The most immersive game you've played.

[Frozencry]

Curious to see what peoples experiences are with some games.

I'm a very, very passionate gamer as some know. I get ridiculously hyped about certain franchises and I play games so hard out sometimes that I get emotionally attached. It's my biggest hobby and one of my biggest passions. Over the years though there have only been a handful of games that have left an immense imprint in my brain, largely due to its combination of sound, visuals, gameplay and design to bring together a level of immersion that is breathtaking and unforgettable.

This thread was actually inspired by a game I came back to tonight through seeing a mod for it: Morrowind. Though I'm not very big on Oblivion (found it too samey and buggy), Morrowind was f**king amazing. It's a game that has always been in the back of my mind and I get goosebumps thinking about traveling through the swamps in a thunderstorm, listening to the rain pitter pattering all over the place, and raindrops rippling up the water. Moments like that in Morrowind were really something else as they sucked me in and made me feel like I'm actually there. A nice example:

How the rain slowly gains momentum and gets louder and louder, and how all you can hear are frogs and crickets in the background. Incredibly immersive, and awesome design.

Two other big games for me include Shadow of the Colossus and ICO, my two favourite games of all time. The sense of solitude and the connection between you and the protagonists was something to behold. It is a rarity to be so involved in a game.

Then there's Crysis as well, which although had its moments of linearity and brofist shooting, also had moments of pure, adrenaline based immersion. Anyone remember the big-ass tank battle level where it's open fields, explosions going everywhere and you're maximum speeding into the fray, mud blasting onto your screen from explosions around you and trees swaying in the wind? Yeah, I clearly remember sprinting through those fields, ready to absolutely rock the s**t out of some Koreans.

And finally, World of WarCraft. I still vividly remember entering flying through Ashenvale forest in awe with the purple rays of light streaming through trees and vivid colours engulfing my senses. I also clearly remember flying across Northrend past Dalaran, then into Sholazar Basin only to encounter an incredibly beautiful looking jungle. While the engine is dated, the game still looks absolutely astonishing, and its combination of art, design, music, sound effects and lore is easily some of the best in gaming, imo.

It's moments like those that define gaming for me. You can have an incredible graphics engine sure and yeah I'll be mighty impressed as I am quite a graphics whore, but if you can't combine it with your art, gameplay and sound in such a way that something like Morrowind can, then you're nowhere near as important as that game to me. There's a couple of other games I could name but I'm on the verge of falling asleep, so can't think straight right now.

So tell me, what's your most immersive moment or moments in gaming?
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[grim-one]

Fallout New Vegas - if we're talking about graphics, gameplay and feeling like you're actually somewhere. It really sucked me in with hardcore mode. I put a huge effort into scavenging water and other supplies just like a real wastelander. This wore off over time, as I leveled up and built up stockpiles the need was lessened, but initially it was dire. Far Cry 2 did this too, but not quite as vividly.

Civilization (1, 4 or 5) tends to be one of those games where I just shut the world out to focus purely on that next move, turn or policy adjustment. I can quite happily sink 6 hours straight into just a portion of these games without moving.

World of Warcraft also needs a mention from me. For a year I sunk something like one-sixth of my real-world time into this game. I think I was more immersed in some sort of meta-game than the actual game though. Waiting for guildies, trying to organise raids and sitting in battleground queues. Still, it's a force to be reckoned with.
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[jemist]

Typing on phone, so will rattle off names rather than talk deep, so apologies. Hopefully the titles themselves will resonate!

Planescape: Torment
Fallout 1 & 2
Arcanum
(see a pattern there?)
... games that really started stressing you out with the decision making process, long before we started counting polygons or sold on texture mapping.

...and then when we started immersing ourselves in graphical details, sports games like Madden with the franchise option got us back to the nitty gritty of stressful decision making.

In terms of atmospheric immersion in this age of modernity, Dead Space had this awesome knack of being able to lower the temperature of the room you were playing in...
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ON FF:FHoL / Okamiden / FFT:GotRA2 / Eternal Legacy

[Jarrod]

Goddamn this is a hard question. So many answers, so I'll try and pick the few that immediately come to mind.

1) Half-Life 2 + Episodes: Despite being technically 'inferior', I still find myself more impressed by a lot of Valve's moreso than modern games. Even Half-Life 2, with its muddy textures and lack of next-gen brown/grey filters, I feel has some utterly gorgeous set pieces. The art is so cohesive that the entire world they craft seems so real and genuine. The varied locations, the resistance fights, the overwatch, the sci fi; it's just so damn good. Portal deserves a nod for basically having all of the same good stuff Half-Life has, only on a smaller scale.

