Games with a stark, bizarre atmosphere

[ManjuShri]

Dreamweb.




Laser Lords.

 

[Riskbreaker]

I was actually planning to mention this one in teh Lost & Forgotten thread. As far as the visuals and atmosphere go, think of side-scroller equivalent of Souls and KF games.


(also, curious that certain game from whence my nickname originated wasn't mentioned yet)

 

[Alienman]

X-com Apocalypse. It's such a strange future. The aliens won and destroyed basically everything on earth, and the only thing we have left is one big city named Mega-Primus. The atmosphere is fantastic, but bizarre. People live totally sheltered lives (if you are rich). You never go outside, except for driving or flying, or go through people tubes. The government is controlling everything for the normal citizen. Multiple factions are at war with each other, and there are even alien-human spawns that you can recruit. The setting reminds me of Logan's Run.

 

[abnaxus]

Salammbo: Battle for Carthage

 

[Outlander]

Outcast.

 

[GuiltyofBeingTrite]

Glad SMT:Nocturne was mentioned, that game is just...off a little. I'm in the middle of playing it, fantastically bizarre atmosphere.

Deadly Premonition is great too, more than just a "scary" game, but everything is just slightly different, great Twin Peaks feel.

 

[tormund]

Shadow Man (1). It was strangely similar to Soul Reaver in some respects...

 

[Ivan]

 

[vean]

Total Annihilation
Betrayer
Perimeter
Frozen Synapse
Capsized
Unreal World
Unreal Tournament

 

[The Decline]

Axiom Verge

 

[tormund]

Perimeter

Same teamlder game, set in the same "universe", is another great match for this thread.

Worth playing for it's dark and outlandish feel & art alone IMO

 

[GewuerzKahn]

Lost Eden with the strange music and setting

 

[Axe Father]

The original Postal isn't a good game, but it fostered an incredibly eerie atmosphere with its music and loading screens. Just go through the soundtrack on YouTube if you're curious, the game isn't worth playing for that alone.

 

[Gentle Player]

Unreal 1 and Quake 1 single player. Perhaps even Hexen and Hexen II.

I also want to second Abe's Oddysee as something perhaps less obvious, but it definitely fits.

 

[AMG]

Ascendancy, mostly thanks to the soundtrack.

 

[ghostdog]

I was actually planning to mention this one in teh Lost & Forgotten thread. As far as the visuals and atmosphere go, think of side-scroller equivalent of Souls and KF games.


(also, curious that certain game from whence my nickname originated wasn't mentioned yet)

The art is looks great, but those sound effects, damn that's the worst sound I've heard in an amiga game.


Since we're talking Amiga, here is my contribution, for an atmospheric sidescroller with a truly great soundtrack:

 

[JudasIscariot]

The City of Lost Children

 

[oddech_wymarlych_swiatow]

Digital Devil Saga (do like the bizarre, post-apoc feel the game has, and how even the characters seem to acknowledge how it makes nearly no sense)

It's moar like Matrix done right.

Almost every MegaTen should be mentioned here.

Drakendgard 1 - at first it looks like generic dark fantasy but then becomes so fucking morbid I don't even...

Xenophage: Alien Bloodsport
Pray For Daeth

 

[Riskbreaker]

The art is looks great, but those sound effects, damn that's the worst sound I've heard in an amiga game.

Eh, I originally played the game on PC, and that version had very basic and repetitive sound effects in addition to being completely devoid of ambient sounds.

Anyway, game's art and atmosphere are indeed great, they could carry the game by themselves.
It had some pretty neat touches too: for example, take a look at the moon in the upper left corner - it effectively serves as your health bar.

 

[zwanzig_zwoelf]

D


Immercenary

Matrix done right

Never watched Welt am Draht? No? Do it now.

 

[Necroscope]

Castlevania IV - the only installment in the series with a gloomy, medieval atmosphere.

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Xenogears - PS:T of jRPGs.

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Chrono Cross - very different from Chrono Trigger; colorful, yet dark and somber.

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[Zed Duke of Banville]

Ico and Shadow of the Colossus, both by Sony's Team Ico:

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[Axe Father]

Another game that comes to mind is Sentinel Returns. Very elaborate dreamlike visuals combined with a haunting soundtrack composed by John Carpenter. Yes, the film director.

(Game is also on PC but this is the best gameplay vid I could find, so it's PS1 footage)

 

[Neanderthal]

Max Payne sometimes went there wi Address Unknown an all that, well in one an two anyway.

 

[CryptRat]

Darkmere

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Primordia

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Hired Guns

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Amerzone

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Moonstone

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Super metroid

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Legend of Faerghail

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Drakkhen

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Serpent in the Staglands

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Koudelka

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Breath of Fire : Dragon Quarter

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Ishar

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Halfway

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Darkest Dungeon

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EDIT :
Dark Sun : Shattered Lands

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Legacy of Sorasil

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