Scariest game you ever played?

Cunning Alias · 21-12-2010 12:04pm

kwalshe wrote: »

playing the level in max payne with the baby crying freaked me cacks off

+1.

AvP Marine level 3. Nothing beats a motion sensor for tension. The face that there were no save points really added to the tension. First time a face hugger got me I punched my monitor in panic!

Silent Hill 1 + 2 would be top of the list for me. The fear of what you cant see is always gonna be better than things jumping out at you (e.g. Doom 3 - I really like the game, just wouldn't call it scary).

Jazzy · 21-12-2010 12:13pm

in doom 3 the enemies are scared of you.
"sir, he comes! the one who can sidestep and who is carrying the plasma death gun and the BFG-9000!"
in that game you are just a terminator running around with death cannons. great fun though.

civilisation 2 on deity difficulty is fukin scary. cos you know as soon as you uncover certain sections of the map you will run into the sioux or something and they will be all like "WAR! war it is! more war please" and the cheating A.I. will just wtfpwn 2 hours worth of your life.

hmmmmmm, eternal darkness was really cool but not too scary as you could control your character really well and pwn all the beasties with ease. silent hill 2 is proper scary though as your character is such a fukin cripple that yes - simple enemies = big problem. although the run around swinging your plank endlessly strategy was a good un

mankteln · 21-12-2010 12:16pm

Sl!mCharles wrote: »

Maybe not the entire game chaps but the Shalebridge Cradle part of Thief 3 is terrifying.
It gave me the willies anyway

Yeah that level is shockingly creepy, really well made. There's a bit when you've just descended into the asylum proper and you see something run across your field of vision in the distance, i'm pretty sure I whimpered about then :eek:

Cunning Alias · 21-12-2010 12:44pm

Here is a pretty much spot on (as usual) description of the different types of horror games from Zero Punctuation.

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/zero-punctuation/2092-Amnesia-The-Dark-Descent

You see, there are three kinds of horror games. First, there's the kind where you're in a dark room and a guy in a spooky mask jumps out of a cupboard going "abloogy woogy woo!" - that would be your Doom 3.

Then there's the kind where the guy in the spooky mask isn't in a cupboard but standing right behind you and you just know he's going to go "abloogy woogy woo" at some point but he doesn't and you're getting more and more tense but you don't want to turn around because he might stick his ***k in your eye - that would be your Silent Hill 2.

And then there are horror games where the guy in the spooky mask goes "abloogy woogy woo" while standing on the far side of a brightly lit room before walking slowly over to you plucking a violin and then slapping you in the face with a t-bone steak - that would be your Dead Space.

Retr0gamer · 21-12-2010 2:26pm

I knew I forgot one.

Operation Falshpoint - PC

On the third stage your squad has all been killed. You are alone in a copse of trees with only a few bullets for your rifle. In the trees there's troopers hunting you down. Outside the trees there's APC's patrolling looking for you. And above the trees there's a Lynx attack chopper hunting for you. You have to make your way from copse to copse, usually about 1 km apart where there is no cover and on shot will kill you. The extraction point is about 10km away.

spider guardian · 21-12-2010 2:44pm

Resident Evil Remake on the Gamecube, nearly had a heart attack at the bit where the dog jumps through the window. The fact that you never had enough ammo meant that you were always scared of what was around the corner. Also the crimson heads were bastards.

I thought Doom 3 was scary, the atmosphere was what did it for me. Just you and a load of demons millions of miles away from earth, the dilapadated base itself was nice and claustrophobic. Cheap horror tricks sure but fun!

deathrider · 21-12-2010 2:46pm

Dime101 wrote: »

That part in Manhunt where you're in the Junk Yard was terrifying, same with the Asylum level.

Man, that entire game was terrifying. Not in a monster-will-get-me-while-I-sleep kinda way that most games are, but in a constant-feeling-your-life-is-on-the-line-from-sadistic-lunatic kinda way instead. Many games boast a "kill or be killed" attitude, but for me, Manhunt was the only one that really made the player feel that cliche. I don't think I've ever had a comfortable moment while playing that game, and I played a hell of a lot of it. a lot of today's games could learn from it's atmospheric approach on fear. Classic game.

elekid · 21-12-2010 3:09pm

The Skedar in Perfect Dark used to scare me :rolleyes:

I thought Shadowman on the N64 was a very scary game, there was an asylum level with big green hook-handed guys who ran at you while making pig noises. I actually stopped playing when I reached that level and never went back, they freaked me out so much.

Speaking of asylums, the lunatics in Batman: Arkham Asylum scared me a couple of times too.

Wossack · 21-12-2010 3:17pm

Retr0gamer wrote: »

I knew I forgot one.

Operation Falshpoint - PC

On the third stage your squad has all been killed. You are alone in a copse of trees with only a few bullets for your rifle. In the trees there's troopers hunting you down. Outside the trees there's APC's patrolling looking for you. And above the trees there's a Lynx attack chopper hunting for you. You have to make your way from copse to copse, usually about 1 km apart where there is no cover and on shot will kill you. The extraction point is about 10km away.

that sniper level where crap really hits the fan? man, talk about the heart beating out of your chest..! :eek:

Dime101 · 21-12-2010 9:53pm

The Project Zero games we pretty jumpy at times too.

