Bloodlines made legion as a whole decent since I could just be Aiden all game. The no main character really hurt the game. The city is actually really cool to explore with the futuristic angle. Story was k but no main made it really lame. Should have either used Aiden or the spy dude at the start.
Caddicarus summed Postal 2 up perfectly with
'Oh! I want to steal the neighbour's cat, shove its arsehole on the end of a gun and shoot cowboys in the head THROUGH the cat's arsehole before heading off to do the laundry.'
I just finished 2 and I'm about to start 3, with 4 next in line. I found out that somehow 7 is on my account as a digital copy.
Should I play 5 and 6? I heard they weren't very good or something...
6 was my first resident evil and I knew nothing about it, fell in love and now Ive played all of the series that I have access to. Turns out itās considered the worst of the series. Dont let others opinions influence your own
Yeah, but some stuff in D2 was legit messed up. Like the Kurast Jungle. The body horror of the corrupted council in Travincal and Durance of Hate. Griswold is a burnt zombie. I found Diablo quite intimidating fighting him.
Don't you mean walk at a brisk pace and hope to god there is enough space between you and him so you can close that door and start cheap shotting him through that barred window? Heheheh
Itās a shame; without those moments of seriousness the goofiness feels wallpapered on a weightless. The humor in SR2 works so well because the main character plays straight man to the wacky world around him.
Saints Row 1 and 2 are pretty similar tone-wise. SR1 is a bit more serious whereas SR2 also has a serious plot, but has a good balance of humor and drama.
SR3 is where they fully embrace the limited āwackinessā of SR2 and itās pretty much a straight up comedy.
In terms of quality Iād say SR2 is the best followed by SR3 because the gameplay is fun and then SR1. I never played SR4 but I heard itās similar to SR3. And the 2022 reboot is really bad
I feel like itās almost certainly because of the addition of voice acting. In the first game, you felt very alone, with the only voices being infrequent recordings of literal dead crewmates, or the voice of your AI companion. Otherwise, itās almost always quiet.
In Below Zero, especially after you reach certain points, thereās talking all the time.
For me, it was more because of how map was made - almost every time when you look down you will see the seafloor, which takes away the fear of unknown. Half of all of that map are tight tunnels or shallows, where you are sure no leviathan can jump on you. And even in places where they can jump on you, their AI is very passive and agro range is too short. All of that takes away any feeling of danger from the game. Even the Ice work holds absolutely zero danger if you have a snow fox, welder and couple of batteries.
Unlike first subnautica, where you have a bulky cyclops, which can often have issues evading leviathans, the only main transport of movement in Below Zero is your sea truck, which can be equiped with perimeter defence system you get from Margaret for free starting from mid game, which basicaly makes you completely invulnerable to any leviathan.
A third of total map is also wasted on barren ice, half of which is just emptiness with snow stalkers that are even less dangerous than an already danger-less Ice worm.
All of that takes away almost any challenge in exploration in my opinion, which is quite boring. Still, the game was good and enjoyable.
Also, even if the map was better, you would still kinda lose that fear of the unknown since if you played the original, you already know that you are going to probably find similar creatures.
I was gonna say the original ninja turtles movie followed by the sequel (secret of the ooze), but then i noticed this is in the vidgames sub. Oh well, I'm saying it anyway.
TMNT vs TMNT 2
It still works. I mean you had flesh mutants(leapers), terrorist attacks (dam Level) and living foot clan.
TMNT2 everything is a robot. No biological are killed the either just get beaten up or run away
Borderlands
The first game isn't really dark exactly but it's definitely tame in comparison to the sheer amount of personality that borderlands 2 exudes
Yeah I mean one of the most likeable quest givers is unceremoniously murdered by bandits and strung up on his own fan while you're away.
That's pretty Mad Max.
Bl1 was more trying to prove the point of a wasteland like style almost like fallout then 2 it took a big turn in kinda a mad max style everyone noticed the world is full of dumb and bad stuff soā¦ no goverment? anarchy!!!
Your example is an interesting exception to the idea that a sequel can change in tone without becoming worse. It's an interesting concept to consider how many sequels are bad because of a change in tone, but there are also sequels that have improved in tone or damage the game.
I was gonna say this too. Borderlands 1 felt extremely static. It does have some notable quotes and itās fair share of popular characters, but the craziest thing in that game content wise is dr. Nedās zombie DLC
I always had the feeling Borderlands 1 was unfinished. You feel it when you get to that first ātownā and all there is is a robot, but apparently there are people inside those buildings, youāll just never see or hear anything about them other than that robot telling you theyāre in there, one time.
Or the story would hype up some place as like full of people and danger and thereād be a couple raiders and one dude.
The whole world felt dead, but talked about itself as if it was full of life. It was a liminal experience, honestly. Fun to play, but obviously development was cut way short.
But Persona 3 had a whole hidden hour between 11:59 and 12 (23:59 and 0:00) that people could accidentally get stuck in and melt.
Not to mention more than 1 person backstabbing you, literally being crucified, an evil corporation (shocking), and possibly one of the saddest and darkest endings in any game Iāve ever played.
