What's the scariest game you've ever played?

[Darth Marsden]

Exactly what it says on the tin.

I only bring the question up since I'm replaying the System Shock series (finished the first one the other day - sweet as) and I'm continually amazed at how a few growls and some dimly lit corridors can make the hairs on the back of your neck stand on end. So I'm curious as to what games scared the living daylights out of other people.

...and if everybody says Resident Evil, the baby Jesus WILL cry.

[Mitsukara]

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde for the NES.

It had terrorism, bee swarms, crazy people in the streets, various ambiguous household items being hurled as weapons, more terrorism, and then a bunch of ambiguous mystery fantasy crap that Mr. Hyde had to ward off with rubbish-aimed fireballs.

But the scary part was that I actually tried to play it.

Okay, the darkest game I've actually played is probably Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, and that'd have been a wussy answer since the only scary thing there was Richter's dub voice actor.

[Dechipher]

Russian Roulette.




jk.

[Darth Marsden]

Well, that was... insightful.

[vegeta1215]

Some of you may find this odd, especially since I'm a Metroid fan, but when i first bought Super Metroid used from Blockbuster video long ago, the music creeped me out so much that I took it back. Everything worked out in the end though - I went back to Blockbuster a few weeks after returning Super Metroid and it was still there, this time a lot cheaper. So I bought it again and kept it for good. Thus began my Metroid fandom.

I'm not really scared of that game anymore, but the game that has creeped me out the most is Resident Evil. No, not the original PSX one, but the remake on the Gamecube. That game is creepy. I have a friend who's a big fan of the RE series and he won't even play it cause it scares him so much.

So, all those nay-sayers out there, go by the REmake on Gamecube (or better yet, buy the RE 10th anniversary pack this winter at Gamestop - which has RE, RE0 and RE4 in one pack for $40). Stay up late, turn out all the lights, and play that game. Trust me.

[Darth Marsden]

I don't tend to get scared by games like RE - they may make me jump occasionally, a fair few games do that and I can hardly claim that Half-Life is scary, can I? But there are a few games that do genuinely creep me out.

System Shock, and it's every bit as good sequel, are two of my favourite games, and it's not just because they're FPS's. There's a huge amount of atmosphere - you are (essentially) the only survivor. You pick up the story not through cutscenes but through emails and personal logs (and, in the sequel, 'ghosts'). You're not Superman, you can die from 4 shots and you will run out of ammo more than once. Your weapons can break if you don't maintain them properly - a minor iritation, but surprisingly effective when you're out of repair kits and desperately hoping you can fire enough shots before your weapon breaks. And there's something very, very unnerving about an enemy that calls out 'I'm sorry' and 'Quick - run' as it attacks you.

So that's why the System Shock series are, in my opinion, the scariest game out there. Play them at 11pm in a dark room and with a good sound system (or better, with headphones) and you'll really be onboard that ship, not playing a game. And you'll know what "fear" means.

Honourable mention: Eternal Darkness, which seriously freaked me out with it's Sanity system. Even that one time when it gave me a blue screen of death - that was just icing on the cake, really.

[Monica]

I don't play horror games, but when I was 6 and 7 I had the NES Friday the 13th game, and it scared me when Jason was "on the run" meaning you couldn't see his location on the map and sometimes you'd be walking and he'd suddenly attack.

Also when I was little I was horrified by drowning charecters, mainly Sonic in Sonic 1. I was so terrified that when I was in Labarynth Zone and he began to gasp for air and the drowning music would start to play I'd panic and if I couldn't find a bubble in time, I'd shut off the Genesis right before he drowned...:eek:

[Kairyu]

When I was younger, I was scared by Castlevania 2. I got up to the point where you needed to kneel with the (blue?) crystal by a certain lake for five seconds, and didn't know how to proceed. I did basically everything else I could, but wasn't able to figure out about the lake. I don't know why that scared me, but it did.

Beyond that, I haven't played many 'scary' games, but I think there are a few points in Super Metroid and the Metroid Prime games that are pretty creepy. If you didn't already know what would happen, Crocomire in particular could really freak you out.

[Orion]

Can't say that games have ever really scared me. Although when I was little, I would play Metroid II, and everytime I saw a Metroid I'd run away in fear of dying :P Little did I know at that point that that was the entire idea of the game :P

[Rainman]

I haven't play many games that I could define as scary. Superman 64 maybe.

Nah, Ravenholm of Half-Life 2 is particularly scary at night.

[ShadowTiger]

Vegeta, I can understand why you'd pick SMET. It can definitely be pretty scary when you're pretty much going all alone through these tunnels where the closest thing that you have to a friend is an occasionally beeping suit, and acid chases after you like you're its next intentioned meal... Can get rather scary down there.


