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Come and share you tales of horror and fear!


I'm not normally one to play such games so my story comes from an unlikely source - Black and White - the original game!
See way back then they introduced a neat feature which was that if you entered a valid name into your player name for the game, then whenever one of your people would die (old age etc...) the game would whisper your name on audio.

Now I had no idea of this feature and at first it creeped the heck out of me trying to see who was whispering at me! It was quiet and unexpected enough (and appeared to happen at random) that I didn't notice it was the game for a while. It sent a shiver down my spine and had me glaring and staring at the door to my room for ages (I'm on the 2nd floor - 3rd for USA peoples - so it was only that one door one could get to the room from*). Eventually I noticed it was the game whispering through the speakers at me and I found out about the feature - but darn that was scary.






*Foolishly I have no heeded the lessons of the Mentats from Dune and my desk, even to this day, still does not face the door!

For my friend's 11th birthday (IIRC) his mum rented a PS1 from Blockbuster for the weekend. One of the games we got with it was Resident Evil. Being his birthday, naturally he got first dibs.

There's a part of the game where you have to come back down a corridor you've already been down a few times, the first time there's a zombie in there but after that, nothing. So there he is nonchalantly wandering down a corridor we all thought was safe when a [Expletive Deleted] great big Licker comes crashing through a window at him, all slavering jaws and exposed musculature.

All five of us noticeably jumped and all five of us squealed like pigs on a honeymoon. I thought I had [Expletive Deleted] myself.

No game has frightened me like that since and I still love RE for it.

Treating “horror” as an encounter with something that warps or disturbs your acceptance of reality...

My first run through BioShock. There’s a splicer, cooing and crying into a baby stroller. I knew that there wasn’t a *live* baby in the stroller. I knew it. But listening to the splicer go on about it? My skin effin’ crawled right off my body. There were a few good *horror* elements to that game, and a few good jump scares too.

I also remember the first licker from RE1. That was a great jump-scare.

Dragon Age Origins isn't good for much, but it pinned down creepy-as-hell body horror pretty well, though the extended rape as fact-of-life was unwelcome.

Though the bonus content with the golems and the crazed paragon and what kind of deals she was willing to make made for chilling narration...

There was a game cube game that literally blue screened at a certain point. It was part of the game. The blue screen was meant to trick players and scare them.

Probably the most effective freak out in any game ever.

I think it was Geist?

 Excommunicatus wrote:
For my friend's 11th birthday (IIRC) his mum rented a PS1 from Blockbuster for the weekend. One of the games we got with it was Resident Evil. Being his birthday, naturally he got first dibs.

There's a part of the game where you have to come back down a corridor you've already been down a few times, the first time there's a zombie in there but after that, nothing. So there he is nonchalantly wandering down a corridor we all thought was safe when a [Expletive Deleted] great big Licker comes crashing through a window at him, all slavering jaws and exposed musculature.

All five of us noticeably jumped and all five of us squealed like pigs on a honeymoon. I thought I had [Expletive Deleted] myself.

No game has frightened me like that since and I still love RE for it.

Pretty much same experience - there were some good bits in the game for that Silent Hill the first time also had some fethed up stuff.

When playing the first red dead me and a few friends had been fannying around in that fort in Mexico and killing people and then eventually everyone left and me and one other guy were in Tall Trees. And we both had turtlebeach surround sound headphones on. And it was late on at night and we had been silent for a while just chatting on and off. And I was out hunting in a big forest, crouching around. Really enjoying the sound of the trees and the snow and birds chirping you know. And in the total calming silence I hear like a little farting sound. Really really quietly. And I'm like what the hell is that. And I'm looking around, can't see anything my mate has been silent for a good half an hour now. And I hear it again, and it's definitely game audio rather than chat and I'm so confused because it's just this really gentle parping noise from somewhere in this goddamn forest. This goes on for maybe 10 minutes and I'm straining my ears and my whole mind is totally focused on finding out this damn noise. AND THEN all of a sudden this goddamn REEEEEEE noise and a boar comes slamming out of the bushes and knocks me over at a full charge. And I utterly cack my pants, I properly yell out in surprise and my mate who had been totally silent this whole time screams as well because he was in the same area just chilling out on his phone or something and just has my full throated scream of horror at this idiot boar knocking me flat.
This was maybe 6 years ago now or something? Maybe even more depends on when rdr came out but to this day we still discuss the "Boar Incident" which changed our lives forever.

