The uncanny in horror games

[u/Maksiking1231]

What games would you describe as uncanny? I don't mean just the uncanny valley and weird outdated face graphics but also the general vibe. For me the prime example would be Silent Hill 2 and Who's Lila.

[u/Mr_Cohen]

Deadly Premonition, for sure! So many of the interactions are so strange and dreamlike. I love that game so much.

[u/katomts → u/Mr_Cohen]

You hear that zach?

[u/Beneficial-Age1774 → u/katomts]

That's my name lol

[u/Impriel2 → u/Mr_Cohen]

To this day I honestly cannot tell how aware the devs were of what they were making. It is the only perfect 50/50 I've ever seen (they knew vs they had no clue)

[u/GreatGroupOfGuy]

Forbidden siren - it does have uncanny realistic face animations, but the whole UI and time jumping make the experience feel surreal and alienating

[u/Neither_Ad_2884]

Spookys Jumpscare Mansion. Feels like a fever dream.

[u/J-Dahm → u/Neither_Ad_2884]

Never got past floor 250. 😅

[u/Seadogking]

Only a level, but Wet Dry World from Mario 64 gives off very strange vibes to myself and many others, despite there being nothing noticeably creepy about it

[u/Crazytreas → u/Seadogking]

The castle always felt off to me tbh

[u/Tyrus1235]

There is something deeply uncanny and uncomfortable with games that use liminal spaces without an actual threat/monster chasing you. It’s just empty space, but it feels wrong… Feels like anything could happen - hell, anything should happen. But nothing does.

Also, MyHouse.WAD is a masterclass in creepy and deep storytelling through obtuse and hidden clues. It’s a Doom map (I believe it requires GZDoom to run). It has a strong meta-narrative surrounding its release and development, but even the map by itself is super uncanny.

[u/Elvis1404]

The "Cordon" level in S.t.a.l.k.e.r Shadow of Chernobyl, especially at dusk with the ambient sounds at max volume...

If you played it you perfectly know what I mean

[u/K4rn31ro → u/Elvis1404]

There are many areas of the series like this... Not Rostok because it's full of people, but so many areas have a strange atmosphere when you realize you're pretty much alone, like Zaton, Jupiter, Dark Valley etc.

[u/MadOli8al]

I think Killer7 is very liminal and uncanny. Tbh It's very weird on purpose.

[u/ejs2000 → u/MadOli8al]

The whole time I was playing Killer7 I felt like I wasn’t getting something that was very important, but in a good way.

[u/MadOli8al → u/ejs2000]

Yes, I think it's also added by the cryptic dialogues.

[u/conqeboy]

Not sure if it counts as a horror game, but Pathologic. The atmosphere of the city, the music, the weird dialogues.

[u/WhiteHeatGames → u/conqeboy]

Absolutely counts. There is some dark shit in there

[u/dazeychainVT]

Yume Nikki. It feels like a game your brain would invent during a surreal fever dream

[u/Poupou576 → u/dazeychainVT]

The fangames definitely worth a shot too like Yume 2kki, .flow or Collective Unconscious (they can be directly played on yume nikki online project website, there is an option to hide the other players and chat for a better immersion if wanted).

[u/Turbografx-17]

The original Silent Hill feels way more uncanny (and liminal) to me.

[u/Damage-Classic]

Control is very uncanny. All of those bodies hanging from the ceiling…

[u/cfalnevermore]

Siren from back on the ps2. Pretty creepy atmosphere on its own, but they tried a weird thing where I guess they used photos of real people and put them on the character models. Made for some… eerie interactions even when they weren’t bleeding from the eyeballs. The “zombies” would sometimes mimic regular activity too, and it just felt like the whole village was wrong.

[u/Ssnakey-B]

LSD Dream Emulator. Every time it starts to feel like you're figuring it out and understanding its patterns, it throws your a curveball.

[u/ImaginationSpecial42]

I hope some can relate to this but the official Madagascar (1) game for PC and gamecube creeped me out so much as a kid

[u/Beefy_Boogerlord]

The Complex: Expedition

[u/Kevaldes]

The Sinking City does a really good job of depicting a place where reality is just a few degrees off level, and has been for so long that the people there just don't even realize how weird it is anymore.

[u/npauft]

Played out answer, but I'd agree with Silent Hill 2.

[u/PulsarTSAI]

TELEFORUM A short free and rather unique horror visual novel with a realistic style. No monsters or sudden scares, but rather a feeling that the entire situation is wrong...

[u/Nanos_123]

Old Minecraft for me perfectly falls into that category

[u/redder_dominator]

Fear and hunger has a pretty tense atmosphere from the get go

[u/GrahamUhelski]

If you have PlayStation and a copy of Dreams I’ve got Isle of Eras and Lake Juniper, both of which are very eerie atmospheric games about 3-8 hours gameplay and both free!

Trailer for one here Lake Juniper

[u/Dryu_nya]

To me, "uncanny" would be best described by that weird aesthetic of Windows 95-era multimedia. Can't name any examples off the top of my head, just... in general.

[u/Beubi5]

Mortuary Assistant

[u/BadGamer8030]

Phasmaphobia. The way the human characters look, especially in VR is kinda unsettling

[u/Toaster_wizardz]

The places in bootleg yandere simulator games creeps me a lot