I'll agree very much with the System Shock discussion. I've only played System Shock 2, but it's easy to say that it can be very scary. o.o The skullless monkeys are pretty nasty AND deadly; not in that they can kill you so quickly, but that you hear them long before you see them. I don't mean that in the sense that their screeches warn you of their presence, but that they're smaller than most enemies, and you don't always know where they are when you hear their screams.

All of the annaelids on the floor are beyond nasty too. The swarms of insects that burst from the caccoons and fly towards you are the worst. They're practically invulnerable, and you can only run from them when they burst. It's a frantic effort to click on them to gather their contents from juuuuuust the right distance; otherwise they burst and you're quickly swarmed. :mad: The worms are even creepier. They just crawl towards you. They never stop either. You're always wondering if there will be worms crawling at you. If they reach you, they disappear, and you get "poisoned." That means the worm is inside of you, killing you from the inside out. :worried: There's nothing you can do about it either, but take a number of antidotes. You never want to spare even one, either.


Oh, there are quite a few areas in the Fallout series that can be qualified as scary. Several areas are complarely irradiated or dark. You want to explore these areas, .. but .. it's just .. intimidating. The music is perfect for these areas too.

[Brasel]

I don't play horror games, but when I was 6 and 7 I had the NES Friday the 13th game, and it scared me when Jason was "on the run" meaning you couldn't see his location on the map and sometimes you'd be walking and he'd suddenly attack.:eek:

Yes yes and yes. I'm not the only one. Friday the 13th scared the crap outta me as a kid. Super Metroid was kind of creepy, not that scary to me, but it was rather eerie in some parts. Mainly Maribia and the crashed spaceship.

My brother and I used to play Duke Nukem 64 on two player cooperative against a computer player. The computer player was way to hard to kill, and we'd get a little twinge of suprise or terror every time he popped up on the screen.

[Cloral]

The game as a whole isn't scary, but there was one moment I ran into today in Gears of War that made me jump. There's this part where this giant monster is after you, and you know it senses you by sound and smell. So you're walking slowly through this area, looking around you, trying to find your way out. You come around this one corner, and all of a sudden the damn thing busts through the wall right in front of you. Almost fell out of my damn seat.

[gdorf]

I thought Doom 3 was pretty scary. There were plent of scripted areas where enemies would unexpectedly fly around a corner or out of a passageway.

Other than that, Ravenholm from HL2 was pretty cool.

[Darth Marsden]

Doom 3 wasn't so much scary as it was 'GOD FUCKING DAMMIT WHY THE FUCK ARE YOU RUNNING SO FUCKING SLOW JESUS FUCKING CHRIST YOURE GRINDING MY SYSTEM TO A HALT YOU FUCKING PIECE OF SHIT!'

:)

In all honesty, D3 was a little creepy, but for every moment you're a tad freaked out, there's a freakin' door opening behind you with a zombie or whatnot. I hate those. But it's not a bad game at all.

[MottZilla]

The game as a whole isn't scary, but there was one moment I ran into today in Gears of War that made me jump. There's this part where this giant monster is after you, and you know it senses you by sound and smell. So you're walking slowly through this area, looking around you, trying to find your way out. You come around this one corner, and all of a sudden the damn thing busts through the wall right in front of you. Almost fell out of my damn seat.

And alot of the Gears of War levels are just a dark and creepy mood. I too was pretty shocked when the Berserker smashed through that wall.

[Grasshopper]

Games ususally dont really scare me. I can get shocked by a game and jump, but I wouldn't say that was scary, just something that startled me at the moment.

I figure the only game that I thought was scary was Silent Hill (the first one), and only at the time I played it. It was scary because I knew nothing of the game, and didn't know what to expect. The whole twisted atmosphere to the game generally creeped me out. None of those games scare me now because I know what type of game to expect. Silent Hill 1 isn't really that scary now... it looks horrendous as well.

Oh, and the voice acting..that is scary.

[Samson007]

For me it was probably Eternal Darkness.

Every time I played this game I turned all the lights out to help add to the effect. I would often let my character go totally insane just for fun. However, the sound of crying children in the background can get a little bit odd after a while.

For anyone who has played this game, the word "Bathtub" should bring back a happy memory. Its definaly one moment that will stick in my mind from the game.

[Mr. 207]

As a kid the NES game Friday the 13th used to scare the shit out of me. Especially when you'd have to go into the house to find Jason. lol the longer Id search the house without finding him, the more tense it would get.

Then there was Metroid 2, which was virtually devoid of music in most area's until you came across a Metroid then that "DUN DUN DUNNNNNN" music starts and startles you.

The most recent scary game that comes to mind would probably be Doom 3. It had alot of moments that would startle the shit out of me, with monsters just jumping out from no where unexpectidly.

[Radium]

System Shock 2 was the scariest game I've ever played. Doom III was second... hmm... I should install that again and start playing!

