10 Scariest Horror Video Games Of The 90s - Ranked

Silent Hill makes it to the top spot on this list, not because it's necessarily the best game of all, but simply because it managed to craft an incredible atmosphere of fear and dread with a masterful use of sound and stunning level design, elevating the survival horror genre away from a reliance on gore and B-movie dialogue to something more psychological and unnerving.

The game's combat system was intentionally difficult to control, with protagonist Harry Mason representing an everyman kind of character without the sort of military training and shooting expertise afforded to heroes of other franchises. This only added to the tension, making the player feel powerless in the face of increasingly overwhelming enemies, forced to flee and use the in-game radio to detect foes in advance and avoid them at all costs.

The foggy, snowy setting of the town, along with purposefully obscure camera angles, hideous sound effects, long periods of eerie silence, and a stunning soundtrack all combined to make Silent Hill one of the most terrifying video game experiences of all time and the scariest game of the 90s.