I’ve been comparing different dark fantasy games lately and I’m curious about which ones really get under your skin. In my opinion, The Witcher 3 takes the crown for being genuinely disturbing. Sure, Elden Ring has plenty of mysterious and ominous atmosphere with all its cryptic lore and twisted imagery, but it mostly leaves the really dark stuff to your imagination. The Witcher 3 is different though - it doesn’t just hint at horrible things happening in the background. Instead, it forces you to witness and participate in some truly messed up situations. You’re constantly making choices that involve real moral consequences, dealing with war crimes, political corruption, and other heavy themes that hit you right in the face. What do you think makes a dark fantasy game truly dark? Is it the atmosphere and implied horror, or does it need to show you the brutal reality directly?
Amnesia The Dark Descent still gives me chills thinking about it. That game knows how to mess with your head without showing you everything directly.
Spec Ops: The Line really got to me, though it’s more military than fantasy. For pure dark fantasy though, I’d say Disco Elysium. That game doesn’t pull punches when it comes to showing you how broken people can be. The way it handles addiction, depression, and moral decay is pretty brutal. You’re basically playing as someone who’s completely falling apart and the game makes you live through every uncomfortable moment of it.
Bloodborne definitely messed with my head more than most games
Dragon Age Origins hit me pretty hard with some of its storylines. The whole Broodmother reveal in the Deep Roads was absolutely horrifying, and the way they built up to it made it even worse. Plus dealing with the politics of slavery in some of the other games in the series gets really uncomfortable when you realize how normalized it all is in that world.
Dark Souls 3 had some moments that really stuck with me. The whole Irithyll Dungeon area with those jailers was just nightmare fuel, and don’t get me started on some of the item descriptions that reveal the backstory.
Pathologic 2 breaks you mentally in ways other games don’t even attempt