Top 5 Nostalgic Horror Indie Games

Video of Fran Bow Gameplay courtesy of the BlackRose channel

Holy moly, this game was messed up. Fran Bow is about a young girl starting to search for her companion, Mr. Midnight, a black feline who somehow talks. You begin with a cheerful dialogue and then render the parents’ death. You travel through worlds to find out who did it. What makes this a horror game?  I’m here to say that if you take the medication the doctor gave, you will see things beyond the grave. Now, this game has a lot of gore, body horror, and a flying axolotl. 

The studio is best known for creating story-driven games, portraying dark thought-provoking themes from a child-like viewpoint, as well as mixing creepy with cute art styles.

Their main titles include Fran Bow (2015)

3. Sally Face

This game is also dark, and you follow along as a boy named Sal Fisher. He wears a prosthetic mask and eye due to an accident that hurt him, but killed his mom. This is shown from a nightmare. You start to wander in the apartment you moved into and meet all the neighbors, and soon, you start seeing things.

Monsters become your neighbors as you move through the storyline. All I’m giving for now. Play the game and find out what happens. Portable Moose made the game on Steam and released it on  December 14, 2016. Initially, it was finished with the August 16, 2016, release date. This dark psychosis for a game has been played by many; however, the one I find entertaining is the same YouTuber who played Fran Bow.

4. Doki Doki Literature Club

Okay, no, this one is dark. This is supposed to be a visual novel dating sim initially; however, it gets worse as time passes. There are four girls: Yuri, Natsuki, Sayori, and Monika. I have watched and played this game, and you may have come across this game or its soundtrack back in 2017. The release date was September 22, 2017, and boy howdy, no.

I could not listen to the music without wanting to cry. Dan Salvato is the creator of this game, and he did a fantastic job of making all this happen. The worst part is that you build a relationship and like the characters as they are each individual with flaws. This game is dark and considered horror due to the gruesome deaths. 

5. Forgotten Hill

This game is so dark and disturbing, but so good. I have played it and all others in the series, which is horrific. You get jump-scared and feel uneasy when you play it, no matter the time of day. There is a YouTuber who plays this—not all the games, but definitely half of them. 

The “Forgotten Hill” series of point-and-click adventure games was created by the independent game developer FM Studio. The series started in late 2015 with “Forgotten Hill: Fall”, and has expanded into several interconnected titles and spin-off stories. The games are known for their dark, grotesque atmosphere and focus on solving puzzles to uncover the secrets of the fictional town of Forgotten Hill.