Most immersive games you've played?

By immersive I mean games that really capture you into their world and make it feel like you're in it.

STALKER shadow of chernoboyl. By far most immersive game i have ever played and one of the greatest game ever made.

The Shenmue series.

Halos, Mass Effects, RDR's, Kotors.... off the top.

Shenmue. Skyrim.

The original Halflife 1998 and Stalker.

@ghosts4ever said:

STALKER shadow of chernoboyl. By far most immersive game i have ever played and one of the greatest game ever made.

Gotta try this one out, never played any STALKER game. Thank you

I can list a few that managed to suck me in:

• Half Life: Black Mesa, City 17
• Bioshock: Rapture
• Dishonored: Dunwall, Karnaca
• Battlefield 1: WW1 locations were insanely researched, and coupled with the operations mode felt very immersive
• Red Orchestra / Rising Storm: At times I don't like playing these games, and I play them purely for immersion

There’s been quite a few games over the many years that have really drawn me into them but one that immediately springs to mind right now is the Mass Effect games.

Edit: I would most definitely put Breath of the Wild on the list as well.

The most immersive game ever for me is in VR. RE7 and GT Sport.

After that, i guess Witcher 3.

Re7 or skyrim vr defo. Vr is the greatest invention for immersion in gaming. My god stalker with the aim would be amazing in vr.

FF 6-10

MGS 1-4

WoW

The Witcher 2 and 3

Mass Effect 1 and 2

Assorted RE games.

These are the games that took my breath away for the sake of immersive:

• Halo Combat Evolve-First time I step into the ring world felt immersive during my first time playing Xbox. Truly awesome game and it aged well.
• Witcher 3-Just like a fantasy open-world should feel like for immersion.
• Crysis-This game was so much more then just a shooter, it was a super high-end PC game that got me into PC gaming and Crysis environments were destructible.
• Half-Life & Half-Life 2
• Horizon: Zero Dawn

Lone Echo, but even average VR games are always the most immersive games, so maybe that's cheating?

The Resident Evil Games that are actually scary.

Silent Hill (the original on PS1)

Fallout 3 (especially in the beginning of the game when you left the vault for the first time)

And retro games :

Impossible Mission on Commodore 64 (I really felt trapped in that madman's house)

Killed until Dead on Commodore 64 (a detective game where you would get murdered if you guessed wrong. Scary....)

Not counting VR, Mass Effect 1-3 are the last games to really suck me into the setting and story.

Fallout 3.

I thought I knew what immersion was....and then I played VR. Seriously, nothing compares to the immersion of a good VR game. On PSVR, these are some VR titles that have blown me away in terms of making me feel as though I am actually inside of the game: Skyrim VR, Paranormal Activity, Firewall: Zero Hour, Wipeout, Dirt Rally, RE7, Astro Bot, Borderlands 2, Here They Lie, Transpose, The Exorcist: Legion VR, The Persistence.....and the list goes on and on. VR immersion is insane, period.

In terms of non-VR games, here are a few: Silent Hill (the first one on PS1), all of the Fallout games, Bioshock, Far Cry 2, Layers of Fear, Spec Ops: The Line, Enslaved: Odyssey to the West...and the list on and on. If you can't tell, immersion is a big thing with me, which is why I love VR so much, but I love it in regular flatscreen games, too. Always have.

I'm gonna pose you a somewhat weird question: Do you think pick-up-and-play games can ever be immersive? Let's say, platformers. Could they ever suck you in, or you feel somewhat detached from that world?

Atmospheric immersion: Subnautica.

Story and character immersion: Witcher 3

Oh, absolutely. I could make my list A LOT longer. Personally, I'm really good at dissociating. If I'm into a game, and that game is constructed in such a way that atmosphere exists, then I'm gone when I play it, for lack of a better word. To answer your question specifically, here are a few pick-up-and-play titles (or close enough to it) that make me feel like I'm in another world, literally:

Super Mario Bros. 2 (NES)

Bionic Commando (NES)

All of the R-Type games, oddly enough.

Kid Chameleon (freaking love this game)

Axiom Verge

Castlevania....any of them.

