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Sad/Grim/Dark/"Depressing" Games?

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:(
 
The thread's topic is weirdly broad for me to want to comment on it directly, but I was just thinking the way BioShock Infinite ramps up a sense of dread through the story but making you feel helpless to protect someone reminded me of a certain moment of Deadly Premonition. It was a weird connection to make.

Messofanego said:
Depression Quest (short and free text adventure, most nuanced exploration of what depression feels like; imo does depression better than any movie or novel I've come across)
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I think depression is a very serious mood disorder, but this is cracking me up. This is like "educational video you watch in health class" funny.
 
Tenrius said:
The Marionette. It's a short indie adventure game, which is also freeware. Second time I recommend it on GAF, it seems to be very obscure. Its website: http://themarionette.game-host.org/

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"If there's an intriguing or good quality adventure out there in Freeware land, it's very likely that it'll end up as the lead piece in this section. The Marionette is both of these things... Adventure fans would be mad not to give it a go." - PC Zone​

Well, I'm not mad so I should give this a go immediately!
 
TheJollyCorner said:
Rule of Rose

I was thinking about the game (and the final 'level'/reveal) for weeks after I beat it.
Your main character is essentially dealing with
an extremely traumatic childhood experience and working through repressed memories
through the entire game. What that experience ultimately ended up being haunted me for a while.


Just somber and depressing as hell, but fascinating and so well designed.
It's a shame the gameplay was so mediocre that most people seemed to pass on it.

One of my top 5 favorite games of the PS2 library.
I wish Sony would toss it up on the PSN so more people could experience it.
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Yeah, and not only her,
pretty much every character is trapped into a sad existence and they can't get out (because they are children and no adult around them gives too much of a shit), even the "villains" like the Stray Dog end up being extremely pitiable once you know their story. (Diana and how she much she wanted to grow up, Eleanor the caged bird, etc)

The OST really manages to convey the sad/melancholy theme of the game.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-sP7iTSkMu8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jig_BSvn8wE


Shattered Memories is another very depressing game once you get to know the whole story. (dat ending)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CL0u9_gNUX0
 
Pathologic

The Void

System Shock

Fatal Frame

Silent Hill

I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream

Actual Sunlight (dont play if you suffer from depression)
 
No Eternal Darkness love? Also, 999. I need to go back and get all the endigs, but the few I saw, I wasn't ready
The hatchet ending really disturbed me, so much, I leave the game alone for a couple days, just to get, the submarine ending :(
 
jaz013 said:
No Eternal Darkness love? Also, 999. I need to go back and get all the endigs, but the few I saw, I wasn't ready
The hatchet ending really disturbed me, so much, I leave the game alone for a couple days, just to get, the submarine ending :(
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I was going to include 999 since it fits the bill, until the true ending that to me jumps the shark a bit
 
Two that strike me from the world of Interactive Fiction; both are IFComp entries, so quite short (designed to be finishable in two hours).

Shade

Emily Short said:
Shade is the closest I've come to being able to play an episode of the Twilight Zone. It works through dread: we want to know what comes next, and we are certain that it won't be good. But unlike Anchorhead or other Lovecraft-inspired works, Shade isn't about exposing the black writhing heart of the cosmos. It is something more contained and ordinary than that. The classic Twilight Zone ending leaves you feeling like you knew all along what was coming; even if the imagery of the ending is outlandish, the meaning is usually something universal and internal. We all have facts in our lives that we're trying very hard not to see clearly.

Shade is about one of those facts.
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Kaged

Paul O'Brian said:
That being said, I'm in a dilemma about how to rate it. On the one hand, I have to admit that it does an outstanding job at achieving what appear to be its goals. By the end of the game I was twitchy, angry, and thoroughly awash in the reality-questioning quasi-madness brought on by works like Brazil and 1984. Like those works, Kaged is a kick in the head all the way through, and a very powerful kick at that.
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Edit: Oh, I also have to mention the growing sense of dread in the final month of Persona 3. For a game that's quite cheerful in the earlier stages, the swing to the later feel is quite disconcerting.
 
