The epitome of what I’m trying to refer to is the Playdead games (Limbo and Inside). Dark Souls and BioShock both hit on this idea but not quite so directly. The game BADLAND is also a great example of this, too. The mobile game The Silent Age also did this exceptionally well. Never quite knowing what’s going on, and maybe some tension without release, but again not straight up horror. A feeling of uneasiness is what I’m looking for.
When playing through Inside, there’s never any moments where you’re scared, but you’re never sure what’s going on and there’s always a level of unease. What are all the mindless zombie-like people? Why is everyone hunting the player? What happened to this city? What’s the goal of the character the player controls? What exactly is going on here? That’s what I’m looking for. If you know of any other games which do this, I’d greatly appreciate hearing about them. It’s a very specific niche so I’m not sure how many games do this, but the games that I’ve seen do this tend to be some form of post-disaster or dystopia. I’ve seen some great artwork do this too. Zdzisław Beksiński had done some stuff like this. Some great dystopian novels also do this quite well.
Subnautica has some creepy overtones.
I’ve heard as such. I also love nautical themes in general (no surprise given my username), so I’ve been meaning to play it for quite a while. Thanks for reminding me of this game
If you like crafting bases, this sounds like it would be right up your alley, then
Be sure to clear off the next few evenings when you start it
I usually only get one day off work at a time so I’ll use up my paid vacation to play this game 😎
Seconding Subnautica.
It was one of the few games I’ve played where I felt sad finishing it.
The sequel does not have the same vibe, though, so be aware of that. It’s an okay game, but it definitely misses the vibe the original.
I loved Subnautica, but it was too scary and claustrophobic for me to finish because I am a weenie. The first time I had to go down to that abandoned underwater cave base shivers
I’d recommend Control by Remedy. It’s got some SCP vibe and has liminal spaces, spooky supernatural shit and great looking environments and game play.
I’ve received lots of suggestions for Control, I think I’ll be playing it soon
Control was so unbelievably good and creepy. Can’t recommend it enough. Really recaptured the love of gaming and exploring a new world that I had started to lose.
Absolutely Control. I’ve just gotten back to it after a too long hiatus. About half way through and loving every beat. The logs and docs are 100% worth reading.
Outer Wilds. It’s better to play it without knowing much beforehand. All I’m gonna say is: it will make you feel very lonely and even vulnerable at times, although it’s not a horror game by any means. It’s a beautiful videogame with a mind-blowing story.
I’ve heard nothing but glowing reviews for that game, but I haven’t had any aspect spoiled for me at all. Thanks for the recommendation!
I agree. The DLC adds creepy.
Half Life/Black Mesa. I replayed it recently and I had forgotten the level of unease that pervades most of it. While short of horror, there’s been an obvious disaster, people are panicking, and it’s unclear to the PC what is going on for most of the game.
I played Black Mesa a few months back and loved it. It also did a really good job with what I’m trying to explain. I kind of want to go through the original as well at some point, too.
The original is great. I actually haven’t played Black Mesa all the way, but played the original recently… I have to admit it looks quite dated, which isn’t surprising considering it is (amazingly) 25 years old.
I don’t mind outdated graphics (unsurprising, given that I mod this community). I’ve been meaning to get to the sequels too. Are they similar in terms of creepiness?
Oh, definitely! I don’t really recall the add-ons (Opposing Force, etc) but Half-Life 2 is a very worthy sequel.
I know some people say the second is the best one, others swear by the first. I own all the Half-Life games so I really should continue the series
I am not sure which is better. I played the first at a seminal time, when the only other FPS I knew was quake. We also played a lot of HL P2P (back when it was ‘deathmatch’…). I played HL2 much later, several years after it was released, and did no PvP ever. All in all, I like about 60% of each one, as far as the single player story experience.
Fair. There are some advantages to playing games at the time they were popular for sure. I’m a little bit younger though and Halo CE was my first ever video game so I didn’t really experience Half-Life as a brand new game
I’d say Arkane’s Prey hits that for me. The feeling of isolation, not only on the station, but by virtue of being in space, and the story itself. The mechanics of the mimic enemies can create emergent jump scares, but I’d definitely say it’s not a horror game.
I’d also say Death Stranding, at times. While the human NPCs are very wholesome, the atmosphere and experience of delivering the packages out through the timefallen wasteland and that isolation lends itself well to introspection and the BTs are pretty creepy and axiety-inducing until you’re used to them and can fight them.
