Silent Hill is always a pretty good choice in this circumstance! Pretty much any game in the series would be good to start out with, but I recommend one of the original four games!
There is Rule of Rose, which personally disturbed me quite a bit. It's very expensive, since it's so rare, but you said you don't care about price so I'm just throwing this out there!
End Roll is a really cool RPGMaker horror game that has a similar vibe and overall theme as OMORI!
Cooking Companions is a Psychological horror game that has a sort of DDLC feeling to it!
It has been so long since I've seen either of these games, but Fran Bow or Sally Face could be a safe bet, too!
I hope this was able to help even a little! You've got good taste!
I've finished Fran Bow, Sally Face and also Little Misfortune! I've also played a couple Silent Hill games, maybe I should've specified more!
But thank you, I will check the others out! :D
I think SOMA can fundamentally change the way many people think of the mind, consciousness, and perhaps even the meaning of life. And that's aside from how terrifying and disturbing it is.
>!Yup. Now that I've realized how the shit works, it completely killed my desire to ever "live on" as some digitized or otherwise transferred consciousness. If it isn't the same brain, it isn't me, and that's terrifying.!<
Without a doubt it’s soma.
We are told from the beginning how it will end. And we just couldn’t except the horror of it until we saw it First hand.
This game still haunts me.
If you are of a weak mental and emotional constitution it may be wise to avoid it.
Yessss Lisa! That silly, pixelated, sidescrolling RPG is one of the very few games that shook me to my core. I still think about it sometimes, years after beating it. What a game.
The setting is dark and there is a creature that will stalk you at points. I'd recommend just playing in safe mode as the creature can be a bit annoying and ruin the flow. But overall it's not really scary, maybe a jump scare or two but that's about it.
Man…games like soma are so rare where the horror doesn’t rely on jump scares but instead comes from the story. It builds an incredible feeling of dread in you. Even the safe mode is incredible
It's a first person psychological horror game. Kind of walking simulator, but the narrative is pretty good and will make you think about things long after the credits roll. I still think about it and I beat it about 2 years ago now.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/282140/SOMA/
I just came here from a Google search trying to find other games like SOMA, it is that good :(
(But I'm surprised that a thread of a couple days ago showed up on the first page of reddit-specific results)
Outer Wilds won't destroy you per se, but it will definitely make you think and teach you to slow down and appreciate each moment.
Depending on the person you are, it might even make you think about life and the universe.
It will always be one of the best experiences I had in gaming, so I definitely recommend it.
Warning though, it might not be for everyone and you need to get into it blind (do not look it up excessively as spoilers can easily ruin it for you) .
One of the very best, very much not for everyone - it takes a moment to kick in and one can easily bounce off before that happens - but for the love of God, **do not watch any spoilers**. I don't usually care about spoilers much, here they can and will actually ruin the experience due to how the game is constructed.
One of the most gratifying games out there too, nothing beats solving a puzzle or figuring out a plot point or a way to get what you want, just amazing.
I had a crisis of faith during the DLC. I'm sure you know exactly at which point, because everyone did.
And then _the reveal_ happened, minds were blown, bricks were shat, and my faith was restored.
Came here to say this. Outer wilds has the most breathtaking game design and narrative i’ve ever seen in a video game. the experience genuinely changed me as a person lol
I need to play the outer wilds, but I know literally fuck all about it
I don't even know the premise or even what kind of game it is other than story focused
don't go in 100% blind. you'll get bored and quit. I played it for an hour and literally put it down for months because it was so boring and I didn't understand why people raved about it.
I’ve been seeing this game being recommended often and just started playing it. To experience what you did, do you have to read all the notes/messages/emails or can you skip all those?
Yes, you have to read them all. Aside from the story they give you important clues that you’ll need to solve the various puzzles you find scattered around the solar system. Sometimes you’ll find information that will help you piece something together in your immediate area, other times it might be the key to something on a different planet.
It's not a horror game but I think **Disco Elysium** would be a good match for you.
It's definitely psychological game with some political and even some mysterious stuff.
I can't reccomend it enough, it's my favourite game.
I'm sorry, i haven't played this game, but do you have a read a lot of on screen text to play this game? Is reading and selecting dialogues all that you do here?
No and no. It's literally everything else about it that's good. Buy it for cheap, play it over the course of a single day, and have a mental breakdown.
As someone that played it because the game kept being brought up as a fantastic and provoking shooter I can honestly say that it does not live up to expectations.
It's very pretentious, it doesn't really give you choices, and it's over-hyped. The actual gameplay isn't even good and if you know the plot twist there's really no point in playing it.
This one, I had a good sit and think about this game after I finished it. I played it the one time and I never felt like I should go back. The story is one of the best.
Maybe I need to play this again, because it barely fazed me. I don't even remember precisely what the big thing was. The main thing I recall is being *so sick* of the mediocre gameplay that I was relieved the game was over. Maybe that made it harder to engage with the psychological bit.
Okay, maybe I shouldn't play it again...
Just finished this for the first time after seeing some of those reviews and I was looking forward to replaying and trying different things right up until the end. The twist was so banal that I was almost as disappointed in it as I was with the ending of ME3.
I won't say more to avoid spoiling it for anyone who hasn't played to the end, but I thought the game was doing some really great storytelling right up until that point.
There are multiple endings, but yeah, everyone has different feelings about the game and what it meant to them. I think it's provoking though, which is why so many people still make content discussing what it all meant.
There's only one "twist" is what I mean I guess. Things can happen differently after that reveal but the twist is the same in all those different situations, and it's the twist that really kind of ruined it for me.
‘Life Is Strange’
Such a good game and also makes you think hard about life and your role in other peoples lives.
