Summary
While there are manyCapcom gamesthat are fairly serious in their tone, they tend to be broken up by more slapstick and humorous elements that make sure they never end up becoming too dark. This isn’t the case for every single one of their games, though, as there have been a handful that explored somereally dark concepts and themesthat can be quite unnerving to play, even many years after they were initially released.
Being spooky is one thing, but when a game manages to make the player’s skin crawl because of the horrifying events that happen in the story or even during gameplay, then a game has to be considered pretty dark and bleak in its presentation. With that in mind, these are the games where Capcom really went the extra mile to make them as dark and gritty as possible.
TheStreet Fighterserieshas always been seen as a classic fighting game series that is well known for its characters who tend to lean into the more cartoonish-side in terms of their design and personalities, but it’s in the story of the fourth game where things start getting a little twisted. This is primarily through the character’s own stories, which are explored in their Arcade modes and in the Ties That Bind animation featured in the premium edition of the game.
Juri, for example, is a newcomer whoseentire family was slaughtered by Bisonin order to make her his brand-new apprentice. And then there’s Abel, another new character who suffers from amnesia. While he hopes to one day restore his memories and return to his hometown and family, he comes to learn that he is nothing more than a failed replacement body for M. Bison. The gameplay itself isn’t as gory or dark as something likeMortal Kombat, but it’s these small tidbits in the character stories that make it unusually disturbing for aStreet Fightergame.
Darkstalkersis another Capcom fighting game series that tends to be a little moresurreal and supernaturalthanStreet Fighter, but this has also led to some very weird, whacky, and even dark stories, such as the case withThe Night Warriors. The plot is very simple; the otherworldy being known as Pyron plans to completely devour Earth and everyone on it to add to the collection of planets that he’s consumed, and the playable fighters are the last ones who can stop him.
This already adds a lot of urgency to the game and gives it a much more serious and nihilistic tone compared to the previous entries, but what really pushes it over the edge is the character of Pyron himself, who is actually playable in theCapcom Fighting Game Collectionversion of the game. If he’s not morphing his body to completely consume his victims, he’s letting out a terrifying laugh that is guaranteed to strike fear into anyone who hears it.
There have been a handful ofClock Towergames released over the years, and while all of them are very high-quality survival-horror games that are well worth playing, the third game in the series is by farthe most disturbingin terms of gameplay. The story itself is more supernatural than scary, as teenage protagonist Alyssa comes to find out that she’s actually part of a lineage of female warriors who must hop between moments in time to defeat evil spirits.
This doesn’t sound too bad on the surface, but the gameplay is downright brutal at times with enemies relentlessly chasing Alyssa everywhere she goes while wielding massive weapons like scissors and even sledgehammers, which they won’t be shy about using. There’s alsothe Panic Mode mechanic, which will cause the screen to shake and result in Alyssa tripping over if she tries to run. The ridiculous story can take away from the darker aspects now and again, but the hide-and-seek gameplay loop is still extremely terrifying, and the death scenes are just as gory as anyone would come to expect.
Every game in theResident Evilseries has a serious story that is complemented bycheesy dialogue and one-linersto help break up the tension, and while the first game does also work in this way, there’s a noticeably much darker tone to the story. Not only is the eerie and desolate atmosphere of the Spencer Mansion extremely unnerving, but what makes the whole area even more horrifying is reading the documents that reveal the gruesome ways the residents were killed or how they turned into mindless zombies.
The Keeper’s Diary is a prime example of this, which was written by the animal keeper of the mansion. Each day, he talks about how the T-Virus infection was decaying his body and mind as players read that he began tearing off his own flesh, and his punctuation becomes worse until all that is left are the words “Itchy, tasty.” Then, there’sthe tragic story of Lisa Trevorwho was taken from her family and forcibly experimented on by Oswell E. Spencer. When the player finds Lisa in her grotesquely mutated form, the girl is simply seeking out her lost mother who is actually long gone by this point in the story. This is undoubtedly the darkest game in the franchise, and if it wasn’t for those Jill Sandwich-esque moments, it would probably be Capcom’s bleakest game to date.
Haunting Groundis one of Capcom’s more niche horror titles that many fans of the genre consider to be somewhat of a hidden gem, but its premise is actually very dark and makes the gameplay all the more intense. After awaking in a mysterious castle withonly a dog named Hewie by her side, Fiona must make her escape while trying to avoid the maniacal residents that live there who all want to capture the young girl for their own reasons.
The first enemy, Debilitas, is a giant man who sees humans as nothing but “dolls” that he can tear apart and play with, and he wishes to add Fiona to his creepy collection. Then there’s Daniella who is jealous of Fiona’s youth and especially the fact that she can still create life, causing the icy maid to chase Fiona around with a knife to try and kill her for good. Finally, there’s Riccardo, who literally seeks to use Fiona to bring about his own rebirth. All the villains inHaunting Groundare truly messed up in one way or another, and the entire premise really has a dark and uncomfortable edge to it that makes the game truly terrifying.
