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Narrative styles so immersive, it feels personal… and terrifying
Key Takeaways:
- Nonlinear Storytelling: Indie horror keeps you guessing with disjointed timelines that feel like puzzles.
- Environmental Storytelling: Creepy settings reveal plot details, letting you uncover the story at your own pace.
- Breaking the Fourth Wall: Games blur reality by directly interacting with you for a unique, eerie vibe.
- Gameplay-Story Integration: Every action we do ties into the plot, making the experience personal and immersive.
Introduction

Being a fan of reading stories, I always enjoyed narratives that broke away from the expected. As a kid, I remember becoming engrossed in suspense, turning page after page to figure out how did the Claudio got here in The Amory Wars or what the heck did the student actually see in the Music of Erich Zann.
Thinking about these nonlinear and unreliable narrator narrative styles, I wondered how often devs and video game writers use these storytelling techniques and structures.
I came to realize that they are used a lot, especially in indie psychological horror. If you want to see how narrative styles inspire trends, check out my 10 Latest Indie Horror Trends 2024.
If you ever needed writing horror tips or wondered what makes indie psychological horror games so darn compelling, well… it’s all in the storytelling. These indie games showcase stories that not only twist our general interpretation but takes us into the darkest or eeriest parts of the human psyche.
So, let’s unveil the “Narrative Styles in Indie Horror” and see how they work their magic.
Nonlinear Storytelling

One of the coolest tricks in indie horror story writing is nonlinear storytelling. Instead of following a straight path, the story beats get jumbled up in the timeline, revealing bits and pieces as you go along. If you’ve seen it, think about the movie The Grudge.
Though there’s a bit of a connect the dots here and there with the story, this nonlinear method can keep gamers guessing and make the story feel like it’s a puzzle they’re dying to solve.
Take Mouthwashing, for example. This game throws you into disjointed scenes before and after a spaceship crashes. This makes us piece together the narrative like a detective. The result? A gripping tale of body horror that keeps us hooked from start to finish.
Environmental Storytelling

When the surroundings can express the story, who needs long conversations? To develop the plot, indie horror games frequently use environments that are flooded with hints, such as spooky music, unsettling images, audio logs, and scary noises.
This approach makes the experience extremely immersive and intimate by allowing you to discover the plot at your own speed.
Games like Inside, Outlast, and – though not entirely a horror – BioShock excel at this. Whether roaming a harsh facility, horrific and gory asylum, or clandestine “utopia” the surroundings create a mysterious atmosphere, letting you discover the story through exploration and interactions.
Unreliable Narrators

Nothing causes more skepticism than an untrustworthy narrator. It’s difficult to get rid of the doubt that arises when you can’t trust the character you’re playing as or the story being told from their perspective.
In Who’s Lila?, you’re in control of William, a character who struggles to express emotions. So much so that we need to manipulate their face to portray the right emotion or risk forcing the conversation into a direction that’s not too favorable.
The game’s ambiguity keeps you questioning what’s real and what’s not, making it a standout in psychological horror.
Free Will also portrays this storytelling technique well too. As we control Will (another ‘Will’ I know), we get story beats from the System. The System’s narration ends up raising your eyebrow as you steadily become aware that it keeps things from you, amping up the intrigue
Minimalist Exposition

Less is often more, especially in horror. By giving minimal background information in this narrative style, these games let your imagination run wild, filling in the blanks with your own fears and anxieties.
Slay the Princess does this brilliantly. It starts with a simple premise—you’re told to slay a princess—but as you make choices, the story unfolds in unexpected ways, leaving much to your interpretation. Prepared to be surprised by a lot of the results.
Player Agency and Multiple Endings

Your decisions have a big impact. The stakes are extremely high and the experience feels personal because independent psychological horror games frequently provide alternative endings depending on your choices.
In Sally Face, your interactions and choices lead to different outcomes, encouraging multiple playthroughs to uncover the whole story. This approach keeps gamers engaged and adds depth to the narrative.
Integration of Gameplay and Story

