In 1967, French literary critic Roland Barthes wrote an essay that argued that analysis shouldn't solely rely on the intentions of the author, which is a concept now known as "Death of the Author." Even if the author or the work itself tries to point towards a certain idea, the reader's own unique interpretation can be just as valid.

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For some pieces of media, however, the creator's main goal is for the audience to develop their own ideas and conclusions. Video game developers, for example, can sometimes leave certain elements deliberately vague so that players can find their own meaning.

Feed Me Billy

A screenshot of the hole from Feed Me Billy

Since 2016, the indie developer Puppet Combo has created plenty of unique horror titles that use PS1 aesthetics with VHS filters, which has influenced many other indie horror developers into utilizing a similar style. While most of their iconic games have defenseless protagonists, the 2018 horror game Feed Me Billy is one of the few games in their library that have the player control the killer instead.

The main character, Billy, wakes up one day to discover that a giant man-eating fleshy hole has appeared in his closet. To keep this Lovecraftian creature satisfied, Billy must go out at night, kill random individuals, and feed the corpses to the hole. By the end of this short experience, it's still unclear whether the hole really exists or not, and what the meaning is behind everything.

Chyrza

A screenshot from the game Chyrza

Two years before creating the obscure horror game Anatomythe critically acclaimed indie developer Kitty Horrorshow created the 2014 first-person surreal horror game Chyrza. As an unnamed protagonist, the player walks to various monolith-like structures within a large, empty desert. At each of the locations, the player is able to pick up strange green glowing objects that play short audio clips.

These audio clips slowly reveal that this part of the desert used to be a thriving village until a ginormous pyramid appeared suddenly one day. Over time, the pyramid slowly transformed everyone into the structures scattered across the landscape, and the protagonist is the last person standing. After the entire journey, the player still doesn't know what the pyramid is or why it turned everyone into inanimate objects.

Gravity Bone

A screenshot from the game Gravity Bone

Released in 2008 as a freeware title, Gravity Bone is a short first-person adventure game where the player controls a spy named Citizen Abel in the fictional city of Nuevos Aires. During the game, Citizen Abel will be asked to complete several strange tasks such as tricking a man into swallowing a special insect or taking picture of explosive birds.

At the end of the story, Citizen Abel is killed by an unnamed woman who stole the camera. The player never learns who Citizen Abel's clients were, what their goals were, who the woman was, and why the bird photos were so important. After the success of this game, the developer created two indirect sequels: Thirty Flights of Loving and Quadrilateral Cowboy.

Who's Lila?

A screenshot of the player manipulating William's face in the game Who's Lila

Developed by Garage Heathen, who also created the Tamagotchi-inspired horror game Your Amazing T-gotchi, Who's Lila? is a David Lynch-inspired horror reverse-detective game where the player makes choices by manipulating the protagonist's facial features. Before the events of the game, a local woman named Tanya Kennedy has gone missing, and the main character, a young man named William Clarke, was the last person to see her.

Besides exploring the world using typical point-and-click controls, the player will be able to control William's facial muscles during specific moments in conversations, which will convey certain emotions and lead to different outcomes and endings. Similarly to Twin Peaks and Deadly Premonition, some elements of the story will remain unclear even after going through the entire game.

The Path

A screenshot of one of the main characters, Rose, from the game The Path

Even though the Belgian developer Tale of Tales' magnum opus game was canceled, to players' dismay, they can still experience the 2009 horror game that solidified the studio's presence in gaming history: The Path. Inspired by the traditional fairy tale Little Red Riding Hood, the game has the player control one of six sisters who have been tasked by their mother to deliver a basket to grandmother's house in the woods and to stay on the path.

Despite the game telling the player to stay on the path, the sisters must leave the path, explore the forest, and meet their respective wolves in order to succeed. Although the characters do have some dialogue, the player still has to piece together the meanings behind the metaphorical wolves, grandmother's labyrinth house, the girl in white, and more.

Yume Nikki

Madotsuki and Uboa in the game Yume Nikki.

Although there have been many great RPG Maker horror games over the years, the most iconic example is still the 2004 surreal adventure game Yume Nikki. This freeware title follows a young girl named Madotsuki who refuses to leave her small apartment. Instead, she goes to bed and explores the various bizarre locations of her vast dream world. While exploring, she slowly gathers 24 items called "effects" that give her different abilities.

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Since there's no dialogue and all possible narrative elements are simply told through the metaphorical environments, players can only speculate on why Madotsuki refuses to go outside, what her dreams mean, and why the ending happens. Even when an official sequel was released in 2018, most of the story was still left deliberately vague.

STRAWBERRY CUBES

A screenshot from the game Strawberry Cubes

One of the most interestingly bizarre games ever created is the 2015 surreal puzzle platformer STRAWBERRY CUBES, which was created by the artist Loren Schmidt. As a seemingly young girl who cannot jump, the player will have to navigate the strange 16-bit world by planting flowers to climb on or discovering one of the protagonist's game breaking abilities by trying different buttons on a keyboard.

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Besides exploring and collecting purple icons, it's impossible to figure out the meaning behind the game since it seems to have no end, and it also slowly disintegrates as it is played until it inevitably crashes. While players have attempted to uncover the secrets behind this glitchy and slightly creepy experience, the investigations have only led to more questions.

Limbo

A silhouetted boy faces off against a giant wolf in LIMBO.

Often considered one of the greatest games ever made, Limbo is a 2010 monochromatic puzzle-platformer developed by the award-winning indie developer Playdead. After waking up in the middle of the forest, the main protagonist, a young boy, must navigate through Limbo, avoid deadly obstacles, and find his sister.

By the end, the young boy does find a young girl, but questions like whether the girl is his sister, why they're both in Limbo, and what will happen to them are never answered. The overwhelming success of this title led to Playdead releasing a spiritual successor called Inside.

Silent Hill 2

Silent Hill 2 Maria sitting in a chair behind bars

While psychological horror is now a major video game sub-genre, the 2001 PS2 survival horror game Silent Hill 2 was one of the first, and still best, psychological horror games. Inspired by the classic Russian novel Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky, the game follows a widower named James Sunderland who travels to the titular town because he received a letter from his dead wife, Mary, asking him to meet her there.

Since Silent Hill changes depending on the psyche of its visitors, all of the monsters and locations James encounters are reflections of his own feelings of guilt for murdering his wife. Because of this, it's hard to know what exactly is real in Silent Hill 2, especially when considering the existence of Maria.

The Mirror Lied

A screenshot of Leah talking on the phone in the game The Mirror Lied

Created by Freebird Games, who also made To The Moon, Finding Paradise, and Imposter Factory, The Mirror Lied is a short free RPG Maker adventure game about a girl named Leah. As she explores her empty and enclosed house, Leah begins receiving emails and phone calls from an unknown person who tells her to kill "Birdy."

After completing several puzzles, sleeping while the house is on fire, and watering a vine until it breaks through the ceiling, the game ends with Leah shooting something and everything mysteriously vanishing. Although there're several theories, such as "Birdy" being a representation of Bird Flu, the creator, Kan Gao, simply shrugged when asked about the meaning behind the game's story.

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