Your favorite (most atmospheric) locations in RPGs (and other games)

[Kabas]

The gameplay isn't impressive, but the first few licensed Harry Potter games on PC are unironically atmospheric as fuck. The soundtrack is some of Jeremy Soule's best work.

 

[Orange Clock]

Village from act 1 in twitcher

Act 4*

 

[behold_a_man]

I've always thought that the atmosphere of a game is determined primarily by the soundtrack - so the most atmospheric places are the ones with the best soundtrack, including:
-> Argentrock Isle from Ultima 8, a place the player is bound to doom.
-> Vibrant Hong Kong, ominous Shipyard, and the isolation of the Ocean Lab in Deus Ex (also note that maybe the best track - the last visit to Hell's Kitchen - is missing in a standard release of the game).
-> Feuerstelle (Glory's mission - the quest is a mundane story of a cult, but those

two tracks

and nice visuals make it worth it) and Aztechnology (Bloodline run - the story of cloning and the potential genocide) in Dragonfall.
-> Ilos in Mass Effect, finding the remnants of the dead civilization.
Also, I think there is an inverse correlation between the atmospheric qualities of a place and the amount of encounters - that is, the lonelier, the better.

As for my favourite singular locations, among the ones not mentioned:
-> Heart of Moander from Pools of Darkness - which looked and worked the way a human heart is roughly expected to work, flushing the party every once in a while to another place.
-> Both hubs in Deus Ex: Human Revolution (Detroit, Hengsha), containing lots of secrets, tons of things to do, with my abilities determining what I can do and what I can't.

 

[Rieser]

My favorites (like Caladon and The Glow) have already been mentioned so I'll go for something else. I quite liked Liara's apartment in Mass Effect 2 (I think?). With the thunder, rain and traffic outside. Pretty shit game but that particular location was cozy as hell, at least at the time.

 

[Gahbreeil]

Easthaven. Period. The music drives the Icewind Dale so bad in this location, Hrothgar's introduction to the plot, the very promise of gold at the end of a simple caravan quest.

Greatest of All Time in terms of atmosphere.

 

[smaug]

Traveling anywhere in Daggerfall.

 

[JarlFrank]

 

[ERYFKRAD]

Man I'm partial to Khorinis.

 

[Turisas]

I'm not gonna pick any specific level, but Thief I & II missions just ooze atmosphere. I've come around a bit on the more fantastic locations like Bonehoard, but the regular heist missions with (mostly) human enemies are still my favorites by far. Top-notch stuff.

 

[Zed Duke of Banville]

Tower of Latria from Demon's Souls (2009)

 

[Kabas]

The very first level is the one i remember the most though. Especially with that music.