Strangest Video Games Ever: A Journey into the Bizarre

We were playing one of our favorite video games the other day, Grand Theft Auto (GTA), so real in its depiction of the streets of Los Angeles. With the emerging landscape of virtual reality gaming and its potential to create new worlds, not to mention new ways of looking at our own, it got us to thinking about video games in general – and the strangest ones out there in particular.

I mean, let’s face it, there are some pretty damn weird games out there. Super Mario Bros. is about an apparently deranged plumber who runs around a psychedelic mushroom kingdom bashing his head on blocks. Sonic the Hedgehog is about a bright blue hedgehog with a serious amphetamine problem who bounces around like a pinball, collecting gold rings.

Video games have always been a platform for innovation and creativity, allowing developers to transport players to unimaginable worlds and experiences. Worlds where the craziest things go and the normal rules of space, time, and even basic human interactions don’t necessarily apply.

While many games follow familiar genres and storylines, some take a different path, venturing into the realm of the bizarre and the eccentric. And there’s no shortage of video games that are just flat out weird. In Silent Hill 2, for example, there was a secret ending that revealed a dog was controlling the events of the entire game.

Although some games have a weird or funny scene, it takes a special kind of developer to make a video game truly bizarre, from start to finish. In this blog post, we will delve into the realm of some of the strangest video games ever created, where the line between imagination and reality becomes delightfully, and sometimes frightfully, blurred.

Desert Bus (2005):

In this game, you drive a bus that goes from Tucson, Arizona to Las Vegas, Nevada. What’s so bizarre about it? It requires eight hours real time of driving to make the trip one way. There are no bathroom breaks either as the game cannot be paused. This is either a fantastic test of human endurance, or a fascinating test to see how many people are bored enough to give up eight uninterrupted hours of their life to win this pointless game.

Hatoful Boyfriend (2011):

Weird and sometimes wonderful dating simulators are a well-established genre in Japan but a pigeon dating simulator is probably about as weird as it gets. The player takes on the role of a high school girl who goes to a school full of birds. The objective is to romance one of the birds by the end of the year. Just when you thought it couldn’t get any weirder, there’s a secret ending that turns the game into a psychological horror.

The Houchi Play (2012):

In this Xbox 360 indie game you play as a creepy, apparently middle-aged stalker who sneaks up on women dressed up as little school girls. The premise in and of itself is, to put it mildly, unsettling and even worrying. How do you “win” at this game? By creeping up close enough without the girls ever spotting you. If you do particularly well, the anime girl at the end will be sitting in nothing but her underwear.

Punchline (2019):

And speaking of underwear, Punch Line is a game about an up-skirting ghost named Yuta who gets over-excited whenever he sees ladies’ underpants. At first glance this excitement gives him superpowers, however, if he gazes upon the underpants for a second time and for too long, his excitement level is pushed to the limits and a meteorite will destroy the earth. This, as you know, is well-established scientific fact. After a bus accident Yuta’s soul is separated from his body and he becomes a Yo Kai (a sort of Japanese ghost). He teams up with another Yo Kai, a talking cat, (because, why wouldn’t ya?) and together they work to reunite Yuta’s soul with his physical body.

Katamari Damacy (2004):

In this cult classic game, as the prince of the cosmos your challenge is to roll a small sticky ball around various environments, picking up objects to make it grow bigger. The objective? To make the ball grow big enough so that the king of the cosmos can turn it into a star. The things you roll start small, like an eraser or thumbtacks but soon you’re rolling up cows, people, buildings and even entire islands. With its whimsical art style and catchy soundtrack, Katamari Damacy is a delightful and eccentric experience.

Goat Simulator (2014):

Ever wondered what it’s like to be a goat wreaking havoc in a suburban neighborhood? Well, wonder no more! “Goat Simulator” embraces absurdity and glitches to deliver a hilarious and unconventional gaming experience. Players control a goat with a long tongue, able to perform all sorts of outrageous stunts and cause chaos in its wake. This intentionally buggy game revels in its own strangeness, providing endless hours of unexpected amusement.

Typing of the Dead (1999):

You’re under attack. There are hordes of zombies coming right towards you, but luckily you brought your most powerful weapon: your keyboard. That’s right, this is a horror learn-to-type game. “Typing of the Dead” is an on-rails shooter where you must type the words on the screen quickly and correctly in order to kill the zombies. To keep things interesting (as if they weren’t interesting enough already) the zombies are all wielding keyboards as well. Sentences you must type out include “I like peas” and “All your bases belong to us”.

Persona 4 Golden (2012):

The game starts with you moving to a town in rural Japan, then shortly after a dense fog settles over everything and people begin showing up dead. In spite of this, you start making friends at your new school and your new social group consists of the class misfits, including a retired teen pop idol and a tough biker who enjoys sewing and eating animal crackers.

One afternoon you are hanging out at the local department store when you fall into a television set, literally through the glass like Alice down the rabbit hole. Inside the television is a mysterious and frightening world which is inhabited by “shadows” (the psychedelic ghosts of people’s subconscious) and also a colourful fuzzy bear named Teddie. You befriend Teddie and he fights the shadows alongside you in the television world. Then later, he joins your social group in the real world and transforms into a human teenage boy with a fondness for cross dressing (when he is not dressed as a giant plush bear).

