Best Atmosphere in a Game

[DeadWaker718]

I know there is a lot of hoity-toity talk about Story and Characters in games but this thread is more about the subject of immersion and what game you felt drew you in the best and/or had the best overall atmosphere.

For me the choice is always the original Condemned, not to parrot Yahtzee but this game is massively underrated. Its brutal brawling made every fight a desperate struggle for survival and the dilapidated environments of urban decay were things you could relate to, so you could draw on your own experience and memory to fill the gaps, leaving you dreading every fight and shattering the confidence a gun brings by having you ambushed by a hobo with a pipe...which all died on the last level and the...ugggh boss fight.

And you?

 

[AkJay]

I'll be the first to say Fallout 3, or any Fallout game in general (OK, maybe not Tactics). But as a second choice, I'm rather fond of the Half-Life 2 atmosphere.

 

[Guy32]

I'll be the first to say Fallout 3.

Probably that.

 

[PlainTwo]

I really liked the environment in Oblivion, it's the kind of environment that I found kinda happy and relaxing, which only heightened my enjoyment of the game.

 

[Mr.Pandah]

Assassin's Creed II holds up really well when it leaves out the whole "You're actually sitting in a computer" deal. If only there wasn't the constant reminder of that, you'd have yourself quite the atmospheric Renaissance Italy.

 

[Capachinola]

The Witcher

 

[ReincarnatedFTP]

The Fallout series in general has good atmosphere.

Cliche as it is, Gears of War also gives off the bleak atmosphere.

And the noir areas of Nazi occupation in Saboteur catch the atmosphere well.

 

[BillyShakes]

Silent Hill 2.

 

[HaraDaya]

S.T.A.L.K.E.R. no other game has made me sit down at a bonfire with some NPCs and listen to them play guitar, and their conversations I didn't even understand, while you could hear the wind howling through the building.

 

[Internet Kraken]

S.T.A.L.K.E.R games have great atmosphere.

AS you walk through the landscape it almost feels peaceful at times. As if everything is still normal an you aren't actually inside a wasteland. But then you usually stumble upon a corpse or anomaly and that crushing realization that you are in a hellhole returns. The Zone shifts from a tranquil environment to open of utter hostility. The game really does establish this feeling that the zone is aware of you, hates you, and wants you dead. What I find interesting is that seeing people die around you is more successful at maintaining the atmosphere than having them live, as it fits right in with the hostility of the zone. The S.T.A.L.K.E.R games try to create a cruel and inhospitable environment, and they certainly succeed in doing so.

Though I'm probably just bestowing the games with qualities they don't actually have. Though I guess that's what immersion can do to the player. It makes them overlook the obvious flaws of a game and just appreciate the experience.

 

[lasherman]

I'd have to say The Saboteur. Putting aside all the voice acting, and mediocre-at-best accents, it's pretty damn cool to drive around a Nazi occupied France. You can see Nazis rounding up civilians, patrolling towers, and just generally being Nazis, and being able to interact with all of it.
Plus, the whole idea of areas being in black and white while they're under Nazi control makes seems grittier and more serious, and just adds to the overall feels of the game.

 

[DeadWaker718]

i liked fallout 3. the baren, desolate wasteland felt genuinely daunting. never knowing how many psychos and mutated animals are out for your blood around every corner. but i guess i'm kind of weak-minded and get into games as long as they don't have too many horrible gameplay faults or just stupifying storylines

Yeah, I have many fond memories of being scared witless in subway tunnels by raiders.

Silent Hill 2.

Although I never played Silent Hill 2, from what I played of Origins, I could really see the atmosphere of the series. The game blew chunks but the little nibblies of potential and the series' greatness kept me going

 

[Deathkingo]

Hey guys, how about Bioshock?

 

[Oomii]

Hey guys, how about Bioshock?

Yep, gotta go with Bioshock. Nothing else has the detail and originality, and, well, atmosphere!

 

[Capachinola]

Alot of you said Fallout 3. I think ive had some pretty mesh-y moments in Fallout3.(is mesh-y a word? apparently, google spellcheck did'nt say anything.)

Fallout 3 went from a really great video game to a really great "playing another person in another world" experiance when I was walking east on foot up a rocky hill, and when I reached the top I was looking at a massive, yellow sandy desert that lead a pretty huge distance the way to the commons that were on a rocky ledge on the other side, and the game seemed massive all of a sudden, the idea of walking across it actually seemed like it would take forever.

 

[DeadWaker718]

Hey guys, how about Bioshock?

Yep, gotta go with Bioshock. Nothing else has the detail and originality, and, well, atmosphere!

Bioshock was another game like Condemned for me, it started off pretty damn brilliant but its climax was unsatisfying(which unsurprisingly is said a lot about me). I actually liked Andrew Ryan and loved how the story forced me to kill him in contrast to my actual tendencies thus illustrating the futility of choice in gaming or something but it all went downhill from there

 

[ctrl-alt-postal]

Call of Cthulu.

If you ever want to feel powerless in a city that hates you, this is the one.

 

[Pimppeter2]

Cleril's Haven [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.164259]

 

[Heart of Darkness]

I've said it before, and I'll say it again. I thought the atmosphere from Pikmin 2 was very well done.