Best Darkest Sci-Fi Games

Whilst the future lies in anxious uncertainty, these sci-fi games certainly depict a potential darkness for the human race. Featuring vast technology that’s way ahead of what we know, or alternate advanced realities, the best sci-fi games have a creative use of tech, and an exceptionally dark story crafted from the creative worlds that they are birthed in.

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Throughout the years, players have experienced some of the darkest sci-fi games out there, providing fear and dread through action and character drama. Sci-fi games don’t always need an arsenal of aliens on a stranded vessel in space, but it certainly does help with the fear factor that can make some incredibly dark games.

10 Death Stranding

One Man Tries To Heal A Fractured America

The world of Death Stranding is inherently dark, but that does not mean players cannot find hope in this hopeless world. As Sam Bridges, players will be sent on a mission to traverse the American terrain and avoid the dreaded MULEs and BTs to connect humanity through the chiral network. This shattered world has seen many horrors and family loss, but it’s never too late to rebuild.

There is a hopeful message in Death Stranding and the importance of community tethered by delivery. As Sam navigates the hardships of a fractured world, players might find themselves smiling even in the darkest moments thanks to BB; except when it’s time to hush up and not get taken by the ghastly phantoms.

9 Alien: Isolation

Try To Evade A Hunting Xenomorph On A Desolate Ship

Ellen Ripley’s daughter, Amanda, investigates the disappearance of her mother, and her journey takes her on board a seemingly desolate vessel, the Sevastopol. Overrun with androids, and a shrieking threat of unknown origin, players must navigate through the ship and find a way home. Players must improvise and overcome the deadly presence that will hunt them. Players can run, they can even hide, but they can never predict where the dreaded Xenomorph will turn up next.

Alien: Isolation can be truly terrifying, and players will rediscover fear as they try to navigate an unknown ship in space. This survival horror is brimming with the atmosphere of dread and darkness, and the hope of escaping is a dwindling candlelight.

8 System Shock

Stop A Rogue AI From Trying To Destroy Humanity

It’s a fight to the death, and SHODAN, a psychotic AI has taken control of the crew onboard the Citadel Station. Players must fight against armies of cyborgs and mutants, finding a way off of the dreaded space station before everything descends further into Hell. If players do not stop SHODAN, then the destruction of humanity is assured.

This immersive sci-fi game will require players to shoot, hack, and think their way through the Citadel Station, and the non-linear story allows players to embrace the dark themes at their own pace, but with the constant looming fear of violence heading towards them or behind them.

7 Deus Ex

A Cyberpunk Dystopia Nearing Societal Collapse

2052 sees the world in a dangerous and chaotic state, and with terrorists openly taking to the streets to engage in their businesses, and new drugs sweeping over humanity for profit and culling, the world has never been so dire and dark. Deus Ex is one of the earliest depictions of a cyberpunk dystopia, and this sci-fi game does it perfectly. The world is close to a total collapse, both in terms of economics and ethics, and as the gap between morality and wealth grows further apart, it seems that nobody can make a change.

There are layers to the complexity of characters and plots in Deus Ex, and players will not only have a good time in dialogue and gameplay but also in world-building. Deus Ex is perfectly dark thanks to its diverse open-ended level design and the importance of player choice.

6 Prey

Become The Hunted On A Space Station, Where The Experiments Roam Free

Enjoy waking up on Talos I, one of the space stations that has taken orbit around the Moon in 2032. Except, this morning will feel like a nightmare that players cannot wake up from. Players will find themselves as the subject of a rogue experiment that could alter humanity forever, and the hostile aliens that have boarded the ship will seek out the player, disguising themselves as near to everything that they can imagine and beyond.

Being hunted onboard a spaceship with seemingly no way out is a dreaded future indeed, and the darkness only continues as players uncover deeper secrets, and more squandered luxuries that add to the thriller aspects of Prey.

5 Cyberpunk 2077

Explore The Soul-Crushing Night City In Search Of A Cure For A Death Case

Say good morning to Night City, a futuristic cyberpunk dystopia in which players enter the eyes of V, a young and energetic merc who wants to make it to the big leagues with their best friend, Jackie. It doesn’t take long for things to go south in Cyberpunk 2077, and V discovers that they are dying, with their mind being eaten away by the Relic in their head, an engram of none other than the rocker boy Johnny Silverhand.

V must travel through Night City, making connections with everyone who is out for personal gain with the slimmest hope of survival. Cyberpunk 2077 is dark and gritty, and the moral questions Cyberpunk 2077 raises will haunt players even after the credits roll.

4 Half-Life 2

Attempt To Topple A Sinister Alien Regime

Gordon Freeman must pick up the crowbar again to do what he can against the alien-infested Earth that has dominated humanity for the past few years. The Earth is being stripped bare of its resources by the Combine, and the oppressive regime will not stop there. Players will have to endure the torment and mental breaking of their new leaders or fight to prevent any further hardships from arising.

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Half-Life 2 can be a dark adventure, and not only is the oppressive regime of the Combine something to worry about, but other alien creatures like head-crabs further plunge the Earth into an unrecognizable hellscape.

3 BioShock

Try And Survive The Fallen Underwater Utopia Of Rapture

Take to the underwater paradise of Rapture, and discover a utopia that has fallen into complete disarray. Once players descend, they will want to surface almost immediately. Rapture has descended into savagery, and what remains of the population is nothing but those who have lost their minds, and relish in violence and other diabolical schemes that will have them grinning ear to ear with a face covered in blood.

There is a moral dilemma in BioShock, as whilst players experience the cruelty and dangers within, they will want to grow in power but to do so, they must take. Will they murder the innocent Little Sisters and face the wrath of the destructive and protective Big Daddies? Or will they risk their lives to be a better man? After all, a man chooses, and a slave obeys.

2 SOMA

Tensions & Creatures Rise On The Ocean Floor

A sci-fi horror game from the creators of Amnesia: The Dark Descent sounds like the perfect recipe for a dark sci-fi game, and it certainly is. SOMA takes players to the depths of the ocean, where they will struggle to survive in a world where everything wants them dead. The radio is dead, the food is scarce, and the lack of people will make players begin to hallucinate that maybe they aren’t as alone in the Atlantic Ocean as they once thought.

The horrors of the deep ocean have never felt more real, and players will have to face the dangers of twisted humans, sinister creatures, and ghastly AI robots that all want them dead. The only catch of this dark title is there is no fighting back, there is only outrunning and outsmarting those more violent.

1 Dead Space

Escape A Necromorph Infested Ship Where Death Can Come From Anywhere

Isaac Clarke, a robust engineer, is sent out to repair the mining ship, the USG Ishimura, only to discover that the crew is completely absent. This titanic-sized vessel is abandoned, but it doesn’t take long for Isaac to deduce that the crew is not gone, only changed. Isaac must battle against the dreaded hordes of Necromorphs to find his girlfriend, Nicole, and get off this ship before he loses his mind and his limbs.

Dead Space is incredibly dark, and a horror that will keep players up at night. They’re going to run out of ammo shooting the limbs of Necromorphs, and they’re going shudder every time they tiptoe past a vent or a door that could spell their doom with twisted creatures and crumbling sanity.

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