Game Details You Never Realized Were So Dark

Most modern video games are expected to have in-depth storylines. Even games like Limbo, which have no real explanation or conclusion, have a rich, detailed plot that you simply have to figure out yourself. And many modern gamers have come to expect that things in video games aren't always exactly what they seem. Even sweet games like Slime Rancher and Stardew Valley can have dark secrets that aren't immediately obvious.

Easter eggs in games usually come with some backstory or explanation. But certain small details are darker than you may realize. And while some things may seem innocent enough, they're actually linked to a more sinister meaning. From Vault Boy's iconic thumbs up to the mental well-being of the citizens of Pelican Town, these hidden meanings will show you that sometimes you need to dig a little deeper to see what things truly mean. And sometimes you shouldn't take anything at face value.

Here are a few game details you never realized were so dark.

It's no secret that the sentient AI GLaDOS from Portal and Portal 2 isn't the nicest character. As your play through various tests, she constantly mocks you, lies to you, and tries to get you killed. And while most players have a bit of a love-hate relationship with the murderous robot, it's safe to say that no one would be shocked to learn of an ominous subtext where she's concerned. 

Through Portal 2, if you are really paying attention, you'll begin to pick up on hints about what went wrong with GLaDOS in the first place. You learn from her that she flooded the Enrichment Center with a deadly neurotoxin and killed many of the scientists there, but the story gets even darker than that the more you dig. When Wheatley leads you through the "Bring Your Daughter to Work Day" science fair, he says that it "did not end well." And as you piece together the story bit by bit, it's revealed that GLaDOS flooded the Enrichment Center with neurotoxin on Bring Your Daughter to Work Day. Mean jokes and possibly fatal tests are one thing, but child murder is a whole new level.

Of the many games dominating the community these days, there is one that you wouldn't expect to find any dark subtext in: Slime Rancher. This adorable ranching sim is so sweet and innocent that it's hard to imagine anything going on behind the scenes. But the more you look at the game, the more you begin to realize that it has slowly but surely turned you into a monster. 

With the happy faces of your slimes constantly smiling up at you with trust in their eyes, it's easy to see yourself as the hero of the game. You work hard and use your pioneering spirit to succeed in a foreign environment. But you don't realize that you've become a heartless profiteer until it's too late. What started out as a sweet game about bouncy slimes has now turned into a capitalist nightmare. You'll shove as many slimes into a pen as you need to in order to meet your bottom line. You'll even incinerate innocent slimes as soon as they stop being useful to you. It turns out you were the real monster all along.

World of Warcraft is notorious for hiding pop culture references in every possible corner of the game. And while WoW has no shortage of creepy Easter eggs, there's one that stands out for being much darker than you might realize at first. In fact, it gets worse and worse the more you examine it.

The six children found in the Elwynn Forest are relatively infamous by this point in WoW's history. They are six children that wander around Stormwind, Goldshire, and Elwynn. There also happens to be six empty graves in a cemetery near Goldshire, suggesting that the children crawled out of them. The cherry on top, however, is the fact that the children stand in the second story of a home located beside Crystal Lake. For those who aren't horror fans, it may be easy to forget that Crystal Lake is the ill-fated camp from the horror movie Friday the 13th. The leather-working and skinning trainers on the first floor of the home are just the perfect final detail for this complex homage to horror.

The environment in Fallout 3 isn't necessarily one you'd want to visit in real life. One area gamers will encounter, the McClellan home, has signs of an obvious story if you venture inside. You can see the remains of a child, two parents, and a family pet. Their glorified servant robot named Mister Handy will even try to carry out basic tasks as if the family were still alive. 

But one of the more profound details comes when you instruct Mister Handy to read a story to the young son who has long since passed away. Mister Handy will read the poem "There Will Come Soft Rains" by Sara Teasdale. It isn't until he starts reading that you realize this entire household is just a representation of the plot of the short story by Ray Bradbury of the same name, which itself contains the poem. It's about a family killed in an atomic bomb blast. The smart home has no idea that the human inhabitants of the home are dead and continues to carry out chores as if nothing had happened. And the unfeeling electronics that long outlive the residents of the home continue to do their jobs with no knowledge of the demise of their former owners.

Grand Theft Auto 5 is full of interesting optional side stories that you can either choose to ignore or investigate. Near a large flat rock on Mount Gordo, from 11 p.m. to midnight, you'll be able to see the ghostly apparition of a woman appear. The ghost doesn't interact with you at all, but she will disappear if you get too close to her. But who is this ghost, and why does she haunt Mount Gordo?

On the rock beneath her, the name "Jock" is written in what appears to be blood. This has led clever players to uncover the truth behind the ghost. Jolene Cranley-Evans was the wife of Jock Cranley. One day, while he and his wife were hiking Mount Gordo, Cranley decided to push his wife over the edge of the cliff. She hadn't approved of their move to Los Santos, and for this, she lost her life. Her husband, however, was never charged with her murder, because there wasn't enough evidence to convict him. And so, Jolene's ghost appears every night with her husband's name, calling for justice.

The Hitman franchise is dark all by itself. And because Agent 47 is so good at what he does, it's unlikely that any of his many murders are ever traced back to him, making him something of a ghost. But besides the bald barcoded assassin, there's a real ghost to be found in Hitman: Contracts. 

During the "Traditions of the Trade" mission, it's possible for Agent 47 to spy a wandering spirit in the corridors, though the easiest way to find the spirit is in the bathroom of the murder room. If you enter this bathroom, you'll find a bathtub filled with blood. Staring into the mirror, a ghost will eventually appear above the tub. Though the ghost doesn't actually attack the player, its presence is ominous. And, oddly enough, it is possible for Agent 47 to kill the ghost. If you manage to spot him in the corridor, you can use a fiber wire to take him out. If the bathroom is where you find him, you can use a gun to kill him, which will earn you the achievement "Ghostbuster." But even with his popularity in the Hitman fandom, the identity of the ghost isn't known.

It's not uncommon to find dark imagery hidden throughout the Silent Hill games. The entire franchise is built on an air of mystery and ominous foreboding. So most discoveries inside the game come with a bit of a disturbing backstory. But some details in the franchise are even darker than you may have realized at first.

The streets in the town of Silent Hill are littered with garbage, debris, and, most unsettling, bodies. Silent Hill 2 is no exception. The set dressing would be dark enough for most people. But it wasn't dark enough for Konami. In many areas in the second Silent Hill game, the corpses that litter the ground are identical to the protagonist, James Sunderland. Sunderland would be forgiven for not noticing the resemblance between himself and the corpses, since he's probably distracted by his search for his wife. But eagle-eyed gamers have spotted the similarity. So are the corpses actually other versions of James? Or are they simply illusions to aid his dark descent into madness?