Best immersion of being in outer space

[ultrabiome]

There is one moment in gaming where I had, for a brief moment, felt like I was in outer space, immersed in the game world well enough to forget I was in a game.

That moment was in Dead Space 2 when floating above the Sprawl and nearby Saturn. The sounds from the suit, the lack of HUD, the lights being off in the room I was in, maybe even because it actually looks like Isaac is above freakin' Saturn!, I for a brief moment found myself floating there in space. And it was glorious! Until I realized I had to go back into the Sprawl...

What other games or moments had you so engrossed that you felt like you where there, specifically in a space environment? Prefer answers where you are in a spacesuit of some kind, but other spectacular outer space moments too I guess.

Honorable Mentions:
Mass Effect 1-3: Driving on the planets in 1, roaming the outside of ships in 2-3
Borderlands: Pre-Sequel: Most of the game, running around in low-G and zero-atmosphere...

 

[kilenem]

Metroid, the feeling of being alone

 

[Aeshi]

Can I say "Kerbal Space Program" or is that cheating?

 

[aegix drakan_v1legacy]

Evocron Legacy, I guess. It's a perfectly seamless open world space sim, and what with full newtonian physics and planet landing, and with the player being pretty much a solo pilot on their lonesome, it really does feel like you're out in theh great big nowhere.

 

[The Wykydtron]

Immersion in Space is basically the reason why I like Elite Dangerous so much. Yeah a lot of people use the down time to listen to some podcasts or something so that might take you out of it sometimes but I find that to be a car radio sort of thing.

The whole thing where you never leave the first person cockpit view (or actually leave your ship in general) and all menus are in their own place on the screen. Look left for the maps look right for inventory, chat history at the top if you're lucky or new enough to find real players.

I've played so much of the game but god damn I have no idea which systems are frequented by other players aside from the one system everyone spawns in for the first time. Good way to pass the time there is to go port watching. Lurk around one of the cube shaped docking stations and watch new players figure out how to dock their ships. It's comedy gold. I once had a guy try to speed out of this hanger, misjusdge the height of the exit and plough his ship right into the wall directly underneath the exit at top speed, killing himself instantly. Fucking hilarious.

 

[Dalisclock]

Can I say "Kerbal Space Program" or is that cheating?

Well, some people say it's not immersive enough, because you can download mods give you flight computers and stuff. And apparently there are people who insist you should never use the time acceleration(Because it's more fun if your trip to Duna actually takes a year with KSP running in the background).

I'm not one of those people, mind you. I think it's beautifully immersive, especially spacewalks while in orbit.

 

[ultrabiome]

There is one moment in gaming where I had, for a brief moment, felt like I was in outer space, immersed in the game world well enough to forget I was in a game.

I've felt like this very rarely, but it's one of the reasons I really want Oculus Rift or some other type of VR.

My example is a weird one, but I quite like my simulators (Euro Truck Simulator, Train Simulator) - and at their best you can for a moment forget you're not really doing the thing you're doing and believe in your head you're actually driving a truck, or a train, or whatever it is. And I think those types of games lend themselves nicely to VR.

Imagine floating above Saturn with Oculus Rift, though. That'd be sweet...

 

[The Madman]

Freespace 2

Despite the aged visuals, it's a game that perfectly captured that fictionalized feeling of space travel and combat. I don't think I've played a space sim since that did it nearly as well.

For being in a space suit I'd probably have to go with the same mentions above. It's not really a huge genre unfortunately, the whole 'space suit exploration' thing.

 

[sanquin]

It's not really outer space, but it is on a different planet in the ocean: Subnautica. The immersion in that game is fantastic. Probably largely because of it's sound design.

 

[renegade7]

And apparently there are people who insist you should never use the time acceleration(Because it's more fun if your trip to Duna actually takes a year with KSP running in the background).

I try to minimize my use of the fastest time warp setting so that things like launch windows actually matter. It also helps you avoid the attentions of space krakens.

OT: While I think Kerbal gives the most realistic depiction of what it would be like to operate a spaceship, with the realistic orbital mechanics and extremely finite fuel supplies, for immersion I think Elite Dangerous is the best game I've yet seen at creating that feeling of presence.

 

[x EvilErmine x]

I'm going to have to throw in with the Elite Dangerous crowd.

Honorable mention goes to I-War 2: Edge of Chaos and FreeSpace 1 & 2 too.

 

[HybridChangeling]

Another hat in the ring for Elite Dangerous. The biggest thing this game gets is the sense of loneliness and emptiness between things in space. You have to take time to get places, even as fast as your ship is. Plus the art design for space is pretty majestic in its' own right.

 

[Terminal Blue]

I'm going with Kerbal Space Program.

Although the relatively simple and cartoony graphics may put people off, it looks absolutely stunning with visual mods and it captures, better than anything else I feel, both the great size of the solar system relative to our insignificant ability to traverse it, and also the fragility of any human (or Kerbal) attempt at space travel.

