The epitome of what I’m trying to refer to is the Playdead games (Limbo and Inside). Dark Souls and BioShock both hit on this idea but not quite so directly. The game BADLAND is also a great example of this, too. The mobile game The Silent Age also did this exceptionally well. Never quite knowing what’s going on, and maybe some tension without release, but again not straight up horror. A feeling of uneasiness is what I’m looking for.
When playing through Inside, there’s never any moments where you’re scared, but you’re never sure what’s going on and there’s always a level of unease. What are all the mindless zombie-like people? Why is everyone hunting the player? What happened to this city? What’s the goal of the character the player controls? What exactly is going on here? That’s what I’m looking for. If you know of any other games which do this, I’d greatly appreciate hearing about them. It’s a very specific niche so I’m not sure how many games do this, but the games that I’ve seen do this tend to be some form of post-disaster or dystopia. I’ve seen some great artwork do this too. Zdzisław Beksiński had done some stuff like this. Some great dystopian novels also do this quite well.
it’s a step more horror-y, but little nightmares always felt to me like the third playdead game. i solidly recommend playing the first one first too
there’s also far: lone sails (and its sequel, but I haven’t played that); and it’s a bit more low-budget i also really liked darq
salt & sanctuary had this atmosphere; but i’ve never finished it so i can’t comment on its quality. and some other souls likes as well - thymesia and helloint come to mind
also portal (1) kind of fits this if you haven’t played it
I totally forgot to mention Portal. After leaving the test levels in the second one especially was really on-point, and probably what started my love for these types of games. The first one also did it really well too.
I’ve got Little Nightmares on Steam but haven’t played it yet. I’ll definitely download it soon. I played the mobile one (Very Little Nightmares) and loved it.
I’ve heard of Far: Lone Sails but don’t know much about it. I’ll check it out; thanks! I’ll also look into Darq
I saw Iron Pineapple play Salt & Sanctuary, along with a million other souls-likes, I’ve got that one and several others on my wishlist and kind of forgot about them until your comment. Thanks for the reminder