Creepiest levels/settings/all around scary moments in video games.

[elvor0]

My first memory of being scared in a video game has to be the T-Rex in Tomb Raider 1, truly an iconic memory, the music, the screen shaking and OH FUCK A T REX!

That bit in RE3 where Nemesis jumps through the window scared the shit out of me when I first played it, I went and hid in the safe room for a good 20 minutes.

But the all time best has to be The Cradle level in Thief 3, even better than amnesia granted that game ties with Silent Hill 2 for the best pure horror games, but those two are horror games, you're expecting to be somewhat scared.

The Cradle works better because before that point, YOU are the master of shadows, they're your domain, to shoot guards, pickpocket people and sneak around looking for rich peoples treasure, the shadows are where you feel safest. Come The Cradle, everything is flipped upside down, instead you are the hunted, and every shadow terrifies you. I'm never going back there.

 

[Busdriver580]

The hotel in Call of Cthulhu, Creepiest and I would argue one of the best moments in gaming all together.

 

[RustlessPotato]

The Snip.

Also, you can still hear some screams of pain, which make me thing those stuck on a wall are still partially concious humans :/...

The Snip 2: The Snippening ! .

Also, there's a theory that those infected humans are also concious about their ordeal.

Almost everything has been said, except for the Dunwich building in Fallout 3. It took me by surprise.

Also in Condemned, school level was really creepy. Almost everything in that game was creepy. Too bad they lost focus in the 2nd. Imagine how better the story would've been if it was just you hunting that serial killer instead of that... other thing.

I realise I say also a lot

 

[Thaliur]

Almost 20 posts, and no one has mentioned the whole Penumbra series yet? With the possible exception of Requiem, but the rest was impossible to live through when playing in the night. Good thing the Announcer provided a bit of comic relief.

Um, see the post just above yours.

Arr, I hate it when posts coming up while I am typing mine invalidate my own post...

 

[OrpheusTelos]

Chrono Cross. The Dead Sea.

Holy CRAP, the Dead Sea. One of the most poignant, eerie, and downright chilling moments I've ever played.

 

[XIGBARx13]

I could say basically every level of Condemned: Criminal Origins, but there are 2 in particular. The first is the Bart's Department Store level, because like the OP mentioned, making your way through a store filled with mannequins and psychotic attackers disguised as mannequins waiting until you pass to jump out at you, is terrifying to say the least.
I then have to mention the second to last level, the Apple Seed Orchard Farmhouse. This place has the scariest atmosphere I've ever seen in a game. You've got cryptic writing running along the walls, floors, and ceilings of the house. Everywhere you go, you hear footsteps that seem to follow you either above or below you. Enemies jump out of nowhere or from around corners. And then you face the boss in a really tense, cat-and-mouse chase around the house. But I think the most unsettling part of all is that it takes place in a completely normal looking rural house.

 

[shrekfan246]

I still remember the first time I got to the Flood in Halo. Going through a dark swamp, with Covenant fleeing from vague, but disturbing, shadows; seeing slaughtered Covenant piled in rooms; seeing very strong doors smashed out of the wall; and finally, getting to the single light bridge that actually works, and it's leading right into an especially smashed door with eerie red symbols around it. And then the cutscene after you enter the last room...mang. Still one of my favorite set pieces/levels in gaming.

The sound design also made that scene terrifying. It had that annoying noise thing in the background that felt really uncomfortable. The worst, I think, was that corridor covered in blood. I can't remember if that was before or after the first encounter.

Even scarier was that the first Flood you see are the infection forms. Not too bad. Then the normal forms show up. *shudder*

All in all, excellent level, one of my favorite levels ever.

It's just too bad that the level that followed was The Library. One of the best examples of how to not do level design. It's pretty much the entire reason that I can't muster up the care to replay the first Halo.

OT: Amnesia: The Dark Descent. I always liked the obvious puzzle-areas that were safe, because they allowed me to relax after the tense, pulse-gripping monster areas.

