Games like Don't Starve and the Walking Dead

Have you played Limbo? You should play Limbo. It's pretty and spooky and not twitchy and totally worthwhile. Also, if you don't already know about it, the Don't Starve expansion Reign of Giants came out on Steam last week. I haven't tried it yet, since it's not out yet on the PS4, but the one http://www.ign.com/boards/threads/dont-starve-reign-of-giants-review.453898715/ that I tried not to read because of spoilers said it's fun and totally worth the $4.

It sounds like we have similar taste and similar limitations. I feel like I'm not quite getting the creepy aspect, because I definitely wouldn't have called Don't Starve creepy, so I'm suggesting things that work great for me and might also work for you. Seconding Limbo. Possibly http://childoflight.ubi.com/col/en-US/home/index.aspx? It just came out, and while I haven't played much (I haven't bought it yet because poverty) the ten minutes I played on a friend's game were lovely. Less creepy, but a surreal, underwater feeling. Also http://gianasisterstwisteddreams.com/ might be a thing to look into--it takes place in two worlds, one that's adorable and vaguely reminiscent of Lisa Frank, and the other that's darker and vaguely creepy. Relatively simple gameplay, but I really enjoyed it.

I loved Limbo, and certain things really creeped me out! I think we're probably very similar types of players and I finished it with only a couple of frustrating moments. I'm not very far into Kentucky Route Zero but I'll second that one, too. Limbo creeped me out, but http://store.steampowered.com/app/57300/ scared me like nothing else I can remember in the last few years. It has a little bit of gore, but it's mostly atmospheric scariness. (I played with the lights off and earphones and there were times I had to turn the lights back on. Fun!) I haven't heard good things about the sequel, though. If you're willing to consider a phone or tablet game, http://www.fireproofgames.com/the-room and its sequel were creepy puzzle solvers that are stunning to look at, and I played on my phone. Maybe someone can weigh in on http://store.steampowered.com/app/203810/? I downloaded it but haven't played it yet.

Hey everybody - all of these answers were great! Thank you so much. I marked best answers for all the games I have yet to try - there were a couple of other suggestions that were good calls in theory but I'd tried the games and for whatever reason they weren't for me. I think I'm most excited about Dear Esther... I wish the semester were over so I could start playing now!

whoops, that was supposed to say "and liked them."

http://store.steampowered.com/app/221910 is a quirky little exploration game that I think you might like. It's very similar to Gone Home: it uses first-person shooter controls, but there's no shooting or other violence.

http://www.introversion.co.uk/defcon/. It's a 2D strategy game about nuclear war. The rules are quite simple. What's creepy about it is that the interface is highly abstract. You're just sliding a few tokens around on a map (bombers, carriers, etc). Then at some point near the end of the game the other shoe will drop for you, and you will start thinking about how you just killed millions of people in Moscow and Leningrad, and that you deliberately sacrificed San Francisco to do so. You might take a moment to think about the way all those millions of human beings would have died. What's really creepy is realizing that there were (and are) bunkers full of officers playing a version of this game who failed to make that empathetic leap.

I love dark games as well, and it is hard to find good ones. I love don't starve, and fondly remember the space quest and police quest series. Here are some of the darker games I loved (all on steam): The binding of Isaac - top down rogue-like Kentucky route zero - point and click adventure Amnesia: the dark descent - wobbly lunch-loser hallway runner Scratches - point and click adventure Dead space 1 & 2 - third person shooter wobbly lunch-loser Hotline Miami - top down shooter The void - strange first person gesture based game The dream machine - point and click adventure Mechinarium - point and click adventure The path - third person experimental horror game Non-steam: Samorost -amanita-design.net/samorost-1/

You might consider the http://store.steampowered.com/app/108710/ games. They are generally categorized as adventure games, though they have a bit more open world gameplay than The Walking Dead. Nice bit of psychological horror (versus the all-to-common buckets 'o blood).