Looking for a depressing game.

[VideoGameMasochist]

Lost Patrol is the most depressing game ever made. 'Blom slips a grenade into your backpack and you are killed'. For fuck sake Blom, I was trying to get us home! I'd like to see you do better! It was on the Amiga though.

Never played it back in the day but I have played it on WinUAE a little. Seems like one of those games that would be hard to get into now. The kind of thing you need the patience and boredom of a kid in the early 1990s to actually bother putting up with, as far as some of the more tedious or seemingly random elements are concerned. Definitely an interesting kind of game though that makes you think about the good and bad parts of its design...

Mostly I just love the atmospheric music though


Just seems to capture that "barely surviving while painfully trudging through Vietnamese jungle" feel so well. Great for setting the mood while you work through something...

I just don't have the patience for old games anymore

Tried getting back into a few but couldn't. If only I had made this post in 92!

 

[SeanSeanston]

I just don't have the patience for old games anymore

Tried getting back into a few but couldn't. If only I had made this post in 92!

I think it's interesting when you look back though, at games from around 20-25 years ago;

There are some games that seemed good at the time, and probably genuinely were, but nowadays do things that are just inexcusable (Populous would be an example for me, it's too slow and tedious) so they feel like little more than historical footnotes with little actual gaming value.

Others were good, and still are, but show their age in various ways. They definitely hold up, but often have bizarre design choices for the interface or show their age in various ways. They're still good, you can forgive them... but they significantly suffer in playability and you still have to wonder why they were made like they were and why anyone thought some things were a good idea. I'd put Dune II in that category. I still can't understand how dragging a box to select multiple units wasn't an obvious thing to put in, or how there could be some kind of technical reason preventing it. Still a good game, but severely harmed by things like that.

A 3rd category then are the few that simply don't seem to have aged at all. They were great then, and they're still great. The controls make sense, the graphics still hold up as a coherent and enjoyable style, and you could more or less believe that someone might have made it very recently because nothing screams out that they were following an antiquated arcade model or hadn't figured out obvious gameplay staples yet. IMHO, Cannon Fodder sticks out to me as one of those games. Just a stone cold classic, no control problems, nothing that screams out needing to be fixed, just as playable now as it ever was and with one of the most effective overall aesthetics that actually has a lot of satirical depth that was probably ahead of its time. In that regard it's almost like the kind of game a lot of indie games wish they were, if they weren't up their own arses.

 

[Rad Party God]

Deadlight.

This game is so bad, pretentious, frustrating and mediocre, you'll get depressed after realising you paid actual money for such a POS.

But seriously though, if you liked the hardcore-ness of Insurgency, Red Orchestra 2 might be up your alley, a WWII multiplayer FPS where a single bullet can kill you. You're not this super badass super soldier killing nazis left and right, you're just a regular guy who happens to be a soldier, trying to survive and fulfill your orders, even the axis side is very humanizing. Brutal and hardcore are the first words that comes to mind to describe this game in general.

Spoiler: Just a little sample of gameplay.

 

[The White Hunter]

Probably not what you're looking for but Wolfenstein: The New Order made me feel feels.

Also let me stab space nazis in the face on the moon. Best of both worlds really.

 

[moggett88]

I saw a lets play of a game called Cart Life that looked like the kind of thing you're looking for. Fairly low-res, but the feels are there.

 

[Dizchu]

Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons isn't what I'd call straight-up depressing, however it has a very sombre tone that doesn't feel overbearing (at least not to me). It mixes this with a quite whimsical aesthetic, a combination I find very inspiring myself. It actually reminds me a lot of Scandinavian folk music which is appropriate seeing as the game is influenced by Scandinavian folklore. It even reminded me of a few black metal bands' music, but that's a bit of an obscure comparison.

The Walking Dead games are very depressing, much more so than the TV series in my opinion. There's an overwhelming sense of impending doom. It might come off as contrived to some but I thought it nailed the bleak atmosphere without being too melodramatic.

