - All three campaigns really worked incredibly well. You really got into crawing around on ceilings as the alien, being a stealthy prick as a predator, and just shooting anything that moved as a human because you were the squishiest thing alive.

The first Unreal. The first part of the game where you're wandering down corridors listening to people get murdered in front of you and you don't have a weapon yet - loved it. Later in the game it fell off a bit, but I think it was worth mentioning just for the opening.

Someone mentioned the Fallout games a bit further up. As much as I loved (and still love) those games, I always felt a bit detached while playing them, partly because it was turn based and partly because of the perspective I think. Didn't stop them being fantastic, just not necessarily an immersive atmosphere.

PS 'Nazi', not 'nazi'

 

[Ultrajoe]

Ill actually say WoW, its big and pretty, with a lot of colours and 'secrets'

its just fun to wander.

then i quit and now i cry as i work...

 

[Lord Krunk]

Morrowind, so engaging.

I loved the unknown planet at the end of KOTOR 1, just the music and the atmosphere...I feel happy...

The White Chamber. I can't shut up about it. Just play it, so I can get some sleep, and you can't.

 

[speciesunknown]

I would have to agree with this, for a number of reasons. I like the poltergheist monster (whats not to like about a moving fireball or lightening ball that throws objects at you) and the sound of a bloodsucker which is always interesting. Also, I like that fact that the npc's tend to use broken English, which underlines the fact that you're in Russia. People may think this is down to bad translation but its clearly deliberate.

 

[vede]

STALKER: Shadow of Chernobyl.

I'm amazed this one didn't get many mentions.

Protecting a wounded friend from a pack of hungry dogs with naught but a pistol, a knife, and a grenade which I can't use because a shrapnel might hit my friend. I manage to fight off the dogs, but I don't have a medkit. So I trust him to survive, and go to find someone willing to trade a medkit away. I search for about an hour, but no one I find has a medkit to spare. I go back to my friend, but he's not there. Suddenly, I'm attacked by a pair of boars! One flees, but I know I can sell boar hooves for fairly good money, so I pursue. On my way, I pass over a corpse in the boars' lair. I dispatch the boar, and go back to see what the dead man has to offer. It's my friend.

I'm traveling, and I'm becoming increasingly hungry. I forgot to buy some bread back at the village. I come up on a camp, but I know people in the Zone don't trade away food. I sit there, let a man finish his song on his guitar, pull out my pistol and put a bullet between his eyes. The other two people freak and pull out their weapons! I retreat behind a tree for cover, and take out the other two after a short gunfight. Food enough for a couple days.

I'm traveling again, trying to get to the bar, my normal path is currently being traveled by a large group of bandits, so my only other choice is through a valley home to a very large pack of dogs, there's so many because people usually take the other route, so no one ever bothers them. I take out the biggest, scariest gun I have, and trod ahead. When the dogs start to rush at me, I open fire in their general direction. The gunfire frightens them, and they run away, all but one, one I hit. It's behind the pack, limping desperately away from me. I look over toward the bandits, hoping none of them were alerted by the gunfire. They are all looking around, looking for cover for the potential fight. I duck behind a bush and wait for them to dismiss it and walk on so I can get to the bar.

And the broken english, which does so much to help it, but probably is due to mistranslation.

And none of it's scripted, so it's impossible to know what's next and there's always something to do.

EDIT: It's also the only game to make me want to know the history of Russia and to delve into learning the Russian language (which is incredibly easy to learn).

 

[poleboy]

vdgmprgrmr (buy some wovels will ya...), that sounds really cool. I love immersive games and it sounds like it fits the bill. After reading your post I started digging around for reviews, and I definitely think I'll buy the game. This is probably what finally convinced me

There are two ways to keep the effects of radiation exposure at bay. The first is vodka.

EDIT: I have a question though. The same review claims that the game is incredibly buggy when run on Vista. Do you have any comments about this, because installing XP is not an option for me?