Growth of thin films by deposition of single atoms in a vacuum is widely used in many fields of science and technology. Additional introduction of energy in the growth process, e.g. by a separate bombardment of the growing film by noble gas ions or by giving the film-forming particles themselves a hyper-thermal energy influences remarkably the structure and properties of the film. Generally, films grown under those conditions are denser and closer to the bulk material with respect to their properties as thin films grown under usual conditions. Frequently, energetic condensation is connected with quenching of the film as the far-from-equilibrium state of the film under energetic bombardment cannot completely relax. In this manner, amorphous thin film materials are obtained which do not exist in the bulk. Despite the fact that such films represent a metastable structure they may be very durable and thermally stable. An important example for this are a-C:H films (amorphous carbon films with 10-30 at.% of hydrogen), often not very exactly referred to as diamond like carbon (DLC) films. Other materials relax from the mentioned non-equilibrium state in such a way that they form a mixture of several phases via spinodal decomposition. In this manner, superhard nanocomposite films have been formed which consist of small crystals (typically 10 nm in size) which are embedded in an amorphous matrix. The unusual formation and properties of both amorphous and nanocomposite films will be reviewed.