In indie psychological horror games, the seamless blending of gameplay mechanics with narrative style elements is key to creating immersive and emotionally resonant experiences. This integration ensures that every gamer’s action contributes to the unfolding story, deepening engagement and amplifying the horror.
MiSide, developed by AIHASTO, exemplifies this approach. The game begins with the protagonist interacting with a character named Mita. As the narrative progresses, you find themselves transported into a 3D version of the game world, where routine activities evolve into unsettling experiences.
This transition from a seemingly innocent interaction to a disturbing reality mirrors the protagonist’s psychological descent, effectively merging gameplay with the narrative style.
In Neverending Nightmares, you experience a looping nightmare that reflects the protagonist’s mental health struggles. This side-scrolling game focuses on evasion, using minimalistic interactions to emphasize the protagonist’s recurring nightmarish mental state. Check out my related article here.

Another example of this narrative style is SHUT IN, developed by Cael O’Sullivan. As a dark comedy/psychological horror adventure game that explores depression and isolation. We play a character trapped inside their own house. Or are they?
The game challenges us to perform tasks like getting out of bed and going outside our bedroom, but the environment becomes increasingly hazardous and surreal, reflecting the character’s mental state.
The integration of gameplay and narrative style in SHUT IN shows the struggles of mental health, making us experience the challenges firsthand by maneuvering around your home and solving puzzles that represent mental obstacles.
Breaking the Fourth Wall

Some games aren’t afraid to reach out and mess with you directly. By breaking the fourth wall, a surreal narrative style, they blur the line between the game world and reality, creating an unsettling experience that sticks with you.
Doki Doki Literature Club! is infamous for this technique. What starts as a cheerful dating sim quickly devolves into a psychological horror experience. The game becomes self-aware, with characters like Monika acknowledging their existence within a game and even tampering with your game files.
This manipulation stretches beyond the game’s story, affecting our actual computer much like Free Will does, making us question the boundaries between the two worlds, Bloody Disgusting.
Fourth-wall-breaking games create a sense of unease and immersion. We get a visceral feeling of discomfort or intimacy. By shattering the barrier between the game and our reality, this narrative style makes us step back to consciously recognize we are playing a game.
Horror Writing Tip: Multifaceted Approach

Indie developers often embrace several narrative styles. Lo-fi graphics reminiscent of early 3D games. This nostalgic yet unsettling visual style can make the experience eerier, as the simplicity leaves more room for your imagination to fill in the gaps.
Games like Mouthwashing utilize this aesthetic to create a surreal and haunting atmosphere, proving that high-end graphics aren’t necessary to deliver a chilling experience.
So, this makes Kitty Horrorshow’s Anatomy is a good example of the multifaceted method. This game immerses us in a typical home while progressively exposing its dark secrets. The low-fidelity visuals add to the eerie world around us by making what we should be accustomed to seeming dangerous and foreign.
These lo-fi aesthetics tap into the ‘fear of the familiar,’ turning everyday settings into sources of dread. By stripping away detailed graphics, which manipulate the way we see the environment, these games allow our imagination to amplify the horror, Polygon.
This demonstrates a combination of minimalistic and environmental narrative styles that shape a compelling gameplay.
Closing Thoughts

Indie psychological horror games have a knack for storytelling that gets under our skin. By using techniques like nonlinear narratives, environmental storytelling, or a multifaceted storytelling approach, you can create immersive experiences that convey the story in memorable ways.
So, next time you’re in the mood for a game that challenges the mind and nerves of gamers, experiment with different storytelling methods – you won’t be disappointed.
So, which narrative style do you think creates the most immersive experience? Have you played a game that completely surprised you with its gameplay and story? Share your thoughts!

Nero lives in the United States, delving into indie horror to mainstream games. Armed with a psych degree and a passion for storytelling, he wrote stories and essays published online and in museum catalogs. Besides writing, he also likes sketching and tuning into rock music. Catch his latest posts or follow him across social media.