2) Metroid (most/all): The old 2D Metroids, Super in particular, created the perfect isolated, alien world. The games felt truly lonely and truly alien. Retro's vision of Metroid was...just wow. I firmly believe the Prime trilogy has some of the greatest world art in the entire medium, largely thanks to the amazing artist Andrew Jones, who was comissioned for Prime and set the tone of the trilogy. The alien worlds of the Prime trilogy remain unbeaten in my opinion. Much like Valve's work, the worlds seem so rich and genuine, like they actually existed. But unlike Valve's, they're also incredably alien and unknown.

3) Stalker series: It's an animation nightmare at times, but the Europeans show the world how atmosphere is done. The world buidling, choice of colours and tones, sounds, effects, and 'feel' in design really is second to none. Apparently Stalker 2's engine is being built for consoles in mind, so Stalker 2 will probably be on consoles. All I can say is that console gamers are in for a treat, because in terms of truly established and atmospheric game worlds there's very, very few titles that match the Stalker series, even if that atmosphere happens to be boon chilling fear.

4) Old WRPGS, particularly Arcanum: I've said it a billion times but I'll say it again; the world and lore Troika crafted with Arcanum should have carried on. It was, and in many ways still is, the kick in the pants the over used Tolkien high fantasy theme needed. Its one of my favourite worlds created; full stop. Planescape, Fallout, and Bloodlines also deserve special nods. Mass Effect series also deserves attention, because it manages to capture cheesy sci-fi with an established world far better than anyone.

5) Homeworld: There are those who have experienced Homeworld, and there are those who have not. I pity the latter. The silence of space hasn't been captured so well since. It's baffling the series just disappeared. It could do with a revival.

There's like a billion other games I could list for various reasons, but that can go in a second, third, and fourth post at another time.
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[Till@]

Fallout 3 (and New Vegas obviously).

I'm the biggest girl in the world and as such am pretty skittish playing both of these games, even though they aren't even remotely scary (fun fact: my biggest fear is a nuclear/other apocalypse). This fear coupled with such an atmospheric and empty world, that is consistent throughout, has immersed me more than any other game has. Also my fascination for anything post apocalyptic helps (although I would never actually want to experience it firsthand).
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Mrs Tweedy! The Chickens are revolting!

[Aussie XP]

Star Wars Galaxies - that game consumed 5 years of my life. There is no other MMO to date that has come close to having the same innovative and original features. Everything these days just copies the terrible WoW formula.

Fallout 3 - spent about 150 hours on this game, just loved every minute of it. New Vegas is good, but I've only sunk about 30 into it and lost the hunger for it for some reason.
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[Azza]

[Warpdogg]

1) Neverwinter Nights, Knights of the Old Republic, Vampire: The Masquerade, Arcanum and Morrowind: These are the RPG's that immediately spring to mind when I think immersion. Nothing beats the world each games respective developers created. I can still remember the bleak and gloomy undead filled alleys in Neverwinter, where a scourge has destroyed the land and conspiracy is afoot. The essence of Star Wars so beautifully captured in KotOR, where you felt each choice actually mattered and you grew connected to each character in some way.

Vampires dank and sombre ghoul infested caverns, where you had to come to terms with your sudden identity crisis and learn the intricacies of each vampire clan and its agenda. Not to mention the music, which still haunts me to this day. Arcanum and Morrowind for reasons mentioned above. These games sucked you into their worlds and really made you lose yourself.

2) Blade Runner: The heyday of Westwood, one of the best mystery/thriller, point and click adventure games I've ever played. The way they took the Blade Runner universe and managed to create a side story that ran parallel to the events in the movie was a stroke of genius. It felt completely genuine and wasn't hammed up.

Events changed based on what evidence you found, what questions you asked and what choices you made, ultimately leading to one of it's numerous alternate endings, but in a way that's rarely been replicated . Should I shoot this guy or take him in? Why was that laying on the floor? It really made you think.

3) Grim Fandango: To me, this is LucasArts and Mr. Schafers crowning achievement. Introducing you to Manny, the lovable anti-hero working as a travel agent for the Department of Death, a firm which sells travel packages to the recently departed. After a recent slump in high quality clients, he decides to steal one, when it all goes horribly wrong.

The noir influenced story telling and stellar voice acting immediately grab you, the opening cutscene reeks of sheer style and you can't help but fall in love. Once you begin unraveling the unique story, you realise that without knowing it, you've delved into a multilayered epic and you're in it for the long haul. The jazz/blues influenced music set the tone perfectly and it's a soundtrack I still play to this day.

