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[emag]

Thought Dark/Demon's Souls were pretty good with the darkness. Pretty much all dark areas you were able to see well IMO, and in a place like Tomb of the Giants in Dark Souls it was intentionally really dark, so you just needed a light source and it's fine afterwards. I also like how obtainable items in the Souls games are really bright, so no random walking into the darkness to see if I can find anything. You can usually tell where it is well enough.

The puke filter in Blighttown makes it far too difficult to see what's going on. Seeing it spring into place as you cross the threshold from the Depths or the Valley (or removed on the way back) is also jarring. Then again, the whole game is too dark if you follow the in-game brightness guideline.

Dragon's Dogma is cool with the darkness. It's really dark at night, and it makes the game give off a different kind of atmosphere. Lanterns help, but you still have to be a bit mindful of where you're going, especially since the world is big. The game will tell you that it's dangerous at night but I haven't really found that to be the case yet though lol.

DD does darkness right -- the lantern lights up a reasonable area to a reasonable level of clarity and brightness, while the area outside of the latern's influence is entirely dark. There's no need to fiddle with your display's brightness settings.

 

[crazepharmacist]

Never really had a problem with too much darkness. Make sure your RGB settings on your TV and console match or you may be crushing your black levels.

 

[DarthPrince]

I've spent way too much time messing with the settings on my tv cause I thought that the tv was the reason I could only see pitch black in most games' default brightness settings.

this. so much this. I always thought it was my crap TV that was at fault and crushing all dem blacks. But you're right, it could also be how the game itself was designed.

 

[Pociask]

I've spent way too much time messing with the settings on my tv cause I thought that the tv was the reason I could only see pitch black in most games' default brightness settings.

I know that feel bro. Turning the brightness all the way, still not seeing anything.

Pitch black scenes, used occasionally, can be effective. Sure. But there's a reason movies and tv shows usually use dimly lit scenes as a stand in for dark. Because you need to see the movie or show. It's even more important to be able to see when you're playing a game and controlling the character.

If I want to bump around in the dark and bruise my shins, I can do that just fine in real life, thank you very much.

 

[MYE]

What sort of display are you using OP? I can see just fine in those shots with my IPS monitor.

Anyways, I love really dark areas and I think it definitely can add a lot to the mood of a setting.

I play games on a Bravia

 

[chemicals]

aha! this is something I complain about often... very few companies seem to be able to get dark levels right. I even prefer the way Halo ODST handled darkness (night vision goggles that don't necessarily brighten things too much, but at least you can see the outlines of walls and environments)

 

[TentPole]

Never really had a problem with too much darkness. Make sure your RGB settings on your TV and console match or you may be crushing your black levels.

All of my trouble with RE6 went away when I got my settings right. I am willing to bet that this is OT's problem as it makes RE6 particularly bad.

 

[GeNoMe]

Doom 3 comes to mind.

 

[XANDER CAGE]

My least favorite version of "night" in games is "get rid of all the dynamic shadows and make everything dark blue." The Elder Scrolls games are the worst for this.

I think the game that most impressed me with its nighttime lighting was GTAV. They really nailed the way lights look in the distance when it's dark.

 

[charsace]

Ryse does this pretty well I thought
snip

Looks great, but night time isn't that clear unless you have a lot of street lights.

In reality most games are too bright during night time levels.

 

[Dr. Zoidberg]

The logic of it is what gets me sometimes. In games and TV shows, characters will walk around a room, house, spaceship, etc. that is way too dark after they suspect something is amiss. I want to yell: "The light switch is right there, stupid, what are you doing?" If the power were out I could understand, but in many cases it isn't, with TVs, radios, buttons, etc. clearly working. I'd have every light in the house/ship on.

 

[Mulgrok]

I used to have a hell of time seeing details in dark games, even getting eyestrain, but then my monitor died and I replaced it with an IPS one. I see details in the dark easily now. Guess it is just the lack of quality contrast and color that was giving me trouble.

 

[Arpeggio23]

Arma 3 has some of the best darkness I've seen in a game. Black is actually black.

But, if there is no cloud cover, and the moon is up (especially if it is full), and the stars are out, and you are not in the middle of the woods, then there actually would be enough ambient light that you could see for a respectable distance all around you.

Does ARMA 3 understand that? (serious question; I haven't played it) Because, the original DayZ mod in ARMA 2 (my only ARMA 2 experience) most certainly did NOT understand that.

 

[Griss]

I thought the thread would be about the exact opposite. 'Dark' is never 'dark' in a game to me. I can almost always see everything whether there's a light on it or not. Must be different TV settings.

