Games with interesting settings

[floralcateyes]

Maybe not as lore-heavy as some of the other suggestions, but there was a bit of a boom a few years ago of games that were (a) made in RPG Maker (or felt like it) and (b) had relatively weird and surreal worlds that might scratch that “interacting with unfamiliar worlds” itch. My personal Holy Trinity of these are Middens (though Gingiva, by the same dev, arguably has a more interesting setting), OFF (which apparently had a big influence on Undertale), and Space Funeral (which, like a lot of other games by thecatamites, is partially about the absurdity of video game settings in general). All of these are free, and while their influence on later games might make them a bit less novel than they were back when they were first released, they all present fairly unique and interesting worlds, imo.

I also feel obliged to suggest Yume Nikki (which is arguably all about its setting) and Hylics (which is quite a bit newer than the aforementioned three but feels like it’s of the same subgenre/scene/tradition/whatever).

[BillButNotBen]

Going back to the early days of indie games, Darwinia has a kinda unique setting.

[Devilfish]

Played a few games since starting this thread and remembered a few others, thought I’d share!

Zero Escape series: such a dumpster fire of a series but I love it
EMPYRE: Lords of the Sea Gates: not a great game but the setting is hella cool
Apsulov: End of Gods: techno-viking horror that I didn’t finish because the enemies were too annoying, but damn it’s techno-viking horror, well done
The Path: indie-artsy Red Riding Hood Simulator, probably my favorite game ever
Syberia: technically kinda sorta takes place in the real world but it’s got such a unique sense of place I’m counting it
Hard West: Weird West isn’t entirely original but there’s a criminal lack of games in that genre

Thanks everyone who contributed, this is a great list!

[BillButNotBen]

The Path reminded me of Sunset, another Tale of Tales game. I haven’t played it, but a game where you play a housekeeper in a 70s Central American revolution sounds kinda interesting.

What Remains of Edith Finch has a somewhat interesting setting, that gets more unusual as the story goes on.
In fact, a lot of Walking Sumulators have kinda unusual settings.

[CohortsGameMaster]

Veil of Entropy: Norfolk Warriors - set in the fictional world of Orth. It has many of the traditional tropes, like Elves, Dwarves, etc., but I’d like to think that it’s got enough of my own weird imagination to make it truly unique. Okay, perhaps not ‘truly unique’ but different enough to warrant further investigation.

[Zephro]

I know this is entirely besides the point, but that is definitely not what Norfolk looks like.

[LexW]

Veil of Entropy: Norfolk Warriors

This is like, so amazing. I was like “Norfolk?! Does this guy know that Norfolk is like, a real place?”. I guess not, jesus, that’s just… wow.

What next, Veil of Entropy: The Brass Towers of Birmingham? Veil of Entropy: The Wizards of Devon?

[Zephro]

Roll against charisma to see if you get a second series…CRITICAL FAIL

[CohortsGameMaster]

There have never been fantasies that have names that are the same as real earth names?

In this particular case, the word Norfolk is not a place - it’s a group of people referred to as Norfolk because they are … from the North.

[Zephro]

Much like the real Norfolk then. Does it have a poorly pedestrianised area causing terrible traffic on the ring road though?

[LexW]

So you’re like Canadian, and this is your game? I’m not trying to be mean right, but is there somewhere in Canada where the people are known for being inbred hicks (soz to anyone from there but that’s the rep mate), and which is generally a boring bit of countryside aside from that? Because that’s what “Norfolk” says to most British people. It’s like if you’d called it “Appalachian Warriors”, and then when people said “Er what lol?” you were like “Well they come from a region called Appala, I don’t see what’s so funny about that!”.

I’m not saying you need to rename your game or anything buddy, but you gotta realize this is going to be extremely funny to Brits. I mean stuff like this c’mon: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Normal_for_Norfolk

[Zephro]

It does have a glamorous and exciting local radio scene though, North Norfolk Digital.

Oh we should probably note Suffolk, also taken. Wuffolk, Wefolk, Efolk, Easfolk are all free.

[CohortsGameMaster]

I’m not ‘like Canadian’ … I ‘am’ Canadian.

