PC Games You Should Never Play Around Your Parents

Scientific studies have shown video games have become far more mainstream in recent years, attracting a diverse audience. In fact, gaming has grown to become an important way of keeping people in contact, opening up new opportunities to communicate with friends and family. 

However, while there are certainly more family-friend games on the market, that doesn't necessarily mean that every game out there will be something that mom and dad should see you playing. There are plenty of titles available that might raise a few eyebrows, from suggestive releases designed to titillate players to ultra violent experiences that contain shocking imagery. Whatever the subject matter, gamers would probably not want their parents to hang out while they play quite a few of the games they have in their collections — especially when there's still some things that parents will never fully understand about games.

All platforms have questionable games, but the very nature of the PC market means that there's likely to be more controversial content available to players. Releases don't always have to be approved by major companies like likes of Microsoft, Nintendo, and Sony — and, as noted by TechRaptor, popular digital stores such as Steam are becoming more open to hosting adult content. From quirky indie games to big budget releases, the PC landscape is full of weird, obscene, brutal, and plain old offensive games. Here are just a handful of the titles you'll definitely want to avoid playing around your folks.

A game called "Shower With Your Dad Simulator 2015" was never likely to be anything other than weird. Released on Steam in 2015 and developed by marbenx, it's a game that pretty much does what it says in the title: You control a kid who has to find their dad in public showers.

Essentially, the game works as a sort of matching puzzle, where you have to quickly navigate your character to the right person. The faster you find your dad, the more points you get, but going to the wrong dad causes you to lose your streak (no pun intended). As noted in Indie Gamer Chick's review, the landing pages also feature plenty of corny jokes, with characters like Robin Hood showing up naked and making more puns.

As you might expect, there's a lot of nudity in this game as the various dads shower in all their naked glory. The 8-bit graphics help take away some of the shock, but it would still be hard to explain to anyone watching what exactly you're playing — and even harder to give a good reason why. Despite all of that, reviews of the game are pretty positive, with Indie Gamer Chick noting that the title is surprisingly a lot of fun, and The Next Web complimenting the level of challenge.

Have you ever wondered what a cross between "Bejeweled" and an X-rated dating simulator might be like? Then you have to look no further than "HuniePop," a 2015 puzzle game in which players try to win the affections of several different women. The gameplay largely revolves around going on dates and giving gifts to the various characters, with the tile-matching game being the method that determines how well a particular date is going. The more points a user scores, the better their chance of success is when it comes to securing future dates.

Although these types of puzzle games would not normally attract much negative attention, the scantily clad women posing on the side of the screen certainly raised some eyebrows upon release. Then there's the rewards for completing successful dates — which are generally lewd (and static) photographs, as noted by Game Zone. 

The sexual content was enough for Twitch to outright ban the game, with Ars Technica reporting that it was one of the first games to be censored on the platform. Curious players have a few choices now: You can either buy it on Humble Bundle in its original form or in a censored version from Steam.

Compared to many of the other games on this list, "Doki Doki Literature Club" is actually considered a pretty good game by most accounts. It holds a Metacritic score of 78 and has largely been positively received by fans and critics. This visual novel appears to be a fairly innocuous dating simulator at first, but things soon begin to take a dark turn. Spoilers ahead for "Doki Doki Literature Club."

In quick succession, a childhood friend takes their own life, one character reveals she is being abused, and another confesses to self-harming. More deaths follow and "Doki Doki Literature Club" appears to break, displaying glitches and broken code, ultimately causing the player to sit and watch one character slowly decompose over the course of a weekend. From here, it essentially becomes a psychological horror game, one that Polygon praised for subverting your expectations and successfully trapping you in the world of the game.

Although "Doki Doki Literature Club" might look like a cute game on the surface, the horrific imagery and dark themes ensure it will be memorable for players. For the same reasons, it's not something you probably want concerned parents to watch you play, simply because it deals with what Auto Straddle has called a "persisting sense of creepiness and despair."

If you or anyone you know is having suicidal thoughts, please call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline​ at​ 1-800-273-TALK (8255)​.

"The Binding of Isaac" has been cited by fans as the best game created by Edmund McMillen, one of the developers responsible for "Super Meat Boy." This roguelike sees players take on the role of a young child who escapes to the basement of his mother's house after she tries to sacrifice him to God. Trapped in the procedurally generated basement with a host of monsters, Isaac must try to survive by battling the enemies using a variety of weapons.

Part of the unique style of "The Binding of Isaac" is the heavy use of religious imagery and overtones throughout. As noted by Polygon, this is one of the reasons that the game has been criticized by some players, and it could well make it a game you don't want to play anywhere near your parents if they are religious. The rest of the game isn't exactly more palatable, as it's filled with feces, violence, and hideous monsters that look anything but appealing. You even get the chance to fight and kill Isaac's mother multiple times, which might be a bit strange for your real mother to see.

First released in 1997, "Postal" has been re-released several times across PC, mobile, and even the Sega Dreamcast. A top-down shooter played from an isometric perspective, the game sees the player attempting to kill civilians who roam the area before progressing to the next location. There are hints throughout that the protagonist is suffering some sort of mental crisis, but it's not exactly handled with grace.

Believing that the US Air Force is responsible for releasing some sort of dangerous chemical, the titular Postal Dude attempts to reach a nearby base. However, he must fight a horde of armed residents along the way. As reported by outlets like Kotaku and We Got This Covered, the game drew attention from senators in the US and was the subject of a lawsuit from The United States Postal Service. Your parents also probably won't be happy to see you solving your problems with wanton destruction — and the game is just tough to look at.

The original version had an even more controversial moment at the end when the Postal Dude seemingly attacks a school, even though his weapons prove ineffective against any of the virtual children he encounters. Speaking to Tech Raptor in 2016, the developers of the newest edition of the game confirmed that this section had been replaced, as it felt inappropriate to include in light of real-life school shootings.

"House Party" is essentially the puerile and crass humor of the "American Pie" movies in video game form. That very concept is problematic, considering just how dated that particular film series has become since its debut in 1999 (per The Guardian). Just as you probably wouldn't watch any of the "American Pie" movies with the 'rents, playing "House Party" with them anywhere near you would also be a bad idea.

Taking place in a large house filled with rowdy teens and college kids, the game tasks players with talking to the other guests and completing a wide variety of objectives. Many of these involve trying to seduce everyone else using less-than-savory means. Players will get drunk, start fights, and even manipulate women via blackmail.

Containing plenty of graphic imagery, Rock Paper Shotgun even noted that the gameplay and visuals are miserable, making a pretty ghastly game even worse. "House Party" has even found its way onto Twitch's list of prohibited games, so it's probably best avoided if your parents — or anyone else, for that matter — are around, unless you want them to see you trick someone into going to bed with you.