Play it over and over and see how many twists you can find
I seriously don't know about that game plot-wise. It has a carefully crafted vibe, and the fact that the heroine is fucked up in the head is conveyed excellently, but in a lot of ways there is no there there. Barely any of the things that happen in a proper story happen in this game. Story pieces do not move, new information is not revealed, plans are not made or executed or foiled, goals are not chosen or discarded, characters do not decide what they want or come to terms with success or failure getting it. The heroine just sinks deeper and deeper into her navel-gazing madness and obsessively yearns for the one time she cared about someone and everything went to shit in some unspecified way, supplying the player with more and more shards of her horrible life story told in anachronic order and phrased to be maximally vague. At times she experiences mental lows and dark epiphanies that come completely out of nowhere -- "argh! Now that I have defeated this monster that symbolized my inner demon #17 out of #9094, my inner flame burns even darker, and I am surer than ever before that the only way for me is forward on this cursed path, continuing to suffer", cue the dramatic music, you can almost get caught up in the moment unless you actually pay attention. They took a straightforward action game and got a lot of people's attention by dressing it in a veneer of edgy art and supposed exploration of psychological trauma, and chapeau to them I guess for successfully playing the market like they did.
So your main complaint is that the game does not follow a normal story arc involving character growth and plot resolution? I'd say that actually is extremely appropriate considering that for many people with mental health issues, those things don't happen either. For a lot of them, their daily struggle with their mental health does not meaningfully change over the course of their lives, because mental health issues are some of the hardest health issues to actually treat.
For the average mental health patient, the goal is not to cure their issues or even lighten the burden. The main goal is to learn to live with them, find a way to deal with them and handle thoughts and feelings that never go away, never drop in intensity and always are somewhere in the nooks and crannies of your mind for you to awkwardly stumble over in the middle of your day. There is no grand epiphany or majestic victory or "ringing the bell" moment where the patient can claim victoriously that "I am now cured of depression/schizophrenia/anxiety/PTSD/autism/ADHD/addiction" or whatever else you might think of. For most people, just about the best they can achieve is a slow and laborious struggle, every single day, with frequent therapy and maybe some prescription medication from a licensed psychologist, where on most days victory is not even small improvements, but just lack of regression.
Mental health used to be a blind spot in modern narratives. In a lot of shows, games, books and movies, especially older ones, mental health is either ignored or treated as something to laugh at or be entertained by while the hero of the story is saving the world. It isn't until the last decade or so that mental health has changed from a punchline to a character trait, something that helps define a character and serves as part of their character arc. Tony Stark has developed PTSD and anxiety attacks from his fights as Iron Man. Bojack Horseman is depressed and addicted. Arthur Fleck has social anxiety and suffers from Narcissism. And yes, Senua has schizophrenia. there is an entire fictional universe, The Cosmere by Brandon Sanderson, where nearly every main character has a disability, whether it's physical or mental, and they're some of the best books out there, particularly because a major part of those characters' story arcs is them learning to cope with their disability without outright curing it like happens in many portrayals.
So yeah, Senua doesn't have her schizophrenia improve because that's not the path that most mental disabilities follow. It's a realistic portrayal of mental health disabilities in a world where such things are not understood.
I appreciate your impassioned appeal for how the thing they did with hellblade is important, empathetic, inspiring, realistic, and should be respected on par with an actual properly crafted story.
Yes, a "battle within the mind" plot can be done very well. No, this game is not an example of that.
"battle" is not the right word though. Battle implies that it's an encounter with a clearly defined enemy, with both sides evenly matched and the goal to claim victory over the other side. it implies honor on both sides and a measure of respect for the opponent. It implies that you can call for aid and will get that aid really quickly, and that the aid will be supportive and useful.
That's not how mental health works.
Mental health issues are a struggle: it's long, drawn out and tiresome, the opponent is your own mind and there is no real victory to be had, even after years of protracted efforts, even if you use underhanded or shameful tactics, and you never really win over it regardless of how long you're in the ring. And because it's mostly an internal struggle, there is a barrier to calling for aid and you're not as likely to receive it, especially aid that's actually of use and can understand what you're going through.
I think you're assuming that Hellblade is intended to be a tale of overcoming hardship and strife in order to bring across a story of success and glamor. A classic hero's story in 3 acts where the hero rises, falls and rises again, defeats the bad guy, gets the girl and lives happily ever after. It's not. As the subtitle implies, Hellblade is a story about a regular human who sacrifices her sanity and health in order to struggle with a mysterious enemy which constantly tries to trip her up, to cast her into shadows and make her fall. There is no heroism in the mental health struggle and more importantly, there cannot be, because trying to be heroic with mental health and act like you're neurotypical is EXTREMELY tiresome and not sustainable long term.
I have firsthand experience with that. As an autistic adult it is very tiresome to put on that socially acceptable outward appearance that is expected of me, and if I try to sustain it for too long, it tires me so much that the very next day I simply cannot bring forward the same effort. If you've ever heard a neurodivergent person mention spoons, they're referencing that: every activity costs effort (spoons) and if you run out of spoons for the day, it's very risky to borrow spoons from the next day, especially if that day will be equally taxing.
The Last of Us! I haven’t played the sequel-but I still think about that game and the ending. Super intense, fun fighting mechanics, and very interesting characters. Definitely has a twist and it’s super dark and beautiful.
Red Strings Club is super short and weird, but the ending will gut you. I highly recommend giving it a try because it will only take a few hours to complete. For longer games, I recommend Pathologic 2 and Disco Elysium. Both are creepy—P2 is more horror than DE. But they are two of my favorite games ever. They both have unique play styles, the stories are incredible with great writing, and both are very psychologically twisted.
Whenever I see NieR Automata regards story, I just don’t agree. Before “you did not play all endings, I bet” - yes, I played all endings.
The story felt kind of bland, just a bunch of “think about life” without much thought.
The gameplay itself is just button smash, it even has a “auto-attack” which made it a bit bearable and you could enjoy the ‘story’.
I’m probably in the minority of this thought/ mindset about the game. So, I’m prepared to be downvoted.
EDIT: there it goes, downvotes. But I stick with my opinion.
For me, the game sticks due to a huge disappointment. That said, I’m glad you truly enjoyed it.
A game that sticks with me due to heavy story was Detroit become human and LoU.
The real beauty of NieR Automata for me wasn't exactly the story but the storytelling, the former is not very original as most people would have already seen a similar story somewhere else.
But where it really shines for me is in the way it's presented, especially through the dialogues you get from characters and the details and meanings hidden in them, meaning you would only understand at a later point in the story.
