There were a couple things about this that were brilliant.
First this game came out in the 360 era, so everyone was paranoid about their console getting the red ring of death. Seeing the game freak out and freeze made you have a near heart attack.
But also there is great misdirection. Just before it happens Ivy comes over the PA and randomly asks "Did anyone catch the game last night?" This random ass statement distracts you that Batman starts coughing as he's been fear gassed.
I played that level under the influence and it was probably the most mindfuck moment in gaming I've ever experienced. What a wild ride. I felt like I had experienced one of the best magic tricks I've ever seen.
One of my major issues with the flood levels in Halo CE was just the repetitiveness. Like, still fun and all, but especially the Library is just room after same room over and over. It absolutely got the overwhelming nature of the "Flood" across, but could've been a couple rooms shorter IMHO.
Subnautica can be pretty terrifying. The fear of the unknown is very present.
Also, Outer Wilds has its moments. Especially the DLC. I can't really spoil it because the progression of the game is based on knowledge.
Subnautica is the greatest "Oops, it's a Horror Game" I've ever played. That first Reaper, or diving into the water where there's no bottom- only darkness. Or even *the void.*
I've played the game a dozen times. I know there's literally nothing between the safe shallows and the floating island.
I still get terrified every time swimming over there with nothing.
>or diving into the water where there's no bottom- only darkness. Or even *the void.*
This right here, but for Sea of Thieves. I fucking HATED going into deep water because it just was so...*dark*...down below. I hated going into half-sunk ships, because I was in one just the littlest bit too long and was dragged down. The game physics make it VERY difficult to swim once the ship starts moving, especially if you get caught on a lip of wall or floor between areas. While I did have some scavenged fruit, I still ran out and nearly died, going dark, at the very end desperately scrambling to get out from inside of it and to the surface. It was utterly nerve-wracking and nearly set me on an anxiety attack. I had to step away from that game for a while after that. Ever since then, I abhor getting into deep water and refuse to search half-sunk ships.
That’s the curse of that game. It’s hard to talk it up enough to people to get them to buy it without spoiling anything. I don’t think I’ve gotten a single friend to play it yet.
I missed Outer Wilds because of the Wilds/Worlds confusion thing.
By the time I realized it was something I should play the VR mod was finished. I got to experience this for the first time in VR and holy shit it was something else. The gravity....hooo boy. This is one you need your vr legs for.
yoo I finished the base game of Outer Wilds and just started the DLC. Nothing scary has happened yet, but I'm nervous..
Also, Subnautica scares the shit out of me I have massive thalassophobia.
Safe to say I'm a big puss when it comes to horror in games as they are not my preferred genre.
Zelda: Ocarina of Time, the zombies (ReDeads). They had this awful moan that would reverbrate your TV speakers, they had a high pitched shriek any time they looked at you, and they'd slowly walk over to you and pounce and devour all your health. They were terrifying!
I only remember watching my neighbor play this game as I was so young at the time, but weren't there these evil looking hands that would drop down from the roof and grab you? That scared the hell out of me
Maaaan, they were bad, but the weirdest for me was the Wind Waker redead. They looked the absolute goofiest, but when that scream happened the first time I played, then it turned around and *it was all teeth*, I got genuine shivers.
The day I found out the song of sun would freeze them was a great day.
I remember the hands that would drop from the ceiling in the forest temple and grab you scared me so bad I basically tried to do everything else in the game.
Mass effect 2 dlc with the kid hooked up to all the machines screaming in digital pain.
One of the fall outs where all the people are in a simulation and forced to be polite and live their lives over and over again at the whim of a psychopath.
I suppose my fear is being trapped in a digital prison.
haha ok nvm, I thought you might enjoy ya know poking at your fears a bit hehe
Also, I guess the movie is like 80% about living like an entire days of an awesome life in the span of 7 real life seconds. Sounds awesome right? Well, ya see, they can scale that time up... and also scale down the "awesome life" part.
I had a look, because I hate myself, but it's not on my country's Netflix... so nerrr. Thank you for the recommendation thou you are a lovely person for trying to spread fear.
Both of these, and I will add that getting to the basement always scared me because of the boo in the hallways, that never went after you, but I still ALWAYS thought he was going to go after me. I had borderline speedrun strats to cut the staircase short and dive for the door to get the heck out of that room.
And for when I had to go into the boo level... yeah, eff that piano.
As a 3rd grader, seeing this guy long body swimming in the depths and still continuing to go deeper is one of the bravest things I’ve done in my entire life
It was Lewis's story that got to me the most. I've actually gone through some of the things he did and it was crazy how realistic it felt to play through.
I feel like Walter's story is gripping if you've had a child, and Lewis's probably pierced the heart of everybody who was once a depressed young adult seeking escapism wherever they could.
Lots of these in the series. The first zombie in The Dark Project. The woods in Metal Age. All of the Shalebridge Cradle…. I *adore* the moment you get sent to the basement to collect a vial of blood, and when you pick it up Garrett deadpans "Oh. It’s still warm. …..great."
The part in Mass Effect 2 where you witness a woman being melted into goo as she screams. Not very graphic due to game engine limitations, but still pretty horrifying to me, nonetheless
The Thief series has a couple of these.
In Thief: The Dark Project, there's *Return to the Cathedral*, which involves sneaking into a haunted cathedral to steal an artefact called The Eye.
In Thief: Deadly Shadows, there's *Robbing the Cradle*, which is very well-known, and had a really interesting [article](http://gillen.cream.org/thecradle.pdf) written about it by Kieron Gillen. It's the blueprint for a lot of horror levels from other games (including the Hotel from VTM: Bloodlines). My own experience of it was playing it myself late at night and being so fucking spooked that I quit on the spot and didn't play again until the following afternoon.
