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Best Scary Games

Major Britten

By Major Britten,
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Geo

Geo

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I make it my mission to avoid scary games (thus saving the world from hearing me screaming like a little girl) but that bit in Half Life 2 when you had to go through some tunnel on the coast with all the cars piled up and then zombies started coming at you, that had me hiding behind my chair.

Also, the bit in Resi 4 with the big grey moaning shuffling bastards(can't remember their name), that freaked me out too (moreso than my girlfriend who was sitting right next to me).

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Wiper

Wiper

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Take all of them add them together, and they still won't be as scary as System Shock 2

For sheer atmosphere, perhaps System Shock 1 is even better, but it is let down graphically.

System Shock 2.

Agreed.  A terrifying game.

Systemshock 2 wins by a country mile.

All these people are correct. No games come close to the System Shock titles.

Okay, other games have stopped me playing them because I've been too scared, (Fatal Frame, for example), but no other games have forced me to stop because I've been certain that were I to carry on I'd suffer from a heart attack.

And Eternal Darkness isn't frightening at all. Resident Evil manages to be scarier, even.

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sandman

sandman

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Clive Barkers Undying.........

Graphics are a bit dated now but the sound makes this game fantasically chilling.

You are not wrong there -shame the game is as hard as nails (well for a wimp like me at least)

As for System Shock 2 - can I get this anywhere and will it play on XP?

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Wiper

Wiper

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I found Killer7 pretty scary at times.

I don't play many scare-a-thons, but I found it scarier than System Shock 2, anyway. Just about, mind.

Really?

*adds Killer 7 to to buy but never play for fear list*

Edit: Sys Shock 2 you can probably find on eBay, not sure where else, and it needs patching but will work on XP.

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jodim

jodim

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I'm amazed that nobody has mentioned the Cradle in Thief III. It felt like a nightmare the whole way through it was just so unsettling and frightening. That moment when you've just passed through the Outer Cradle and are in the lobby of the inner cradle when you see something fleeting across your field of vision before disappearing... And opening the attic door :blink: Complete psychological mess-up fest.

Eternal Darkness had its moments too but that was more unsettling than scary. Towards the end the novelty of the console appearing to have reset etc. wore off.

At the moment I'm playing through Project Zero 2 and I can't play for more than about half an hour at a time because it makes me so tense.

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emps

emps

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System Shock 2 for me. The final vestiges of humanity in the many sees them telling you “I’m sorry,” and “run!” as they swing their chibs at you. Add that to the similar messages written with blood on the walls and the game’s already deeply rooted in your mind.

Even when they become fodder, those enemies frighten with their ramblings. The protocol droids, however. I can’t play those cargo hold sections without running everywhere in a panic. From the stories that unfold as your progress (listened to in a corner you pray a psychic monkey won’t wander into) to that brilliant twist midway through, just about everything in the game evokes a sense of terror.

Shodan’s criticisms and constant chatter is chilling.

Although, the single scariest moment I’ve ever suffered was at the hands of Clive Barker’s Undying. I was playing in a student flat, alone in my room, with headphones on, early hours of the morning. Very early on in the game I was wandering about upstairs in the mansion, I entered a child’s bedroom and started poking about with the scrye power, and I went over to the bed at the back of this rather large room. As I looked at it, I saw strange, bloody scratch marks, and the sound of children crying began playing. Nervous, I tried to look closer at the marks, I was sure I could see a pattern in them, maybe the shape of the body. Unbeknownst to me a bastard howler had entered the room and flew at me, my back turned to it. It tore into me and I let out a great, deafening scream of terror.

I didn’t play the game again for nearly two years. Partly out of shame (it seems I didn't wake anyone else in the flat up, though).

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misterSquare

misterSquare

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oh, and the AVP1 marine section too. The fact that (originally at least) you couldn't save was a masterstroke - adds a massive amount to the tension. It is absolutely terrifying, and if you can fight past that to have a long session on it (which you have to in order to progress anywhere) its fantastically atmospheric.

The entire game was done in only 256 colours too. Everything was done with coloured lighting if I remember correctly.

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edargyle

edargyle

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Eternal Darkness n the house could be considered scary by some. But in the various dungeons? Oh no my characters sinking/really small/exploding/or the place is upside down! Combine this with the God awful voice acting "oh nOooooooooooooooooo!" and the fact that most levels have absolutely no identity, just another stone corridor after stone corridor, something none of us can relate to, means it wasn't nearly as scary as it should have been.

true but it scared the hell out of me when it paused the game and deleted my save file!! an absolutely genius idea there, Had me going Nooooooooooooo until I realised I'd just been done, and done by a computer game!

