Scary Games

[razorrozar7]

This is a thread to discuss games that are nightmare fuel, high octane or otherwise. If something from a game scares the hell out of you, gives you the squicks, or otherwise frightens you, talk about it here.

I'll start by mentioning a quote that has burrowed into my brain and won't leave:

Inside the mailbox was absolutely nothing.
Nothing after nothing came bursting out.
-Mother 3

[Chris]

I remember feeling exceptionally anxious while playing Eternal Darkness. Wasn't so much scary as it was incredibly intense.

[Christmas]

Fatal Frame series? :bigsmile:


http://i200.photobucket.com/albums/aa241/Doomed-Youth/Project%20Zero%20Stuff/saixDDD.jpg

[razorrozar7]

Geez, Christmas, are you trying to give me a heart attack? Though I suppose I should have expected it...

Am I the only one creeped out by the Ratman dens in Portal?

[Chris]

I was going to mention Project Zero, but I didn't, for the same reason I didn't mention Silent Hill. :greenie:

[razorrozar7]

Which is the same reason I didn't mention FEAR. Maybe.

[Levian]

Never really got the Fatal Frame/Project Zero fuzz. It might have something to do with the fact that I tried playing 1 and 3 and never 2, which is supposedly the best in the series. However I just don't feel like giving the second one a try when I really didn't like the other two. :p Maybe if I find it cheap somewhere!

I'm still in the search of the perfect horror game, but I haven't found it. The genre has so much potential, but there's much crap that gets released, and it's not exactly the most popular genre on the market anyway. They're hard to come by!

[Mo-Nercy]

I really enjoyed the Project Zero/Fatal Frame series (particularly the third). There's a lot of "Go from A to B, then go back to A and fight all the ghosts all over again" which got a bit annoying and less scary each time, but it's still my favourite horror video game series because of the gameplay and battle system. I say this without having played any Silent Hill though. I'll get around to it someday. xD

I also liked F.E.A.R. and it's use of horror. I hate the cheap shot, evil face bursts into screen horror trick when it's overused and to my best recollection, I don't think this game did it more than a few times. The buildup to the scary parts of F.E.A.R. are executed really well.

[Dreddz]

I always found Silent Hill 4 to be unsettling.

[razorrozar7]

Guardian XIII and I were talking earlier about Arkham Asylum. And, now that I think of it, the Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth game is terrifying. You literally go insane if you look at the monsters too much.

EDIT: Blasted auto-emotes.

[Levian]

Might as well mention a few games while I'm in here too. :D Silent Hill is a standard mention, but for a very good reason, they really are great games. I was especially impressed with the latest installment, Shattered Memories. It changed up the formula of the regular SH games and it turned out very good. I like the fact that you can't kill any of the monsters, you just have to run. That's a game element I really appreciate.

Resident Evil, while not so creepy, they do have the typical jump scare factor to them. RE4 and 5 aren't especially scary except for Chainsaw dude and Giant axe dude. first level of 5 was pretty awesome! My favorite might be Code Veronica X, but if they ever make a remake of Resident Evil 2, then that would just be awesome.

Clock Tower and Haunting Ground are the closest games to perfection within this genre that I've seen, yet they're not quite there. I'm not scared when I'm holding a shotgun, I'm scared when I'm holding nothing and running away from a killer. Any future games within this genre is a must buy for me.

Sanitarium was a creepy computer game, the second level especially. I also found 7th Guest, 11th hour, Harvester and D to be extremely scary when I was young lad, but I'm guessing I wouldn't find them half as scary today. I've tried reinstalling them, but it proved really hard to do with a new computer.

Alone in the Dark is still creepy! There's just nothing like old mansions. I tried getting into Alone in the Dark 2, but it I just kept dying. I'm more tempted to just see a Let's Play video really. Alone in the Dark on Playstation was very awesome though! They captured the mood really well, I can definitely recommend that one. Never played the new wii game though, apparently it's supposed to be crap.

Scary games on my interested in list:
Siren Blood Curse, Rule of rose, Saw 2, Gray Matter, L.A. Noire, Silent Hill 8, Calling, Black Mirror 2, Eternal Darkness.

