Boo! scary games

corblimey

In honour of Hallowe'en (er, last night) I was thinking about some of the scary games I've played over the years. By far, the one that made me mess my pants the most was Silent Hill, although Project Zero/Fatal Frame runs it a close second. Any more for any more?

L31mr0d

Scariest for me was F.E.A.R, specifically the expansion "Extraction Point". I found the first game made you twitch when something jumped out at you. But extraction point had me shaking with adrenaline throughout the whole game. It was the first game that made me shut it down, not because I was tired or bored but because I was starting to feel sick from the constant stream of adrenaline in my bloodstream. I usually played it at night, from around 1am to 5am, which kind of made it worse.

There was definite browning at the point in the game with Douglas Holiday

humanji

I remember the first time I played Silent Hill. Me and my friend were fairly stoned and scared ****less. We were both hidding behind the sofa while playing. Bizarre.

But the one that scared me the most is Call Of Cthulhu: Dark Corners Of The Earth. There was one part of it that I had to stop playing because I was getting too worked up and knew something was about to happen in the game. Needless to say, when I went back to it, I shat myself.

Vegeta

I actually cant play these games

I can manage gore and atmosphere but I cant ****ing stand games/films that just make things pop around the corner or jump out of closets and go BOO!!. I jump a fcuking mile out of my seat, really annoys me too as its the cheapest form of "scary"

Its much harder to freak people out with atmosphere and weirdness. Anyone can make a game where its dark and creepy and then something big and loud flys at the screen. Gets me every time and then just pisses me off.

Dacelonid

For me it has to be Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines. The part where you have to go to the Haunted House. Everytime I play it, it always sends a shiver down my spine. There is something so well done in that mission that it really does unsettle you (or me anyway). I can't play that mission if it is anyway dark at all.

L31mr0d

Vegeta wrote: »

Its much harder to freak people out with atmosphere and weirdness. Anyone can make a game where its dark and creepy and then something big and loud flys at the screen. Gets me every time and then just pisses me off.

You shouldn't play FEAR then It has its moments where things jump out at you. But most of the time its the atmosphere and noise that keeps you on edge. This is what I found with Extraction Point, it never let up. If it wasn't making things jump out at you, it was making doors creak or lights flicker. There where some bits where I nearly screamed out loud. Like you'd be looking through the broken glass of a door peering at something in the distance then suddenly something would stand up in front of the door right in front of you. I think I wasted most of my ammo just shooting at shadows

um7y1h83ge06nx

Condemned - great atmosphere and definitely a few jumps.

Silent Hill - need we say more.

faceman

Yeah silent hill gets my vote, the second game on the PS2 being the most enjoyable for me.

Silenceisbliss

silent hill freekiest thing ever, playes it years ago when i was only like 9 or 10 or summthin in the middle of the night....disturbed me for a while after.

condemned criminal origins and FEAR both for the same reasons as L31mr0d said, just the general eeriness of the atmosphere with subtle creepy sounds or a light flicker. keeps u on the edge of ur seat for the majority of the game

this game also seems to have freeked a certain kid a little http://youtube.com/watch?v=QHWXf1xyFBs

Retr0gamer

The best for me was Silent Hill 2. No 'boo' moments as such but just a thoroughly disturbing and depressing experience the whole way through.

Steez

First with the Thief 3 at the Cradle Level!

One game that spring to mind for me is Condemned, but it's the jumpy sort of scares as has been mentioned.
I second the playing Silent Hill stoned, not a pleasant experience.

Rhyme

Silent Hill 2 takes the cake and cutlery for me. First play through was the worst though... creeping through the dark hospital equipped with the pipe, turn a corner and the flashlight illuminates a nurse with her arm raised. I fell over with a scream.

Can't find my copy at the moment but i used to play it with people who'd never played it before... they usually crack when one of the torsos scuttle out from under a car or pop up from behind the mannequin in the apartment block.

Amazing game, the tension built up, the sound, the set pieces... everything is a masterpiece.

rgiller

This is the one that got me:

[HTML]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oh87njiWTmw[/HTML]

Anyone else play it?

D'oh just noticed the link above

bizmark

Dacelonid wrote: »

For me it has to be Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines. The part where you have to go to the Haunted House. Everytime I play it, it always sends a shiver down my spine. There is something so well done in that mission that it really does unsettle you (or me anyway). I can't play that mission if it is anyway dark at all.

Yep a truely excellent mission only game that has ever scared me

hotnipples

The original Resident Evil. Silent Hill 1 and 2. Aliens vs Predator. Probably loads of others but I cant remember them at the minute.

Now as to WHY they scared me like a little pre pubescent girl.

