So I've been playing E.Y.E. lately, and it reminded me of how much I love just being thrown into a setting with really no clue at all as to what is going on, and just figuring it out as I go.
Things like Blame!, Pathologic, Ergo Proxy, the first Matrix film, Deus Ex, most of the retro-futuristic movies and games from the 80s and 90s, they all have this very unique dark, oppressive atmosphere that leaves you feeling half claustrophic, half in awe.
How can we recreate this in tabletop gaming? I get a lot of this feeling when reading most 90s White Wolf rulebooks, but not when I'm playing their actual games. Same thing with Shadowrun: reading the books fills my mind with imagery, but when running or playing a game of Shadowrun I rarely get the same atmospheric vibe that I get reading something like Neuromancer or Dune.
What rulebooks give good tips on running these types of games? How do you guys enhance the atmosphere for these types of games? Which soundtracks would you recommend? What other settings evoke similar feelings to these?