Your favorite underutilized settings in games?

[Vlajdermen]

Ww1 desperately needs its own Company of Heroes.

Like louis said, a good space opera arr pidgey loaded with Age of Discovery optimism would be lovely.

Something inspired by Jules Verne, that actually captures his spirit of adventure and curiosity. 19th century sci-fi, but the kind that's fascinated with the world around it, the different cultures, nature, geography, and the possibilities of the undiscovered, rather than faggoty introspection, lore dumps, politics, and pseudo-philosophical posturing.

Modern-day Russia. Games only ever acknowledge the soviet union, or imperial russia if it's a 4x or economic sim. Modern russia would be perfect for a GTA-style game.

The mexican jungle. Would be perfect for an RTS or RTT set in aztec times.
I respect Forza Horizon 5 for being set in Mexico, so games can finally get some use out of that country and its look and geography.

More obscure fronts of WW2, or even the well-known but underutilized ones like Francoist Spain or the Yugoslav Partisans (for the love of Allah, don't make me play against Franco).

The China/Burma/India Theater is by far the most overlooked aspect of WW2. Some of the biggest blood baths of the entire war occurred between the Chinese and Japanese, not to mention that one of the biggest defeats inflicted upon Japan was inflicted by British India at Imphal and Kohima. Then there's the the Soviet invasion of manchuria, northern korea, south sakhalin and other areas towards the end.

Other major wars that don't get much, if any coverage are the Korean war(WW2 and post War Soviet and American gears facing off) or the Iran-Iraq war(largest air war since Vietnam).

That's true, we barely see chingchong theatres in games. Would be nice to see the British play in foreign territory and win (since for the first half of the 20th century, that was what they did), and by contrast, old enemies like china and japan squaring off in ways they did for centuries.
Would like to see late 19th-early 20th century combat as well. Ruso-japanese or first sino-japanese war. I find it to be an interesting time in history, as it had neither the nihilism of post-ww1 nor the familiarity of the olden days.

My itch for "cold war gone hot" you're implying with Korea was scratched by World in Conflict and Red Alert. However I'm not enticed by playing as or against soviets and their proxies, I've had my fill of them.

I like the idea of Iraq vs Iran, for the fact that you get to see the sand nigger point of view, how they fight and what they fight for, and for the use of chemical weapons. War games should have more of that. That's also why I want a good ww1 rts.

 

[Vlajdermen]

Why not have a game based on Starship Troopers, the book? Shame the movie has to hog the attention since it removed all the coolest parts of the book, even in terms of vidya potential. The high mobility of the power armour, the gigantic scale, emphasis on the importance of logistics and communication, support weapons, destruction of terrain as a combat tactic, anti-bug nerve gas, but most of all, the fact that the bugs are a real civilization, capable of building spaceships, machinery, and large underground complexes. Just so happens they have one mind per million bodies. Way more interesting as enemies than the simple beasts from the movie.
And I don't mean they're "intelligent" in the same way as the Protoss. They're intelligent, but so different to you that there's no way you'll ever be able to communicate a message more complex than "eat lead".

 

[KörangarTheMighty]

OCEANS:
I definitely suffer from thalassophobia, but oceans are also really fucking cool. Subnautica is the only game I know of that takes advantage of this.

As I said on another thread like this, I'd like an RPG set in Earthsea. Archipelagos, islands and vast tracts of storm-wracked sea. Give us a little pinnace to sail around in. Game would need to invest heavily in designing dynamic weather patterns and seasons to make the conditions of seafaring interesting. Fully fleshed out wind system so you can't just press a directional key to go where you want to (without magic). Deep investment in designing a proper economy with scarcity between all the islands to give motivation for the player to engage in trade. I'd also like to occasionally wash ashore on some island after being wrecked in a storm and not be able to speak the language of the local populace right away. Basically, give us a modernized Uncharted Waters game with lost dungeons to dive, wizard towers to climb, ancient ruins full of elder horrors to explore and many different cultures, some unfriendly, to interact with in an iron age/very early medieval setting. Have some party members, maybe 10 or so, ship upgrades at least to a longship or small galley sized vessel. Party member permadeath while at sea. I'd like every voyage to be a risk if it isn't thoroughly planned out beforehand.