That was pure fear in a game simply because it wasn't a horror game or anything, there was no rhyme or reason to it. Just pant warming panic.

F.E.A.R. played with the lights off and headphones on. First time you slide down a ladder, just as you turn around the little girl is right in you face, then gone. Damn that was scary the first time.

Thief III. Shalebridge Cradle.

Alien Isolation. I'm not big on horror games, but this is an exception. For me for the longest time the scariest part of the game was right after you first properly "met" the Xenomorph and you had to get to medical, which was through a long corridor with a bend and no places to hide except for a supply room at the start. At this stage you were being actively hunted as well and it took me forever to build up the courage to move on, as you could constantly hear that thing thudding through the ducts, the corridor, entering the supply room, searching.

There's also the haunted hotel from Vampire the Masquerade Bloodlines, which was pretty run of the mill until someone whispered "He's coming!" and you catch a glimpse of a guy with an axe.

 Henry wrote:
F.E.A.R. played with the lights off and headphones on. First time you slide down a ladder, just as you turn around the little girl is right in you face, then gone. Damn that was scary the first time.

The expansion to F.E.A.R. has the scariest moment for me.

At one point you're running around with a squadmate and you're constantly thinking "yeah, you're going to die horribly, any minute now..."

He doesn't. He sticks around for a while, getting the job done and you're constantly thinking "yeah, you're going to die horribly, any minute now..."

You split up after a while to do stuff and you think "yeah, well it was nice knowing you, dude..."

Off camera sounds of carnage à la Hudson in Aliens and you're thinking "yep, knew it!"

Then, the jammy so and so meets up with you after all of the carnage and you think "oh my god! I did not expect that! Nice job, dude!"

Just as some invisible force grabs him by the waist from behind and yanks him suddenly through a window. Sounds of screaming and death...

Half of the screaming seemed to be coming from me!

Alien Trilogy PS1.

There were some corridors I really, really, didn't want to go down. Like most things very tame now.

Not so much of an adrenaline rush, but for the fear of wasting hrs of gametime having Napolean, or worse Gandhi, declaring 'Our words are backed with nuclear weapons' when you've only just discovered flight in the original Civilization...

For what little time it was released, P.T. definitely gave me some of the creepiest moments in gaming that I've experienced. Initially, you're curious about the hallway you go through, parcelling through the pictures, the phone and the clock. By the time you've gone through the same hallway and it becomes more and more decrepit, you start to dread going through the door each time and it freaked me out each time I saw Lisa staring at me at the top of the second floor.

Until Dawn was also another legitimately scary game, less from the Wendigo parts and more from the early parts with the Psycho you deal with, especially when you're alone as Sam after having taken a shower.

Pretty much the entirety of Dead Space 1 for me and some of Dead Space 2.

Game that made my heart jump outside my chest, oddly, was Doom 3. There's a part, later in the game, when one of the spider heads leaps out from behind a computer screen. It was in the middle of the night, naturally, and I threw myself away from the computer in my computer chair so hard I tipped over, headset shot off my head and I cried out.

One of the best experiences of my life honestly.

 LordofHats wrote:
There was a game cube game that literally blue screened at a certain point. It was part of the game. The blue screen was meant to trick players and scare them.

Probably the most effective freak out in any game ever.

I think it was Geist?

Sounds like Eternal Darkness. There were a bunch of sanity effects that broke the 4th wall. A couple that made you think your TV was on the blink and one that made you think your save game on the memory card had become corrupted. Quite an innovative game for the time.

For me, scariest games would be the usual 'jump out of nowhere' moments like RE and RE:0

Also, Shadowman on the N64 used to give me chills for some odd reason.

Probably the first two hours of Subnautica until I realized not everything was out to murder me. That is one anxiety inducing game in deep water freaks you out.

Not necessarily scary, but the new(ish) Call of Cthulhu game did excellently at slowly building a sense of dread throughout the entire game. That was fun to play through.

 Chillreaper wrote:

 Henry wrote:
F.E.A.R. played with the lights off and headphones on. First time you slide down a ladder, just as you turn around the little girl is right in you face, then gone. Damn that was scary the first time.

The expansion to F.E.A.R. has the scariest moment for me.

At one point you're running around with a squadmate and you're constantly thinking "yeah, you're going to die horribly, any minute now..."