- Silent Hill: Shattered Memories. Dat Ending.
- 9 people 9 doors 9 hours had some pretty depressing moments
- Silent Hill 2. Everything about was depressing. From the characters to the music (in a good way).


edit: _Keiichi_ pretty much said exactly the same thing as me for SH: SM lol
 
At least Demon's Souls has a semi-positive ending
if you choose to put the Old One back to sleep
. Dark Souls just has a damned if you do, damned if you don't ending that just makes you feel like a puppet.
 
Messofanego said:
"If there's an intriguing or good quality adventure out there in Freeware land, it's very likely that it'll end up as the lead piece in this section. The Marionette is both of these things... Adventure fans would be mad not to give it a go." - PC Zone​

Well, I'm not mad so I should give this a go immediately!
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Hope you like it! I came across it a few years back and it's a nice short surrealistic adventure with a touch of melancholy and horror.
 
I wasn't able to play Cart Life for more than a half an hour. I spent the whole day in the game working below minimum wage, not enough money to eat and when I got home my cat went missing.

I had to turn off the game.
 
Ra1den said:
Valkyrie Profile. Every town you visit is having some sort of terrible hardship, and depressing(but awesome) music amplifies the effect nicely. It's actually a really cool kind of depressing feeling, hard to describe. Melancholic, I guess.
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Gonna second this, every person you recruit has the prerequisite of dying and the the fact that you watch their back story and the emotional moments leading up to their death is pretty depressing.

Also Homeworld 2 because after beating it I have to deal with the realization that there will never be a sequel
SEGA PROVE ME WRONG
 
Jawmuncher said:
Hope we get some more games listed.
A lot of the stuff posted fits but seems to be the already pretty known stuff. There's gotta be more out there especially on PC

Speaking of Which
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I've heard alot of good things about this, how does it hold up?
 
Dark Souls/Demons Souls - The whole world just reeks of dread and feels past the point of being saved.

Majora's Mask - This game has some surprisingly dark and depressing moments. I think the moment that really "got me" during that game is when you reunite the pair of lovers and watch them hug moments before the moon is about to destroy them. Then you warp back in time and see them apart again, like nothing happened.

DmC - Sad in the sense that it was a bad game and a waste of time.

Silent Hill 2 - When it clicks and you realize what everything meant to symbolize.

Spec Ops - I think the game as a whole is a tad overrated, but it does an ample job of bringing the horrors of war to your face.

Metro 2033 - Just, everything man.

Minecraft - This is probably just me, but I find that game's music super depressing.
 
Majora's Mask is the first one that comes to mind. There are some good ones listed here.

999. It was pretty grim and depressing. Especially every ending other than the true ending, even then, only the final moments are truly happy in that sense.
 
Acorn said:
I've heard alot of good things about this, how does it hold up?
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Aside from getting a copy (runs expensive used but I do believe it qualifies as abandonware) The game still holds up great for fans of adventure games and dark stories.

This sums it up pretty well
(Was the reason I tracked down the game)

http://blip.tv/the-spoony-experiment/horror-game-classics-i-have-no-mouth-and-i-must-scream-2797301

If I recall it has some spoilers near the end of the video so I'd just watch a bit so you can get a taste.
 
Acorn said:
I've heard alot of good things about this, how does it hold up?
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Fine. It's kind of hard, but there is no right way to play it. There's like this karma system, and you see different outcomes in certain situations. I haven't beat it, but i did get 75% through the first character. I like it, I just got stuck. It's one of those games I want to go back too sometime in the future.
 
Demon's Souls and Dark Souls are pretty bleak games.

Everything is depressing in those games and the endings are just sad. Reflecting on them too much can lead to an exercise in misanthropy.
 
Siren 1, Siren 2, Siren: Blood Curse are depressing as fuck.

Also Final Fantasy Tactics and Tactics Ogre: LUCT, dat matsuno backstabbing.
 
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