Seaman (1999):

If you’ve ever wanted to have a conversation with a bizarre half-fish, half-human creature, then “Seaman” is the game for you. This virtual pet simulator allows players to raise and interact with these unusual beings. What made the game truly unique was its use of voice recognition technology to communicate with the Seaman via a plug-in microphone. The human-faced fish talks back to you via the voice of Leonard Nimoy. The conversations you could have with your virtual pet were inevitably bizarre – he always wants to know more about your life and later, progressing to full blown psycholanalysis…

The Stanley Parable (2013):

Prepare to question the nature of choice and free will in this mind-bending narrative adventure. “The Stanley Project” places players in the shoes of Stanley, a seemingly ordinary office worker, as they navigate a series of surreal and metafictional scenarios. With a narrator who guides (or misguides) your every move, the game challenges players’ expectations and explores the very nature of storytelling in the video game medium.

Sneak King (2006):

How many games can you think of that combine stealth with fast food? For the unfamiliar, in some parts of the world Burger King has a mascot, a creepy looking character with a massive grinning head called “The King” (no, not that King). You play the King and must sneak up on people to give them a delicious Burger King burger before they succumb to their hunger and collapse. Why the King must sneak up on people rather than just giving them the food is beyond anyone’s guess, but it is weird and a bit creepy.

Japan World Cup 3 (2016):

This is a horse race betting game that does not only include horses, but walruses and yetis as well. The horses themselves aren’t even normal. They run on their hind legs swinging their arms in the air while other horses are not even real horses. In the game, there are Trojan horses and horses that look like a mix between a wiener dog and a horse.

Catherine (2011):

You are Vincent Brooks, a man who has found himself torn between two women. The first, his long-term girlfriend, Katherine, who wants to settle down. The second, a girl he is having an affair with named Catherine whom, in contrast, seems young and carefree. Vincent spends most of his time in a bar called The Stray Sheep, but whenever he falls asleep, he finds himself trapped in a nightmare world with large sheep horns attached to his head.

To escape, he must navigate his way around giant boxes while also avoiding deadly spikes and monsters (his inner demons). NPCs also inhabit this world, but they all take the form of anthropomorphic sheep. As the game progresses Vincent’s reality begins to blur with his nightmares, and he must ultimately choose between Katherine and Catherine. (We think the developers of this game must be fans of Haruki Murakami’s “A Wild Sheep Chase”)

LSD Dream Emulator (1998):

Maybe one of the most surreal games in the history of gaming, LSD Dream Emulator is exactly what its title suggests. Based on a dream journal by Hiroko Nishikawa, there are no objectives set out for you and the purpose of the game is to explore the world and fill in the map you are given. Each area of the game varies vastly from the next. Players are only given 10 minutes to explore before being sent to the start screen where they must make a choice to keep playing.

Octodad (2014):

You are “Octodad”, an octopus in human clothing who is trying to hide his true identity from his wife and children. You must try to control Octodad as he attempts to blend into the human world, completing every-day, mundane tasks such as walking across a room, going shopping or cooking a meal on the BBQ. To complicate matters, there’s a deranged sushi chef who knows Octodad’s true identity and wants to eat him. Straightforward enough.

Doki Doki Literature Club (2017):

On the surface, “Doki Doki Literature Club” appears to be a lighthearted visual novel about joining a high school literature club. However, this game quickly takes a dark and unexpected turn, delving into themes of mental health, obsession, and existential horror. Breaking the fourth wall and blurring the line between fiction and reality, this game subverts expectations and leaves players questioning their own perceptions.

Mr. Mosquito (2001):

Ever wondered what it would be like to be a mosquito? Well, in this one you play as Mr. Mosquito, a male mosquito where your main goal is to suck the blood of a family without being spotted. Now, while that in itself is a somewhat strange concept for a game, it gets a bit creepier. Players have the chance to suck the blood of a woman while she’s taking a bath. If the mosquito is caught, you engage in battle mode. In order to calm down your pursuer, you have to hit the sensitive point of her body to make her relax and forget about your presence so you can go back to sucking her blood.

On that one we felt it was time to wrap this up for today. But does all this mean anything? These strange video games, some of which have left us scratching our heads in bewilderment, offer valuable insights into the limitless creativity of the human imagination. These games matter because they challenge our expectations, push the boundaries of storytelling, and remind us that gaming is not solely about conforming to established conventions but also about embracing the unconventional, as life should be we think.

Video games have the power to transport us to extraordinary worlds and challenge our preconceived notions. The strangest video games ever created push the boundaries of convention, presenting players with experiences that are delightfully bizarre, surreal, and thought-provoking. They serve as a stark reminder that, sometimes we just need a good laugh or a bewildering experience to escape the mundane realities of life.

From rolling up the world in a sticky ball to conversing with human-faced fish creatures, these games embrace the weird and invite us to explore the untamed realms of the imagination. They encourage us to question our assumptions and explore new ways of interacting with the digital worlds. Which, it’s sounding more and more, like we need to learn pretty quickly if we’re to stay one-step ahead of the oncoming AI onslaught.

So, if you’re looking for a refreshing break from the ordinary, take a walk on the wild side and embark on a journey into the strange world of these unforgettable video games.

What weird, strange, and maybe wonderful video games did we miss? Let us know in the comments below. Or, better yet, post about your favorites in our Forums Activities section.

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