Wasn't really scary apart from that.

I was very disturbed by the distant monk chanting in RES4 on my 5.1 though. Especially when the heavy breathing got louder and I turn to see a nasty axe swinging monk in my face -eeeek!

ended up having to turn the sound down cos it was a bit scary and I must be a big girl!

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emps

emps

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The very first insanity effect I experienced in Eternal Darkness was the screen disappearing. I was certain the game had disconnected, so I went over to the TV to fix it. I’m sure it came on much louder than it had been – I jumped out my skin.

But overall they weren’t implemented well enough. Too many happened when you went into another room, so you knew immediately what was happening. A lot were overused as well (I’m getting massive, the room’s getting smaller; my head’s fallen off etc.). And the fact you could so easily get your sanity back undermined the system significantly; second time I played through I purposefully didn’t finish the enemies off so I could experience more of the effects.

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Alex W.

Alex W.

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Eternal Darkness' best effects are the subtle ones. Like the footsteps following you around, apparently upstairs in the house. Or the auditory hallucinations - in surround sound they can be seriously freaky. Gets to you, but maybe not scary so much as unsetting, disturbing.

Alien Ressurection can be fairly terrifying as the aliens really are lighting fast, unstoppable killing machines. The fact that you aim with all the swiftness and elegance of a dancing washing machine just makes it more tense, because you know when they do turn up, you've got very little time to line up the shot and defend yourself.

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Garibaldi

Garibaldi

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oh, and the AVP1 marine section too. The fact that (originally at least) you couldn't save was a masterstroke - adds a massive amount to the tension. It is absolutely terrifying, and if you can fight past that to have a long session on it (which you have to in order to progress anywhere) its fantastically atmospheric.

The thing I loved about AVP's marine section was that, upon watching the film, I'd scoffed at the Marines firing in a panic all over the place. Then on playing AVP two aliens flew out at me and I proceeded to decorate every square inch of the walls and ceiling with bullet holes. :blink:

In other news, if you're going to experience SS2 for the first time then some great upgrades have come out to lessen the graphical blow.

http://shtup.home.att.net/ - Improved higher-res textures.

And, perhaps, SS2 Rebirth, although I don't like their redesigned Cyborg Nanny, they should have just made the older one more skeletal.

http://perso.wanadoo.fr/etienne.aubert/ssh...ock_rebirth.htm

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Space Renegade Ulala

Space Renegade Ulala

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The thing I loved about AVP's marine section was that, upon watching the film, I'd scoffed at the Marines firing in a panic all over the place.  Then on playing AVP two aliens flew out at me and I proceeded to decorate every square inch of the walls and ceiling with bullet holes.  :)

Pretty much exactly the same with me and the sequel - as soon as I had my first encounter with an 'alien' (really just a steam pipe and some tubing falling through the ceiling), I went fucking ballistic and emptied virtually the entire clip in the general direction while backpeddlelling frantically. Then I saw what they did there and slumped back in my chair a broken man.

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Cosmic_Guru

Cosmic_Guru

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I'm amazed that nobody has mentioned the Cradle in Thief III. It felt like a nightmare the whole way through it was just so unsettling and frightening. That moment when you've just passed through the Outer Cradle and are in the lobby of the inner cradle when you see something fleeting across your field of vision before disappearing... And opening the attic door  :) Complete psychological mess-up fest.

This gets my vote every single time. Not just creepy but downright disturbing.

And who didnt jump when they saw the second face in the mirror at the start of Fahrenheit?

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Spacehost

Spacehost

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Silent Hill will always remain a benchmark for me- the Breaker Room especially is an absolute mind-fuck of awesome levels, and it's very simple in for the bargain. And then you've got number 2 and the first time you meet Mr. McTrianglehead, number 3's room of doom, and number 4, when even your own flat starts to mess with you.

Alien: Res is surely a benchmark for endless, unrelenting fear, though- as bad as AvP was, I could at least clear a level without being so psychologically battered that I had to lie down and listen to Queen albums.

But serious, System Shock 2 on co-op- the terror in the pit of your belly as that Security Droid simply won't stop coming whilst you try to unlock the door, your buddy all the while getting hammered at; the deadly silence in the cargo holds, and that horrible Protocol Droid chatter; the realisation late into the game from comms logs that the guy your listening to doesn't stand a hope in hell of getting out without a truelly horrifying death...

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