Any similar games - not necessarily by genre, but in mood and atmosphere?

[MadAsHell]

I adore the atmopshere Gone Home is able to create. It's a very subjective experience, but I'lll try to put my finger on it.

A huge part of why this game was so successful, and is still remembered, is the recreation of the atmosphere of the 90's. It's obviously a work of passion in this regard. The main story is just a bonus, even though the mystery could've gone deeper, it's cute and brings a nostalgia of teen years I never had ( vicarious nostalgia , if you will) which proves that the story is important in atmosphere too. This is a game of details, and feeling in the enviroment on your own terms. The set pieces and sound design makes up much for the atmosphere: the dim lit large mysterious house, no smart phones in sight, a TV shimmer in the dark, spread out VHS tapes with stickers on, an EAS warning showing... There is a typewriter and stocks of unreleased books on conspiracy theories... the house hides a mystery.

I don't think there are similar games that evokes such a bittersweet and poignant, yet cozy atmpshere. But now that I'm writing this - Amnesia: The Dark Descent comes to mind, not necessarily because of some mystery, but it's something about the music, sound, narrator voices, and details of the enviroment that completely transports me into its world, even though I rarely indulge in the horror genre of that sort. It's often not spectacular, but minimal, like a small forgotten scene in a David Lynch movie (not that any of it would be forgotten) but I guess I don't need horror, explosions and spectacular storylines to really enjoy a game.

[zaphodikus]

I did not like the Amnesia games, when I picked one up years ago now, I happened to have looked at installing it just yesterday actually. Co-incidence? I've changed my tastes, so might give it another look later, however.

There is 2 freebies (i think) to peruse : Maries Room, and What Never Was.

Also go find The Suicide of Rachel Foster, I might chuck in a longer list I made here https://store.steampowered.com/curator/41773079-EmpathyGames/list/91358/ . To be honest I'm struggling to pick any good ones that are similar in their mood and atmosphere, a few similar type of game I've played have been pretty poor or very puzzle heavy. What other games of this mood are you looking for here, it might jog the memory - do you like detective solvers like Kona ? Then try - What remains of Edith Fitch, or the Vanishing of Ethan Carter?

[Chrysalis]

I am familiar with the feeling you described.
It's indeed very subjective and there aren't that many games that invoke that feeling.

For me this game is one of them: https://store.steampowered.com/app/11050/Dracula_Origin/

Although it's quite different in terms of setting compared to Gone Home.

[MadAsHell]

Originally posted by zaphodikus:

I did not like the Amnesia games, when I picked one up years ago now, I happened to have looked at installing it just yesterday actually. Co-incidence? I've changed my tastes, so might give it another look later, however.

There is 2 freebies (i think) to peruse : Maries Room, and What Never Was.

Also go find The Suicide of Rachel Foster, I might chuck in a longer list I made here https://store.steampowered.com/curator/41773079-EmpathyGames/list/91358/ . To be honest I'm struggling to pick any good ones that are similar in their mood and atmosphere, a few similar type of game I've played have been pretty poor or very puzzle heavy. What other games of this mood are you looking for here, it might jog the memory - do you like detective solvers like Kona ? Then try - What remains of Edith Fitch, or the Vanishing of Ethan Carter?

Why didn't you like Amnesia back then? Well, there are some things that prevent me from going back to it, I think mainly the chase scenarios. The thing that would bring me back is the atmosphere for sure; the narrator and the strange, cosmic horror was especially haunting. But there are other horror games that are somewhat more attractive to me right now, for example Soma and _Observer. But Amnesia is special. Haven't tried the new Amnesia: Rebirth, but it didn't seem to tickle my fancy from the teaser.

I think, when playing a game for the first time, at a particular time in one's life, combined with a genuinely innovative game and by surprising one's expectations, something subjective might happen that probably is not replicable by just the quality of the game - it's just timing.

