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.
@cod a tougher ask than it initially seems. Most creepy games do seem to categorise as horror.
I think Superliminal has an eery feeling to it.
I don’t think Intruders hide and seek is a horror, but it is pretty scary in virtual reality.
I started playing Superliminal a week or so ago but got stuck at one point and started a playthrough of Dark Souls, whoops. It was a pretty fun game though, I should finish it.
I haven’t heard of that second one, but I don’t have VR so maybe that’s why.
@cod One or two of the puzzles are a bit finicky, but it does make you feel smart for solving them. Oh yea, intruders is just a short game, you finish it in about 2 hours. I bought it at a deep discount just to play in vr.
It’s a puzzle with a fan and a ball I think. I’m sure I’ll get back to it and immediately figure it out soon enough
@cod if its the one I think it is, that one stumped me for a bit because the solution was different to any of the puzzles that came before it. Still perfectly fitted with the worlds logic though.
Thinking about it a bit more, it had a ball that would replicate itself every time you clicked it and you have to get a pressure plate to be pressed on but a fan blocks the way, blowing the balls away. I’m sure there’s something I’ve missed though. The rest of the game has been a ton of fun so I hope I can figure this one out when I get back to playing it again.
@cod yes, it is the one I thought. I thought they were apples, but I probably misremembered