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I would have totally played Eternal Darkness, but that generation I went for the PS2. So I did get the Silent Hills, which weren't too shabby.

Also I agree on the AVP point. Anything with xenomorphs is off to a good start...unless it's Alien 3 & 4

Resident Evil 0.

Big Scary Mansion with undead guys trying to kill you and only enough ammo in game to permenantly kill around a third of them?

Yikes.

Iranna.

Resident evil 4 was pretty freaky in a dark basement.

I second System Shock 2 and Undying.

The crew-turned-zombies by the Many freaked me out in SS2. They would come at you and say things like, "I'm sorry!" and "Kill me!". And if they didn't detect the player they'd say stuff like "It's Song is not our Song ..." and "We we we we we we ... wait, is there another?" Creepy.

And I loved the evil siblings in undying. Disgusting and creepy, my favorite combination.

I definitely want to play Amnesia when I can, that game sounds like fun. Still haven't played Dead Space 1 or all of Resident Evil 1.

Splatterhouse.

Not even kidding. On a Gens, I literally crapped, pissed, and ran out the room crying when I was 6.

Then Thief: Deadly Shadows freaked me out with the haunted galleon.

When I was 2, Pac-Man terrified me.

I find the lack of Fatal Frame being mentioned in this thread disturbing.

I try a lot to play these horror games but not able to they frighten me a lot.I generally like to play racing stuff like Car games and bike games.

Dead Space 2

Just so fething startling.

They got like baby music playing, and then you walk on like an airport walkway, and what you thought was a dead Necormorph, is now screaming and running at you.

I have a heart attack at least every 5 minutes in that game.

My problem with Dead Space is that it relies on the jump scare. Anyone would be startled by a horrible mutant jumping out of a closet, but it's a cheap scare.

I think because ultimately when you are armed you feel more encouraged to charge out and shoot em up. Any feelings against such gung ho actions stems usually not from fear but annoyance with having to deal with death in a game.

That and having to deal with ammo usually reveal the inherent "gameness" of the game, which then reminds you it's just a bunch of code and all of a sudden not so frightening.

At least it's not like FEAR 3 where you have actual points.To be scary a game needs to mask the fact it's a game as much as possible, having points is the exact opposite since its perhaps the most game like thing you can include.

asimo77 wrote:My problem with Dead Space is that it relies on the jump scare. Anyone would be startled by a horrible mutant jumping out of a closet, but it's a cheap scare.

I think because ultimately when you are armed you feel more encouraged to charge out and shoot em up. Any feelings against such gung ho actions stems usually not from fear but annoyance with having to deal with death in a game.

That and having to deal with ammo usually reveal the inherent "gameness" of the game, which then reminds you it's just a bunch of code and all of a sudden not so frightening.

At least it's not like FEAR 3 where you have actual points.To be scary a game needs to mask the fact it's a game as much as possible, having points is the exact opposite since its perhaps the most game like thing you can include.

I don't think it's possible to mask the fact that a game is a game. You are always aware that you are playing a videogame, no matter the amount of realism inherent in the system. Certain aspects of gameplay add different dynamics to a horror game which may serve to enhance emotional impact. Silent Hill 4 is a wonderful example of a game embracing it's own form of expression to instill emotion in the player. Eternal Darkness is a great example as well.

Of course, hyper realism is one way to make a game terrifying, but it's not the only way.

Anyway, I'm a huge fan of the Silent Hill series, despite the fact that they aren't particularly fun to play by today's standards (and the voice acting wasn't even decent until Homecoming). I invest more time thinking about them than playing them, as the depth found therein is unrivaled. Metaphors are abound, poeticism and theatrical irony is apparent everywhere, and the series leaves loose ends for the fanbase to tie together themselves. The visual design is also brilliant, and Team Silent's knowledge of psychology is very apparent.

Dead space was less of a jumps scare for me; the atmosphere is what makes it creepy and awesome.

GalacticDefender wrote:Dead space was less of a jumps scare for me; the atmosphere is what makes it creepy and awesome.

Yeah, I think the only Jump Scare that got me was that freakin TV in the beginning of the second game.

Got me like three times, pathetically enough...