Freaky Ass RPG Games

I’ve been playing so many RPG-Maker games lately so I’m gonna make a little recommendation posts for my own reference, and for anyone who’s interested.

• Flesh Child - It’s an exploration-based game in the very early stages of development so there’s only two areas accessible, but what’s there is very original and very interesting (and fairly disturbing too).
• Yume Nikki - I know everyone already knows about Yume Nikki, but I’ll list it anyway. It’s huge and it’s beautiful, and it’s inspiring enough to have a whole wiki devoted to the fan-games it’s spawned.
• .flow - A pretty popular Yume Nikki fangame, with much more emphasis on horror than that game. Still focuses on exploring a surreal dreamscape to find effects, but it’s a little more lucid and outwardly scary. There’s a few jump scares, but most of its horror comes from the absence in between. Some great pixel art and character designs too.
• Ib - A story-driven horror adventure about a little girl who gets lost in a museum, where the way you interact with the other characters drastically changes the outcome of the story. Some good puzzles and memorable characters.
• Lisa - A big trigger warning on this one, and the only one I would say I didn’t actually enjoy. Because you aren’t meant to enjoy it. It’s meant to be disturbing and upsetting, and it’s very good at it. It’s not quite horror and there’s no jump scares, but it’ll leave you feeling uneasy for a while.
• The Mirror Lied - An abstract story that leaves so much open to interpretation, I don’t think I can even summarize it. It’s very short though, and it’s worth checking out.
• To the Moon - By the same people as The Mirror Lied, but much more straight-forward and, I think, more enjoyable. Some extremely well-written dialogue makes the characters feel very real, and it even made me cry. It’s the only game here that costs money, but I think it’s worth the price. The link leads to a trailer that summarizes it well.
• Penpals - A cute and short (yet deceptively unsettling at times) game that’s been floating around tumblr. The art is great and it’s full of weird little bits of personal wisdom.
• Schuld - A horror-action game where you start off as a man wandering through a dying world in which human limbs are the only thing of any value, and it only gets weirder from there.
• OFF - The link describes OFF far better than I ever could, but if I could only recommend one game here, it’d be OFF. Probably the largest amount of original content I’ve ever seen in an RPG-Maker game, it’s an actual turn-based RPG full of great surreal art and some kick-ass music.

• Misao - Anime-styled mystery game with cute character designs. If you liked the style of games like Ib you’ll like Misao. While the graphics aren’t all that particularly gory, the game is still pretty disturbing and involves collecting body parts as a main goal. Can also sometimes be a little silly.
• Ao Oni - Another mystery solver but with more of a threat level than Ib or Misao. Involves searching a mansion while also being on alert for a demon who can give chase at any time. Sort of reminds me of Clock Tower. 

• Backstage - Horror-action mystery. Story of a man ultimately trying to figure out his reality and his relationships. He was just using the bathroom and then everything got intense. Trigger warning here for some very mature themes in the plot.
• Clock of Atonement - Slight trigger warning- you play as a girl’s stalker who has the opportunity to change what happened. Very very short.
• Mad Father - By the same people who made Misao. A slightly disturbing horror adventure about a little girl trying to help her father. Very nice graphics work, all things considered. Collect all the gems in the game for a special ending.
• Happy Birthday - Fairly short and fairly new, but a fun mystery game nonetheless. A girl is dead at her birthday party and the female detective on the scene must find out what’s going on.
• The Longing Ribbon - Horror adventure game where you explore a mansion as a group of lost teenagers. The frustrating battle system is mediated by cheats, and the dialogue options are ridiculous in a humorous way (“:)” says a giant dragon). There’s one exceedingly trippy scene.
• Miserere - A very moody dream exploration game that’s rather reminiscent of Yume Nikki et al. Best played in the dark, headphones in, etc. “Miserere” is Latin for “have mercy,” fun fact. The mind of a space station’s sole inhabitant.