The Path

What big teeth you have?

Fairytales can make for dark narratives when told with a twist, and video games can make stories of all kinds more interactive and approachable to many people. They don't even have to be gamey in the traditional sense of having challenges to overcome and enemies to defeat. They can be works of art in their own right. Or walking simulators, if you prefer.

The Path, on the surface, is simple. Walk a girl through the woods to grandma's house. But it's more than that, right?

F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin

"You have a date with destiny, Sergeant Becket. Let's not keep her waiting."

It's not the best of screenshots to give you a sense of what F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin is all about, is it? Truth be told, even knowing what to expect after having played a bit of the first F.E.A.R. thanks to this 1001 list, this is still too hands-on a game to worry about grabbing screenshots in the middle of it, my attention is too focused on what is getting chucked my way that I simply can't provide you with anything that looks nice and composed.

So live with it. Just imagine that you, too, are in a dark and spooky first-person shooter that follows on from the psychological horrors of the first game and see how you fare.

Let's try and make some sense of it, though.

Psychonauts

"One time, I made someone's head explode."

Imagination. For every wonderful idea you get out of it, there's an equally dreadful idea competing for attention. Wouldn't it be adorable if dogs brought you your slippers by wearing them? Leaving their bacteria covered teeth exposed and capable of biting you when you got too close to take your slippers. Your skin punctured, dog dribble seeping into the wound, you start to panic. You turn white. You don't want rabies. I just wanted my slippers.

Imagination. It can lead to some remarkable things, as proven by platforming spectacle Psychonauts, an exploration of the inner workings of us all. Memories, fears, hopes and dreams, secrets locked away, and a scattering of emotional baggage. We've got it all. And it's all very weird.

Eternal Darkness

"You too will come to understand fear, as I have."

When I bought this game a year or so ago, I suppose, the guy behind the counter said something along the lines of "You'll enjoy that one." I forget what he said precisely, but my response was "Yeah, I missed out on this one fifteen years ago."

Boy did I. Back in 2002, Eternal Darkness wasn't on my radar at all. The Game Cube it was playable on didn't interest me. But over the many years since, I've picked up more and more info about this fourth-wall-breaking psychological horror title, and I really want to see it first hand - and I don't really care for horror.