ZombiU was great at dark, though. If your flashlight wasn't on, that was it - pitch black. I love that.

 

[Paches]

The Hades fight in God of War 3 darkness was really well done, if I recall.

 

[Wasp]

Yeah I hate dark games too.

It's one of the reasons I disliked Halo ODST. I couldn't see shit in the hub city or half of the levels, especially in splitscreen. Had to use the Batman vision thing all the time and even then it barely helped.

Puppeteer I thought was excessively dark based on the demo, but I haven't got the full game yet.

In Oblivion, Skyrim, Fallout 3 and New Vegas I always abused the 'wait' feature to fast forward through the night time.

 

[Chettlar]

Ryse does this pretty well I thought

Indeed, and does it by looking spectacular.

Unfortunately it isn't a "dark" game, oppressive-wise, and I think that's what OP was referring to.

I do think that devs could really take notes from it though, since the second picture especially looks like it could be part of a horror game or simply a "dark" game.

 

[Sturm]

I thought Left4Dead did this very well in most levels. Sometimes you really need to use a flashlight, but sometimes you don't.

 

[dcx4610]

Loved the dark in Ryse. It actually felt like night time with only the moon and torches to light the way. Very atmospheric.

 

[antitrop]

RE6 was "I can't fucking see shit: The Game". I spent like 15 minutes adjusting my TV and nothing was ever good enough.

 

[Psychoward]

Yeah, I used to turn most games brightness settings up a tad bit more than normal but now I just leave them usually. Gif sort of related, GTA V's excellent nighttime lighting.

 

[Hawkian]

Yeah, I used to turn most games brightness settings up a tad bit more than normal but now I just leave them usually. Gif sort of related, GTA V's excellent nighttime lighting.

Gonna have to argue that games primarily set in well-lit cities shouldn't really be cited in this thread. I'm not going to look to Saint's Row 3 as an example of "how to do darkness right."

 

[Double D]

"Adjust brightness until logo is barely visible."

Yeah fuck that I'll turn it up until I can actually see shit, thanks.

I came here to post this. I usually just crank it all the way up.

 

[Vaporak]

Time for an art lesson!:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chiaroscuro

 

[Seanspeed]

I've spent way too much time messing with the settings on my tv cause I thought that the tv was the reason I could only see pitch black in most games' default brightness settings.

It could still be your TV.

I was looking at this thread from a tablet and the New Vegas shot I posted looks almost all pitch black, while on my monitor, its actually full of detail(but still admittedly very dark, as its supposed to be). I have a PS3 hooked up to the TV in the living room and I'm just completely unable to get a good setting for playing Demon's Souls and The Last of Us, which have lots of darker scenes.

So I think that in many instances, the different experiences people have can largely be down to the display they're using. My computer monitor has really brought to life dark games in a way that I've never experienced before. I can really go quite dark without losing the detail in the image quality.

I'm willing to bet that a lot of other people see that New Vegas shot and it doesn't look nearly as awesome as it does on my screen.

 

[Farslain]

I agree. I see the stage lighting is at in games as equivalent to 1950's Hitchcock movies.

As in, darkness was created by dumping contrast/being filtered and stuff would just be filmed in daylight.

I think there is a lack of experience at creating dark and hopefully it will improve, but for now we are stuck with environments so dark you don't even notice the crushed blacks until the end credits.

 

[Snakeyes]

I think they're trying to emulate movies but haven't gotten the hang of it yet.

 

[D-e-f-]

Done right:
Alan Wake

Dark woods were actually scary (esp. if you've had "in the woods at night" experiences in real life before).

 

[Watevaman]

But, if there is no cloud cover, and the moon is up (especially if it is full), and the stars are out, and you are not in the middle of the woods, then there actually would be enough ambient light that you could see for a respectable distance all around you.

Does ARMA 3 understand that? (serious question; I haven't played it) Because, the original DayZ mod in ARMA 2 (my only ARMA 2 experience) most certainly did NOT understand that.

Yeah, it does.

I don't know why the screen came out so dark, maybe it's my gamma settings or something. Regardless, I could see all around me in that screen.

 

[TAJ]

The OP is almost certainly using the wrong RGB level settings on his console and/or TV.

 

[Raysoul]

I had this issue with ZombiU - if I leave brightness down I can't see anything, if I turn it up everything's blown out. There doesn't seem to be an acceptable middle ground.

It is the reverse for me. I thought ZombiU has fantastic lighting on dark places. Really sets the right mood for a survival horror game.

