RIGHT: Survival
simulator The Long
Dark was designed
around the player
feeling isolated.I
don’t like noisy games.
The ones where
someone is constantly
in your ear about your
next objective, or
some forgettable orchestral score is
blaring over everything. It’s nice
when a game just decides to shut up
for a while, because as someone
who primarily enjoys singleplayer
games—and, this may be related, an
only child—I love being left alone.
Some games do loneliness well, and
it’s particularly effective when
threaded into the story. In Firewatch,
protagonist Henry hikes deep into
the Wyoming wilderness to escape
his troubles. You do spend a lot of the
game conversing with fellow
watchperson Delilah, but there are
long stretches where all you hear is
the wind in the trees, twigs cracking
under your feet, and birds chirping.
Ambient sound design is an
underappreciated aspect of
videogame development, because it’s
something ultimately designed to go
unnoticed. But in the likes of
Firewatch, Dear Esther, Everybody’s
Gone to the Rapture, and other
slow-paced narratives, listening to
the world around you, soaking in
your surroundings, can be
immersive—particularly if you have a
good pair of studio headphones.
A rich soundscape also heightens
the feeling of being isolated,
especially in something like The Long
Dark, whose Canadian wilderness is
haunting. This is another game built
around the concept of loneliness, of
relying on yourself in a cold, uncaring
place. This might be why the story
mode, where you can interact with
several NPCs, isn’t as compelling an
experience as the sandbox.
ALONE TIME
When one of The Long Dark’s
blizzards rolls in, you’re often forced
to run for shelter: a cave, say, or the
remains of an old cabin. And as you
huddle next to your campfire, the
wind screaming, a blanket of white
on all sides, you can’t help but be
swept up in the moment. Now
imagine that situation with some
annoying NPC sidekick buzzing in
your ear, or another player being
annoying, and you can see why
sometimes it’s better to be left alone.
This is also why I prefer offline
survival games. In something like
ARK or Rust, there are always other
players sprinting around, usually
being a nuisance. But when you crash
land on that planet in Subnautica,
your little escape pod bobbing up and
down in a vast, alien ocean, you feel
lost and alone. Even in DayZ, where
player interaction was, let’s be honest,
the only reason to play, some of my
favorite moments were spent on my
own, hiking deep into the mountains
of Chernarus on a hunt for supplies.
Online games can be lonely, too. I
always play Elite Dangerous in Open
Play mode, which means you can run
into other pilots. But the sheer scale
of the galaxy means, once you get
away from the common starting
areas, it’s unlikely you’ll ever see
anyone. But that makes those
occasions when you do run into
someone in some distant, backwater
system all the more special. I’ve
shared brief, beautiful moments with
other players in these situations—
usually just a fleeting hello—before
we inevitably part ways again.LOST IN THE PLOT
Another problem with noisy games is
it’s often difficult to absorb the story.
Between cutscenes, conversations,
radio chatter, audio logs, and more,
it’s often a lot to process. That’s why
quieter, slower games—the ‘walking
sims’ of the world—are so effective.
As you explore that ominous Oregon
house in Gone Home you can really
absorb the story and, importantly, do
so at your own pace. You aren’t being
force-fed a story: You’re pickingleisurely from a buffet, and that gives
you the time you need to process
what you’re seeing and hearing.
Think of all the times you haven’t
been able to enjoy something because
of other people. Idiots talking in the
cinema or at a gig; tourists hogging
something you want to see; people
chatting in the bread aisle when you
want is a granary loaf. Sometimes
people just ruin things, and the same
applies to videogames. So I’m
thankful there are virtual places
where people are an afterthought,
and it’s possible to enjoy some quality
time alone, away from it all.AMBIENT SOUND DESIGN IS AN
UNDERAPPRECIATED ASPECT
OF VIDEOGAME DEVELOPMENTALL BY MYSELF Some of the loneliest games on PC
EVERYBODY’S GONE
TO THE RAPTURE
You’re the only living soul
in a rural town, exploring
its surroundings to
discover what happened.
The solitude is palpable.GONE HOME
A touching tale of broken
dreams, rebellion, and
young love set in a big,
empty Oregon house. The
ambience make you feel
powerfully alone.ELITE DANGEROUS
Such is the vastness of the
Milky Way the chance of
you running into another
player is very rare. It’s just
you, the stars, and the
endless void of space.EURO TRUCK
SIMULATOR 2
It’s just you, a shipping
container, and the road.
For the duration of the
journey, the cosy confines
of the truck are your world.EXTRA LIFE
NOW PLAYING (^) I UPDATE I REINSTALL I WHY I LOVE (^) I MUS T P L A Y