While I never played it, AER seems to be going for that ICO/Rime/Vane feel (and you also turn into a bird)
Speaking of Vane, any new word on Mare?
Speaking of Vane, any new word on Mare?
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Ico or Soulslike games that capture that feel of mystery from exploring the ruins of a forgotten civilization?
- Thread starter wafflebrain
- Start date
Happy to see I was beaten by several Outer Wilds mentions. Look no further OP. It actually reminds with a lot of Souls in how you're piecing together this elaborate narrative puzzle through exploration, environmental storytelling, and extremely clever worldbuilding. One of the best games ever made.
If you have an Xbox 360 or PS3 lying around, the original NieR is $20 at Gamestop and has a lot of the whole exploring ruins of a forgotten civilization as well as a great story to go along with it. There's also a remake coming out in April on current gen and PC that will make the experience more modern
NieR Automata on Xbox One, PS4 and PC is also about that, and has the story of Androids roaming a world that humanity abandoned and trying to make the world safe for their return, and the biggest parts of the map are ruins from human civilization. This isn't as much an Ueda inspired game as the first one, but it's still a good experience in terms of finding out how the world came to be and has quite a bit of Soulslike world building (finding intel, reading item descriptions and talking to NPCs to learn about the world)
NieR Automata on Xbox One, PS4 and PC is also about that, and has the story of Androids roaming a world that humanity abandoned and trying to make the world safe for their return, and the biggest parts of the map are ruins from human civilization. This isn't as much an Ueda inspired game as the first one, but it's still a good experience in terms of finding out how the world came to be and has quite a bit of Soulslike world building (finding intel, reading item descriptions and talking to NPCs to learn about the world)
Some more outlandish recommendations I have for you OP across different genres.
- Stasis, Beautiful desolation, Cayne. Same developer behind those games, very unique adventure games. Cayne is free on Steam.
- SOMA
- STALKER series. Great atmosphere, sense of discovery and mystery is very strong here. Holds also true for the Metro series but I prefer STALKER when I want to dive into a different world at my own pace.
- Any of the TLJ games (The Longest Journey, Dreamfall, Dreamfall Chapters) - they have fantastic world building, sense of mystery you don't get in many games that pull you in and you just want to know what's going on. Truly worlds of wonder.
- The Banner Saga games.
- Inside
Damn fine recommendation that one!
Game is about 6 hours long, so its that perfect Ico-ish length.
And the environment is just sublimely awe-inspiring and strange.
Did you get to the ending of Vane? I found it quite powerful to see the theme of lost innocence as the child gets older, and is conforming. It's a cool twist.
Toren is relatively obscure but kind of like Ico and Vane in that it's about a child on a fantasy adventure in a ruined world. It's a surreal and dark coming of age tale. The gameplay isn't the hottest probably because it is a new team from Brazilian devs.
For something a little different that I think scratches the same itch, Miasmata. It's a first-person indie game from 2012, so the graphics aren't going to impress anyone, but it does exploration very well. You are a scientist infected with a plague, exploring a jungle-covered island for the cure. There is little in direction from the outset beyond this premise (e.g. no waypoints, etc., as far as I can remember).
The major mechanic/hook of the game is that you have a map, but it does not automatically fill in. To fill in your map you must find visual landmarks (such as ancient ruins, peaks, etc) and spot them. By spotting multiple landmarks, you can triangulate your position on the map, and fill in that area around you. It's a pretty cool mechanic and it gives a unique feeling of discovering the island.
The major mechanic/hook of the game is that you have a map, but it does not automatically fill in. To fill in your map you must find visual landmarks (such as ancient ruins, peaks, etc) and spot them. By spotting multiple landmarks, you can triangulate your position on the map, and fill in that area around you. It's a pretty cool mechanic and it gives a unique feeling of discovering the island.
THIS! A bit OOTB but the game really unravels FWIW and the sense of mystery and world building is dense. 3.5 to 4 hours long. Basically a 2.5D sidescrolling puzzle-kinda game with light platforming elements. Don't Google the game, jump in blind.One I haven't seen recommended yet
Probably not to the extent that others have mentioned, but I highly recommend playing Enslaved Odyssey to the West.
It's one of my favorite games, and definitely fits this bill a bit. It's a truly fascinating story, with a pretty enjoyable twist ending.
It's one of my favorite games, and definitely fits this bill a bit. It's a truly fascinating story, with a pretty enjoyable twist ending.
Nope, there isn't. Well, SotC and TLG to some extend.
Watched some Outer Wilds video's today and it doesn't fit the bill.
The only one close is Mare since it's being made by a former Team Ico artist but who the hell knows when it's coming out.
I'm not sure a lot of people will agree but Death Stranding had an amazingly wistful atmosphere to me. I got a heavy sense of loss from the environmental design, much like I felt when playing Ico or Souls games.
The question when it comes to recommending La-Mulana is: Do you want those ruins to be just set dressing that you wonder about and move on or do you actually want to engage with them, fight them, understand them? La-Mulana's ruins aren't quite dead, all the mechanisms and traps are still armed and ready to ruin your life and the puzzles demand that you understand the game's world. It's a 2D game so the architecture itself is more gamey but it captures the sense of poking at a great, deadly unknown.
I think it's fine to play through the first with frequent guide usage and then try the second without a guide since seeing how the first works prepares you for the way of thinking the series requires.
I think it's fine to play through the first with frequent guide usage and then try the second without a guide since seeing how the first works prepares you for the way of thinking the series requires.
This is an aspect that I've always loved about the modern Fallout games, especially 3. I loved my time exploring the Capital Wasteland, uncovering the little stories left behind after the bombs fell.