Mind-bending video games d💦on't often come with the most enjoyable stories, but when executed with careful detail and brilliant, immersive game design, they'll be 🐠some of the most cherished experiences you can have in the medium. And most of the time, you see this style done in the horror and puzzle genres.

Monika from Doki Doki Literature Club and James Sunderland from Silent Hill 2 are seen in front of a large, panicked eye.
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168澳洲幸运5开奖网: 11 Best Psychological Hor✤🐭ror Games

TYhese horror games will🧸 get ⛄under your skin and linger in your mind.

168澳洲幸运5开奖网: 🐈

These games aim to create visceral and trippy, surreal worlds where you start to question reality. The mechanics are often quite original and try something that you've perhaps never encountered, and the narrative direction can be very fun and chilling at the 🐼same time. The ones below are sure to scratch the mind-bending itch.

10 ജ Karma: The Dark World

A scene mimicking the Red Room from Twin Peaks in Karma The Dark World with a doll-like family around the TV.
mixcollage-09-dec-2024-09-37-am-7612.jpg
168澳洲幸运5开奖网: KARMA: The Dark World
Psychological
Horror
Systems
PlayStation-1 Xbox-1 PC-1
ESRB
m
Developer(s)
𝓀 Pollard Studio LLC 🎉
Publisher(s)
🍌 Wired Productions, Gamera Games
Engine
Unreal Engine 5
Number of Players
1
Steam Deck Compatibility
Unknown

WHERE TO PLAY

DIGITAL

A compelling, mind-bending psychological horror game to check out is Karma: The Dark World, from the publisher that also gave you Martha is Dead and Deliver Us the Moon. The Silent Hill inspirations are very clear, as are its nods to David Lynch, perhaps the most obvious being a section in the game that mimics the Red Room 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:from Twin Peaks.

The dystopian premise and atmosphere are very similar to Observer, 🌼and it's set in an alternate timeline in 1984 East Germany. You play a Roam Agent working for the Leviathan Corporation's Thought Bureau, meaning you'll use a device that can get you inside💫 the mindscapes of suspects, and some unbelievably shocking mysteries lie ahead.

9 🌃 The Stanley Parable ܫ

A man sitting in front of a computer from The Stanley Parable.
mixcollage-18-jan-2025-08-37-am-1072.jpg

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The Stanley Parable: Ultra Deluxe
First-Person
Simulation
Mystery
Systems
super greyscale 8-bit logo PC-1 PlayStation-1 Xbox-1
Top Critic Avg: 90/100 Critics Rec: 98%
Released
April 27, 2022
ESRB
T For Teen // Drug Reference, Mild Blood, ﷽Mild Language, Mild Suggestive Themes, Mild Violence
Developer(s)
꧙ Crows C♓rows Crows
Publisher(s)
𒀰 Crows Crows Crows, Galactic Cafe
Engine
Unity
Number of Players
1

WHERE TO PLAY

DIGITAL

One of the most cerebral and mind-bending TV shows is Apple TV+'s Severance, a workplace drama with elements reminiscent of Black Mirror. The Stanley Parable is a game that originally launched in 2013 and broke a lot of rules (168澳洲幸运5开奖网:and often the fourth wall) to become a meta-narrative workplace satire that actually inspiﷺred Severance, as revealed by🉐 the show's creator.

Split images of: Control, Escape the Backrooms and Stanley Parable.
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8 Games To Play If You Enjoyed Watching Se🐈verance

If you loved watching Severance, these games ha🗹ve similar vibes.

168澳洲幸运5开奖网:𝔍 🎃

The Stanley Parable is a first-person walking simulator-style game that's different from any you've played. 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:You have a narrator who speaks directly to you and whom yo𒁃u'll find yourself in conflict with. The objectives and puzzﷺles around the office space, especially how each of the corridors and rooms are utilized and transformed, make it a very unique and surreal experience.

8 𝕴 Darq: Complete Edition

The creepy pale main character in Darq attempting a mind-bending puzzle with the camera perspective shifting.
mixcollage-10-dec-2024-11-23-am-6178.jpg

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Darq
Adventure
Horror
Puzzle
Systems
PlayStation-1 Xbox-1 super greyscale 8-bit logo PC-1
Top Critic Avg: 73/100 Critics Rec: 56%
Released
August 15, 2019
ESRB
Teen // Violence, Mild Blood, Mild Language,🔯 Use of Tobacco
Engine
Unity

WHERE TO PLAY

DIGITAL

Developer
ꦗ Unf🍸old Games

If you're a fan of Little Nightmares, Limbo, 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Tim Burton, and David Lynch's Eraserhead, Darq is a horror puzzle platforming game that feels like a healthy mix of that bunch. It's very atmospheric and quite creepy, especially since the🎐 protagonist's head comes off at a certain point and can roll around as part of the puzzle mechanics in the game.

