Hey all, I’m on the hunt for games that really suck you into their world, the kind where you look up and suddenly three hours have gone by.
Games I’ve loved and couldn’t put down:
- Plague Tale
- Horizon
- Subnautica
- Mass Effect
- Expedition 33
- Homeworld
Doesn’t matter the gente, as long as it’s got that vibe where you just exist in the atmosphere and forget about everything else.
What are your go-to games when you want to disappear into another world? Bonus appreciation if it’s something underrated or off the beaten path.
Edit: Thank you all. I will definitely keep this thread bookmarked. You all dwarved what I found on Reddit ir any other platform! Well done!
A bit retro:
- Myst
- Another World
- Sentinel
I liked Metro exodus. Black mesa is a nice re-imagined mix of half life I and II
Satisfactory was this for me.
While I was going through it, i couldn’t stop thinking about ways to optimize things while I was supposed to be working, and then after work, I’d make all those changes. This went on for a solid month.
I have it installed. Trying to get through the story now that of it’s out of EA. I played this too much.
Red Dead Redemption (both games) would get my vote. Easily in my top 5 games.
First time playing RDR2, I waved at a dude on a carriage and asked him to stop. Next thing I knew I was being shot at by the sheriff. No idea why that would be considered bad or a punishable offense. Lost all interest in playing after that sadly. And it was like in the first town you get to visit in the game too.
Isnt rdr2 just wild west gta? Why not just shoot back or reload and avoid him? I’m just curious
I did try a few times, died each time. So moved on for a bit but quickly lost interest in it sadly. I’m sure I’ll give it another shot down the road somewhere and get better enjoyment out of it then.
I feel the game is not the issue here.
Ah yes, the game definitely isn’t the issue. I should have just known that hitting the prompt to wave to a passing by stagecoach twice in a row was against the law somehow. In a game I just started playing. Yep, definitely a skill issue.
And you decided to stop playing because of that one event. Definitely not the game at fault here.
I do believe I said it definitely isn’t the games fault for not telling me about a mechanic that would have me shot at and killed. We’ve already established that it’s absolutely my fault for not knowing something I wasn’t taught in-game before it happened. The game is without flaws. Perfect. 10 out of 10. Impossible for someone to have a bad time in without it being their own fault.
Howdy stranger. Are you just waving down random stagecoaches wearing a gun in order to say hi and be friendly-like, or is your intent to draw your weapon and deprive us of our property and/or our lives? Because if you’re going to rob us, I am afraid to inform you that I will be taking defensive action that might include running away and/or killing you. It’s fine either way, but I just want to be crystal clear about your intentions and I want you to be crystal clear about the consequences of your each and every action beforehand so there are no untoward surprises.
Absolutely gripping gameplay and dialogue.
Look, on one hand I see your point, but on the other it’s a fuckin game and tutorials are a thing. Except apparently when they aren’t. It’s the wild west, by the amount of people that were shooting at me afterwards it’s clear just about everyone carries a gun so…not sure what your point there is either. Contrary to popular belief, you can indeed be carrying a gun without the intent to use it on every person you have an interaction with. My intention? New town. Talk to NPCs. Stage coach rolls by and button prompt pops up to wave? I do. It pops up again? I do it again to see what happens, to see if the dialogue changes. Chaos ensues followed by a quick death that didn’t make sense to me right off the bat. Games can be flawed. I don’t have to love a beloved game just because people think I should.
I think people are objecting because you are asking it to be something it isn’t.
An open world game is something you immerse yourself in and you learn as you go. It is 100% incompatible with strict “win conditions” for every instance. Example: I was playing Fallout: New Vegas and ran into a character who was trying to collect bottlecaps. I offered her some of mine, but, discovering I had bottlecaps, she wanted all of them and IMMEDIATELY started shooting. That was a fun experience, not quite emergent game play, but at least surprising. That is the fun of open world games, they can be unpredictable and context-dependent, and sometimes you only know the context by getting shot at. Your job is to learn the rules of the world as best you can. Though I do understand why you get frustrated, I think it just indicates that open world games are just a genre that you don’t enjoy, or at least there are aspects of them that rub you the wrong way.
It would be like if I said, “I don’t like tetris because it doesn’t have a story. Like, where are the cutscene animatics? Where is the character development?”
An open world game is something you immerse yourself in and you learn as you go. It is 100% incompatible with strict “win conditions” for every instance.
I don’t see how this is about win conditions. The game communicated the consequences of your action poorly. That is on the game, not on the player. There is a reason why one of the first type of mods coming out for Fallout 4 were mods that replaced the often times misleading 3-word response prompts with the actual lines that are behind those prompts; because in a game where you need to interact a lot with NPCs, it is crucial to be able to predict how your attempt at interacting is going to be received. Vanilla Fallout 4 failed at that and as it seems, RDR2 fails at this as well.
Stage coach robbery.
Thank you for actually giving me an answer to the mechanic behind this. Legitimately had no clue.
Assassin’s Creed: Black Flag offered a welcome reprieve from the real world ten years ago. I loved cruising the gorgeous Caribbean looking for treasure and adventure. The recent remake seems to be even prettier if unfortunately buggy still.
Try Valheim. It leaves Early Access in less than a month. It’s real good and pretty.
I’ve seen it suggested here a few times.
Will take a look. Thanks.
Freelancer was such a game, it’s old though. Wish there was anything like it.
Obvious TES 3-5, bg3, Cyberpunk, Gothic 1-2, Elden Ring.
Tainted Grail.
Keep an eye on “Underspace”. Could be your thing.
Not op, but thank you! I’ll check this out. Freelancer + eldritch sounds amazing!
Crimson Desert is the world I’m currently lost in.
Dragon’s Dogma 1 is also good. The second is prettier to explore, but IMO is a weaker game on the whole compared to DD:DA. 2 is also getting a Dark Arisen dlc, but I don’t think it’s gonna fix a lot of the fundamental issues the base game has.
Just from videos alone, if you have friends who can play it with you for hours, that Big Walk is atmospheric enough I would play it if my friends were more interested in it. Hell, I’d play it singleplayer, but it looks to be built around multiplayer.
Edit:
Just saw the part where it says your go-to atmospheric games. Well, in that case, mine used to be Borderlands 1 ( the original and not the crummy remake/remaster(?) with the abhorrent microtransaction lootbox and minimap replacing the compass ).
I used to play that game and could easily get lost for hours just questing and grinding. I just don’t play it as much now.
Similar thing could be said for Audiosurf 2, so long as I’m on a device that has a lot of my music on it.
Go retro and play System Shock 2. Just trust.
That game was hard. :-)
I found that abiotic factor does a good job of that. The game is heavily inspired by half life 1 vibes and in my opinion they nailed it. It’s a survival crafter to give you an idea of the kind of game play. They’re still adding updates after their 1.0 release and have some DLC coming out soon™
I just finished Kingdom come Deliverance, and I plan on starting the sequel tomorrow. I really connected with my Henry.
Ohoho, if you enjoyed the first game the second will be a treat. I recently started replaying the first and was surprised at how janky the mechanics snd progression felt compared to the sequel. Enjoy!
Valheim
Sunless Skies. Very atmospheric and a very unique setting.
X-Com. This game made me lose track of time.
Very excited for the new Star Wars XCOM like. Cant wait to lose many hours.
Looks to be more story and scripted experience than X-COM. Not a bad thing imo, and I’m looking forward to it!
I realize this may be irresponsible of me to mention, but Skyrim* in VR has had me forget IRL hours by the dozens —often several per session. I’d pop in for a quick game, and finally close out to find it’s been dark for hours. 🫨
*modded to your taste, ofc