Oh Prey’s a good one. Fantastic game.
I loved Dishonored 1 and the second was also quite good. I know Redfall was a disappointment but I’ve never played it, so every experience I’ve had with Arkane has been positive so far. I’ve been meaning to play Prey because of this, and I think I bought it over the previous steam sale. I’ll consider downloading it soon to try it out.
I picked up Death Stranding as one of the free games over the Christmas free games thing with Epic, so I don’t have an excuse to not try that one.
Incidentally I just started Prey about an hour ago after sitting on it in my backlog for a couple years. It’s very good so far, seems to have a good spread of systems with decent depth and the graphics are still 2023-approved.
I’ve been playing a lot of DOOM so the combat feels a bit Lite™, but I felt that way about Dishonored too—blows land like wing chun and not like a rock crusher.
It’s got BioShock’s turrets, F.E.A.R.'s slow-mo and Dishonored’s stealthy parkour, and so far it all comes together nicely.
It feels very much like an Arkane title, too. Maybe a bit too much going on at once, but boy do they know how to throw everything at the wall to see what sticks.
Slightly off topic but how do you like the newer Doom games? Assuming that’s what you’re referring to. I still go back and play Doom 1 & 2 quite frequently, but I never got into 2016 or Eternal. My coworker’s favourite game is Eternal and he raves about it all the time. I played a few minutes of 2016 and it seemed alright but I didn’t play enough to get a good idea.
I love them both. I feel like they both need to be played on harder difficulties because they’re built for a pushy playstyle, especially Eternal which requires melee finishers for ammo drops even more than the '16 game already did.
'16 has more of a straightforward plot. The story is fine. The main NPC looks and sounds like James Spader’s Ultron, which thrills me. I love the Mars station design and wish the Hell levels were a bit more creative. Other than some mysterious hints at a connection between Doomguy and all the Hell stuff, '16 doesn’t bother much with lore.
Eternal takes everything good about '16 and gives it an espresso, some laughing gas, and a whole bunch of lore that might have been written by Tenacious D. It’s deeply silly, very hard and has some of the best game design I’ve ever seen. I don’t think one is better than the other; 2016 is more nostalgic, but Eternal is more ambitious. The only catch about Eternal’s ambition is that you really have to be on board, because there aren’t optional play styles — you play Eternal the way the devs tell you it’s supposed to be played.
I might just have to give them another shot then. Eternal sounds like my type of game anyway, so I might go for that one first. Thanks for the explanation!
I’d recommend against playing the Epic version that was free. That was the standard edition. Product placement ruins the atmosphere. Your health potions are literally Monster Energy Drink. If you want to play this game, get the director’s cut.
I was one of the few to get the director’s cut before they switched it, and I kept my copy of the director’s cut and also got the standard edition as well. I guess I got lucky
Redfall was a break from their usually fantastic single player immersive Sims.
The dishonored games obviously has the top slot, but prey follows the same type of setup. Then deathloop is similar in presentation but mixes the formula up with some roguelike-style repetition.
Redfall was unfortunately just the death rattle of arkane as their first xbox-involved launch, if developer interviews are to be believed
What made Redfall so bad? I haven’t really heard anything about the game other than that it was a massive disappointment. Is it just that Arkane usually does a fantastic job and so when they didn’t it was perceived as worse than it was? Or is it genuinely a bad game?
Portal series
Absolutely. I forgot to mention those in my post but I’ve played them many, many times and they’re some of my favourites. Once you leave the test rooms in Portal 2 and explore the rest of Aperture after it became abandoned is one of the coolest experiences in video games for me. I love abandoned stuff, creepy in all the right ways
Yes, the games are not especially creepy but the implications are really horror material the more you think about it. Like the reason why Aperture is abandoned, what experimentations were conducted there, what are the consequences, who is the rat man… Chills.
That’s the best way to do creepy imo. Not immediately in your face or done in a horror-type way but more subtle.
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Bloodborne
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Control (definitely what you’re looking for)
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The Last of Us
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Little Nightmares (quite similar to Inside, horror-inspired and creepy but barely any jump scares)
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Inscryption
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Dying Light (admittedly not very scary, but at night where you get chased by creatures can be very intense)
Control was so good! I found it was a little tough at times, but it maintains the creepy vibes throughout the game. And the more you progress, the more Jesse feels like an absolute badass without undercutting the game’s atmosphere. Just a fantastic game all around.