Uh oh, gotta go and catch a bus :D hopefully I didn't miss any awesome scary games.

[Yeargdribble]

The correct answer is System Shock 2, but most people won't go through the trouble to play it. It's old and you MUST pirate it (for various BS reasons). There are a lot of mods that update the graphics and make it look quite nice. It's still the pinnacle of scary games to me. It used to give my wife nightmares. I'd be a douche and wait till she was half asleep and whisper "your song is not ours" and other creepy phrases from the amazing ambient sounds that made you want to crap your pants constantly.

No game has made me feel as alone as that game did. Doom 3 and especially Dead Space, which are essentially the same type of setting, at least had some semblance of other human contact. SS2 did not. You were utterly alone on the Von Braun.

Enemies weren't always permanently dealt with... merely pacified. Weapons could break, and ammo was at a premium (especially with endless enemies). I remember specifically jumping onto a stack of crates in the cargo bay and hiding from something making unheavenly noises below. I knew I had to go out there and take care of it, but I had to take a break in the game to give my heart a break in real life because I was so unnerved.

Sound is one of the biggest things in the game. Lots of ambient stuff and stuff that gets you on a subconscious level or something. I swear there's subliminal terror programmed into the ambient noise.



A lot of people always say F.E.A.R. like it's something special. I got that game specifically to be scared because people talked about how scary it was. I made a point of only playing it at night with headphones on in the pitch black. I was extremely underwhelmed.

[razorrozar7]

Wow. And I get scared when I play Portal at night. Polar opposites.

Are you allowed to post a link to System Shock here?

There is one incident that I remember, but I can't remember what game it's from. You go upstairs into a hallway, with three or four doors on either side. Knocking begins on the other side of one of the doors, about 3/4 of the way down the hall. As you approach the door, the knocking becomes more and more frantic, until you reach the door and fling it open to reveal-

-nothing. There is no one in the room and no other exits.

Good God almighty.

[Shoeberto]

The correct answer is System Shock 2, but most people won't go through the trouble to play it. It's old and you MUST pirate it (for various BS reasons). There are a lot of mods that update the graphics and make it look quite nice. It's still the pinnacle of scary games to me. It used to give my wife nightmares. I'd be a douche and wait till she was half asleep and whisper "your song is not ours" and other creepy phrases from the amazing ambient sounds that made you want to crap your pants constantly.
SS2 is pretty terrifying, yeah. It's a very unique game overall, but is particularly freaky as far as scifi horror goes.

[Shiny]

Enemy Zero was pretty scary to me. Not being able to see the thing that's attacking you or where it's coming from is a frightening thing. Of course, as mentioned, Silent Hill series is pretty scary. They use the dark and fog to obscure things. The sound effects were great because you didn't know if something was coming (unless it was the foghorn), or they were just messing with you. That's what made the series one step ahead of Resident Evil. SH didn't need pop-out scare tactics.

[black orb]

>>> Online games.. You have to interact with, realPeopleeee!!! :eek::eek::eek:..:luca:

[razorrozar7]

lol wut

[Wolf Kanno]

Scary games don't really scare me much. There's the occasional "caught off guard" scare where you turn around to find something that wasn't there a second ago is there or an enemy makes a loud and flashy entrance that's isn't foreshadowed. Otherwise, I don't get freaked out as much as I should.

Probably the only game that has ever truly unnerved me was Vagrant Story but I blame it on the narrative, the visual aesthetics, and the music. Not to mention the game is quite hard so dying is a real reality for you and save points are few and far between which makes every boss fight a scary endeavor. I don't think I've ever feared dragons as much as I do in VS. The one part that always gets me is when you go into the Undercity. Everytime you enter this place, the location opens up with the sound a church bell in the distant and it basically is an abandoned city brimming with the undead and lost souls of the city.