Micheal Jackson's Moonwalker is pretty terrifying now that I think about it.

The whole point of the game is to collect children and turn them into energy,who hide in ever more elaborate and well guarded places......but nothing can stop Robo Wackos lust for their young flesh....NOTHING!

Zero-Cool · 22-12-2010 12:34am

I remember the year was 1996, I was 13 (Jaysus!!). I was in the local Game shop where they had a huge telly, at least 21 inch

in the middle of the floor. An employee was playing a new game while a group of people watched. It was Resident Evil and it was the most amazing thing I had seen up to that point. When the dog jumped through the window, the guy playing nearly shat himself and we all laughed at him.

Lads, I'm a huge Clive Barker fan but never played that Undying game. Is it any good? Would it just be shiite playing it now-a-days?

K.O.Kiki · 22-12-2010 2:21pm

Resident Evil REmake on Gamecube.

I bought the game years ago, and then found out about the Crimson Heads.

Just the idea of their design scares me so much, I've yet to actually play the game.

maximoose · 22-12-2010 2:24pm

The original Silent Hill and Resi Evil for the scariest based on atmosphere and general creepiness

Condemned would be the jumpiest game i've played thats actually brought me close to soiling myself

Hercule · 22-12-2010 2:34pm

Retr0gamer wrote: »

I knew I forgot one.

Operation Falshpoint - PC

On the third stage your squad has all been killed. You are alone in a copse of trees with only a few bullets for your rifle. In the trees there's troopers hunting you down. Outside the trees there's APC's patrolling looking for you. And above the trees there's a Lynx attack chopper hunting for you. You have to make your way from copse to copse, usually about 1 km apart where there is no cover and on shot will kill you. The extraction point is about 10km away.

I totally ruined the atmosphere of that mission by hijacking a tractor after the forest you start in and bursting through checkpoints like a mad yoke

Project Zero had me and my cousin hiding behind a couch as we really didn't know what we were letting ourselves in for - some eerie stuff

Retr0gamer · 22-12-2010 2:35pm

K.O.Kiki wrote: »

Resident Evil REmake on Gamecube.

I bought the game years ago, and then found out about the Crimson Heads.

Just the idea of their design scares me so much, I've yet to actually play the game.

The absolute ****ing worst is when you finally get a resupply of gasoline and go on a burning mission just to be sure. You bend down to pour it on one and the ****er jumps up as a crimson head. My advice. Shotgun head shots. You can't turn into a crimson head with no head mother****er! Where's yo head at now!

krudler · 22-12-2010 3:23pm

Retr0gamer wrote: »

The absolute ****ing worst is when you finally get a resupply of gasoline and go on a burning mission just to be sure. You bend down to pour it on one and the ****er jumps up as a crimson head. My advice. Shotgun head shots. You can't turn into a crimson head with no head mother****er! Where's yo head at now!

The first one i encountered was in the new mirrored hallway, crapped myself. "oh look its more shotgun fodder, oh good god its running at me, arrgh, they've changed stuff! it wont die!"

oh and how has this not been mentioned:

Lisa Trevor.

Mr Freeze · 22-12-2010 4:25pm

Sarky wrote: »

The haunted Cathedral in Thief and the Shalebridge Cradle in Thief 3 were classics.

Could not agree more! The Haunted Cathedral was amazing, one of the best and scariest gaming experiences ever.

The Cradle in Thief 3 had some great scares.

After exploring half the level and not seeing a single NPC guard or monster, a false sense of security set in and I was making loads of noise and not being at all cautious in my exploration and and one stage I turned around and there is some figure hidden in shadow with some sort of head brace looking in my general direction, closing in on me, nearly shat myself

Condemned was another great scare, the game was genuinely not fun to play as it was so tense. No ammo, the worst torch ever, and homeless crazies banging around in the darkness ahead of you. The House in the countryside near the end was the highlight.

And Dead Space was scary, but it was mainly just things jumping at you but it worked, as you had feck all ammo, and Issac wasn't the most maneuverable, no quick turn for example! Looking forward to the sequel, hopefully its more scares and less action orientated.

LuckyFinigan · 22-12-2010 11:03pm

Has to be Silent Hill 2, everthing about that game was freaky. From the long walk through the foggy woods to get to the town at the start, to the first sighting of pyrimid head. That game was just scary the whole time even when nothing was happening.

cian1500ww · 23-12-2010 12:47am

Think I'll pick up Dead Space, haven't played any decent horror games in years so I'm in need of a good fright!!

J. Marston · 23-12-2010 3:45am

Dead Space or Condemned 2, both of them gave me the shíts.

pablomakaveli · 23-12-2010 4:14am

I just remember probably one of thescariest moments in Condemned is

in the school were your trying to get to the victim in time but you find find his mutilated body in the locker. Then when you go to take a picture with the phone the body suddenly lunges at you and grabs your arm.

