Creepy Games - an IFDB Poll
by J'onn Roger
RSS FeedI'm not looking for supernatural/ghost stories or horror stories, just games that do a good job being scary and/or disturbing.
| Shade, by Andrew Plotkin 10 votes "A perfectly unsettling atmosphere" [+]"A perfectly unsettling atmosphere" ( ) --madducks... "Surreal and beautifully dark" [+]"Surreal and beautifully dark: Literally dark. You can almost see it in your head, and the image won't leave for a long time." () --bluevelvetwings... "Unnerving and..." [+]"Unnerving and surreal." --Emily Short... (No comment) [+](No comment) --perching path... (No comment) [+](No comment) () --Grey... (No comment) [+](No comment) ( - Full review) --Walter Sandsquish... (No comment) [+](No comment) --Savaric... (No comment) [+](No comment) () --Cheryl L... (No comment) [+](No comment) () --trojo... (No comment) [+](No comment) () --Sobol...  Vote for this game | |
| Anchorhead, by Michael Gentry 9 votes "Gets in your head" [+]"Gets in your head: It doesn't /scare/ at first, but you don't stop thinking about it. And then you're laying in bed at night and you see the horror. Very subtle and beautiful." ( ) --bluevelvetwings... "Very creepy" [+]"Very creepy: This is probably one of the longest IF's which I have ever played. It really contains good puzzles and a massive world, which makes it very explorable. Emphasizes on horror too. " () --BlitzWithGuns... "Amazing atmophere" [+]"Amazing atmophere" --akaisha0... "Contains one of..." [+]"Contains one of the simplest, most effective sequences for using standard player behaviour to induce fear." () --Sam Kabo Ashwell... (No comment) [+](No comment) () --Cheryl L... (No comment) [+](No comment) () --E.K.... (No comment) [+](No comment) () --shornet... (No comment) [+](No comment) () --Sobol... (No comment) [+](No comment) () --Denk... Vote for this game | |
| Slouching Towards Bedlam, by Star Foster and Daniel Ravipinto 8 votes "Not my cup of tea due to how the Logos was handled (in Christianity, the Logos is Christ), but it certainly was disturbring." [+]"Not my cup of tea due to how the Logos was handled (in Christianity, the Logos is Christ), but it certainly was disturbring." --J'onn Roger... (No comment) [+](No comment) ( ) --Grey... (No comment) [+](No comment) () --Azazel... (No comment) [+](No comment) () --Nusco... (No comment) [+](No comment) () --Savaric... "Extremely..." [+]"Extremely unsettling. Fragments of speech - or something else - and the PC is stuck in the middle with no idea what happened until it was too late." () --DustyCypress... (No comment) [+](No comment) () --E.K.... (No comment) [+](No comment) --Sobol... Vote for this game | |
| De Baron, by Victor Gijsbers 7 votes "Not the fun kind of creepy." [+]"Not the fun kind of creepy." --perching path... "Not for those easily triggerred." [+]"Not for those easily triggerred.: Not scary at all, but easily one of the creepiest IF's on the database." --clyde... (No comment) [+](No comment) ( ) --Felix Pleșoianu... (No comment) [+](No comment) () --verityvirtue... (No comment) [+](No comment) --NJ... (No comment) [+](No comment) () --Sobol... (No comment) [+](No comment) () --Karl Ove Hufthammer... Vote for this game | |
| Shrapnel, by Adam Cadre 6 votes "Disturbing in a psychedelic, nightmarish fashion." [+]"Disturbing in a psychedelic, nightmarish fashion." ( ) --C.E.J. Pacian... "Unsettling." [+]"Unsettling." () --Grey... "More twists and turns than a rollercoaster" [+]"More twists and turns than a rollercoaster: This game has lots of unexpected (and often quite gruesome) turns of events. It's pretty disturbing overall." ( - Full review) --Ant-Fan... (No comment) [+](No comment) --shornet... (No comment) [+](No comment) () --Sobol... (No comment) [+](No comment) --Jubal... Vote for this game | |
