Skip to main content
PC Gamer PC Gamer THE GLOBAL AUTHORITY ON PC GAMES
Subscribe
(opens in new tab) (opens in new tab) (opens in new tab) (opens in new tab) (opens in new tab) (opens in new tab)
flag of UK
UK
flag of US
US
flag of Canada
Canada
flag of Australia
Australia
PC Gamer Magazine Subscription
(opens in new tab)
PC Gamer Magazine Subscription (opens in new tab)
Why subscribe?
  • Subscribe to the world's #1 PC gaming mag
  • Try a single issue or save on a subscription
  • Issues delivered straight to your door or device
From$10.99
(opens in new tab)
View (opens in new tab)
  • News
  • Reviews
  • Hardware
  • Best Of
  • Magazine
  • The Top 100
  • Forum
  • More
    • PCGaming Show
    • Podcasts
    • Coupons
    • Newsletter SignUp
    • Community Guidelines
    • Affiliate Links
    • Meet the team
    • About PC Gamer
Popular
  • Starfield
  • The Day Before
  • Steam
  • 2023 games
  • Hi-Fi Rush
  • Among Us

When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works.

  1. Home
  2. Features

Miserable games to help you gaze deeper into the abyss

By Andy Kelly
published 5 July 2016

The most depressing games you can play on PC.

  • (opens in new tab)
  • (opens in new tab)
  • (opens in new tab)
  • (opens in new tab)
  • (opens in new tab)
  • Comments

Last week we shared our favourite positive games to distract you from this cruel, random orb of spinning rock we live on, with its politics, wars, famine, and misery. But sometimes it can be cathartic to wallow in the mire and gaze even deeper into the abyss, and the following games should help you in that grim endeavour. They’re the darkest, dingiest, most depressing games on PC, where any glimmer of sunlight is immediately doused in shadowy gloom, and the glass is always, inevitably, half empty. 

Page 1 of 19
Page 1 of 19
DEFCON

DEFCON

A Cold War nightmare in which warring superpowers hurl nuclear missiles at each other until absolutely everyone is dead.

Page 2 of 19
Page 2 of 19
Silent Hill 2

Silent Hill 2

A depressed widower runs around an abandoned town hitting monstrous manifestations of his own guilt with a bit of old pipe.

Page 3 of 19
Page 3 of 19
The Walking Dead

The Walking Dead

A terrified orphan is cruelly stripped of her innocence in a zombie apocalypse while her friends die gruesomely around her.

Page 4 of 19
Page 4 of 19
Darkest Dungeon

Darkest Dungeon

Sacrifice adventurers with the blank-eyed detachment of a butcher carving up a pig to reveal the secrets of a wretched dungeon.

Page 5 of 19
Page 5 of 19
Spec Ops: The Line

Spec Ops: The Line

A jaded soldier witnesses, and eventually commits, harrowing war crimes in the shattered, sand-blasted ruins of Dubai.

Page 6 of 19
Page 6 of 19
Kane & Lynch 2: Dog Days

Kane & Lynch 2: Dog Days

A pair of utterly hateful, immoral criminals stampede through the streets of Shanghai in an ultimately pointless killing spree.

Page 7 of 19
Page 7 of 19
Max Payne

Max Payne

A cop returns home to find his wife and infant daughter murdered by a junkie and embarks on a quest of bloody vengeance.

Page 8 of 19
Page 8 of 19
Amnesia: The Dark Descent

Amnesia: The Dark Descent

A man skulks around a dark castle by lamplight going quietly insane as an unknowable evil stalks him through the halls.

Page 9 of 19
Page 9 of 19
Limbo

Limbo

A tiny child leaps around a series of grim, monochrome platforming challenges as dead bodies swing eerily from trees.

Page 10 of 19
Page 10 of 19
Manhunt

Manhunt

A convict gruesomely murders people with knives, chainsaws, and plastic bags at the sick behest of a cackling CCTV voyeur.

Page 11 of 19
Page 11 of 19
Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc

Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc

A twisted mechanical bear blackmails a group of promising high school students into killing each other.

Page 12 of 19
Page 12 of 19
Dark Souls

Dark Souls

Slog through a bleak, eerie fantasy realm filled with deadly traps, murderous knights, and other horrors that want you dead.

Page 13 of 19
Page 13 of 19
This War of Mine

This War of Mine

Experience a brutal war as a cowering civilian, struggling to survive as the city around you is shelled to bits.

Page 14 of 19
Page 14 of 19
Papers, Please

Papers, Please

Work thankless shifts at a grim border crossing to feed your family, ruining lives and getting people killed in the process.

Page 15 of 19
Page 15 of 19
STALKER: Shadow of Chernobyl

STALKER: Shadow of Chernobyl

Mercenaries and scavengers roam the overcast, rain-soaked Chernobyl exclusion zone fighting monsters and each other.

Page 16 of 19
Page 16 of 19
Half-Life 2

Half-Life 2

Gordon Freeman wakes up after an epic nap to find himself in a dystopian Eastern European city ruled by evil alien overlords.

Page 17 of 19
Page 17 of 19
Banished

Banished

You spend the summer building a village and planting crops, only for winter to roll in and mercilessly fuck it all up.

Page 18 of 19
Page 18 of 19
Metro 2033

Metro 2033

A cataclysmic event forces the beleaguered survivors to live in dark, dingy subway tunnels alongside foul mutants and Nazis.

Page 19 of 19
Page 19 of 19
  • (opens in new tab)
  • (opens in new tab)
  • (opens in new tab)
  • (opens in new tab)
  • (opens in new tab)
  • Comments
Andy Kelly
Andy Kelly
Social Links Navigation

If it’s set in space, Andy will probably write about it. He loves sci-fi, adventure games, taking screenshots, Twin Peaks, weird sims, Alien: Isolation, and anything with a good story.

See comments
Load Comments
Recommended
6 games that had a huge impact on PC gaming, but are rarely celebrated today
This 'professional' end-of-the-world simulator is now available on Steam
  1. The best gaming monitor on a blue background
    1
    The best gaming monitors in Australia for 2023
  2. 2
    The Best Steam Deck accessories in 2022
  3. 3
    Best MSI gaming laptop deals
  4. 4
    The best microphone for gaming in 2023
  5. 5
    The best graphics cards in 2022
  1. Hi-Fi Rush screenshot of Chai and 808
    1
    Hi-Fi Rush review
  2. 2
    Power Chord review
  3. 3
    MSI GeForce RTX 4070 Ti Gaming X Trio
  4. 4
    Industries of Titan review
  5. 5
    Forspoken review

PC Gamer is part of Future US Inc, an international media group and leading digital publisher. Visit our corporate site (opens in new tab).

  • About Us (opens in new tab)
  • Terms and conditions (opens in new tab)
  • Privacy policy (opens in new tab)
  • Cookies policy (opens in new tab)
  • Advertise with us (opens in new tab)
  • Accessibility Statement
  • Careers (opens in new tab)

© Future US, Inc. Full 7th Floor, 130 West 42nd Street, New York, NY 10036.