10 Scariest Retro Video Game Moments That Still Terrify Us Today
5. The Alleyway Nightmare - Silent Hill
The opening to Silent Hill is the universal stuff of nightmares; a masterclass in video game horror, fusing sound effects, jarring camera angles, and building dread that concludes in a satisfying pay-off. The sequence is incredibly designed. The off-kilter music accrues layers slowly from a rhythmic chiming, progressively adding in a slowed-down klaxon sound, then jarring, stabbing noises that fittingly anticipate what's about to come. As you go deeper into the alley, it gets darker, and the camera jilts and jars at uncomfortable angles. You encounter a wheelchair on its side (wheel spinning, of course), a bloodied bed with a body under the sheet, then a skinned crucified corpse on a fence, all of this perfectly paced to send cold, unpleasant tingles up your spine. As you turn around to get the hell out of there, you get attacked by some horrifying dwarf dudes with knives, at which point the vast majority of people probably threw down the controller and never played Silent Hill again (while remaining forever haunted by the memory of this sequence). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7d4mzvCo4MI
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.