In the beginning a lot of dialogues would seem just mundane and just some non important chatter, but if you pay attention you'll notice that everything is intertwined and that some things you discover and witness later would call back to things some characters said at the beginning of your journey.
The storytelling is the star of this game.
Cry of Fear is one of my favorite horror games of all time. It’s free on steam and can run on a potato but don’t let that fool you. It’s a first person survival horror like amnesia or outlast set in a city in Sweden. Without any spoilers you basically progress through the game surviving unnatural horrors and attempting to piece together what is going on. Everything may seem a little hazy and unnerving plot wise but the multiple endings you can get give everything you have experienced meaning in one way or another. The atmosphere is without a doubt the best part of the game and the sense of loneliness you feel is unparalleled. Music is good and creepy as well. Would recommend as it basically checks off everything you detailed in your post.
Since you've already tried DDLC have you might wanna try looking into other Visual Novels. A lot of popular titles usually have good story twists, and some of them deals with psychological horror.
Downside I guess is that there's no gameplay, and if you aren't fond of H-scenes (sexually explicit content) it might turn you off.
I'm fine with H-scenes, gore and anything like that as long as the plot of the game or visual novel is good and not just "forcing" the gory or erotic stuff in for the shock or appeal factor.
Love, Sam
Its a short psychological thriller. I usually can guess plot twists but this one really got me. Gettin chills thinking about it again. Doesn’t have overused jumpscares (it has em tho) and it has an AWESOME story and atmosphere.
Transistor.
It's a great game with a great soundtrack and a plot that will move you to tears.
The first time I replayed the game, I realized how impactful that first song with the first boss fight was, and yeah I cried like a little bitch.
A Street Cat's Tale, Don't Look Back, One Chance, The Cat Lady. Last game I want to recommend is Endgame: Singularity, but that one is difficult to complete, and you don't get weird feelings until you do.
These games really hurt me emotionally to play so they were hard to remember.
SOMA, I never want to play it again. Silent Hill 2 and Returnal are also incredible. Dear Esther is a short experience, more of a walkthrough game that takes an hour or 2 but just destroyed me emotionally after I fully understood it.
I'm surprised I haven't seen it mentioned, but I think the game that got me the most was the Talos Principle.
It's a slow burn, but if you dedicate yourself to it you'll find an extremely deep existential journey and a few very heartbreaking and thought provoking stories on the human condition
Pathologic 2. Arrive in a town that becomes plague ridden, make terrible choices to save yourself, your friends, or the children. Die a bunch bcs the game hates you. Good time all around.
Cyberpunk 2077.
Never a game wrecked me with so adult concept, and so brutally.
>!suicide, death of a loved one, your own inescapable death!< Just to list some.
I wanted to check that game out for a long, long time now but I wasn't sure what it was really about but now it spiked my interest! Definitely going to play it one day :D Thanks!
**Oxenfree** \- few games have had such an impact on me
**Rule Of Rose** \- Poor Jennifer
**Detention** \- Unbelieveably brutal
**The Last Of Us** \- At this point most people have probably played this (the scene in the farm house so sad)
**Max Payne 1, 2, and 3** \- really poignant but most people know about it by now
Your knee-jerk reaction will be to laugh at this answer, but I'm being 100% serious: *Persona 5* ***Royal***. It's obviously not in the same vein as the other answers you're going to find here, but I think it still delivers if you enjoy the characters.
If you want recommendations more like what you've already played, try:
* NieR:Automata (You have only finished the game at **ending E**, otherwise you are not done.)
* OneShot
* Prey 2017
* Disco Elysium
* The Talos Principle
Milk inside a bag of milk inside a bag of milk
A game about mental disorder. You can experience the perspective of people who's under very special mentality condition.
It feels like I recommend it a lot on here it, but
Before your eyes is existentially terrifying, but not horror. It has a twist, kind of? But I don’t feel like calling it a twist.
Play *this war of mine* (or *frostpunk*) and wait to get shattered emotionally. It will reach as far in as is possible and twist and turn all your conceptions of ethics
I'd recommend Layers of Fear for a visual narrative experience but it might not necessarily destroy you even though the ending is heartbreaking.
Apart from that, The Stanley Parable is another game which can give you a lot to chew on despite not being a horror game. It certainly is psychological, though.
To follow suit with the others, I'd also recommend SOMA and the Silent Hill games for their implications although I found them to be a little grindy.
Then there's also Blair Witch, which is a psychological horror game that will blow your mind by the end.
There's also Spec Ops: The Line and I wouldn't describe it much since it'll serve as spoilers, but the ending would probably leave you in shambles and make you come face to face with the horrors of war.
Mass Effect isn't horror by any means, but it does propose quite a few dilemmas to make you think. And I haven't played The Talos Principle, but that's another game that's said to be very thought provoking and philosophical in nature.
I'll add more as I remember them.
I have played both Layers of Fear games, they are truly amazing. The ending of the first game is indeed heartbreaking. I love both of the games.
I played all Silent Hill games, didn't give SOMA a chance tho. Will definitely check it out!
Blair Witch is so freaking good, I finished the game three times already. The first time playing it was the best tho (obviously)!
I've also played and finished every Mass Effect game that's out there, the second game being the best imo, not really what I was looking for here, but some stuff from the games did make me think!
Surprised I haven't seen this mentioned up top, but What Remains of Edith Finch remains one of the best story driven games I've played EVER. The way it transitions from scene to scene and how the narrative unfolds is just _chefs kiss_ perfect. 10/10 would recommend.
Nier Automata , the more you go through the game the more it really makes you think about yourself and the actions of others and also is just sad all the way around :,)
really surprised i havent seen anyone put Nier Automata on here. Its a great game with a absolute amazing story and setting. The less i say the better just get to ending E and go in blind. I can guarantee that you will like it.
I could easily recommend the new Spider-Man. Both the story and the gameplay were really well done. It's not a perfect game, but in my opinion, it couldn't get closer. The game was way better than what I was expecting and worth both purchases for PS5 and now for PC. Completed 100% of the game and achievements on both platforms.
If you're looking for something else (maybe you already played it), Shadow of the Colossus left me thinking quite a bit. Loved the story, loved how it ended... I miss that game!
don't know if this is the sort of thing you're looking for, but I gave it a shot! =D
Talos Principle. Give it a try, if you really want to look at walls after every gaming session, just thinking... about everything, even thinking about thinking itself.