Honourable mentions: Ocarina of Time/Majora's Mask, Curse of Monkey Island, Twinsen's Odyssey, Wing Commander 4 and Arkham Asylum.
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[Furianshi]

My first really immersive gaming experience was probably Tomb Raider.

It was the feeling of quiet solitude as I explored the long-abandoned catacombs and lost cities... the wonder and awe that was felt as Lara got to the end of a narrow passage, revealing a whole new 'un-touched for centuries' area... noticing a point of interest and formulating a plan as to how to navigate my way to it... holding my breath without realising it, as I guided Lara through long underwater tunnels, frantically searching for an area where I could bring her up for air... the jumps that went wrong, the sudden, horrid feeling of shock whenever she landed with a sickening thud in a crumpled mess on the ground, or skewered herself on spikes.

Tomb Raider was brilliant at immersing the player into it's world, and it was exciting to see how games were changing from a simple, yet fun pastime, into this deeply immersive, interactive form of entertainment.

Highlights for me since then:

• Doom 64
  
• Goldeneye 64
  
• Ocarina of Time
  
• Resident Evil 2
  
• Soul Reaver
  
• Tenchu
  
• Quake 2
  
• System Shock 2
  
• Deus Ex
  
• Half-Life
  
• Shenmue
  
• Halo
  
• Knights of the Old Republic
  
• Splinter Cell
  
• Oblivion (PC/modded)
  
• Vampire: the Masquerade
  
• Doom 3
  
• Far Cry
  
• Orange Box
  
• Bioshock
  
• The Darkness
  
• GTAIV*
  
• Fallout 3
  
• Heavy Rain
  
• Uncharted 2

I find myself immersed in the gameplay when I'm playing most racing games as well. Especially if there is an interior, dashboard cam that I can use.

Also, I'm currently playing Crysis 2, which I'm finding to be pretty immersive.

*I've played & finished GTA3/VC/SA. IMO, GTAIV tops them in immersion, thanks to superior voice acting and story, plus, for me anyway, more likeable characters.

[Fetidchimp]

Grid with steering wheel on projector sitting on sound seat....
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kill, kill, kill.....the white man. Kill the white man, kill

[The Genius]

Prince of Persia The Sands of Time - A perfect combination of action, puzzle solving and an interesting story told on only in cutscenes but the in game conversation between the Prince and Farah! Ubi have failed to recreate that story book feel and charm with their subsequent POP games.

RE4 - The village opening level and Krauser knife fight. Some of the most memorable gaming moments for me!

Half-Life 2 Nova Prospekt the best level in the series for me and creepiest levels ever. Its the dark, quiet and sombre atmosphere creeped me out.

Super Mario World and its numerous secrets especially Vanilla Dome.

So many other highlights from other games but those are my personal stand outs.

[mantra79]

There are
Deus ex

This game game had me immersed from start to finish. Played through in a couple of sittings when i first got it and then played through it a few times more. Just loved everything about it and its why ive got very high hopes for deus ex 3.

Shadowrun (snes)

I love me some cyberpunk, so this game was like sex on toast. I have very fond memories of this game so much so i fear playing it again just in case it doesn't hold up so well. I wish someone would remake it.

Super Wing Commander (3do)

Another game i have some of my fondest memories of, lose a buddy in combat and you'll almost shed a tear at the funeral scenes.
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PSN: cjdavis
360: mantra79
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[Frozencry]

So much nostalgia, so awesome.

Couple of others I remember now.

The Witcher - Completely sucked me in from start to finish. Chapter 4 in particular was incredibly memorable, running through fields as the sun sets battling monsters.

StarCraft I and II - I finished the second in literally one long, 18 hour sitting, and was absolutely enthralled from start to finish. The first I played endlessly for years on end and many a time was completely sucked into its atmosphere and world.

The Half Life Series - Jarrod outlines it perfectly. Valve know how to make an incredibly cohesive world.

The original Unreal - This game is still, IMO, one of the greatest shooters ever made. It was visually amazing at its time, and the world of Na Pali was incredible to go through. The beginning where you start off in a Prison and see shadows lurking about was hellishly freaky and immersive, and encountering the local Nali who were fearful of the Skaarj was both memorable and full of personality. This was easily Epic Games at its absolute prime. A shame that they went down the hurdur brofist route.

Shogun 2 - A more recent one, but playing it makes me feel like an actual warlord. I can sit there and play it all day without moving. It's like Civ on crack.

And let's never forget one of the ultimates: Legacy of Kain. I've played through every game about 5-6 times each, and know the story back to front. Kain was like an idol to me when I was younger.
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[Benza]

World of Warcraft
Add me to the people that put like 5 years of there life into this game. The thing is I never really raided. Or got into the PVP or any of that stuff.

