Silent Hill 2 deservedly gets lauded as the greatest horror video game of all time, and still has no equal when it comes to creating a dark, haunting atmosphere that doesn't need to rely on gore or jump scares to have an impact. This tone is established right near the start of the game, when you enter the claustraphobic Wood Side Apartments. The place is filled with disturbing, twitching Straight Jacket enemies and dark, rotting rooms. Yet just as you're getting used to running around the unlit corridors - solving puzzles and clubbing the occasional Straight Jacket to death - you reach some bars at the end of one corridor, on the other side of which you see the red-lit figure of Pyramid Head - the surreal, mute and horrifying figure that stalks you throughout the rest of the game. What's so unsettling is that it doesn't do anything, just stands there watching you. Despite that, you don't want to turn around lest it shish-kebabs you on that human-sized blade. The scene - threatening something awful and torturing you by not following through with it - is not only deeply disturbing in itself, but also a neat embodiment of the game's themes of guilt, grief and loss. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U4k1Ex9VfW0 What old school gaming moment still terrifies you to this day? Let us know in the comments!
Gamer, Researcher of strange things.
I'm a writer-editor hybrid whose writings on video games, technology and movies can be found across the internet. I've even ventured into the realm of current affairs on occasion but, unable to face reality, have retreated into expatiating on things on screens instead.
