Top 5 Most Immersive Games

Sometimes, you want a game that provides mind-bending puzzles. Other times, you want a game that offers up non-stop action. But what about those times you want a game that envelopes your entire reality?

Picture by Amaury Laporte (www.alaporte.net)

What makes a game immersive?

Immersive games don’t necessarily have to be scary, but they tend to be.  Whether or not this is due to our innate reaction to fear is beyond me, but I think the adrenaline rush that comes with being “in the moment” is much easier to obtain through fear.  With that in mind, immersion isn’t as simple as whispering voices, blood stains, and dark hallways.  No, immersion requires something more than simple tricks: the player has to be made to ignore all outside stimuli.  The monitor/TV has to melt away, the controller has to disappear, the headphones have to turn weightless, and perception of “real” time has to be skewed.  Basically, the player has to forget they’re playing a game, and instead be convinced they’ve been put in whatever situation the game takes place in.

Interested in an experience like that?  Well, the possibility of such a thing requires the right game and the right circumstances.  Let’s start with games that can provide you with something like what I just described.

The List

Please keep in mind this list is merely my opinion…I’m bound to miss some super obvious titles, so if you notice any omissions, please let us know in the comments.  Onward!

Number Five: 9 Hours, 9 Persons, 9 Doors

999 combines decent writing, a suffocating location, and a well-paced unfolding narrative.

I know, right?  A DS title?  Well, it’s true…999 is a game that plays like a cross between old-school first-person adventure games (like Myst) and an interactive novel.  The story itself, obviously inspired by Saw, isn’t all that creative.  What IS creative is the way the story unfolds, through a series of simple (but well designed) puzzles and conversations.  If you play this one in a dark room with a set of isolating headphones, you’ll forget you’re playing a game, and instead will find yourself trapped on a boat with 8 other people in a twisted race of life or death.  I think the “interactive novel” portion of the game has a lot to do with this, especially when you consider the minimal visuals presented throughout the experience.  If you own a DS, you should definitely clear out a weekend and play through this one. Get 999 for your DS here (affiliate).

Number Four: Bioshock

Remember the first time you encountered this shadow prior to turning the corner? ::shiver::

There’s nothing quite like your first visit to Rapture.  The people, the architecture, the lighting, the sounds…everything about it pulled you thousands of feet under the ocean and into a hostile situation.  I played through this entire game with my then-girlfriend (now wife) watching.  We only played it at night, and we only played it with the volume on our surround system pumped as high as we could set it without angering our neighbors.  We sat in stunned silence, as we escaped the airplane crash in the beginning and found our way through the underwater city.  Bioshock has a lot of similarities with System Shock 2, but I personally found Bioshock to be the more immersive title. Get Bioshock from £3.99 at Amazon (affiliate).

Number Three: Clive Barker’s Undying

Don't let the dated visuals fool you...Undying is still scary as hell.

Undying places you in and around a huge mansion on an isolated island, while you investigate the eldritch goings-on in the area.  This paragraph from my 2009 review should sum up the environment for you:

You hardly encounter anyone or anything for the first quarter of the game…all there is to keep you company is the low hum of the wind, otherworldly noises, and poltergeist screwing with your mind by moving the environment around…it’s paced absolutely perfectly: just as you’re starting to get used to the “something’s gotta be around this corner.  Wait, nope, nothing’s there” feeling, something actually is around the corner.  You can get Clive Barker’s Undying for less than £4 on Amazon.

Number Two: S.T.A.L.K.E.R. series

Playing through the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. series is like living another lifetime.

Taking place entirely inside “The Zone” (the area around Chernobyl), the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. series is notorious for causing players to get lost in its blasted wasteland.  The epitome of “non-linear”, you could spend months wandering the game world while hardly doing anything related to the actual story.  There are some scripted moments, but the vast majority of everything that happens is organic.  Speak to anyone that’s played through any entry in the series, and you’ll notice they have the gaming equivalent of the thousand-yard stare.  If you want to really get sucked into a game, check out any of the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. titles (affiliate).

Number One: Penumbra/Amnesia

Penumbra and Amnesia make you want to quit every five minutes out of sheer exhaustion.

Come on, did you really expect anything else at number one?  Penumbra and Amnesia, both developed by Frictional Games, are experiments in immersion: they are designed to rip you from reality and place you solely within the game world.  Survival is not your ultimate goal, it’s your ONLY goal.  You’re subjected to their environments so completely, and so perfectly, it’s nearly impossible to play through these games without having nightmares.  Amnesia specifically is the absolute cream of the crop; I can’t even begin to fathom how anyone could top it for stripping you of your identity and placing you in the middle of its horrors.  The Penumbra series and Amnesia succeed at something no other game ever has: they trick your brain into making you fear for your very life. You can get the complete Penumbra series on Amazon(affiliate) for under £10, and Amnesia on Steam for $20/£13.

[Editor note]: If you feel like getting your sarcasm on: Zero Punctuation also did a review of Amnesia.

How to get immersed

My wife nicknamed these headphones "The Chamber", since they immerse you so much while using them.

This section includes bits from my article “How to Get Scared Playing a Video Game“.

Preparing your environment is absolutely essential for immersion.  Turning out the lights and locking your door isn’t enough: if you game on  your PC, you need to clear off your desk, cover up LEDs, and turn off extra monitors.  If you game on a console hooked up to a TV, try moving as close as you possibly can to the screen.  This may sound childish, but wrapping yourself up in a blanket also goes a long way in helping to set the tone.

Audio is another one of the major factors in getting immersed.  If you have the space and money to properly set up a decent surround system you should do so, but personally I find headphones to be much more effective when it comes to immersion.  I like blocking out ALL noise, allowing myself only to hear the environment of whatever game I’m playing.  If you decide to go the headphone route and don’t want to spend more than $100, I suggest you look at the Audio Technica A-700s, Sennheiser HD555s, or Sony MDR7506s; they’re all solid choices for budget-minded gamers looking for good audio.  If you can spend a little extra, I’d recommend picking up the Beyerdynamic DT 770 Pros (pictured above).  Their bass response is amazing, and their soundstage is nice and wide.  Just make sure you get the 80 ohm version if you aren’t planning on adding a headphone amp.

Speaking of headphone amps, you should look into picking up an Astro MixAmp regardless of what headphones you buy.  Not only does it act as a headphone amplifier, it also pumps out Dolby Headphone.  Audiophiles tend to frown on simulated surround processing (and the MixAmp has nothing on a “real” headphone amp), but there’s no denying Dolby Headphone makes one hell of a difference when you’re trying to get sucked into a game.

Lastly, you have to get yourself in the right frame of mind  This is extremely important, and the necessary steps are different for everyone.  Whatever it takes for you to get the blinders on so your brain focuses solely on the game, do it.

Wrapup

Immersive games can be incredibly rewarding, entertaining, and terrifying experiences.  Sure, it can be fun to lounge around and slingshot birds at pigs, but sometimes you just need to get yourself stuck in a musty cave with nothing but your torch to guide you.  So long as you set your area up correctly, use the right sound equipment, and choose the right title, you’ll find yourself frantically fighting for survival before you know it.

Guest post by Pojut from Living Wth a Nerd.