What is the grimdark-est grimdark rpg?

[Arryosha]

-including action and tactical rpgs.

I admit to not knowing exactly what makes something count as grimdark, but I figure we all have a good enough idea to be on roughly the same page. From my understanding, the name comes from the Warhammer setting, with which I am not very familiar, and so the term may have some special meaning I am unaware of. My conception is of any dark, broken, hopeless or hellish setting.

Diablo 1 would be my vote, if it counts as an arpg, and if it even counts as grimdark. The atmosphere in that game is downright oppresive. But I'd be happy to be wrong.

 

[Zarniwoop]

We haven't even agreed on what an RPG is.

But the most grimdark would obviously be something in the WH40K setting, since that's where the term comes from. Games that try to copy that aesthetic are grimdark.

 

[Tyranicon]

• Fear & Hunger
• Dark Souls (all Fromsoft games, really)
• Darkest Dungeon (?) Although I never really got into the lore
• Anything in Warhammer 40k naturally qualifies. Warhammer Fantasy is a maybe.
• King Arthur: Knight's Tale

Etc, I'm probably missing lots. For a top spot, you can't beat something like Rogue Trader because 40k is ludicrously grimdark, it just one-ups everything.

 

[Gregz]

Diablo 1
Dark Souls
Darkest Dungeon
Darklands
Grim Dawn
King Arthur: Knight's Tale
Tainted Grail
Jupiter Hell
E.Y.E.: Divine Cybermancy

 

[Dadd]

The two Fear & Hunger games are very grim and dark, but they are puzzle games made with RPG Maker.

 

[9ted6]

Dragon Age Inquisition and Baldur's Gate 3 are two of the most hopeless and awful games to ever exist.

 

[Tweed]

Pillars of Eternity.

 

[Bastardchops]

Cataclysm: Dark Days Ahead

 

[Nekot-The-Brave]

Grim Dawn

 

[gabel]

Dark Souls is melancholic, not grimdark.

 

[Halfling Rodeo]

Eye Divine Cybermancy feels super oppressive to play.

 

[OttoQuitmarck]

Battle Brothers

 

[PorkyThePaladin]

Divinity Original Shite and Bear Sex 3. Now I know, I know, they are very bright and sunshiny type of games with that patented Belgian humor, but trust me, once that bear has its paws around your arse, things will start looking pretty grim.

 

[ERYFKRAD]

Realms of Arkania HD

 

[ropetight]

Ravenloft setting always gave me grimdark vibe.

Lovecraftian games are kind of Grimdark, too - everything around you is decaying and descending into madness.
Stygian: Reign of the Old Ones was not a very good RPG, but atmosphere was impeccable.

Tacticool Urtuk: The Desolation was kind of grimdark.

Level of difficulty of the games combined with the setting in which you are only prolonging the inevitable defeat always gave me similar feeling.
So, most of the survival games/roguelites that kick your ass with brutal enemies, hunger, cold.
It is questionable how much they are RPG's though.

NEO Scavenger, Cataclysm: Dark Days Ahead and their epigones come to the mind.
Those fuckers from Klei have simplified and perfected the formula with Don't Starve and Oxygen Not Included.

 

[lukaszek]

Divinity Original Shite and Bear Sex 3. Now I know, I know, they are very bright and sunshiny type of games with that patented Belgian humor, but trust me, once that bear has its paws around your arse, things will start looking pretty grim.

especially dos2. Once you look past eye candy you will see that it starts with ghetto and human experiments wh40k level and it only gets worse from there in every act.

 

[Nortar]

Blackguards 1 & 2
No explanation needed for these ones.

Othercide
Edgy artstyle. The constant strugle against nightmarish creatures with no respite.
The everpresent attrition.
The most powerful attacks take blood to activate.
No healing, so the characters eventually - inevitably - succumb to wounds.
"Ritual cannibalism" as the only way to recover health is to sacrifice one character to another.

The Last Spell
The ultimate game about making the hopeless last stand against hordes of monsters.
Making through each night by the skin of your teeth only to face even more enemies on the next.

 

[REhorror]

Warhammer is not that grimdark IMO, yes, lot of people dying but there are still heroes doing heroic stuff.

I'd say Planescape: Torment.
Still need to play King Arthur: Knight's Tale further!

 

[Atrachasis]

Ultima V conveyed a very oppressive atmosphere under the totalitarian rule of Blackthorn, including a situation where one of your companions might be put to death as a result of your poor planning.

Serpent Isle after the release of the Banes is also quite a desolate place to be, as nearly every character that you had previously interacted with lies dead in the street.

 

[Konjad]

Starfield

 

[VonMiskov]

King Arthur: Knight's Tale is a subversion, kind of. You start in a realm fucked up by your previous actions but you can choose to somehow make it better.

Brutal Orchestra (but it's really vague in terms of being a rpg) - it's as grim dark as a setting can be. You died, killed but it's possible that you killed yourself, you are in purgatory/hell?, everything is demented, you will probably not survive.

Binding of Isaac (well it has stats) ;P

 

[Cryomancer]

Starfield -> The entire universe is now Commiefornia.

Jokes aside, Fear & Hunger, Ravenloft : Strhad possession + Stone prophet, Dark Sun : Shattered Lands + Wake of the ravager and any wh40k game is quite dark.

 

[ERYFKRAD]

any wh40k game is quite dark

Probably not the ones where you play exclusively as an Ork.

 

[NecroLord]

Diablo (though not exactly grimdark, but I would say it is horror based and with great atmosphere).
Fear and Hunger 1 and 2 - Termina.
Messed up stuff abound in both games.
Keep in mind they are made in RPGMaker and have a dominant jrpg aesthetic. Still pretty good games, if a bit way too dark and gruesome just for the sake of being so...

 

[Halfling Rodeo]

No one mentioning Bleak Faith? Jank Souls like but it's one of the most grim dark things I've ever played. Absolutely drips with oppressive mood, everything is fucked and grim and you feel like a skeleton barely able to stand while you're in a city so infinitely big you can't even see the bottom from the middle. Takes inspiration from Blam! If you want to see the sort of scale and it's all grim dark.

Would recommend on a sale. They keep patching it but it was janky as fuck when I played it a year or so ago.