| Vespers, by Jason Devlin 4 votes "It's set in a..." [+]"It's set in a plague-stricken monastery and everyone looks like they're going mad. " ( ) --verityvirtue... (No comment) [+](No comment) () --Ismarus... (No comment) [+](No comment) --Sobol... "Includes subtly..." [+]"Includes subtly changing and gradually more creepy room and object descriptions." () --Karl Ove Hufthammer... Vote for this game | |
| All Alone, by Ian Finley 4 votes (No comment) [+](No comment) ( ) --Grey... (No comment) [+](No comment) () --Walter Sandsquish... (No comment) [+](No comment) () --Sobol... (No comment) [+](No comment) ( - Full review) --Karl Ove Hufthammer... Vote for this game | |
| Kaged, by Ian Finley 4 votes "Orwellian..." [+]"Orwellian dystopia, creepily presented." ( - Full review) --Emily Short... (No comment) [+](No comment) () --Walter Sandsquish... "One of the most..." [+]"One of the most successful games in creating a strong mood of fear that stays with you long after playing." --Christina Nordlander... (No comment) [+](No comment) () --Denk... Vote for this game | |
| Babel, by Ian Finley 3 votes "Not violent, just very very creepy" [+]"Not violent, just very very creepy" ( - Full review) --SarahTheEntwife... "Great story, very creepy and atmospheric" [+]"Great story, very creepy and atmospheric" () --trojo... (No comment) [+](No comment) () --Cheryl L... Vote for this game | |
| The Awakening, by Dennis Matheson 2 votes (No comment) [+](No comment) ( ) --o0pyromancer0o... (No comment) [+](No comment) () --Sobol... Vote for this game | |
| 1981, by Anonymous 2 votes "Hard to discuss..." [+]"Hard to discuss without spoilering, but the PC is a stalker." --Christina Nordlander... (No comment) [+](No comment) --Jubal... Vote for this game | |
| A Fire Darkly: Chapter 1, by Louis Rakovich 2 votes "beautifully unsettling" [+]"beautifully unsettling" ( - Full review) --SLane... (No comment) [+](No comment) --Hawkmoth... Vote for this game | |
| The King of Shreds and Patches, by Jimmy Maher 2 votes "Never mind scary..." [+]"Never mind scary and creepy, I'm yet to play another text adventure that makes you forget it's turn based, and afraid you're going to mistype a command in your hurry to escape. Simply amazing." ( ) --Felix Pleșoianu... (No comment) [+](No comment) () --Sobol... Vote for this game | |
| Ecdysis, by Peter Nepstad 2 votes "More Lovecraftian than Lovecraft" [+]"More Lovecraftian than Lovecraft" ( - Full review) --Nusco... (No comment) [+](No comment) --verityvirtue... Vote for this game | |
| The Blind House, by Amanda Allen 2 votes (No comment) [+](No comment) ( ) --Karl Ove Hufthammer... (No comment) [+](No comment) --Jubal... Vote for this game | |
| The Lurking Horror, by Dave Lebling 2 votes "Probably the..." [+]"Probably the creepiest IF from back when it was called adventure games and you still had to pay for them." ( ) --o0pyromancer0o... "This does have an..." [+]"This does have an excellent snowbound campus atmosphere, and benefits from its bigness compared to more recent games." () --Wade Clarke... Vote for this game | |
| Going Down, by Hanon Ondricek 2 votes (No comment) [+](No comment) ( ) --Denk... (No comment) [+](No comment) () --Kinetic Mouse Car... Vote for this game | |
