[DoctorEldritch]

Hello Legion Gamers!

We're now past the Summer solstice (congratulations to those who celebrate it), so the Summer officially started at full speed.

Got any Summer plans? Personally, for me, Summer is the time for hiking, cycling, and swimming. Under normal circumstances, I usually do all those things when I am visiting my parents on the outskirts of Europe. However, last year the Summer was unbearably hot (river swimming was good, though), and this year, for some reason, is extremely humid.

So as much as I love hiking or cycling, if I were to do that right now, it'd feel like a sauna visit. You get all sweaty and can't breathe normally and the whole activity becomes rather uncomfortable.

While I am waiting for the weather to ease up and humidity to lift, I thought I could still do some hiking in games. I blew the dust off my Firewatch game and spent a couple of evenings again hiking through the digital Shoshone National Forest.

Not at the top of my hiking location list (that would be South Tyrolean Alps), but it's up there.

But Firewatch is limited in the sense that it's a short and rather small game. So after a couple of evenings, I've seen everything that digital Wyoming there has to offer and went on a search for more games like that.

To that end, I came across Everybody's Gone to the Rapture. Which is not bad, but more of an experience visiting the countryside rather than the hiking trail. I am looking for something more with a "summer wilderness" vibe.

Which brings me to the question: does anyone know more games like that, with expansive great outdoors?

[DracoTarot]

@DoctorEldritch The closest I got to vast outdoor games recently was Skyrim. Not sure if it counts. 😊

[DoctorEldritch]

@DracoTarot I thought about it and RDR2 too, but those games have some violent animals (and in the case of Skyrim, giant flying lizards, too) outdoors that disrupt embracing the serenity of nature. But I guess it works too, those games are known for detailed outdoors, after all.

[Saka]

In my opinion, Skyrim definitely can be seen as a game with vast outdoors. Violent lizards can be annoying though.

[DoctorEldritch]

@Saka Personally, I liked Oblivion better, just because it has more biomes to visit. Skyrim is beautiful, its population of violent lizards notwithstanding, but it is mostly covered in snow or has autumn colors. Oblivion had a bigger variety of vistas.

[DracoTarot]

@DoctorEldritch When I play Skyrim I try to avoid all the nasty creatures but sometimes it's not that easy. I agree most of the landscape in Skyrim is covered in snow and doesn't have the same effect as walking in a lush green environment.

[DoctorEldritch]

@DracoTarot Walking-wise, I guess Fallout New Vegas is closer to the Summer vibe. Honest Hearts DLC is set in one of the national parks, and there is something oddly pleasant in exploring the post-apocalyptic hiking trails.

[DracoTarot]

@DoctorEldritch The vast landscape of Red Dead Redemption is also nice and even Dead Island 2 was appealing to me.

[DoctorEldritch]

@DracoTarot Red Dead Redemption was very good in the sense that they attempted to capture all iconic American landscapes. The forests and geysers of Yellowstone Park, the swamps of New Orleans, and the frosty mountains of Alaska, among others, all found a small reflection in the game landscape, so it is very diverse and with very impressive depth of detail. But the overall vibe of that game somehow does not feel too zen to me. I have not tried Dead Island 2 though.