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[J.W. Hendricks]

Monster Hunter, anyone?

[Jared C]

Oho, yes!

[Hayden Scott-Baron]

I agree with all of Jasper's selections! Loom in particular was very incredible for me.

Picking out really old games with good atmosphere is, I think, a more important exercise. There were quite a lot of C64 games with a pretty sombre tone, for example. The muddy brown palette and squeaky SID sound chip were probably responsible for much of this though!

[JamesGecko]

Oho, yes!

Wait, what is this? It appears to be a J-rpg knight fighting veolciraptors on a playstation game, but that's about the limit of my clearly extensive knowledge on the topic.

[eobet]

Excellent choice of picture. It was the fact that your torch/light constantly died down, and the sounds of the monsters lurking nearby (especially the mummies screams) that made Dungeon Master (at least for me) very, very atmospheric and scary.

[Inane]

Wait, what is this? It appears to be a J-rpg knight fighting veolciraptors on a playstation game, but that's about the limit of my clearly extensive knowledge on the topic.

It's Monster Hunter for the PS2.

[Shade Jackrabbit]

Another really atmospheric game is Peter Jackson's King Kong: The Official Game of the Movie. I only have one picture of it, and it really doesn't do justice to the atmosphere of Skull Island.



Here's a

of it I found on YouTube. Note how it uses no overlays to show ammo or for aiming? It really helps you feel immersed. It's one of my favorite first-person shooters just because of the atmosphere it simply EXUDES.

[Dustin Gunn]

Another really atmospheric game is Peter Jackson's King Kong: The Official Game of the Movie. I only have one picture of it, and it really doesn't do justice to the atmosphere of Skull Island.



Here's a

of it I found on YouTube. Note how it uses no overlays to show ammo or for aiming? It really helps you feel immersed. It's one of my favorite first-person shooters just because of the atmosphere it simply EXUDES.

Yeah it was pretty cool. More games should clone Jurassic Park Trespasser like it did.

[WNF]

I agree with all of Jasper's selections! Loom in particular was very incredible for me.

Same, I had.... I don't know, I'll call it a transcendental gaming experience when I played Loom. Games really are what you make of them, which is fitting.

BTW, has this been mentioned yet? If it hasn't I'm disappointed.



And:


Silent Hill 3 (Favourite in the series. Don't care what those crazy SH2 fans say, Heather was the best main character.)


Silent Hill 4


Rule of Rose


Legend of Mana

[KennEH!]

Monster Hunter, anyone?

I still haven't played a monster hunter game yet. I wish too.

[Shade Jackrabbit]

Ugh... I seem to pick a lot of games which aren't nearly as atmospheric in still image format.

Scratches: Director's Cut


This is another game which images can't do justice. You have to really play it to understand how creepy, how eerie, how downright FRIGHTENING this game is. Even a video couldn't pull it off. This is probably the scariest game I ever played , and it's really the atmosphere that pulls everything together.

[neon]

what game is this?

[Stwelin]

what game is this?

Beneath a Steel Sky! Hell yes!

[superflat]

Yeah excellent selection my friend (BASS). Can't forget how cool Revolution were in making it available for free. 

SH3 is indeed a fine game, but come on... it's in a different class to the daddy!  Also what's Rule of Rose?  I'm intrigued.

[Bood_war]

Say what you will, It was a great game.


This game was awesome, and really fucked with your head.

[WNF]

SH3 is indeed a fine game, but come on... it's in a different class to the daddy!  Also what's Rule of Rose?  I'm intrigued.

I prefer SH3 because when I was playing it Heather reacted the way I thought someone would. There are more realistic lines from her than all the other 5 guys put together. Actually, I haven't played Origins, so I'll say 4. And that scene when she spites Claudia by aborting a fetus through her mouth and uttering the one-liner, "Looks like God didn't make it." What trumps that? Nothing.

Rule of Rose is about some girl who gets transported to this realm ruled by a matriarchy of girls. She has a dog, the battle system is survival-horror awkward, and it was banned in Italy or some place because it has sexual undertones and a scene where the girls poke a woman with a rat on a stick while she cries. It's quite disturbing if you're Edgar Allen Poe. The chubby girl was my favourite.

Speaking of survival horror:


D2

[Angelo]

Hegemonia... The game has the most spectacular explosions in any game of its kind... I've searched painfully for a game with the same quality of cinematography but I failed to find any. Too bad I can't enjoy it since I got a widescreen monitor... There's no way to prevent it from stretching. I couldn't find a bigger screenshot, but you can see some combat footage on youtube.


Next... Morrowind in my opinion, has better atmosphere than Oblivion, with it weird-ass locations that the latter lacks, and the more soothing music.


Call of Cthulu: Dark Corners of the Earth. I play a lot of horror games and I've yet to find one that surpasses CoC in creepiness, visually and audio wise...


Divine Divinity. While the graphics weren't anything to write home about, I remember that their combination with the music / sound effects really drew me in.


Lastly there are some games already mentioned, so I won't post any pics, namely Beyond good & evil, Fallout, Psychonauts, Uru (Myst). I'll only mention World of Warcraft. I remember the first days that I played and it feels like I've been in a fairy tale. My character was a night elf and I started in a location called Teldrassil. If you are a sucker for cool colors (temperature wise), how can you not get lost in a place like this, especially when the music is appropriate?

[Bree]

I keep hearing good things about Call of Cthulu... is it worth my Goozex points?

[Angelo]

I keep hearing good things about Call of Cthulu... is it worth my Goozex points?

Depends what you want from a horror game. While the graphics are undoubtedly somewhat old, the situations you will encounter will certainly disturb you, and the sound effects are more than fitting. I've played Silent Hill and I find CoC more unsettling. CoC is more unpredictable while in Silent Hill the general structure of the game was: Rooms containing puzzles and the monster infested corridors that separated them.

By the way, since there are people who hate FPS games, I have to note that CoC is equal parts first person adventure (solving puzzles and stuff) on one hand, and shooter on the other, but they are seperated, i.e. you won't have to dodge bullets while solving a riddle at the same time.

[JLJac]

...there are people who hate FPS games...