Trippy/Psychedelic Games

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Francisè von Spitroast Jul 18, 2019 @ 11:52am

I absolutely love psychedelic music and anything that attempts to recreate the experience of you know what. Anyone know any games that are trippy or psych?

Ones I know of:
1. Toe Jam and Earl: I’m watching Funhaus playing this and it8s hilarious how no one knows what the hell is going on. It’s very trippy.

2. Thief the Dark Project: There’s a level in this called The Sword that is absolutely mind-blowing and is my favourite level in any game. The imagery is 100% trippy and there are so many things to discover even after multiple playthroughs that’ll just leave your jaw hanging. Not spoiling it for anyone. The Haunted Cathedral level is also like a small dose of you know what gone bad mixed with zombies.

3. Layers of Fear: I’ve heard this described as psychedelic a lot and I don’t really get it. There’s some trippy imagery I guess but eh.

4. LSD Emulator: The most obvious one. A Japanese game for the PS1 I think that attempted to emulate the LSD experience with randomly generated worlds and weird ass music and visuals. This is easily the most trippy game I’ve ever seen.

Last edited by Francisè von Spitroast; Jul 18, 2019 @ 11:59am

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Showing 1-15 of 27 comments

Arvaos Jul 18, 2019 @ 12:02pm

Jazzpunk.

Fajita Jim Jul 18, 2019 @ 12:02pm

Audiosurf 1/2

Capn Slam Jul 18, 2019 @ 12:33pm

You might want to have a look at Rez sometime, it might be what you're after. IIRC, the creator wanted it to portray sensations of synesthesia, being able to "see" music.

Fragile Waters Jul 18, 2019 @ 12:34pm

Hotline Miami series

Last edited by Fragile Waters; Jul 18, 2019 @ 12:36pm

GetToTheTop Jul 18, 2019 @ 12:48pm

Katana Zero

Francisè von Spitroast Jul 18, 2019 @ 1:00pm

Originally posted by Big D McGee:
Hotline Miami series

The soundtrack helps on that big time. As a kid the first game was a big ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ trip. I used to stare at the menu screen listening to the music by Sun Araw I think their name is? Just ♥♥♥♥♥♥' go places man. That whole game tho was like taking a tab while watching an 80's action film.

Francisè von Spitroast Jul 18, 2019 @ 1:03pm

I don't know why games haven't tried to do psychedelia more. Surely recreating the acid experience is easier with visuals, given how tied to the experience the visual aspect is, rather than pure audio? Pink Floyd's early albums, The Doors and The Beatles made me trip the ♥♥♥♥ out purely sober with only audio so surely video games can do it. Surely.

Fajita Jim Jul 18, 2019 @ 1:04pm

Originally posted by Not a Second Time:
I don't know why games haven't tried to do psychedelia more. Surely recreating the acid experience is easier with visuals, given how tied to the experience the visual aspect is, rather than pure audio? Pink Floyd's early albums, The Doors and The Beatles made me trip the ♥♥♥♥ out purely sober with only audio so surely video games can do it. Surely.

Visuals are good but that mental space....cannot be replicated.

You know ... in between a few worlds here and there...

Also, I forgot about American McGhee's Alice. Definitely that.

Last edited by Fajita Jim; Jul 18, 2019 @ 1:04pm

Francisè von Spitroast Jul 18, 2019 @ 1:13pm

Originally posted by Fajita Jim:
Originally posted by Not a Second Time:
I don't know why games haven't tried to do psychedelia more. Surely recreating the acid experience is easier with visuals, given how tied to the experience the visual aspect is, rather than pure audio? Pink Floyd's early albums, The Doors and The Beatles made me trip the ♥♥♥♥ out purely sober with only audio so surely video games can do it. Surely.

Visuals are good but that mental space....cannot be replicated.

You know ... in between a few worlds here and there...

Also, I forgot about American McGhee's Alice. Definitely that.

That's true, but still, film and music have done as good of a job I can imagine being possible but video games haven't come close that I know of.
Oh, man, I've been meaning to play that for ages! Thanks for reminding me it exists!

gugnihr Jul 18, 2019 @ 2:30pm

Child of Eden

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5esLkkJaeZk

And to some extent Rez too, but Child of Eden is too much better, after you play it it is very hard to get back to Rez, and yes, I mean Area X included. Child of Eden is just too better.

Another trippy/psychedelic game is Naissancee.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/265690/NaissanceE/

It is great and it is also FREE, you really MUST at least try it!

Last edited by gugnihr; Jul 18, 2019 @ 2:34pm

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