Sandwich Man said:
Bioshock? Alice? Amateurs. Pathologic, now that is fucking dark. Every quest is hopeless, everyone is lying to you, the only people actually capable of doing something (note that this category does not include you) are far more concerned with their own petty affairs to waste their time preventing their fellow man from dying in droves.
It gets worse. Stop the corrupt meat baron from peddling the diseased meat that he knows will taint anyone who consumes it and what do you get? Betrayal, imprisonment, and torture.
Hell, it's Russian. That should tell you all you need to know.
Never heard of this before. Does indeed sound dark like the OP suggested. I'd like to check that one out.
NIHILHATE said:
Silent Hill on the PS1 and Another world on the SNES.
Two of my favourite games of all time. Another World is rather lonely, considering you're an unimaginably long way from planet Earth, but you find allies and learn to adapt, so it's not as depressing as all that. But yeah, the Silent Hill series always ends up killing a lot of people, and you're in a realm where every emotion gets twisted into some kind of sick abomination, soulless and existing only to kill you. It's the darkest, loneliest, most hopeless and depressing place imaginable. Even the colours are subdued enough to remove anything like a warm, comfortable colour from the surroundings. It's not anywhere on Earth and it's a question of whether you're actually able to get back to reality or not, even if you don't die or succumb to madness. Of course, getting a positive ending helps push that feeling away somewhat. It's actually strangely hopeful in the sense that you can go through all that hell and come out better. But then, there are the not-so-positive endings... and did I mention death is no exit in Silent Hill, but more along the lines of keeping your soul there forever, languishing in pain?
I like Fatal Frame too, but it's not really all that depressing. It's only one or two characters in the nightmare, and they're freeing souls from torment,
not putting them there.
Diablo series can be depressing and dark too. People don't matter, souls are easily captured or trapped, Hell wins Earth because Heaven can't be bothered, and it's a question of whether the forces of Heaven are any better, since you know that angels can be twisted by Hell too. And yeah, it is really dark and lonely without multiplayer.