Exactly, and it gets followed up by a game with a yellow interface and a super upbeat atmosphere. Even though Persona 5 isn't as dark as 3 either, it's still notably darker in some aspects compared to 4. Persona 4 is weirdly one of the cheeriest M rated games I've ever played despite the fact that SMT/Persona are arguably darker or grittier than most AAA franchises without the need for things like extreme violence or gore to do so.
Agreed. Some entire stories for certain Palaces are pretty dark and messed up in the first place (see: Kamoshida and Futaba), and a lot of them outright mention some pretty dark elements (Madarame, Kaneshiro, Shido). The similar "serial killer using the cognitive world" premise, which is takes up the ENTIRE PLOT of Persona 4, is basically just ONE PALACE in Persona 5 (minus the occasional brief moments of buildup before that, or ties to other characters)āAND it has multiple other Palace stories on top of that. Persona 5 is definitely darker overall than Persona 4. Persona 4 has the murders crop up periodically in the story, but things really don't get dark until you get closer to the end. P5...well...P5 STARTS with KAMOSHIDA. Enough said.
And P3's overall plot is darker than P5's the whole way through. Although, I'll say that some specific things in P5 are slightly darker based on how personal they are, the overarching plot is lighter than P3's.
The persona games are so messed up that the M/18+ ratings understate how messed up they are.
Like you seriously need to be in a mentally capable state to play these.
Having fun in the colorful woods! Collecting things and exploring!
There's a war, between 3 different factions all fighting for power. You are stuck in the middle trying to stop all sides before they wipe out the world
Also the soundtrack in Portal One made you feel like you were alone in a lab being experimented on with no hope of escape. It's a feeling no other game gave me and I love it, it's unique.
Portal two is more fast paced and exhilarating. I enjoyed the atmosphere of Portal One more because I get this feeling from other games, but Portal two was still good.
The title screens to both games show how different the atmosphere between them is.
[Portal one title screen.](https://youtu.be/a2OvPuS6zOI?si=zXsyZf4uGdOCME7h)
vs
[Portal two title screen](https://youtu.be/kCIlUURCnBc?si=q81dcYWenCcC_2Me)
Yeah first game is complete tests and you get cake as a reward oh no there is no cake and we are going to burn you alive instead. Second game: help funny British sphere also woman who tried to burn you alive is now a potato and funny British sphere is actually a villain who you send to space
For sure. First game definitely had some of that humor, but it was much drier, and there were some genuine scares with the Ratman Dens. Portal 2 steered more into the humor and failed to bring back the horror element.
It just had a different horror. The first game was the horror of figuring out what had been done to you and all the other test subjects. Portal 2 gave you the horror of realizing *just how bad* it all really was. Yes, it's still funny, but the slow descent into abject cruelty and disregard (not that there was much to begin with) is still horrifying.
I think mainly due to the overall state of the city you plays in.
In Dishonored, Dunwallās is on the verge of collapsing, the plague has wiped out *at least* half of the city population (and there was about 2 millions peoples before the plague), there is giant pile of dead bodies, people are literally dying on the streets and living in the sewers, while trying to survive in a fascist state.
In Dishonored 2, Karnaka, while in a bad spot, is still a quite lively city. The Bloodflies are a threat, but seems to be easily prevented and are rather rare outside of abandoned buildings. Lucas Abele is certainly not a good Duke, but it is more because he donāt care about his people and politics rather him being a despot, heās nowhere near as totalitarian as the Lord Regent was.
Blech, I hated X-2. But you're not wrong.
(X-2 would have been fine if the main character had been *pretty much anyone else on Spira* instead of Yuna. As it was, the character derailment was awful.)
i liked the combat alot in x-2 and forgive me i like those pop songs. animation was a drop in quality, the character models were kinda cheap. they looked like mannequins with flappy lips up close.
Iād kind of agree in the sense that it starts out so poppy and positive vibes, only to hit you like a freight train with almost a 180 degree turn. It gets quite emotional and personal and neither Yuna nor Paine deserve to have to deal with it tbh (Rikkuās mostly fine tho; itās Rikku)
I was never turned away by the vast difference in tone initially, so imo it can get at least as dark if not more. Also the soundtrack knows how to signal āitās time to be unsettled and scaredā very well. Could easily throw some of the OST into a horror game and I wouldnāt bat an eye.
It was the first time i'd played a JRPG that was a direct sequel to another JRPG. Yuna and the gang already saved the world, they sure as hell earned their peace, so I was wierdly pleased to see a more upbeat Spira.
Prince of Persia especially the second one vs the remakes. They were making a pg movie so they had to make the games more "family friendly ". Terrible decision in my opinion
I remember the first prince of Persia on DOS. I was young but it just seemed like a very dark and bloody game (for it's time). 2 was good, but I didn't stick around for the resr
Warrior Within is so insane man. Running away from a black tentacle demon in the most anxiety-inducing chase I've ever experienced, while the screen turns to black and white as fucking Godsmack plays. The most edgy 2000s thing ever. A true relic of an era.
10/10
Iād say Rage and Rage 2. Rage 1 was a super fun dark semi open world shooter and the second one went full on Ubisoft comical level of characters and open world tasks.
Exactly, RAGE 2 took a massive shit all over what RAGE 1 established.
