10 Most Bizarre Video Game Mechanics (That Actually Worked)

10. Blinking - SCP: Containment Breach

I think there’s an argument to be made that SCP Containment Breach is the scariest game ever made.

Despite having graphics which haven’t aged all that well, the core horror in this free, open source 2012 spookfest is totally intact. The world is filled with various SCPs, which stands for Secure, Contain and Protect. Not all of them can be fended off by staring at them, but most are very keen to make an afternoon snack out of you. Essentially, you’re in a facility with said beasties when everything goes sideways and the inmates take over the asylum. From here on out you’re hunted by a suite of SCPs, capable of a variety of terrifying things and you’re forced to run around the facility looking for a way out. When you inevitably run into the SCPs you can keep one of them at bay Weeping Angel-style so long as you keep an eye on them.

But just like the case of Doctor Who’s iconic baddies, you do need to blink, and a constant bar trickles down to an automatic blink if you don’t do it manually.

This then takes an already horrifying game and ups the ante to almost unplayably terrifying given the last thing you want to do in a hell house is periodically lose your vision. If you’re a horror buff and haven’t tried your hand at this one yet, check with your doctor about any pre-existing heart conditions and then give it a crack.