Usually when you enter, you start hearing the sound of children giggling and laughing. You look around in the unearthly blue light given off by the flames that light the streets and notice the floor is moving towards and then you go into attack mode and find yourself swarmed by four or five Quicksilvers. These creatures are marionette dolls possessed by the souls of children who died in war or from illness. That's what's making the laughing noises... Its all accompanied by this track (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k8E8PsIgp3Y&feature=related)and the place is crawling with all manners of evil. Seriously when basic undead zombies and walking corpses are the seen as sign of relief you know you have trouble. The Quicksilvers travel in packs and attack from all sides, usually waiting for you to get towards the center of the rooms before attacking. Harpies are giant Emu like birds with human faces that casts curses on you that allow everything else in the place to murder you faster, and this also the place you start meeting the Lich spirits as normal creatures including one room that has Death itself who is so powerful he can only be killed after a few New Game+. Throw in the fact the place is a bit of a maze and the enemies respawn quickly and attack you in ways where you get turned around rather easily. It doesn't take much to find yourself lost in the undercity.

This is not all helped by the fact that the powers showcased in the game makes several cutscenes feel like mind trips cause you seriously can't trust anyone or anything...

[Jessweeee♪]

LSD: The Dream Emulator - [autofish.net] (http://www.autofish.net/shrines/lsd/index.html)

http://www.autofish.net/shrines/lsd/lsd_009.jpg

[razorrozar7]

Eldritch Horror, anyone?

I wonder if he sells nothing?

[Dreddz]

I'd also like to add Condemned 2 and Siren Blood Curse. Which from the looks of this thread are two very underrated titles. I'd go as far to say they are the only scary games released on this generation of consoles.

[Nominus Experse]

fewgh56h

[Yeargdribble]

I just get bent on games that require things jumping out at you in dark places to scare you. There are lots of games good at this type of scary, but very few games set the whole mood to leave you feeling dread constantly. That's the type of scary I prefer. When you're playing something like Doom 3 you're half expecting the next sudden creature to jump out of the dark.

It's like a scary movie that builds up suspenseful music and then it's suddenly a cat jumping out and making an noise.... except that's the whole damned movie. To hell with that. Actually leave me feeling ill at ease. That's a lot scarier than scripted spooky moments every few steps.

Hell, the second level of Thief 1 (in the burial chamber) is scarier than most games that attempt to be scary these days.

[Clo]

I'm a a huge fan of the Silent Hill series, although they've gradually been descending into Suckville. Silent Hill 2 is awesome though.

And Dead Space really creeped me out when I played it -- very unsettling.

[qwertysaur]

Any game featuring Barbie. :p

[Laddy]

Silent Hill 2 always and forever.

The Pyramid Head rape scene is so fucked up it still haunts me to this day.

[iced_saltine]

anyone play penumbra?

after that one, in all honesty, i couldn't find dead space or silent hill or pretty much any horror game to be even close to the level of scariness that penumbra makes you endure.

there aren't so many holy-god-where'd-that-monster-come-from moments so much as there's just constant and horrifyingly suspenseful tension that makes you see a shadow and nearly go into cardiac arrest.

you're in a seemingly abandoned and pitch-black mine shaft, your flashlight is good for all of two seconds, and they don't even give you a gun.

[Samuraid]

Penumbra: Black Plague

[Moon Rabbits]

A bunch of folk have talked about Penumbra which was scary, and SH obviously, but this game:


Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth.

Scared the living bat :bou::bou::bou::bou: out of me. In fact, I never finished it.

[Nifleheim7]

Every time i enter a fog gate to fight a boss battle in Demon's Souls it makes me more scared than any of the Silent Hill/Resident Evil games ever did.Especially worlds 3.1,3.2,5.1 and 5.2 are seriously smurfed up.Of course the fear of loosing all the souls you carry plays a role too.

I have the first Project Zero game and all three Siren games but unfortunately i haven't really played them yet.

[Rad Bromance]

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/a/a0/Sanitarium_Coverart.jpg

[beema]

And, now that I think of it, the Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth game is terrifying. You literally go insane if you look at the monsters too much.

I'm with you on this game. It's a shame it is so terribly bugged though. Even with fan-made patches it's barely playable.

That first level though, where you have to escape the hotel in the middle of the night. Holy crap. Probably the most terrifying sequence I've ever experienced in a game. It kind of lost its edge when you had to play it over and over after dying, and the rest of the game sort of petered out, but just for that it's on the top of my list.

