Board 8 > Tell me some more stuff with this environmental feel pls

(+) Yeah! (+)

I'm still trying to nail down what exactly I'm talking about myself, but I think I like things that are, like, tiny worlds. Bonus points if there are several of them and they are all very different, or they are somehow isolated from the rest of the world. Was wondering if y'all could help me figure out why, and/or give me some more stuff to try. Probably easier by example:

-A lot of Minecraft Parkour maps I've seen are structured like a series of small rooms with distinct themes. A lot of pre-made maps in general at least fit the "isolation" component, like the one that's just an endless grid of single floating blocks.
-Different floors of the Backrooms could be really big, but they're still very distinct and inter-connected.
-The only thing I remember about Tail Concerto (other than the...devoted fanbase) was an area that was just a whole lot of tiny floating islands you could jet between in your mech, and most of them had like an enemy or a little bit of treasure or something.
-I haven't played Mario Galaxy but it seems to have a lot of very small planets that would fit maybe
-Heck a lot of Mario 64 courses are not really that big, and some of them are just unapologetically stuff floating in a void.
-Dungeons in games where each floor is way different, or remix levels that warp you around a bunch of previous snippets of the game in rapid succession
-Small islands
-I have dreams where I have to hide out in like these big panic rooms or other small but workable living spaces. I mean heck I've mostly lived in my little 1-bedroom for a year now, that kinda counts on its own.
-I played a flash game once where you moved around tiny little cube planets that were not much bigger than your guy
-Tartarus and Mementos from Persona would fit if they changed themes every floor instead of every several.
-I want to say Yume Nikki works, but it's been a while.
-No Man's Sky, maybe? Haven't seen much but I think that's what they were GOING for, at least.
-Disgaea's Item World

I'm still having trouble articulating what I mean, but I hope y'all get it anyway. It's not quite the same as the whole "liminal space" thing, but I think there's some overlap. I think procedural generation would be great to make spaces like this, if it was given a little more aesthetic range than usual.

....Oddly I also have a weird thing for the opposite: really huge structures and dense cities and stuff.

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Tom Bombadil posted...

I haven't played Mario Galaxy

This is probably the weirdest thing you could have said given the topic

ctrl + f "Outer Wilds"

cool. Play Outer Wilds, please

Do you play Animal Crossing? Visiting other player's creatively designed dream islands sounds like it would be right up your alley.

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Paratroopa1 posted...

This is probably the weirdest thing you could have said given the topic

well fair but it didn't really all click as "a thing I like" until like an hour ago! >_>

Paratroopa1 posted...

ctrl + f "Outer Wilds"

cool. Play Outer Wilds, please

aight

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Grand Kirby posted...

Do you play Animal Crossing? Visiting other player's creatively designed dream islands sounds like it would be right up your alley.

y'know that'd probably work too!

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I must have randomly bought some game called Hiding Spot on steam at some point. Though I haven't played it yet so IDK how it is.

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This feels like too 'obvious' a recommendation but Wind Waker is another game that gives me this kind of sense; I have like sort of this chill that goes down my spine when I land on a very small island and I have this sort of sense that everything that exists in this small 'world' is visible and within a few steps - there's like a strange sort of 'coziness' to it that I can't explain. I feel this way about real-life islands too although islands in real life aren't *that* small

But yeah based on the sort of vibe you're giving me my recommendation of Outer Wilds is a big one - it's one of my favorite games and not only does it have this sense of like different, small worlds, but exploring and understanding them is the primary objective of the game. Seems like it would really be right up your alley.

Fortnite death runs
Kitty Horrorshow's Haunted Cities vol. 3 has a game like this - Castle Wormclot
The horror-FPS Dusk's second chapter has loads of levels like this
Hotline Miami could maybe count for this, as each level is distinct and takes place in their own psychedelic void basically
The Floating Islands level of Tomb Raider 2

I hope I'm kinda getting what you're aiming for.

Tom Bombadil posted...

....Oddly I also have a weird thing for the opposite: really huge structures and dense cities and stuff.

If you ever want suggestions for this too just play the rest of Kitty Horrorshow's Haunted Cities volumes or hit me up.