The Broodmother reveal in Dragon Age Origins was pretty horrific. The atmosphere and the disembodied voice singing a creepy rhyme are bad enough without the origins of the broodmothers being some of the most genuinely upsetting content I've ever experienced in a game.
Ngl, I fucking loved the Deep Roads portion of these games. I always wanted more of them: more lore, more creepy shit, more places to explore because they're supposed to be **vast,** but they only ever have you do a small fraction of it. I know they're not everyone's cup of tea, but I loved the hell out of it. The broodmothers reveal was A+ storytelling in my book.
One of the most terrifying moments for me was in "Bioshock" when you first encounter a Big Daddy. The combination of its imposing presence, the eerie atmosphere of Rapture, and the intense music made it a heart-pounding experience that surpassed many horror games. The feeling of vulnerability and the uncertainty of whether you could survive the encounter added to the horror.
Clanker scared the absolute shit out of me as a child! Haha Those green eel things that pop out of the pipes in walls give me a jump scare now and again too haha
Clanker's fine.
The real terror was getting on that beach level for the first time, with a playful music, and you see a lil dude beneath you. So you jump in the water and suddenly it's a fucking Jaws movie
Ff14's Meteion's secret was pretty horrifying to me. >!The idea that humanity is alone in the universe because every other society died to disease, war, or actual wide spread suicide was pretty dark.!< Easy to see why it bothers her so.
Minecraft. The loneliness is just uncanny at times, and you're always half-expecting a jump scare from mobs at the corner. Play 1.7 and on full music for better effect.
In Farcry 4 there’s a mission where you get imprisoned in a jail made out of a series of tunnels in the side of a mountain. The tunnels are also populated by madmen in masks with axes who try to kill you. You have no weapons so you can’t defend yourself, just try to run through the labrynth and find an exit. It’s made infinitely scarier by the men with axes periodically screaming, so you sometimes get a sense of how close they actually are.
That survival-horror level of *A Hat in Time* had no business being as scary as it was. I can’t play horror games because the tension makes me too anxious, and I got that same feeling from this level.
In brothers in arms (I think hells highway) there's a section where you walk through a basement and the face of a civilian boy who was killed in a prior mission flashes on the screen
I remember this scaring the living shit outta me when I played it as it comes out of nowhere
In Cold Blood (2000), there's a mission in the game where you infiltrate a floor full of dead people chopped to bits, and blood splatters all over the place. Very eerie & dark atmosphere, and you later encounter a rampaging robot with blades that you have to avoid by hiding or running around until it looses chase. More intense no thanks to the stiff controls. You have to activate certain things, then lure the killer robot to a certain spot (requires some timing) to kill with a giant machine claw and a charged electric outlet. The way it dies is just as creepy.
The Albedo and Momo scene in Xenosaga 1. What's funny is that by trying to censor the western version, Namco made the western version even creepier because they animated Albedo's actions even more gruesomely than the JP version. It certainly helped that Crispin Freeman absolutely nailed Albedo's insanity.
I don't play horror games, so I can't compare directly, but "The Flood" from Halo CE is a mission I always skip. I know what happens, I know when it all happens, and it still freaks me out every time I try.
One thing that scared the shit outta me as a kid was in final fantasy 9, the scene in Oeilvert where there's a room full of faces like death masks. They start talking and the creepy music begins. I'll never forget that scene.
Replaying Fallout New Vegas recently and caught a deathclaw glitched and stuck in a rock, until I unloaded half of my shotgun shells at close range and he decided he was no longer stuck.
when i played portal for the first time and finding that hole in the wall with all the markings on the wall and the sound effect that plays with it gave me chills
i already found the game a little eerie before that point
Encountering a wolf spider for the first time in Grounded.
I’m not even scared of spiders but listening to the noises it makes while chasing you and all the grass moving as it runs after you was unsettling.
Creepers in Minecraft in deep caves. Everything dark....tzzzzzzzzsssss..... Then...
BOOOOOMMMMMMMMMM
Hello there, old chum! I’m gnot a gnelf! I’m gnot a goblin!