Aside from that, I'd settle for Bronze/Iron Age Mesopotamia/Levant/Egypt or an Arabian Nights/Silk Road setting like Wunderbar mentioned.

 

[The_Sloth_Sleeps]

640x480.

 

[Bluecliff]

Adventure game "setting" that's all but disappeared. You know, the quite type of "game world" where you get to explore a single screen for ages. Don't know how you could PORT that into an other game, like an action platformer or a shooter or an RPG, but I'd think it would be interesting to try.

For instance, a game based on "Day of the Jackal" type events...

 

[Morpheus Kitami]

Modern wars that aren't frequently covered. I'm talking stuff that isn't WWII, various terrorist incidents, and a theoretical WWIII with Russia. I'd just like more of stuff like Vietnam, Korea, all those conflicts in Africa, theoretical conflict with China, Algeria, Vietnam vs China, basically anything that hasn't been done to death. And Arthurian Myth or maybe even just Welsh mythology in general, as both despite having been vaguely used in a lot of stuff haven't ever been properly done.

Ancient Greek and Roman settings are obscenely underutilised, probably those are my favourites. I'm one of those people who think HBO's Rome series is the best thing ever. And like Wunderbar said, various national folklores would also make for very interesting settings.

I was going to go for that, drat. It seems like the only titles that ever deal with those places are strategy games. Which are nice, but some variety would be nice once in a while. The rest of the classical world too, though we at least have a lot of stuff that's themed Egyptian in some way.

For RPGs, Hell. There's only Disgaea what I can think of which has you actually living in the "underworld".

It'd be nice to have a wonder round the fiery realm, have a cup of tea with Satan, a chat with some of the Demons, learn a few bard skills from Jim Morrison and Lemmy, and romance/torture a few demonesses along the way etc.

It's been used a fair bit in action games, but as far as actually roleplaying in Hell I can't think of many RPGs which go there?

There's also that Wasteland related game, Escape From Hell. NWN's expansion Hordes of Underdark counts if you count fantasy hells.

Modern-day Russia. Games only ever acknowledge the soviet union, or imperial russia if it's a 4x or economic sim. Modern russia would be perfect for a GTA-style game.

Aren't there ones like that? I only know of the game based off Brat 2, but I could have sworn there were multiple (admittedly crap) ones made in Russia.

That's true, we barely see chingchong theatres in games. Would be nice to see the British play in foreign territory and win (since for the first half of the 20th century, that was what they did), and by contrast, old enemies like china and japan squaring off in ways they did for centuries.
Would like to see late 19th-early 20th century combat as well. Ruso-japanese or first sino-japanese war. I find it to be an interesting time in history, as it had neither the nihilism of post-ww1 nor the familiarity of the olden days.

I'm sure the reasoning for this is that the PRC government throws a hissy fit if you imply their government wasn't ever the only government in China, and Japan likes to pretend that nothing between the 1870s or so and 1950 ever happened. The only media I can think of that tackles the first was the second Lady Snowblood film. You'd think more people would be interested in the first time a non-European power kicked the crap out of a European one.

 

[Rincewind]

You'd think more people would be interested in the first time a non-European power kicked the crap out of a European one.

Count me in!

 

[Poseidon00]

DnD 2nd edition and to a slightly lesser extent 3rd had vast sections across many books about the different societies of sentient creatures that inhabit the oceans, potential mounts, ways to court favor, castles to loot, an ocean to explore on the Astral Plane, etc. And we never see it in any game or utilized in any adventure books that I know of. Though i'm sure at least some exist, it is most certainly underutilized for the potential that is there.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

You'd think more people would be interested in the first time a non-European power kicked the crap out of a European one.

which one is the european power?

 

[Rincewind]

You'd think more people would be interested in the first time a non-European power kicked the crap out of a European one.

which one is the european power?

Well, maybe it's just a matter of time now...

 

[luj1]

The most underrutilised is coming up with your own original settings

 

[DJOGamer PT]

I've been saying this for years
For a game set in the last 50 years were you play as some sort of mercenary, Africa is the perfect setting
You literally can't prove otherwise
Yet you can count with your hands the number of games primarly set in that continent - Far Cry 2 (2008), Resident Evil 5 (2009), Metal Gear Solid 5 (2015)
But game developers keep insisting on the Middle East, Latin America or some fictitious tropical island

Other than that I would say Tang China, Gupta India, Abbasid Caliphate and Ancient Mesopotamia, have great potential and appeal for fantasy RPG's.

