Fourth wall breaks have been a fairly common device in storytelling since their inception in theater, where the fourth wall is meant to represent the unbroken barrier between the audience and the story. When the story seems to acknowledge the audience or its place as a work of fiction, this can be quite unsettling.
This is particularly prevalent in horror media,where the fourth wallseems to be all that protects the audience from the horrors that are being experienced. In video games, this narrative device can reach new heights as the video games are able to appear like they are manipulating the player’s device. Note that not all entries on this list are purely horror games, but might still contain eerie vibes.
While this game is perhaps one of the least device-manipulating and least conventionally frightening, it deserves a spot on the list for its groundbreaking fourth wall breaks. While it doesn’t manipulate what the player is doing, it does pay acute attention to their actions and comments on them accordingly. For example, the narrator will express frustration if players cut his narration off or disobey him.
There is a door code that needs inputting at one stage that remains the same on every run. If players input the code before the narrator tells it to them, he will comment on this. Complete with a psychologically profound narrative, it can be a disturbing experience at times, thanks to this manipulation of player behavior.
This cute butdark puzzle gameis heavily inspired by Psycho Mantis, the mind-reading villain from Metal Gear Solid, who is responsible for one of the most renowned fourth wall breaks in gaming history. Like its inspiration, OneShot breaks the fourth wall repeatedly, and it sometimes does so by forcing players to interact with their devices in unusual ways.
One puzzle, for example, requires exposing a sheet of film to ‘the void’ by dragging the game window off the screen for a few seconds. It’s no wonder the developers describe it as a ‘metaphysical puzzle game’, adding to the slightly creepy feel of the game.
The indie title that took the gaming world by storm in 2015,Undertaleis infamous for its use of device-messing fourth wall breaks to create a sometimes terrifying tone in the otherwise adorable game. Prime examples include enemies that disguise themselves as save points and a boss fight that ‘destroys’ and ‘overwrites’ your save files.
Perhaps the most prominent, though, is a sinister ending that will mar any future attempts for a good ending. Add on top of that plenty of direct addresses to the player, and they’re sure to have a spooky time.
If a player is only willing to endure horrific events to save their dog, then this is the horror for them.Lost in Vivosees the player character’s emotional support dog swept down a storm drain. When their owner pursues them, they areplunged into a claustrophobicand psychologically distressing world, enhanced by the game’s manipulative tactics.
Including fake out credit scenes that turn malicious, and an eyeless character who always appears behind the character (even if they try walking backward into the area that triggers them),Lost in Vivoalso forces ‘game over’ screens and pretends to corrupt save files.
6Pony Island
Must Progress By ‘Hacking’ The Game Files
Pony Islandis quite literally a game within a game. The titular game, ‘Pony Island’, is actually an arcade machine that has been corrupted by Lucifer, who wants to steal the player’s soul. In order to save their soul, and those who are already trapped within the game’s code, players are given access to portals, supposedly to the game’s core files.
From here, the gameplay centers around flipping the narrative and bypassing the corruptions or finding cheats to proceed. The spooky experience once again uses the fourth wall and game files as a mechanic to play with.
5Outcore: Desktop Adventure
Most Of The Gameplay Is In The Player’s Desktop
Although this game isless of a horror and more of an adventuregame, there is certainly a creepy feel to those who find these techniques disturbing. That is primarily becauseOutcoremakes the player’s desktop the core mechanic for the game.
The game is about Lumi, a desktop companion who has no memory of arriving on the player’s desktop and needs help to recover her past. Mechanics involve opening up paint and interacting with game files. For example, if players delete Lumi’s files, the game will crash and they will get an achievement called ‘Murderer’, demonstrating the game’s sometimes sinister tone.
4Imscared
Enemies Create And Alter Files And Cause A False BSOD
This game is undoubtedly a horror and it undoubtedly messes with the player’s device. Its vague plot focuses on the player character seeking to escape a mysterious room and being pursued by entities known as ‘White Face’ and ‘HER’.
These horrific monsters can create and alter files, which players have to interact with to progress. The game can also crash itself and display a false blue screen of death. It is a terrifying experience, made all the more so by its blatant interactions between player and device.
This infamous game combines the concept of a device-messingfourth-wall-breakingng video game, with the classic visual novel dating simulator games. Set in a literature club, it soon becomes clear that not all is as it seems.
Alongside the obvious direct address to the player, the game will frequently seem to glitch, with character names getting corrupted or deleted, and save files seeming to get corrupted. The tonal shift is one element of horror that has madeDoki Dokiso infamous, but it is also thanks to its blatant disregard for the fourth wall.
Another unique genre, this game sets itself out to be a somewhat sinister butotherwise ordinary deck builder. It doesn’t stay that way for long. It starts out as the main antagonist not recognizing some of the cards within the deck, and allowing players to create their own cards for future use upon death.
Before they know it, players end up fighting their Steam friends in card format and using their largest computer files for the damage on a card, even wagering a file to ‘lose’ if they’re defeated. It’s a gorgeously moody game, with some terrifying but delightful use of device manipulation.
1KinitoPET
Sinister Desktop Companion Has Full Control Of A Player’s Desktop
KintioPETis the new kid on the block when it comes to horror games messing with a player’s device, but it pushes it to whole new limits. There’s a very important ‘streamer safe’ mode because Kinito doesn’t hold back.
This ‘friendly desktop companion’ will turn on the player’s camera to reveal their face, and go to their search bar to display their current location. Add this into a horrific experience akin to the horror found incult internet videos,Don’t Hug Me I’m Scared,and you have a game that borderline feels like malware in the lines that it is willing to cross.
