Not only do open-world games have the potential to give players hours of content, they can also encourage a sense of adventure and tug at a player's curiosity as they explore the world of the game. There are open-world games like The Legend of Zelda: Breath Of The Wild that, despite whatever bad and sometimes creepy thing that happens in-game, the game, in general, stays fairly light-hearted and gives the impression that the characters still have a spark of hope.
And then there are other games that do the opposite, that make it hard for the characters in the game and even the player themselves to feel like things are going to get better. In these types of open-world games, the best thing to hope for is for things to not get worse. These are the best open-world games that are pretty dark.
5 Far Cry Series
The scenery in the Far Cry series is visually stunning and is inspired by several real places in the world. The beauty that can be found in each of the games' locations is in juxtaposition with the terrible things that happen. From a Doomsday cult that's taken over a small county in Montana, to a ruthless dictator of a Caribbean island nation, the Far Cry games shows that bad things can happen to anyone.
Those that do not fall in line with the regime or the values of the game's main enemy are prime targets for them. Sometimes it's having property taken or destroyed, sometimes it's kidnapping or brainwashing, and even murder and torture are things to expect from the main antagonist of the different games.
4 State Of Decay Series
State of Decay is a survival horror game series that combines different elements to make it an enjoyable zombie game. It isn't all about killing zombies, players have to play strategically to keep themselves and their group of survivors alive in a world that's pretty much set on killing them. Probably the most integral aspect of the game is recruiting survivors. Some survivors are established and are related to story missions while others are randomly generated, including their skills, traits, attitude, and inventory. Players have to find and recruit survivors with skills that will be beneficial to them and their community, and establish trust in them.
Once survivors are befriended they become playable characters, giving players a variety of skills and traits for different objectives. A player can create the perfect home base and level up their survivors, but maintaining a home base is a constant struggle as the world in State of Decay is constantly running even when the player is gone. Not staying on top of things could lead to losing survivors, either by them leaving or dying. And once a survivor is gone they're gone for good.
3 The Forest
The Forest is a survival horror open-world game at its very core. The plot of the game takes the perspective of Eric LeBlanc as he survives a plane crash and tries to find and rescue his son who was kidnapped by a mysterious man in red. Players have to survive in the isolated land in any way they can think of as they scavenge, build, and hunt for survival.
The player is quick to discover that they are not alone, as the forested peninsula is also inhabited by a tribe of cannibalistic mutants. The mutants aren't even the biggest threat to the player as more twisted things dwell in the caves beneath the forest's surface.
2 Dying Light Series
The Dying Light series is an amazing survival horror open-world game. In the first game, players enter the quarantined city of Harran to find a rogue political figure and take back an important file that he stole. Having an unexplained epidemic run wild through an entire city is a reality that had become all too real for many people in 2020. And in the second game, another strain of the virus develops that spreads faster and farther than the other one did. Instead of being contained in one city, it spreads worldwide, effectively wiping out the majority of the world's population and decimating humanity to scattered settlements governed by whatever factions have power and influence.
Just being isolated and with no contact from outside the city is bad enough, but then adding in a virus that's turning people into violent zombie-like creatures makes the situation even darker. The only thing that can at least temporarily cure someone of the virus is a drug called Antizin which comes in a very limited quantity. The infected in the daytime are pretty terrifying on their own, but things get even worse once the sun goes down and the special infected called Volatiles come out at night.
1 Don't Starve Together
A sequel to the dark fantasy survival game, Don't Starve, Don't Starve Together is a multiplayer dark fantasy survival game. Its main game mode has a group of players working together to survive during the seasons in the dark world known as The Constant. The world of Don't Starve and Don't Starve Together is filled with all sorts of dangers.
Whether the danger comes from the various hostile creatures that inhabit the world, several of which are giant spiders, or from being unable to take care of their own needs, like hunger. What makes this world even more terrifying is that the literal darkness of the world can kill a player. Things are especially dangerous during the night and players have to find a light source and stay within its glow of safety or be completely overwhelmed and consumed by the darkness.