Play as an adorable teddy bear in this cute but creepy indie

Developed by Trinity Team, The Darkest Tales is putting a spooky spin on stories from your childhood.

Visualise a game where you play as a teddy bear, and your mind’s likely to conjure up images of a cosy, colourful adventure full of cuddly characters and all things nice. The Darkest Tales, however, couldn’t be further from that. This plush toy, simply called Teddy, has found himself in a nightmarish world filled with twisted versions of characters from classic children’s fairy tales.

"The gingerbread men are out for blood, Sleeping Beauty seems to be a couple centuries behind on sleep, and the Little Mermaid looks more like a sea witch than an innocent child of the waves," reads the game’s description on Steam. And if that wasn’t bad enough, there’s also a knife-wielding Little Red Riding Hood, a wolf that’s definitely of the big and bad variety, and a mammoth Pinocchio all too eager to knock the stuffing out of our fuzzy hero.

Each level offers a distorted version of a different fairy tale and is laden with enemies to defeat, obstacles to overcome, and secrets to discover. Luckily, Teddy’s a resourceful fellow and has managed to fashion some makeshift tools for battling baddies and exploring the game’s eerie environments. His melee weapons are a pair of scissors that have been split in half, while an embroidery needle and some thread act as a grappling hook allowing him to swing between platforms. 

If you fancy playing this cute but creepy indie, you can do so right now, as it’s just launched on PC, Xbox consoles, and Switch. A PlayStation release is also planned for a later date.

Discover many more indie gems in our guide to new indie games 2022.