Games for people who like the dark

Some games are loud on purpose and some are quiet on purpose, and the quiet ones are harder to find because the store does not have a shelf for them. This is an attempt at that shelf. The test is tone rather than genre: a game belongs here if it is willing to be sad, or at least still, and does not apologise for it with confetti.

Most of these are short. That is not a flaw. A thing that ends is allowed to mean something.

The list

• Gris. A girl in a colourless world, and colour returning one hue at a time. There is no dying and no failing; the only thing at stake is whether she keeps going. A few hours. Paid, once.
• Journey. A figure in a red robe walking towards a mountain, sometimes alone and sometimes with a stranger who cannot speak. It is about two hours long and people remember it for years. Paid, once.
• Limbo. A boy in a grey forest looking for his sister. It is cruel in places and beautiful throughout, and it never says a word. A few hours. Paid, once.
• Old Man's Journey. An old man walks across a painted country to settle something before it is too late. It is gentle, and it is about regret, and the two are not in tension. An evening. Paid, once.
• Florence. A relationship, from the first meeting to what comes after, told in small interactions over about half an hour. It is the most ordinary story on this list and it lands the hardest. Paid, once.
• A Dark Room. Text on a black screen. A fire, then a room, then a village, then something else. It reveals what it is slowly, and what it is turns out to be bleak. Free, with a small purchase.
• Voyage. A ship in the dark, a very long way from anything, and a number counting how far. It arrives at real places and reports what is known about them, which is often less than one would hope. There is warmth in it, but it is the warmth of a small light and not a bonfire. It does not end. Free to start, one purchase for the whole. This is the site's own app; the list is not neutral about it.

What they have in common

None of them has a scoreboard. None of them has a daily reward. None of them plays a sound when something goes right that is louder than the sound when nothing happens at all. They trust the player to bring their own feeling to the screen rather than telling them which one to have.

The store is full of games that are happy to see you. These are the ones that are simply there, and will be there tomorrow, in the same light.