What is the most immersed you have ever felt in a game's world?

No genre limitation, but the nature of such a question naturally invites more fantasy RPGs than most other genres.

Still, the nature of the question is the same. What game out there felt like more than a game to you? Where you cared about the NPCs, from main narrative to shop clerks? Where you felt a sense of wonder just exploring the cities, lakes, and mountainsides? Where bits of secrets lay scattered behind the most unsuspecting alleyways?

Which games, to you, make you feel you were alive in the universe - as a fellow bystander, not just the 'chosen one.'

That’s a tough one. But I’d say playing through Final Fantasy VII for the first time in 2019 was a magical experience. Even though it’s an older game, it ticked all the right boxes for me. I still can’t quite put my finger on why that game resonates with me so much. In a nutshell, I think the characters play a part in really making the game special. Without that combo, it’d still be good but just missing that something.

Other than that, I always love my time with DQ games. I get very homely vibes from them. A little easier to jump into than FF I find too.

Anything in VR basically but as for a non VR game I would probably go with almost any GTA game starting with 3. Simple things like driving and listening to the car radio really brought up the immersion especially back in the day when it was new. Other things to like flying a jet in San Andreas going into cinematic camera angle mode while going through the clouds felt groundbreaking at the time.

'Most' as in one game over all probably doesn't exist. But on an expanded note it's probably various Survival Horror games that immerse me the most. And mentioned as such in a previous thread about Favorite Aesthetics

Playing in the dark, my ATH-M40X headphones on, and wrapped in a blanket. Nothing more immersive to me for playing a video game, and I do this for anything horror related. Am glad Survival Horror has had a resurgence in 8th gen, 7th generation was pretty bad for this genre.

Tough call. Not many games really immerse me, even in VR (as awesome as VR is, you're generally very aware you're wearing a headset and holding controllers).

Doom: Eternal is pretty close to fully immersive. I get that tunnel vision and I start holding my breath during tense moments, which is generally something that occurs when you are focusing on something and neglecting your surroundings.

Some flight sims get pretty close. In DCS World when I'm flying the A-10C and doing a gun run, getting ready to "brrrrrrrrt" some tanks, I have to focus and become "one with the plane" lol.

Outer Wilds comes to mind... I'm not sure that's the best example tho.

Hellblade - mostly because it speaks to me personally. Not literally of course…

Vice City, GTA IV, Witcher 3, KOTOR I

There's a few that come to mind... the main ones being Bioshock (Rapture), Half-Life 2 (the whole world, but especially Ravenholm) & the Mass Effect universe.

Mass Effect might have been one for me, Alan Wake was one that was almost completely good to me, especially given other things that were out at that time, it was immersive in that way. Mass Effect had a whole lot going for it to me though with the way the world's were accesible and how they were laid out. The citadel, and how you operate there and interact with other characters was something to remember. That game made me a fan of Bioware.

breath of the wild

jedi fallen order

ori will of the wisps

TW3, RDR2, BotW, God of War, RE2 remake.

Final Fantasy 8 - A world full of mysteries.

Final Fantasy 10 - A world of Blitzball

Superhot VR

Hmm, good question... While a game is a just a game in the end, I'm pretty sure there's definitely lots of locations that I myself would like to visit for real. Academia 4xx from FFXIII-2 fits the bill rather nicely.

GOTHIC

The Witcher 3 - The Wild Hunt and Horizon Zero Dawn