5 Most Immersive Games

Just like a good movie, a good game is one that grips your attention to the point where everything around you fades away to a hazy blur. Both mediums accomplish this by honing a clever and interesting plot, accompanied by some good acting that helps you empathize with or grow an understanding for the characters, and lastly by spinning the atmosphere of the game/movie like a cocoon around the ones watching. Games of this kind are really hard to find, since it’s really hard to get all these elements into place at once, and at the same time, have enough hype to draw gamers to it. However, there are a few games I’ve come across in the past that deliver the goods and make for a great, immersive experience. So without further ado, here’s my list of such games…

Silent Hill

Ahh, what can I say about Silent Hill that would do it justice? For starters, the game is the best of the survival horror genre. Rather than relying on more conventional forms of fear (which are mainly symbolic—stuff such as ghouls, vampires, poltergeists), the game tapped into the more primal part of the human psyche to give you the kind of chills you haven’t experienced before. The game started off with the protagonist scouring through a foggy, isolated town called Silent Hill, looking for his daughter. The way the fog was used to obscure your vision and enhance the feeling of being lost was simply brilliant, as it helped augment the peril of the protagonist and made you experience it first hand. Every time a supernatural entity would close in on you, your pocket radio would pick up static; when this would happen, the music and most other in-game sounds would die out—not startling you, but making you dread the knowledge that something awaited you beyond the fog— and you didn’t know which direction it was coming from.

The game’s sound played tricks on you at times too; sometimes, while entering an unexplored area, the soft background score would slowly build up, as though there was something dreadful around the corner. But when you’d actually get there, the music would just die out without anything happening. Then suddenly after a few minutes something creepy would emerge from the shadows when you least expected it; this false build-up and unexpected startles went a long way in helping Silent Hill conjure the creepiest atmosphere in any game so far.
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System Shock 2

Ask anyone who’s played a lot of System Shock 2, and they’ll tell you that the game kept them at the edge of their seat throughout. The beauty of the game lies in how it would keep you deprived from human interaction, but at the same time, it’d leave traces of the past through PDA messages to fuel the protagonist’s yearning to see or contact another real, living person to help cure his isolation. The entire game took place aboard an isolated vessel deep in space, where you were the only one left alive. The game could really freak the living daylights out of you by getting you engrossed, and then throwing something at you when you’d least expected it.

Everything in System Shock 2 seemed relevant to the plot in someway, but mostly indirectly; this insured that the game retained depth, and it made you feel like you were just a small part of a massive space ship that you had almost no information about. The way the music built up at times, and died out suddenly really helped build a lot of anxiety. Even the zombie-ish foes you encounter in the game were really tough to take down, so it made the idea of one of them popping up around a corner when you least expect it, very scary. The game played on the anticipation of the gamer so well, that there’s no way anyone playing this game wouldn’t be at the edge of their seat.
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Metal Gear Solid

Those of you, who haven’t played Metal Gear Solid, think of it as a long, interesting movie; the game contained hours and hours of cutscenes that were brilliantly directed and scripted. Metal Gear Solid put you in the shoes of an infiltration specialist nick-named Solid Snake, who’s on a mission to save the world from nuclear holocaust by infiltrating and disabling a heavily guarded terrorist nuclear complex. As you’ve guessed, you’d have to be stealthy to get the job done. In order to stay concealed, you’d have to make the best use of the surroundings, which you’d use to stay out of the line of sight of patrolling guards. This requirement of being aware of everything in your surrounding, ensured that you’d always have your head deep inside the game, carefully planning out how you’d get past a guard or a sentry device.

Since you’d be so engrossed in the game, you’d be bound to notice all the little things the game’s designer included in the game, such as the trivial (or sometimes informative) conversations guards have amongst each other, the little box around the corner that could be used to cover yourself with, or the sleeping guard that could be bypassed or taken out with ease. And to add to the charm, the level design was done so well, that there was a never a dull moment, ensuring that you’d always be on your toes, and hence, hypersensitive to your surroundings.
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Thief: The Dark Project

In Thief, as a lot of you know, you played the role of ‘Garrett’—a thief in an alternate medieval era, where his petty thefts got him involved with some deeper and darker parts of society, that no one knew existed. The gameplay required you to be as subtle and concealed as possible at all times, which usually meant sneaking through the shadows in huge, guarded mansions, or exploring the rooftops of the city under the veil of night. Since the entire game takes place at night, playing it actually makes you feel as stealthy as Garrett would. After playing the game, you grow so accustomed to the atmosphere, that even in real-life you’d prefer to keep to the shadows. Staying unnoticed in the heavily guarded structures in the game, and eavesdropping on the noblemen in the game, gave you a sense of power.

The setting in the game comprised mainly of tightly knit corridors or streets, and traversing them while evading your enemy added a sense of urgency to the game, which works wonders in getting you engrossed and totally immersed into the gameplay. The level design was so spot on, that it helped enhance the feeling of empowerment, anxiety, or fear at times, depending on the what you’re up against. Thief: The Dark Project was the best of the stealth genre, and one of the most atmospheric games of all time.
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Clive Barker’s Undying

Undying was one of the scariest and most enthralling games of all time. Many of you probably know Clive Barker for his great horror books and movies; let me tell you that the way he’s translated the dread in his first interactive horror project—Undying, is every bit as terrifying as every one of his other works. To ensure this, Clive Barker set the atmosphere of the game just about right for such an experience; each and every part in the game was as menacingly dark and disturbing as the enemies you’d encounter. Unlike Silent Hill, Undying took the traditional approach to horror and did amazingly well in delivering the goods. Undying employed the use of some terrific audio work too, be it the great voice acting or the creepy gothic chants and low base drums pounding lifelessly in the background. Every now and then you’d hear random whispers when you’d least expect it—this was enough to freak out the most jaded horror game haters even. The game thrived on suspense and just like System Shock 2, it insured that you’d never get of the edge of your seat.