3 Dark Games from Newgrounds

 

    I LOVE Newgrounds. I grew up playing a whole bunch of different games on there, but as I got older, it unfortunately fell to the wayside, and I hadn't touched it in years. However, I recently decided to return to my childhood and pick 3 games to review for you guys! These are short, sweet, and simple games. I do have other post ideas lined up in my head, but I thought since Cube Escape took me so long to cover, I'd do something a little more simplistic. Enjoy!

I will not be posting the links to any of these games. If you so desire to play them, feel free to look them up yourself.

The Torture Game 2

Rated: A (Adult)

Must be 18+ to play

The Torture Game 2 is the only one in the series that I could find on Newgrounds. I couldn't find the first one unfortunately, but they both share the same basic concept. Torture this "person". Have you ever played Kick the Buddy, or any game like that? Well, this is the exact same thing, just with more blood, guts, and weapons. There is no goal to this game, other than to cause harm to this digital human. You can tie them up, paint on them, and poke them. However, you can also do more malicious things such as impaling them, using a chainsaw to cut off their limbs, or even skinning them. But wait, there's more! Not only can you do those things to some mannequin esc thing, but you can use your own images to put on the face instead! Great Aunt Trudy who gave you raisins and a magazine to Bunions Weekly? Absolutely! Your ex who you thought was cheating on you with the hot chick from the local KFC, but who was actually hiding the fact he was sexually attracted to his car (I'm sure that could have been a fun ER trip)? Totally! Or heck, got yourself your own Dinkleberg? Handle that like Timmy's Dad would and slap his face on a mannequin you can digitally torture!    

    In all seriousness, this game is very dark. I may be looking into it too deeply, but I think it says something about the human psyche when we look for things like this. Some people who play it are 12-year-old boys wanting to feel edgy. Others could possibly be doing it for more sinister reasons. As I stated, I'm very likely overthinking it, but I wanted to share my thoughts. Regardless, I feel weird recommending this, so I'm not going to. If you play it, it's completely up to you. Was it the most disturbing thing I've ever played? Absolutely not, but it's definitely one that can fit up there with some of the darkest.

                                                                    Whats Her Name

Rated: M (Mature)

Age 17+

Whats Her name is a short, narrative 2D side-scroller that touches on the darkness of the mind of the depressed. Personally, this game his way too close to home for me. I've struggled with depression and anxiety for the majority of my life. I've questioned everything; my worth, if anyone cared, if anyone would miss me, what good in the world is there, had I made a difference, suicide, etc. That's exactly what this game touches on. You play a female college student who has to work on a group project with 3 other classmates. You follow along as this girl goes forward on this project and what her thoughts are as she processes everything in life. 

This game has 2 endings that you can accomplish, and I think the dev did a great job on it. However, if you struggle with things like I listed above, depression, anxiety, or other mental health issues, please skip this one. It's a beautiful game and I love the graphic design (reminds me of The Cat Lady), but for those who are triggered more easily by issues of mental health, I think in your best interest to skip this one. Again, kudos to the game dev, as they did a wonderful job with this! 

If you are having issues with your mental illness, feeling depressed or anxious, or having thoughts of suicide, please call 988 or visit your local hospital for help. You're not alone, and you are worth so much more than you give yourself credit. You're special and if nobody else has said it to you, I love you.

The Caretaker

Rated: M (Mature)

Aged 17+

This was an interesting one. The Caretaker is more of a immersive short story, that uses sounds to make the story come to life. There's no gameplay, but this is definitely disturbing. You follow Daria who is the caretaker of the cemetery. She inherited the position after her father died. To go into too much detail would spoil the story, but basically her husband is a POS, her nephew is a POS, Lila is a harlot, and Daria is a cold-blooded criminal. The story had an interesting concept but wasn't carried out as well as I thought it could be. There were holes in the plot, and parts that didn't seem consistent with the characters personalities. I found it rather hard to focus on, as the background wasn't the greatest with the form and style of text they used (which made it hard to read) and the background music was a bit much. You're given 2 options towards the beginning of the "game" but the dev states that there is only 1 ending, so there's not much point to those choices. If the dev wanted to include it, I think they should have made it a consistent part through the whole thing. This was an okay experience, but would I do it again? No, probably not.