The 10 Best Dark Fantasy Games Even Diehards Haven't Played

The world of gaming has many different settings to offer, ranging from sci-fi to modern day, and one of the most popular genres of them all is dark fantasy. There is something particularly engaging about stepping into a grim, bleak world full of darkness and being able to take on foes of all kinds with nothing but a blade of steel and a couple of spells.
Genre titans like Dark Souls have brought a lot more attention to this genre over the years, but there are quite a few dark fantasy hidden gems out there that even the biggest fans have yet to discover. Some come from seasoned developers, others are obscure one-offs, and a few don't really fit into a single box, delivering an experience unlike anything else in the genre.
Northern Journey is one of the strangest and most absorbing dark fantasy experiences ever made. Everything from the towering cliffs and mist-choked fjords to the grotesque enemies hiding in caves feels like it was built to unsettle the player, but rather than relying on jump scares or loud set pieces, the game builds dread through the constant hostility of its dreamlike environments.
Players steadily push deeper into the haunting world, armed with some simple weapons and their own courage, without much direction on where to go. The atmosphere evokes the feeling of wandering through a nightmare, with each new region feeling distinct from the last, ensuring players never feel truly safe, no matter how far into the game they are.
Black Book blends tactical card-based combat with an eerie world that brings classic Slavic myths to life. Players control Vasilisa, an aspiring witch who must fight her way through demonic forces and puzzles to break open the legendary Black Book.
What makes the game so unique is how in-depth all of its systems are. Despite being a card game at heart, players need to make many hard decisions throughout the narrative that affect the protagonist's relationships along with her spells, offering something very different from other mainstream dark fantasy adventures.
Dark Devotion drops players into a cult-controlled labyrinth where every step deeper tests their skill, endurance, and even their faith. The combat is brutally methodical, forcing players to commit to every action while navigating dimly lit corridors full of all kinds of religiously-charged abominations.
The game’s bleak art style and oppressive music create a heavy sense of misery that never eases, and every area feels just as upsetting and depressing as the last. For players craving a dark-fantasy experience closer to Blasphemous than Dark Souls, Dark Devotion offers a truly unforgettable descent into madness.
From the creators of Pathologic, The Void is an incredibly strange dark-fantasy game that forces players to inhabit a dying dimension where color itself serves as a resource, health, currency, and the very essence of life. Using color slowly drains the world, directly tying basic survival elements into the wider world and creating a constant moral dilemma that players need to wrestle with throughout their playthrough.
The world itself is a surreal nightmare of drifting islands and empty landscapes, with mysterious encounters that couldn't be any more ambiguous. It’s a deeply philosophical experience that challenges players to make difficult choices in a realm where everything is decaying, and where saving oneself may doom everything else.
Based on the acclaimed fantasy novels, Death Gate is a classic from the era of story-rich PC adventures. Players explore multiple fractured worlds created after a cataclysmic event, each filled with their own stories waiting to be told and characters with a surprising amount of dialogue, given how old the game is.
Its writing remains the standout feature, as the narrative depth actually manages to exceed many modern RPGs. Also, the puzzle-based progression forces players to think about a lot more rather than simply fighting their way through obstacles, rewarding those capable of analyzing their options and punishing those who are unable to.
Stonekeep embodies the kind of gritty, claustrophobic fantasy that defined early PC RPGs. Players find themselves in the cursed ruins of Stonekeep, needing to navigate twisting corridors filled with traps, undead horrors, and monstrous guardians, all presented with dated yet charming live-action models.
Despite its age, the world still manages to feel incredibly oppressive, suffocating players in darkness and ensuring a sense of confinement at all times. Stonekeep is dark and unforgiving in the best way possible, and a great way to revisit a simpler time in the now heavily saturated dark fantasy market.
Enclave is a cult classic action RPG that brings fast, punishing combat to a miserable world full of suffering and decay. The unique dual-campaign structure lets players experience the war between the forces of Light and Darkness from both sides, something that is virtually unheard of in modern RPGs.
The darkness is certainly dialed to 11, as every aspect of the environment simply screams ruin and suffering, from the burned villages to the tortured locals. The combat is actually pretty satisfying and surprisingly challenging, with players needing to rely on careful stamina use and positioning to fend off the various monstrosities that await them across the world.
Years before Dark Souls, Blade of Darkness tried its hand at stamina-driven combat, pushing players to their limit with a punishing level of difficulty that remains a challenge to this day. Players choose from four classes, each with distinct movesets, and venture through a world of haunted caves and demonic strongholds by carefully dispatching anything that gets too close.
Although the graphics themselves were pretty average for the period, the art direction allows the darkness to come through in every setting, making it feel visually timeless despite being over two decades old. It may have become an obscure footnote in the fantasy genre, but it deserves recognition for its experimental combat approach and borderline grotesque world design.
Arx Fatalis is an early showcase of Arkane’s now-iconic grim game design, but despite the esteem of the developer, many players have never even tried it. Set in a world so far into ruin that the sun has died, all races now reside underground, immediately giving the game a bleak tone before players even begin their journey.
The dark atmosphere is reinforced by a constant sense of danger and oppressive environments that feel like they’re closing in, with players feeling urged forward purely from the desire to escape its hellish world. It also has an insanely unique magic mechanic where players need to physically draw spells in order to cast them, making it both incredibly innovative but also satisfying to play even by modern standards.
King’s Field 4 represents an era in FromSoftware's developmental journey that shows the studio at its rawest and darkest. Unlike the fast-paced spectacles in modern Soulslikes, this game embraces slow, methodical exploration through suffocating corridors and toxic swamps, while also heavily restricting the player's resources and making every enemy feel deadly.
In a sense, it feels like an early draft for what would eventually become Demon's Souls, showcasing the same brutally punishing gameplay that so many players have come to know and love. It might not have the same adrenaline rushes as FromSoft's later games, but it more than makes up for that by offering a truly joyless world that is equal parts alluring and terrifying.