 

[Cerity]

slapping a blue filter on everything that isn't a light source isnt night.

Sometimes I wish art departments would actually go outside/to the places they are trying to put in the game.

 

[leadbelly]

Skyrim is big offender, the night is so bright you can see the shadows on EVERYTHING.

Isn't Skyrim inspired by Scandinavian countries?

You do get some pretty bright nights in that part of the world.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yTvnGvNheFw

 

[TriGen]

Yeah, I hate games that take darkness too far.

 

[Chezzymann]

What sort of display are you using OP? I can see just fine in those shots with my IPS monitor.

Anyways, I love really dark areas and I think it definitely can add a lot to the mood of a setting.

On my Vitas OLED display that screenshot of fallout almost looks pitch black.

 

[kubricks]

Agree with OP!

Immediately reminds me of Doom 3, I regret every single dollar spent on buying that game.
Pitch black most of the time and monster closet jump scare that gets old after the second encounter.... fuck that shit.

 

[dragonbane]

Couldn't see shit in the forest area of Beyond: Two Souls. Kinda added to the feeling though...

 

[jakomocha]

Maybe it was just me, but I thought Splinter Cell: Blacklist was also ridiculously dark. I couldn't really see much even on the highest in-game brightness settings, so I actually had to adjust my TV's brightness.

EDIT:
As seen in the post above, I also thought the forest area (and a few other areas) of Beyond: Two Souls were too dark that I actually had no clue what direction to push the analog stick in during those slow-motion segments.

 

[Deleted member 59090]

Wait I thought this thread was going to be about how games are always too bright not too dark. I'm confused.

Done right:
Alan Wake
Dark woods were actually scary (esp. if you've had "in the woods at night" experiences in real life before).

It was way too bright for a forest in the middle of the night.

 

[eot]

But, if there is no cloud cover, and the moon is up (especially if it is full), and the stars are out, and you are not in the middle of the woods, then there actually would be enough ambient light that you could see for a respectable distance all around you.

Does ARMA 3 understand that? (serious question; I haven't played it) Because, the original DayZ mod in ARMA 2 (my only ARMA 2 experience) most certainly did NOT understand that.

When the moon is up you can see sort of alright. On moonless nights however, it gets dark.

 

[Rodney McKay]

Done right:
Alan Wake
Dark woods were actually scary (esp. if you've had "in the woods at night" experiences in real life before).

That's not really anything like what being in the woods at night felt like from my experience. Maybe it it's a very low density forest with a big full moon out directly above your head at all times.
It has a glowing mist lighting up everything for the player, you don't even need the flashlight to help you see (except for invisible yellow text).

It's not particularly ever dark. Scary and moody, sure, but not dark.

 

[Roto13]

Whenever I'm playing a game and it's clear that I'm about to go into a tunnel or a cave, I dread that I'm not going to be able to see what's going on around me. It's annoying. Developers should put playability above everything else.

 

[HomerSimpson-Man]

Man, the first time I tried Siren on the PS3, it was like playing "Black Crush: The Games", cripes it was dark.

The quality of the tv can matter a lot, like this older Samsung LCD I'm currently using as a monitor has poor black levels compared my Pioneer and Panasonic plasmas in the house, so shadow detail simply can't keep up with those tvs.

I have some of the lighting mods in Skyrim, looks fantastic in the day time especially morning and dawn, but way to damn dark for me at night to enjoy, it just became more of an hindrance than atmospheric for me personally when I just couldn't see anything.

 

[Nintaiyo]

I quit Siren: Blood Curse because I couldn't see a damn thing. Not scary, just frustrating.

 

[D-e-f-]

Wait I thought this thread was going to be about how games are always too bright not too dark. I'm confused.

It was way too bright for a forest in the middle of the night.

That's not really anything like what being in the woods at night felt like from my experience. Maybe it it's a very low density forest with a big full moon out directly above your head at all times.
It has a glowing mist lighting up everything for the player, you don't even need the flashlight to help you see (except for invisible yellow text).

It's not particularly ever dark. Scary and moody, sure, but not dark.

Isn't that the point of this thread? It deals with darkness in a way that still lets players see while creating a tense, scary and moody atmosphere while having an enemy design that takes advantage of these things by being based around darkness and blending into the background.

Alan Wake manages to be dark without blindfolding you. It's tough to make out enemies in the distance if they're in front of a tree but once they move around a bit more, you can see their shape which again enhances the "oh shit, there's someone over there" experiences.