10 Great Horror Games That Are Ugly On Purpose
Polygonal horror is TERRIFYING.
When it comes to playing horror games, you're either the kind of person who can handle it or someone who runs off whenever the opening title of Amnesia comes on. There's no shame in being either, as the horror gaming medium is designed to be as unsettling, unpleasant and scary as possible. That's why if there's any gaming medium that tries its hardest to be ugly, it's this one.
Horror games can be made using a whole smorgasbord of visual styles. Some, like Silent Hill 2, try to make something surprisingly poignant and beautiful. Others, like Soma, attempt to create sci-fi monstrosities with cool technological themes.
Then, there are those that try to replicate real life with some spooky shenanigans tossed in. But, there is a real art to taking a video game and making it truly unpleasant to look at in order to keep the players on their toes.
The following ten games are at the peak of the mountaintop for this, as they didn't care about high-quality graphics or artsy imagery; they just wanted to look as repulsive as possible.
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You can also check out some ugly non-horror video games right here.
10. Paratopic
Playing Paratopic feels like diving down a rabbit hole of video game expressionism. It'll scare you, confuse you, baffle you and all-in-all, give you a gaming experience you won't find anywhere else. This is thanks to the non-linear story, ambiguity, lack of a save function, long moments of inactivity, and, oh yeah, the fact that it looks about as good as a mile-high pile of garbage.
Paratopic is a short first-person game that puts you in the shoes of three different characters. One is caught smuggling illegal VHS tapes, another plans to find an illusive bird, and the final is an assassin in a shady diner.
The game is rendered to look like a PS1-style title, with blocky characters and low-fidelity graphics. You'll get plenty of pixels and 32-bit models, making the whole game feel like it was born in the late 90s.
Of course, this visual style only adds to the experience, as it causes the title to feel contorted and unnatural, making the weirder/more frightening moments all the more abrasive.
It's a game you won't be able to put down once you get started. To be fair, you can't since it doesn't have a save function, but you wouldn't want to anyway.