 

[Platypus540]

Interestingly enough, Insurgency gives me pretty much the exact opposite emotional response. The intensity of the fighting gets me somehow hyped up, for lack of a better term, and killing an enemy player without them ever seeing me is very satisfying. Although it can sometimes be infuriating when the tables are turned, I get a big adrenaline rush playing that game, to the point where, I will admit, I once yelled "Got you, ************!" at my screen after killing an entrenched enemy.

If you like those kind of intense shooters though, I'll second some earlier posts and say Red Orchestra 2. Now that is one hell of an intense shooter, and it does give me the kind of emotional response you were talking about, so I'm sure you'll get something out of it. Absolutely brutal shooter.

You also may want to try DayZ, although it's more scary than depressing. Gunfights in that game, especially protracted fights, are probably the most intense, immersive, visceral, and terrifying ones I've ever played in a game just because of the high stakes. Of course, that comes at the cost of running around for like 5 hours versus a 10 minute tops firefight (although I did have a 45+ minute sniper battle once), which a lot of people understandably don't like.

 

[Marsell]

cat simulator
im not kidding, look it up
EDIT: scratch that, its called "a purr tale"

 

[The Madman]

This is just what I'm looking for! I've heard about Rising Storm whenever Red Orchestra gets brought upand it looked similar. Are they alike in this way?

Rising Storm is a standalone expansion for Red Orchestra 2 but set in the Pacific theater during WW2 as opposed to the Eastern Front which is where the base game is set. So American's fighting the Japanese often in tropical environments.

It's good, as is the core game. Plenty of players around for both.

 

[Michael Tabbut]

I tended to find mass effect 3 like that. you get to see shepard slowly coming apart at the seems mentally and seeing npcs actually worried about you really brings it home

Mass Effect 3 is actually a pretty depressing game for me, though not for the reason you think. I can't play the game without being reminded just how disappointed I was with the final product. Also, not sure how they showed "Shepard slowly coming apart" outside of that heavy handed random child symbolism bullcrap and the repetitive dream sequences.

Outside of the heavy handed Star Child bullshit, there are subtle moments that are rather depressing or striking.
For example, on the final Tuchunka level if you choose not to cure the Genophage by shooting Mordin before he can do anything, you shoot him with a Carnifex pistol, the same kind he gives you in his recruitment mission in ME2. You kill a friend with the gun he gave you. Even Shepard is disgusted at what he does in that scene.

OT. Red Orchestra 2 all the way, I've barely played it but in my limited playtime with the game it I can say it is one of the best "War is Hell" games out there.

 

[Ima Lemming]

Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons isn't what I'd call straight-up depressing, however it has a very sombre tone that doesn't feel overbearing (at least not to me).

Really? That game's ending drove me to tears. Unless there's good and bad endings, or I'm just touchy about that stuff.

Also, I'm seconding Nier. There's a lot of humorous dialogue, but things really go to shit at the end.

 

[Bat Vader]

I have to recommend the The Cat Lady. It can get pretty depressing at times. It is one of my favorites.

 

[shteev]

I 'enjoyed' Actual Sunlight, if that's the right word.

I was also very taken with the short flash game 'Every Day The Same Dream', although not a lot of the people I've recommended it to seem to agree with me.

 

[Headsprouter]

I'm sorry, when I saw the title of this thread, a certain game by a certain controversial individual sprung to mind. But it's a bad game from what I hear.

Okay, I'll say it, Depression Quest. What's the point of this post if I don't give a name?

 

[Loonyyy]

Like Zhukov, I had a few suggestions. They're not what you're after. That's not depressing. Moving on.

If you want bleak unforgiving FPS, Red Orchestra does that well. Added bonus that mortal wounds often result in a helpless bleedout wherein all you're left able to do if fire your weapon. Doesn't give you all the freedom and customisation of Insurgency, you're stuck with weapons based on class, and the focus on simulation means that they're not balanced. Bolt action rifles is 1 hit kill, but an automatic weapons trash them easily.