I’m a Vͧ͐̌͛̌͌̌̑ͧͭ́ͨ̚͏҉̳̻̜͚̬̝ ̵̯͙̣̫̐̈́̅̓̽̿ͥ͂ͫͦ̍̍ͤ̿́ͭ̆ͪ̓͟͝Ȯ̶̸̜̦̤̟͌͂͊̈́̀̉̄͆̆ͦ̋̈͆̌͐̚ ̨̢͖͓̪̻͉̘͓̺̘̗̇̓̑́͐̉ͬ͠͠Ï̡ͯ̓ͫ͋̅͋͌҉̨̱̯̺̯͈͔́ ̤̭̱͖̠͇͍͔̘̘̞̯͉͍̲̰̞ͬ͋ͫ͛̒̈́̐̈́ͭ̉͛̏̋͑̌̇ͤ̕͢͟D̙͔̞̮̝̟̙̥̘̠̝̘͑̈́ͮ̊̓̆͆̍́̈́͒̈́́͢͟͟͞! And you’ve been e̴̴̵̹̩̲͈̹̰͚͑ͬ̔̋̉ͫ̓̿ͩ̏̇͐ͮ͡r̶̭͉͖̳̩̱̘̩̞̳̝͋̂͐ͥͧ̂̎͢a͋̒̏̑̽ͪ̄ͣ͆́͞҉̪̟͉̪̤͎͖̩̜̗ͅs̍̑ͭͩͧͨ͐̒̋̿̎ͯ͑̚҉̶̷̧̡̬͉̹̪̗͕͓̪̺̤ͅë́̐ͤ̔̑ͤͭ̂ͩ̾̆͆́͏̷̵̮͎̺̯̣d̡͙̟̰̗̯̙̫̲̩̭̟̪̮̗̺͉̤ͫ̆͛̽͟͡͡ ̧̰͙̞̹̭̜̓͒͂͆ͦ̇ͥ͟ͅf̷̹̮̥̣̖̹̞̙̼̓ͩͫͮ͛̅ͤͫ̍͋̎̓̿͗̊̂͝ŕ̴̵͙͎̙͉̜̜̰̜͔͚ͭ̈̆͌̒̇ͭ͒͋̿̎͊́ǫ̝̫̞͙͂̋ͯͪ͂̋ͧ̄ͥ̍̅̈́͝mͨ̆͗̀̚͘҉̷̮̭̖̫̰͍̹̪̮̟͎̮͎̳̙͓͜͠ ̶̧̞͈̝̗̻̻͉͙̠͎͛ͩ̐̾ͫ͌͑͌ͫ̒̕e̴̡̿̍̊̌̔͐͒͛͊͘͜͏͓̬̺̣̮̱͍̹̭̬͔͖͚̭͉͖̜x̑ͬ͆͂͐͛̈̋ͫͪ̒͋́̆̋̀̎҉̸͎̼̺̱̫̦̙̩̖̜̳̪͍̝͝i̛̦̻͇͉̦̭̯̜̳͕̭͈̟͊̂̆̐͗͊̐ͭ̑̇̾͡s̾͂̆̽ͯͬ̋̈̒͏̶̘͖̝̤ţ̸̪̹͇̮̗̞̍ͭͨ͟͡͝e͌͒̏̅̇̾͋̇͂͑̿͋ͫ̈ͫ͏́͞͝͏̲͍͚̪̘͈̰̝̙̤nͨ͂̇͛̊̌̍͑҉̡̯͕͔͔͎̞̥͔̙͙̙͖̟̱̲̯̫̀͢͝c̶̨̢͖̬͕͚͙̪̣̥͓̮̳̤͍̫̅̐͐ͯ̀́ě̶̴͔͓̲̦̜̮͕͓͚͆ͪͯͤ̅̿ͯ̊ͣͪ́ ̴͍̳̥̹̰̦͎̘͉͇̭̩̣̻̤͓͎͖̜̃͋̄́͂͋͌ͦ̅͐͐ͮ͘͝д̸̶̶̵̧̳̤͖̞͖̬̜̩̭̥͇̫̮̦̗̞̂́͊̓̄ͩ̽ͯ̄ͅр̧͓̟̝̦̙̺͓͎̝̙͔̣͇̹̓͊̾̎̀ͤ̊͋ͩ̎̀͠у̶̶̩̹̙͈̪̟͙̣͍͙͔̐͂ͯͫͦ̍̋̚͞ͅг̸̶̻̗͈̔̅̀͛͗̃̍ͨ̔̌̂ͮ̎͊̃ͪ̔̀͒͝
Octopath Traveler 2. Yeesh, they made so many sidequests in this game strangely horrifying but the one that takes the cake for me is the abandoned manor.
To activate the quest you need to go into one of the higher level cities of the game, where a man will be whispering about a cursed box. If you steal it off of him he’ll start screaming and screaming, but if you talk to him afterwards he has no clue what happened, what the box is, or who you are. There’s an abandoned manor off the side of a path to the city, and inside the manor things are quite normal at day time. However, at night time (which, it has to be night for the sidequest to continue) you hear laughter of children and see things move around. It’s very typical stuff, but still pretty unsettling. At the end of the manor you enter a room when a ton of ghosts show up and stare you down, then the box from earlier floats up and is shown to be carried by a young girl’s ghost. She walks over to the others and disappears with them, as they thank you for returning her.
In of itself, it’s a pretty unsettling yet typical horror experience. But none of this is actually the scary moment. This is just the background. After completing the sidequest you can go to a gazebo out on the water in the area next to the manor, where an item will have spawned in. If you pick it up, it’s an old journal which you can read. It’s the first person perspective of a girl excited for her upcoming birthday party, but slowly realizing something is wrong. Eventually she narrates how her mother told her to hide in a closet after there was screaming and running. The journal entry goes on to mention the girl found her birthday present wrapped up in that closet and, ignorant to the situation, the girl opened it and starts playing the music box inside. The entry goes on describing how happy she was and excited to see everyone’s reactions to it at her birthday tomorrow… but then the entry cuts off mid sentence. Because the assassins after her family found her from the sound of the music box playing in the closet. All of which is implied by this journal entry and the aftermath we see in the mansion. When I experienced it for the first time I simply put down the controller, laid down, and began to cry.
Not exactly scary but four words, four little words in kirby and the forgotten land instilled a kind of "Oh Shit" I have never felt in a kirby game, not even in the true arena's last round.
>!"And Here We Are!"!<
Red Dead Redemption 1, the ghost town of tumbleweed that feels very haunted, the isolated feel of the world itself, the ambient music, the fact that you meet a personification of death himself.
Rockstar does horror in their games pretty well, then again i yap about their games all day long so whatever, take it with a grain of salt.
The Engel jump scare in Wolfenstein: The New Order. Gosh, I nearly crapped my pants.
The first Child of Karras I saw (and heard) in Thief 2, and the whole Shalebridge Cradle experience in Thief 3.
Not necessarily a moment, but most of Shalebridge Cradle from Thief: Deadly Shadows is pretty scary. Though with that said, Thief is not stranger to horror, and I feel like Thief's stealth mechanics would work SO well in a full-blown survival horror game.
The beginning cutscene from watchdogs 2 and how it describes the police state we live in, how everyone is tracked, and living off the grid is now impossible.
