Are there novels where a peaceful game world turns out to be secretly horrifying?

Yes, and this subversion has become one of the more satisfying setups in gaming fiction. The premise usually starts innocuously: the protagonist enters a virtual reality game that promises escape, relaxation, or gentle adventure. Then something goes wrong in a way that reframes everything they thought they understood about the world they have entered.

"My Iyashikei Game" is one of the more striking examples of this approach. An iyashikei game is a specific genre of peaceful, healing content meant to soothe the player rather than challenge them. The irony built into this story is its entire engine: what appears to be a gentle slice-of-life experience is quietly filled with ghosts, restless spirits, and genuine horror lurking just beneath the calm surface. The protagonist spends the story reconciling what the game advertises itself as against what it actually is, and that gap between the two is where all the tension lives.

What makes this trope work is the violation of expectation. Readers come in expecting the genre comfort that the story initially promises, and the discovery that the world is far darker than it appeared mirrors the protagonist's own disorientation. It draws the reader into the experience rather than just positioning them as an outside observer.

The best versions of this setup also use the horror elements to say something about the characters themselves. What someone chooses to do when they realize the rules have changed, and what they are willing to risk or sacrifice to survive it, tends to reveal more about who they are than any straightforward adventure would.