Creepiest Moments You've Had... in Non-Horror Games

[Tomeran]

DayZ.(and no, not a horror game. although its a game about zombies, -very- few would honestly rate it as a horror game.)

There's the rare group of hackers on the public servers that dress out as serial killers and play the -creepiest- music while they stalk and ambush you.

I had a guy with a freaky bloody clown skin and a hatchet stalk me on MULTIPLE SERVERS while he played music in which some little girl was singing. While there was rain and frikking lightning.

Almost drove me frikking insane, and probably among the scariest non-horror game moments I've had.

"OH GOD WHY GET THE HELL AWAY FROM ME OH GOD SOMEBODY HELP!"

 

[Brainwreck]

I was going to post something about Shadow of Chernobyl that wasn't actually meant to happen, then I realised it actually is classified as survival horror.

The S.T.A.L.K.E.R series is one of my favourites, but I really struggle to classify it as "horror" or even "survival horror". I certainly play it more like a horror game, and it creeps the shit out of me sometimes, but the game doesn't really have any particular horror elements to back that up. I have no problem calling it "survival", and have had several heated conversations about this in real life, but it doesn't really feel like it's trying to scare you.

STALKER isn't trying to scare you, you're right. It does not try using scare chords and monsters popping out of vents for a cheap jump scare. Any jump scares the game might throw at you are unscripted, the simple consequence of monster AI being programmed the way it is. The horror comes from a setting so drenched in dread, you can literally see it seep off the walls.

Also, this.

 

[Susurrus]

Unreal.

Towards the end, you are progressing through an alien spaceship. At one point, you enter the detention area. There are huge numbers of very tough Skaarj units (and some pupae) locked behind force cages. They cannot get out and completely ignore you.

Eventually, you progress to a boss battle. It takes place at the power core, and in the process of killing him, you also knock out all the power to the ship.

So now the forcefields are down. And the lights are out. You open the door, and you are back in the detention centre.

 

[Tomster595]

Can't think of any really specific moments, but this reminds me of when I first started playing Minecraft and didn't know about all the dungeons and creatures yet. Getting lost underground and finding Mines for the first time filled with spiders was kinda creepy.

 

[ThatRandomGuy42]

Halo 4 had a really creepy moment when the Composer was fired. It essentially disintegrates people into data, and we get treated to a close up of it happening. Brrr...
Also, Eddie the deranged serial killer from Grand Theft Auto IV was really fucking creepy

 

[Scarim Coral]

That Dalton gate thing (that guy who had some how fuse with that gate) from the game Infinite Space creep me out for some reason, I guess it was his face as it he did look creepy.

 

[Nekron_X]

One part from Neir. While the aeire itself has been slightly creepy and the song for it doesn't help(especially since the song name is Cold Steel Coffin), i was never really creeped out by anything else in the game but that part, just one little line said by a guard because of how his voice changes was just out of place and...odd.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&list=PLAE46A0E4355D33CC&v=8T0E872jieM#t=375s

should start around 6:10-6:15....couldn't find just a short clip of what i was talking about so....while there were other more disturbing moments in Neir, they were things you could expect somewhat, and this one just kinda came out of....nowhere.

 

[AnthrSolidSnake]

Hmm...well just recently I've been playing FF7 again, and I'd say the first time I heard the "planets cries" sound effect. It was always so eerie to me. That and seeing Cloud in the wheelchair. Not really frightening, but rather unsettling.

 

[Zagzag]

Snip

The thing is you're right. I find STALKER to be pretty scary as games go, and I really hate the scripted jump scenes in most "horror" games these days, but for some reason I just can't consider the series "horror". I know I'm probably wrong, and I don't really begrudge other people the right, but the fact is that the game isn't really doing anything particularly psychological other than making you tense about being jumped on or murdered by random gribblies. The fact that nothing happening is actually scarier than something happening is usually the mark of a good horror game, and STALKER does manage this to be fair.

 

[MrBrightside919]

I'll agree with anyone who says Majora's Mask...before the whole Ben Drowned thing started...