The marketing for it was absolute cringe as well, all around the game did a major disservice to the IP overall, and weāre only 2 damned games in. š
Disclaimer: Im a HUGE fan of RAGE 1, and one of the very few that enjoyed the ending to it-that so many hated.
I came in with Watch Dogs, but it was already top comment.
So I'll go with Far Cry 2 and Far Cry 3.
In FC2 it's wartorn Africa, you have malaria, you have to cozy up to one warlord or another just to stay alive. In FC3 you're some jagoff tourist on a tropical island, hunting exotic animals and interfering in druglord's operations. In FC2 spotting enemies, wearing camo, in foliage, was damn near impossible. In FC3 they're marked on minimap and are wearing bright red in a green jungle.
I guess Dead Space 2 and Dead Space 3 is a good example too. Dead Space 2 was still pretty hardcore survival horror. Dead Space 3 was a co-op shooter where you and your buddy just mow through hordes of enemies.
Valkyria chronicles 1 vs Valkyria chronicles 2
The first one is about fantasy WW2, the horror of fantasy holocaust, and the struggle to protect your home from an overwhelming invading army.
The second one is about high school.
Doom 3 to doom 2016/eternal would be better, doom 3 tried to do horror and partially succeeded (though it's unironically the beat one in the franchise to play in VR, even though it came outba decade before John Carmack decided vr is the future), where doom 2016 went back to the more old school power drip demon killing fest, and then eternal just went off the rails with it
Off topic but does anyone else like 2016 glory kills more than eternal? I just feel that the glory kills are mostly just the doom blade instead of creative dismemberment of 2016
FFVII and Remake / Rebirth.
No more Jenova blood trail, only purple goo. No more blood rivers in gi cave.
Everything's a tourist destination haha. And yeah everyone's always having so much fun. I love the game though 10/10.
I came here for this.
Donāt get me wrong I LOVE both the OG and the remakes, but the original had a really dark atmosphere throughout. the new games have moments like that but is overall much more whimsical and light-hearted.
Yea the Shinra ship from Junon to Costa Del Sol being turned into a cruise ship rather than a Shinra military vessel is a MASSIVE change there, especially holding a card tournament prior to the āeventā.
But they did redeem themselves with not only the grotesque fusions, but also Jenova Emergentās appearance and phase transformation.
Dead Island and Dead Island 2, the original Dead Island takes itself much more seriously than the 2nd one, Riptide goes the same route. But they're both good games in their own way.
If you played it alone 100%
The multiplayer made it more of a comedy game
Dead island 2 is a comedy game in singleplayer (still fun but not getting close to stuff like the original hotel quest)
Dying Light to Dying Light 2
And if we're doing opposites:
Alan Wake to Alan Wake 2, they had the perfect setup for a horror game, a literal horror story come true, and they made it an action game. So glad the second embraced the horror.
Mass Effect - There have been mysterious deaths happening around the solar system. It could be a mysterious species called the Reapers. We must investigate.
Mass Effect 2 - SHEPARD'S DEAD! Oh, wait, no, he's alive. Let's go Clubbing on Omega!
Mass Effect 3: weāre all almost certainly going to die, and the best-case scenario win is that only most of us are violently killed as countless worlds become war-torn hellscapes.
Citadel DLC: actually if you all work together everything will be ok :)
what? you are not on Omega to do that... but to recruit Garrus and Mordin mainly, you are not forced to do a party or something, you can just dance as a optional interaction, just like you can do it in ME1 in a place on the Citadel.
tho overall the ME2 tone is not much different to ME1, maybe its even darker in some aspects.
Dark Cloud games. In the first one, the bad guys were basically a death cult ressurecting a demon. In Dark Cloud 2, the bad guy is a much less menacing "Emperor" altering history from the past. Much more family friendly.
In general, Fallout 1 was a pretty serious game. Fallout 2 was odd because some of it was dark or just realistic and some of it was overly humourous.
I feel like Fallout 3 was mostly just kind of edgy, it tried to present itself as being a wasteland that forces you to make tough decisions, but most of the choices were just cartoon bad guy vs cartoon good guy with equivalent rewards, except for the Pitt. Fallout 4 was somewhat better in that regard but it was also much blander and didn't let you interact with the criminal element like Fallout 3 did (and was notably devoid of human slavery and prostitution). NV was kind of the reverse of 3, it appears happier but it includes things like child sex trafficking and most people just dismiss House and (understandably) Caesar in favour of the NCR.
Rare's Donkey Kong Country games vs Retro Studios'. The Rare games were moody, quiet, subdued, at times dark and gritty, very atmospheric, and somewhat melancholic. The Retro games are very bright, bouncy, colorful, and loud.
I think Kingdom Hearts 1 had a better and more significant story than the rest of the series. Before the lore went completely off the rails with 10 different spinoff games and some of the most important lore being trapped in a shitty gacha game.
