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[ProgenitorCastle]

Hey GAF, which are some games which the environment feels like a main character? For me, Resident Evils up to RE4 had that feeling along with Bioshock and many Metroidvanias like Bloodstained come to mind because in all these games the player becomes one with the environment exploring and re exploring environments via backtracking in certain areas sometimes . What about you? What are some games where the environment feels like the main character?

 

[acidagfc]

Returnal.

You are not fighting the creatures, you are fighting the planet itself.

 

[The Cockatrice]

Hollow Knight
Dark Souls games

 

[Touch fuzZy. get BizZay]

Xenoblade Chronicles X

Other Xenoblades are very character and story driven, but the star of XCX is the planet Mira that you get to explore in your pimped out transforming mech

 

[TerribleAtThisGame]

Death Stranding

Building infrastructure, and zip lines especially, was incredibly satisfying to me.

 

[kvltus lvlzvs]

Rain world

 

[TerribleAtThisGame]

Subnautica

This game is a fucking masterpiece in general but its feeling of being insignificant in a functioning world is unmatched to me.

 

[Mephisto40]

shadow of the colossus

 

[fart town usa]

Xenoblade Chronicles X

Other Xenoblades are very character and story driven, but the star of XCX is the planet Mira that you get to explore in your pimped out transforming mech

Team Tatsu!

 

[Torrent of Pork]

Any Bethesda RPG.

 

[fart town usa]

RE1996 (Spencer Mansion)
RE:Village
Xenoblade Chronicles X

Skyrim, especially in VR. Even with a gun to my head, I couldn't tell you what the goal is in the game. I've been wandering around exploring caves and somehow got turned into a vampire.

 

[OCL]

Breath of the wild

 

[Hudo]

Xenoblade Chronicles X

Other Xenoblades are very character and story driven, but the star of XCX is the planet Mira that you get to explore in your pimped out transforming mech

Team Tatsu!

Breath of the wild

 

[Pelta88]

Horizon Zero Dawn OG and 2
Ghost Of Tsushima
Infamous Second Son
Returnal
Red Dead Redemption 2
The Witcher: Wild Hunt

 

[adamsapple]

Topical since I was just posting about it in another thread, but Deadly Premonition fits the bill.

Greenvale, and its residents, are the most important character(s) in that game.

 

[Gojiira]

Returnal 100%
But more than any other game by a absolute mile is Death Stranding, traversal is a huge aspect of the game, it starts gruelling and difficult, but you plot your routes, you set your bridges, ladders, climbing ropes and make it easier until you can build full on roads, ziplines, catapults. I dont think theres any other game that quite matches DS for traversal, the world itself is so deeply rooted in the mechanics and the animations, and it can really feel like a accomplishment when you finally reach your destination or rebuild the roads.
Cant wait to see how 2 plays out.

 

[MasterDerico]

Silent Hill 2.

 

[Shubh_C63]

Original World of Warcraft

 

[EverydayBeast]

Assassins Creed historical games the environment matters, I throw them in the same tub as breath of the wild.

 

[Alebrije]

 

[struggler_guts]

Pikmin, 4 especially. When in the level you deal with all the small stuff, but zoomed out you see what it actually is

 

[ProgenitorCastle]

Pikmin, 4 especially. When in the level you deal with all the small stuff, but zoomed out you see what it actually is

I'm on the fence with Pikmin 4. Is it worth getting it one day?

 

[struggler_guts]

I'm on the fence with Pikmin 4. Is it worth getting it one day?

I say yeah, best pikmin so far with more content

 

[BennyBlanco]

Xenoblade Chronicles X

Other Xenoblades are very character and story driven, but the star of XCX is the planet Mira that you get to explore in your pimped out transforming mech

This might be a hot take but I think XCX might be my favorite Xenoblade game. Walking around that giant world for hours and hours and then finally unlocking the mechs was such a cool moment. New LA was sick too.