I think the only other recent memory of such a frightful adrenaline rush with a game is with the Heavy Rain DLC "The Taxidermist." Pretty good escape sequence there (although there is a very similar sequence in the main game).


anyone play penumbra?

after that one, in all honesty, i couldn't find dead space or silent hill or pretty much any horror game to be even close to the level of scariness that penumbra makes you endure.

there aren't so many holy-god-where'd-that-monster-come-from moments so much as there's just constant and horrifyingly suspenseful tension that makes you see a shadow and nearly go into cardiac arrest.

you're in a seemingly abandoned and pitch-black mine shaft, your flashlight is good for all of two seconds, and they don't even give you a gun.

I've heard lots of great stuff about Penumbra. Definitely one of the games I feel I NEED to play. I bought a pack on Amazon (was supposed to have all three episodes) but it only came with Black Plague so I returned it.


A bunch of folk have talked about Penumbra which was scary, and SH obviously, but this game:


Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth.

Scared the living bat :bou::bou::bou::bou: out of me. In fact, I never finished it.

Hehe, even if you wanted to you might not be able to finish it -- it's so broken. I got to the very end and there is a huge glitch which prevents you from progressing. :mad2:

Games like FEAR never truly scare me. You are a beefed up super soldier with an arsenal rivaling that of a small failed state. Plus, most of the enemies are clone soldiers or mechs who are not scary at all. There were a few cheap pop-in-your face scary moments, but stuff like that is fleeting. It's the games that really penetrate you with a overwhelming atmosphere of helplessness or loneliness that get to me.

Having said that, the Ravenholm sequence in HL2 freaked me out quite a bit, even inside the HEV suit ;)

A marvelous game is Condemned: Criminal Origins. I think it did a way better job than its sequel. Amazing atmosphere, primarily melee weapons. Highlights being the abandoned department store and the old farmhouse.

I've always accepted that Silent Hill set the bar, but tbh I've never played a single Silent Hill game. Well, technically I played SH for like 2 hours way back in the day with a friend, but it freaked us out so much we put it down and never picked it back up, so that doesn't count. I think I'm actually a bit scared to play it ever since then.

Eternal Darkness definitely creeped me out a bit, but it's not high on the list. The enemies were kind of goofy. I think the most disturbing thing about it was the soundtrack.

hmm... what else?

Dead Space was scary as crap for about the first third of the game. After that, your character becomes pretty powerful, and you start getting used to the scares, and expecting them. It relies mostly on monster pop-outs, which become pretty predictable after a while. I found that a major problem with modern "scary" games is the use of dynamic music. You know, the music that only plays when enemies are around. Well as soon as that music fades off, you know there isn't any danger and you can relax. Similarly, the minute it starts up, you know there's a monster lurking. Kind of breaks the tension. I think it's much more effective to have a constant ambient soundtrack that doesn't change at all relative to enemies. Then you are really surprised.

I was pretty freaked out by RE2 when I first played it way back when. After a while, all the RE games started losing their effect on me. The remake for GameCube was good, and RE4 definitely had it's moments (those Iron Maiden monsters scared the crap outta me with the noises they made), but RE5 pretty much lost it completely.

STALKER: Shadow of Chernobyl had some pretty terrifying moments. The first time I ran in to a Bloodsucker in an abandoned building during a rainstorm being very memorable. The STALKER series as a whole does a fantastic job with atmosphere, but there weren't really any scares in Clear Sky (haven't played Call of Pripyat yet).

The Escapist had a pretty good feature on this a few months back. Although several of the contributors mentioned Bioshock, which I didn't find scary in the least bit.

[escobert]

Final Fantasy X. Once I heard Tidus talk I couldn't sleep for weeks.

[Logie]

I had an Alone in the Dark demo when I was younger. It scared me so much that I forced my mum to play it while giving me a running commentary (as I took refuge in another room LOL).

[Levian]

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/a/a0/Sanitarium_Coverart.jpg

I...I'm not alone anymore! <3

[razorrozar7]

I had an Alone in the Dark demo when I was younger. It scared me so much that I forced my mum to play it while giving me a running commentary (as I took refuge in another room LOL).

that's a cthulhu-mythos game? all those are prtty scary i like dark corners of the earth