What are games that enthrall you with purely their atmosphere

[Twiglard]

Highfleet.

 

[Semiurge]

If we accept older arcade-type classics, then Paul Norman's Forbidden Forest. It did so much with so little. Also the first Eye of Beholder.

Then of course there are the more modern classics such as Thieves 1-3 and The Witcher. It's the music and ambient effects, you can't undervalue their importance and how it works with the visuals, if it works.

 

[Beastro]

The Genesis had such a good way of evoking loneliness and isolation with its sound. Examples:

Ecco the Dolphin



Starflight

 

[pOcHa]

 

[Iucounu]

Mass Effect 2 has pretty nice atmosphere when it's not popamole and teenage drama.

 

[Hoodoo]

The games from my childhood mostly I suppose:

Red Alert and HoMM3
Some old console platformers, particularly Spyro

 

[spectre]

Would mention the Icewind Dales, but they were already mentioned.
Dropping some new stuff, tried to account for nostalgia glasses, so mostly newer shit.

Darkest Dungeon, the graphics play a part too, but the narrator just hits the spot. With the very first "Size has no intrinsic merit, unless inordinate exsanguination be considered a virtue" I knew I was sold.

Return of the Obra Dinn, there is something about how they turned a barely interactive museum tour into a narrative, filled to the brim with details and maritime atmosphere
and all that achieved with (or depsite) their choice of graphics.

Ori and the Will of the Wisps, I have some mixed feelings about part two, but if the atmosphere does nothing for you, I really don't know what to say.

Ghost of Sushimi(?), the game is basically all that, atmosphere. Turn on the kurosawa filter and soak it all up until it (eventually and sadly) the repetitive gameplay gets to you.

Evil Genius. The first one. It's not a great Dungeon Keeper clone, but it really does the bond spoof right to a tee. Straight up from the intro and music.

The Long Dark. Doesn't feel like much on the screenshots, but trust me, it's one of the few games where you can feel the isolation and the frostbite.

 

[Skinwalker]

Soul Reaver and Dark Souls immediately come to mind. And Tenchu: Birth of Stealth Assassins.

 

[Talby]

Bubsy 2.

 

[Hag]

Amazing Cultivation Simulator I guess.
I mean, why else would have I played this head-banging shit for almost one hundred hours.

 

[Rincewind]

Vanishing of Ethan Carter is a wonderfully atmospheric walking simulator / game with light puzzles. But it doesn't matter—it's pure art and just oozes thick atmosphere in every scene.

MOAR!

 

[Vic]

I remember vanish.. whatever.. I remember playing it on release and I think I had like 15 fps. The atmosphere is great in that one, never made it far though.

 

[Rincewind]

Well, play it now, it should be steady 60 fps on current hardware. Play the original, not the "redux" version. Should only take 5-6 hours, but it's a great experience.

 

[Maxie]

Demon's Souls (2009)

cant see shit

 

[Catacombs]

Shadow of Tsushima, the game is basically all that, atmosphere. Turn on the kurosawa filter and soak it all up until it (eventually and sadly) the repetitive gameplay gets to you.

Do certain translations use "shadow" instead of "ghost" for Ghost of Tsushima?

 

[spectre]

Shadow of Tsushima, the game is basically all that, atmosphere. Turn on the kurosawa filter and soak it all up until it (eventually and sadly) the repetitive gameplay gets to you.

Do certain translations use "shadow" instead of "ghost" for Ghost of Tsushima?

No, it's just me being retarded. At least I got the second part of the name right?

 

[Baron Tahn]

Diablo 1, Darklands, Loom, theres probably a few. System Shock...Quest for Glory (IV mostly, but 2 was cool for atmosphere)...

 

[Ezekiel]

DMC3, but not 4 and 5, because Itsuno's a has-been.

 

[Ezekiel]

D2 on the Dreamcast, even though I watched my big brother and barely played it myself. Blond lady crashes in an airplane on snowy isolated mountains and there are monsters for some reason. Think alien rock crashed, after hitting the plane.

Remember it had like five discs, because of the cutscenes. CD cases were nice, should have been used by Sony and Nintendo.

 

[Hydro]

DE

 

[Ash]

There is no game that atmosphere alone can sway me, but there many games where it is a big part of the reason I love it for sure. I'll aim for my personal top 10 atmospheric games I guess:

Arx Fatalis
Silent Hill
Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth
Darkwood
Manhunt
Final Fantasy 6
Morrowind
Vampire The Masquerade - Bloodlines
Doom (PSX version)
System Shock 2

Mostly horror games or games with elements of horror, as horror does atmosphere best.

 

[Alienman]

Don't think I have ever completed a game based on atmosphere alone. It must have something more for me, I guess.

 

[Ryzer]

Those 90s games had such great and memorable soundtracks.

 

[NecroLord]

Diablo 1, Darklands, Loom, theres probably a few. System Shock...Quest for Glory (IV mostly, but 2 was cool for atmosphere)...

Diablo 1 is the quintessential dungeon crawler.
I would also like to add Daggerfall as a proper dungeon crawler.
Great atmosphere, hearing a Lich before you even see it in a dungeon is quite frightening if you are underequipped and too underlevelled to fight it...
Daggerfall dungeons also put many of the modern cookie cutter ones to shame through their sheer size. Talk about gargantuan...

 

[Baron Tahn]

Diablo 1, Darklands, Loom, theres probably a few. System Shock...Quest for Glory (IV mostly, but 2 was cool for atmosphere)...

Diablo 1 is the quintessential dungeon crawler.
I would also like to add Daggerfall as a proper dungeon crawler.
Great atmosphere, hearing a Lich before you even see it in a dungeon is quite frightening if you are underequipped and too underlevelled to fight it...
Daggerfall dungeons also put many of the modern cookie cutter ones to shame through their sheer size. Talk about gargantuan...

Its the whole Tristram/enter the church bit thats always gets me with the atmosphere. The music is great, the body at the church entrance, the descent into the first level. D2 never recaptured it for me, the atmosphere is one of the reasons I still think D1 is the best.