What setting/trope is guaranteed to sell you on a game?

[dope_danny]

Everyone has certain tropes and backgrounds in games that appeal to their tastes. It could be as simple as a genre or the difference between linear and persistence versus effervescent, procedural generation but theres always something you hear about a game that make you give something a second glance and go 'oh hold on a minute, whats this?' and gets you invested.

For me i think i'm a sucker for the setting that uses the "once marvel of the world city turned to ruin" idea. Places like Rapture in Bioshock, Lordron and Drangleik in Dark souls, Hallownest in Hollow Knight and even in objectively shitty games like the floating arcology that was lost at sea from Brink. Its games where you are largely a solitary character, often with little reason for being there beyond stumbling upon the location at all, who delves into some long, long epilogue to a massive disastrous event to explore and maybe figure out what happened here. Often with a similar progression of 'normal looking abandoned areas with feral, murderous people as enemies' to a journey to the root of it where things become more monstrous and nightmarish in both location aesthetic and enemy variety.
Theres plenty of other genres and tropes i like but the whole 'what happened here? will i piece it together over time or will this just be a lonely adventure for adventures sake and it will all remain a mystery with a bitter sense of melancholy that this world was once something grand?' vibe you get from these kinds of games. Its kind of ironic since i usually roll my eyes at people that play games for "the lore" rather than immediate stories as the worst kind of 'watercooler videogames' but i find this setting is the only one that gets the balance between environmental storytelling and active, ongoing developments right to a degree of success i dont find in cases of things that are outright post apocalyptic world settings. Maybe it just stems from a personal love and fascination of really well composed, high quality photography of real world places that have been abandoned and retaken by nature combined with the old go to trope in stories when i was a kid of 'tumbling down the rabbit hole' where often these places aren't set in a ruined world, they are an isolated freak occurrence, but maybe its up to you to ensure it stays that way and never spreads.

But thats just me, i know plenty of folks who find that mind numbingly dull and would rather see a game set during the events than long after in this kind of setting, but what about you? what trope or setting for a game is a super easy sell for you?

[Cosmic Janitor]

(High) Fantasy & Magic.

Especially if it also happens to be an action/adventure/rpg game in 3d. 2d sidescroller and top down usually tempers my desire to play the game quite a bit.

[Unlimited Power]

Nothing really. There's a couple of franchises where sequels are guaranteed purchases for me, but that's very limited (Warcraft RTS, Half-Life, Portal, Darksiders). Beyond that I look at each individual game and generally wait for reviews. And even then I'll most likely wait years for complete versions to surface, like GotY editions with all DLC, which I'll still only buy once they're heavily discounted.

[Low Hanging Fruit]

Nada. In my older days I have learned trash can be hidden in outstanding wrapping paper. When I was younger though anything high fantasy with solid RPG systems was almost an auto buy. These days I just don't buy anything within the first month or two. Mostly because I can get it 20 to 50% cheaper post hype train and I can see enough user ratings and reviews to over come the shill media misdirection by over saturation.

[Cairhiin]

Any form of fantasy setting like D&D's Forgotten Realms, Dark Souls' Drangleic and Diablo's Sanctuary, etc.

[Gallahadd]

Tactical RPG.
Steampunk setting.
Strong character customisation (gameplay, not looks).

If a game has one of those three, I’ll keep an eye on it.
If it has two of them, I’ll buy it Day One.
If it has all three, I’ll preorder the deluxe version.

[Kumorii]

Generally darker worlds. Hollow knight, darhk souls etc etc... Where you explore a world which it's glory days was past long ago.
At the same time I'm not really interested in dystopias like last of us or division since I'm more interested in the societies rather than people themselves.

[Leenaleena]

- High Fantasy with multiple gods. Bonus points for rebellion against the system/gods.
- Crappy worlds. Not necessarily destroyed worlds, but those that are realistic, but kinda shitty unless you're born as main-race/best-gender with power+money.
- Pretty visuals. Pretty magic, lots of light effects. Bonus points for wings/angels.

[sylenna]

snowy areas.

i find a lot of comfort in games where i am able to look at a beautiful snowy landscape. some examples:

- codename: eagle. dark valleys, snow, silence is a bit important.
- no one lives forever. especially the snowy levels, but also the one german town i vaguely recall.
- undying. i don't think there was a lot of snow, but there was a lot of clive barker.
- return to castle wolfenstein. again, darkness and snow and covert operations.
- skyrim. high mountains, solitude, danger, snow.
- world of warcraft. storm peaks, stormheim. haunting music, grim settings.

there are many more examples, but these are a few from the top off my hat. mix snow, darkness and the occult and i'm game.

[Temp name]

I don't buy games based on settings..

But settings that'll intrigue me are high fantasy or grim-dark sci fi

[avitush]

I'm a sucker for cyberpunk themes, especially if it's an RPG along the lines of Shadowrun.

- - - Updated - - -

snowy areas.

i find a lot of comfort in games where i am able to look at a beautiful snowy landscape. some examples:

Also this. The walk to High Hrothgar in Skyrim (particularly the higher areas where the snow started getting more intense) was pretty memorable for me.

[Wildmoon]

Setting is a huge factor for me. I have refused to play great games with the setting that don't attract me before. WarCraft has pretty bad storytelling but the setting has always been the charm for me.

[Harry Botter]

In general: High Fantasy, Post Apocalyptic, Sci-Fi and Lovecraftian stuff.

In WoW: Old gods and non faction conflict stuff.

[ParanoiD84]

Ancient and medieval settings, historical settings and sci fi and almost everything with warhammer or 40k in it same with total war serie.

[Freshouttajail]

I don't have a setting that will GUARANTEE to sell me the game. There's some that will guarantee I won't buy it tho.

[Katchii]

High Fantasy usually, but even then that just guarantees I'll look at it and research it a bit more, not necessarily buy it. A game needs a LOT more than just a setting/trope to get to drop money on it.

[Lucitity]

Anything that deals with psychological themes, unreliable narrators or 4th-wall breaking stuff that pokes at the player's brain. Basically any of the Silent Hills, Persona, Eternal Darkness, Psychonauts, etc..

[Northy]

High Fantasy and Social Aspects (like what WoW used to be).

[melzas]

Fantasy (all sorts) and post-apo (like Fallout) are my favourites by far. Too bad there are not too many good post apocalyptic games with open world to explore.

[kraid]

Nada, I might check games on a whim or if the trailer, cover or setting looks interesting.