Memorable Settings

Recommendations by Emily Boegheim

Games with memorable settings or landscapes - not necessarily deeply implemented, but vividly described or intriguing in concept.

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1. Metamorphoses
by Emily Short
(2000)
Average member rating: (115 ratings)

Emily Boegheim says:

The obsidian lake and the glass forest are two of my favourite locations of all time. In fact, Metamorphoses was the game which inspired this list.

2. So Far, by Andrew Plotkin (1996)
Average member rating: (69 ratings)
Emily Boegheim says:

I have to admit that I've never finished So Far, but what I have seen of it is very clear in my mind.

3. The Fire Tower
by Jacqueline A. Lott
(2004)
Average member rating: (41 ratings)

Emily Boegheim says:

Fire Tower is based on a real hiking trail, and once you've played this game you'll feel like you've been there. There's a reason this landscape won Best of Show in the 2004 IF Art Show and XYZZY for Best Setting.

4. Glowgrass, by Nate Cull (1997)
Average member rating: (90 ratings)
Emily Boegheim says:

It's hard to explain what I found memorable about the setting of this game. You are a xenohistorian in the future, investigating the ruins of an ordinary home from the past (our near future). The furniture and technology of this house is at the same time familiar and alien, giving a sense of the domestic lives of the people who lived in it.

5. Floatpoint
by Emily Short
(2006)
Average member rating: (91 ratings)

Emily Boegheim says:

Beautiful, colourful, alien. This game absolutely deserved its Best Setting XYZZY.

6. Anchorhead
by Michael Gentry
(1998)
Average member rating: (324 ratings)

Emily Boegheim says:

Thoroughly creepy - you can almost smell the decay.

7. A Mind Forever Voyaging
by Steve Meretzky
(1985)
Average member rating: (98 ratings)

Emily Boegheim says:

The city in this game is almost a character, and I watched its slow disintegration with horror.

8. Shade
by Andrew Plotkin
(2000)
Average member rating: (366 ratings)

Emily Boegheim says:

The greatest one-room-game-set-in-your-apartment ever.

9. Blue Lacuna
by Aaron A. Reed
(2008)
Average member rating: (97 ratings)

Emily Boegheim says:

The depth and breadth of this game's landscape is stunning, and it changes according to the weather and the time of day.

10. The Moonlit Tower, by Yoon Ha Lee (2002)
Average member rating: (57 ratings)
Emily Boegheim says:

A dreamy, haunting landscape, reminiscent of Metamorphoses.

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