7. Aliens VS. Predator (1999)
In space, no one can hear you scream. In your bedroom, late at night with the lights turned off and your headphones on, everyone can hear you scream while playing Aliens VS. Predator. Is the original PC version of AVP the scariest game ever? I don't know - we're all scared by different things. But its capacity to keep scaring you time and again is second to none. It can still create instant pants fudge in the hardiest of gamers. And how it achieves this is actually simple. Random enemy placement. Sure you could play as an alien or predator in Alien VS. Predator, but most gamers wanted to be a Colonial Marine. And boy howdy, did the original AVP deliver on making you feel like the disposable cannon fodder that is a Colonial Marine. The gang over at Rebellion understood that aliens are wily bastards. To recreate the claustrophobia and terror of the Alien movies, they wisely decided that each attempt through one of AVP's levels should be a unique experience. Rooms that were empty before become a slaughterhouse on subsequent attempts. No matter how many times you play it, the experience usually turns out the same. You enter the next room full of vents and dark corners. Your motion tracker starts to ping, but the room appears empty. You throw down a flare, illuminating the room. The room IS empty, but the tracker beeps faster and faster. You decide to just get the hell out of there - when behind you, you hear a shriek. You turn around to see an alien charging you. You let out a shriek of your own and fire, regardless of the fact that the alien is close enough to rain heavily acidic carnage all over your person, which eats through your preciously fragile skin. You'd probably stress over your ever-dwindling health and frayed nerves more if facehugger didn't just come out of nowhere and hug the ever-loving crap out of your face. AVP is one of the newer games on this list. The original version does its best impression of John Hurt having an alien burst out of his chest on modern PCs. But the Steam release works just fine. It's cheap and it will scare the hell out of you. What else do you need?