Games can come in all sizes and varieties, and now is a great time to start playing them because there is assuredly something other there for everyone. It doesn’t matter if players want to traverse a breathtaking open world and slay hundreds of enemies or if they want to solve silly word puzzles with lamas.
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If all you want is gameplay that doesn't use up time dwelling on a story, these action-focused games check all the boxes.
Thanks to indie games, the video game market is very diverse, and yet there are still those out there who prefer to fully immerse themselves in a blockbuster experience, unbothered by the rest of the world. For those types of players, these games are best experienced in a dark room, devoid of interruptions, and with headphones on. Absorb their story, setting, sound, and everything in-between to create life-changing moments.
Resident Evil (2002)
The Nightmare Never Ends
Resident Evil
- Released
- April 30, 2002
- ESRB
- Mature 17+ // Blood and Gore, Violence
- Genre(s)
- Survival Horror
The first Resident Evil game has the best balance between setting the mood and getting the rest of the features right, with the remake solidifying the atmosphere even more. That’s because it takes place in one location, a mansion in the mountains, which is filled with zombies and other mutated creatures.
As either Jill Valentine or Chris Redfield, players will try to escape the nightmare one puzzle and gun battle at a time. The story may be cliché and cheesy sometimes, but it is engaging enough thanks to the set design of the mansion, and wearing headphones will increase the tension of the zombie moans.
Silent Hill f
Marriage Problems
Silent Hill f
- Released
- September 25, 2025
WHERE TO PLAY
- ESRB
- Mature 17+ / Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Partial Nudity
- Genre(s)
- Survival Horror, Action
Silent Hill f is the latest main entry in the Silent Hill series and the first one to fully take place in Japan within the 1960s. Hinako is a seemingly ordinary high school girl living in a quiet town, which becomes engulfed by a weird parasitic flower that is bringing corpses and dolls to life.
Fans will enjoy Silent Hill f for its unique setting in the horror genre between the empty town locations and the mirrored shrine world. The most haunting thing about the game is the opening song “Mayoi Uta,” which sets the mood perfectly, thanks to the child choir.
Half-Life
Gordon’s Worst Week On The Job
Half-Life
- Released
- November 19, 1998
WHERE TO PLAY
- ESRB
- M for Mature: Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Language
- Genre(s)
- Shooter
Half-Life is one of the most important first-person shooters of all time, as it helped introduce environmental storytelling to games. Instead of taking players out of the gameplay, Half-Life lets players drink in the world by interacting with NPCs more naturally.
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This small feature made the game more immersive on top of the laboratory setting that goes into lockdown because of an alien outbreak. The sound design is unnerving, especially with gurgles from the Headcrab enemies, but there’s not a lot in terms of iconic music if the game had any faults to note.
BioShock
Down In The Much Here
BioShock
- Released
- August 21, 2007
WHERE TO PLAY
- ESRB
- m
- Genre(s)
- FPS
BioShock is another example of a first-person horror game that sets itself up for success thanks to its strange setting, underwater in a failed utopia called Rapture. Players will find themselves lost in a city that is being torn apart by the mutated citizens who have lost their minds, along with giant iron-clad enemies that look like deep-sea divers called Big Daddies.
Players will be able to piece together the story mostly through lost recorded diaries, which add an extra level of horror because of their scratchy audio. Also, it can be unsettling to hear old tunes play on vinyl records alongside the mad laughs of enemies while water is slowly trickling into environments due to broken glass.
Hollow Knight
A Lonely Metroidvania
Hollow Knight
- Released
- February 24, 2017
WHERE TO PLAY
- ESRB
- E10+ for Everyone 10+: Fantasy Violence, Mild Blood
- Genre(s)
- Metroidvania
Hollow Knight is a hand-drawn Metroidvania that will invite players in because of the art style and dark colors. The titular Knight hero is silent, so even though he will encounter NPCs, he can’t offer much in terms of reactions, and silent protagonists can often add more unease to a game.
The various biomes are both pretty and eerie, the NPCs are well thought out, and while the story is hard to piece together, the vibe in Hollow Knight is certainly there. The deeper players get into Hollow Nest, the more unruly creatures they will find, from normal enemies to bosses.
Shadow Of The Colossus (2018)
A Big World Filled With Nothing But Terror
Shadow of the Colossus
- Released
- February 6, 2018
WHERE TO PLAY
- ESRB
- T For Teen due to Blood, Violence
- Genre(s)
- Adventure
Shadow of the Colossus is set within an open world that is large, but it’s only filled with ruins, giant creatures, and a lonely sense of foreboding. Players will start with their character, Wander, who is given a chance to revive a girl named Mono, and all he has to do is find the aforementioned giants and slay them all.
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The music that plays as players explore is both soothing and haunting, with things kicking up into epic territory as they start fighting these wandering titans. Even though there are other games that feature boss-focused experiences, there’s still nothing quite like the adventurous, lonely feeling that players will get from Shadow of the Colossus.
Super Metroid
Still Unsettling On SNES
Super Metroid
- Released
- April 18, 1994
WHERE TO PLAY
- ESRB
- e
- Genre(s)
- Action-Adventure, Metroidvania
The Metroid series has been nailing vibes since it began in Japan in 1986, and most entries would work here. However, there’s something extra creepy about Super Metroid, which starts in a daring escape followed by Samus landing on a foreign planet without much in the way of guidance.
She does not talk to herself, she has no allies, and everything on the planet wants to kill her. Between the various biomes and chill music, even as a pixel game, players won’t be able to stop themselves from immersing themselves fully into the adventure as if they were Samus Aran, the universe’s best bounty hunter.
Tunic
The Legend Of Vibing
Tunic
- Released
- March 16, 2022
WHERE TO PLAY
- ESRB
- e
- Genre(s)
- Adventure
Tunic can be likened to a top-down Zelda-like adventure that swaps out an elf-like hero for a fox. Players will do the usual action-adventure gameplay loop of slaying monsters with a sword and shield, exploring an overworld, and diving into dungeons to solve puzzles.
There’s an overarching fourth-wall-breaking mystery to the game as well, which features deciphering a language from torn-up pieces of the instruction manual. Tunic almost demands players to focus fully on the experience, which is not hard, given the world-building it is able to accomplish through visual cues.
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From cancellations to shutdowns, these games are forever in the minds of fans.