I jumped a mile when that happened.:D

L31mr0d · 23-12-2010 4:44am

These threads pop up every now and again, I recommend these excellent survival horror games and hope... hope that by the next time this same topic gets posted someone has played these games:

The Penumbra series.

Amazing games for atmosphere. Unlike most of the other games people are mentioning, you have no weapons. You have to solve puzzles to progress. So whenever there is a threat you have to hide, trap the evil that is stalking you or run.

Crouched under a table in the dark, as my characters eyes slowly adjusted, and seeing the malformed silhouette of some mutant creature sniffing the air in the room trying to get my scent then suddenly raising its head and staring right at me has to be one of the most blood curdling experiences in a game I've ever experienced.

I've got their latest survival horror in my backlog: "Amnesia: The Dark Descent" and it looks to be as good, if not better, than the Penumbra series.

Fnz · 23-12-2010 6:34am

Penumbra: Black Plague - the game was able to make me feel so tense/uncomfortable that it was difficult to motivate myself to fire it up and continue.

Before BP , my favourite/scariest was probably Project Zero 2. BP matches it for creepy atmosphere and manages to surpasses it in communicating a sense of your character's vulnerability. First person perspective probably helped with immersion (and feelings of motion sickness).

The only game to cause me say "Jesus Christ!" as a release... from terror!

For comparison I've also played Condemned 2 and the original Resident Evil. Didn't get far enough into Silent Hill to judge it - my save, mysteriously, got corrupted... spooky.

Amnesia: The Dark Descent is in my backlog also.

humanji · 23-12-2010 1:06pm

Sarky wrote: »

An underappreciated gem in horror was Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth. The parts of the game that tried to be a shooter were pretty awful, but the rest was fantastically creepy. The insanity mechanic was lovely, messing about with the screen, hearing voices, and if it got too bad, putting a gun in your mouth and ending it all right there.

I loved that game. As you say, the shooting wasn't too good, but the sense of absolute fear it instills is brilliant. The fact that you don't get a weapon until nearly halfway through the game is scary enough, but it's one of the few games that has jump scares that really scared the sh*t out of me.

There is a sequence, which I think is one of the best I've ever played, in a hotel near the start (which I'll spoiler just in case. It's not really a plot point, but better safe than sorry)

where you're trying to escape a hotel room while guys are coming to kill you. You run through adjoining room doors locking them behind you or pushing furniture to block them, all while these guys are banging and shooting the doors.

It's fantastic.

And there's another part when you go into a guys house and his wife is upstairs.

You head on up, knowing that the wife has changed into some sort of monster. And as you approach her door, you hear animal noises coming from it.

I honestly spent a good five minutes sitting at my computer debating whether to open the door or jsut turn the game off and play something else.

I could ramble on about this game for hours, but I'll save you the pain. Check it out!

I've never been a huge fan of jump scares, because they end up being a bit of a cheap gimmick. Dead Space was bad for this, I think, because you pretty much knew when something was going to happen and if it was going to be a false alarm, something that's not interactive (like a monster appearing behind a window etc), or something that was going to attack you. It made the game feel a bit too much like a slog, rather than something I was enjoying.

That said, I thought FEAR had loads of jump scares that were done to good effect. I'm not too sure why I liked them in FEAR, but didn't in Dead Space.

seraphimvc · 23-12-2010 8:12pm

RE1, fatal frame, and Silent Hill2 =_= man, they are the only games that i do not have a second thought to replay them again....i did try on RE1 but i always give up after 1 hour play lol

mulciber · 23-12-2010 8:31pm

When I was 7 (9 years ago), I used to be afraid to play lara croft games so I got my uncle to play them for me while I watched.

Also, has anyone played "The Thing" for the PS2? That game was freaky!! I've never seen the film but I could never play the game properly because I would only move at an inch at a time because I was afraid that something would pop out from the corner, lol!

As lots of other people have said, Dead space is a scary game too but the scare factor kinda wears off half way through the game when you figure out when the mutants are going to pop out at you. It's still a good game though.

ride-the-spiral · 23-12-2010 9:03pm

I think the resident evil remake on the gamecube and F.E.A.R are the most scared i've been playing any game, i had to turn them off sometimes i was so freaked.

Minstrel27 · 23-12-2010 9:05pm

FEAR played in a dark room with headphones was my biggest gaming mistake of all time. It freaked me out big time.

tonydude · 24-12-2010 2:03am

Silent hill hands down, freaks the sh%t out of me, come on like those nurses and that bloody radio making that noise makes things worse ahhh wats going to appear out of the fog now.

Gneez · 24-12-2010 2:13am

http://static.griefwatch.net/gallery/41e64db4753702c2b6f35619699aed13.jpg

Silent Hunter III, being on the sea floor at the bottom of the english channel, flooding in 3 compartments several crew dead, being depth charged repeatedly and accurate from destroyer escorts with sonar, trying to stop the flooding and save what little electric power is left in the batteries to try and surface, one diesel engine working the other is dead, both periscope are destroyed and running out of oxygen.

Now thats scary.

Scariest game you ever played?

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