In the gaming world, there is no shortage of terrifying horror games; most of them are great ones too, even when it comes to mobile horror games. However, there are only a few dark games capable of messing with players' minds in a way that's not only memorable but provokes deep thoughts and emotions by waking up gamers' darkest fears.
These dark psychological games are often horrors and are even set in classic locations like scary gaming hospitals or creepy haunted houses. But there is also an excellent selection of mind-bending dark games with unique settings and stories for those players who prefer to get freaked in new and inventive ways. These nightmarish yet imaginative games will challenge players' worldview, morals, perception of reality, and even their own sanity while also petrifying and shocking them during the challenging gameplay.
8 Observer: System Redux
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Observer: System Redux is one of the best cyberpunk games with a complex world set in the dystopian future of 2084. This psychological thriller is just as trippy as Blade Runner, and it takes its players on multiple dream-hacking investigations in its dark and deeply atmospheric world.
Players will get to control a character named Daniel, an Observer whose job is to hack into the suspects' minds to expose their fears and desires searching for clues, so he can solve his investigations. However, the deeper one gets into these twisted mazes the sooner they will lose their own mind. Observer: System Redux is a darkly engaging game that's suspenseful from the beginning till the end.
7 Visage
Visage psychological survival simulation game set in a large house filled with violent supernatural beings. It's an immersive game with highly realistic and stunning visuals that make the gameplay scarier and more enjoyable at the same time. Players can take their time as they discover all the rooms and dark corners of this atmospheric environment.
The players will have to find a way to escape the house and try to stay sane as their heads are getting filled with violent memories of those who died in the house. Visage provides a classic dark gaming experience with surprising jump scares, chilling sounds, and creepy noises, and will let players experience the classic haunted house story in a new and completely immersive way.
6 Pathologic 2
Pathologic 2 is one of the darkest and longest horror games, or rather anti-games that will challenge and even frustrate its players. The game forces gamers to think for themselves and understand the game's wide variety of characters in a deeper way even when it seems impossible to find a reason for their horrible actions.
Pathologic 2 is also an atmospheric and darkly gorgeous RPG open-world game set in a dying rural town that's plagued by a deadly illness. Players will have to make medicine, try to heal others, as well as fight for survival while trying to accept that not everyone can be saved. Pathologic 2 is a challenging and dark game with mature themes that'll surely make every player think differently.
5 Layers of Fear
Layers of Fear is a multi-award-winning first-person psychedelic horror game that invites its players to paint a true Masterpiece of Fear if they're brave enough to try. While this game has outstanding graphics and atmospheric music it also heavily focuses on storytelling and encourages its players to explore parts of their minds they never dared before.
Players will get to explore a gorgeous ever-changing Victorian mansion while also getting lost deep in the mind of an insane artist. They will have to uncover dark secrets while experiencing violent visions, and his darkest fears to find out what caused his madness and help him finally finish his masterpiece.
4 Soma
Soma's players can go on a mind-bending adventure deep below the ocean. It's one of the most celebrated atmospheric sci-fi psychological horror games that truly messes with its players' minds without being overly violent or gore. Players will have to find a way to stay alive in this isolated and unsettling underwater environment while everything around them pushes them to their physical and mental limits.
Soma's detailed and gorgeously terrifying world is filled with dark secrets and as players explore its every corner to find answers they will have to face evil humans, robots, and dangerous creatures. However, their worst enemy becomes their own mind, and soon start to question everything including what it means to be human.
3 Silent Hill 2
Silent Hill 2 is one of the most brilliant gaming masterpieces and one of the best psychological horror games thanks to its unique approach to gameplay and story. It's a hypnotic adventure in which players will control a character called James who is searching for his wife, Mary in Silent Hill. As players explore more of this horrifying city they learn more about the character as well as the real reason why he's in Silent Hill.
What really makes Silent Hill 2 terrifying and dark are not its monsters or gore but the dark and deep themes the creators used to create its complex story and character arc, including hate, grief, as well as a wide variety of mental disorders. Silent Hill 2's players all have to experience these emotions and mental states too.
2 Amnesia: The Dark Descent
Amnesia: The Dark Descent is famously one of the scariest games with the best use of darkness and with a story that chills its players to the bone. This psychological horror game has hauntingly beautiful visuals and atmospheric sounds that pull gamers deeper into its twisted and horrifying world.
Players will have to explore a disturbing Lovecraftian world that's filled with real monsters as well as the most horrifying monsters of the mind. This immersive game is set in 1939 in the beautiful but ghostly Brennenburgh Castle. Players will have to control an amnesiac character named Daniel who has to survive and get out of the terrifying castle that's filled with monsters and all sorts of disturbing events that keep pushing him towards insanity.
1 Outlast
Outlast is a perfectly horrifying first-person survival horror game that's set in a remote psychiatric hospital in Colorado. Players will get to control a character named Miles who's an investigative journalist and wants to uncover the truth buried deep in the Mount Massive Asylum.
Miles uses his video camera to record everything and through that lens, players can explore every inch of the haunting hospital. Soon some of the scariest characters in Outlast will start popping up who will quickly turn the game into one of the most horrifying experiences. Outlast is one of the darkest games ever created because it's capable of messing with its players' emotions just as well as their minds on a psychological level.