[Yoshiman]

Oh, and the voice acting..that is scary.
Play the original Resident Evil for the PSX. That's probably the only way RE could beat SH out in terms of scariness. :laughing:

I thought the voice acting in SH was quite decent, save for a few awkward lines ("must be on drugs," and most of Dahlia's lines). I do know that it was better than a lot of games in that generation (SotN, Megaman 8).

The scariest game I've played would probably be Silent Hill 3. The first time through the Alternate Mall was pretty rough. Those cursed dog howls mixed with walking around cautiously with your radio going crazy, only to run into a dead end and find out that the monster is towering over you makes for a pretty creepy atmosphere.

That, and that damn mirror room in the hospital.

Although, this was also my first SH game. My previous experiences with horror games only consisted of Resident Evil 2 and 3. I have yet to pick up Eternal Darkness or Fatal Frame 2 (which I heard was pretty scary).

Super Metroid also scared me the first time I played it. Which was like when I was 5 or 6. :p

[*b*]

Jet Force Gemini. I know, that's not saying much, but when I first played it, and got to the extra areas in the S.S. Anubis at about 3 AM, it was spooky

...Yeah that's right, I said it

[AtmaWeapon]

Eternal Darkness was a game I could only play at certain times because honestly some of the sanity effects creeped me out. The ones that involved women screaming and babies crying were the worst.

Super Metroid was another game that I had to be careful with when I played. The game was dark and creepy, but it's by far got some of the most emotional music I have ever heard. Some of the Maridia (yeah I'm not checking spelling) music just downright creeped me out.

Doom 3 and pretty much any FPS usually gets me "scared" though it is mostly tension. For some reason I get really into the survival instinct and I've been known to jump enough to drop the mouse off the desk :/

[vegeta1215]

I'm glad I'm not the only one who was creeped out my Super Metroid :D

[Saffith]

Snatcher. Sega-CD version. That thing was creepy as hell.

[DarkDragoonX]

System Shock 2 is a good pick. Lots of atmosphere in that game.

Also, Clive Barker's Undying is pretty damn creepy as well.

Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth, however, is the proud winner of the Scariest Moment Ever award, and here I'm referring to the hotel chase. There are crazy mutant fish-like men with shotguns chasing your unarmed ass through hotel rooms, across catwalks, and through narrow hallways, and they are no more than 30 feet away at any time. It's extremely difficult to avoid getting shot at least once or twice. And when your movement starts slowing, your character's vision gets dim and blurry, your health is low, you hear those bastards behind you, and sweet, sweet escape is juuuuust ahead, you're on the edge of your seat. A perfectly executed scene.

[Grasshopper]

Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth, however, is the proud winner of the Scariest Moment Ever award, and here I'm referring to the hotel chase. There are crazy mutant fish-like men with shotguns chasing your unarmed ass through hotel rooms, across catwalks, and through narrow hallways, and they are no more than 30 feet away at any time. It's extremely difficult to avoid getting shot at least once or twice. And when your movement starts slowing, your character's vision gets dim and blurry, your health is low, you hear those bastards behind you, and sweet, sweet escape is juuuuust ahead, you're on the edge of your seat. A perfectly executed scene.

I love Undying...but yeah, that scene above was awesome. You couldn't be any more correct when you say you're on the edge of your seat. Can't say I wouldn't be scared if I woke up to a bunch of fish men beating down my door. That scene picks up fast too. Locking doors just slow them down. They bust through the doors, chase you down the halls, and climb out the window after you. The fact the screen gets all blurry, I can't hear anything but my own heartbeat, and I can't see, everything smears on the screen... it really adds to the intensity. That has to be the best escape scene in a video game that ever played.

[ZTC]

the scariest? nothing that I can recall; but I remember being spooked a few times when playing Doom. I hate it when demons are infront of you, and then they're teleported behind you. (makes you go 'ohshi--!')

[mrz84]

For me it was Friday the 13th on the NES. Jason popping up was just too much for me to take back then. (I was born in '82 so that woulda put me around 3-5 me thinks.)

[Strider1982]

I can remember being scared by Zelda: Link to the Past as a kid... some of the stuff in the Dark World, especially the creepy music in the woods and Death Mountain used to give me nightmares.

Heck, even the music in the Light World Sanctuary was kinda ominous.

[Imprisoned]

Lol, I don't play creepy games. Actually, I would say I never found any scary games. Only some startling games, like Resident Evil when you walk to the other side of the door a zombie grabs you immediately.

But a game which was a little "really" scary, was Shadowgrounds. I played Dooms and others but I didn't really get scared.

[punkonjunk1024]

uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh... silent hill 3, no questions asked, scariest game evar.

[infinitegames]

I don't know about scariest, but this one certainly was the creepiest:

Don't Play This (http://forums.gamemaker.nl/index.php?showtopic=208289&hl=don't+play+this)