Times I've held my breath for real whilst playing games...

[Alex79]

...and other signs of total immersion.

Not all games are created equally. Some games creep out of the television, and affect the way you behave when you're playing them. You become part of the game. There's a little benchmark that I usually spot when it happens, and I know the game I'm playing has completely immersed me in to it. I'm no longer playing a game - I'm in the game. This little benchmark is when a game makes me physically hold my breath. I can be sneaking around and spot a guard around the next corner, and I'll crouch and hold my breath. I might not notice at first, but when I do, it's awesome.

Here are some times that I have held my breath whilst playing video games.

Far Cry

The original Far Cry game is still one of my favourite shooters, no games, of all time. At the time it was the most beautiful game world I've ever seen created. I remember emerging from the indoor environment at the start of the game, and seeing the island laid out in front of you. Taking the time to soak it all up, before continuing down the hill. As I neared the guards in the first group of huts I began to crouch and move more stealthily. Then, in the undergrowth I heard movement. I hit the deck and held my breath, praying I wouldn't be spotted. I lay still for over a minute, listening, trying to work out exactly where the enemy was. Once I located the sound I held my breath again and slid closer, an inch at a time, creeping up ready to cut a bloody throat and move on. I finally got right on top of the enemy soldier, drew my machete, and..... WHAT THE FUCK!? I'd been hiding from a fucking pig all along. Oh well, bacon for tea...

Ico

Ico was one of my 'must get' games when I went on my rare game collection crusade. I finally managed to get a copy and excitedly loaded it in to my PS2 disc tray. When the game loaded up I was blown away. I don't think I'd played a game before or since that made me feel such a connection to another character. That whole game was keeping the girl safe, and the sheer adrenaline shot when you saw those black cloud monsters start to take her away whilst you were halfway up a rope the other side of the screen was incredible. But this was not a game for anyone with no head for heights! I remember holding my breath on a number of occasions whilst traversing narrow beams suspended at unnaturally high levels from the ground! I never did complete the game on the PS2, and ended up re-buying it as part of the HD collection on PS3 - I really must go back and complete it at some point.

Splinter Cell

Yeah, most stealth games will induce a spot of breath holding whilst hiding in the shadows, but this was the first. Well, ok it wasn't the first, but it was one of the first. Again this is a game I never got round to completing, AND a game I owned the original of on PS2 and the HD remake on PS3! But I loved the first few missions of this game. It was the first proper stealth game I really ever played. Sure I'd played MGS on the PS1 years before but was that really a stealth game? Really. I loved this game, and remember vividly hiding with baited breath around corners, in the shadows, hanging from ledges, waiting for guards to pass on their way. Or at least pass on their way just enough so I could leap out from behind them and snap their necks...

So, which games have immersed you to the point that you notice yourself doing something in real life whilst playing them?

[DomsBeard]

Great post, I'll add more later but the first for me was Heavy Rain.

Fighting the Origami killer with Norman Jayden after messing up the other characters chances of solving the mystery left me with just the FBI man to sort it. If he'd have died in this QTE all would've been lost. Never been so tense in a game, there's a bit where you push the controller up with both hands to uppercut with I did it with a hell of a lot of force breathing out as I did.

[NokkonWud]

Every single jump and landing in the Trials games.
That said I have a habit of holding my breath when doing stuff anyway so it's hard for me to isolate it to any particular game or gaming moment (in the literal, actually holding breath action.)

[The Sonic Mole]

The reason I love bullet hell shooters is the hold your breath/by the seat of your pants thrills you get from them.

[ratsoalbion]

I think I hold my breath playing virtually anything and everything - FIFA, Mario, Silent Hill, Bayonetta, Battlefield, The Walking Dead, Robotron... whatever. All for different reasons.

[Scrustle]

I don't get this feeling anywhere near as much as I used to when I was a lot younger. I can think of countless times when I felt like that in my earlier days. Fighting bosses in Majora's Mask; weaving through traffic in the original Burnout games; fighting intense battles with monsters in God of War; clinging on for dear life in Shadow of the Colossus; fighting the Elite Four for the first time ever... Those were the days. But towards the end of the last generation and increasingly through the latest one that feeling has been harder to find again. I think it's down to a combination of factors which are mostly the result of me just getting older and more experienced. Games becoming easier is probably also a factor, but I think it's mostly because of me. It does sometimes happen though, but rarely. Nailing a good run in Mirror's Edge while in danger managed to bring that feeling back, as did going up against bosses in Devil May Cry 4 for the first time. Those were still a good while ago though, and I'm really struggling to think of any occasion when I've felt that way more recently. The only examples I can think of have actually been in recent months, but they've been from Devil May Cry 3 HD and Zone of the Enders 2 HD. Those are just ports of older games, so they don't really count. Perhaps games have changed more than I thought.

[mikeleddy83]

I'm not really sure I do much in the way of holding my breath but my brother (making up for my lack of interest in sports games) shows some really funny behaviour he's unaware of whilst playing NCAA, Madden or FIFA. He actually starts visibly shaking in proximation to the build up of a goal, it cracks me up each time he does it as he's totally unaware of it but it does make me wish I still played a bit of ISS 64 or Mutant League Football once in a while.

[James]

Manhunt captured a real sense of tension when enemies come looking for you in the shadows. I found myself genuinely holding my breath in that leaning-out-of-the-way-though-in-a-car type moment.

There are also a couple of games that had me waiting with baited breath to find out about the fate of certain characters during cut scenes. On the off-chance that anyone is sensitive to knowing that characters are in danger in these games, I'll spoiler tag them:

Spoiler: show

Nier and DmC both spring to mind

[Sean]

Demon's and Dark Souls had my breath held and butthole firmly clenched for the entirety of them.

Even now, when I play them, and know exactly what to expect, its still a tense experience.

[Indiana747]

Playing multiplayer on Uncharted 2, specifically the mode where your in team of 5 or 6 against the enemy but if you die, your out. I was the last man alive on my team against 4 enemies and my fallen comrades were watching me on their screens after they had been killed. My heart was pounding like a jackhammer & i got the sweaty palm syndrome. One by one i picked them off, holding my breath with the nerves. I miraculously beat their whole team on my todd and i would say i never witnessed a more tense gaming moment since.
Maybe in some moments on BF3 multiplayer i have held my breath when i was on a good streak. It definetly happened during my best run of 38 for 0 on Noshar Canals.
As for single player campaigns i dont think i get the same rush as i know i will just be put back to the most recent checkpoint. Nowadays, games are easy, with quick saves and frequent auto checkpoints i seldom get tense, cause theres never really that much at stake.
Back when i was younger i held my breath while playing Amiga & Megadrive games cause if you died it usually meant back to starting the whole game again(now thats pressure). I can attest to running and shouting out of the house with glee after beating Xenon 2 on the Amiga. Could never never do it now(beating the game, not the running and shouting bit ) memorising five levels of enemy attack patterns and hard as nails end of level boss battles. No thanks, ive gone soft in my old age.