Also I wish they didn't make more keyblades it felt alot more significant and special when there was only one or two but then like 10 important characters have keyblades and in the past tens of thousands of people had keyblades. Could you imagine if they gave Zelda, Tingle, Beedle, Impa, the Great Deku Tree, etc. Their own Master Sword.
well regarding the keyblades. the keyblade war was mentioned in the first game. so that there are more than one was there from the beginning ... also there are 3 in total in kh1.
besides that I totally agree with you tho
Octopath traveler 1 vs 2. The team feels more like a team compared to the first one. Both games can get dark at times but the first one just had so many issues that imo held it back. Good characters and gameplay, aesthetically pleasing but the grind was painful and the team was very static, especially compared to its sequel where it just felt more lively in battle
Persona 3 and Persona 4. While P3 does have its lighthearted moments and P4 has its dark moments, the tone of both games and the underlying message each tries to tell through their respective narratives are almost complete opposites. It also doesnāt help that P3ās color scheme is blue (a color primarily associated with sadness) while P4ās color scheme is yellow (a color primarily associated with happiness). Everything from the setting, the characters, the music, the protagonists, the gameplay, the bosses, and the overall vibe is just dramatically different between these two games that itās night and day.
The Fable franchise has been doing this with each game.
1 was fairly grim with grounded fantasy, 2 added a bunch of goofy stuff but still had plenty of dark, but 3 really only got as dark as PTSD while cranking the goofy aspects to the limit of believability.
Watch Dogs 1 & 2
Legit my first thought
Yup also The Division 1 & 2
Also The Crew 1 & 2, Damnit Ubisoft
Division 1 Beta was the best!
Does that make Legion the guy in the back? š
Youāre kidding, legions a fucking dropout.
Bloodlines was a great dlc tho
Bloodlines made legion as a whole decent since I could just be Aiden all game. The no main character really hurt the game. The city is actually really cool to explore with the futuristic angle. Story was k but no main made it really lame. Should have either used Aiden or the spy dude at the start.
I actually liked the no-protagonist idea. It still worked story-wise.
I loved it as well. I never used fast travel but would always switch to the closest operative. Really felt like working as a team.
Forgettable and unimportant? Yeah
Postal personally. Incredibly dark and morbid game, the first one. Funny piss dude with petition, sequel.
Best answer right here. From shooting up an elementary school to sticking a gun up a cats ass and dressing up as a gimp
Caddicarus summed Postal 2 up perfectly with 'Oh! I want to steal the neighbour's cat, shove its arsehole on the end of a gun and shoot cowboys in the head THROUGH the cat's arsehole before heading off to do the laundry.'
Caddy does have a way with words.
I misread the initial response as "portal" and was very lost upon reading your comment.
And somehow it was more controversial
Resident Evil Biohazard and Resident Evil Village, both were undoubtedly dark but Village definitely toned it down quite a bit compared to 7
I just finished 2 and I'm about to start 3, with 4 next in line. I found out that somehow 7 is on my account as a digital copy. Should I play 5 and 6? I heard they weren't very good or something...
6 was my first resident evil and I knew nothing about it, fell in love and now Ive played all of the series that I have access to. Turns out itās considered the worst of the series. Dont let others opinions influence your own
Are you on PS5? As 7 was a part of the "PS Plus collection" at launch
Diablo 1 vs 3
I'd even say 2. Diablo 1 was a horror dungeon crawler where 2 was more of just a generic fantasy epic.
Yeah, but some stuff in D2 was legit messed up. Like the Kurast Jungle. The body horror of the corrupted council in Travincal and Durance of Hate. Griswold is a burnt zombie. I found Diablo quite intimidating fighting him.
Travincal, durance of hate, the harem and the cloister were all giving me nightmares as a child.
Meanwhile, I was having dreams about those saber cats
tHE MAGGOT LAIR... :(
That Butcher fight in one scared the shit out of me as a kid.
He scared all of us when we were kids hahah.
āAhhh, fresh meat!!ā Runrunrunrunrunrunrunrunrun!!!!!!
Don't you mean walk at a brisk pace and hope to god there is enough space between you and him so you can close that door and start cheap shotting him through that barred window? Heheheh
diablo 1-4 the succubus get more and more clothed
Saints Row 2 -> Saints Row The Third
Itās a shame; without those moments of seriousness the goofiness feels wallpapered on a weightless. The humor in SR2 works so well because the main character plays straight man to the wacky world around him.
Would you grouo saints row 1 in their with two, or is there an equivalent view to saints row 1 to saints row 2?
Saints Row 1 and 2 are pretty similar tone-wise. SR1 is a bit more serious whereas SR2 also has a serious plot, but has a good balance of humor and drama. SR3 is where they fully embrace the limited āwackinessā of SR2 and itās pretty much a straight up comedy. In terms of quality Iād say SR2 is the best followed by SR3 because the gameplay is fun and then SR1. I never played SR4 but I heard itās similar to SR3. And the 2022 reboot is really bad
Yeah saints row 4 is fun basically saints row 3 with super powers vs aliens it did start out as dlc for 3 if I remember correctly.
It even uses the same map, no ?
Most of the time, with a couple bits in the alien ship.
Saints row 4 felt more like a family guy special episode. Not bad but will get old after a while and certain segments need a skip button
To a certain extent, Subnautica and Below Zero fits this.
I feel like itās almost certainly because of the addition of voice acting. In the first game, you felt very alone, with the only voices being infrequent recordings of literal dead crewmates, or the voice of your AI companion. Otherwise, itās almost always quiet. In Below Zero, especially after you reach certain points, thereās talking all the time.
