10 Video Games That Left Genuine Psychological Wounds

Games with the power to delude, scare and distort your state of mind.

As video games are becoming increasingly immersive in nature, players have experienced some incredible moments of narrative and gameplay that continue to captivate audiences. With most of the memorable moments of video gaming being remembered for cinematic beauty, fighting mechanics or storyline, the true impact of these pivotal moments, from a psychological perspective, are often neglected. Often, they create feelings of fear, manipulation and emotional empathy that can have a profound and unexpected effect upon the player. Whilst much has been made of the psychological impact of video games in the modern media, the criticism leveraged at games to incite and encourage violence is often scapegoated as a substitute for deeper personal troubles, rather than emulating an act performed in an unrealistic, stylised and slapstick world. Drawing a connection between video games and violence is too simplistic and avoids the true psychological impact they can have. Consequently, the impact of video games tends to be very sensational - weird, to put it simply - as a series of remotely relatable experiences in terms of immersion, terror or encouraging a wider range of thought. This aspect of gaming is often neglected as it exists only as a mere, but powerful, suggestion, occupying that vacant space in the back of all gamers' minds, exclusively reserved for dreams and memories long-forgotten.
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Writer, day-dreamer, dragon rider.