It could be argued that all video games use color to communicate. Color helps players differentiate between different objects and can be used to set a certain tone or mood. Color is often used as a hint to help players progress, whether to highlight a path forward or an important object that needs to be obtained or used. Even a lack of color can mean something.
The games on this list, however, go above and beyond in using color in creative ways or to send a unique message.
Video Games That Use Color to Communicate Visually
These are the types of games that usually come to mind for today’s audience when someone says “video games”: visual experiences that rely heavily on graphics to immerse players and communicate meaning. These games literally use different colors to communicate different things.
‘SUPERHOT’ (SUPERHOT Team, 2016)
Color can communicate personality—not just of a character or even a place, but of a game itself. This is the case in SUPERHOT, a stylish first person VR shooter set in a stark world of white. In sharp contrast stands your shiny black gun and bright red enemies and bullet trails. This minimal, yet brilliant, palette perfectly mirrors the game’s overall feel—minimal, but memorable.
‘Gris’ (Nomada Studio, Blitworks, 2018)
Gris is pretty much the poster child for creative use of color in games. The art style of this game is gorgeous, but there’s so much more to it than that.
In a monotone world, a flood of color marks progress as players complete each stage. Color also communicates emotion and elicits empathy, acting as a direct reflection of the player character’s state of mind. A hint of color often functions as a literal hint, and color also tells us about who this character is and what she wants. Color is everything in this game, and I have never seen it used more artfully—or more beautifully.
‘Limbo’ (Playdead, 2010)
If Gris is all about color, Limbo exemplifies how effective a lack of color in a game can be when implemented by skillful developers. Limbo’s relentlessly monochrome setting amplifies the sense of dread permeating the game, accentuating the shadows in which unknown dangers lurk.
The flat black silhouette of the player character, meanwhile, suggests a blank protagonist—but also hints that the boy you are playing now may be nothing more than a shadow of what he once was. And of course, there’s the lingering suggestion, first hinted at in the title and then sustained by the look of the game itself, that this world may exist only beyond the grave… for such a simple palette, Limbo’s look sure gives us a lot to think about.
‘Hue’ (Fiddlesticks, 2016)
The title alone gives you an idea of how important color is to this game, the style of which makes it feel a bit like the love-child of both Gris and Limbo. Cast as the young, silhouetted titular character Hue, players use color switching to make progress, solve puzzles, and change Hue’s monochrome world one level at a time as they help the boy search for his missing mother.
The most creative thing Hue does with color is to use it as a gameplay mechanic. Rather than using them merely as hints, colors become the actual tools with which you resolve each new dilemma.
‘Doki Doki Literature Club’ (Team Salvato, 2017)
It’s no secret that cutesy visual novels use bright and pastel palettes to emphasize their cuteness, just like your typical romantic comedy will typically be well and warmly lit to ‘set the mood’ for the love story that’s about to unfold.
Doki Doki Literature Club takes this tactic and weaponizes it, tricking players into a false sense of comfort until the moment when this kawaii dating sim suddenly takes a dark turn. Even at its most grim, Doki Doki refuses to give up its innocent facade—and somehow, this just serves to make it all the more disturbing. It’s not the first, nor the only, game to use color as a red herring in this way, but it is certainly among the most effective examples in the industry.
Interactive Fiction Games That Use Color to Communicate
When talking about games that use color to communicate, typically text-based IF games might not seem like a particularly obvious place to look. But at least in these cases, color plays an important and imaginative role in both the interactive storytelling and the game design of each.
‘Buddy Simulator 1984’ (Not a Sailor Studios, 2021)
Buddy Simulator 1984 uses color very sneakily. It all starts with a simple, familiar question: “What’s your favorite color?” Your friendly Buddy Simulator program, upon learning the answer, changes the color scheme of the game to match.
In any other game, this might be a sweet, friendly moment, easily forgotten. But in Buddy Simulator 1984, because we know we are walking into a horror game, it serves as a foreshadowing of things to come. It tells us (1) the Buddy program is eager, maybe too eager, to please us, and (2) the Buddy program has a lot of control, almost certainly too much, over our experience of its virtual world. It’s a simple, but effective, setup for the slow but inevitable descent into madness we embark on throughout the rest of the game.
‘Coloratura’ (Lynnea Glasser, 2013)
Though “color” is technically in the title, a “coloratura” is actually an elaborate melody; the title is mainly a reference to the central role that music plays in the game’s story. However, color has its place in this story, too.
Coloratura puts players in the role of an alien captured by humans. One of the unique ways in which this alien can interact with its world is through color-based commands, with each color symbolizing a different tone or intention. It’s a subtle and elegant means of communication, and a gameplay mechanic I don’t believe I’ve seen anywhere else (at least not yet).
‘chiaroscuro’ (Kim Berkley, 2022)
In my own IF novella, chiaroscuro, much about both the story and the gameplay is communicated through color and shade. Player character Perce has traveled to Rome to reclaim her passion for art, and darkness and light help give shape to different ideas and themes within the narrative as players progress. The title itself refers to the technique of using highlights and shadow to create the illusion of volume and depth in a work of art.
Color is also used in chiaroscuro as a hint for pursuing certain narrative paths, and is discussed at length—if you happen to encounter a certain color-seller. Color even has a part to play in determining which of the five endings you are able to achieve.
Which Game is Going on Your To-Play List?
While not all of the games on this list are literally colorful, they all use color to communicate in creative ways, and are all worth checking out if you’re looking for something a little different to spark your own imagination.
If you usually play FPSes, try Doki Doki or one of the IF games for a change of pace. If you’re not usually into platformers, Limbo is a great introduction—provided you’re not averse to a spook or two. And if you’re itching to try out some VR, it’s hard to go wrong with SUPERHOT.
That’s the great thing about a blank canvas (or an open space on your to-play list)—there’s no limit to the colors you can fill it with.
chiaroscuro is a text-based game that lets you walk a mile (or a few) in the shoes of an American artist in Rome. Seek out inspiration and find your muse—and maybe paint a masterpiece in the process. Coming soon to a browser near you—for free!