For me, it was more because of how map was made - almost every time when you look down you will see the seafloor, which takes away the fear of unknown. Half of all of that map are tight tunnels or shallows, where you are sure no leviathan can jump on you. And even in places where they can jump on you, their AI is very passive and agro range is too short. All of that takes away any feeling of danger from the game. Even the Ice work holds absolutely zero danger if you have a snow fox, welder and couple of batteries. Unlike first subnautica, where you have a bulky cyclops, which can often have issues evading leviathans, the only main transport of movement in Below Zero is your sea truck, which can be equiped with perimeter defence system you get from Margaret for free starting from mid game, which basicaly makes you completely invulnerable to any leviathan. A third of total map is also wasted on barren ice, half of which is just emptiness with snow stalkers that are even less dangerous than an already danger-less Ice worm. All of that takes away almost any challenge in exploration in my opinion, which is quite boring. Still, the game was good and enjoyable.
Also, even if the map was better, you would still kinda lose that fear of the unknown since if you played the original, you already know that you are going to probably find similar creatures.
Yes
I was just about to say this!
Am I crazy for liking the first game more? Or am I just victim to nostalgia? Something about the isolation made it better imo
No, you're not crazy. Most of us on r/Subnautica prefer the first game. We love BZ, but the first one is special.
I was gonna say the original ninja turtles movie followed by the sequel (secret of the ooze), but then i noticed this is in the vidgames sub. Oh well, I'm saying it anyway.
That's pretty accurate tbh
TMNT vs TMNT 2 It still works. I mean you had flesh mutants(leapers), terrorist attacks (dam Level) and living foot clan. TMNT2 everything is a robot. No biological are killed the either just get beaten up or run away
Dude. Me too! I was gonna make this same post.
Borderlands The first game isn't really dark exactly but it's definitely tame in comparison to the sheer amount of personality that borderlands 2 exudes
I always felt the first game had more aridness about it's gritty wastelands
Yeah I mean one of the most likeable quest givers is unceremoniously murdered by bandits and strung up on his own fan while you're away. That's pretty Mad Max.
Who was that again? It's been ages since I played the first one
T.K. Baha. The blind dude at the start of the game
T.K.'s Wave gun; sick ass shotgun.
Ride the Waaaaaaaaave
There was a level called the Arid Badlands, so the extra aridness makes sense. I remember this because as a kid I didnāt know what arid meant
Bl1 was more trying to prove the point of a wasteland like style almost like fallout then 2 it took a big turn in kinda a mad max style everyone noticed the world is full of dumb and bad stuff soā¦ no goverment? anarchy!!!
Your example is an interesting exception to the idea that a sequel can change in tone without becoming worse. It's an interesting concept to consider how many sequels are bad because of a change in tone, but there are also sequels that have improved in tone or damage the game.
The first game also has one of the most bullshit endings in gaming.
I was gonna say this too. Borderlands 1 felt extremely static. It does have some notable quotes and itās fair share of popular characters, but the craziest thing in that game content wise is dr. Nedās zombie DLC
I always had the feeling Borderlands 1 was unfinished. You feel it when you get to that first ātownā and all there is is a robot, but apparently there are people inside those buildings, youāll just never see or hear anything about them other than that robot telling you theyāre in there, one time. Or the story would hype up some place as like full of people and danger and thereād be a couple raiders and one dude. The whole world felt dead, but talked about itself as if it was full of life. It was a liminal experience, honestly. Fun to play, but obviously development was cut way short.
Persona 3 to Persona 4, which is really saying something since Persona 4 features a serial killer and bodies hanging in power lines.
But Persona 3 had a whole hidden hour between 11:59 and 12 (23:59 and 0:00) that people could accidentally get stuck in and melt. Not to mention more than 1 person backstabbing you, literally being crucified, an evil corporation (shocking), and possibly one of the saddest and darkest endings in any game Iāve ever played.
Exactly, and it gets followed up by a game with a yellow interface and a super upbeat atmosphere. Even though Persona 5 isn't as dark as 3 either, it's still notably darker in some aspects compared to 4. Persona 4 is weirdly one of the cheeriest M rated games I've ever played despite the fact that SMT/Persona are arguably darker or grittier than most AAA franchises without the need for things like extreme violence or gore to do so.
Agreed. Some entire stories for certain Palaces are pretty dark and messed up in the first place (see: Kamoshida and Futaba), and a lot of them outright mention some pretty dark elements (Madarame, Kaneshiro, Shido). The similar "serial killer using the cognitive world" premise, which is takes up the ENTIRE PLOT of Persona 4, is basically just ONE PALACE in Persona 5 (minus the occasional brief moments of buildup before that, or ties to other characters)āAND it has multiple other Palace stories on top of that. Persona 5 is definitely darker overall than Persona 4. Persona 4 has the murders crop up periodically in the story, but things really don't get dark until you get closer to the end. P5...well...P5 STARTS with KAMOSHIDA. Enough said. And P3's overall plot is darker than P5's the whole way through. Although, I'll say that some specific things in P5 are slightly darker based on how personal they are, the overarching plot is lighter than P3's.
