Summary
Where fantasy takes an idealized look at a simpler world of magic, might, and the rule of monarchs, the dark fantasy genre muddies that lens, twisting fantastic realms into the stuff of nightmares. Since most video games center around “kill or be killed,” it’s a great backdrop for hack-and-slash action.
“Dark fantasy” doesn’t have to literally mean “as dim as nighttime” (although plenty of games in the genre adhere to this aesthetic). A good dark fantasy world showcases grim themes, hopeless situations, and an eternal struggle against the forces of evil or entropy (who are usually winning). Each game is ranked on its quality as games and how well it captures the “dark fantasy” feel and aesthetic.
Death and sacrifice are not only prevalent inDarkest Dungeonand its sequel but necessary, especially when first setting out.Darkest Dungeondemonstrates the true meaning of “dungeon crawler,” as players will truly feel as though they are dragging each of their unfortunate recruits on their hands and knees through the gloomiest recesses of a nightmarish underworld.
The party’s health is not just represented by a number that goes up and down. Each recruit’s long-term physical and mental health is on the line, and even if the members survive a particularly brutal encounter,serious traumas may manifestin unexpected and tragic ways.
To remain undetected and successful, a keen thief must attune their eyes and ears to the sights and sounds of the world. That’s whyThiefwas a pioneer in thefirst-person immersive sim genre: its thickly grim atmosphere and attention to detail are unmatched (especially in the sound department), even if its visuals are a little outdated by today’s standards.
The levels inThiefresemble scenes drawn from the industrial Victorian times and the God-fearing Middle Ages with hints of magic large and small scattered around. Although players are confined to break-in jobs and tight spaces, there is a great dark fantasy world to explore while pilfering The City’s most distinguished nobles and institutions.
Few games embrace the sublimely grotesque religious overtones of dark fantasy as thoroughly asBlasphemous, a sidescroller in the Metroidvania tradition set in Cvstodia, a world touched by an event called the Miracle, which is as much of a curse than it is a blessing. Players guide the Penitent One, the sole survivor of a massacre, on a journey of (some kind of) redemption through a land steeped in passionate suffering and blood-soaked altars.
Its haunting pixel art and “Christpunk” aesthetic, which draws heavily onCatholic iconography and classical painting, captures every detail of the grotesque. The Penitent One encounters and fights monstrosities worthy of pity more than anything else, from blinded giant babies to the thrice-fused flesh of an abomination made out of three sisters, and other deformed believers who were driven mad by the cruelty of the Miracle’s touch.
From the cursed catacombs of Tristram to the desolate hellscapes of later installments, theDiabloseries has, from the get-go, oozed an atmosphere of corruption, oppression, and damnation. The world between the angels of High Heaven andthe devils of Burning Hell, Sanctuary, teeters on the brink, plagued by demons incarnate, harassed by twisted cults, and watched over fragile mortal defenders.
The loot-driven gameplay and punishing difficulty balance well against the grim narrative, where the triumph of good always feels tenuous. The series has had its ups and downs in recent years, but its earlier games have inspired a slew of grimdark looter ARPGs, includingGrim DawnandPath of Exile.
The air of Dunwall and beyond is thick with the oppression of the factory owners and their economic designs, as well as whale oil smog, supernatural forces, and plague miasma.Inspired by Victorian Englandof the 18th and 19th centuries,Dishonoredthrows players behind the eyes of Corvo, the disgraced and wrongfully accused former bodyguard of an assassinated Empress.
While there’s lamplight and steampunk-cum-dieselpunk-inspired technology, Corvo is bestowed unnatural powers by a mysterious godlike entity known as the Outsider, allowing him to teleport through space, manipulate time, and possess the living, from rats to human beings. The masked assassin can grow his arsenal of abilities by collecting objects of occult lore (whalebone charms and runes) placed by the Outsider’s hidden worshipers across the isles.
A series starting out with ablood-empowered vampire, Kain, awakening into his own lust for power is an auspicious start for a dark universe. Its sequels are set in the “bad ending” timeline, in which the entire world of Nosgoth is damned into eternal undeath and corruption.
Besides nailing the perfect dark fantasy setting, the dialogue and story fed to the player between levels were intentionally crafted in a gothic (or, more accurately, Elizabethan) style. Delivered by a cast of bona fide stage actors, each performance imbues the narrative with the gravitas worthy of true existential horror.
From the exquisite sound design to the twisted renderings of once-great figures in a fallen land,Dark Souls, and its FromSoftware spiritual sequels and forerunners (Demon’s Souls,Bloodborne, andElden Ring) arethedark fantasy standard in modern video games and have been for quite some time.
The failing (and later, very much failed) land of Lordran, as well as the other settings in the series, is unforgiving, punishing, and cruel, which famously bears out in each game’s gameplay. Unlike other dark fantasy stories, the protagonist does not embody any special powers to help them rise above the demonic hoards or specters that rule the land but mustfight and grind to overcome impossible oddsmostly alone.