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Mr Crispy posted...

Hiding Spot on steam

....works!

Paratroopa1 posted...

Wind Waker

Was wondering if that would work!

Paratroopa1 posted...

my recommendation of Outer Wilds is a big one

Looked up a spoiler-free review, inclined to agree. Not my usual wheelhouse gameplay-wise but it might have me just on aesthetic.

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Snake5555555555 posted...

I hope I'm kinda getting what you're aiming for.

Yeah! A lot of those games are too horror for me but everything seems to fit.

I'm glad folks are getting my vibe, I was worried that this was going to get one post saying "huh?"

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Subnautica:Umm, not a different world but certainly diverse environments

Wind Waker and Outer Wilds are excellent recs as well.

Mega Man Legends on PS1 is probably the first game to give me these vibes

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baba is you

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Glad Outer Wilds has already been brought up so much - it's exactly what you're looking for.

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Yeah, Fortnite kind of fits this, if you play it a certain way. You drop in on a huge map, but there are so many house and nooks where you can hide out. In a typical single player video game, you can waste your time in small places, but it's not accomplishing anything; and in most typical FPS games, if you waste your time hiding out, you will just lose because you aren't getting kills. But for the case of Fortnite, hiding out is a completely viable strategy. Because of this, there is something super cozy about walking around and finding these shacks in the middle of nowhere, and you can sit there knowing you are actually accomplishing something, because many players are being killed off, but you are in this safe little spot and no one is going to find you.

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Would not have expected any of this batch but seems legit, thanks!

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This topic was made for me..............

this is one of the top things i seek out in games and defines the reason half of my favorite games have that status.

So far Wind Waker has been said, another game that's often compared imo totally fits this bill as well: Pokemon RSE. a lot of people dislike the latter half of the game with all the 'too much water' surfing/islands/diving/etc but if this feel is what you're looking for, it's 100% the thing. especially if you choose to make it your focus rather than seeing it as something that gets in the way---focusing on exploring/collecting/etc. even prior to the watery sections there's lots of this, random small dungeons with minimal in them, the secret bases, etc

Uru: Ages Beyond Myst, and particularly it's expansions (Uru: To D'ni / Uru: Path of the Shell) have A LOT of this as well, you get all 3 of those at once in Uru Complete Chronicles (I feel like the mmo version is a lot less likely to feel this way). Mostly the myst series centers around linking between large full-size worlds through "linking books", but these games have tons of random small areas you get linked to, sometimes with a purpose that isn't clear at first, definitely gives me a very sm64/etc feel like the examples you've described.

I've been playing through the megaman battle network series lately and that totally has this too with going inside all the tiny internet/cyberworld areas

I was so happy when Super Mario Odyssey felt like it was trying to own up to sm64/sunshine/galaxy1-2's tendency towards the weird feel of things like this in a game, it doubled down on it imo in a wonderful way and totally understood it was one of the things that made those games distinct.
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Quiet as a Stone

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Toxtricity posted...

Pokemon RSE. a lot of people dislike the latter half of the game with all the 'too much water' surfing/islands/diving/etc but if this feel is what you're looking for, it's 100% the thing. especially if you choose to make it your focus rather than seeing it as something that gets in the way

RSE didn't click with me that much back in the day but I could see this. Second chance, perhaps.

Wouldn't have thought of Myst or MMBN but I could see it

Still gotta play Odyssey ~_~

PumpkinCoach posted...

Quiet as a Stone

oh, yo

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Toxtricity posted...

I've been playing through the megaman battle network series lately and that totally has this too with going inside all the tiny internet/cyberworld areas

Huh, now that you point it out, that is a pretty good example I think.

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Portal Knights

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GNOG if I am interpreting what you are looking for correctly

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Tom Bombadil posted...

Wouldn't have thought of Myst or MMBN but I could see it

to be clear: myst series in general is not like this, but Uru (and especially its expansions) is EXTREMELY like this. i think playing those around the same time as Wind Waker and RSE practically defined my current taste in games and what i want to experience in regard to exploration of worlds, which is a lot of what your first post is outlining haha
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Grow Up / Grow Home

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