# Games with atmopshere like in Life is strange?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/games-with-atmopshere-like-in-life-is-strange/821219>\
**Category:** The Game Room\
**Created:** [September 12, 2018, 11:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/games-with-atmopshere-like-in-life-is-strange/821219 "2018-09-12T11:36:09Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![JakeRS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/3ab097/32.png) [@JakeRS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JakeRS)\
**Post date:** [September 12, 2018, 11:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/games-with-atmopshere-like-in-life-is-strange/821219/1 "2018-09-12T11:36:09Z")

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I recently played Life is strange and I absolutely loved the atmosphere of being free to walk around a realistic American school, town and so on, at least where the missions allowed you, are there any games that function in a similar way? Not the time warping thing or the story, but with that kind of environment and freedom to just explore it?

I guess I can count in The long dark as well, that’s a survival game, but you still have American/Canadian inspired locations and you’re free to walk anywhere you want and just discover places. I hated the last 2 chapters of the Life is strange because they were too linear and you couldn’t go around, it felt like a boring cutscene that doesn’t seem to end, so I don’t want stuff like that.

How does Firewatch stack up in all this?

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**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\
**Post date:** [September 12, 2018, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/games-with-atmopshere-like-in-life-is-strange/821219/2 "2018-09-12T13:01:14Z")

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Firewatch is a walking simulator for the most part. It can be pretty and the characters/story are interesting enough, but any exploration is extremely gated and progress is super linear.

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**Author:** ![Hi\_Neighbor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hi_neighbor/32/494_2.png) [@Hi\_Neighbor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hi_Neighbor)\
**Post date:** [September 12, 2018, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/games-with-atmopshere-like-in-life-is-strange/821219/3 "2018-09-12T13:44:31Z")

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In Persona 5 you can walk around in high school, towns, malls, subways, and whatnot.

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**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\
**Post date:** [September 13, 2018, 9:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/games-with-atmopshere-like-in-life-is-strange/821219/5 "2018-09-13T09:10:06Z")

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> [@Hi\_Neighbor](#):
>
> In Persona 5 you can walk around in high school, towns, malls, subways, and whatnot.

In the same vein, while there is a plot the majority of the Yakuza games involve just walking about the town chatting with people (and breaking boxes over peoples’ heads).

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**Author:** ![Telperion](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telperion/32/509_2.png) [@Telperion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telperion)\
**Post date:** [September 13, 2018, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/games-with-atmopshere-like-in-life-is-strange/821219/6 "2018-09-13T13:45:02Z")

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_Night in the Woods_ is side-view, but it has the same elements of exploring the town and talking to the inhabitants.