Lonely Videogame Worlds

[Gamerforlife]

Flower. There's really nothing in the game world besides some flower petals and deserted areas devoid of nature, until you start blooming flowers and greenery like some divine force. It actually makes for a very tranquil game. You sort of like the lonely atmosphere

[Gamerforlife]

Also, Half Life 2 always struck me as a lonely game. You go through long stretches of gameplay through big, desolate areas (with no music), occasionally running into bad guys who want to kill you. In those moments when you actually run into fellow allies, it feels like such a relief as you're so grateful to see another person and happy that it's not some mindless bot or alien trying to kill you.

Maybe I'm the only one that felt that way, but it always seemed like the game would put you through long stretches without ever seeing a friendly face until you felt desperate to encounter some NPCs and actually hear someone talking

[lisalover1]

A lot of indie titles have this same feeling. Knytt Stories is probably one of the best example of lonliness in a game I have seen so far. Oh, and Minecraft gets an obvious mention.

[Menegrothx]

Oh and one more thing about MMORPGs, as new content is released, old areas often die. It's weird and sad to see a place that used to be full of people being totally stranded and empty. Like Shattrath: The Forgotten City in World of Warcraft

Also, Half Life 2 always struck me as a lonely game. You go through long stretches of gameplay through big, desolate areas (with no music), occasionally running into bad guys who want to kill you. In those moments when you actually run into fellow allies, it feels like such a relief as you're so grateful to see another person and happy that it's not some mindless bot or alien trying to kill you.

Maybe I'm the only one that felt that way, but it always seemed like the game would put you through long stretches without ever seeing a friendly face until you felt desperate to encounter some NPCs and actually hear someone talking

Half Life 2 is definately one of the most athmospheric games I've ever played (and one of my all time favorites). It had some great ambient songs like this.
But the first Portal game is unmatched in this regard. The empty testing facilities and the isolation. No signs of humans anywhere (I mean sure there a whiteboards, coffee cups and so on but you'll find no one, except the bloody messages). Oh and that ambient music

I've said it before and I'll say it again: Portal 2 really messed up the athmosphere of the game. Because stupid fans couldn't stop hyping the cake is a lie thing, they had to turn the sequel into a Brittish sitcom. I guess all the mystery was gone after every one knows what the deal is with the testing facility and GLaDOS after the first game, but still I dont get it why people say Portal 2 is such a great game and that it's better than the original.

Definitely, Myst provides a very different sense of isolation to something like Resident Evil. I think aesthetic factors play a huge part here rather than story based elements, e.g characters. The audio and restrictive camera angles of RE really created a sad and lonely environment, despite Barry and Rebeccas interruptions.

Jill Sandwhich!

Yeah, Resident Evil games had a great sad athmosphere. Walking around in the ruins of Raccoon City and reading the logs of dead people and reading how the zombie breakout spread and killed everyone, while listening to music like this.
I think System Shock 2 really did the same thing really well. I mean you read the logs of people who've turned into mutants (the same ones you are killing). You only get to see 3 glimpses of another human being throughout the whole game and your only guiding voice eventually turns out to be a psychothic artificial intelligence. The further you get in the game, the more you start to realize what has happened (logs of people who've witnessed other people changing or who are just about to die and SHODAN turning more crazy as you progress just like GLaDOS does in Portal 1). And then there's The Many, contacting you and the creepy music. Later on Dead Space and Bioshock both did the same thing with the audiologs, but they weren't as good as SS (Bioshock being better out of two in my opinnion)

I really love the beginning of Silent Hill 1 when this music plays and you wonder around the town in the fog. You know that something isnt right with the town, but you dont know what exactly it is yet.


I got to say that I really love the type of scenarios in video games (and horror in general) where you slowly start to realize that you are screwed as you catch glimpses of the insanity of the people who are supposedly helping you like in System Shock 2 and Portal 1, but it's really hard to pull off that kind of stuff in video games. The pacing is too slow for video games if you want to build up the kind of horror story that works really well in books, the kind of story where you first think that everything is normal and start noticing some small little details, untill you suddenly realize that something is horribly wrong.

[Damm64]

Minecraft, besides you there's only animals and monsters in a large gigantic world. Even with it's simple graphics the game can be beautifull when you're on the top of a mountain and watch the field around you.

And penumbra, this game is so frustating but no in the way that the game is hard (but it is) you're totally ALONE in the game you NEVER see another human being (you only talk with one or two) the desperation i feel in this game was because i really was completely ALONE.

[dreamcups]

I love Psygnosis art style back in the days of Shadow of the beast, and some other developers who shared similar style. Exs are Agony, Bram Stoker Dracula, Risky Woods, Blackthorn. They all have this pretty distinct dark and brutal kind of feel.

[Flake]

PN03 for the 'Cube. Wandering around a massive colony on another planet devoid of any other life was strange.

I think the early Armored Core games fit this as well. It got to the point in some levels that it was a surprise when you saw people who were not in large robots.

[scarper]

The Doom series comes to mind. That did a great job at provoking a feeling of lonliness and desperation.

Metroid Prime, up until a certain point, in which it instills a sense of paranoia. No dialogue, and no friendly interactions. Its also one of the best games ever made. Other, but not all Metroid games have the element you're looking for. The ones that do not are Prime 3, and Other M. They're not bad, but they're not lonely feeling.

The first Dino Crisis mostly fits the element, but there are other NPC's that you interact with on rare occasion.

Although I have not played it, I hear Baroque is a good example of this.

Many Castlevania games do this, but some of the newer ones are receiving lots of dialogue. Try Symphony of the Night if you get the chance.

[samsonlonghair]

Myst is maybe the best example of this, but it's not the one which came first to my mind.

To me, Oddworld, Abe's Oysee starts in a very lonely world. Trying to escape from the meat factory full of killer traps and machine-gun monsters is a lonely run for survival. The further you prgress in the game, the more you interact with other mudokons. This eases the loneliness somewhat. It's the cold, mechanical, desperate first world which makes me feel lonely.

[Menegrothx]

Myst is maybe the best example of this, but it's not the one which came first to my mind.

To me, Oddworld, Abe's Oysee starts in a very lonely world. Trying to escape from the meat factory full of killer traps and machine-gun monsters is a lonely run for survival. The further you prgress in the game, the more you interact with other mudokons. This eases the loneliness somewhat. It's the cold, mechanical, desperate first world which makes me feel lonely.

And the fact that the player is very helpess, dies often and has to go through many close call situations in order to progess. Both Abe's Oddysee and Exodus have long segments where you are just alone in the wilderness/factory running away from beasts and guards. Heart of Darkness is also a very similiar game