Best Atmosphere in a Game

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revjay

Everybody's dead, Dave.
Nov 19, 2007
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I agree on fallout 3 but I give an honorable mention to s.t.a.l.k.e.r., I recently got it for 2 bucks and have to say with the complete 2009 mod at least it's very convincing in the atmosphere department. Not to mention the audio, hearing those.. whatever the hell is wailing in the distance is creepy as hell.
 

the protaginist

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Jul 4, 2008
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Honestly, no ones said Shadow of the Colossus yet? Your in the Forbidden Land, and it damn sure lets you know your not welcome there. There's no life around. We never learn why the Forbidden Land is the Forbidden Land, but the isolation of being well and truly alone makes it feel tragic, almost apoclyptic. And then the Colossi. Large, Magnificent creatures, closely enough to what regular animals look like to actually feel alive. And your tasked with killing them. They're just wandering the Forbidden Land, for god knows what, not harming anything, and your tasked with killing them. you are the invader, these things did nothing against you, you are a murderer. To quote Tycho from Penny Arcade:

"The dread starts at the very beginning, simmering in your gut, and it never gets better ever - hour upon hour. You know immediately that you are engaged in something like evil, if not evil itself, but our appetites as players demand that we seek objectives and conquer them - and the game scourges us for this dereliction of conscience. The technology at work often obscured the game itself, but the emotional wavelength has resounded years after the fact. At this late hour, I can recall no camera foibles or performance valleys. All I can recall now is the black bargain, and concentric waves of anguish."
 

The Red Spy

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Dec 1, 2009
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PlainTwo said:
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.
Let me drink to that. That and Assassins Creed & Gears of War
 

hermes

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Mar 2, 2009
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I will go with Bioshock on this one. At least the first levels were just brilliant.
 

Pr0

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Feb 20, 2008
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Thief 3: Deadly Shadows - The Cradle Orphanage Levels.

Granted, Deadly Shadows was a gigantic letdown for what was the evolution of the industries original "stealth" based game play game.

But the Cradle series of levels, is probably one of the most horrific atmospheric experiences I've ever had in a game, and that is saying a lot, I've played a lot of games. It actually gave me chest pains going through it, and literally made me sneak my way, inch by inch through the level...and the level had all of two hostile enemies in it.

The use of haunting atmospheric sound in combination with dilapidated/ruined/abandoned interior design was the most masterful piece of level development I'd seen in years and was the saving grace of what was otherwise a heavily disappointing title.

If you never played it, I'd suggest picking it up on Steam for...10 bucks or whatever its costing now simply to see The Cradle and experience one of the most horrifying atmospheres I've ever seen in gaming..and it was simply the atmosphere that created the terror, it wasn't the slimy monsters or zombies or anything, it needed none of this, and it still created true to life, bone gripping terror.
 

Vianyte

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Jan 10, 2009
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I cannot believe no one has said Metroid Prime yet. That was the first game that came to my head.

Fallout 3, Okami, Majora's Mask, Bioshock, Batman AA, Metroid Prime 2 are worthy mentions.
 

Kud

I'm stuck because demonic spider
Sep 29, 2009
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Pikmin 2. That game was beast, and if anyone says otherwise I will stab them.
 

NickCooley

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Sep 19, 2009
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Morrowind. I remember first picking up the game, not having a clue where to go, what to do and stumbling into a daedric ruin wondering "What the fuck where they?!" Fun times.
 

C117

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Aug 14, 2009
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Clock Tower: First Fear. I just can't play it, because I'm always afraid that the Scissorman will show up...
 

curlycrouton

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Jul 13, 2008
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AkJay said:
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.
If you enjoyed the atmosphere in Fallout 3, I'd definitely recommend the STALKER games. The atmosphere of bleakness, animalistic struggle for survival, and everything else that you doubtless enjoyed about Fallout 3 is present and built upon. Magnificent.
 

Buck Wilde

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Jul 15, 2009
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Oblivion, I just liked the different landscapes is what it is, kept it fresh (from mountains to forests, plains and swamps). BTW Fallout 3 was good but did none of you get bored of it being exactly the same in the countryside, which is to say most of the land. I suppose one could argue thats what they were going for and what it would be like after a nuclear apocalypse but I just found it boring after a while.
 

Volafortis

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Oct 7, 2009
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Definitely Mass Effect. The poor areas felt poor, the military areas felt militaristic, the shady places seemed shady, the corporate places felt bureaucratically-stagnant, it was all superbly done.

Second place goes to Fallout 3. For the first few levels on my first playthrough, I was fighting to survive. I couldn't afford medical care, and I had to fight to scavenge, which meant using what precious little ammo I had. I could always drink the water, but that would mean a rad treatment later down the road, costing me 100 hard-earned caps, which I generally needed for ammo to make hose caps. The fact that I honestly had to struggle to survive really immersed me here.

Third is a tie between The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind, and Halo: Combat Evolved. The Flood actually scared me in Halo 1, a feat that Dead Space cannot claim, and Morrowind was really insanely complete and interactive and felt like a whole new world.
 

antidonkey

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Dec 10, 2009
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Without a doubt, System Shock 2.

Creepy as can be with amazing use of sound. Hearing the monkies but not being able to find them always freaked me the hell out.