16 Biggest Jump-Scares In Gaming

3. Slender: The Eight Pages - Don't Look Back

Perhaps the best example of jump-scares working so often and never losing their full impact, Slender has you tip-toeing around a pitch-black forest with only the shining light of your torch as an ally in search for eight pieces of paper. You know you're being stalked by some malignant presence as you press on in discovering singular pages which can be found stuck to trees or in ominous public restrooms. Visual (video interference) and audio cues warn you that the Slenderman is gaining ever closer but that still doesn't stop you from sheepishly looking over your shoulder to catch a glimpse of his silhouette in the shadows, making you jump every.single.time. The best jump-scare happens when he has gotten a little too close for comfort and you look behind ever so slightly just to see his face practically resting on your own, causing game over. It may be a little indie game with such simplistic gameplay, but the scares never seem to run dry even after multiple play sessions, the beauty being you know he will eventually be behind you, but you can never be certain when.

2. Condemned: Criminal Origins - Say Cheese!

If the mannequins of the sequel didn't shock the soul from your body then perhaps this gem from the original will fare better. Playing as Ethan Thomas - a CSI agent - you come across a messed-up body stuffed into a locker. You equip your camera and take an image of the corpse which gets sent back to your female colleague at HQ. Not happy with your photography skills (how mean), she asks you to take a close-up and as your camera adjusts its focus the body awakens with life and clutches at your arm. You may have been expecting something to happen but the timing was impeccable and warranted one of the grandest bowel-evacuating moments in the history of gaming.