Resident Evil, well.. mainly because I was a little pre pubescent boy when I played it I guess. Sure it was released in ehh umm.. open new tab, en.wikipedia.org.. '96! Which makes me.. young, when I first played it. I remember the first cut scene that introduces the first zombie making me drop an S-bomb in my pants fairly rapidly. The huge tarantulas put the ****s up me aswell. The main thing that made it so scary was the atmosphere I suppose, the fixed camera angles helped alot in building tension.

Silent Hills now I cannot blame being young for, as i've played them fairly recently but this really is a more mature kind of horror. The second game IMO was better because it had Pyramid Head, what a ****ing unreal horror character. So strange, almost ridiculous looking, but yet so ****ing scary! The main thing Silent Hill can thank for it being so unsettling and scary is the sound effects. The music when you are landed in a gun fight with mutated freaks is an insane loud orchestra straight from hell and it does a great job keeping you scared, and it really needs this.. because the combat is less than exciting and without the music and sound effects, the game wouldn't have been half as creepy. But I guess you can say this about every game.

Aliens Vs Predator, I can thank the experience had watching the first two movies for boosting the fear I experienced playing the game. What a job they did making the marine section of this, just like the second film, i was amazed! I had a fear of Face-huggers from the films, and in the game they were very small and hard to see in the dark and caused you instant death. I remember soiling my pants and the general seating area I was in a number of times.

meh

Naikon

For a half life 1 mod, Afraid of monsters: Directors cut is very atmospheric.
Play it on hard and you will see how crazy this mod is in terms of difficulty
and just plain weirdness.

This is one of the best half life mods I have come across.
I am not kidding when I say this is much "scarier" than the likes of F.E.A.R.
The graphics look a bit dated, but the atmosphere and enemies make up for this shortcoming.

F.E.A.R is simply a pure action game in comparison to this.
This, and the cradle level of thief are only games that ever really freaked me out somewhat.
I seriously recommend this for a great scare:D


http://mods.moddb.com/7579/afraid-of-monsters-dc/

NunianVonFuch

Some really good games called out already; Vampire, FEAR, Resi, Silent Hill, AvP.

First game ever to really scare me was Aliens on the Commodore. More because of my age than anything else but it was a FPS where you could look around the room but only move from room to room. There was a scuttling noise when the facehuggers were there and like in AvP it was instant death if they got to you!

Actual good scary games - how about the first half-life? Probably due to mental scarring from Aliens those facehuggers in the dark vents scared the crap out of me! Half-Life 2 would be up there as well. Ravenholm level.
Resi 4. The panic the game makes you feel as these vicious villagers overwhelm you is unsurpassed.

Condemned didn't really scare me until the last level as up til then it was always a bum hidden behind the wall who leaps out and hits you in the face. Last level was quite scary especially the boss.

Clive Barker's Undying was horror gold. Atmosphere, jump shocks, terrifying creatures, brilliant game.

Never played through all of it but System Shock 2 was pretty freaky as well.

Didn't finish Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem on the gamecube but the insanity system in that was genius, really had me freaking out especially when some of the stuff happened at the same time - like hearing the voices of the kids laughing whilst my characters head got lopped off. Freaky frightening stuff, that game was hard to play through.

Maximilian

Steez wrote: »

First with the Thief 3 at the Cradle Level!

Beat me to it!

/Endorsed

magick

Clive Barkers Undying

DemocAnarchis

I'd second System Shock 2, freaked me out playing in a dark room with the sound up in an empty house. Was shaking so bad I had to just turn off the computer several times! Havent played anything else that comes close.

Krieg

Maximilian wrote: »

Beat me to it!

/Endorsed

And me

That cradle level is the only time I actually thought a game was scary
So relieved when the level was complete

Jack Sheehan

In condemmned, the locker......

muppetkiller

Playing Clive Barkers Jericho at the moment and while it's very linear and scripted ,the enemy characters have to be seen to be believed...they seriously sick lol very Hellraiser like in design..

AntiVirus

Doom 3 for me

super_furry

Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth on the Xbox. It's probably the most criminally overlocked game of the last generation but is thankfully backwards compatable with the 360. It's makes a real effort to do something different with the FPS genre and is genuinely creepy.

grimm2005

magick wrote: »

Clive Barkers Undying

i second that. that weird green stone thing you had and when it glows and you use it something in the scene changes was very disturbing. like you're in a perfectly normal room and then you use it and suddenly there are splatters of blood on the bed/wall and u can hear a baby crying in the background

MOH

NunianVonFuch wrote: »

Half-Life 2 would be up there as well. Ravenholm level.

Agree with Ravenholm alright. And there was a zombie mod (They Hunger I think) for the orignal half life which was pretty good.

One bit of Max Payne freaked me out, the dream bits where you're walking those narrow pathways, with the baby screaming.