I will try Marie's Room and What Never Was, thank you! And I'm exited to check out The Suicide of Rachel Foster as well. I'll keep an eye on your list, as it seems to be right down my alley.

I've tried games "similar" to this, and enjoyed some of them, but often they favor puzzles, or like you say "detective solvers" above pure atmosphere like The Vanishing of Ethan Carter - which is a beautiful game, but it doesn't quite do it for me as it's too puzzle-heavy. It becomes a head-scratcher instead of an experience, not that I need a straightforward, holding hands type of experience, I just want to be completely drawn into the atmosphere and not be taken out of it by a puzzle that could be replaced by a Rubik's Cube on my desk.

Thank you for looking into this; your list is a great resource!

[MadAsHell]

Originally posted by Chrysalis:

I am familiar with the feeling you described.
It's indeed very subjective and there aren't that many games that invoke that feeling.

For me this game is one of them: https://store.steampowered.com/app/11050/Dracula_Origin/

Although it's quite different in terms of setting compared to Gone Home.

Yes, subjective indeed. Very interesting. Do you like the puzzles, does it enhance the atmosphere or just create a sense of achievement? Maybe it's a neccessary part of some games to create a full experience. For example, I don't know what Portal would've been without its puzzle elements - it totally depends on it for its unique atmosphere.

[zaphodikus]

@MadAsHell , I used to hide anything tagged as zombies (Minecraft is an exception) because being overused as a game plot, they were, along with jump scares, plentiful in junk games. So I hid horror tags too, I want credible immersive stories. Ghouls are a dime a dozen and are almost never quality actors. (Caligo is an exception tho)

BUT I played Serena a while back and last year I picked up 7DTD since one of my joys has always been sandboxes and survival. And that turned the penny on horror titles for me as I started to have an itch to catalog all the more peaceful and melancholy games i jad played. I had to add ones i had missed out on. And it turns out a few decent ones have a horror tag. Still not my fave, but I'm glad this itch to catalog has helped someone.

[MadAsHell]

Originally posted by zaphodikus:

@MadAsHell , I used to hide anything tagged as zombies (Minecraft is an exception) because being overused as a game plot, they were, along with jump scares, plentiful in junk games. So I hid horror tags too, I want credible immersive stories. Ghouls are a dime a dozen and are almost never quality actors. (Caligo is an exception tho)

BUT I played Serena a while back and last year I picked up 7DTD since one of my joys has always been sandboxes and survival. And that turned the penny on horror titles for me as I started to have an itch to catalog all the more peaceful and melancholy games i jad played. I had to add ones i had missed out on. And it turns out a few decent ones have a horror tag. Still not my fave, but I'm glad this itch to catalog has helped someone.

I know what you mean! It's interesting what the gaming market focuses on. It's similar to movies in both genre and tropes. But while these different mediums bleed together and in some cases practically marries, as in Sam Barlow's games, they each come with its challenges and opportunities. For example, I'm currently playing "Before Your Eyes" I found on your list - and I'm thinking about the compromise that's often made in, let's call them immersive stories type of games, between either storytelling and purely gameplay. It's probably an incredibly hard task to cover both arenas. That's why I think for example Barlow's new game Immortal is such a good example, becuase it's basically about filmmaking and the discovery of it aproached by the gameplay mechanics. Before Your Eyes is Similar in the way it's combining its mechanics with story. If coming from just film, Bandersnatch comes to mind, maybe a strange example but...

I believe this paradigm of games is still in its infancy; it hasn't reached a peak in approachability. But still, gaming is mature enough to be stuck in many conventions. So we have to really dig in the library to find immersive stories, Hey, didn't mean to start writing an essay here, I can't seem stay on track, lol. TLDR: I'm just trying to say I agree with your sentiment about the tropes, but aprechiate finding exceptions to this. In the same way when I see a genuinly good action movie or horror movie - that is not relying on just explosions or jump scares.

