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Good psychological games?

ROMhack

ROMhack

Member
Hi all,

I was just about to venture into writing a list of psychology games for something I'm doing at work with students. Then I thought, hey wouldn't it be nice to ask my online friends who I'll never meet for their recommendations.

So that's what this is - a thread where you tell me games you like that have a psychological tweest to them. If I like them enough, I'll add them to muh list.

H-here I go with three that immediately sprung to mind...

The Talos Principle

It's probably more about philosophy but there's psychological depth too. Particularly the old-school bulletin board-esque conversations you access at the terminals. It's been years since I played it but I remember them shining a light on a lot on the way our mind processes information - obviously tying back to the philosophy thing. Also a fun puzzle game.

2984129-wekeepdiscussing.jpg



Hellblade Senua's Sacrifice

'Nuff said here. The game is about the experience of schizophrenia and while it's obviously a game, it ties back to the auditory and visual hallucinations that some people suffer from. I haven't played it myself though. I'm just going by second-hand information so if anybody wants to explain how exactly it does that that'd be great!

HellbladeFeatured.png



The Town of Light

I once received a free copy of this game to review but I didn't because it ran so terribly on my PC. From what I remember though, it's supposed to be about the conditions of mental asylums in mid-20th century Italy, which was a pretty big deal because it led to the passing of the Basaglia Law in 1978 - basically making them not horrible places.

the-town-of-light-screen-05-ps4-us-6june17



Now you go. Tell me about games with cool psychology stuff in them.
 
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Posting "Spec Ops: The Line" with middling enthusiasm before someone else posts calling it genius. It's okay. It's definitely what you need to look at though, it's all about the horrors of war and effects of that on a person's mental state.
 
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Do they have to be current gen? If not I'd say Eternal Darkness for the Game Cube is probably one of the best examples.
 
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Are you asking for a game about psychology/philosophy, or a game that uses mechanics to illustrate concepts of psychology?

If it's the latter, a game like Street Fighter II is a good example of gamesmanship in videogames, reading your opponent, anticipating their moves, feinting, and so forth. The same behavior is observed in sports, but Street Fighter II (and countless other vs Arcade games) allows players to engage in this competitive meta without any of the physical investment that a sport requires. That would be a cool thing to talk about. Competition between humans is still a valid topic in psychology, isn't it?
 
DunDunDunpachi said:
Are you asking for a game about psychology/philosophy, or a game that uses mechanics to illustrate concepts of psychology?

If it's the latter, a game like Street Fighter II is a good example of gamesmanship in videogames, reading your opponent, anticipating their moves, feinting, and so forth. The same behavior is observed in sports, but Street Fighter II (and countless other vs Arcade games) allows players to engage in this competitive meta without any of the physical investment that a sport requires. That would be a cool thing to talk about. Competition between humans is still a valid topic in psychology, isn't it?
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That is a very good question and point. I suppose games can be split between the psychological aspect of playing and those that contain or seek to explore psychological themes.

The former is definitely a massive thing and it's becoming more apparent, I think, that playing games can be psychologically beneficial. The arguments I've seen are usually that it's cathartic and able to provide players with a sense of control (in a chaotic world, etc, etc). But as you've hinted, it's also social and gives access to people that might ordinarily be left out of more physical activities.

I suppose you could say the same thing about many multiplayer games but I'll stick with Street Fighter II because that's the coolest one :)
 
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Wouldn't Silent Hill 2 count, especially regarding the twist that James killed his wife and the town and it's monsters are manifestations of his guilt?

Well, for a recent example I'd say:

capsule_616x353.jpg


Okay. I know what you're thinking. "A Star Wars game?" But if you've played it you'll understand it has a lot of pyschological depth despite it's action game trappings. But if you must know, well, here be some spoilers regarding what happens.

The game's setup has Cal Kestis, a Jedi padawan who survived the events of the Jedi purge during the fall of the Republic, helping a former Jedi, Cere Unger, find a hidden Jedi holocron which contains the locations of all the Force sensitive children in the galaxy. With that info, Cal and Cere hope to build a new Jedi Order to fight the Empire.

But the quest for the holocron is not the real story of Jedi Fallen Order. Rather, it's about Cal dealing with the trauma and guilt of having survived the events of the Purge. In particular, Cal feels great shame for seemingly having failed to save his master, Jaro Tapal. This manifests itself with Cal having forgotten a lot of his training, and throughout the game he has to regain his lost skills and slowly come to terms with his trauma. It all comes to a head when encounters a vision of his Master on Dathomir, blaming him for his failure. Only through reforging his lightsaber and coming to terms with his past is Cal able to achieve his full potential and become a full fledged Jedi Knight.

Star Wars: Jedi Fallen Order surprised me with how good it's story was and how it explored the psychological depth of it's characters.
 
ROMhack said:
that's what this is - a thread where you tell me games you like that have a psychological tweest to them. If I like them enough, I'll add them to muh list.
Click to expand...

I would propose Remedies recent 'Control'.