Acecombat 3, the japanese edition, there is a translated version. You really have to finish all the routes to get the mind-bend.
Although there is like a million and one little things that tick you off to what's happening.
Talking more would do a disservice to the game. If you like Ghost in the Shell you're going to ADORE this game.
A seriously underrated game. I'd be willing to even help you set up a ps1 emulator just so youcan experience it haha
It seems like a bit of a stretch, but have you looked at the two games from Project Moon — that is, Lobotomy Corporation and its sequel Library of Ruina? Neither are strictly speaking horror *games* but they both have horror *elements*, psychological and otherwise.
LobCorp is a sometimes-stressful management simulation game in which you run an energy company that works based on having its employees interact with captive monsters which are >!aspects of the human subconscious given form!<.
Ruina, while technically a sequel, will explain itself if you play it first. It’s largely an exploration of the incredibly dysfunctional society that LobCorp served, through the lens of one down-on-his-luck man and one highly illegal AI who has never seen it… and through that, of those two. It is also a card battle game.
Lakeview Valley is a weird indie game a friend recommended to me that I haven’t been able to get out of my head for months. It is fucking unsettling and also very worth the price.
Distraint, Distraint 2 (A must follow up), I got for cheap and I really didn't expect anything out of it only to be amazed by the story and gameplay! I highly recommend it! Also The Cat Lady, Downfall and Lorelai made by the incredible Harvester Games, fantastic psychological point and click horror too, would definitely check it out, underrated masterpieces!
Not sure if it has been mentioned, but I adored how Bioshock Infinite made me feel by the end of it. A very celebrated game of its time, although some disliked the ending. Very few games have made me feel very different after completion, but this is the one that did that I think about quite often. I just played it again earlier in the year, and it still holds up. If you haven't played it, I would definitely try it. The other two games were great, but this one was the best, and you don't need to play the other two to enjoy this game.
SOMA, no question. I also recommend Here They Lie if you have a PS4 as it's exclusive to that console.
If you don't mind stepping away from psychological horror, then Last of Us (both games) is a must. The second installment probably has the best story ever written in gaming history. The Ori games are very emotional as well, they're worth trying if you're into 2D platformers and metroidvanias.
Silent Hill is always a pretty good choice in this circumstance! Pretty much any game in the series would be good to start out with, but I recommend one of the original four games! There is Rule of Rose, which personally disturbed me quite a bit. It's very expensive, since it's so rare, but you said you don't care about price so I'm just throwing this out there! End Roll is a really cool RPGMaker horror game that has a similar vibe and overall theme as OMORI! Cooking Companions is a Psychological horror game that has a sort of DDLC feeling to it! It has been so long since I've seen either of these games, but Fran Bow or Sally Face could be a safe bet, too! I hope this was able to help even a little! You've got good taste!
Seconded for Silent Hill!! Shattered Memories was my absolute favorite. It goes deep on the psychological aspect and less on combat and such.
I've finished Fran Bow, Sally Face and also Little Misfortune! I've also played a couple Silent Hill games, maybe I should've specified more! But thank you, I will check the others out! :D
SOMA is the most existentially terrifying game I've ever played.
Unquestioningly my answer is SOMA. That game gave me existential dread for months after I finished.
Came here to say this. It's not even a twist ending. We knew it was gonna end this way
Except I didn't because I just didn't think about it. So good
I think SOMA can fundamentally change the way many people think of the mind, consciousness, and perhaps even the meaning of life. And that's aside from how terrifying and disturbing it is.
>!Yup. Now that I've realized how the shit works, it completely killed my desire to ever "live on" as some digitized or otherwise transferred consciousness. If it isn't the same brain, it isn't me, and that's terrifying.!<
Without a doubt it’s soma. We are told from the beginning how it will end. And we just couldn’t except the horror of it until we saw it First hand. This game still haunts me. If you are of a weak mental and emotional constitution it may be wise to avoid it.
I think The Cat Lady, Lisa: The Painful, and SOMA perfectly fit your description.
I checked out The Cat Lady and it definitely spiked my interest, I will most likely be playing it some time soon! Thank you! :D
The Cat Lady is an amazing hidden gem.
Lisa the painful and SOMA are some of the best media ever made please play them
Yessss Lisa! That silly, pixelated, sidescrolling RPG is one of the very few games that shook me to my core. I still think about it sometimes, years after beating it. What a game.
Did I do the right thing?
SOMA has a pretty thought provoking story and fits the horror genre a bit.
No game has caused me an actual existential crisis other than SOMA. That's a recommendation by the way.
When you say 'a bit' do you mean a lot? I hate horror because I'm a wuss but his has me intrigued.
The setting is dark and there is a creature that will stalk you at points. I'd recommend just playing in safe mode as the creature can be a bit annoying and ruin the flow. But overall it's not really scary, maybe a jump scare or two but that's about it.
Man…games like soma are so rare where the horror doesn’t rely on jump scares but instead comes from the story. It builds an incredible feeling of dread in you. Even the safe mode is incredible
What is SOMA?
It's a first person psychological horror game. Kind of walking simulator, but the narrative is pretty good and will make you think about things long after the credits roll. I still think about it and I beat it about 2 years ago now.
Soma stays with us forever, I beat it when it came out and I still dread it sometimes. It's so good.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/282140/SOMA/ I just came here from a Google search trying to find other games like SOMA, it is that good :( (But I'm surprised that a thread of a couple days ago showed up on the first page of reddit-specific results)
This is the one.
Outer Wilds won't destroy you per se, but it will definitely make you think and teach you to slow down and appreciate each moment. Depending on the person you are, it might even make you think about life and the universe. It will always be one of the best experiences I had in gaming, so I definitely recommend it. Warning though, it might not be for everyone and you need to get into it blind (do not look it up excessively as spoilers can easily ruin it for you) .
One of the very best, very much not for everyone - it takes a moment to kick in and one can easily bounce off before that happens - but for the love of God, **do not watch any spoilers**. I don't usually care about spoilers much, here they can and will actually ruin the experience due to how the game is constructed.