He doesn't. He sticks around for a while, getting the job done and you're constantly thinking "yeah, you're going to die horribly, any minute now..."

You split up after a while to do stuff and you think "yeah, well it was nice knowing you, dude..."

Off camera sounds of carnage à la Hudson in Aliens and you're thinking "yep, knew it!"

Then, the jammy so and so meets up with you after all of the carnage and you think "oh my god! I did not expect that! Nice job, dude!"

Just as some invisible force grabs him by the waist from behind and yanks him suddenly through a window. Sounds of screaming and death...

Half of the screaming seemed to be coming from me!

Agreed on this,I think it left me scared for days afterwards when it happend. Such a great game!

Not really a horror game, but more of a shocker for me, was back in the original Halo, when the Flood first appeared. I thought the game was about to end, then "OMG what's killing me!!?31"

AvP2 Marine campaign would always end up with me backed into a corner with my pulse rifle watching the round counter get lower and lower. It became less like an ammo count and more like a “this is how close you are to death” clock.

Also Alien Isolation. I still haven’t been able to finish it, or play for more than 20 minutes at a time.

Crows... F those damn crows........

100 internets to anyone who knows what i mean

Mine is the hotel basement in Vampire Bloodlines. I cannot recommend that game enough.

 Formosa wrote:
Crows... F those damn crows........

100 internets to anyone who knows what i mean

RE2?

AvP1 definitely. Many a jump scare in that playing as the marine - especially early when you werent quite sure of your capabilities or the game engine.
Playing as the alien was quite scary too because your like a baby xenomorph and even security guards could shoot you down. Put a nice flip side on the invincible xenomoprh angle early on.

Amnesia Dark Descent was quite creepy - I wouldnt say scary per say but unsettling, nervy, grim. Especially when you first encountered the creatures, you just knew they were shambling after you into a dark corner.

For edge of the seat adrenaline scares definitely doom4 - when those extra waves start dropping in, it gets really really manic.

Another very creepy bit in a game was Max Payne 1 when Max retreats into the dream sequences in his old apartment, the crib, the babies crying, the distorted walls. Very creepy/trippy.

Dead Space series get a mention for jump scares/unsettling feel to it.

As does System Shock 2 when you first encounter the walking zombie type guys. Armed with a wrench.....

I'm not sure this really counts, but the first time in FO4 a Feral came crawling through a window in a supermarket gave me a nasty jump scare.
Actually, the Dunwich building in FO3 was pretty creepy as well - and the Point lookout DLC was pretty much all nightmare fuel. And Dead money in FONV varied between scary and infuriating...

I don't play a lot of horror-heavy games, so I'm a bit limited in scope, but I have seen gameplay of Alien Isolation and just went "nope" - that's a load of stress I don't need! Game over man, game over!

Just Monika.


OK.

 Dreadwinter wrote:
Probably the first two hours of Subnautica until I realized not everything was out to murder me. That is one anxiety inducing game in deep water freaks you out.

Getting your sub shaken to bits when 800m down, and having to swim for air as the huge thing roars as it chases you....

Resident Evil 1 Dog window scare always makes me shift uncomfortably when I remember how a young me cried and threw the PS1 controller AT the PS1.

Now days the scariest thing in gaming is the price unlocking everything will cost you money wise. And I thought Warhammer was an expensive hobby...

Normally I am not a fan of horror at all. Jumpscares in particular, I dislike them so much it's driven me away from the entire genre.

That said, the original Amnesia is one of my favourite games of all time. That one stationary monster that never goes away and you have to distract to get past - and who then begins to chase you when it realises it's been tricked - always makes me shaky.

And the Choir area is just pure terror. It's easy to get lost, there are nasty monsters wandering everywhere, and the game's unsettling main theme being played there really sells it as the climax of the game in terms of game play.

By now I have played Amnesia so much I know it inside out. I know exactly where and when each monster spawns, where each item is, and where best to hide. And the game still creeps me out. It's an indie masterpiece. It's like knowing all the script makes it even worse because it makes me afraid of triggering it!

I watch a ton of horror movies, so I'm not very easily startled or scared, but I loved Dead Space 2, Evil Within 2, and Alien: Isolation.

The latter is a bit surprising for me, I tend to hate sneaky games, and I also tend to hate games where you're helpless to fight your enemies (e.g. Amnesia), but I was shocked how much fun it was.