In Darq, you are Lloyd, who is exhibiting an out-of-body experience while in a dream world that's now being overrun with hostile enemies. Where the mind-bending aspect comes in are the changes in perspecti♓ve in Lloyd's world, as he can climb ceilings and walls, with rooms able to be shifted and rotated as well, even when attempting to outrun enemies.

The sound design in Darq was developed by Danish sound designer Bjørn Jacobsen, who also worked on the sound for Cyberpunk 2💎077 and IO's Hitman series, including Hitman🌟 (2016) and Hitman 2.

7 Viewfinder ﷺ 🍰

A blue and green forest turning into a monochromatic staircase from Viewfinder.
mixcollage-20-nov-2024-10-19-pm-1380.jpg

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168澳洲幸运5开奖网: Viewfinder
Top Critic Avg: 83/100 Critics Rec: 93%
Released
July 18, 2023

WHERE TO PLAY

DIGITAL

Viewfinder is a first-person puzzle game where everything can be achieved and altered 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:through an instant camera. As you ඣmove through vibrant 3D environments, you'll use the camera to surpass obstacles in a way that changes the perspective of the environment to blend with your photo, giving you astonishing and breathtaking results.

Viewfinder truly pushes the puzzle genre to new creative avenues, set in a mysterious and colorful world that's like The Witness, but wiওth an even trippier feeling and photography mechanics ✱involved.

6 Returnal

Returnal Key Art with protagonist Selene Vassos and an array of broken astronaut helmets behind her.
returnal game

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168澳洲幸运5开奖网: Returnal
Third-Person Shooter
Systems
PC-1 PlayStation-1
Top Critic Avg: 86/100 Critics Rec: 89%
Released
April 30, 2021
ESRB
T for Teen: Blood, Mi🥂ld🧸 Language, Violence
Publisher(s)
Sony
Engine
Unreal Engine 4
Multiplayer
Online Multiplayer ♛

WHERE TO PLAY

SUBSCRIPTION
DIGITAL
PHYSICAL

Returnal is 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:a time loop game with roguelike mechanics and a very mind-bꦗending narrative set in space. Following a signal called the "White Shadow," astronaut Selene Vassos crash-lands on a planet called Atropos, but not all is as it seems. She finds that she's been dying over and over again, returning to Atropos at the start of each loop by chasing the same mysterious signal.

5:39
High on Life and Stellar Blade.
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The PS5 certainly isn't lightꦯ on its selection of sci-fi games. Here are all of the ones that are sure to satisfy the sci-fi fan in you.

168澳洲幸运5开奖网: ꦕ

The combat and wor🌠ld-building are the best elements of Returnal, and then the story gets very complex and twisty, throwing you for a loop about what's really going on with Selene. Why is she seeing her house appear on an alien planet, or what does a car accident have to do with anything here?

5 Superlimina𒁏l

A red hallway containing a large pawn and a digital clock from Superliminal.
mixcollage-13-dec-2024-11-25-am-530-1.jpg

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168澳洲幸运5开奖网: Superliminal
Puzzle
Systems
PlayStation-1 Xbox-1 super greyscale 8-bit logo PC-1 phone transparent
4.0/5
9.0/10
Top Critic Avg: 75/100 Critics Rec: 66%
Released
November 12, 2019
ESRB
Everyone // Mild Blood
Developer(s)
Pil🅷low Castle Games
Publisher(s)
ᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚ 🌳 Pillow Castle Games
Engine
Unity

WHERE TO PLAY

SUBSCRIPTION
DIGITAL

Another puzzle game with mind-bending perspective mechanics is Superlimi✅nal. It's like Portal without the portal gun mechanic and instead focusing on optical illusions and incredibly brain🧸-breaking puzzle design. Each level is super creative and some of the most fun you'll experience in the genre.

You move through the environment from the first-person, playing around with the perspective of objects to unlock your next objective and puzzle room. The story is that you're part of a dream therapy experiment, which is how these mind-bending environments are being created, and you must now succes𓂃sfully guide your character out.

4 ꦑ Oxenf𒐪ree Series

Oxenfree is from Night School Studio, an indie developer co-founded by a former Telltale employee, and this series puts an amazing original spin on time loops, the supernatural, and alternate dimensions. The first gam💮e follows Alex, her step-brother, Jonas, and their friends, who are all dealing with the tragic passing of Alex's biological brother. Throughout their night at Edwards Island, strange occurrences transpire.

