Gaming offers many things to the player. Escape, relaxation, or just a means by which to painlessly dispense of a rainy Sunday. Sometimes though, we’re looking for something a bit more engaging; something that we can truly label an ‘experience’. By experience, I mean something which alters the mood, whether that be from bored to awed or – as this article examines – from relaxed to terrified.
There’s something about horror in gaming that makes it potentially scarier than horror in any other medium for me. It’s because we’re usually assuming the role of the character the horror is being committed on; if Leon is sliced in half in Resident Evil 4 by a crazed villager with a chainsaw, for a split second, until the illusion is shattered by that game over screen, that’s us taking the blade to the chest.
Sometimes you’ll come across a terrifying moment in a video game that sticks with you for the rest of your life. It’s not as though it’ll haunt you, affect your ability to function, but you’ll remember it from time to time and you’ll think back on how scary it was that night you played through it at 2am and had to turn your bedroom light on, just to be certain you were alone.
We had a think back on ten of these moments from gaming history. They’re not all pulled from horror games though – sometimes terrifying scares come when you least expect them, which is probably what makes them so effective.
So without further chatter, get ready to relive those moments in gaming that terrified us most.
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10 Comments
Great list, coming off the MGS2 idea, the whole of Eternal Darkness was like that, not “aaaah i’m going to have nightmares” scary, but “oh crap the game has broken” kind of scary. Blue screen of Death and save game corruption was particularly harsh.
Glad Condemned was in there. It really is the scariest game ever made and always gets left off “scary game” lists for some reason.
Most of Condemned was pretty scary, and the sequel (except for one part) was a let down.
That one part however is WELL worth being put on this list. If you haven’t played it, youtube for “Condemned 2 Bear” and you’ll probably find the chase.
In that particular part of the game you had been going through some snow filled woods and there were signs that a special forces team had been ripped to shreds by something, you finally come across a cabin and get to the main entrance of it when the doors burst open and the biggest grizzly is tearing in after you, what follows was f***ing scary.
Oh and Aliens on the Spectrum… that was scary stuff.
I honestly think that one massive moment of gaming genius is missing from this list… In Amnesia: The Dark Descent there is a set-piece when you have to run from an invisible creature that is chasing you through a flooded cellar while closing doors behind you to try slow it’s unrelenting progress toward you. In my mind this was by far the most terrifying moment in gaming history.
I remember playing through the first silent hill in pretty much 1 sitting. then having to walk home around 4am next to a graveyard, whilst stoned off my tits. that was pretty freaky :) never got around to playing #2
2 does you even worse mate. It was the best of the series to date imho.
The first time you run into the Mind Flayers in Demon’s Souls would make my list. Those guys were creepy as hell. That whole section of the game was.
yeah tht was scary
That bit in MGS2 made me turn it off. I was tired it was getting late, I had school in the morning. I absolutely cacked myself…
The next day it was light outside when I played it and I was relaxed… how I laughed in it’s face. Haha you didn’t really scare me…. Honest…
Agree on Condemned and Amnesiam y top 1 though is SH1, the frigging cat in the locker, biggest jump ever. Still you can tell age in the ranking and post, since the first most scare to death game was Alone in the dark, now only watching the graphics will make your eye bleed, but if you played in the 90′s, pitch black night alone with your 256 ram mammoth PC, you’ll know what im talking about.