Games that left you with a sense of wonder about the world beyond the game

[LoneSage]

There was a great thread some years ago, I think @Poonman did it, talking about Rygar and the sunset in the first level. Something about, he wanted to see that world beyond what you could play. This a thread about worldbuilding, about the world beyond the game you are playing. It's the main reason Star Wars became a religion.

Of course we've all experienced that, wanting to go beyond what the game allows to see the rest of the world. Mario 64 is a really good example of that, I think. Everyone wanted to get on top of the castle or go beyond the invisible walls in levels.

What games elicited this sense of wonder in you? This thread is in Console and PC gaming but arcade games are allowed too.



I can't even remember how old I was when I first played Magician Lord. 5, 6, 7, 8? I really can't recall at this point. But the impression of the first level, those opening first seconds, with snowy mountain and floating brick stupas in the background, along with the overgrown vegetation on ruins, set my imagination on fire back in the 90s. I made a thread earlier in General when I discovered the first level is basically a temple to an evil god, it took me close to 30 years to finally see it. But back then, all I could think was how are those things floating in the background? And why?


F-ZERO. Easily every stage bewildered me. Who are the people on the ground? What are these race tracks suspended in air? What are these cities we can only see? But Death Wind's Silence stage, with the giant skull in the background interested me most. Whose skull is that? Who was that? How did they die?

Hoping you all can share some of the magic you felt as a kid, preferably with screenshots.

 

[GutsDozer]

Shadow Of The Colossus always made me wonder what the hell is going on with the rest of that world. We're still also waiting to hear what the heck really happened between Mega Man and X.

 

[Taiso]

The NES version of Strider made me wonder how that world got that way. Not sure why. And what happened to Hiryu after he ditched the cypher? Seemed like a lot of thought went into constructing the entire Strider organization, their purpose and all that, and the characters he interacted with. Juist seemed like a lot of effort for a middling hub based side scroller with pseudo RPG elements.

 

[theMot]

Can’t have been too hard to escape out of Hyrule from the lost woods?

 

[Takumaji]

Always wanted to visit this wonderful and bizarre world.

 

[Dr Shroom]

View attachment 76499

Can’t have been too hard to escape out of Hyrule from the lost woods?

my man, they're called the lost woods for a reason.

 

[yagamikun]

The forest beneath Death Mountain in Link to the Past. When I was a kid I always wondered what was beyond Hyrule on the other side of Death Mountain.

 

[GutsDozer]

This is one of my favorite childhood games that I've beaten a thousand times. Still have no idea what the hell is going on in this Greek, cyberpunk world.

 

[snes_collector]

Great thread. As a kid the Donkey Kong Country was (and still is) my favorites- so much wonder in the worlds

 

[wataru330]

Download2.

The entire game (aside from a few cut scenes) takes place inside hitler’s cryogenically frozen brain. I wonder what the outside world of that world looks like.

 

[HeavyMachineGoob]

For me it's definitely Starfox 2 (also F-Zero but someone said that already):

 

[Gentlegamer]

As a kid into Dungeons & Dragons, I immediately wondered what was off in the woods from the parallax layer of the second world of Cadash

 

[Stefan]

I probably didn't get around to playing a dedicated cabinet version of Rastan until 1991(never owned its Master System & Commodore 64 ports), but the first stage was still extraordinary to me as a kid- The presumably ancient statues constructed alongside a mountain range implied some kind of arcane, advanced human culture lost to time. That curious design element(among several others) piqued my interest w/ the broader setting & history of Rastan's backdrop, even though Taito's game wore the '80s Conan film inspiration/homages on its sleeve. About a decade later, when I first watched The Fellowship of the Ring in a theater, said movie's "Argonath" or "Pillars of Kings" scene was immediately evocative of the same staggering scope of Rastan's potential backstory. I'd previously read most of the source material by Tolkien years prior, but imagined the visual of both statues altogether differently.

 

[Taiso]

The OST for the first stage of Rastan holds up.