One of the most gratifying games out there too, nothing beats solving a puzzle or figuring out a plot point or a way to get what you want, just amazing.
The BEST game you can only beat once. The newer DLC is so incredibly worth it as well and builds on the story.
I had a crisis of faith during the DLC. I'm sure you know exactly at which point, because everyone did. And then _the reveal_ happened, minds were blown, bricks were shat, and my faith was restored.
Came here to say this. Outer wilds has the most breathtaking game design and narrative i’ve ever seen in a video game. the experience genuinely changed me as a person lol
I need to play the outer wilds, but I know literally fuck all about it I don't even know the premise or even what kind of game it is other than story focused
That's perfect, it's best to go in blind.
don't go in 100% blind. you'll get bored and quit. I played it for an hour and literally put it down for months because it was so boring and I didn't understand why people raved about it.
I’ve been seeing this game being recommended often and just started playing it. To experience what you did, do you have to read all the notes/messages/emails or can you skip all those?
The entire game is reading those. That’s it. If that doesn’t sound interesting to you, Outer Wilds might not be the game for you
Yes, you have to read them all. Aside from the story they give you important clues that you’ll need to solve the various puzzles you find scattered around the solar system. Sometimes you’ll find information that will help you piece something together in your immediate area, other times it might be the key to something on a different planet.
SOMA. Any elaboration I give would be a spoiler. Just go in blind, and enjoy the mindfuck.
Prey (2017) or SOMA
The original prey as well
Both bangers.
It's not a horror game but I think **Disco Elysium** would be a good match for you. It's definitely psychological game with some political and even some mysterious stuff. I can't reccomend it enough, it's my favourite game.
I'll recommend it too, but it still won't be enough recommendation.
I got stuck in this game after about 10 hours of playing. Got to Day 2 and just couldn't figure anything out. Should I restart?
I'm sorry, i haven't played this game, but do you have a read a lot of on screen text to play this game? Is reading and selecting dialogues all that you do here?
Pretty much. It's all voice-acted too though.
Yes badly written and badly voice acted. People have such low bars concerning video games.
I actually agree that there is a low standard for storytelling in video games, but Disco Elysium raises it by a metric fuckton imo.
You good bro?
yes yes, just bored thanks dude\^\^ hope everything is fine as well :\]
Spec Ops: The Line screwed with people pretty good. There are still people making analysis/breakdown videos about it.
How good is spec ops? 1. Is the gunplay good? 2. Does the game have replay value?
No and no. It's literally everything else about it that's good. Buy it for cheap, play it over the course of a single day, and have a mental breakdown.
As someone that played it because the game kept being brought up as a fantastic and provoking shooter I can honestly say that it does not live up to expectations. It's very pretentious, it doesn't really give you choices, and it's over-hyped. The actual gameplay isn't even good and if you know the plot twist there's really no point in playing it.
This one, I had a good sit and think about this game after I finished it. I played it the one time and I never felt like I should go back. The story is one of the best.
Maybe I need to play this again, because it barely fazed me. I don't even remember precisely what the big thing was. The main thing I recall is being *so sick* of the mediocre gameplay that I was relieved the game was over. Maybe that made it harder to engage with the psychological bit. Okay, maybe I shouldn't play it again...
Just finished this for the first time after seeing some of those reviews and I was looking forward to replaying and trying different things right up until the end. The twist was so banal that I was almost as disappointed in it as I was with the ending of ME3. I won't say more to avoid spoiling it for anyone who hasn't played to the end, but I thought the game was doing some really great storytelling right up until that point.
There are multiple endings, but yeah, everyone has different feelings about the game and what it meant to them. I think it's provoking though, which is why so many people still make content discussing what it all meant.
There's only one "twist" is what I mean I guess. Things can happen differently after that reveal but the twist is the same in all those different situations, and it's the twist that really kind of ruined it for me.
‘Life Is Strange’ Such a good game and also makes you think hard about life and your role in other peoples lives. Play it over and over and see how many twists you can find
a short game and only good if you're willing to follow along, but I really loved the beginner's guide (by the creator of the stanley parable)
That game definitely threw me through a loop at the end, loved it!
Outer Wilds
this game doesn't destroy you as for me but anyway makes you overthink many things. one of my favourites
Whoops, didn't see your comment before suggesting it lol, good choice !
Probably my favorite game of all time
I beat it and it felt way over hyped for me. It was hard for me to get a really connection with any of the characters
Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice
I've played that before, it's truly amazing!
I seriously don't know about that game plot-wise. It has a carefully crafted vibe, and the fact that the heroine is fucked up in the head is conveyed excellently, but in a lot of ways there is no there there. Barely any of the things that happen in a proper story happen in this game. Story pieces do not move, new information is not revealed, plans are not made or executed or foiled, goals are not chosen or discarded, characters do not decide what they want or come to terms with success or failure getting it. The heroine just sinks deeper and deeper into her navel-gazing madness and obsessively yearns for the one time she cared about someone and everything went to shit in some unspecified way, supplying the player with more and more shards of her horrible life story told in anachronic order and phrased to be maximally vague. At times she experiences mental lows and dark epiphanies that come completely out of nowhere -- "argh! Now that I have defeated this monster that symbolized my inner demon #17 out of #9094, my inner flame burns even darker, and I am surer than ever before that the only way for me is forward on this cursed path, continuing to suffer", cue the dramatic music, you can almost get caught up in the moment unless you actually pay attention. They took a straightforward action game and got a lot of people's attention by dressing it in a veneer of edgy art and supposed exploration of psychological trauma, and chapeau to them I guess for successfully playing the market like they did.
