Cute games are usually the perfect way to unwind, typically sporting bright colors, adorable characters, and charming stories that’ll stay wholesome for the most part.
However, when that theme flatters even slightly, and you get something mildly upsetting or unnerving in a cutesy game, it hits differently.
10 Best Horror Games for Cowards
We’ll toughen you up before you know it.
Sure, having horror in a horror game is fine, but creepy places showing up in a game that’s done nothing but prepare you for good times is even better.
These ten games caught me off guard with a pretty scary location, whether it’s a big part of the story, or something you need to seek out.
The Tower’s Morose Vibe
OneShot is a special case, as I’d consider it on the edge of what a “Cute” game can be, as a large amount of the game ends up being unsettling or sad.
The wholesome and happy moments you share with Niko shine through, though, and every character is absolutely adorable, so I think it qualifies.
Once you get into the tower, though, the game goes from somewhat unsettling to terrifying, with the fourth wall breaking, ushering in some terrible news.
This, combined with the incredibly dark aesthetics that leave most things coated in pure darkness, make this a standout bit of scariness.
9Webfishing
Secrets Behind the Waterfall
Webfishing
Webfishing is a very cutesy game, just having you and your friends play as Animal Crossing-esque characters and doing nothing but fish all day.
You can do a bit of exploration, too, but if you decide to check out the waterfall and see what’s behind the stream, you’ll be given a pretty dark sight.
Namely, it’s a gravestone that speaks in cryptic messages to you, asking you to go around the map and retrieve buried bones for it, giving you a new rod if you do.
This isn’t super scary, but it stuck out to me, namely because it’s never explained, and seems entirely disconnected from everything else in the game.
Horrors Underground
Journeyhas you sailing across desert sands with a buddy; most things in the game are utterly breathtaking and beautiful, with cute characters to back them up.
After you get through a few areas, though, you’ll plummet underground, and be met with an incredibly dark, terrifying area.
10 Cozy Games for Horror Fans
Horror games aren’t always about jump scares.
You get ambushed suddenly by giant mechanical beasts, having to slink around the dark hallway through some rubble to survive, the only sense of comfort being the other person by your side.
This works incredibly well as a horrific set piece, and makes this segment stick out as genuinely pretty scary in an otherwise calming game.
7Cassette Beasts
Cryptids in the Stations
Cassette Beasts
If you want a usually colorful and quite cute version ofPokémonthat’s got even more charm, thenCassette Beasts is all that and more, with some unnerving ideas.
Whenever you go fighting through the train stations for the major progression of the game, it’ll go from a cheery, awesome adventure to damn near analog horror.
It’s a bit too frequent to stick as super creepy, though, as you get exposed to it enough that it’s no longer scary but just weird instead.
It’s still incredibly unsettling to see cryptids in incomprehensible shapes and completely different art styles, and it’s quite a unique way to do horror bits.
6Here Comes Niko!
Here Comes Niko! is a charming blend of hand-drawn art and 3D platforming that makes for a really cozy, relaxing game that almost always sticks to being easygoing and fun.
That is, unless you’re on the train in between levels, where you’ll be presented with a rather unnerving story that creeps in here.
We get a small glimpse into Niko’s family life, namely that it wasn’t great, and that the “professional friend” job they landed was something they only took on after running away from home.
It’s a bit sad, and leaves a bit of a creeping feeling throughout the whole game, as it hardly gets resolved.
5Stardew Valley
Qi’s Creepy Room
Stardew Valley
WhileStardew Valleyis well known for being a relaxing, cozy game with cutesy characters and a very wholesome story, there’s always something odd beneath the surface.
While the Skull Cavern is pretty obviously creepy on account of being filled to the brim with remnants of the undead, Qi’s Walnut Room sticks out to me.
You catch up with the same guy that fed you weird purple milk, and the same guy that made you go on a massive sidequest, just for him to be as ominous as usual.
The location itself is just a dark room with a monitor where he observes every single action you take, and givenhe has the power to change reality, it’s pretty scary.
4Animal Crossing: New Leaf
The All Consuming Void
Animal Crossing: New Leaf
Animal Crossingis perhaps the definitive cozy and cute game, delivering some iconic, adorable characters where you do nothing but relax anddo some menial tasks in a small town.
That just makes it all the more upsetting when you accidentally reset your game without saving, finding yourself in a dark void, greeted by Isabelle or Resetti.
In every game before the 3DS, he’d scold you in front of your house about your lack of ability to save properly, but in New Leaf, your first encounter with him leads to a distinctly creepy area.
I’m sure I’m not the only one who’s been affected by this one at a young age, and it’s stuck with me ever since I first saw it; it’s just deeply unnerving in this type of game.
3Slime Rancher
A Dangerous Desert
Slime Rancher
Slime Rancheris a fun little game where you get a bunch of cute slimes into corrals, feed them, merge them, and only get a little scared when you form Tarr Slimes.
The game peaks in this scariness when we get to the Glass Desert in the endgame, with constant explosions, and minimal signs of life.
Everything there feels even more alien than the alien planet you were exploring beforehand. It’s all a little unsettling, especially with the constant threat of firestorms.
These Solar Anomalies happen somewhat randomly, and rain meteors and fire upon the land, causing destruction and making it absolutely terrifying to be here.
2A Hat in Time
The Soul-Stealing Woods
A Hat in Time
The majority ofA Hat in Time’sareas consist of childlike whimsy, colorful locales, goofy cartoonish characters, and some really fun platforming, but one place sticks out.
The entirety of Subcon Forest has you signing a deal with an ominous, towering entity known as the Snatcher, who temporarily steals your soul in the process.
10 Cute Games With Dark Narratives
Just because a game looks wholesome, doesn’t mean it always is.
You have to do his dirty work, which includes visiting the mansion of his ex, who also kidnapped him in her basement and led him to look the way he does.
This mansion level, especially, is genuinely horrific and difficult to get through if you’re easily frightened, but at least in the end, everything turns out fine, with Hat Kid getting her soul back.
1Kirby and the Forgotten Land
And Here We Are
Kirby and the Forgotten Land
Kirby is one of the cutest characters in gaming, and the majority of his adventures follow with that adorable theming, just being bright and colorful platformers in Dreamland.
There are several standout exceptions, though. Ever since Dreamland 2, they’ve been having Kirby fight off cryptids, gods, demons, and horrors beyond comprehension around the final act of the game.
The most recent game, Kirby and the Forgotten Land, brings this to the natural extreme, with Lab Discovera being a full-on horror segment, with fully voiced dialogue going on about failed science experiments.
This feels incredibly out of place for this mostly silent series, and on top of the unsettling vibes, Kirby gets chased down a long hallway by some horrific mass of melted-together creatures, making for an insanely creepy piece of work.
10 Cutest Video Game Franchises
Video games have many cute and cuddly characters, but figuring out which are the cutest can be tough. This list can help!