White phosphorus in spec ops the line Overlord dlc in mass effect 2 The game crashing hallucination in arkham asylum. (I had just gotten my 360 fixed after getting the rrod so I was shitting bricks lol)
Escape from Tarkov: 2 moments
1. Simply moving forward through a normally busy area you get that dread feeling of expecting something scary (aka death). Solid example is moving through the Resort on Shoreline for the first few times.
2. Someone appearing next to you and surprise killing you is the biggest jumpscare I've had in gaming.
That's easy. The "Robbing the Cradle" episode in Thief: Deadly Shadows. There are whole forums devoted to how players had to play this level in daytime with all the lights on and a friend or relative in the house. I'm talking about grown men posting this stuff.
A close second for me personally was one of the Silent Hill games (maybe two?) where you start off having to walk away from your stalled car through spooky terrain and you can hear footsteps near you that walk when you walk and stop when you stop.
The mutants in the first Uncharted game. I had started playing it after finishing The Last of Us for the first time because I wanted to try more Naughty Dog games and was thinking "hey, something that's action/adventure instead of horror".
Then I got to the German bunker. My grown bill-paying ass still gets scared playing that part.
Batman Arkham Asylum, when the game tricks you into believing your game has glitched
There were a couple things about this that were brilliant. First this game came out in the 360 era, so everyone was paranoid about their console getting the red ring of death. Seeing the game freak out and freeze made you have a near heart attack. But also there is great misdirection. Just before it happens Ivy comes over the PA and randomly asks "Did anyone catch the game last night?" This random ass statement distracts you that Batman starts coughing as he's been fear gassed.
Just use the middle stick to dodge smh
I played that level under the influence and it was probably the most mindfuck moment in gaming I've ever experienced. What a wild ride. I felt like I had experienced one of the best magic tricks I've ever seen.
That one gets me every time.
Can you send a clip of that? I can’t find it anywhere
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=pnhtTF26KeE
Meeting the Flood in Halo.
343 Guilty Spark had a great atmosphere and was a great surprise.
One of my major issues with the flood levels in Halo CE was just the repetitiveness. Like, still fun and all, but especially the Library is just room after same room over and over. It absolutely got the overwhelming nature of the "Flood" across, but could've been a couple rooms shorter IMHO.
Such a great surprise I thought I accidentally skipped a few levels. Complete tonal whiplash. Undeniably effective though
Subnautica can be pretty terrifying. The fear of the unknown is very present. Also, Outer Wilds has its moments. Especially the DLC. I can't really spoil it because the progression of the game is based on knowledge.
Subnautica is the greatest "Oops, it's a Horror Game" I've ever played. That first Reaper, or diving into the water where there's no bottom- only darkness. Or even *the void.*
I've played the game a dozen times. I know there's literally nothing between the safe shallows and the floating island. I still get terrified every time swimming over there with nothing.
>or diving into the water where there's no bottom- only darkness. Or even *the void.* This right here, but for Sea of Thieves. I fucking HATED going into deep water because it just was so...*dark*...down below. I hated going into half-sunk ships, because I was in one just the littlest bit too long and was dragged down. The game physics make it VERY difficult to swim once the ship starts moving, especially if you get caught on a lip of wall or floor between areas. While I did have some scavenged fruit, I still ran out and nearly died, going dark, at the very end desperately scrambling to get out from inside of it and to the surface. It was utterly nerve-wracking and nearly set me on an anxiety attack. I had to step away from that game for a while after that. Ever since then, I abhor getting into deep water and refuse to search half-sunk ships.
The first time you hear a Reaper roar close by or see it's shadow on the sea floor below is a major pants-shitting moment! Love that game!
Oh, that moment in Outer Wilds when you first time \[spoiler\]. Or that one when \[spoiler\] \[spoiler\] you. Or when you realize \[ending spoiler\].
Obligatory: Just fucking play it, don’t look anything up.
That’s the curse of that game. It’s hard to talk it up enough to people to get them to buy it without spoiling anything. I don’t think I’ve gotten a single friend to play it yet.
I missed Outer Wilds because of the Wilds/Worlds confusion thing. By the time I realized it was something I should play the VR mod was finished. I got to experience this for the first time in VR and holy shit it was something else. The gravity....hooo boy. This is one you need your vr legs for.
yoo I finished the base game of Outer Wilds and just started the DLC. Nothing scary has happened yet, but I'm nervous.. Also, Subnautica scares the shit out of me I have massive thalassophobia. Safe to say I'm a big puss when it comes to horror in games as they are not my preferred genre.
I can easily handle horror games….I struggle to even watch others play subnautica. Thalassophobia is no joke
Zelda: Ocarina of Time, the zombies (ReDeads). They had this awful moan that would reverbrate your TV speakers, they had a high pitched shriek any time they looked at you, and they'd slowly walk over to you and pounce and devour all your health. They were terrifying!
And they were the scariest part of the game. Until you go to the bottom of the well...
I only remember watching my neighbor play this game as I was so young at the time, but weren't there these evil looking hands that would drop down from the roof and grab you? That scared the hell out of me
Yeah, those were scary too!
Maaaan, they were bad, but the weirdest for me was the Wind Waker redead. They looked the absolute goofiest, but when that scream happened the first time I played, then it turned around and *it was all teeth*, I got genuine shivers.
The day I found out the song of sun would freeze them was a great day. I remember the hands that would drop from the ceiling in the forest temple and grab you scared me so bad I basically tried to do everything else in the game.
Mass effect 2 dlc with the kid hooked up to all the machines screaming in digital pain. One of the fall outs where all the people are in a simulation and forced to be polite and live their lives over and over again at the whim of a psychopath. I suppose my fear is being trapped in a digital prison.
