10 MORE Scariest Levels In Non-Horror Video Games

7. Vault 112/Tranquility Lane - Fallout 3

This whole list could have been Fallout. Every incarnation of the post-apocalyptic RPG franchise sneaks in some horror, all the way back to 1997 and Fallout 1’s nightmarish Master. Any New Vegas fans out there? Have a quick jolt of unnecessary adrenaline:

GAAAAAAARY!

Seriously. Messed up.

Top of the heap is Tranquility Lane. Fallout’s best point has always been its quirky 50s vibe, furnishing sharp satire of the failings of that time and our own. Fallout 3’s Vault 112 actually takes us there via the titular VR suburb. Tranquility Lane’s horror isn’t just set in the 1950s, it’s told in a 1950s idiom: it could have come straight out of EC Comics or “The Twilight Zone.” Indeed, the classic TZ episode “It’s a Good Life,” with ordinary Americans trapped by the whims of a godlike child, is a clear influence, but Tranquility Lane delivers a dark denouement all its own.

Better yet, it involves the player in the horror in a way TV never could. When Betty’s evil games begin, the game ingeniously lampshades its own heavy-handed “Karma” mechanic, forcing the player to endanger not just innocent NPC lives, but their own precious character build!

The horror.