RPG Maker may not be the best game making software, but I do see it as being one of the best storytelling softwares. USually, with RPG Maker games, they can consist of a few RPGs that tell an interesting story, or horror games that always do well in being creepy or disturbing. It’s usually these RPG Maker games that gives us some of the most disturbing kinds of games that I can’t help but love, and I want to tell you all the five RPG Maker games that I love very much. So, let’s start, shall we?

#5: The Crooked Man



The Crooked Man is a game that follows David, a young man with a mother who doesn’t recognize him, a girlfriend who leaves him, and is finding difficult to get a job, yet remains happy through it all. However, a strange and dangerous creature with a twisted neck known as The Crooked Man is hunting David down, trying to kill him, and David is now trying to find why the spirit is so hateful. I liked the idea of this game and how it had some serious moments in it, like depression and anger and suicide. Kinda like Silent Hill 2, only with one monster only, and it takes place in several areas. If I had to complain about one thing, it’s that the gameplay consists of “Oh, there’s a locked door, but I have the key for it, but oh no, there’s like four other locked doors behind it. Better go find the keys for those doors”. The game just consists of unlocking doors and going back from room to room. It get very tedious. But, the story was interesting enough to keep me going, so I guess that’s good enough for me.



#4: Ib



Probably one of the least scary ones on this list, and more bizarre. The game follows a young nine-year-old girl named with red eyes named Ib, who goes to a museum with her parents. Once in the museum, she soon finds that the place isn’t all it seems, as once the power goes out, paints starts to appear and splatter all over the museum, sculptors come to life, and paintings come and try to kill her. While in the museum, she meets Garry and Mary, two other characters that you meet with throughout the game. They may seem like your typical anime characters, but they’re still enjoyable in a way. Like I said, this game isn’t very scary, but it’s more strange and bizarre, but can have scary moments in it. Kinda like a more hardcore Yume Nikki (No, Yume Nikki is not on this list. It wasn’t scary once, whereas Ib at least has some scary moments). Yeah, it does seem like the least scariest game on this list, but it still can be pretty freaky and that’s why I love it so much.



#3: The Witch’s House



I already talked about this game and how messed up it was, but I need to talk about it again. The game follows a young girl named Viola who wakes up in the forest, and has to travel through a house (A Witch’s House that is) in order to get home. Here, she starts to experience terrifying puzzles, morbid creatures, and a disturbing story involving a sick witch named Ellen. This game is probably one of the more depressing ones on this list. Hell, the only living creature you probably find are animals, like a cat or a frog. The frog being one of them you have to kill in order to solve a puzzle. And if anyone knows anything about The Witch’s House, it would probably have to be the endings in it, that are just enough to give one last final “fuck you” to the player’s emotions. I won’t spoil it, because as painful as it is to watch, it’s ingenius to screw with the player the way this game did and I love it.



#2: Dreaming Mary



What’s this? An RPG Maker game that doesn’t have an overhead view? It’s different, therefore it must be shit. No, not really. It’s actually very messed up. The game follows Mary as she goes around this cute little world, where she can talk to her friends. A bunny maid, a penguin in a suit, and a fox in a dress. However, at the end of the house, there’s a boar who asks if Mary would like to have fun, and here is where the game shows it’s true darker side. What I like most about Dreaming Mary is that if you want to stay in denial and not see what darkness this game has, you can do just that. Just stay on the path and don’t explore. Stay where you’re happy and joyful. But if you do explore and break the boundaries of the game, you will see that this game is so much darker than it looks. I don’t want to say why, because… spoilers, obviously. But do believe me when I say that this ending is something else. It’s just really depressing, especially after witnessing and playing through what looks to be such a happy looking game…. What a great way to make a horror game look like.



#1: Mad Father



And here is probably the scariest, most disturbing, yet most interesting RPG Maker game out there. Mad Father has you play as a young girl named Aya (Seriously, what is it with these RPG Maker games and playing as young girls), who lives with her parents. Her father, Alfred, is a scientist who works in a lab underneath the house, yet Aya doesn’t know what’s underground, and her mother died a year ago. One year after her mother died, the house is infested with creatures and experiments from Alfred’s lab. Aya is then met with a mysterious salesman named Ogre, who asks Aya if she wants to see what’s underneath the house, and Aya then begins to search for what’s underneath the house. This game is probably one of the more darker ones, showing things like human experimentation, adultery, murder, depression, and so much more. This game does not hold back on anything, especially near the end. In fact, I think it only picks up near the end. The story, characters, monsters, and puzzles are all what make this probably my favorite RPG Maker horror game.



So, there you have it. Five RPG Maker horror games that I love. There are probably a whole lot more out there that I haven’t talked about, like The Boogie Man, It Moves, Mermaid Swamp, or Ao Oni (Oh, don’t worry. I’ll get to that one soon). If there is one you would like for me to talk about, leave a comment, and maybe I’ll do a review on it. No promises though. Take care.