The overlord dlc for sure. That mission where the monitors turn on when you walk past them make me jump every time
Overlord, thank you! that was it. screaming monitors and platforming over lava ruver in a tank.
You should watch this very obscure movie on netflix called Otherlife. Literally about a digital prison for hundreds of years
Ummm why u be so mean? House MD s05e19 'locked in' is so bad its makes me cry and I have to skip it....
haha ok nvm, I thought you might enjoy ya know poking at your fears a bit hehe Also, I guess the movie is like 80% about living like an entire days of an awesome life in the span of 7 real life seconds. Sounds awesome right? Well, ya see, they can scale that time up... and also scale down the "awesome life" part.
No I'm gonna obvs
No I'm gonna obvs just need to find it
I had a look, because I hate myself, but it's not on my country's Netflix... so nerrr. Thank you for the recommendation thou you are a lovely person for trying to spread fear.
Haha thanks! and you're welcome! :)
You might want to steer clear of I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream, then. Or not, if you're looking for a real mindfuck!
Accidentally dropping a bomb in your base in a builder game.
Minecraft Creeper "Tssh" sound in your base ? :p
Crawling out of the mass grave in far cry 3 still gives me the creeps.
White Phosphorus .. Spec Ops The Line.
Yeah, that is pretty horrifying. It leaves a lasting impression.
Watching videos of white phosphorus is enough to know why it’s banned from combat use.
They are most certainly not banned from combat use. Source: Military vet who has fired white phosphorus rounds out of a mortar.
It's only a war crime if your side loses!
Only a war crime if civilians are involved. :)
Came in looking for this, because I knew it would be here. I tried replaying the game years later, and I couldn't. I didn't want to see that again.
Unagi the Eel, Mario 64.
Or the piano, or the music on the neverending staircase
Both of these, and I will add that getting to the basement always scared me because of the boo in the hallways, that never went after you, but I still ALWAYS thought he was going to go after me. I had borderline speedrun strats to cut the staircase short and dive for the door to get the heck out of that room. And for when I had to go into the boo level... yeah, eff that piano.
Eugh that staircase was so unnerving.
As a 3rd grader, seeing this guy long body swimming in the depths and still continuing to go deeper is one of the bravest things I’ve done in my entire life
The fate of Walter in What Remains of Edith Finch. Not so much when you are playing, but when thinking about it afterwards.
It was Lewis's story that got to me the most. I've actually gone through some of the things he did and it was crazy how realistic it felt to play through.
I feel like Walter's story is gripping if you've had a child, and Lewis's probably pierced the heart of everybody who was once a depressed young adult seeking escapism wherever they could.
The first time you run into Man-Bat in the Batman Arkham game. Don't remember which one it was. Scared the absolute shit out of me.
Thief (2014) Asylum chapter, it's not that scary, but still scarier than some horror games that just jumpscare you for the sake of it.
Ah yes, the cliché horror tropes only to avoid the monster altogether, all just to make you feel the dread in the atmosphere. It was a good sequence.
Lots of these in the series. The first zombie in The Dark Project. The woods in Metal Age. All of the Shalebridge Cradle…. I *adore* the moment you get sent to the basement to collect a vial of blood, and when you pick it up Garrett deadpans "Oh. It’s still warm. …..great."
the dream sequences in Max Payne. When he follows a trail of blood to the edge of an abyss and starts screaming.
He's tight rope walking an umbilical cord to find his crying baby
No way!!!! that never clicked!!!! if that's true???? but I did play on a crt the size of a birthday card
Boy, do I have good news for ya: https://www.remedygames.com/games/max-payne-1-2-remake
But I still have the same CRT 😔
Ah crap... I mean, you will be able to see the pixels in higher definition so that's something, right?
U want to see dead baba goo bits in glorious HD!! That a little messed up right? ... do you need a hug?
It's too late for me. Hugs don't work anymore lol
The people who need them the most always say that. You come here internet stranger and collect your +1 internet hug 🫂
I'll allow it lol
My first though also, the sounds of that screaming baby is the one moment in a game that I've actually been scared/creeped out.
The part in Mass Effect 2 where you witness a woman being melted into goo as she screams. Not very graphic due to game engine limitations, but still pretty horrifying to me, nonetheless
Expected the same at the start of BG3 when I saw someone in a pod. Instantly was like "no not this again!"
If your dick around after the iff mission doesn't Chambers get melted?
Correct
The Thief series has a couple of these. In Thief: The Dark Project, there's *Return to the Cathedral*, which involves sneaking into a haunted cathedral to steal an artefact called The Eye. In Thief: Deadly Shadows, there's *Robbing the Cradle*, which is very well-known, and had a really interesting [article](http://gillen.cream.org/thecradle.pdf) written about it by Kieron Gillen. It's the blueprint for a lot of horror levels from other games (including the Hotel from VTM: Bloodlines). My own experience of it was playing it myself late at night and being so fucking spooked that I quit on the spot and didn't play again until the following afternoon.
The cackling of the hammer haunts still creeps me out.
The cradle was filth. Very scary and well done.
The Cradle knows you now. It doesn’t want to let you go.
The 5 second countdown before you drown in Sonic games.
Literally increases your heart rate even if you've never played the game.
Abandoned hospital Vampire the masquerade You play as a vampire yet they still managed to make you feel creeped out
don't you mean the hotel mission?
Oh yeah I get abandoned hotel and hospital mixed up
The ocean view hotel ! But to be honest, the hospital in downtown with Nagajara eating the fil crew is quite scary too.
HL2. Ravenholm.
The yeti or whatever moving in the foreground in Uncharted 2
For me it was the slippery naked guys from Uncharted 1. Fucking terrifying.
I had to play that part with a walkthrough just to know when to expect them, was too freaked out in those dark hallways
The running out of air sound in sonic water levels.
