[tsumnia]

I mean if we're trying to source where "liminal space" started, I'd like to add Portal and Portal 2 into the mix. It didn't have the surreal, creepy components because jump scare horror games like Five Nights hadn't been popularized yet but the entire second area of Portal 2 where you're introduced to Cave Johnson and the older Aperture Science HQ is very much "liminal".

If we want to go deeper, then I really think its Earthbound's absurdist take on childhood adventures with cultists, ghosts, dreamscapes, etc. but I think at that point I might as well say dice games influenced things.

[parpfish]

i think there's also a strong Lynchian influence to the liminal space aesthetic. Industrial spaces, flickering fluoresecnt lights, and a sense of unease that comes from dream-logic and shots that linger to emphasize emptyness.

[captn3m0]

Antichamber (2013) is also worth mentioning: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antichamber

[entropicdrifter]

That game is so mind-bending

[frmersdog]

I don't think it's too far to include Earthbound. After all,

  You cannot grasp the true form of Giygas' attack!

[thenthenthen]

Super studio’s Flooded McDonalds also comes to mind