Horror is always more effective when it's unexpected. There's nothing worse than a jumpscare that shows its hand way too early, or a terrifying twist you see coming a mile away. It kills momentum, but more importantly, it kills tension, which is what horror games thrive on. If they aren't making you nervous as you play, they aren't doing their job.
بەرگەکان ڕێکبخەرەوە بۆ ڕێزبەندی بڵاوکردنەوەی دروستی ئەمریکا.
That said, some of the most effective horror games around will creep you out because you don't even realize they're a horror game. A cute aesthetic, an innocent first half, or a brief dalliance into horror in an otherwise non-horror game can all effectively catch players off guard, making them especially susceptible to a blindside jumpscare or pulse-pounding descent into madness that they never saw coming.
Spoiler and trigger warning for Doki Doki Literature Club!, and just spoiler warnings for Return of the Obra Dinn and Nine Sols. We'll also grade the degree of horror in each entry so you know if you should avoid it or not. Games are ranked based on how immersive their horror elements are, not how scary they are.
With a name like Pony Island, how scary could this game be, right? Well, the thing is, Pony Island may start with you controlling a galloping horse as it leaps over gates and shoots down enemies with its Pony Laser, but the game's sinister trappings soon reveal themselves, and they are anything but cute.
You goal is not to continually jump over gates, but to actually break free of the gate-jumping game your pony is trapped in. Once you do, you can explore the ancient and seemingly evil computer that is running the gate-jumping game. This is where the real horror emerges. From hidden files with creepy implications to a malevolent chat room, your journey to find the game's creator is one filled with unsettling imagery and a creeping sense of dread, both for yourself and your poor little pony.
Bramble: The Mountain King flips from idyllic to evil on a dime, and does so continuously throughout its campaign despite its short runtime. Part of what initially threw me off was the almost cherubic nature of its protagonist, Olle, who ventures into the woods to find his missing sister. The forest gradually morphs to represent a variety of fairy tales, but these are more like the original Grimm stories than anything out of a Disney theme park. Part adventure game, part horror, it's hard to know what to expect next from Bramble.
From evading the mind-controlling music of the Nacken to watching a witch drown a newborn to appease a demon, things get dark quickly. All the while, the game is backed by some fantastic music. It's so good that it doesn't always fit the creepy mood, but you'll still be bobbing along to it while Olle runs for his life. It all culminates in a battle against the titular Mountain King, which is one for the ages, a can't-miss platformer boss fight that sets the standard for what the genre can accomplish.
سەرچاوەی فەرمی بە زمانی ئینگلیزی: https://gamerant.com/best-games-hide-their-horror-surprise-until-you-least-expect-it-ranked/
