History Main / BlackOutBasement

* The ''VideoGame/TraumaCenter'' series have in the dark operations. You get your assistant to hold a flashlight on a specific area so you can see, but the batteries eventually die and your replacement light sources get worse and worse until all you have is a camera flash that only gives you a second to see where everything is.

* In ''VideoGame/{{Zork}}'', there are certain sections of pitch-black cave. Until you get a source of light, the text will only say that the area is dark and you may be eaten by a darkness-dwelling grue.

* The Dark World in ''VideoGame/YumeNikki'' [[spoiler:until you find the lamp. There's also a dark maze elsewhere in the game that can actually be bypassed by trial-and-error even if you don't have the lamp.]]
* ''VideoGame/ColossalCave'' is impossible to navigate without the lantern. [[TimedMission Heaven help you if you run out of batteries]].
* An interesting variation on the usual InteractiveFiction darkness puzzle is the dark place in ''VideoGame/SoFar'', where [[spoiler: you're not supposed to use a light; instead, you're supposed to navigate by the sounds emanating from various directions.]]

* The ghost-hunting game ''VideoGame/AmberJourneysBeyond'' starts with the HauntedHouse you were sent to investigate being pitch black on the inside, save for creepy red emergency lights meant to guide you to the house's breaker upstairs. The power also goes out again after you've [[UnfinishedBusiness helped one of the ghosts pass on]].
* In ''VideoGame/TotalDistortion'', your ''entire'' [[PlayerHeadquarters Personal Media Tower]] goes dark if it runs out of fuel rods, and none of the equipment can be used except for the elevator that only goes down to the engine room to let you add more fuel.
* The Svartálfaheimr levels in ''VideoGame/{{Munin}}'' are notably dark, and so it's often intentionally difficult to see Munin or the feathers you have to collect.

* In ''VideoGame/ElroyGoesBugzerk'', the final area is a small island during nighttime. There's a lightning bug that provides occasional light, and a conveniently placed semi-hidden lantern.

* ''VideoGame/{{Vanquish}}'' has one of these in the first act, aptly named "Darkness".

* In ''VideoGame/DeadSpace'', some corridors have flickering lights or aren't lit at all, forcing Isaac to walk around with his weapon raised, using the flashlight on them to see by. Those parts are mostly absent of Necromorphs... mostly.

* ''VideoGame/IndigoProphecy'': While Carla is visiting an asylum to learn about an incident that occurred years ago, the building's power goes off and causes the inmates' cell-doors to open. Leaving Carla to cautiously walk through the darkness avoiding the roaming psychos to reach the exit.

* The Dark World in ''VideoGame/YumeNikki'' [[spoiler: until you find the lamp. There's also a dark maze elsewhere in the game that can actually be bypassed by trial-and-error even if you don't have the lamp.]]
* ''VideoGame/ColossalCave'' is impossible to navigate without the lantern. [[TimedMission Heaven help you if you run out of batteries.]]

* OlderThanTheNES: On difficulty levels 2 and 3 of ''VideoGame/{{Adventure}}'' for the UsefulNotes/Atari2600, in the catacombs leading to the White Castle and inside [[TheVeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon the Black Castle]], the entire screen is gray except for a yellow circle of light around your character and other sprites.

* ''VideoGame/Ghostbusters1990'' on the UsefulNotes/SegaGenesis: The Woody House level, which for some reason was bathed in pitch-black darkness [[note]]This probably represents what your field of vision would be in a building that's under siege with fire ghosts.[[/note]]. Luckily, you CAN buy an Infrared Scope (read: Paragoggles) at the Item Shop. They're only useful on the one level, and the batteries wear out.

* ''VideoGame/IndigoProphecy'': While Carla is visiting an asylum to learn about an incident that occurred years ago, the building's power goes off and causes the inmates cell-doors to open. Leaving Carla to cautiously walk through the darkness avoiding the roaming psychos to reach the exit.

** Towards the end of the game, there is a level called "The Darkening", where you have to retrace your steps through the Skaarj mothership base after you destroy their generator. The entire thing from beginning to end is pitch black, requiring you to keep your light on at all times. [[SuspiciousVideogameGenerosity Right before this]], you find [[InfiniteFlashlight the Searchlight, a powerful hand-held floodlight with a big battery]].

* In the ''[[VideoGame/DarkwingDuckCapcom Darkwing Duck]]'' LicensedGame for the [[UsefulNotes/NintendoEntertainmentSystem NES]], [[BlobMonster Liquidator's]] stage gets darker the further Darkwing delves into [[AbsurdlySpaciousSewer the sewers]]. Hanging from the light switches turns the lights on, and getting off them turns the lights off.

** [[Videogame/CrashBandicoot1996 The first game]] features the levels ''Lights Out'' and the hidden level ''Fumbling in the Dark'', where the player has to pick up an Aku Aku mask for illumination. Get hit once or dilly-dally around too long without picking up a new mask, and you lose your light source.

* Some areas in ''Videogame/ShovelKnight'' are in darkness, but are periodically illuminated by lightning strikes. Even entities like the player and enemies appear as only black silhouettes.

* ''VideoGame/{{Ys}}'': The Abandoned Mine in ''VideoGame/YsIAncientYsVanishedOmen'', Galbalan's Island in ''Wanderers from Ys[=/=]Videogame/YsTheOathInFelghana'', Limewater Cave in ''Videogame/YsVITheArkOfNapishtim'', et. al.

* In some stages of ''VideoGame/FireEmblem'' games, sometimes the field is obscured by fog, or darkness. Your vision changes to be on top of your units.

* ''VideoGame/GoingIntoTheUnknown'' have most of it's stages set inside prisons, abandoned hospitals, and subways after dark, and your only source of light is the flashlight.

** ''VideoGame/SuperMarioWorld2YoshisIsland'' on the UsefulNotes/SuperNintendo features several rooms where a bubble of light surrounds Yoshi in a dark room, so you can't see any enemies or hazards until they're very close to you. A more frustrating variation is an early fort stage, where lighting is provided by [[InvincibleMinorMinion fireball-like enemies]] that turn on and off at will. ''VideoGame/YoshisIslandDS'' has a few more examples, including the [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin aptly named A Light in the Dark]] and a section of Yoshi's Island Easter Eggs with light switches that go off only a few seconds after hitting them, appropriately noted as 'Panic in the Dark!'