One of the biggest advances in video games was the jump from 2D pixelated graphics to fully modeled 3D characters. It allowed for new gameplay experiences, with the ability to explore environments on all three axes.
RELATED:The Best 2D Horror Games On The PlayStation 5
While many may remember the 2D graphics of yesteryear as being experiences of child-friendly innocence, 2D games have made a resurgence, and while many tributes to classic games exist, several modern titles are speaking to a more mature audience, tackling heavy themes and taking place in foreboding environments. Here are some dark adventures that should not be judged by their appearances.
8Anodyne
Anodyneseems unassuming on the surface. It is another 2DLegend of Zeldaclone where a lone hero must save a kingdom from a great evil. Armed with his trusty broom, he will navigate puzzles and vanquish foes.
As the journey progresses, things will start to get unsettling. The hero will find rooms filled with identical people, eerily talking in an incomprehensible echo. He will accidentally knock a fisherman into a whirlpool, killing him, and then jump in the whirlpool himself, landing in a rust-red alien landscape with fleshy dungeons. One area contains triggering imagery of self-harm, so player discretion is advised.
7Limbo
Limbois a game from developer and publisher Playdead, who also created the haunting 2.5-D adventure gameInside.Limbofollows the game’s protagonist, a young boy, as he searches for his sister in a desolate environment.
The visuals take a minimalist approach, being composedalmost entirely of black silhouettes. There is no music in the video game, just the sounds of the forest, as well as everything that wants to kill the boy. This includes bear traps that will decapitate him and giant spiders that will drive a long, pointy leg right into his chest.
6Silver Falls: Ghoulbusters
Silver Falls is the setting of Sungrand Studios’ series of horror-themed games across the Switch, Wii U, and 3DS. The area has encountered numerous paranormal sightings and strange happenings involving all manner of monsters.
Silver Falls: Ghoulbustersfollows two childhood friends in the nineties in this charmingly retro and ghoulish 2D platformer. They will have to dodge spider-like monsters, floating brain creatures, and enemies with long, deadly spikes. The game looks cute, but the deaths can be brutal, leaving the character impaled.
5Metroid Fusion
TheMetroidseries follows intergalactic bounty hunter Samus Aran as she travels across the galaxy, battling space pirates and hunting dangerous creatures. The franchise has regained popularity with the releases ofMetroid DreadandMetroid Prime Remasteredon the Nintendo Switch.
RELATED:Nintendo: Metroid Games With The Best Stories
Metroid Fusiontakes aparticularly sinisterapproach to Samus’s adventures. She must fight on a ravaged ship against an alien parasite that can infect any biological entity, including herself. The most terrifying moment in this game is when she encounters a doppelganger of herself, the SA-X, who is much more powerful than Samus in her basic suit. When Samus sees this foe, the only option is to run.
4Papers, Please!
Glory to Arstotzka!Papers, Pleasewas inspired by creator Lucas Pope’sexperiences traveling abroad. In this title, a border officer must check the documents of all incoming visitors to the totalitarian nation of Arstotzka.
The 2D visuals of the game consist of a gray dreariness. Characters whose documents one checks are often sad, downtrodden, and desperate. It can be difficult to turn some of these individuals away, even when their lives may be in danger.
3Doom
Doomis one of the most popular,and most ported, video games of all time. It puts aspiring demon slayers in the shoes of the man known as Doom Guy, in his quest to slay the armies of Hell in a research facilityon Mars.
RELATED:The Best MS-DOS Shooters
While theenemies were on a Z axis,Doom’s environments were composed entirely of 2D visuals. Througha little technical trickery, the game scales the textures based on the direction the player is facing and the player’s distance from them, creating the illusion of a fully three-dimensional environment to explore.
2Inmost
Inmostfollows three interconnected stories in aMetroidvania-styledpuzzle platformer. The visuals are lovingly crafted in an original Game Boy aesthetic, and the sprite work is beautifully animated.
The pixelated visuals distract from a tale of loss, bullying, and child abuse. The color palette is a dull monotone, with light splashes of color, especially when a character is injured. These visuals, along with the somber musical score, create a pervading sense of sadness, like the characters are constantly carrying a massive weight with them. The content can be triggering for some, but when it’s darkest, the smallest light can shine the brightest.
1Turnip Boy Commits Tax Evasion
Turnip Boy Commits Tax Evasionis about a turnip boy who, well, commitstax evasion. He makes a deal with the mayor of the town to perform several tasks for him in thisZelda-like adventure in order to get back his greenhouse, which has been confiscated due to not paying property tax.
RELATED:Beginner Tips For Turnip Boy Commits Tax Evasion
The visuals are bright and adorable, and the writing doesn’t take itself that seriously, but underneath the cute exterior is a dark story. The game’s dungeons include notes left behind by the humans that existed before the vegetable people, and the impact of humans’ activity on the environment yields disturbing results.