| Rameses, by Stephen Bond 1 vote "Trapped in a disturbing life, as an excessively damaged person." [+]"Trapped in a disturbing life, as an excessively damaged person.: The protagonist in Rameses deserves his suffering; he's a poster boy example of the "spineless milksop" protagonist found in several modern works, but slipping into his perspective starts off creepy (like wearing a damp tuxedo stolen from a casket) and gets creepier as you realize that you, as Rameses, have no real agency. Then it's like still being in the tux, but being put back in the casket where it belongs ... Thoroughly unsympathetic character + well-written rails = genuinely unsettling IF experience." ( ) --Ghalev... Vote for this game | |
| Cragne Manor, by Ryan Veeder, Jenni Polodna, Adam Whybray, Adri, Andrew Plotkin, Andy Holloway, Austin Auclair, Baldur Brückner, Ben Collins-Sussman, Bill Maya, Brian Rushton, Buster Hudson, Caleb Wilson, Carl Muckenhoupt, Chandler Groover, Chris Jones, Christopher Conley, Damon L. Wakes, Daniel Ravipinto, Daniel Stelzer, David Jose, David Petrocco, David Sturgis, Drew Mochak, Edward B, Emily Short, Erica Newman, Feneric, Finn Rosenløv, Gary Butterfield, Gavin Inglis, Greg Frost, Hanon Ondricek, Harkness Munt, Harrison Gerard, Ian Holmes, Ivan Roth, Jack Welch, Jacqueline Ashwell, James Eagle, Jason Dyer, Jason Lautzenheiser, Jason Love, Jeremy Freese, Joey Jones, Joshua Porch, Justin de Vesine, Justin Melvin, Katherine Morayati, Kenneth Pedersen, Lane Puetz, Llew Mason, Lucian Smith, Marco Innocenti, Marius Müller, Mark Britton, Mark Sample, Marshal Tenner Winter, Matt Schneider, Matt Weiner, Matthew Korson, Michael Fessler, Michael Gentry, Michael Hilborn, Michael Lin, Mike Spivey, Molly Ying, Monique Padelis, Naomi Hinchen, Nate Edwards, Petter Sjölund, Q Pheevr, Rachel Spitler, Reed Lockwood, Reina Adair, Riff Conner, Roberto Colnaghi, Rowan Lipkovits, Sam Kabo Ashwell, Scott Hammack, Sean M. Shore, Shin, Wade Clarke, Zach Hodgens, Zack Johnson 1 vote "Some of these rooms are horrifying." [+]"Some of these rooms are horrifying." ( - Full review) --MathBrush... Vote for this game | |
| Awakening, by Pete Gardner 1 vote (No comment) [+](No comment) ( ) --o0pyromancer0o... Vote for this game | |
| Andromeda Awakening - The Final Cut, by Marco Innocenti 1 vote "Scary in a way that's not supernatural" [+]"Scary in a way that's not supernatural: The world is about to end, and only you know it since your colleague was just assassinated. There's a sense of urgency throughout the whole story to warn others before it's too late." ( - Full review) --mjhayes... Vote for this game | |
| Resonance, by Matt Scarpino 1 vote "Eerie and..." [+]"Eerie and unsettling. After all, it is about mind control. And yet, you are determined to rise above it." --Kinetic Mouse Car... Vote for this game | |
| Theatre, by Brendon Wyber 1 vote "My first ever IF..." [+]"My first ever IF played - you are stuck alone in an abandon theatre. It is much more than it seems... every unsettling when playing at night." --DustyCypress... Vote for this game | |
| Make It Good, by Jon Ingold 1 vote "Draws the player..." [+]"Draws the player into an uncomfortable moral place." ( - Full review) --Emily Short... Vote for this game | |
| Blind, by Andrew Metzger 1 vote "Creep kidnaps..." [+]"Creep kidnaps blind woman and keeps her in creepy locale. That's plenty of creep." ( - Full review) --Wade Clarke... Vote for this game | |
| The Storm, by Stephane F. 1 vote (No comment) [+](No comment) --Stephane F.... Vote for this game | |
| rendition, by nespresso 1 vote "Torture and abuse" [+]"Torture and abuse" ( - Full review) --sushabye... Vote for this game | |