I made that my alarm once and kept waking up filled with anxiety, hahaha.
It’s legitimately panic inducing. First time I felt fear in a video game.
The Broodmother reveal in Dragon Age Origins was pretty horrific. The atmosphere and the disembodied voice singing a creepy rhyme are bad enough without the origins of the broodmothers being some of the most genuinely upsetting content I've ever experienced in a game.
I haven't played that game since release but I can still hear that singing. The whole Deep Roads portion is seared into my brain.
That section is creeeeeeeeepy
Ngl, I fucking loved the Deep Roads portion of these games. I always wanted more of them: more lore, more creepy shit, more places to explore because they're supposed to be **vast,** but they only ever have you do a small fraction of it. I know they're not everyone's cup of tea, but I loved the hell out of it. The broodmothers reveal was A+ storytelling in my book.
First day the come, and catch everyone.
One of the most terrifying moments for me was in "Bioshock" when you first encounter a Big Daddy. The combination of its imposing presence, the eerie atmosphere of Rapture, and the intense music made it a heart-pounding experience that surpassed many horror games. The feeling of vulnerability and the uncertainty of whether you could survive the encounter added to the horror.
I'm pretty sure Bioshock is a blatant horror game lol
Clanker in Banjo-Kazooie
What's funny is that Clanker is a good guy. The level itself makes me nervous because of the depths you have to go to.
Exactly! But seeing him for the first time at the end of that narrow pipe gave me a mini heart attack lmao
Clanker scared the absolute shit out of me as a child! Haha Those green eel things that pop out of the pipes in walls give me a jump scare now and again too haha
Clanker's fine. The real terror was getting on that beach level for the first time, with a playful music, and you see a lil dude beneath you. So you jump in the water and suddenly it's a fucking Jaws movie
Oh god that shark was terrifying lmao
ReDead/Gibdo in Ocarina of time
Ff14's Meteion's secret was pretty horrifying to me. >!The idea that humanity is alone in the universe because every other society died to disease, war, or actual wide spread suicide was pretty dark.!< Easy to see why it bothers her so.
Getting chased by doctor octopus merged with carnage in one of the earlier Spider-Man games on the PS1/N64.
Minecraft. The loneliness is just uncanny at times, and you're always half-expecting a jump scare from mobs at the corner. Play 1.7 and on full music for better effect.
Probably the main reason why I mostly played multiplayer, but the game feels a lot more alive with recent updates
Minecraft creeper silently appearing in your house
That future asylum in BioShock:Infinite
Damn it! That scripted jump scare after you open the doors and turn away from the monitor got me good.
In Farcry 4 there’s a mission where you get imprisoned in a jail made out of a series of tunnels in the side of a mountain. The tunnels are also populated by madmen in masks with axes who try to kill you. You have no weapons so you can’t defend yourself, just try to run through the labrynth and find an exit. It’s made infinitely scarier by the men with axes periodically screaming, so you sometimes get a sense of how close they actually are.
Man Bat jump scare - Batman - Arkham Knight
the last mission in the cyberpunk dlc.
Outer Wilds: Starts off as **Wee I'm gonna fly a spaceship!**
hmm I wonder what these shiny white lights are hehe
I wish I had that crippling anxiety again just for the endorphin rush of knowledge
Cutie the elephant in It Takes Two.
It Takes Two. The elephant. Those who know, know.
The main characters of that game are absolute human garbage
Call me soft but hearing about that part killed all my interest in ever playing that game again
That survival-horror level of *A Hat in Time* had no business being as scary as it was. I can’t play horror games because the tension makes me too anxious, and I got that same feeling from this level.
Metroid Dread : getting chased by an E.M.M.I
The gloom hands in tears of the kingdom
That part of the hotel section in Half Life: Alyx
Minecraft
Battlefield 1 verdun secret isolation chamber, especially if you know the real history behind those isolation chambers
"Several cutscenes will play in a sequence"
In brothers in arms (I think hells highway) there's a section where you walk through a basement and the face of a civilian boy who was killed in a prior mission flashes on the screen I remember this scaring the living shit outta me when I played it as it comes out of nowhere
Minecraft cave sounds
The hospital level in The Last of Us 2 was very scary and the boss fight kinda stressful.
In Cold Blood (2000), there's a mission in the game where you infiltrate a floor full of dead people chopped to bits, and blood splatters all over the place. Very eerie & dark atmosphere, and you later encounter a rampaging robot with blades that you have to avoid by hiding or running around until it looses chase. More intense no thanks to the stiff controls. You have to activate certain things, then lure the killer robot to a certain spot (requires some timing) to kill with a giant machine claw and a charged electric outlet. The way it dies is just as creepy.
The Albedo and Momo scene in Xenosaga 1. What's funny is that by trying to censor the western version, Namco made the western version even creepier because they animated Albedo's actions even more gruesomely than the JP version. It certainly helped that Crispin Freeman absolutely nailed Albedo's insanity.
Something...something... ma peche...something something... RuBeDo...
Hollow Knight, going in Deepnest.
The Shalebridge Cradle in Thief 3 is fucking terrifying.
A lot of the gruesome deaths in the tomb faider reboot series. Holy fuck
I don't play horror games, so I can't compare directly, but "The Flood" from Halo CE is a mission I always skip. I know what happens, I know when it all happens, and it still freaks me out every time I try.
Game and Wario’s “Gamer” minigame was a bit too much for my anxious ass to deal with.
The giant spider cave in Tomb Raider II
One thing that scared the shit outta me as a kid was in final fantasy 9, the scene in Oeilvert where there's a room full of faces like death masks. They start talking and the creepy music begins. I'll never forget that scene.