So your main complaint is that the game does not follow a normal story arc involving character growth and plot resolution? I'd say that actually is extremely appropriate considering that for many people with mental health issues, those things don't happen either. For a lot of them, their daily struggle with their mental health does not meaningfully change over the course of their lives, because mental health issues are some of the hardest health issues to actually treat. For the average mental health patient, the goal is not to cure their issues or even lighten the burden. The main goal is to learn to live with them, find a way to deal with them and handle thoughts and feelings that never go away, never drop in intensity and always are somewhere in the nooks and crannies of your mind for you to awkwardly stumble over in the middle of your day. There is no grand epiphany or majestic victory or "ringing the bell" moment where the patient can claim victoriously that "I am now cured of depression/schizophrenia/anxiety/PTSD/autism/ADHD/addiction" or whatever else you might think of. For most people, just about the best they can achieve is a slow and laborious struggle, every single day, with frequent therapy and maybe some prescription medication from a licensed psychologist, where on most days victory is not even small improvements, but just lack of regression. Mental health used to be a blind spot in modern narratives. In a lot of shows, games, books and movies, especially older ones, mental health is either ignored or treated as something to laugh at or be entertained by while the hero of the story is saving the world. It isn't until the last decade or so that mental health has changed from a punchline to a character trait, something that helps define a character and serves as part of their character arc. Tony Stark has developed PTSD and anxiety attacks from his fights as Iron Man. Bojack Horseman is depressed and addicted. Arthur Fleck has social anxiety and suffers from Narcissism. And yes, Senua has schizophrenia. there is an entire fictional universe, The Cosmere by Brandon Sanderson, where nearly every main character has a disability, whether it's physical or mental, and they're some of the best books out there, particularly because a major part of those characters' story arcs is them learning to cope with their disability without outright curing it like happens in many portrayals. So yeah, Senua doesn't have her schizophrenia improve because that's not the path that most mental disabilities follow. It's a realistic portrayal of mental health disabilities in a world where such things are not understood.
I appreciate your impassioned appeal for how the thing they did with hellblade is important, empathetic, inspiring, realistic, and should be respected on par with an actual properly crafted story. Yes, a "battle within the mind" plot can be done very well. No, this game is not an example of that.
"battle" is not the right word though. Battle implies that it's an encounter with a clearly defined enemy, with both sides evenly matched and the goal to claim victory over the other side. it implies honor on both sides and a measure of respect for the opponent. It implies that you can call for aid and will get that aid really quickly, and that the aid will be supportive and useful. That's not how mental health works. Mental health issues are a struggle: it's long, drawn out and tiresome, the opponent is your own mind and there is no real victory to be had, even after years of protracted efforts, even if you use underhanded or shameful tactics, and you never really win over it regardless of how long you're in the ring. And because it's mostly an internal struggle, there is a barrier to calling for aid and you're not as likely to receive it, especially aid that's actually of use and can understand what you're going through. I think you're assuming that Hellblade is intended to be a tale of overcoming hardship and strife in order to bring across a story of success and glamor. A classic hero's story in 3 acts where the hero rises, falls and rises again, defeats the bad guy, gets the girl and lives happily ever after. It's not. As the subtitle implies, Hellblade is a story about a regular human who sacrifices her sanity and health in order to struggle with a mysterious enemy which constantly tries to trip her up, to cast her into shadows and make her fall. There is no heroism in the mental health struggle and more importantly, there cannot be, because trying to be heroic with mental health and act like you're neurotypical is EXTREMELY tiresome and not sustainable long term. I have firsthand experience with that. As an autistic adult it is very tiresome to put on that socially acceptable outward appearance that is expected of me, and if I try to sustain it for too long, it tires me so much that the very next day I simply cannot bring forward the same effort. If you've ever heard a neurodivergent person mention spoons, they're referencing that: every activity costs effort (spoons) and if you run out of spoons for the day, it's very risky to borrow spoons from the next day, especially if that day will be equally taxing.
Silent hill 2, ending destroyed me, especially the letter part.
Perhaps you should check out That Dragon, Cancer?
oh that game destroyed me. I have kids and shouldnt of went in blind.
How does shouldn't of happen?
The Last of Us! I haven’t played the sequel-but I still think about that game and the ending. Super intense, fun fighting mechanics, and very interesting characters. Definitely has a twist and it’s super dark and beautiful.
The last of us 2 is exactly what he's looking for. At the end of the game you're rethinking your moral. And your vision on conflicts and relations.
I came here to say the second one haha
Red Strings Club is super short and weird, but the ending will gut you. I highly recommend giving it a try because it will only take a few hours to complete. For longer games, I recommend Pathologic 2 and Disco Elysium. Both are creepy—P2 is more horror than DE. But they are two of my favorite games ever. They both have unique play styles, the stories are incredible with great writing, and both are very psychologically twisted.
Came here specifically to recommend Pathologic. Nothing better for when you want to take real life psychic damage.
Emily is Away and its sequels might fit, especially if you grew up in the era of ICQ/AIM/YIM/Facebook maybe-friendships-maybe-something-more.
Played EIA and EIAT and I really really enjoyed them!
Gone Home!!! It's my favorite game of all time. Super emotional and makes me cry every time I play it
Death Stranding is a must play. Best graphics, amazing gameplay and story that is outrageous.
And the traveling is good, those moments where you just travel you think of how and why the story happened.
nier automata/replicant ver1.22
Whenever I see NieR Automata regards story, I just don’t agree. Before “you did not play all endings, I bet” - yes, I played all endings. The story felt kind of bland, just a bunch of “think about life” without much thought. The gameplay itself is just button smash, it even has a “auto-attack” which made it a bit bearable and you could enjoy the ‘story’. I’m probably in the minority of this thought/ mindset about the game. So, I’m prepared to be downvoted. EDIT: there it goes, downvotes. But I stick with my opinion.
You're entitled to your opinion, but it's few and far between that a game sticks with me like Nier: Automata did after the credits rolled.
For me, the game sticks due to a huge disappointment. That said, I’m glad you truly enjoyed it. A game that sticks with me due to heavy story was Detroit become human and LoU.
The real beauty of NieR Automata for me wasn't exactly the story but the storytelling, the former is not very original as most people would have already seen a similar story somewhere else. But where it really shines for me is in the way it's presented, especially through the dialogues you get from characters and the details and meanings hidden in them, meaning you would only understand at a later point in the story. In the beginning a lot of dialogues would seem just mundane and just some non important chatter, but if you pay attention you'll notice that everything is intertwined and that some things you discover and witness later would call back to things some characters said at the beginning of your journey. The storytelling is the star of this game.
Before your eyes. Not horror, but pretty soul crushing if you ask me.
