Top 10 Games with Strongest Atmosphere

Ranked in-order List (One game per franchise allowed)

Strong Atmosphere is mostly felt, so its highly subjective, however there exist a consensus, in this list im telling you my personal picks for games with Atmosphere that slaps so hard and easily absorbs you into their world.

Atmosphere Formula and Ingredients
Core:
+ Ambient Sound design that fits the environment and meshes well with the game themes in the writing and on screen.
+ Strong Art-Direction that fits the themes of the game.
+ No jokes or 4th wall breaks

Optional but helps:
+ First Person Perspective
+ Darker tone
+ Convincing lore and worldbuilding
+ Music
+ Less cinematics and monologue


S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl
S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl
Metro/Stalker
Close call between this and Call of Pripyat but im quite confident this is #1 strongest atmospheric title.

1

Thief: The Dark Project
Thief: The Dark Project
Thief/Dishonored

2

Amnesia: The Dark Descent
Amnesia: The Dark Descent
Amnesia/Soma

Extremely terrifying atmosphere and great usage of light and darkness in the areas, the music fits very well.

3

Outer Wilds
Outer Wilds
Space, Mystery, First Person, Physics, Exploration and Horror elements.

4

Half-Life: Alyx
Half-Life: Alyx
Half-Life

VR Supremacy

5

Kingdom Come: Deliverance
Kingdom Come: Deliverance
Gothic/KCD/Witcher

The realism and first person perspective and the challenging mechanics takes the upper hand in this eurojank battle

6

The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind
The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind
TES/Fallout
Hard to pick one here as they all have great sense of atmosphere and immersion but this one takes the cake for having an interesting alien world with precise directions and no fast travel and map markers.

7

Bloodborne
Bloodborne
Souls/Bloodborne/Elden Ring

Close call between Dark Souls 1 and Bloodborne here, but the gothic horror vibe has the upper hand.

8

BioShock
BioShock
Bioshock/System Shock

I think SS2 is the better game but atmosphere wise Bioshock has to be my pick, if only SS2 had better soundtrack and art direction it would easily top it, but Bioshock 1950's jazz music background, amazing art direction of Rupture and interesting worldbuilding puts it ahead.

9

Pathologic 2
Pathologic 2
Pathologic

Same reasons as Kingdom Come apply here, except this is more of a mesh mash between Surrealism and Realism, a true Art-house feeling.

10

8 Comments


Nice^^ Do you plan to continue to work on this list? Cause I would have some suggestions ;D

Btw, my fav games list is constantly evolving, the top three are set in stone (the top 5 propably too) but I am always working on everything else and replaying some of the games to refreshen my memory until I am satisfied with the list again XXD

1 year ago

Thanks, i am open to expand it to 20 with further examination of new titles, i have some games i might add if there was a need to break the top 10, so yeah, hit me up with the recommendations.
I just think it may take some time as im a bit busy irl these days.

I would love to revisit some of the games i loved/hated but sadly with few time available and with the constant releases of new games its getting harder to even replay games that need replaying, like Elden Ring, i didnt replay the game yet. I do think its impressive that you can rank your favorite games by order though, thats not easy, you need to carefully separate between them, i probably will settle on making tier list instead.
Thanks ;D Yeah, I just like making lists. I made also made lists about my favorite books, movies, animated series (TV Shows not, as there are few I truly love), manga and music LPs, haha. I just like that, because it forces me to carefully think about the things I enjoy and reflect by own taste, as well as my biases.
I am not working currently, so I have a lot of time rn, but that's propably gonna change soon. Until then, I will play all the things. And you are right. there are so many games, so little time. But sometimes I am just not in the mood for a new game, but rather something I already know.
F.e. I am thinking about replaying Ocarina of Time these days.

And Thanks Again :D :D I am sure your list can get even more interesting.
So here are some of my suggestions:

Shadow of the Colossus
Metroid Prime
The Fatal Frame Games
SOMA
Journey
Alan Wake
Braid
And the Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask

Haha ;D

1 year ago

Wow thank you for the likes and comments i appreciate it.
I wish i can replay games more often, i just become lazy and stop at some point, everyone will be talking about the new games and i typically want to join the discussions, but i agree that sometimes its better to revisit and old favorite and enjoy your time rather than put up with a mediocre game.

Thanks for the list, i actually played some of them, SoTC i played really a long time ago and its one of the games i need to revisit, but i dont remember liking it that much sadly, Metroid Prime is really amazing and i like it, i do think its atmosphere is good but i dont think its top 10 material, its a bit too arcadey for that imo, its a fast game with a banger soundtrack, i'd say its the most atmospheric metroidvania alongside Hollow Knight, if i recall correctly i think the sections at Phazon Mines are the most atmospheric of the bunch but im not really sold on the first areas, still its a fantastic game for sure.

I never played Fatal Frame games sadly, i heard great things and i should play them if you recommend them. I hear positive things about the 2nd one.

Soma is so good, and i included it, its just that my silly rules allow me to put 1 game in a franchise/dev just to make the list more varied, sort of like a Watchmojo thing xD.

Journey i think has great art and the music feels captivating, i think its a cool idea but i didn't get the hype around it, is there something i missed? i think its unfair how i look at it because its not trying to be more than a set piece of art and music but aside from that it never stayed with me or made any impact on me unfortunately, i dont really agree that it has atmosphere, but thats probably following my arbitrary standards, do you have a specific reason for suggesting it?

Alan Wake is another game i missed, i need to get around it.
Same thing for Braid

Majora's Mask is amazing, i dont know if you are going to like this but i personally think Breath of the Wild is more atmospheric, due to the nature and sense of seamless adventure it has, they made a clever choice by making the open world adventure without a soundtrack, that way you can absorb yourself better into the atmosphere, but aside from that, Majora's Mask is definitely the 2nd most atmospheric behind it, i think walking at night in MM was really immersive, despite its disadvantages with being a 3rd person game with less focus on immersion, but i'd say overall it can qualify for sure in case i make a bigger list.

Thanks for commenting and recommeding new games to me! and good luck on finding a pleasant job too.
Thank you so much for the long answer XXD

I do not even know what to write to all of this.

Der Alltagsspieler#5744

Here, you can have my Discord. Contact me if you want, I would be happy ;D

1 year ago

Haha, thank you very much!
Anything you write is welcome, i appreciate your engagement with what i write a lot, thanks.

Sadly i dont use Discord anymore, i just visit gaming websites and subreddits mostly and i abandoned Discord, that was thanks to League of Cocaine, because everytime i would log into it my friends would spam me to come join and i wanted to get away from that game because im getting married this year and i get busy.
I will add you after things cool down.

I tend to write a lot sometimes, i dont know if its gibberish talk or something worth reading but i can't seem to organize my thoughts into shorter paragraphs, this is probably due to English being a third language to me.
Cool :D

I just wanted to give you the opportunity to talk to me, hehe

11 months ago

@TheGamingN00b
I appreciate that, wanted to tag you so that i will be the one that handles you the new badge :P


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