One of the many brilliant things about the PC is that you’re not tied to the mainstream. Unless you’re housed deep within the labyrinthine offices of the most far-flung Activision studio, you’re free from the shackles of commercial viability and you can make whatever the hell you deem fit.
This, of course, means a whole truckload of glorious ideas, realized in all their indie charm. Developers with day jobs aren’t afraid to aggressively pursue their own vision without compromising a single byte. But sometimes, this level of freedom leads to something far darker, stranger, and often sinister: something only describable by dropping an F-bomb.
These are games which, for better or worse, will leave you with a vague feeling of unease. From the likes of a game deeply rooted in anatomical profanity to the intrinsically absurd, each will give you that gut-punch feeling of driving over a humpback bridge too quickly. At least three will make you nauseated. One will make you question your own sanity, albeit briefly.
The games here, whether shooters, adventures or platformers, are unique and bizarre and are brought together by their singular resistance to the norm. Some are bold and beautiful while others are just words on a screen. Some are rubbish. Some are great. A few deal with serious issues, while a few scream insanity to astonishing levels. But the one thing they have in common, the one thing that bonds this esoteric fraternity together, is that they’re all well and truly f***ed up.
