5 Great Horror Moments In Non-Horror Games

It's Halloween time for all you Pagan worshippers out there, and what better way to really get spookified than to sit down with some hair-raising gaming experiences?

Horror games provide the most immersive scare possible when well executed, and as such it's very good that we have plenty to pick from. whether you're into the standard sneaky tension-riddled titles like Outlast or Alien: Isolation, or you prefer the subtle yet still mind-numbingly intense Amnesia route, there is a wide plethora of effective scary virtual stories to get your heart rate up.

But what of games that are considered not so scary but have creepy ideas or moments within them? That were not intended to be horror-centric games, but included sphincter-tightening scares nonetheless?

Well, those are less common, but can make the fight-or-flight response all the more stronger for how sheerly unexpected they are. Be it through imagery or implication, there are moments from some great games that are not specifically horror-centric games, but still create enough of an amygdalin response to get the old ticker in action as though it were a straight up spookily-designed experience from the start.

So with that image haunting our dreams, let's look at some moments from non-horror games that still bring the scares.

A third-person samurai slicing simulator doesn't sound like it would contain many moments one would call creepy, but you'd also be dead wrong with that perception. You're scouring the Ashina Castle Outskirts, zipping between tree trunks jutting out of snowy cliffs when out of nowhere, suddenly... a giant snake crashes out into the open!

The Headless encounter in the same area just before the overly-large reptile encounter could also definitely be considered spooky, but the Great Serpent deserves this place slightly more as it is totally unexpected if you are playing Sekiro blind, without any prior knowledge of the bosses or world. Just seeing the titanic constrictor coolly analyse the area with its dead expression sends heeby jeebies down the spines of players.

It's not strictly a boss fight - though there is a different battle with a similar snake - but the scaly giant's intrusion into the Japanese landscape is worth any number of generic jump scares most games offer. The fact it's basically a one-hit kill elevates the tension to a nail-biting degree, forcing the player to face their fear to proceed.

From Software do a great job making the player go from strong to fearful, and the Great Serpent encounter absolutely delivers that.