The sequel, Lost Signals, sees Riley and her work partner Jacob experiencing these otherworldly, reality-altering phenomena and time loops, with the story brilliantly connecting to the first game and introducing new locations,🅠 characters, and mechanics. One of the most essential aspects of Oxenfree is using your radio to create interdimensional rifts and communicate with the other side.

3 Sil🗹ent Hill 2 Remake

Silent Hill 2. Key art that shows up in the PS5 menu.
mixcollage-25-dec-2024-11-52-pm-2729.jpg

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168澳洲幸运5开奖网: Silent Hill 2
Survival Horror
Horror
Adventure
Action
Systems
PlayStation-1 PC-1
3.5/5
12
9.7/10
Top Critic Avg: 87/100 Critics Rec: 95%
Released
October 8, 2024
ESRB
M For Mature 17+ //ꦇ Blood and Gore, Language, Sexual Themes, Vꦛiolence
Publisher(s)
Konami
Engine
Unreal Engine 5

WHERE TO PLAY

DIGITAL
PHYSICAL

By now, it's no secret that Konami's Silent Hill series was heavily influenced by Twin Peaks and the mind-bending ps🌌ychological thriller, Jacob's Ladder. Silent Hill 2 has the most iconic story, which received a stellar remake from Bloober Team, the developer behind Layers of Fear and The Medium, which only enhanced t🍃he original's storytelling, level design, and enemy and boss designs.

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27-9 Best Games Inspired By Silent Hill
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168澳♔洲幸运5开奖网: 14 Best Games Inspired By Silent Hill

These horror games are all c🐠rafted with the excellent and ghastly touch of Silen🌟t Hill.

ꦦ168澳洲幸运5开奖网: 🌠

Silent Hill 2 sees James Sunderland enter the fog-ridden town after he gets a strange letter from his wife to come find her there, despite her being deceased. What unfolds is a hellish nightmare of frightening creatures of all sorts and the parallel dimension of the Otherworld, 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:along with a harrowing maze section and a strangely familiar character named Maria.

2 BioShock Infinitꩲe

The ending of BioShock Infinite where multiple Elizabeth's appear.
via BioShock Wiki
bioshock infinite

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168澳洲幸运5开奖网: BioShock Infinite
Shooter
Systems
PC-1 PlayStation-1 Xbox-1
9.0/10
Released
March 26, 2013
ESRB
ౠ M for Mature: Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Language, Mild Sexual Themes, Use of Alcohol and Tobacco
Developer(s)
🗹 Irrationa💞l Games
Publisher(s)
2K
Engine
Unreal Engine 3
Franchise
BioShock

WHERE TO PLAY

DIGITAL

Platform(s)
PS3, Xbox 360, PC, macOS, Linux

The original BioShock already had a great twist with its protagonist, but BioShock Infinite ultimately decided to top that. In Infinite, you play P.I. Booker DeWitt, who journeys to the city in the sky called Columbia in the early 1900s in search of a young woman 𓃲named Elizabeth, who's locked in a tower. Elizabeth eventually becomes your compani♐on, and you must protect her from Father Comstock's forces.

Elizabeth has the ability to open tears in the environment that lead to a parallel world, and the plot is centered around alternate realities and gets very mind-bending toward the end, especially with the plot twist. You still have your weapons, Plasmids (168澳洲幸运5开奖网:now called Vigors),༺ tons of new enemies, and also grapple traversal.

1 𒆙 Remedy Universe - Control And Alan Wake 2 🍸

Remedy's Sam Lake is like 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Christopher Nolan combined with David Lynch, and the Remedy Connected Universe of Alan Wake, Control, and Alan Wake 2 is certainly an opus of mind-bending storytelling and gameplay. Alan Wake 2 is a survival horror masterpiece with parallel dimensions, trippy mechanics, and 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:even a musical section, but to better understand it, especially𒉰 the DLC, you also need to play Control.

Control is more action-oriented than horror and comes with even more complex lore. You play Jesse Faden, ent🅠ering the building of the Federal Bureau of Control (FBC) in search of her brother, Dylan. There are all these weird things, like Objects of Power, The Board, Ahti the Janitor, and then the Ashtray Maze sequence.

a render of david lynch alongside image sof multiple games.
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168澳洲幸运5开奖网:🎀 12 Games Inspired By David Lynch

David Lynch's surrealist style has inspired a number of games.𒀰

168澳洲幸运5开奖网: ൲ ♋