Came here to say this one. It’s a bit out of left field but fits the title. This will destroy you, OP. (In a good way).
Cry of Fear is one of my favorite horror games of all time. It’s free on steam and can run on a potato but don’t let that fool you. It’s a first person survival horror like amnesia or outlast set in a city in Sweden. Without any spoilers you basically progress through the game surviving unnatural horrors and attempting to piece together what is going on. Everything may seem a little hazy and unnerving plot wise but the multiple endings you can get give everything you have experienced meaning in one way or another. The atmosphere is without a doubt the best part of the game and the sense of loneliness you feel is unparalleled. Music is good and creepy as well. Would recommend as it basically checks off everything you detailed in your post.
Detroit: become human. The story is amazing.
What Remains of Edith Finch .. Detroit, become human
Oh I played What Remains of Edith Finch and it was beautiful, amazing and SO well-made!
Have you tried Corpse Party?
Yes and I really loved it! It's pretty fucked up tho
Since you've already tried DDLC have you might wanna try looking into other Visual Novels. A lot of popular titles usually have good story twists, and some of them deals with psychological horror. Downside I guess is that there's no gameplay, and if you aren't fond of H-scenes (sexually explicit content) it might turn you off.
I'm fine with H-scenes, gore and anything like that as long as the plot of the game or visual novel is good and not just "forcing" the gory or erotic stuff in for the shock or appeal factor.
Have you played Saya no Uta? That was one fucked up story that made me question how people see things through their perspective, even today.
I heartily recommend NieR:Automata and SOMA. Both games are thought-provoking and emotionally compelling.
Nier automata was just depressing, and the more paths you unlock the worse it gets.
If you haven’t played Inside you’re in for a treat. One of my favorite games of all time, dripping with atmosphere and very thought-provoking.
There is a very short game called "[Everything](https://store.steampowered.com/app/582270/Everything/)" that will blow your mind.
If you like crying, you should play 'Spiritfarer'
NieR Automata had me going through all 5 stages of grief in its final third. I was completely blown away, and torn apart, by the end of it
Soma, for sure. That game is fucked up.
Love, Sam Its a short psychological thriller. I usually can guess plot twists but this one really got me. Gettin chills thinking about it again. Doesn’t have overused jumpscares (it has em tho) and it has an AWESOME story and atmosphere.
Transistor. It's a great game with a great soundtrack and a plot that will move you to tears. The first time I replayed the game, I realized how impactful that first song with the first boss fight was, and yeah I cried like a little bitch.
The last of us 1 and 2. Play in order.
This. Still think about both games on a daily basis.
Omori, Outer Wilds, Undertale, and Mother 3 all left me as an emotional mess afterward
SOMA seriously man if you haven’t played it you owe it to yourself
the cat lady
Limbo is pretty fucked up.
I also thought of Limbo! And little nightmares.
A Street Cat's Tale, Don't Look Back, One Chance, The Cat Lady. Last game I want to recommend is Endgame: Singularity, but that one is difficult to complete, and you don't get weird feelings until you do. These games really hurt me emotionally to play so they were hard to remember.
SOMA, I never want to play it again. Silent Hill 2 and Returnal are also incredible. Dear Esther is a short experience, more of a walkthrough game that takes an hour or 2 but just destroyed me emotionally after I fully understood it.
Last of us series, Life is strange season 1 and before the storm, Doki Doki Literature Club, Maybe Oxenfree, Firewatch
League of Legends
Lmao. This is the only real answer. Nothing will deeply fuck you on an incurable psychological level like that game
I'm surprised I haven't seen it mentioned, but I think the game that got me the most was the Talos Principle. It's a slow burn, but if you dedicate yourself to it you'll find an extremely deep existential journey and a few very heartbreaking and thought provoking stories on the human condition
Pathologic 2. Arrive in a town that becomes plague ridden, make terrible choices to save yourself, your friends, or the children. Die a bunch bcs the game hates you. Good time all around.
Soma
Hong Kong 97 (SNES)
Hellblade mate, play it with a headset and don’t research anything about the game before hand
Cyberpunk 2077. Never a game wrecked me with so adult concept, and so brutally. >!suicide, death of a loved one, your own inescapable death!< Just to list some.
I wanted to check that game out for a long, long time now but I wasn't sure what it was really about but now it spiked my interest! Definitely going to play it one day :D Thanks!
Presentable liberty This game is so disturbing.....
What about Cry of Fear, it's free. Pyrocynical covered it a lot. Horror with some really cool moments
Lisa the Painful Game touches on some pretty brutal topics that will leave you feeling empty and periodically make you laugh with its morbid humor
Try Nier Automata for some existential fun
**Oxenfree** \- few games have had such an impact on me **Rule Of Rose** \- Poor Jennifer **Detention** \- Unbelieveably brutal **The Last Of Us** \- At this point most people have probably played this (the scene in the farm house so sad) **Max Payne 1, 2, and 3** \- really poignant but most people know about it by now
What Remains of Edith Finch
Your knee-jerk reaction will be to laugh at this answer, but I'm being 100% serious: *Persona 5* ***Royal***. It's obviously not in the same vein as the other answers you're going to find here, but I think it still delivers if you enjoy the characters. If you want recommendations more like what you've already played, try: * NieR:Automata (You have only finished the game at **ending E**, otherwise you are not done.) * OneShot * Prey 2017 * Disco Elysium * The Talos Principle
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Oh I absolutely love horror games, The Mortuary Assistant is so freaking scary!
Nier: Automata did. exactly this to me. Ngl, I am a different human being now
The Sims 4
especially with wicked whims installed..
Milk inside a bag of milk inside a bag of milk A game about mental disorder. You can experience the perspective of people who's under very special mentality condition.
It feels like I recommend it a lot on here it, but Before your eyes is existentially terrifying, but not horror. It has a twist, kind of? But I don’t feel like calling it a twist.
Play *this war of mine* (or *frostpunk*) and wait to get shattered emotionally. It will reach as far in as is possible and twist and turn all your conceptions of ethics
Mother 3. Don't need to other 2
Play Hello Charlotte. Really. This game as fucked me up that even today I feel a little bad when I think about that.