I have to give immense credit to the sound design in Elite Dangerous though. It sounds incredible and has such a weight of atmosphere, but the relative ease of travel I think sets it behind KSP in immersion stakes for me, even if the universe as depicted in it is technically huge.

I try to minimize my use of the fastest time warp setting so that things like launch windows actually matter. It also helps you avoid the attentions of space krakens.

Launch windows don't necessarily save time, just fuel. Launching before the launch window will generally get you to your destination faster, you'll just spend a lot more fuel to do it!

 

[Sniper Team 4]

Oddly enough, my example comes from the Dead Space series as well. The first one, that is.

When you are exploring, and you come to the parts of the ship that have been blown away. You walk outside, and everything gets muffled. You can gaze off into space through the floating wreckage, and there's just something so...peaceful and surreal about it for me.
Of course, then the Necromorphs come stomping around the corner, but even then, it's still rather silent, as space should be. You're fighting for your life, and all you hear are the muffled "whomps!" of your weapon, your suit beeping, and the stomps of your boots.

 

[The Almighty Aardvark]

Actually, since you mention Mass Effect, this scene from the beginning of ME2 is what immediately came to mind for me


It did such a great job of capturing the contrast between the safe interior of the ship and the endless space beyond it. I wish Mass Effect had more moments like that.

I've actually been itching for a game that really made me feel like I was in space for quite some time, so I'll be keeping an eye on this thread

 

[Dizchu]

It probably isn't an ideal example, but the sheer isolation in System Shock 2 due to being trillions of miles away from civilisation goes a long way to hammer home the horror atmosphere. It also helps that the Von Braun feels like a real ship, rather than a collection of dimly-lit, spooky corridors (sorry, Dead Space).

 

[StormShaun]

Personally.
It isn't anything like Elite Dangerous.
Nor I know if it will be anything good or will fulfil it's goal.

If you're still listening.
There is a early access game called Rodina.

Basically, you have a ship.
You are by yourself.
Your ship can seamlessly land of asteroids and planets.
It's essentially a space exploration game with big spaces of nothing... just like the real thing.

While the graphics aren't anything too impressive.
It can still look purdy.

Spoiler

If you're fine with early access, and don't mind a lack of content.
It's a good game.
All I hope is that the dev adds more.

 

[aegix drakan_v1legacy]

I REALLY don't get the love for Elite. I tried it and it just felt very very "off".

The fact that the Yaw axis is all but worthless (turning combat into roll-and-pitch endlessly to win most of the time), and how Supercruise just feels like "engage engines wait 2-3 minutes, then try to match speed and BAM you are where you want to be", and how I feel like I can't interact with much of anything (including planets) really turn me off. This is on top of boosting feeling like basically a worthless little speed jump, every part of gameplay feeling segmented and instanced, and exploration not really feeling like actual exploration.

The only things I liked about my time in Elite was Interdiction, Docking at rotating stations, and the robust trade menu. Everything else just got a large "meh" out of me. :s Oh, and Smuggling is cool.

I find Evochron Legacy superior in terms of everything except graphics. Full newtonian physics which let you boost to insane speeds, then turn off the Inertial Dampener so you can coast freely without using fuel, and then rotate any direction you want to shoot down incoming missiles as you speed away from them. Seamless Planetary landing on any planet (Except maybe Gas Giants, I haven't really tried that). A stupidly robust crafting mechanic that rewards exploring and paying NPCs for recipes so you can make your own modules if you want. The ability to make (fully destructible) space stations and planetside cities to dock at if you want. A point to point warp drive so that you can get where you want without just sitting and waiting for a timer to tick down. A ludicrous level of detail like being able to fly into a planet's rings which are composed of individual particles. Mining open to you from the word go, not being this huge investment. Exploration being about flying out into the middle of nowhere and looking for new systems that are not charted and that you'll only find when you get close enough that they show up on your nav-map, and/or about using scanning devices or coordinates from NPCs to find crates of loot or derelict vessels floating around in local space.

Like...Aside from Elite having better textures (and smuggling and criminal penalties), I haven't even thought of looking back ever since I jumped to Evhochron Legacy. Although I guess the primary reason is just how much I HATE how restrictive and unnatural Elite's Plane-like controls feel.

 

[NiPah]

Funny enough it was actually when I was playing Doom 3, looking out the window of the Mars base by myself, thinking how Earth was so far away.

Another time was when I was playing X, Rebirth I believe and I was just staring at a nearby planet, with the clouds moving and how there were different layers to everything, the sense of scale was amazing and I ended up looking too closely and noticing little inconsistencies breaking the immersion for me... Funny enough I've done this many times before where I stare at something too long and start to notice when developers repeated assets or didn't get a feature just right, first world problems.

 

[KoudelkaMorgan]

Deadspace 1, during the space walk portions. The muffled sound and of course my flamethrower not working really sold it. Too bad they added magic flamethrowers in #2 that work in a vaccum.