Summary
- Open-world games often have hidden tragedies.
- Haikus in Ghost of Tsushima explore dark themes.
- Subnautica's eerie deep dive reveals dark lore.
Open-world games often thrive on the thrill of freedom. Players ride into sunsets, scale impossible mountains, or dive headfirst into uncharted terrain—all at their own pace. But sometimes, behind those postcard-perfect horizons and cheerful NPCs, something bleeds through the cracks. A layer of lore that doesn’t shout, but whispers. That gnaws at the edges of the adventure and makes every step feel a little heavier.
8 Games With Dark Open Worlds
Games have come a long way over the years, especially with the subject matter, as some games embrace darker themes.
These are the stories that hide their tragedies in temples, transmit warnings through static, or bury entire civilizations beneath the soil—and they’re all the more haunting because the world keeps moving anyway.
1 Ghost Of Tsushima
Even The Wind Carries Grief In Tsushima
Ghost of Tsushima
- Released
- July 17, 2020
WHERE TO PLAY
- ESRB
- M for Mature: Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Language, Partial Nudity
- Developer(s)
- Sucker Punch
- Platform(s)
- PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5
There’s no shortage of beauty across Tsushima’s golden fields, from sakura blossoms caught in the breeze to the quiet reflection of temples nestled in cliffside groves. But for all its aesthetic poetry, Ghost of Tsushima is quietly suffocating. The world’s silence isn’t peace—it’s aftermath. Bodies hang from torii gates. Villages smolder after Mongol raids. Entire communities vanish between one footstep and the next.
Players who choose to read the Haikus scattered throughout the island will find themselves writing about death, isolation, and letting go. There’s a persistent tension between the honor-bound teachings of Jin’s samurai upbringing and the desperate tactics required to fight an enemy that doesn’t play by the same rules. And buried beneath it all is a growing sense that no matter how many Mongols are driven out, something sacred has already been lost.
2 Subnautica
Beneath The Waves, No One Hears You Go Insane
Subnautica
- Released
- January 23, 2018
WHERE TO PLAY
- ESRB
- E10+ for Everyone 10+: Fantasy Violence, Mild Language
- Developer(s)
- Unknown Worlds Entertainment
- Platform(s)
- Nintendo Switch, PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S
At first glance, Subnautica is serene. There’s a kind of hypnotic calm to gliding through neon reefs while peepers dart between corals. But once the sun sets—or worse, once the depth gauge ticks past 300 meters—players start to understand that they’re not alone. And they were never meant to be here in the first place.
8 Survival Games To Play If You Love Subnautica
Fans of Subnautica might want to scratch that survival and exploration itch that the game left them with, so why not check out some familiar titles?
The deeper the dive, the stranger the ecosystem becomes. Giant predators lurk in black water, bioluminescence flickers in unnatural patterns, and abandoned alien structures hum with a language that doesn’t want to be deciphered. Then there’s the infection—the bacteria pulsing under the player’s skin, the mysterious quarantine enforcement platform that shoots down any ship that tries to leave, and the quiet implication that this ocean wasn’t just meant to keep people out. It was designed to never let them leave.
3 Horizon Zero Dawn
Earth Isn’t Just Dead. It’s Been Autopsied
Horizon Zero Dawn
- Released
- February 28, 2017
WHERE TO PLAY
- ESRB
- T for Teen - Blood, Drug Reference, Language, Mild Sexual Themes, Violence
- Developer(s)
- Guerrilla Games
- Platform(s)
- PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5
There’s something eerily pristine about the world of Horizon Zero Dawn. Cities have crumbled to dust. Wildlife has been replaced by cold, humming machinery. And yet nature has reclaimed everything in brilliant color. But that beauty is camouflage. This world isn’t post-apocalyptic in the usual sense—it’s post-extinction. Humanity didn’t survive. It restarted.
As players peel back the layers of Project Zero Dawn’s backstory, the tone shifts from curiosity to horror. Earth’s best minds realized they couldn’t stop a swarm of self-replicating death machines and instead decided to erase all life in a controlled collapse, then re-seed it centuries later through AI and genetic engineering. The world Aloy roams isn’t a second chance—it’s a digital Hail Mary executed by ghosts.
4 Outer Wilds
It’s Not About The End. It’s About The Loop
Outer Wilds
- Released
- May 28, 2019
WHERE TO PLAY
From the outside, Outer Wilds feels like the perfect indie adventure. A tiny solar system, a rickety wooden spaceship, and a charming alien society powered by curiosity. But this is a game where the sun explodes every 22 minutes, and nobody remembers except the player.
7 Best Open-World Games That Make You Feel Lost, Ranked
These open-world games offer a great sense of adventure thanks to their well-designed maps begging for players to explore and get lost in.
The deeper the exploration goes, the darker the lore gets. Civilizations erased by black holes, researchers trapped in time bubbles, and an ancient species that tried to prevent the universe’s death but only ended up dooming themselves. The Nomai’s story is told in fragments—etched into walls, scattered across planets, always one breadcrumb away from sorrow. And when players finally uncover the truth, there’s no boss fight, no save-the-world finale. Just a quiet, inevitable conclusion that asks them to let go.
5 Death Stranding
Delivering Hope While The World Bleeds Out
Death Stranding
- Released
- November 8, 2019
WHERE TO PLAY
- ESRB
- M for Mature: Blood, Intense Violence, Partial Nudity, Strong Language
- Developer(s)
- Kojima Productions
- Platform(s)
- iOS, PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S
- Genre(s)
- Action
Few open worlds feel lonelier than the one in Death Stranding. It’s not empty in the traditional sense—it’s ghosted. Every ridge, valley, and ruin has been scarred by something called the Death Stranding, an event that tore open the boundary between the living and the dead. Now, timefall rain ages anything it touches, souls manifest as invisible monsters, and babies in jars are the only way to sense what’s coming.
But the darkest part isn’t what’s in the world—it’s how it got this way. Suicide causes a nuclear-level explosion. Entire cities are wiped off the map by a single BT encounter. And all of it, somehow, is wrapped in a delivery simulator. The irony is brutal. Players walk for hours to reconnect a broken America, carrying corpses on their backs, watching holograms smile at them while the world quietly ends behind locked bunker doors.
6 The Legend Of Zelda: Majora’s Mask
The Moon’s Not The Only Thing That’s Falling
The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask
- Released
- October 26, 2000
WHERE TO PLAY
- ESRB
- E10+ For Everyone 10+ due to Animated Blood, Fantasy Violence, Suggestive Themes
- Developer(s)
- Nintendo EAD
- Platform(s)
- Nintendo 64, GameCube
There’s always been something a little off about Majora’s Mask. Sure, it reuses character models from Ocarina of Time, and it technically takes place in a land adjacent to Hyrule. But from the opening scene where Link falls into Termina and becomes a Deku Scrub, it’s clear this story isn’t here to comfort anyone.
The moon is crashing. Everyone knows it. And they’re either pretending it’s not happening or spiraling into despair. One woman waits for her fiancé, who’s been cursed into a child. A father forgets his daughter’s name. A little girl watches her house be invaded by ghosts every night. And Link, who saves them all, never gets to stay. No matter how many lives are touched, the three-day loop resets everything. No one remembers. Except him.
8 Best Legend Of Zelda Games For Exploration Fans, Ranked
These Legend of Zelda games are ideal for players who love games that feature extensive exploration and adventures.