Muted, Depressing, Mysterious Fantasy Worlds

Muted colors, big, empty feeling levels, fog, bloom, sometimes very ornamental designs in weapons, armor, clothing and areas, often a lack of music, uhhh...European looking? Lots of... brown? Look, I'm not an art guy, but these games share an aesthetic and awaken something in me, just, look at screenshots and you'll get what I mean, hopefully.
These don't need to be necesarily fantasy games, it's just that most games I find with this aesthetic happen to be so.

For these games, it's mostly when you walk around the foggy city.

18 Comments


2 years ago

ok, that's my shit

"Look, I'm not an art guy, but these games share an aesthetic and awaken something in me" I GET WHAT YOU MEAN. Since I first laid my eyes on FFXII and SotC as a kid I know what you're trying to say.

Marvelous list. I know the majority of these titles (and played a bunch too), however, some of these are new to me. I also leave some suggestions: The Last Remnant; Dragon's Dogma and Tactics Ogre (and Wild Arms 5, maybe...?)
Anyway, thanks for the great list. You've got an awesome taste. Peace!

2 years ago

Here I am, once again, with a new recommendation: Sword Of Etheria

2 years ago

Yeah, this works. Added!

1 year ago

Panzer Dragoon Saga is the point of inception for so many of these games

1 year ago

Another suggestion: Cloud Climber.

1 year ago

Babbdi too, perhaps?

1 year ago

Can always count on rod. Babbdi, looked more like a weirdo version of Half Life 2's aesthetics, but I like Cloud Climber's!

1 year ago

Always glad to help! This list is a gem and helping it getting expanded is a joy in itself o/
Lovely list! If I were to add anything I'd recommend The Dark Souls DLC The Ringed City. Only for the Dreg Heap though.

9 months ago

this is perfect i've been trying to pinpoint games with this specific aesthetic the past months cause I like how a lot of those games look

4 months ago

ICO is my favourite game so this list just what I wanted, thank you.

Shadow Tower and Shadow Tower Abyss are a must though.

3 months ago

@bwoe I'm glad you liked it! Usually, I try to be selective and keep games that have a lot of detail, so I'm only adding Abyss here

3 months ago

@Lehuan I wanted to make a "Team Icocore" list for a while, but this is basically it lol

3 months ago

YESs!!!!! YESS!!!!!! YOU FOUND THE WORDS!!

2 months ago

I think Halo Reach fits in here.

2 months ago

Yo, look who's back.

I was trying to remember a ps2 game I played briefly as a kid, which I think might fit in here, and, during the process, stumbled upon another game that might do it too.
These games are, respectively, Legion: The Legend of Excalibur (ps2); and King Arthur (ps2).

Just finished Demon's Souls, btw. God, how I love this specific type of art direction/aesthethics/color palette/idk

2 months ago

Btw, what abou Majin and the Forsaken Kingdom? Too colorful for this list or nah?

1 month ago

@rodlucero sorry about the wait. I've added Majin, the environments are perfect, the others are a bit lacking in detail, though King Arthur does have some nice fog.


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