Because Canadians are known for their politeness, I won’t bother coming back with a snappy response, but I would have thought when the description says it takes place on a fictional world … any similarity to real names should probably be ignored.

Have a great day!

[Oak]

Well, uh… moving on.

Along with the aforementioned Zeno Clash, I loved the playful painting-worlds of ACE Team’s follow-up, Rock of Ages. There’s also a game I really need to return to called Signal Ops, an odd and darkly comic bit of secret-agent business in a gloomy totalitarian state where everything looks lo-fi, crooked, and visibly hand-painted, including the people.

And since I am morally obligated to keep mentioning it until I die, there is always Brink. The Ark, a floating city where the drowning world’s ruling class live uncomfortably with the climate refugees they tried to escape, is incredibly well-realized for being the setting of a game without a traditional single-player campaign. I know it’ll never happen, but it’s one I’d love to see again, preferably in something other than a multiplayer FPS.

[Shadoko]

I second Six Ages : Ride Like The Wind. Fairly unique blend of bronze age/early iron age stuff mixed with mongol/hun lore and style. It goes well beyond the “mongols but in fantasy land” aspect it might have at first glance and I am always amazed at how it seems to be getting lots of historical concepts from this era and place right, especially in the way you consider the gods and interact with them.

Homeworld has some fairly deep and interesting lore that is almost entirely contained in the manual for the first game, and of course Deserts of Kharak ; nevertheless, I think it deserves a mention for its incredible sense of place, and I would love to see DoK expanded upon by an RPG, for instance.

Elite Dangerous is a bog-standard scifi fare, to the point it’s not even trying to hide most of its more than blatant influences. Nevertheless, it deserves a mention for being, I think, one of the rare space games that get the monstruous scale of space fundamentally right.

[Similar]

I don’t know if it’s just me, but I always felt Mechwarrior 3 had a rather fascinating world. It was deserted, but the ruins seemed like they had stories to tell (I didn’t know any lore at the time, so it’s possible the ruins actually had specific stories).
Of course, the game is pretty impossible to play now, so this is probably not a very helpful suggestion, but I’ve always wished I could find something that had the same feeling to it.

[LexW]

Six Ages (like King of the Dragon Pass) is great, setting-wise, for the same reason Planescape: Torment is - it straight-up uses a great pen and paper RPG setting. In this case the setting is Glorantha, developed Greg Stafford in the 1970s, and very much inspired by actual Bronze Age and early Iron Age cultures and their beliefs and so on. With a little weirdness like the ducks of course.

It seems like the golden age of reality-inspired RPG setting was basically 1975-1992, and since then virtually all new RPG settings and CRPG ones (Pillars of Eternity and Path of Exile being notable exceptions) have been more fantasy trope and meta oriented than inspired by real societies, and pay little attention to real human concerns instead focusing on flashy adventurer concerns.

[Shadoko]

Have been more fantasy trope and meta oriented than inspired by real societies, and pay little attention to real human concerns instead focusing on flashy adventurer concerns.

Oh, you’re right about PoE by the way - I didn’t feel like PoE1 was a very interesting setting but it also took place in the most boring part of the world, and PoE2 definitely has a very nice vibe going on with its politics-centric worldbuilding and Renaissance-meets-polynesian-cultures thing. I also like the fact that PoE2 has no qualms about playing many tropes absolutely straight (pirates and renaissance families, for instance) which gives it a very sincere vibe (one of the issues I had with Tyranny is that, while the world was very interesting, it also felt like it was taking you by the collar and yelling LOOK AT HOW I DO THINGS DIFFERENTLY at times - all the while hiding some very tired tropes.)

[Internet]

On the other hand, I felt like PoE told its best story in Whitemarch, which was an extremely traditional setting. Pillars I should have leaned harder into the 1600s pre-revolutionary American setting, but that’s not really Josh’s area of interest so you missed all the interactions between Glenfathans and Dyrwoodians. That’s the most interesting part!

[Internet]

Speaking of interesting settings from tabletops, Paranoia: Happiness is Mandatory is out today. I’ve always been really interested in running a campaign in the setting, but my party members are too nice to each other to make it work. Hope it turns out well! I’ll see it on Steam.