System Shock 2, the bits where you know something's going to happen but it doesn't. And then it does. A couple of bits of Bioshock are the same - first time I met a spider splicer.

Sarky

Good to see the CoC Dark Corners endorsement. Stonking great bucketloads of atmosphere and tension, the insanity mechanic did its job really well. Shame the actual shooty sections were so pants, although any game that has you get to the 33% mark without even a crowbar has the right idea about horror. And yay Undying, very VERY cool. Even today it gets under my skin at some points.

Gingervitis

Speaking of scary games, I'm sure this might get its own thread, but check this out: a 19 minute trailer of...
http://www.gamespot.com/video/932145/6182124/project-origin-official-movie-1
Project Origin, the unofficial sequel to F.E.A.R. !! It doesn't have the same name because of publishing rights, but it's the same developer, so pack a second pair of shorts!

Genghiz Cohen

I played Resi evil when I was like 9/10, got as far as the first dogs, havn't played a RE game since.
F.E.A.R. was very good, loved it, Extraction Point was much scarier though, lets hope the keep it up through F.E.A.R. 2!

L31mr0d

Gingervitis wrote: »

Project Origin, the unofficial sequel to F.E.A.R. !! It doesn't have the same name because of publishing rights, but it's the same developer, so pack a second pair of shorts!

can't wait for this... and the new expansion pack... 2 developers making 2 versions of the same game means twice the scares lol that video reminded me of when I was playing and i'd hear a box fall over and unload a clip into the darkness.

mcgovern

+1 on a few that were already said.

Doom3, I remember playing this when I was out of work with a broken arm when it came out. I remember trying not to jump as everytime I did it hurt like hell, but no way of stopping it
Also played HL 2 at the same time and even Ravenholm did nothing for me.

Condemnded and FEAR also great, Condemnded more so.

0ubliette

I found FEAR to be about as terrifying as an episode of the teletubbies.
Project zero 2: scariest game ever. Possibly tied for first place with SH2. But PZ2's ending just blew my ****ing bollocks off. Couldnt actually believe what i was seeing. Unforgettable game, and one that literally scared me so much i had to force myself to stop playing it. :eek:

L31mr0d

0ubliette wrote: »

I found FEAR to be about as terrifying as an episode of the teletubbies.

The teletubbies are pretty scary alright have you played the expansion? The original game FEAR was more just things jumping out at you. But the expansion built a lot more on the tension and gave you a sense of paranoia that you where seeing things. Although looking at PZ2 screens just there, it does look pretty freaky

EDIT: Just watched both endings of PZ2 on youtube... they both suck, what exactly happened that you couldn't believe?

Cravez

Dacelonid wrote: »

For me it has to be Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines. The part where you have to go to the Haunted House. Everytime I play it, it always sends a shiver down my spine. There is something so well done in that mission that it really does unsettle you (or me anyway). I can't play that mission if it is anyway dark at all.

I know what you mean, the ghost girl that appears across the landing was freaky! Other games that iv found scary/disturbing were System Shock 2, Condemned, Silent Hill 1 & 2 and Forbidden Siren(when you get caught and the zombies are looking for you, you can see through their eyes)

Sephiroth_dude

Fear scared the bejesus out of me :eek:the little girl is freaky:o and those stealth dudes coming outta nowhere also scared the bejusus out of me,I can't wait to play excaction point Have'nt even finished the first one yet though

NunianVonFuch

super_furry wrote: »

Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth on the Xbox. It's probably the most criminally overloaked game of the last generation but is thankfully backwards compatable with the 360. It's makes a real effort to do something different with the FPS genre and is genuinely creepy.

The escape across the rooftops, the epic ship battle, even the first entrance to the town oozed atmosphere from every pore. I had it on the pc and loved it. It sucked to go crazy though, shame you didn't shoot wildly first before capping yourself. The game single-handedly turned my passing fancy for Lovecraft into a full blown obsession.

Dr Bob

magick wrote: »

Clive Barkers Undying

Maybe , but the main characters "Oirish" accent was the scariest thing in that!
Scary stuff:
System Shock 2(more creepy dread than sudden scares)
Resi 2 (theres a bit where zombies attack on a loading screen which was defitely a jumpy moment)
Rescue on Fractalus: the first time one of the "pilots" you're rescuing turns out to be an alien and jumps onto the front of the ship to smash the windscreen, Its brown trousers time , especially if you were a 12 year old luas_dublin who hadnt read the manual.

0ubliette

L31mr0d wrote: »

The teletubbies are pretty scary alright have you played the expansion? The original game FEAR was more just things jumping out at you. But the expansion built a lot more on the tension and gave you a sense of paranoia that you where seeing things. Although looking at PZ2 screens just there, it does look pretty freaky

EDIT: Just watched both endings of PZ2 on youtube... they both suck, what exactly happened that you couldn't believe?

