Summary
Horrorgames have plenty of eerie and morbid storylines. They make you question what is real and what is an illusion. It can provide plenty of twists that have you second-guessing a character’s motivation or even true identity. However, some of the most interesting storylines in the genre are hidden deep within the surface.
These cryptic storylines are not overtly evident in a single playthrough. This means you will have to work a little harder to understand everything that is going on. From horror thousands of leagues beneath the sea to time-traveling zombie apocalypses, these are the ten best horror games with cryptic storytelling.
Five Nights at Freddy’s set the stage forthe mascot horror trendthat frequently pops up in gaming. It also has one of the most intricate storylines hidden deep beneath the surface. The first game chronicles the first five nights as a security guard in a run-down mascot pizzeria.
Everything from the sounds made by the animatronics to the arcade-style mini-games are all part of much grander narratives that span across each title and spinoff. With more stories being added, it recontextualizes events in prior games.
Close your eyes and the next time you wake up, you find yourself deep in an underwater facility with haunting visions all around you. Soma is a first-personsurvival horror with puzzlesand enemies around every corner.
You play as Simon Jarrett who survives a car accident and must take an experimental brain scan. During the scan, Simon suddenly awakens inside the undersea facility of PATHOS-II. From there, it’s a constant fight for survival where the only options at times are to run or hide.
Amnesiac protagonists are one of the biggest clichés in writing. However, Amnesia used the trope so well that it spawned an entire franchise. Amnesia is all about walking through decrepit halls, avoiding hideous monsters, and solving puzzles that allow you to explore more of the world as you regain your memories.
In Amnesia, the lore is woven directly into the puzzles with every note feeling like a goldmine of information. While in other games lore books can be skipped, Amnesia makes them necessary and enticing to discover every little detail about the castle, manor, or bunker.
While Dark Souls games are not necessarily horror games, Bloodborne is the perfect blend of Lovecraftian crypticness andsoulslike gameplay. You play as a hunter in a world where ancient blood has allowed civilization to achieve enlightenment at the cost of horrific transformations.
As you hack and slash through enemies and other hunters alike, there is plenty to discover about what exactly is happening, why, and how each boss and enemy has played a role. Each item and weapon also has an extensive description, giving you greater enlightenment.
Signalis is a top-down shooter with multiple different endings and a Resident Evil-style item management system. As you venture forth listening to radio signals and fighting off zombie-like creatures, the story isn’t told to you 100% upfront.
Prepare your inventory with the right puzzle pieces, ammunition, and items to stay alive. There are four different endings depending on how you play the game and what you have accomplished. This gives the game plenty of replayability as you try to understand the truth behind a forgotten promise in this sci-fi horror story.
5Call of Duty Zombies
Massive Easter Egg Hunts
Call of Duty Zombies is the king of cryptic lore. What began as zombies that kind of sounded like they were saying “Sam” quickly transformed into a multiversal saga with callbacks and hints at future adventures scattered through environmental storytelling.
To understand the story, players needed to discover easter egg quest steps, leaving no stone unturned. Radios and Ciphers also gave hints to the plot, both on the surface and hidden deep within. Easter egg songs are also specifically composed for each map with lyrics that give a greater insight into the thoughts and feelings of specific characters.
Inscryption will pull the rug from under you at least twice. It hasan analog horror-type feelto it as you watch tapes of a game developer discovering an old card game called Inscryption. From there, the conspiracy gets weirder with secret messages and boogeymen following him around.
Build your deck as you approach the mysterious Leshy’s cabin. You have two losses before he claims your soul. Like any roguelike, you will have chances to upgrade your deck as you progress and defeat bigger bosses. Don’t get too comfy with the mechanics. After all, there are two more gameplay twists ahead.
For a narrative-rich game that still has even more lore beneath the surface, Pathologic is the perfect experience. Pathologic takes place over a timeframe of twelve in-game days. Talk to NPC and receive their quests while also completing essential quests for your own survival.
Depending on which quests you do, some NPC will either live or die. Some have vital story information to give in later days, so make sure they live. Failing to complete a quest by midnight erases it from your notebook, meaning you missed your chance.
2Penumbra
The Original Amnesia
Penumbra is the original first-person survival horror game by Frictional Games. It features all the iconic gameplay elements of an Amnesia game, from discovering notes to solving puzzles that allow you to make progress.
Eventually, you will face horrifying new enemies that you may be able to fight off if you play your cards right. As you venture deeper underground, there are remnants of a lost expedition as well as details of your father’s mysterious past. Penumbra spreads across three games, each time introducing new elements, creatures, and puzzles.
Iron Lung has a cryptic premise. Rather than be executed for your crimes, you will be sentenced to a trip deep beneath a blood sea in hopes of answering the question of where the universe suddenly vanished to.
What is humanity up to right now? How long do humans have before everyone starves to death? Most importantly, what exactly lurks within the blood ocean when the universe is empty? You will have to take on the challenge if you want to understand everything and even then, there are still more questions.