I’ll be bitter about Bloodborne not being on PC until the day they release it on Steam. I’ll look more into the other ones though. I think I own Control already so I might play that one soon
Control is definitely 10/10 for me, very satisfying once you get used to the mechanics.
Yes, Control hit all the right spots for me. Its got an X-files/Twin Peaks feeling about it. I loved every minute of my playthrough. Its architecture and level design also really appealed to me.
Seconding Control. It’s an absolutely amazing game. Very creepy vibes in most of the game but not quite horror.
Inscryption is such an amazing, surprising, mind-bending and downright crazy experience. Everyone should play it absolutely blind.
Bloodborne is my favorite game of all time.
So amazing. The music in the goal… shivers!
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Control does a good job of starting out uncomfortable and weird, and continuing to escalate as the story progresses. A great deal of unease since you don’t understand what’s going on with your character or the environment she finds herself in.
That sounds perfect. Thanks for the recommendation. I own it so I really should play it
Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice kinda fits this description. It’s a game about a mentally ill viking(ish) warrior so it’s more “psychological” creepiness than zombies, but it definitely achieves what it seeks out to do as with its atmosphere without being outright horror. The game is not for everybody since the gameplay can be a bit offputting.
This is the most skin crawling game in the thread. In VR it’s super creepy, the voices are just downright harrowing.
Oof, I can only imagine VR. The voices with good headphones and a long play session gave me a headache the next day haha
I’ve heard really good things about that one. Good to know it fits what I described, I’ll be checking it out for sure. Thanks!
If you have issues with too-close FOV in games, you may want to make sure you play the PC version and not the console one. PC you can adjust the FOV. Console version is one of the few games I’ve played that made me straight up barfy. Dishonored 2 was another.
Duly noted. I always play on pc anyway, so no big deal. Thanks for the tip
Definitely try Hellblade. And definitely play with headphones.
I have an extra key for Senua if you’re interested.
If you’re willing to, that would be awesome.
Play it with good over-ear headphones. It’s SO good that way.
What Remains of Edith Finch. It’s not horror at all but you’re the last person alive in your family, exploring your childhood home, which is a crazy house with tons of weird add-ons and secret passages, exploring how your family members died. Mental illness, insane unlucky accidents, all that. It’s a really truly excellent game. It’s unsettling in a way that keeps you on edge without ever being actually afraid
That game left SUCH an impression on me. It’s so poetic and the emotions are so raw.
I forgot about that game but I’ve heard really good things. I’ll take a closer look, thanks!
STALKER for that horror undercurrent, Deus Ex Mankind Divided probably has the best atmosphere of any game I’ve ever played and the fact the franchise was abandoned for that marvel brain-rot is a crying shame.
STALKER was my first thought as well. amazing atmosphere. The zone doesn’t care if you’re there or not.
Metro games are pretty good too, especially the first two for that creepy vibe.
I’ve been playing DREDGE and it definitely has the creepy element down. It’s gotten me hooked for sure
I’ve been absolutely loving DREDGE. Picked it up in the summer sale without really knowing anything about it and I’ve been having so much fun with it.
OP, I’d strongly recommend this game but don’t look anything up, it really adds to the suspense and eerieness.
Duly noted, I’ll check it out. Thanks!
Second dredge.
I pirated it and then like it enough to buy it on steam.
Segments of most 3d Zeldas are like this, but the one that takes the cake is definitely Majora’s Mask. The entire game is like one bad dream.
Most Metroid games also qualify, which makes sense since they draw heavily from the Alien movies.
Seconding basically all the (mainline) Metroid games.
If only the Zelda games were on pc :( I could emulate though
I’ll look more into Metroid too
Hollow Knight
I absolutely love Hollow Knight. One of the best games I’ve ever played. Not sure how I didn’t think of it when writing my post. That game is a masterpiece
Firewatch. The story and gameplay don’t lead you to believe you’re in for a paranoia existential plot but it certainly goes there. Sounds right up your alley. It’s an amazing game and certainly hits the point of scaring you without jump scares with an uneasy tension.
I heard lots of good things when it first came out and then sort or forgot about it. I’ll look into it some more, your description sounds exactly like what I’m looking for
