Doki Doki Literature Club has been on a pretty weird cultural journey. In 2017, this “game” (it’s closer to a visual novel) came out of nowhere en route to earning its cult classic status. In recent years, the growing familiarity with this title’s true nature has led some to wonder whether or not it’s really that disturbing. While there were very few “good” FMV games released during the ‘90s, most of the titles in that bizarre genre are memorable for reasons other than their quality. Phantasmagoria is one such title. Detention is really that kind of game that forces you to draw a line between “scary” and “disturbing.” Parts of Detention are certainly scary in the traditional sense, but this isn’t really the kind of game you play when you want a good jump scare. Instead, Detention is the kind of game you play when you want to test the limits of your ability to process some heavy and unnerving material. At first, I felt kind of bad about including two gory FMV games from the ‘90s on this list. Ultimately, though, it was hard to part with either of those twisted, ugly journies that leave you feeling like you just played through a snuff film. I could see some arguing that The Cat Lady isn’t a “horror” game in the most traditional sense of the idea, but I truly believe it qualifies for the purposes of this list. Besides, few will argue that this game is anything less than seriously troubling, regardless of which genre they ultimately put it in.

I know I just used that “snuff film” comparison an entry ago, but it’s kind of hard to talk about Manhunt and not bring that idea up again. After all, the premise of this game revolves around the idea of entertaining a twisted “director” who isn’t satisfied with the murders you commit unless they’re as violent as possible. There are actually very few horror games that utilize an isometric perspective, and I think Sanitarium shows us why. It’s incredibly hard to scare players in that “jump” kind of way when you allow them to see so much of the areas around them. Truth be told, this game isn’t even that scary. As noted above, though, the difference between “scary” and “disturbing” is sometimes an important distinction to make.This is a list of disturbing horror games rather than disturbing games. The line between those types of games can be fine, but the basic idea is that this list doesn’t include otherwise non-scary games with disturbing moments. Harvester opens with a man waking up in a small town he’s never heard of with no idea of how he got there. The almost Pleasantville-like quaint nature of the town soon unravels as our hero gradually begins to understand the nature of his situation. Harvester includes a scene in which smiling children eat their dying mother, and that’s not even the worst thing it will force you to witness. The whole game is definitely a bit corny (I said it’s a ’90s FMV title), but bad writing and bad acting won’t erase the images it forces into your brain. 8. Manhunt

The audio issues seem to begin randomly. Sometimes, there will be no dialogue or sound effects at all — just Starfield’s scored music. Other times, I can hear dialogue but it’s totally distorted, like I’m listening to people talking underwater. It’s not a game-breaking bug, but it doesn’t make Starfield a lot harder to play; having no sound effects means I’m missing helpful audio cues, while the echoed dialogue is just absolutely annoying. The newest game on this list, The Mortuary Assistant recently got a lot of attention from those YouTubers and streamers that love to overreact to scary games. However, I have to say that I not only find this game to be genuinely terrifying but deeply disturbing as well. There’s no one thing that makes a horror game truly disturbing. Some are so gory that you begin to wonder if you can physically endure them for much longer. Others get under your skin in ways that may not be immediately apparent until you find yourself having nightmares about them. The one thing all disturbing horror games share is the way they make you want to escape them at any cost. Of course, the best such games keep you hooked long after you know you should go. Some Starfield players — including me — are experiencing a strange audio bug that causes missing dialogue and sound effects alongside echoed sound distortion. The issues appear to be impacting Starfield on Xbox Series X. The name of this game (a title it shares with the Harlan Ellison story it’s based on) should give you an idea of what kind of experience it offers. Then again, nothing can really prepare you for what this 1996 adventure game expects you to suffer through.Agony is all about a lost soul trying to survive a journey through Hell. While a trip through Hell is never a good time (and this title’s atrocious gameplay doesn’t help the experience), this game’s vision of Hell is one of the most disturbing that I’ve seen in any medium. Even if you brush aside this game’s stunning amount of unbelievably gory scenes (which is not an easy task), you’re left with its almost Hellraiser 2-like vision of a labyrinthian version of the underworld. This one is really quite the endurance test. 1. I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream We all know what makes a video game scary. Some games may scare us more than others, but the canon of the absolute scariest games ever made is gradually becoming more established. However, what makes a title one of the most disturbing horror games ever made?

While many games play with the idea of making you question your sanity by forcing you to separate the real from the unreal, Sanitarium arguably gets the most mileage out of that concept. There are points in this game when you’ll really start to question which (if any) of the game’s worlds you’re really in. This game is just a masterpiece of surrealist storytelling that grabs you with its incredible premise and striking style before making you question how far down the rabbit hole you’ve fallen. 2. Agony While certainly one of the more popular games on this list, don’t let Outlast’s bigger budget and better presentation values give you the wrong impression. This is easily one of the most disturbing horror games ever made. Umm I stopped using this program about a year ago because my PS4 controller broke, so my memory is a bit shotty. The Suffering is perhaps best thought of as Crime and Punishment meets The Shining. While any game set in the most nightmarish prison imaginable is obviously not going to be a good time, The Suffering goes a step further by forcing you to deal with the possibility that you may be the worst monster in that suddenly supernatural structure. There are images in this game you’ll never be able to forget, but it’s the slightly more subtle elements of the story that really burrow into your brain. 11. The Cat Lady While pretty much any of the Silent Hill games could have made this list (it’s kind of a messed-up franchise, in case you didn’t know), I think Silent Hill 4 is most deserving of this spot. It’s not the best Silent Hill (or even my favorite Silent Hill), but it is the most deeply disturbing entry in the franchise.The very concept of a survival horror title starring such a young playable protagonist is troubling enough. What really puts this one over-the-top, though is its commitment to making young Jennifer endure some of the most indescribable horrors you’ve ever seen in such a title. Rule of Rose falls somewhere between a Silent Hill game and one of those old gothic fairy tales where the kids are most certainly not alright. If you’ve ever wanted to watch a child battle the manifestations of their elaborate nightmares while their only companion (a loveable dog) is constantly in danger, this is the game for you. 13. Growing My Grandpa!