Metroid, Super Metroid, and The Return of Samus

....again, the list could go on and on. So, yeah, flatscreen platformers and the like can definitely be highly immersive. Incidentally, Astro Bot is a platformer, granted VR elevates it to another level of immersion.

Skyrim in VR and that Neon Retro Arcade I have also in VR. One is a vast living world and the other is reminiscent of the arcades I grew up with.

@ajstyles: this

Il2: Sturmovik with a good cockpit setup (three screens, HOTAS, rudder pedals) playing on full real. After some of the more intense missions, I would be physically exhausted, shaking from tension and sweating from mental excretion.

Flying a crippled, dying plane all the way back to base and making a landing with your gears grinding, oil all over the windscreen and one wheel blown off is barrels of fun.

• Morrowind
• Fallout 3
• The Witcher (that's right, the first one had a way more interesting narratives with very fluid paths through them and it didn't rely on way points - outside the combat it was a fantastic game).
• Half-Life

Dead Space

STALKER

Recently Days Gone is pretty good at getting me in the world.

BotW

Clive Barker’s Undying

Anachronox

The Witcher 3

Beyond 2 Souls...dunno why but I was totally into that game.

Skyrim

Far Cry 2

Not too much anymore. When I was young it was definitely the Final Fantasy series. The last game/series would probably be Mass Effect... Even Andromeda did it to an extent.

GTA V

Fallout 4

Witcher 3

Starcraft

Immersion as in relatable? Sounds like an RPG question and I don’t really care for any.

I can’t get immersed in a shooter as even as a gun owner, I’ve never needed to traverse with it for survival or felt the need to kill for food.

Maybe a racing title feels more immersive as it’s an activity I perform daily. But not at break neck speeds or racing others...well, officially. ;)

Alien Isolation comes to mind. So does Heavy Rain.

Rapelay, just like real life.

Forgot to mention SOMA. That game is the definition of immersive imo.

Halo, Gears, Forza

Astro Bot and Moss are both platformers and really immersive. Even in 3rd person, the level of immersion is well beyond what you can get out of flatscreen games and you will still feel attached to the world if it's done well.

Final Assault looks like a childhood dream that came true. What you once imagined as toy soldiers fighting against each other is now a video game. The World Cyber Games even included it as an official game title in their event this year. A VR RTS being in an esports event sounds strangely new to me.

Nice to see all the VR love in this thread. People are finally realizing how crazily immersive VR is. :)

Good choice. Would throw DCS on that list as well.

FFXII

MGS2 Sons of Liberty

Demon's Souls

Horizon Zero Dawn

I understand the appeal of the DCS series, but I'm a prop and gun flier. ;-)

Bioshock, Half-Life 2, Inside, Mass Effect Trilogy... to name a few.

Ace combat PSVR! So immersive my dinner almost came back up

I haven't played the new one but defintely Metro: 2033 and Metro: Last Light

Arcade games:

• Dennou Senki Net Merc
• Manx TT Superbike
• Mazan: Flash of the Blade
• The House of the Dead 3
• OutRun 2 SP SDX

Console & PC games:

• Final Fantasy VII
• Grandia
• Shenmue
• Shadow of Memories
• Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty
• Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver 2
• Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time
• World of Warcraft
• Wii Sports
• TERA Online

• STALKER: SoC
• Half-Life 1&2
• Zelda: Wind Waker
• Zelda: Ocarina of Time
• Zelda: A Link to the Past
• Metroid Prime 1&2
• Super Metroid
• Super Mario 64
• Inside
• Psychonauts
• Another World
• Mafia
• Thief: Deadly Shadows

Yeah I kinda feel the same, as I was younger people would pass by the tv and even leave the house and I wouldn't notice, heck I would even forget about food lol.

These days I have hardly anytime to game as I have kids running around, so I can't get immersed to that point anymore sadly :(

Persona 3 and Suikoden V.

I have played tons of jrpg prior on ps1 in the 90s but only these 2 games I ever went out of my way to play multiple playthrough, by multiple I at least over 4 times each and both game is very long, taking at least 50 - 70 hours. Was really absorbed with the world. Recruited all 108 characters, saw all ending for Suikoden V, maxed social link no guide and played every version of Persona 3.

The majority of VR games. No normal games come even close to the VR kind of immersion