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.

  • doxophobicdoll@sh.itjust.works
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    1 year ago

    Check out Manlybadasshero’s channel, he plays a lot of games like that. CJU does as well. A lot of them are very narrative-based, which might not be what you’re looking for. The Coffin of Andy and Leyley for example, freaking fantastic game but it’s a slow creepy burn rather than action-oriented. Little Misfortune is another personal favorite, and the Tartarus Key. They also play some random ass games like this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2VWL4vKRp8U where it’s a dystopian world and you never really find out what’s going on, which sounds similar to what you’re into.

    • cod@lemmy.worldOPM
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      1 year ago

      Awesome, thanks for the recommendations. I’ll definitely be checking out those channels later on. That last game you mentioned sounds exactly like what I’m looking for, so I’ll check out that video tonight or tomorrow. Appreciate it!