Damn that trailer was so hype

 

[FoxMcChief]

Breath of the Wild / Tears of the Kingdom
Elden Ring
Skyrim
Fallout 3
Fallout New Vegas
Bowser’s Fury
Wave Race 64 (all courses and practice area)
Metal Gear Solid 5

 

[Kataploom]

Breath of the wild

Cant believe it took so long for someone to mention this lol I even thought op was gonna use it a an example before clicking the thread.

 

[ResilientBanana]

Batman : Arkham Knight

 

[Deerock71]

Two games where I felt like the environment was as central as anything else in the game was both DOOM 3 and Alien: Isolation. Creepy-ass fucking sci-fi environments to the hilt!

 

[Alebrije]

I'm on the fence with Pikmin 4. Is it worth getting it one day?

Best Pikmin...new stuff to do and mechanics but still with hard Pikmin roots..

Also ite seems Nintendo paid attention to fans requests because some stuff is back like the creature glosary / catalog..

Do not let the colorfull cartoon setup confuses you...Pikmins are grotesque creatures destroyers of life, the carnage is real.

 

[XXL]

Red Matter 2. It's also easily one of the best games I've played this year.

 

[ChorizoPicozo]

SoC

 

[Bridges]

Maybe not THE main character, but a main character for sure is Kamurocho in the Yakuza/Like A Dragon series. You get to watch it change and evolve alongside the characters in interesting ways.

 

[-Zelda-]

The old Tomb Raider games used to feel this way to me. Especially when they would let you roam around her Mansion.

I really wish we could have this sort of atmosphere in Tomb Raider games again. the music, the world, the cocky and sure of herself acrobatic lara, not the mentally damaged survivor lara. That's not lara, that's an alternate from the mandela catalogue. This is real tomb raider/lara:

 

[PanzerCute]

Alien Isolation.

 

[ThatOneGrunt]

Death Stranding

Building infrastructure, and zip lines especially, was incredibly satisfying to me.

I have never actually played Death Stranding, but for some reason I immediately thought Death Stranding.

 

[Chuck Berry]

Rapture in BioShock 1

 

[Hemingwayoffbase]

Myst
The Witness

 

[Soltype]

GTA IV- the city was the only reason to play the game, everything else they built in the game besides the city fell short or got in the way of the the city itself.

Kamurocho - I don't know if it's because of how much they've used the same city or if I know it like the back of my hand, but kamurocho is pretty much it's own entity at this point.

 

[mpgeist]

Bloodborne

 

[RaduN]

Definitely Death Stranding.
The environment is the game.

 

[BaldingAshCrimson]

Devil May Cry 3, I think... The environments and the level design in that game are very much characters just as much as Lady and Dante are.

I don't really know how to describe it beyond that though... But they very much feel alive and have a strong character to them.

 

[TerribleAtThisGame]

I have never actually played Death Stranding, but for some reason I immediately thought Death Stranding.

It's a game I don't know if I can recommend to anyone despite it being one of my games of the gen. It scratches such a specific, weird itch but holy shit do I find it oddly satisfying to just make the rough terrain easier to traverse while playing apocalyptic Fedex.

 

[TerribleAtThisGame]

Returnal.

You are not fighting the creatures, you are fighting the planet itself.

And yourself, quite literally. The Sentient, their history and lore the way I understand it are Selene's duplicates, her 1000s of previous selves degraded by time and confused in their search for what we, as the player, are currently looking for.

My take on it since there is no official answer but boy did I spend time on that game's lore...

 

[Captain Toad]

Tetris

 

[DeepEnigma]

Elden Ring.

I've died more by falling than enemy/boss battles.

 

[Dr.Morris79]

 

[Dragon_Rocks]

Flower

 

[bigdad2007]

Shadow of the Colossus

 

[N30RYU]

The Witness

 

[Fbh]

The Outer Wilds.
All the different planets, the way you explore them, learn about how their internal mechanics work and use that knowledge to explore further is still one of the most brilliant cases of game design in gaming IMO.

Some games I like for their story, or combat, or visuals.
The Outer Wilds is one of my favorite games of all time for its world: