There are plenty of different types of settings in video games. Fromabandoned space stations, to other timelines and even places we know and love, locations are just as varied as the games themselves. One setting that doesn’t come up too often, but has an incredibly unique feel to it, is that of Southern Gothic.
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Mixing the classic dark themes of the gothic ideals with the varied issues and ways of life of the southern United States, this kind of setting is unlike any other. While it doesn’t show up in many games, anything you play that takes place in a Southern Gothic setting is an odd mix of creepy and Americana.
9Alone In The Dark
A game that pulls more towards the gothic side of Southern Gothic, Alone In The Dark puts you in the role of a hired sleuth investigating a creepy mansion.
What’s more Southern Gothic than a creepy mansion in the South? Well, all the monsters and mysteries that you’ll run into on your journey. Puzzles, fighting, and intrigue all add up in this game that was popular enough to call for many remakes — and even a couple of movies. While not the most synonymous of settings for the genre, it still checks off enough boxes to be Southern Gothic.
8The Walking Dead
The hit zombie show turned video game,The Walking Deadhas revamped zombie media. But, you may not realize that it has some pretty heavy Southern Gothic elements.
It’s dark, gruesome, and emotional, and most importantly it takes place in and around Atlanta. While it is a modern take on the genre, the setting itself and the fact that it’s haunted by death and flesh-hungry walkers add enough of the grotesque to place it well into the Southern Gothic realm. Not to mention death always being right around the corner.
7Resident Evil 7
One of the more recent contributions to this list,Resident Evil 7is a game that balances the Southern and the Gothic halves of the genre setting quite well.
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Taking place in Louisiana, the game shows off a lot of the things often seen in Southern Gothic settings: poverty, a focus on flora, and most importantly the grotesque. We all remember that dinner scene. The malevolent nature of the participants and the southern Americana, mixed with the eeriness that makes up the Baker family house, is one that makes the setting a standout for the Resident Evil series and genre.
6War Of Rights
One of the few Civil War games out there, War Of Rights may seem like just another mil-sim game based in the mid-1800s, but it has a bit more depth than that.
The game has a series of maps, from Antietam all the way to Harper’s Ferry. Each one is well-detailed and gives a good sense of life in America at the time. The often serene open fields and forests are at odds with the bloodshed and cannon fire that goes on. This is a mix that often appears in the genre, and the setting in this game does it well, without really trying that hard.
5The Colonel’s Bequest
The oldest game on this list, The Colonel’s Bequest is a 1989 adventure game taking place in Louisiana in the early 1900s.
What was a pretty good mystery game in the day, actually has a lot that makes it a game with a Southern Gothic setting. As before mentioned, it takes place in Louisiana, most of the time in a run-down sugar plantation. There are a lot of themes that push the setting further into the genre from there: decaying South, old money, racism, and even murder.
4Call Of Juarez
Westerns don’t often take place in the far West, believe it or not. They often have a push towards Southern settings or at least Southern sensibilities found in the Southern Gothic genre. Call Of Juarez is one such western.
This game is as western as it gets, and with that comes the overlap with Southern Gothic. Taking place all across the American South and Midwest, the game focuses a lot on the grit and grime found in the era and setting. Not to mention all the tension between various peoples.
3Hunt: Showdown
A more fictional side of the genre, butHunt: Showdownreally hits home the darkness and creepiness you’d expect to find in that kind of setting.
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Themonsters are fueled by dark magic, the bayou is filled with creeping vines and dilapidated houses, and the hunters looking to earn their keep in a place that doesn’t want them there. It all adds up to a setting that you may’t find elsewhere. Not to mention all the late 1800s weaponry that you get to arm yourself with that really drives the setting home.
A big name in the western genre of games as of late, as well the Southern Gothic genre,Red Dead Redemption 2is a game that is unique in a lot of ways.
One such way is definitely in its setting. A variety of people, some good and bad, all trying to make a living in the newly developed American west and south; the game shows their struggles and issues all too well. As a criminal himself, Arthur Morgan is the perfect person to see this world through, as you really get to experience the choices, hardships, and death people face at all times in that time and place.
1Mafia 3
Mafia3 shows off a lot of the racism and grime synonymous with the genre, and taking place in a fictional version of New Orleans is the perfect place to do so.
Organized crime is rife in the game, and with that so are all the gritty and horrible stories that come along with it. Seeing how the South is developing at the end of the 1960s and how it is at odds with a lot of the South’s old values, really puts a lot of tension on Lincoln Clay — and solidifies itself as one of the most Southern Gothic settings in gaming.