Alice: Madness Returns is a pretty messed up game, too. I should re-install that someday...

Also, most certainly this:

 

[debra_ beretta]

I don't scare at games easily but the entirety of the Project Zero series. Willies, engendered.

 

[Captain Epic]

I still remember the first time I got to the Flood in Halo. Going through a dark swamp, with Covenant fleeing from vague, but disturbing, shadows; seeing slaughtered Covenant piled in rooms; seeing very strong doors smashed out of the wall; and finally, getting to the single light bridge that actually works, and it's leading right into an especially smashed door with eerie red symbols around it. And then the cutscene after you enter the last room...mang. Still one of my favorite set pieces/levels in gaming.

The sound design also made that scene terrifying. It had that annoying noise thing in the background that felt really uncomfortable. The worst, I think, was that corridor covered in blood. I can't remember if that was before or after the first encounter.

Even scarier was that the first Flood you see are the infection forms. Not too bad. Then the normal forms show up. *shudder*

All in all, excellent level, one of my favorite levels ever.

It's just too bad that the level that followed was The Library. One of the best examples of how to not do level design. It's pretty much the entire reason that I can't muster up the care to replay the first Halo.

OT: Amnesia: The Dark Descent. I always liked the obvious puzzle-areas that were safe, because they allowed me to relax after the tense, pulse-gripping monster areas.

Alice: Madness Returns is a pretty messed up game, too. I should re-install that someday...

Also, most certainly this:

I fell off my couch playing that part of Bioshock. It has no efffect if you aren't playing though.

 

[DeathSwitch109]

The Forest Temple in Ocarina of Time wasn't that scary but combined with the music and the Wall Masters...yeah it definitely put a chill down my spine. Bottom of the Well was scary simply because there's a bunch of undead monsters...at the bottom of the well...

AvP...I forgot all about that game...I couldn't even play when I was a kid.

The safe room just before the first Licker in Resident Evil 2 made me jump lol.

Nemesis in Resident Evil 3 actually broke in a my safe room...also got me pretty good.

 

[shrekfan246]

I fell off my couch playing that part of Bioshock. It has no efffect if you aren't playing though.

Oh, I agree. Just watching the clip isn't really all that creepy, but when you're playing that part of the game at midnight with all of the lights off, headphones on and the sounds turned up really loud... Christ, first time I saw him I literally just started smashing the fire button on my mouse.

 

[Evan Halfmann]

I think some parts of The Suffering were pretty scary. Particularly when you go to Dr. Killjoy's mansion.

 

[Exius Xavarus]

That little hole in Henry's room in Silent Hill 4 where you can peer into the girl's room next to yours, and suddenly her teddy bear has an evil face and is staring right at you. 'Twas unexpected and certainly freaked me out the first time.

Also, underwater areas always make me hesitate. Especially when there's stuff in there and you can't fight underwater. /aquaphobia

 

[karcentric]

Hell even hearing a zombie in a cave in Minecraft can give me the creeps (laugh it up).

I know the feeling...

First time I played S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Shadow of Chernobyl I was pretty terrified, and then I met a Bloodsucker in the the first underground section...

The hotel in Call of Cthulhu, Creepiest and I would argue one of the best moments in gaming all together.

When your getting chased? God I forgot about that. That was... Well it was creepy and scary. You just knew something really horrible would happen to you if you got caught.

 

[GrandmaFunk]

the Shaddar Logoth level in the old Wheel of Time FPS...sooooo creepy

 

[repeating integers]

Ravenholm in Half-Life 2 is still difficult for me to play through. It just... scares me. A lot. I'm nearly a nervous wreck by the end, every time. It just grates at your soul.

 

[LongDanzi]

most of the things that come into my head are from super Mario 64 sadly, I played the game when I was about 8 and some of the basement levels were creepy like haze maze and the lava world and even the first Bowser level when the picture of peace turned into bowser. as for moment, Quake 4 when you are turned into a strogg. seeing your legs being sawed off and being stabbed was creepy plus seeing what happened to the poor bastard in front of you.