For me that game has always been about the amazing lore of the world. Exploring and discovering new things. Most memorable moment in the game for me is when I was exploring through Tanarias came over the crest of a hill to find a completely infected silithid hive on the other side with tentacles reaching up towards the sky slowly twitching. I didn't have a quest to go there or any indication that half the zone was full of evil alien bugs. It's that kind of discovery that drove me to keep playing, then spending my time on wow wiki learning the history and lore of the areas with the old gods and the curse of flesh,sageras going mad from staring into the abyss etc.

Prince of Perisa: 2007
Fuck the haters this game was amazing. The relationship between the prince and Elika was built fantastically and stands out as one of the best shown relationships in a game. From the obvious things like the conversations you can have with LB, to the more subtle things like the slow change in tone of the random banter when you're running around. Elika goes from mocking derision at first when she saves you to genuine worry. Add to that some of the most gorgeous animation that really gives you a sense that you're working together as a team instead of her just being a tag along AI partner. And hands down the best fucking art design on a current gen game.
It all comes together with that ending. Dear fuck that ending. It wouldn't have worked if the relationship hadn't been built the way it was but jesus that's gotta be the hands down most powerful moment in a game for me.

Gears of War
People tend to ignore how weird this game is designed in favor of the "MANLY MEN FUCK YEAH!" One of my faviourte things about it is that it doesn't explain shit. There's this intricate backstory about humans surfacing on another world, mining it for that weird liquid stuff, aggravating the locusts causing the attacks, Marcus rebelling against his dad to save some people etc. And none of it is brought up in the game which I think is fantastic. But what it does is even though it's not really brought to the fore provides a world with an amazing texture. Hell it even introduces the Bruumark which I had expected to end up as a boss later in the game who doesn't appear again. They mention walking past it when they're underground that there's tonnes of emulsion around and you look at it oozing over the rocks but again it's never mentioned what emulsion is.

I love the sense of mystery in the world. I love the general atmosphere of the fact that it's just the world they live in and not 'holy shit check out this amazing world we've made'
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[Shadow Wave]

no Bioshock Love?

Outside of Bioshock, I gotta stick with Morrowind and Oblivion as the top 2
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[theory]

I was going to say Metroid, but Jarrod said it first. And better. So I'll just steal his words...

[Furianshi]

[ManeKast]

Denny, what was the mod for Morrowind you saw? Planning on adding this game to steam for a while now as I never played it and might add it to the backlog of RPGs cementing me to my PC for the next two years.
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PSN/XBL/Steam: ManeKast
Kudos to Fetidchimp for the sig.

[Fetidchimp]

probably this one?

http://morroblivion.com/
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kill, kill, kill.....the white man. Kill the white man, kill

[Frozencry]

Nah, Morrowind Overhaul. Far better mod and looks incredible, especially considering the age of the game.

I think I might give it an install tonight and start playing again. I'm craving to jump back into the world of Morrowind.
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[Qbert]

Off the top of my head

Bioshoick (Probably the most immersive, the first time I played it was so tense that you seemed to forget about the cheap revive system everytime you died).
Metroid Prime 1 (Feeling of isolation on a alien world was done very well and without being boring).
Zelda Wind Waker (I guess shows that ealistic graphics have little to do with immersion).
Gears of War (first time seeing the running mode camera was amazing).
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[Warpdogg]

I also recommend Better Heads and Better Bodies. Greatly improves all character models, I'm not sure if Morrowind Overhaul only does environments. If it does everything then ignore me.
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[ManeKast]

1. System Shock 2

Had this on PC when I was in high school (after having experienced the brilliance of the first game). I dont recall anything that placed me in such a heightened state of fear, actual fear, in a game ever. Shodan was so incredibly scary and within every vein and artery of the (was it a ship / space station?) whatever it was. Truly engrossing mazes and no hand holding made this one inspirationally immersive experience and for its time stands head and shoulders above everything else. I still have not played anything as outright scary as this game, Dead Space to me was an action splatter fest that did not come close. No other horror games came close.
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PSN/XBL/Steam: ManeKast
Kudos to Fetidchimp for the sig.

[Scrav]

1. Everquest

Everquest was a harsh world full of many unknown things. Early on you learnt that there was a lot at risk. If you died, all your equipment was left on your dead body. You would not only have to find your body (which can be difficult), but you would also have to drag it to safety. There was danger everywhere. Good equipment was scarce and hard to come by.

2. The Witcher

Brilliant game, sucked me right in from start to end. Very rare for a game to do that to me.

3. Daggerfall

Huge world, makes you feel as insignificant as an ant. Dungeons weren't predictable.

[arbok]

Demons Souls

and

Silent Hill 2
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