Coming back to atmosphere: interestingly there's parallell to music taste as well - I make countless of playlists [for myself], not just based on genre, but catered to a particular atmosphere. It's amazing that each song can be its own mood and create its own world that I immerse in. It's amazing when a game does this by being immersive and genuinly interested in telling a story, not just hook you with cool gameplay (only because it's effective). It's just that being a passionate storyteller AND a game developer is not a given. It's amazing when it's combined.

[zaphodikus]

I never really listened to the music, being not a music lover at all. But I still love it when a game has a well tied in soundtrack, I just often don't know why exactly. I mean Minecraft was probably the first open world game to have music set for and soundscape coloured for the player to make them feel like the music they were hearing was unique and queued up just especially for them. (In reality its a bit random) but it did set up games for having properly composed sound. And I recently discovered a podcast series about music in games. I lost the link at some point - oh wait found some if it here https://steamcommunity.com/groups/EmpathyGames/announcements/detail/3221773275443327408

Hence not being a music fan, I am still a great fan of sound effects done well. Gone Home sometimes has a weird soundscape, but for the amount of money I paid for it, I'm not expecting realism... funny how the brain wants all sound effects to be real, but the pixels on screen are all made up, ha ha. I really need to run through all my games and review more of them, but I'm currently at a point where I'm too busy IRL to finish and review many games. So I'm not finding it hard to find good games.

FMV type games like Her Story , I'm not convinced yet about them. And I guess it's like a new kind of pie, you have to try a few before you develop a like for them. I'm not a fan of Netflix so Bandersnatch is not a thing I might ever get to see.

Glad you like Before Your Eyes, it's a bit of a marmite game, some will hate it, some will like it. Mainly because of the webcam innovative angle. And it is cool because, like FMV games-as-video are a good example of breaking out of the mould, so I like to give anyone doing a new thing a chance. I liked Before Your Eyes, because it brought me near to tears twice, a bit like Kan Gao's 'To the Moon' does. I have a list of games in my Group specially for games that do that. Gone Home almost did that for me, but my big thing was the gender or role norms eye-opener and how women are portrayed. I really needed that gentle telling off. I do hope we can find a few more games that take us back to our own past though though imagery like they did here.

[Matthieu]

Painscreek Killings

[springtoiffel]

Kathy Rain is set in the 90s - it's not as obviously 90s as Gone Home, but ofc you don't have smartphones and internet-addicts there either.
you get to visit your grandma's house - it's only three rooms, but the atmosphere, score and visuals instantly reminded me of Gone Home. the rain helps, too.

other than that you have
- The Suicide of Rachel Foster (Gone Home meets the Shining), which also has a 90s inspired setting, in which you're visiting your old home. a mountain hotel this time, but your family had its own apartment within. the hotel is abandoned, you have power cuts and the soundtrack can be quite moody.
- What Remains of Edith Finch. the story is more "supernatural", if you can call it that, but you are also visiting your abandoned family home.

[zaphodikus]

Originally posted by springtoiffel:

Kathy Rain is set in the 90s - it's not as obviously 90s as Gone Home, but ofc you don't have smartphones and internet-addicts there either.
you get to visit your grandma's house - it's only three rooms, but the atmosphere, score and visuals instantly reminded me of Gone Home. the rain helps, too.

other than that you have
- The Suicide of Rachel Foster (Gone Home meets the Shining), which also has a 90s inspired setting, in which you're visiting your old home. a mountain hotel this time, but your family had its own apartment within. the hotel is abandoned, you have power cuts and the soundtrack can be quite moody.
- What Remains of Edith Finch. the story is more "supernatural", if you can call it that, but you are also visiting your abandoned family home.

Still waiting for more like Kathy Rain for some reason.

[The Brown Hornet]

My suggestion, What Remains of Edith Finch

[Hermann Wolff]

I'd suggest taking a look at Life is Strange and Life is Strange BTS - different, but much bigger games and therefore significantly more character development / emotional depth. I liked this game a lot and immediately thought of those two.