When it comes to fantasy, it's always based on medieval europe or norse mythology.

The problem isn't really being Late Medieval Europe - as that covers alot of distinct cultures and biomes
The problem is always being based either on Germanic or Anglo countries (maybe with some sprinkles of france)

Where the fuck are the Italian Republics?
Or the Iberian Penninsula with its various biomes and kingdoms both christian and muslim?

 

[rusty_shackleford]

obvious answer is space & non-postapoc/cyberpunk sci-fi in general
used to be a significantly more popular setting for games in 80s/90s

 

[Rincewind]

Something inspired by Jules Verne, that actually captures his spirit of adventure and curiosity. 19th century sci-fi, but the kind that's fascinated with the world around it, the different cultures, nature, geography, and the possibilities of the undiscovered, rather than faggoty introspection, lore dumps, politics, and pseudo-philosophical posturing.

I very much symphatise with this sentiment.

 

[<3sRichardSimmons]

When it comes to fantasy, it's always based on medieval europe or norse mythology.

Would be nice to have a fantasy game set in a setting inspired by Slavic folklore, Arabian Nights, gothic novels, or hell even Aztecs/Mayans.

Yes, and no. True, most AAA fantasy games are soulless adaptations of Norse and/or Celtic/Anglo mythology, but they're also dumbed down to a degree that they have as much in common with their source material as a chicken nugget does with poulet au vinaigre. Take a look at Crystal Shard's adventure games (A Tale of Two Kingdoms and Heroine's Quest) both of which, although respectively adaptations of Celtic and Norse mythology, feel like incredibly unique and interesting settings because they approach the source material with a scholarly attitude of respect, research, and reference.

Agreed wholly on the other bits though. Gord is an upcoming strategy/RPG hybrid that looks interesting (if likely very Eurojanky) and uses Slavic folklore as its background. QFG4 is obviously another game that does so, and QFG2 uses Arabian Nights, but otherwise that is indeed seriously underrepresented. Is there anything besides Prince of Persia that uses that setting? I guess City of Brass. I really liked that aesthetic of that game, and it was fun for a few runs, but it just didn't have enough mechanical complexity to support it for more than a few hours. Gothic novels are great fun, but I'm skeptical about their ability to transfer to an interactive medium. So much of their tension comes from being told a story or hearing it second-hand (Dracula, The Monk, etc.) that I'm not sure how you could really do it outside of maybe a point and click adventure. Aztec/Mayans I could take it or leave it. I don't know that much about them though, so a game with rigorous historicity would probably be interesting to me.

I was raised on Hitchcock, early Bond, and the general rail-obsession of the late 50s-mid 60s. This shit is awesome and I love it. Any game featuring trains gets an instant glance from me. The setting also lends itself to excellent level design, imo, although it does somewhat restrict scope.

We have a fair selection of train simulators and train tycoon games to choose from. But setting any other kind of game on a train tends to run into a problem: Literal railroading of your entire campaign. It doesn't get more on rails than literaly being on a train.

DESERTS:
For some reason suits seem to think that desert settings won't sell well, but I personally love them. High, low, dry, or salt doesn't matter to me. They're all fun to explore.

But it's full of sand. It's coarse, and rough, and it gets everywhere.

OCEANS:
I definitely suffer from thalassophobia, but oceans are also really fucking cool. Subnautica is the only game I know of that takes advantage of this.

There's an entire genre of boat games from pirates to modern naval. But the ocean itself tends to be an example of boring terrain, commonly used as a barrier in games where the characters are people. Outside of a vehicle game, there's not much to be had there. Maybe if your game was about fish people. But people like to play games about humans, not Deep Ones, and humans don't survive terribly well on the open ocean outside of a vehicle.

Trains:
I'm not disparaging them, but I have no interest in simulators. Just not my cup of tea. I'm mostly saying "Trains" as talking about them as a setting for a game with discrete levels one or more of which is set on a train. Disagree about the linearity though. The Last Express is the most obvious counter-argument here. But there are also good train levels in No One Lives Forever, Resident Evil 0, A Hat in Time, and probably others that I'm forgetting that feature some degree of non-linearity.