Spoiler

That game is just plain spooky for the entire game, from when you get the main masks for the first time to the fact that the creep ass moon is ALWAYS WATCHING YOU...

It's just depressing and scary overall. Hell, even the game's logo is creepy...

 

[Pop-culture fan]

Mgs 2 endgame, Campbell codex calls.

 

[PissOffRoth]

Welcome to the forums, by the way! Hope you enjoy being a member of the Escapist community!

Anyways, for me it would have to be when you run into the "crawler" for the first time in Fable 3. The game was all upbeat and fun, but then it starts going into plain C'thulhu territory. There were also certain "Demon Doors" in Fable 2 that were plain horrifying. Like the room full of an army of statues.

Oh my God, the knights in Fable 2.
The knights. I didn't want to go near them. There was no reason I shouldn't, but... I didn't want to.

 

[songnar]

The Thief series despite not being a horror series has always had a minimum of one 'scary' level in each game with probably the most memorable ones being Return to the Cathedral in Thief: The Dark Project and the Shalebridge Cradle in Thief 3: Deadly Shadows.

Cripes, I still have never made it through Shalebridge. Creep factor is OVER 9000!

 

[MrBrightside919]

Metroid, in general, is pretty damn creepy. You are all alone on a strange alien planet or space station. No one is coming to save you if you get into trouble. Some of the creature designs in those games are great...

Spoiler

Metroid Fusion has a boss named Nightmare. The more damage you do to it, it's face starts melting. It also doesn't help that you fight it in a smaller space and it's easy to get cornered against a wall with the damn thing charging at you. The SA-X is also creepy. It chases you if it sees you and you cannot kill it, no matter what. It will decimate you if you let it get near you.

Super Metroid has by far the creepiest title screen music for a non horror game. The combination of that music and the imagery of the title screen just makes for a damn creepy experience, especially if you are a young kid...

 

[MrBrightside919]

I'm sure it's been mentioned earlier, but i'm just gonna leave this here...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yS881o8R9LI

 

[Sleix]

The labs in STALKER were horrifying, hell, some could even argue the whole game was. You spend the first five hours or so travelling from place to place in the same area, then you're told to travel to a laboratory, I expected the lab to be filled with scientists, maybe an abandoned lab taken over by bandits? No. None of these things, instead, you're greeted with a chilling silence as you enter, only the buzz of your gouger counter to keep you company, you venture on into the darkness. I was a little creeped out, but it was nothing too bad, then I saw some barrels moving in the corner of the room, I thought they were just bugged and moved on, but low and behold, a pile of crated toppled over infront of me and OH DEAR GOD THEY'RE FLOATING. After running aimlessly through the lab trying to get away from said moving crates, I hear a scuttling noise and it appears I'm getting attacked, as you look to the floor you see a mutilated corpse with a gass mask gnawing at your ankles. And as a massive fuck you, it repeats the "Piss your pants" horror levels all the way through the game, these take the cake for me.

 

[The Random One]

I was scared out of my mind on the haunted ghost mansion in Mario 64.

...I was ten, give me a break.

 

[Sehnsucht Engel]

I've experienced the jump scare quite a few times in games that aren't horror, because I wasn't paying attention. Like an enemy is suddenly right next to or behind me when I turn around.

Also, I hate moments where you're in water and there's monsters down there with you. I think there's something like that in Majora's mask, where Link has to swim down into a deep hole where there's large sea snakes or something. I might be remembering it wrong. Guild Wars 2 is kind of the same, since I don't only dislike water combat, but I don't like being under water at all.

I also experienced fear of heights the first time I played minecraft...

 

[pearcinator]

Zelda: Majoras Mask

/thread

Seriously, it's not a horror game but almost everything is creepy in it!

 

[Neverhoodian]

Star Wars: Dark Forces. Anoat Sewers level.

Spoiler: NOPE-NOPE-NOPE-NOPE-NOPE-NOPE-NOPE-NOPE-NOPE

Still freaks me the hell out.