"Realistic" Color Vs Versatile Color

[Gwen]

but I'd also like to be able to, you know, actually see!

Was honestly just addressing this in regards to horror survival games, which was what you seemed to be getting at. I agree that horror's not all about the dark, there's room for vibrant creepy ones ala clowns and shit, although I highly doubt those who find clowns scary would willingly play those games Although it seems to be less about horror and more so tactical Hunting, that Evolve game the creators of Left 4 Dead are putting out has some pretty damn vibrant colors and still causes some jumps. I think the reason vibrant, bright colors are avoided though is that they can interfere and/or give off the wrong feel for most horror style games.
I feel those ones would have to be more anchored in the psychological area and mind tricks., but it could definitely work.

EDIT: I think you'll find plenty of horror games are pretty colorful as is actually. I mean Red, Green, and Brown seem to be dominant tones, but the F.E.A.R. series in general has a pretty wide palette, with a lot of saturated yummy colors.

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Final Fantasy Tactics. This game has a deep and dark story as RPGs can get, and yet, the world was still nice and colorful to look at.





Granted it didn't have as MUCH color as the later games, especially Tactics A2.
http://www.spriters-resource.com/ds/ffta2/sheet/37422/

Because of this, I seriously don't buy the whole "Colors are gritty, because the story is gritty" excuse people like to toss around as a defense.

Also need to address this, because whether or not you meant it too, you make it sound like all modern serious games forget about color choice, which quite simply isn't true.

Hitman Absolution

Very serious storyline, and as you can see the world's popping with color

Dishonored

Another game with a serious, gritty storyline that still has a pretty wide arrange of colors in it's world, sometimes more vibrant than other times, but still a pretty colorful world

Red Dead Redemption

Had trouble finding good screenshots of later areas, but yeah this game is gorgeous, and has one of the most gritty, serious story lines ever.

I could go on for awhile, but plenty of gritty, serious games use color well.