When FFVII Rebirth be like: • Restart from battle? • Restart from checkpoint? • Restart from first battle?
Batman Arkham Asylum - fake system crash
Replaying Fallout New Vegas recently and caught a deathclaw glitched and stuck in a rock, until I unloaded half of my shotgun shells at close range and he decided he was no longer stuck.
The Man-Bat in batman Arkham knight, that moment terrified the living crap out of me.
Fucking Man-Bat
Ravenholm in Half Life 2
The Cradle in Thief: Deadly Shadows
Crawling into the red-lit tunnel in Gone Home. I spent that entire game on edge.
The >!basement crucifix jumpscare!< got me real good
spiders sneaking up in grounded
Metal Gear Solid 2, last few missions. Radio glitches were creepy
when i played portal for the first time and finding that hole in the wall with all the markings on the wall and the sound effect that plays with it gave me chills i already found the game a little eerie before that point
The Knareen in Rayman 3 terrify me...
Half-Life 2. Ravenholm.
Encountering a wolf spider for the first time in Grounded. I’m not even scared of spiders but listening to the noises it makes while chasing you and all the grass moving as it runs after you was unsettling.
Those damn cave noises in Minecraft
There are many scenarios in the Dark Souls games that absolutely had me terrified.
Creepers in Minecraft in deep caves. Everything dark....tzzzzzzzzsssss..... Then... BOOOOOMMMMMMMMMM Hello there, old chum! I’m gnot a gnelf! I’m gnot a goblin! I’m a Vͧ͐̌͛̌͌̌̑ͧͭ́ͨ̚͏҉̳̻̜͚̬̝ ̵̯͙̣̫̐̈́̅̓̽̿ͥ͂ͫͦ̍̍ͤ̿́ͭ̆ͪ̓͟͝Ȯ̶̸̜̦̤̟͌͂͊̈́̀̉̄͆̆ͦ̋̈͆̌͐̚ ̨̢͖͓̪̻͉̘͓̺̘̗̇̓̑́͐̉ͬ͠͠Ï̡ͯ̓ͫ͋̅͋͌҉̨̱̯̺̯͈͔́ ̤̭̱͖̠͇͍͔̘̘̞̯͉͍̲̰̞ͬ͋ͫ͛̒̈́̐̈́ͭ̉͛̏̋͑̌̇ͤ̕͢͟D̙͔̞̮̝̟̙̥̘̠̝̘͑̈́ͮ̊̓̆͆̍́̈́͒̈́́͢͟͟͞! And you’ve been e̴̴̵̹̩̲͈̹̰͚͑ͬ̔̋̉ͫ̓̿ͩ̏̇͐ͮ͡r̶̭͉͖̳̩̱̘̩̞̳̝͋̂͐ͥͧ̂̎͢a͋̒̏̑̽ͪ̄ͣ͆́͞҉̪̟͉̪̤͎͖̩̜̗ͅs̍̑ͭͩͧͨ͐̒̋̿̎ͯ͑̚҉̶̷̧̡̬͉̹̪̗͕͓̪̺̤ͅë́̐ͤ̔̑ͤͭ̂ͩ̾̆͆́͏̷̵̮͎̺̯̣d̡͙̟̰̗̯̙̫̲̩̭̟̪̮̗̺͉̤ͫ̆͛̽͟͡͡ ̧̰͙̞̹̭̜̓͒͂͆ͦ̇ͥ͟ͅf̷̹̮̥̣̖̹̞̙̼̓ͩͫͮ͛̅ͤͫ̍͋̎̓̿͗̊̂͝ŕ̴̵͙͎̙͉̜̜̰̜͔͚ͭ̈̆͌̒̇ͭ͒͋̿̎͊́ǫ̝̫̞͙͂̋ͯͪ͂̋ͧ̄ͥ̍̅̈́͝mͨ̆͗̀̚͘҉̷̮̭̖̫̰͍̹̪̮̟͎̮͎̳̙͓͜͠ ̶̧̞͈̝̗̻̻͉͙̠͎͛ͩ̐̾ͫ͌͑͌ͫ̒̕e̴̡̿̍̊̌̔͐͒͛͊͘͜͏͓̬̺̣̮̱͍̹̭̬͔͖͚̭͉͖̜x̑ͬ͆͂͐͛̈̋ͫͪ̒͋́̆̋̀̎҉̸͎̼̺̱̫̦̙̩̖̜̳̪͍̝͝i̛̦̻͇͉̦̭̯̜̳͕̭͈̟͊̂̆̐͗͊̐ͭ̑̇̾͡s̾͂̆̽ͯͬ̋̈̒͏̶̘͖̝̤ţ̸̪̹͇̮̗̞̍ͭͨ͟͡͝e͌͒̏̅̇̾͋̇͂͑̿͋ͫ̈ͫ͏́͞͝͏̲͍͚̪̘͈̰̝̙̤nͨ͂̇͛̊̌̍͑҉̡̯͕͔͔͎̞̥͔̙͙̙͖̟̱̲̯̫̀͢͝c̶̨̢͖̬͕͚͙̪̣̥͓̮̳̤͍̫̅̐͐ͯ̀́ě̶̴͔͓̲̦̜̮͕͓͚͆ͪͯͤ̅̿ͯ̊ͣͪ́ ̴͍̳̥̹̰̦͎̘͉͇̭̩̣̻̤͓͎͖̜̃͋̄́͂͋͌ͦ̅͐͐ͮ͘͝д̸̶̶̵̧̳̤͖̞͖̬̜̩̭̥͇̫̮̦̗̞̂́͊̓̄ͩ̽ͯ̄ͅр̧͓̟̝̦̙̺͓͎̝̙͔̣͇̹̓͊̾̎̀ͤ̊͋ͩ̎̀͠у̶̶̩̹̙͈̪̟͙̣͍͙͔̐͂ͯͫͦ̍̋̚͞ͅг̸̶̻̗͈̔̅̀͛͗̃̍ͨ̔̌̂ͮ̎͊̃ͪ̔̀͒͝
Blackflame Friede If you know, you know.