 

[Lagduf]

For me, without a doubt, Panzer Dragoon. I played the demo of that game (which features the second level of the game IIRC) hundreds of times before I got the actual game.

The intro to the game stands to this day as probably my all time favorite:

What the hell is this game? Airships, Post apocalypse with Dragons and mounted Knights, bizarre genetically engineered creatures, and absolutely lush and incredible landscapes (especially in Zwei.)

And the music? The music. When the dragon rider dies and the dragon cries out, that shit still gives me chills. They built a beautiful world and I wanted to know everything about it.

No game in the series disappoints.

 

[max 330 megafartz]

Katamari. Marvel land. Streets of rage 2. Penpen tricelon. NIGHTS. Snatcher. Gurumin. Clockwork knight. Astal.

 

[Lagduf]

Also…Moebius (wtf my phone autocorrects to MORBIUS? Fuck you Apple) did a couple drawings for the Japanese release of the game:

 

[Moob Butter]

Lagduf I’m with you on the Panzer Dragoon series. I’m sure I read that wanting to explore the world in more depth is what lead to Panzer Dragoon Saga, which I assume you’ll have played as well.

That bit in PDS if you collect all the D Units, and then go to the Forest of Zoah, and then the original form of the dragon from PD1 is restored gave me goosebumps. Or when Dark Dragon is resurrected by the Empire. Or reading the journal entries from the rider in PD2. I was really, really taken in by the world and lore of this series.

There’s similar connections to the precious entries in Orta, but I haven’t played that game as much as I should have.

 

[wataru330]

Penpen tricelon.

 

[Lagduf]

Lagduf I’m with you on the Panzer Dragoon series. I’m sure I read that wanting to explore the world in more depth is what lead to Panzer Dragoon Saga, which I assume you’ll have played as well.

That bit in PDS if you collect all the D Units, and then go to the Forest of Zoah, and then the original form of the dragon from PD1 is restored gave me goosebumps. Or when Dark Dragon is resurrected by the Empire. Or reading the journal entries from the rider in PD2. I was really, really taken in by the world and lore of this series.

There’s similar connections to the precious entries in Orta, but I haven’t played that game as much as I should have.

It’s been 20+ years since I last played Saga. Great game and managed to really make the combat work and still feel like the previous two games.

Orta was also excellent and was the reason I bought an Xbox in the first place. I loved how it was back to an on rails shooter but adapted the morphing system from Saga.

Now I want to fire up some emulators lol.

 

[Moob Butter]

Clockwork knight.

Hot take. I never really got into the first one, don’t think I’ve played the 2nd. But sure, it’s a better Toy Story game than the actual Toy Story game on Megadrive.

14 year old me would have said DOA Beach Volleyball

 

[Taiso]

Also…Moebius (wtf my phone autocorrects to MORBIUS? Fuck you Apple) did a couple drawings for the Japanese release of the game:
View attachment 76541
View attachment 76542

It's MOEBIN' time.

 

[LoneSage]

Here's another one, digging waaaaaayy back into my memory banks for this one:



SCIV was one of the first games I played, I must have been 5 or 6. The horses in the background of the first level are animated, and it set my imagination on fire. The horse sprites are just obscured enough that it can go either way if they're live horses or skeleton horses - sure they look blue but it's also at night, right?

But I remember seeing those horses and just stopping the game for like a minute and thinking to myself, "I want to go back there. What's back there anyway? I want to see what's happening in the woods."

Oh man, speaking of Castlevania, how about this one too?



Most of these entries for me are for when video games were still practically magic to my child self. I first played Castlevania 68000 when I was about 14, but seeing this huge, Count Orlock-ish looking monster encased in ice in the background still set my imagination on fire. What the hell is that thing, and why is he encased in ice? Is he going to break out? He's a monster in Dracula's castle, so why is he locked up? Freaky to look at and to think about.

 

[douglas]

Bioshock Infinite. However divisive this game may be, it left me with a serious sense of wonder.

All I could think after beating it was, "wooahhhh".

 

[GohanX]

Panzer Dragoon.

Nailed it. It's a crime we didn't get more games in this world.