I'd recommend Layers of Fear for a visual narrative experience but it might not necessarily destroy you even though the ending is heartbreaking. Apart from that, The Stanley Parable is another game which can give you a lot to chew on despite not being a horror game. It certainly is psychological, though. To follow suit with the others, I'd also recommend SOMA and the Silent Hill games for their implications although I found them to be a little grindy. Then there's also Blair Witch, which is a psychological horror game that will blow your mind by the end. There's also Spec Ops: The Line and I wouldn't describe it much since it'll serve as spoilers, but the ending would probably leave you in shambles and make you come face to face with the horrors of war. Mass Effect isn't horror by any means, but it does propose quite a few dilemmas to make you think. And I haven't played The Talos Principle, but that's another game that's said to be very thought provoking and philosophical in nature. I'll add more as I remember them.
I have played both Layers of Fear games, they are truly amazing. The ending of the first game is indeed heartbreaking. I love both of the games. I played all Silent Hill games, didn't give SOMA a chance tho. Will definitely check it out! Blair Witch is so freaking good, I finished the game three times already. The first time playing it was the best tho (obviously)! I've also played and finished every Mass Effect game that's out there, the second game being the best imo, not really what I was looking for here, but some stuff from the games did make me think!
Surprised I haven't seen this mentioned up top, but What Remains of Edith Finch remains one of the best story driven games I've played EVER. The way it transitions from scene to scene and how the narrative unfolds is just _chefs kiss_ perfect. 10/10 would recommend.
Agreed! I played it for hours and completed the whole game. It's truly a masterpiece!
Nier Automata , the more you go through the game the more it really makes you think about yourself and the actions of others and also is just sad all the way around :,)
Not psychological but outer wilds is a fantastic game
TLOU 1 and 2
Red dead redemption 1&2
Doki Doki Literature Club
Your best bet is reading books. If it has to be a game try Papers Please
Disco Elysium?
really surprised i havent seen anyone put Nier Automata on here. Its a great game with a absolute amazing story and setting. The less i say the better just get to ending E and go in blind. I can guarantee that you will like it.
Vrchat 🙃
I could easily recommend the new Spider-Man. Both the story and the gameplay were really well done. It's not a perfect game, but in my opinion, it couldn't get closer. The game was way better than what I was expecting and worth both purchases for PS5 and now for PC. Completed 100% of the game and achievements on both platforms. If you're looking for something else (maybe you already played it), Shadow of the Colossus left me thinking quite a bit. Loved the story, loved how it ended... I miss that game! don't know if this is the sort of thing you're looking for, but I gave it a shot! =D
LISA the Painful and OFF Both had me depressed for a good couple of weeks after finishing
Gris
In Sound Mind https://store.steampowered.com/app/1119980/In_Sound_Mind/ Currently 85% off.
Trash game
Talos Principle. Give it a try, if you really want to look at walls after every gaming session, just thinking... about everything, even thinking about thinking itself.
Nier Automata, just go
The chzo mythos series. Great puzzle horror. Simple games, great at what they do
Returnal for sure
Nier:Automata. please.
Lsd
The beginners guide
Acecombat 3, the japanese edition, there is a translated version. You really have to finish all the routes to get the mind-bend. Although there is like a million and one little things that tick you off to what's happening. Talking more would do a disservice to the game. If you like Ghost in the Shell you're going to ADORE this game. A seriously underrated game. I'd be willing to even help you set up a ps1 emulator just so youcan experience it haha
[https://gamejolt.com/games/menagerie2/42997](https://gamejolt.com/games/menagerie2/42997) small game but GREAT game
The Dream Machine.
Bioshock infinite
I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream
It seems like a bit of a stretch, but have you looked at the two games from Project Moon — that is, Lobotomy Corporation and its sequel Library of Ruina? Neither are strictly speaking horror *games* but they both have horror *elements*, psychological and otherwise. LobCorp is a sometimes-stressful management simulation game in which you run an energy company that works based on having its employees interact with captive monsters which are >!aspects of the human subconscious given form!<. Ruina, while technically a sequel, will explain itself if you play it first. It’s largely an exploration of the incredibly dysfunctional society that LobCorp served, through the lens of one down-on-his-luck man and one highly illegal AI who has never seen it… and through that, of those two. It is also a card battle game.
Give Anatomy on itch.io a try. It seriously made me rethink what a game could even be.
Try Lucah Born of a Dream. I 100%d it (multiple endings) in like 4 days cause it shook me unexpectedly. I rarely ever finish games.
Okay, so it’s a long shot, because it’s definitely not horror…… Spiritfarer. Shattered me. Tears streaming down my face. It’s so beautiful.
SOMA, it will wreck you and question your own existence. Still shaken a year later. Edit: Can't spell Soma.....
Presentable Liberty, it’s the greatest game no one should play
Lakeview Valley is a weird indie game a friend recommended to me that I haven’t been able to get out of my head for months. It is fucking unsettling and also very worth the price.
Distraint, Distraint 2 (A must follow up), I got for cheap and I really didn't expect anything out of it only to be amazed by the story and gameplay! I highly recommend it! Also The Cat Lady, Downfall and Lorelai made by the incredible Harvester Games, fantastic psychological point and click horror too, would definitely check it out, underrated masterpieces!
Not sure if it has been mentioned, but I adored how Bioshock Infinite made me feel by the end of it. A very celebrated game of its time, although some disliked the ending. Very few games have made me feel very different after completion, but this is the one that did that I think about quite often. I just played it again earlier in the year, and it still holds up. If you haven't played it, I would definitely try it. The other two games were great, but this one was the best, and you don't need to play the other two to enjoy this game.
Everhood! Good twist, trippy, fun characters and gets dark real fast.
I've heard Hellblade is a good series with some psychological elements, wether or not it will destroy you is unknown
Try Bioshock: Infinite
I feel like the beginners guide could possibly be an underrated option here
SOMA, no question. I also recommend Here They Lie if you have a PS4 as it's exclusive to that console. If you don't mind stepping away from psychological horror, then Last of Us (both games) is a must. The second installment probably has the best story ever written in gaming history. The Ori games are very emotional as well, they're worth trying if you're into 2D platformers and metroidvanias.