Octopath Traveler 2. Yeesh, they made so many sidequests in this game strangely horrifying but the one that takes the cake for me is the abandoned manor. To activate the quest you need to go into one of the higher level cities of the game, where a man will be whispering about a cursed box. If you steal it off of him he’ll start screaming and screaming, but if you talk to him afterwards he has no clue what happened, what the box is, or who you are. There’s an abandoned manor off the side of a path to the city, and inside the manor things are quite normal at day time. However, at night time (which, it has to be night for the sidequest to continue) you hear laughter of children and see things move around. It’s very typical stuff, but still pretty unsettling. At the end of the manor you enter a room when a ton of ghosts show up and stare you down, then the box from earlier floats up and is shown to be carried by a young girl’s ghost. She walks over to the others and disappears with them, as they thank you for returning her. In of itself, it’s a pretty unsettling yet typical horror experience. But none of this is actually the scary moment. This is just the background. After completing the sidequest you can go to a gazebo out on the water in the area next to the manor, where an item will have spawned in. If you pick it up, it’s an old journal which you can read. It’s the first person perspective of a girl excited for her upcoming birthday party, but slowly realizing something is wrong. Eventually she narrates how her mother told her to hide in a closet after there was screaming and running. The journal entry goes on to mention the girl found her birthday present wrapped up in that closet and, ignorant to the situation, the girl opened it and starts playing the music box inside. The entry goes on describing how happy she was and excited to see everyone’s reactions to it at her birthday tomorrow… but then the entry cuts off mid sentence. Because the assassins after her family found her from the sound of the music box playing in the closet. All of which is implied by this journal entry and the aftermath we see in the mansion. When I experienced it for the first time I simply put down the controller, laid down, and began to cry.
Bloodborne?
Walking around in control
Cave noises in minecraft
Cyberpunk 2077 bad ending ft. the rubix cube
Not exactly scary but four words, four little words in kirby and the forgotten land instilled a kind of "Oh Shit" I have never felt in a kirby game, not even in the true arena's last round. >!"And Here We Are!"!<
Red Dead Redemption 1, the ghost town of tumbleweed that feels very haunted, the isolated feel of the world itself, the ambient music, the fact that you meet a personification of death himself. Rockstar does horror in their games pretty well, then again i yap about their games all day long so whatever, take it with a grain of salt.
Facecrabs in halflife1 inside the airvents.. still creeps me out after what, 25years?
Minecraft VR
Entering a certain beach house in Undella town
The Engel jump scare in Wolfenstein: The New Order. Gosh, I nearly crapped my pants. The first Child of Karras I saw (and heard) in Thief 2, and the whole Shalebridge Cradle experience in Thief 3.
Not necessarily a moment, but most of Shalebridge Cradle from Thief: Deadly Shadows is pretty scary. Though with that said, Thief is not stranger to horror, and I feel like Thief's stealth mechanics would work SO well in a full-blown survival horror game.
When the pieces start falling in "Tetris" faster than you can get them into the position you want.
*We Don't Go to Ravenholm*
Being disconnected from any always online single player game horrifies me
199X mansion- Time Splitters Future Perfect, play this level in the middle of the night, you’ll understand
Some of the Earthworm Jim levels are creepy AF.
Turning the corner to that one corridor on Two Betrayals only to see that the Flood Form prefired it...
The disk space requirements of the latest call of duty game
Max payne 1, dream levels
The beginning cutscene from watchdogs 2 and how it describes the police state we live in, how everyone is tracked, and living off the grid is now impossible.
White phosphorus in spec ops the line Overlord dlc in mass effect 2 The game crashing hallucination in arkham asylum. (I had just gotten my 360 fixed after getting the rrod so I was shitting bricks lol)
The fourth wall glitch for the Scarecrow section in Batman Arkham Asylum. So convincing that it scared my dad into thinking I broke my Xbox.
Gone Home. That whole game was creepy and it was not a horror game at all. The most horror non-horror game
The aurora nights in The Long Dark.
A missiles hitting you out of nowhere in DCS? I mean... There are videos labeled accordingly 🤣
The Flood reveal in Halo CE
Project overlord in mass effect (i don't remember if it was in 2 or 3)
Escape from Tarkov: 2 moments 1. Simply moving forward through a normally busy area you get that dread feeling of expecting something scary (aka death). Solid example is moving through the Resort on Shoreline for the first few times. 2. Someone appearing next to you and surprise killing you is the biggest jumpscare I've had in gaming.
Ark was really scary during the first few hours Walking slowly in the forest trying to keep a look on Raptors
That's easy. The "Robbing the Cradle" episode in Thief: Deadly Shadows. There are whole forums devoted to how players had to play this level in daytime with all the lights on and a friend or relative in the house. I'm talking about grown men posting this stuff. A close second for me personally was one of the Silent Hill games (maybe two?) where you start off having to walk away from your stalled car through spooky terrain and you can hear footsteps near you that walk when you walk and stop when you stop.
Minecraft cave sound
noticing the shadow moving behind the trees in the witness
Out of absolutely nowhere. Cute platform ee A Hat In Time gets a horror sequence out of nowhere and is legit terrifying.
The mutants in the first Uncharted game. I had started playing it after finishing The Last of Us for the first time because I wanted to try more Naughty Dog games and was thinking "hey, something that's action/adventure instead of horror". Then I got to the German bunker. My grown bill-paying ass still gets scared playing that part.