It explores themes of the collective consciousness/unconsciousness according to C. J Jung. I found it to be very interesting.

Also the theme of controller/controlled or inward/outward agency is tackled in a virtuous manner. Something which the game 'Inside' did before.
 
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Don't watch all of this video because of spoilers but the first couple of minutes should give you an idea of what it's about:



It's also on gamepass for both PC/Xbox if you have access on either platform.
 
Silent Hill 2 and 3 are keepers. Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth is good, but it's also a shooter so keep that in mind. Darkness Within: In Pursuit of Loath Nolder is a good game, more eerier than scary imo. Soma is a flat-out fantastic game.
 
What Remains of Edith Finch.. deals with loss.... I guess?

It's also only two hours long and totally worth it.

Edit: There are also "Detention" and "Devotion" from Red Candle Games.
Devotion involves mental illness, peer pressure and faith?! (I have not actually played that one yet.. it's also no longer legally obtainable due to chinese censorship)
guilt?

Edit2: Sea of Solitude, not a good game. It didn't work for me, but it is supposed to "let players experience what it feels like to be affected by loneliness, bullying, toxic relationships, depression and a troubling past. (wikipedia)"
 
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SystemShock2_01.jpg


Apart from the masterpiece mentioned in the image above, you could try the "Robbing the Cradle" mission from Thief: Deadly Shadows.
It takes place in an abandoned asylum called The Shalebridge Cradle and as you're sneaking into the facilities, you're scrounging through the records to see how the place treated its patients and the brutality of medieval-style medical care.
It's also one of the scariest video game levels ever made.
 
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Eternal Darkness
That First Person game in the Lovecraft universe that was released in the last couple of years (can't remember the name)
Pretty much any RPG that has a mechanic where decisions and outcomes are affected by stats like Divinity or Vampire: The Masquerade
Amnesia

Edit: Haven't played but Disco Elysium sounds like a great example of this, given that is mostly conversation.

Also Doki Doki Literature club. This particular one has two big advantages: it's very cheap and tech requirements are as low as they can be because it is a visual novel (there are many examples of games like these in the visual novel genre)
 
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I assume you're talking about games that deal with philosophical and psychological themes. I do know a bunch, although some of them were already mentioned:

Disco Elysium
Nier Automata
Saya no Uta
Layers of Fear
Ib
OFF
Yumme Nikki (and its army of fangames such as .flow and Yumme 2kki)

A.Romero said:
Also Doki Doki Literature club. This particular one has two big advantages: it's very cheap and tech requirements are as low as they can be because it is a visual novel (there are many examples of games like these in the visual novel genre)
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By very cheap, i'm sure you meant free
 
Smug_Horned_AI said:
I assume you're talking about games that deal with philosophical and psychological themes. I do know a bunch, although some of them were already mentioned:

Disco Elysium
Nier Automata
Saya no Uta
Layers of Fear
Ib
OFF
Yumme Nikki (and its army of fangames such as .flow and Yumme 2kki)


By very cheap, i'm sure you meant free
Click to expand...

I guess you can't go cheaper than free.
 
The whole premise of Fran Bow revolves around the psychology of the protagonist (among other interpretations). And it's a fantastic game.



I couldn't give a stronger recommendation.
 
Darkest Dungeon explores psychological themes with players developing quirks, negative and positive.

Most of the quirks affect gameplay which is great. Darkest Dungeon is pretty unique in that you have health bar and a sanity bar and if you fail to keep characters sane they become inflicted with a terrible psychological quirk and can even have a heart attack, I love the balance of keeping stress low and having to manage that gameplay loop, it's good stuff!
 
Max Payne actually has some pretty convincing simulations of nightmare, madness and drug fugue~

Didn't someone say that Mario is a study of Stockholm Syndrome?
 
MasterCornholio said:
HRoRar.gif


If you want to experience being paranoid I would recommend Alien Isolation.
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You might as well play Amnesia since it has more gameplay and variety to it than Alien. It's only the Alien and it stops being scary after the third encounter. More like the fear of being chased than paranoia. idk
 
Some excellent games listed here. I was considering Talos Principle just this past weekend, but wanted to look into it a bit more as I'd not heard of it!
My addition: Prey (2017)
 
Another vote for Silent Hill 1-3, SOMA, Hellblade and Pathologic 2.

But why does everyone keeps forgetting about Rule of Rose and Saya no Uta?
 
AV said:
Posting "Spec Ops: The Line" with middling enthusiasm before someone else posts calling it genius. It's okay. It's definitely what you need to look at though, it's all about the horrors of war and effects of that on a person's mental state.
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I don't understand why everyone is so enthusiastic to talk down spec ops. It's okay to admit that it's great. We're all friends here.
 
Spaceman292 said:
I don't understand why everyone is so enthusiastic to talk down spec ops. It's okay to admit that it's great. We're all friends here.
Click to expand...

I liked it a lot too, gameplay was a bit ropey but I thought it was a smart game with a lot of replay value.

Those games are usually my favourite ones: Bioshock, Evil Within 2, Alan Wake, etc.
 
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