Deserts:
True. No female protagonists I guess.

Oceans:
Subnautica is in many ways a failure of a game, but the one thing it absolutely succeeded at is demonstrating that exploring an ocean can be a very compelling experience, full of equal parts terror and wonder. Sure, a human PC will require some vehicular component unless you go full fantasy and introduce water breathing spells, but neither of those seem like terrible things to me, provided the rest of the game is fun.

OCEANS:
I definitely suffer from thalassophobia, but oceans are also really fucking cool. Subnautica is the only game I know of that takes advantage of this.

As I said on another thread like this, I'd like an RPG set in Earthsea. Archipelagos, islands and vast tracts of storm-wracked sea. Give us a little pinnace to sail around in. Game would need to invest heavily in designing dynamic weather patterns and seasons to make the conditions of seafaring interesting. Fully fleshed out wind system so you can't just press a directional key to go where you want to (without magic). Deep investment in designing a proper economy with scarcity between all the islands to give motivation for the player to engage in trade. I'd also like to occasionally wash ashore on some island after being wrecked in a storm and not be able to speak the language of the local populace right away. Basically, give us a modernized Uncharted Waters game with lost dungeons to dive, wizard towers to climb, ancient ruins full of elder horrors to explore and many different cultures, some unfriendly, to interact with in an iron age/very early medieval setting. Have some party members, maybe 10 or so, ship upgrades at least to a longship or small galley sized vessel. Party member permadeath while at sea. I'd like every voyage to be a risk if it isn't thoroughly planned out beforehand.

Aside from that, I'd settle for Bronze/Iron Age Mesopotamia/Levant/Egypt or an Arabian Nights/Silk Road setting like Wunderbar mentioned.

Earthsea would be very cool, especially if designed as you describe (maybe the Outward devs could do something like this in the future), but licensed settings are more specific than I was going for.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

Where the fuck are the Italian Republics?

Is this another episode of "we ask for pillows of eternity again and it's actually nowhere near as good as we thought it would be in our head?"

 

[Humanophage]

Deserts are pretty boring, and they aren't that underutilised. There are many of them in MMOs like ESO or SWTOR, as well as in the various Egyptian-themed games. Postapoc games also typically feature deserts. Games about cars tend to have deserts too. I must add that they are some of the most boring locations in ESO. Large empty areas with predictable architecture and enemies like scarabs and scorpions, and some generic Arabic NPCs. A somewhat better option is if the desert is more Central Asian and "Hyrkanian" (in the Conan sense).

 

[rusty_shackleford]

Deserts are pretty boring, and they aren't that underutilised. There are many of them in MMOs like ESO or SWTOR, as well as in the various Egyptian-themed games. Postapoc games also typically feature deserts. Games about cars tend to have deserts too. I must add that they are some of the most boring locations in ESO. Large empty areas with predictable architecture and enemies like scarabs and scorpions, and some generic Arabic NPCs. A somewhat better option is if the desert is more Central Asian and "Hyrkanian" (in the Conan sense).

fucking hate deserts, convinced it's a cheap excuse to make an area with almost nothing in it

 

[<3sRichardSimmons]

^ Stop playing shitty open world games.


Although TBH Assassin's Creed: Origins had a pretty good open world desert as far as Ubi OW games go.

 

[Valestein]

Modern wars that aren't frequently covered. I'm talking stuff that isn't WWII, various terrorist incidents, and a theoretical WWIII with Russia. I'd just like more of stuff like Vietnam, Korea, all those conflicts in Africa, theoretical conflict with China, Algeria, Vietnam vs China, basically anything that hasn't been done to death. And Arthurian Myth or maybe even just Welsh mythology in general, as both despite having been vaguely used in a lot of stuff haven't ever been properly done.

Ancient Greek and Roman settings are obscenely underutilised, probably those are my favourites. I'm one of those people who think HBO's Rome series is the best thing ever. And like Wunderbar said, various national folklores would also make for very interesting settings.

I was going to go for that, drat. It seems like the only titles that ever deal with those places are strategy games. Which are nice, but some variety would be nice once in a while. The rest of the classical world too, though we at least have a lot of stuff that's themed Egyptian in some way.