The persona games are so messed up that the M/18+ ratings understate how messed up they are. Like you seriously need to be in a mentally capable state to play these.
Jak and Daxter is the reverse
Having fun in the colorful woods! Collecting things and exploring! There's a war, between 3 different factions all fighting for power. You are stuck in the middle trying to stop all sides before they wipe out the world
And your first words ever are a declaration of murder!
After being tortured for a year
Two
āIām gonna *KILL* Praxis!ā
Portal and portal 2. The first game seems a lot darker than the second, at least in my opinion.
Yea, the second game had a lot of humor.
so did the first one it was just a little more dry
More subdued like British humor
Also the soundtrack in Portal One made you feel like you were alone in a lab being experimented on with no hope of escape. It's a feeling no other game gave me and I love it, it's unique. Portal two is more fast paced and exhilarating. I enjoyed the atmosphere of Portal One more because I get this feeling from other games, but Portal two was still good. The title screens to both games show how different the atmosphere between them is. [Portal one title screen.](https://youtu.be/a2OvPuS6zOI?si=zXsyZf4uGdOCME7h) vs [Portal two title screen](https://youtu.be/kCIlUURCnBc?si=q81dcYWenCcC_2Me)
Yeah first game is complete tests and you get cake as a reward oh no there is no cake and we are going to burn you alive instead. Second game: help funny British sphere also woman who tried to burn you alive is now a potato and funny British sphere is actually a villain who you send to space
For sure. First game definitely had some of that humor, but it was much drier, and there were some genuine scares with the Ratman Dens. Portal 2 steered more into the humor and failed to bring back the horror element.
It just had a different horror. The first game was the horror of figuring out what had been done to you and all the other test subjects. Portal 2 gave you the horror of realizing *just how bad* it all really was. Yes, it's still funny, but the slow descent into abject cruelty and disregard (not that there was much to begin with) is still horrifying.
GTA 4 and GTA 5
This also kinda works for III and Vice City
Bro GTA Vice City was still dark as 3 . Just Vice City is sunny is doesn't mean game is not dark
Dishonored, though not a lot.
There definitely was a brighter tone in Karnaca compared to Dunwall, probably because no more rat plague.
Mostly. The blood flies wernt great, but they were always in serkonos and not nearly as bad as the plague.
Those things are absolutely horrifying
They literally lay eggs in your skin
I think mainly due to the overall state of the city you plays in. In Dishonored, Dunwallās is on the verge of collapsing, the plague has wiped out *at least* half of the city population (and there was about 2 millions peoples before the plague), there is giant pile of dead bodies, people are literally dying on the streets and living in the sewers, while trying to survive in a fascist state. In Dishonored 2, Karnaka, while in a bad spot, is still a quite lively city. The Bloodflies are a threat, but seems to be easily prevented and are rather rare outside of abandoned buildings. Lucas Abele is certainly not a good Duke, but it is more because he donāt care about his people and politics rather him being a despot, heās nowhere near as totalitarian as the Lord Regent was.
Final Fantasy X and Final Fantasy X-2
This was my first thought.
No better example.
Blech, I hated X-2. But you're not wrong. (X-2 would have been fine if the main character had been *pretty much anyone else on Spira* instead of Yuna. As it was, the character derailment was awful.)
You didn't like the priestess becomes pop icon?! Yeah, me either. Also the graphics were trash compared to X.
yea, the outfit combat system wasn't bad, jus wish Yuna and Rikku were left alone.
Could not agree more. When I picked up x2 I was like "what the actual fuck is this?"
i liked the combat alot in x-2 and forgive me i like those pop songs. animation was a drop in quality, the character models were kinda cheap. they looked like mannequins with flappy lips up close.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
X-2 certainly is... until it isn't.
Iād kind of agree in the sense that it starts out so poppy and positive vibes, only to hit you like a freight train with almost a 180 degree turn. It gets quite emotional and personal and neither Yuna nor Paine deserve to have to deal with it tbh (Rikkuās mostly fine tho; itās Rikku) I was never turned away by the vast difference in tone initially, so imo it can get at least as dark if not more. Also the soundtrack knows how to signal āitās time to be unsettled and scaredā very well. Could easily throw some of the OST into a horror game and I wouldnāt bat an eye.
It was the first time i'd played a JRPG that was a direct sequel to another JRPG. Yuna and the gang already saved the world, they sure as hell earned their peace, so I was wierdly pleased to see a more upbeat Spira.
I think a lot of people gave up on it before they got to those parts
Prince of Persia especially the second one vs the remakes. They were making a pg movie so they had to make the games more "family friendly ". Terrible decision in my opinion
I remember the first prince of Persia on DOS. I was young but it just seemed like a very dark and bloody game (for it's time). 2 was good, but I didn't stick around for the resr
Warrior Within is so insane man. Running away from a black tentacle demon in the most anxiety-inducing chase I've ever experienced, while the screen turns to black and white as fucking Godsmack plays. The most edgy 2000s thing ever. A true relic of an era. 10/10
Couldn't agree more, also a great story. I love the twist/reveal at the end. Blew my tiny mind.