On Singleplayer, there's the Metro games, but for the best of that lot, go back to STALKER: Call of Pripyat. Same vein of unforgiving shooter mechanics, in the shadow of the abandoned Chernobyl reactor. Holds up fairly well too.

For actual depressing games, Dark Souls is a pretty good pick. It's just dreary, and dull, and the environments and characters show that the world just couldn't give a fuck if you were there or not. Despite this, there's some beauty and novelty to the setting if you care to look. When you're progressing, things are awesome, you're beating epic challenges through skill or forethought. When you come to a dead end, or a skill block, which is often, because the game is bullshit about navigation, and double bullshit about giving you any clue how to do things, it's just crushing. The first time I played it, did well for a while before getting stuck in the wrong place, set off a depressive episode. Funtimes. It's not necessarily fun when it's depressing, but it does do a very good job of capturing the experience of depression.

Deadlight.

This game is so bad, pretentious, frustrating and mediocre, you'll get depressed after realising you paid actual money for such a POS.

So much this. I thought from the art it would be nice, and the movement felt kind of cool. Then the game proceeds to be stupid with limited ammo, boring, slow puzzles, cheap bullshit, a story that you'll work out less than half-way through, and it ends before you'd think with no real resolution. Fuck this game.

 

[pearcinator]

The Vanishing of Ethan Carter was pretty depressing.

Zelda: Majoras Mask might not seem depressing on the surface but delve deeper into the characters and you'll find out how depressing it really is.

Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons is a very sad tale.

Dear Esther is also depressing as you are alone on an island (although you only walk in the game).

 

[MalkavianLunatic]

Personally, I never really fully recovered from 'Shadow of the Colossus', but not sure that would fit the bill for the OP. *thinks* Red Dead Redemption was kind of a kick in the feels too.

 

[jademunky]

To the OP, after just reading the thread title, I was going to recommend an old adventure game called "I have no mouth and I must scream." The starting premise is that an insane supercomputer wiped out all but five human beings whom it keeps alive eternally to torment (motivated out of sheer hatred). It was probably one of the first games to implement a moral choice system.

Since you seem to like shooters, this one might not be up your alley though.

 

[Fox12]

Silent Hill 2 is the most depressing game I've ever played. It begins with the story. Everything else feels like a reflection on the story.


I was just thinking and Demon's Souls is a pretty depressing game, right? Every time I find one of those "I want to go home" messages players leave they feel very close at heart. Especially at the Tower of Latria and the Valley of Defilement. And everytime you encounter these fuckers:

I'm gonna have to check this game out. Should I play SH1 first?

I'm going to second silent hill 2 as one of the darkest, smartest, most emotional titles ever made. It warrants two play throughs to really appreciate fully, and it's one of those stories that becomes more genius the more you think about it. Silent hill 1 is underated, and is definitely worth checking out if you decide that you enjoyed the second game. I was going to recommend both titles before
Novgorod beat me to it.

However, there is a caviate I wanted to add. Make sure you either buy the original games, or download them from psn or wherever. Don't get the HD re-releases. They ruined the atmosphere, and had the audacity to remove or alter sections of the game for seemingly arbitrary reasons. Just thought I'd give you a heads up.

 

[Gunner 51]

I'm very suprised noone has mentioned the games Metro 2033, Metro: Last Light. Stick these incredibly atmospheric games onto Russian speaking, English subtitles mode and enjoy the gloomy and oppressively depressing atmosphere of them...

Another one I think you'd like, if you have the patience to patch it up the wazoo is Vampire: The Masquerade. (Bloodlines) Even the Cainites who hold dominion over the world, with all their power and machinations cannot stop the fact that the world as we know it is just a horrible place to live. Especially when clan Tzimizsce get involved...

Hope this all helps.