For RPGs, Hell. There's only Disgaea what I can think of which has you actually living in the "underworld".

It'd be nice to have a wonder round the fiery realm, have a cup of tea with Satan, a chat with some of the Demons, learn a few bard skills from Jim Morrison and Lemmy, and romance/torture a few demonesses along the way etc.

It's been used a fair bit in action games, but as far as actually roleplaying in Hell I can't think of many RPGs which go there?

There's also that Wasteland related game, Escape From Hell. NWN's expansion Hordes of Underdark counts if you count fantasy hells.

Modern-day Russia. Games only ever acknowledge the soviet union, or imperial russia if it's a 4x or economic sim. Modern russia would be perfect for a GTA-style game.

Aren't there ones like that? I only know of the game based off Brat 2, but I could have sworn there were multiple (admittedly crap) ones made in Russia.

That's true, we barely see chingchong theatres in games. Would be nice to see the British play in foreign territory and win (since for the first half of the 20th century, that was what they did), and by contrast, old enemies like china and japan squaring off in ways they did for centuries.
Would like to see late 19th-early 20th century combat as well. Ruso-japanese or first sino-japanese war. I find it to be an interesting time in history, as it had neither the nihilism of post-ww1 nor the familiarity of the olden days.

I'm sure the reasoning for this is that the PRC government throws a hissy fit if you imply their government wasn't ever the only government in China, and Japan likes to pretend that nothing between the 1870s or so and 1950 ever happened. The only media I can think of that tackles the first was the second Lady Snowblood film. You'd think more people would be interested in the first time a non-European power kicked the crap out of a European one.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Italo-Ethiopian_War

Probably not the absolute first one in a modern context but it's an earlier one.

 

[Pocgels]

obvious answer is space & non-postapoc/cyberpunk sci-fi in general
used to be a significantly more popular setting for games in 80s/90s

The mainstream sci-fi used to be better (especially in the 80s and 90s). You're talking about the decades where people were watching Star Wars, Blade Runner, Star Trek TNG, Robocop, Alien(s), the Matrix, Terminator - and the list goes on. Not always deep, but at least often a good setting for a game. Now the sci-fi we get is mostly crummy reboots and sequels of the stuff I just mentioned, so it's no wonder sci-fi doesn't hold the popular attention it used to, and it translates directly to games - Cyperpunk 2077 is a worn-out Blade Runner setting, Stellaris would be new and exciting if you've never heard of Star Trek, etc. etc...

Modern, mainstream, original sci-fi is what? Hunger Games? I suppose we can thank that for battle royale genre.

Yes, there's still some hope with books - genuinely original authors writing interesting speculative fiction or even just old classics. We were lucky enough to get Colony Ship from that, at least.

 

[KörangarTheMighty]

Deserts are fine, no more boring than any other climate. Peoples perception of them being boring comes from terminally uncreative devs who keep doing nothing with them. Shifting dunes, sandstorms, droughts, ruins of lost civilizations, mirages, caravans. All the shit that deserts are known for are rarely if ever in games.

 

[Maxwell's Demon]

TRAINS:
I was raised on Hitchcock, early Bond, and the general rail-obsession of the late 50s-mid 60s. This shit is awesome and I love it. Any game featuring trains gets an instant glance from me. The setting also lends itself to excellent level design, imo, although it does somewhat restrict scope.

OCEANS:
I definitely suffer from thalassophobia, but oceans are also really fucking cool. Subnautica is the only game I know of that takes advantage of this.

Any IRL urban setting outside of the East and West US coasts and capital cities like London, Moscow, Tokyo, etc. has been conspicuously absent from games.

Also mythological cosmologies from places besides Ancient Greece and the Bible are rare.

Modern, mainstream, original sci-fi is what? Hunger Games? I suppose we can thank that for battle royale genre.

It's called the Battle Royale genre for a reason.

 

[DJOGamer PT]

Where the fuck are the Italian Republics?

Is this another episode of "we ask for pillows of eternity again and it's actually nowhere near as good as we thought it would be in our head?"

AC2 is still of the more interesting games in the franchise setting wise

 

[Nifft Batuff]

Modern settings. In particular urban setting.