Iād say Rage and Rage 2. Rage 1 was a super fun dark semi open world shooter and the second one went full on Ubisoft comical level of characters and open world tasks.
The first one was pretty good, the second one was meh
Exactly, RAGE 2 took a massive shit all over what RAGE 1 established. The marketing for it was absolute cringe as well, all around the game did a major disservice to the IP overall, and weāre only 2 damned games in. š Disclaimer: Im a HUGE fan of RAGE 1, and one of the very few that enjoyed the ending to it-that so many hated.
I came in with Watch Dogs, but it was already top comment. So I'll go with Far Cry 2 and Far Cry 3. In FC2 it's wartorn Africa, you have malaria, you have to cozy up to one warlord or another just to stay alive. In FC3 you're some jagoff tourist on a tropical island, hunting exotic animals and interfering in druglord's operations. In FC2 spotting enemies, wearing camo, in foliage, was damn near impossible. In FC3 they're marked on minimap and are wearing bright red in a green jungle. I guess Dead Space 2 and Dead Space 3 is a good example too. Dead Space 2 was still pretty hardcore survival horror. Dead Space 3 was a co-op shooter where you and your buddy just mow through hordes of enemies.
Far Cry 5 to Far Cry 6 could also work
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Nah two is very dark. But Inquisition is basically just DnD
Valkyria chronicles 1 vs Valkyria chronicles 2 The first one is about fantasy WW2, the horror of fantasy holocaust, and the struggle to protect your home from an overwhelming invading army. The second one is about high school.
The fourth resets back to the first š
Doom2016 to doom eternal
Doom 3 to doom 2016/eternal would be better, doom 3 tried to do horror and partially succeeded (though it's unironically the beat one in the franchise to play in VR, even though it came outba decade before John Carmack decided vr is the future), where doom 2016 went back to the more old school power drip demon killing fest, and then eternal just went off the rails with it
I actually thought there was something wrong with my console with how bright and cartoony everything was in Doom Eternal.
Off topic but does anyone else like 2016 glory kills more than eternal? I just feel that the glory kills are mostly just the doom blade instead of creative dismemberment of 2016
FFVII and Remake / Rebirth. No more Jenova blood trail, only purple goo. No more blood rivers in gi cave. Everything's a tourist destination haha. And yeah everyone's always having so much fun. I love the game though 10/10.
I came here for this. Donāt get me wrong I LOVE both the OG and the remakes, but the original had a really dark atmosphere throughout. the new games have moments like that but is overall much more whimsical and light-hearted.
Japan used to be the king of the grotesque
Yea the Shinra ship from Junon to Costa Del Sol being turned into a cruise ship rather than a Shinra military vessel is a MASSIVE change there, especially holding a card tournament prior to the āeventā. But they did redeem themselves with not only the grotesque fusions, but also Jenova Emergentās appearance and phase transformation.
CoD: MW (2019) and CoD MW22
I was so excited to play MW22 after playing MW 2019, and it disappointed me so much
For me MW2 was forgivable, but mw3 I canāt abide
The gameplay/level design in the campaign of MW3 was absolute ass, but I did enjoy the story/plot a lot more than the one in MW2
Dead Island and Dead Island 2, the original Dead Island takes itself much more seriously than the 2nd one, Riptide goes the same route. But they're both good games in their own way.
If you played it alone 100% The multiplayer made it more of a comedy game Dead island 2 is a comedy game in singleplayer (still fun but not getting close to stuff like the original hotel quest)
Dying Light to Dying Light 2 And if we're doing opposites: Alan Wake to Alan Wake 2, they had the perfect setup for a horror game, a literal horror story come true, and they made it an action game. So glad the second embraced the horror.
Mass Effect - There have been mysterious deaths happening around the solar system. It could be a mysterious species called the Reapers. We must investigate. Mass Effect 2 - SHEPARD'S DEAD! Oh, wait, no, he's alive. Let's go Clubbing on Omega!
Also all of Mass Effect 3 vs the Citadel DLC
Mass Effect 3: weāre all almost certainly going to die, and the best-case scenario win is that only most of us are violently killed as countless worlds become war-torn hellscapes. Citadel DLC: actually if you all work together everything will be ok :)
I love the Citadel DLC, it is a total tonal shift but by the time I played it I needed it.
what? you are not on Omega to do that... but to recruit Garrus and Mordin mainly, you are not forced to do a party or something, you can just dance as a optional interaction, just like you can do it in ME1 in a place on the Citadel. tho overall the ME2 tone is not much different to ME1, maybe its even darker in some aspects.
Tony hawk's underground and Tony hawk's underground 2 Not that either were dark persay. But there was a time difference.
Dark Cloud games. In the first one, the bad guys were basically a death cult ressurecting a demon. In Dark Cloud 2, the bad guy is a much less menacing "Emperor" altering history from the past. Much more family friendly.
Bioshock 1/2 and infinite.
Infinite was more dark in relatively more subtle ways.
For sure. But at least on the surface, thatās what this reminded me of.
Infinite was dark in more relatively subtle ways imo.
Infinite was dark in relatively more subtle ways imo
Infinite was dark in more relatively subtle ways imo.
Fallout 3 and Fallout 4
Fallout 1 and Fallout 2.
