8 Games That Scare You With Lies

And finally we have Doki Doki Literature Club!, which basically pulled a reverse-Gone Home by presenting itself as the furthest thing from a horror game imaginable.

Well in fairness, the trailer for this adorable dating simulator visual novel begins with a warning that it's "not suitable for children or those who are easily disturbed," but the gameplay footage that follows is so gosh-darn cute and wholesome that it's easy to dismiss the disclaimer as a tongue-in-cheek joke.

But boy, they weren't kidding.

Without giving too much away, after a while this infectiously charming, anime-styled romp takes an extremely dark turn, pivoting from fluffy dating sim into fourth wall-obliterating cosmic horror territory.

It's brilliantly shocking, and only works so well because it's so wildly unexpected, for a seemingly dead-ordinary visual novel to pull the rug out and get really, really messed up.

The mood whiplash is very much the point, luring us all into a false sense of security, strapping us in, and then refusing to let us get off Mr. Bones' Wild Ride.