Your greatest example of atmosphere.

[brucelee13245]

Title says it all, i think how immersed you get into the world of the game is the point of any video game. The more like you feel your there, the better.
So whats you favorite games to lose yourself in?

Mine has to be Stalker clear sky. just walking through the levels at night with the sound of the wind blowing and the eerie stillness then hearing a snarl behind you, or walking into a camp and sitting down with a couple stalkers around a fire to listen to a fellow stalker play songs on a guitar that you actually want to listen to.

 

[clutch-monkey]

metroid prime - exploring the ruins, snow area etc etc.

also the new AVP demo does it pretty good.

 

[Casual Shinji]

Resi4

That village section was dripping with atmosphere.

 

[Batfred]

The crazy background noises in the original Silent Hill when in the "otherside" hospital. We didn't even have surround sound back then and I felt as if the taps and knocks where all around me. The constant fog and the white noise slowly getting louder and louder creeped the crap out of me too. BRILLIANT!

 

[Ultress]

Devil Survivor had such a very dark and oppressive atmosphere, that I felt hopeless just playing it.

 

[Casual Shinji]

Resi4

That village section was dripping with atmosphere.

I agree. My first playthrough of that I almost dreaded turning corners in the castle. Like the sewers, or the fight with the creature in the prison. And there is U3

Anybody who encounters Salazar's right hand man in the sewers and does not shit his pants, I will give a fucking medal.

 

[Erja_Perttu]

The crazy background noises in the original Silent Hill when in the "otherside" hospital. We didn't even have surround sound back then and I felt as if the taps and knocks where all around me. The constant fog and the white noise slowly getting louder and louder creeped the crap out of me too. BRILLIANT!

Silent Hill is certainly a charmer when it comes to atmosphere. Silent Hill 2 is the best in my opinion, it was supremely creepy.

 

[tetron]

The path I would say is number 1 in atmosphere because that's pretty much all it builds on, followed closely by the Penumbra series.

Edit: I still feel a tingling sense of anxiety just thinking about those games.

 

[arcstone]

Half life 2 is probably the game I get the most immersed in.

It's one of those few games where I actually hold my breath as I go underwater.

 

[Hurr Durr Derp]

My favorite example is probably Morrowind.

The first time I left Seyda Neen a big thunderstorm started. The sound was awesome on my headphones, and after a while it slowly started to die down to a light drizzle. Then, just when the sun broke through, the main theme kicked in.

I was instantly in love with the game.

 

[Dys]

AVP2

"Oh fuck, oh fuck, the motion sensors going off but there's nothing there, oh shit, oh fuck, OH FUCK ALIENS SHIT... No, that was just a burst pipe, and I just emptied a clip of ammo at it. Moving on, oh fuck, oh crap, OH MY GOD ALIENS!!

*death*

Fun!

This. I can't even say how much this, I don't think I've been enthralled by a game the same way since.

Doom3 had it's moments, especially early on (or maybe it was more that I was sleep deprived and played it with no lights well into the night, regardless it made me jump). As much as I hated the game, the atmosphere in bioshock was brilliant until you got the first plasmid, the plane crash and descent into rapture was brilliant. As much as everyone else hated it, I was pulled in by farcry 2 for a good 30 hours (more than 3 times the length of time I played half life 2) and while I never got close to finishing the game, I most certainly got my monies worth and was taken in by the atmosphere (I didn't backtrack often enough for the checkpoints to bother me as much as they seemed to everyone else).

I feel I should also mention silent hill, however I was very young when I played it and haven't touched it since (whereas I've played AVP2 again recently). At the time it blew my mind.

 

[SamFancyPants252]

I'll have to say Half Life 2 for me, and if not that, resistance (the original). That Barnsley Conversion centre level was pretty freaky/

 

[pulse2]

Silent Hill 2

But you know what I found bloody creepy? Resident Evil 4, Saladars right hand man, and worst still, those zombies that spikes come out of they don't appear too often, but when they do, they are bloody hard to kill, walk creepily and all you can think of is to find the first exit the hell out of there or an explosive of some kind.

Dead Space Wii was more annoying then creepy Fear had good scenes but was overall to scripted out for my liking.

 

[The Madman]

Thief: The Dark Project and Thief 2: The Metal Age. Hell, the entire Thief series including Thief 3: Deadly Shadows.

You know a game is immersive when it manages to pull you in and have you jumping at every slight background sound and noise despite looking like complete and utter shit. The original Thief games *never* really looked good, and now they look positively hideous visually. And yet they remain two of the most atmospheric games I've ever played. Don't believe me? Try em yourself. The Haunted Cathedral in Thief 1 is legendary for it's amazing horror vibe, and Thief 2 had missions like none you'd ever done before. And then in Deadly Shadows there's the infamous 'Shalebridge Cradle', so creepy and immersive PC gamer dedicated a five page article towards examining it and its contents. (You can read it online as well in pdf format, although only do so if you've played the level in question!)

Most recently Stalker was probably the most atmospheric I'd played. Gotta look up the new one that just came out too, been getting fantastic review.

 

[stiborge]

If we're talking about immersion I have to say Bioshock or Fallout 3. In Bioshock I jumped out of my seat during the part where you enter the room and everything looks dead then it all jumps up and attacks you. And Fallout 3 was one of those games that I sat down and started playing and didn't stop until about 7 o' clock in the mourning.

The boss battles in Shadow of the Colossus are pretty immersive too. Atleast the ones that don't kill you every time you fuck up.

 

[Erana]

TV glasses + 'Blivyun is amazing.

Too bad that they started burning when I tried them.

 

[Dr. Paine]

Portal was the first game I ever really found myself lost in, to the point where I was actually flinching away from turrets.

More recently, Left 4 Dead- I was playing the Blood Harvest campaign and had to go upstairs at one point; everything was pitch black and I almost screamed when I ran into my dad <_<