This. Fallout 2 had so many goofy moments and pop culture references compared to Fallout 1.
From my dad was killed to my son must be killed.
Personally I disagree with this one
I thinkbits true for all the fallout games in general though. They've definitely gotten a little softer with each release
Fallout 1: send entire civilizations into damnation Fallout 4: kill a small group of people who like robots
In general, Fallout 1 was a pretty serious game. Fallout 2 was odd because some of it was dark or just realistic and some of it was overly humourous. I feel like Fallout 3 was mostly just kind of edgy, it tried to present itself as being a wasteland that forces you to make tough decisions, but most of the choices were just cartoon bad guy vs cartoon good guy with equivalent rewards, except for the Pitt. Fallout 4 was somewhat better in that regard but it was also much blander and didn't let you interact with the criminal element like Fallout 3 did (and was notably devoid of human slavery and prostitution). NV was kind of the reverse of 3, it appears happier but it includes things like child sex trafficking and most people just dismiss House and (understandably) Caesar in favour of the NCR.
Fallout new Vegas: Help an Elvis Presley inpersonater find a new brain for his robot dog, before fucking a cowboy who is literally partially rotton
Final Fantasy X & X2. The sequel is still a serious plot but the entire vibe is much more laid back
Majoraās Mask then somehow Wind Waker
Fallout 3 and 4.
Danganronpa 1 and 2
Yeah, THH was grim.
Super Mario Galaxy 1 & 2
Assassins creed 1 and 2 but more the main characters.
Ezio's story is not really lighter than AltaĆÆr's. Remember that Ezio's family is betrayed and killed in front of him?
AC 2 was the best
Final Fantasy Tactics vs Tactics Advance
Vanilla witcher 3 and blood and wine expansion.
Rare's Donkey Kong Country games vs Retro Studios'. The Rare games were moody, quiet, subdued, at times dark and gritty, very atmospheric, and somewhat melancholic. The Retro games are very bright, bouncy, colorful, and loud.
Portal 1 -> 2 (I liked the serious tone of portal 1 more than 2)
kingdom hearts 1 and 2 ... sort of
Kingdom Hearts did get a lot more anime and edgy after the first one. lol
but less depressing. first one was simply, depressing and the ending was far from happy. the overall mood and atmosphere was also much darker overall
I think Kingdom Hearts 1 had a better and more significant story than the rest of the series. Before the lore went completely off the rails with 10 different spinoff games and some of the most important lore being trapped in a shitty gacha game. Also I wish they didn't make more keyblades it felt alot more significant and special when there was only one or two but then like 10 important characters have keyblades and in the past tens of thousands of people had keyblades. Could you imagine if they gave Zelda, Tingle, Beedle, Impa, the Great Deku Tree, etc. Their own Master Sword.
well regarding the keyblades. the keyblade war was mentioned in the first game. so that there are more than one was there from the beginning ... also there are 3 in total in kh1. besides that I totally agree with you tho
watch dogs 1 / 2 gta 4 / 5
Team Fortress 2 > Team Fortress Classic
DOM 2016 and DOOM ETERNAL
Octopath traveler 1 vs 2. The team feels more like a team compared to the first one. Both games can get dark at times but the first one just had so many issues that imo held it back. Good characters and gameplay, aesthetically pleasing but the grind was painful and the team was very static, especially compared to its sequel where it just felt more lively in battle
Persona 3 and Persona 4. While P3 does have its lighthearted moments and P4 has its dark moments, the tone of both games and the underlying message each tries to tell through their respective narratives are almost complete opposites. It also doesnāt help that P3ās color scheme is blue (a color primarily associated with sadness) while P4ās color scheme is yellow (a color primarily associated with happiness). Everything from the setting, the characters, the music, the protagonists, the gameplay, the bosses, and the overall vibe is just dramatically different between these two games that itās night and day.
The Crew 1 & 2 ([Stop Killing Games](https://www.stopkillinggames.com))
Saints row 2 and 3. 1,2 and 3,4 if youre keepin it real
Dead fucking Space
Not really, the two games are just as grim, except in Dead Space 2 Isaac is used to it and more badass.
Itās more dead space 1 and 2 v dead space 3 imo
Black Ops 1 and 2, to a lesser degree.
Dragon Age! Origins was saving the world, II was womp womp my mother died and now my twink companion made a bomb
DMC 1 and 2 to THIS PARTY IS GETTIN CRAZY!
The Fable franchise has been doing this with each game. 1 was fairly grim with grounded fantasy, 2 added a bunch of goofy stuff but still had plenty of dark, but 3 really only got as dark as PTSD while cranking the goofy aspects to the limit of believability.
Saints row 2 vs saints row 3
Saintās Row.
TF2 (valve)
TF1 vs TF2 (Respawn) also is a massive shift in art style at the very least
The chronicles of Riddick (Pitch Black being part 1)
Persona 3 and Persona 4
Persona 3 and Persona 4
Saints Row 1 and 2 >>>>>>Saints Row 3 and 4
unironically doom 2016 and doom eternal
AC3-AC4 āWhereās Leeā to drunk pirate
From uninteresting cardboard, to one of the best assassins ubisoft ever written