For example, I didn’t fall in love with Titanfall 2’s environmental art design—it felt a bit generic to me, like it was meant to be the backdrop for a shooter, as opposed to the Sevastopol in A:I or the station in SOMA that felt like existing locations.
Ditto BioShock: Infinite. The world felt like it was built around the premise of being an arena shooter, not the other way around.
BioShock 1 & 2 are exactly what I’m talking about though.
Even Borderlands 2 has great world-building: the corporate history that can be inferred from the level design, the weapons & the NPCs makes it one of the richer games I’ve played.
Would love to hear others’ thoughts on your favorite FPS environments!
Prey (2017) has a great level design. It’s one giant interconnected space station that can also be explored from the outside. Different areas all feel very organic and actually liveable.
If you haven’t already, playing Black-Mesa -> Half-Life 2 -> both Episode 1 & 2 are the perfect examples of what you describe. So many details and stories in all the levels, and you are just a guy passing through
I’ve started Black Mesa but haven’t finished it yet. What I’ve played has been fucking impressive.
Valve is sort of the best at what I’m asking about—all of their games have the greatest touches that make the settings feel like existing locations you’ve walked into. It’s what makes me wish they published more.
The insane detail that goes into aging Aperture throughout the second half of Portal 2, the way it starts in the 40s or 50s at the very bottom and has a distinct “era” for each level as you get closer to the surface, including Cave’s progressing illness . . . it’s such good storytelling, and it’s literally just window dressing for the already-great main plot.
The crazy thing is that Black Mesa isn’t made by Valve, but was essentially a fan recreation of the original Half Life. That it fits with Valve’s style is just so amazing to me.
Valve style is gameplay first and foremost. While the environment tries to feel rooted with reality it fell short on several aspects. For example, ever notice how you never encounter a single washroom besides the one at Sector C? The physics puzzle too, it’s fun and shows off the physics engine but it’s impractical irl. And dear lord, the car battery puzzles…
Btw check out the new HL2 mod Swelter. Takes environmental design up to 11. Personally the best atmosphere of any HL source mod I’ve ever seen.
I honestly don’t notice that kind of thing. I usually play games once, and I’m not that into exploration on that first playthrough.
What strikes me about Valve games is that details are way better than I expect. Maybe not realism as you mentioned, but the narrative feels really compelling even with a silent protagonist and no cutscenes. A lot of first person shooters and puzzle games have weaker narratives despite including cutscenes and whatnot.
Cyberpunk 2077
Cyberpunk feels lived-in? In my experience, once the glamour of the visuals wear off, you notice how empty the world feels. The regular NPCs are completely lifeless, every location is just surface-deep and the atmosphere is severly lacking. I stood at the center of the city at a busy intersection and the most prominent sound I heard was the pedestrian traffic light. It’s just sad. You can absolutely see where they ran out of time. Locations might be wonderfully detailed, but there is nothin for you to interact with.
Yea I agree, exploring some of the densely populated areas of the game feel hollow (like you say “surface-deep”). But, when doing the main story line it felt very inclusive and full. I still remember the parade in the main story with Takemura, absolutely beautiful, a bit chaotic and massive feeling. OP talks about Bioshock 1&2 being what they’re talking about, but I could easily argue that both of those games were very linear and didn’t allow for much exploration outside of the main quest line.
