[MoonBird]

Well, I've always been interested in abandoned places, especially industrial and public buildings like factorys, hospitals, schools and so on. A few years ago, when searching the internet I came across with the hobby called UE (Urban Exploring). And since it's only halfway legal (and quite dangerous for some other obvious reasons) I've never dared to do it myself. Only looked the pictures of the trips others have made to places like that.

Then a couple of days ago, I happened to play "Art Of Murder - Cards Of Destiny" and I have to say I really, really, really liked some places in that game, mainly being the abandoned power plant, amusement park and the old movie theatre. Since that game included some nice graphics, I played it with my breath off most of the time for these locations alone.

I also thought "Silent Hill" was a magnificient concept, but totally ruined by the annoying zombies and actionish gameplay. If you could only get rid of those awful creatures, explore more buildings and add much more hotspots, then it would quite certainly have been the game of my dreams.

That brings me to reason for creating this thread. I've been searching new games, but haven't been able to find too much games that include exploring abandoned environments (the larger - the better). I don't mind the casual gameplay, there doesn't have to be even a mystery behind it. Only exploring would do it for me. The setting can be 1st or 3rd person for all I care, in exploring the surroundings it really doesn't matter that much, but it would be nice, if things could be examined, lots of hotspots and comments or explanations about them. So, dear AG forum readers, do you have any that kind of game in your mind, which you could recommend? I would be sincerely thankful.

Best of wishes - Moonbird

[Schneckchen ^.^]

Off the top of my head I can think of 2 games...

There is Dark Fall: Lost Souls where you explore an abandoned train station. It's a first person Myst style horror adventure game.

Now I'm not sure how turned off you are by First Person Shooters but there is also Condemned: Criminal Origins in which you explore an abandoned mall, school, and library among other things if i remember correctly. I liked this game and it was pretty scary as well.

EDIT: Also there is Still Life which has some pretty shabby environments... maybe not exactly the kind of thing you are looking for but you might like the atmosphere.

[MoonBird]

Thank you for the quick reply! Well, action is somewhat a turn-off for me, but it depends, I think. I will look into those you mentioned

EDIT: Dark Fall is definitely one i'm going to try! I don't understand how I've managed to miss it! It looks pretty much like scratches, which I loved. Criminal Origins looked nice, some environments are really impressive, but I think, that the action-elements are too powerful in it.

[diego]

Nice thread. I though AoM 3 is the best in the series even though i've somehow always preferred brighter, greener locations more than those dark ones or abandoned.

Baron Wittard: Nemesis of Ragnarok might not be top-class game but its setting is ruined and abandoned mall city.

If you hadn't played it, Broken Sword and Runaway series have many infiltrations to museums, buildings, military site...

And then there are sewers and catacombs that you'll find in 99% of games

[azadragon]

Sanitarium?

[MoonBird]

I've played all Broken Swords (well excluding BS3) and Runaways Baron Wittard seems something I would be trying. Sanitarium doesn't appeal to me because of the top-down graphics. (which are ok in RPG-games, but not so much in ag's.)

http://www.adventuregamers.com/gameinfo.php?id=1638 this also looks like one i'm going to play when it gets released.

[MoonBird]

Originally Posted by Schneckchen ^.^

EDIT: Also there is Still Life which has some pretty shabby environments... maybe not exactly the kind of thing you are looking for but you might like the atmosphere.

Been there, done that

[jhetfield21]

actually every darkfall game has urban exploring...if you don't have a thing for modern sites.

then A New Beginning has some exploring in a kind of wasteland.....a long abandoned city that died out from disasters.

[MoonBird]

"A New Beginning" experienced already (maybe not the kind of Urban Exploration i'm after, but nice game!)

BTW: Here's my review page for 3rd person point & clicks: http://kuulintu.net/pncpelit.htm
You can check which I already have played (starred games) ...also you see what I think of those You probably won't understand Finnish, but at least you see the score

[TheLongestJourney]

You should really start urban exploring though. It is pretty fun. I had a friend who used to be into it so we'd go exploring when I lived in Vancouver. There's so many cool things to see.

The coolest place we found was the abandoned set of the Watchmen movie.

[MoonBird]

Well, I don't know how these things are in Canada, but here in Finland it's quite strickly forbidden to wander around (and especially in) the private or abandoned public property without permission. And if you manage to get inside a locked house, and you get caught, it's reported as a burglary to the police. No matter if the property is in use or not - it's just a matter of being where you're not allowed. Also it's a security matter: If something happens to you, most likely somebody will get blaimed. I remember one case here in Finland where a boy was climbing at the unsecure ruins of an old grain silo, falled, and died. After that the building was quickly demolished. And one thing - yet the most scaring one - is the narcomaniacs, drug users, who (at least here) like to take control and illegal ownership of such places.

EDIT: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fUld1P1B1qw here's the silo mentioned earlier. Some folk's been filming there.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aihi5...eature=related And here's some more UE From Turku, Finland

[PolloDiablo]

If you loved Scratches, keep an eye out for Asylum, AgustĂ*n Cordes' next project (not due out anytime soon though).
Also, check out the Last Half of Darkness games, which feature lots of abandoned buildings.
Trauma might also be something you'd like. You can play it on the author's website for free (somewhat lower resolution than the version that you can buy).

[jhetfield21]

yeah it's supposed to be about an old abandoned asylum if i remember the story correctly....so it can be of the UE genre.


oh and btw it's awesome.you can find sneak peek videos and trailers in youtube.

[Dara100]

If you want abandoned factories and other buildings and sites you must play the Carol Reed mystery series. The settings are all photo-realistic as they are actual photos retouched for the game and they take place in Sweden so it's unlikely you've seen them before.

This is one of my favorite series. Sometimes the settings are so realistic I feel grimy playing through them. Rooms are not "prettied up" for the cameras either. Artists' studios are as messy as you would expect. House interiors are sometimes tidy or beds are unmade and closets jumbled. You search museums, monastery ruins, tunnels and many interesting places. Puzzles are on the easy side.

[MoonBird]

Asylum noticed earlier, just have to wait for it But I think it'll be worth the long wait, indeed.

Last Half Of Darkness - i'm not so sure, something appears to turn me off with this series of games, just can't name the thing.

Trauma looks quite nice, think I will try it.

Carol Reeds are way too over-saturated in their colour palette for my tastes. I want some dark, foreboding environments. Not screaming colours

Thank you all for your responses! And you can always recommend more

[Irongiant909]

As I seem to have Syberia on my brain right now, I'd say that the game itself is fairly sparsely populated and some places in particular are obviously pretty much abandoned (Komkolzgrad is especially noteworthy - a very bleak, gloomy and desolate place).

[MoonBird]

I've tried Syberia, but didn't like it at all. Too much walking and too few hotspots and to top it off: awful interface and inventory and poorly clued puzzles