What the?!?
you just watched the end without playing the game?? Of course thats going to suck! Would you watch the end of a movie without knowing the story/charachters and go 'that film sucked!'?
Congrats, you just ruined the excellent story of PZ2 for yourself

EDIT

basically you spend the entire game hunting for you lost sister mafyu, only to end up stranglign her to death in the ritual at the end of the game..sounds crap on paper but after spending 10 hours getting the crap scared out of you trying to find her and uncovering the whole back story of the sister, only to wind up killing your own sister, was a complete and total switcheroo i never saw coming

L31mr0d

0ubliette wrote: »

What the?!?
you just watched the end without playing the game?? Of course thats going to suck! Would you watch the end of a movie without knowing the story/charachters and go 'that film sucked!'?
Congrats, you just ruined the excellent story of PZ2 for yourself

ah i'm never going to play it. Not a console gamer. I wasn't saying the whole game was crap, I was just expecting something that was more VISUALLY scary, it would probably be more scary building up to the ending than the actual ending itself.

Although I will agree, watching it on youtube takes a lot of the scare out of it. This is the scene in extraction point that I nearly shat myself watching. Although it seems not as bad watching it now compared to when it happened. WARNING: WILL SPOIL FEAR:Extraction Point for those who haven't played it

The reason it was so scary is that you had been working alongside Holiday for a good while then all of a sudden he just dies and all his bones get broken

http://youtube.com/watch?v=lUYebcJJgWM

Fnz

0ubliette wrote: »

PZ2's ending just blew my ****ing bollocks off. Couldnt actually believe what i was seeing.

Yeah, great ending/story... it stays with you. I like the type of horror in the game, the atmosphere.

CiDeRmAn

Like everyone else, Silent Hill 2 alone at night was just about the scariest thing ever, closely followed by Eternal Darkness on the GC.
I found Doom 3 made me jump quite a bit as well, that feckin' torch/gun thing kept too many creatures in the dark for too long!
Alone In The Dark back in the day was pretty creepy, I had it on the 3DO and there was a memorable scene where you are in the house library and can take down a book or two, you pop one off the shelf and as you character reads the words out loud he is lifted slowly off of the floor and has his neck snapped, sends shivers down my spine even now!
Condenmed, once again, was amazing, and kept the fear cranked up, not quite Silent Hill but a close second, I can't wait for the sequel.

orangerooster

Chalk up another vote for Silent Hill and Project Zero games here. Condemned was also quite scary in parts. System Shock 2 and Undying are both also worthy of a mention.

Jack Sheehan

That bit in fear was a little too comic to be properly scary.

Maximilian

I noticed a few people mentioned the Call of Cthulu game. It wasn't a great shooter but very creepy. The insanity effects were pretty cool. Worth picking up if anyone hasn't played it.

Nevyn

Dark corners of the earth is the game. That and undying tbh are damned scarey.

Keith C

i remember playing Res evil on PS1, it was the music that made that game, groaning of zombies, and the window smashing in a quiet corrider (cant remember what jumped out) but i know what fell outta me!!!
In the mood to buy a good poo your pants horror game.
So what can people recomend for PS2?

Fnz

Keith C wrote: »

So what can people recomend for PS2?

Project Zero 2: Crimson Butterfly.

It isn't necessary to have played the prequel... different story.

Kiith

Another System Shock 2 junkie here. It skicks out in my mind as the most atmospheric and constantly creepy game ever. Spending the first half of the game trying to

get to the safety of Pollito's office, then getting there, seeing her dead body, and then Shodan lifts back the walls...i literally poo'd[/spolier].

FEAR was great too...but that comes from my irrational fear of creepy little girls. And creepy naked dead older girls...although that might not be as irrational.

AvP was also brilliant...at least the Marine part was. Never before have i sprayed as many bullets as i did in that. Walking along, your motion detector starts beeping...SPRAY!!! But its only a crane swinging. Moving on, motion detector starts beeping again...SPRAY!!! No wait, only a door closing. Moving on again, motion detector starts beeping...wait for it...wait for it...Aliens all over the place, and i've no ammo left

Retr0gamer

Operation Flashpoint:

Not a traditionally scary game but had more genuinely scary moments than most survival horrors when playing as a grunt. Being the only one left in your squad while having to traverse from one end of the island to the other through enemy infested woods with lynx attack choppers scanning the surroundings over head was terrifying. Also after clearing out an enemy location only to hear tanks coming from miles off and getting the order to leg it from them. The one save per mission also helped the tension like it did in the first AvsP.

Creamy Goodness

took 17 posts for someone to mention system shock 2.

i still have nightmeres in which xeres is part of. and hell i didn't even play the game, i just watched it being played.