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.
Bloodborne
Control (definitely what you’re looking for)
The Last of Us
Little Nightmares (quite similar to Inside, horror-inspired and creepy but barely any jump scares)
Inscryption
Dying Light (admittedly not very scary, but at night where you get chased by creatures can be very intense)
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.
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.
@simple @cod I loved Control. One of my few platinum trophies
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!