Subtle supernatural horror is my fucking favorite.
It doesn't spoon feed you the scare, it doesn't cheaply jump scare you like you're a fucking toddler incapable of understanding danger like most low quality films and lazy video games do.
It simply brings into your realization a certain primal fear that something isn't right, and you can't explain why.
It's unsettling because you don't know for sure if you're going to immediately die, which makes it even more frightening.
What are some good games like that? I'm not a big fan of the jump scare horror games, so I tend to ignore most horror games on principle, but the genre is still fun when I find a gem.
Not exactly what you're asking for, but Subnautica slowly builds on a primal fear without resorting to jump scares. It's increasingly unsettling and you start finding excuses to just stay in your habitat to decorate instead of going outside. Possibly the best horror game I've played.
Life is strange has elements of it (think Butterfly Effect: the game) during parts of the game, although it gets pretty explicit rather than subtle.
Oxenfree also has elements of it, with people behaving weirdly etc. But it also mostly gets fairly explicit. Still, no jumpscares.
I completely agree, but I've never been able to articulate it this well. Do you have any scary movie recommendations? I've got a feeling we have similar taste.
Aaaaaaaaaaaand that's exactly why the opening scene of Juon: Black Ghost/White Ghost made me scream like a child.
The dread that rises up when something doesn't feel right. There's no build up to a scare...it just slams into you full force. Only movie I ever screamed while watching. Only happened once....but good God. We had to pause the movie and laugh for about 10 minutes as both me and my sibling both screamed.