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

[solemnwar]

Pretty much all the Bethesda open-world RPGs. So Morrowind, Fallout 3 (and by extension Fallout:NV), Oblivion, Skyrim... there's always something creepy to make me shit my pants


And any level in ME2 where husks appear out of fucking nowhere, the abandoned mine being particularly bad -_-;

 

[AlexanderPeregrine]

Here's a really obscure one that isn't so much scary-creepy as "I feel really uncomfortable playing this" creepy: Elona Shooter [http://www.kongregate.com/games/noanoa/elona-shooter]. There's no context to what sort of person you're supposed to be and has an SNES aesthetic with chibi sprites. Regardless, the title screen has a character not unlike one you'd play gun down a fleeing crowd of picnickers for no apparent reason. There's a museum where you can see the trophies you've earned and one of the functions is to rob the other visitors. Clicking that very specifically opens with "you shoot women and children!" You can hire your "little sisters" to senselessly suicide bomb. I started to feel like a terrible person playing it and I think that's because the game leaves everything to the imagination.

 

[Crazy]

One time, I paused while playing Luigi's Mansion so I can take a bathroom break. When I got back, I noticed a little Boo at the top of my screen. I thought it was cute, it looking to the side, nice piece of decoration. As I looked at it, I swear that it looked back at me, into my eyes. It was just for a split second, and then looked away as if nothing happened.

I never paused a game in my life ever again.

 

[Mr Companion]

The Water Wraith.
Oh gods the Water Wraith!

Pikmin 2 is all colorful and funloving then you get forced to enter a cave with only blue Pikmin, its the only time a restriction is placed upon you. You enter the cave, and its eerily easy, most of the treasure is unprotected and nothing but the disquieting music warns you of the absolute f**kness that is to come. You keep going down level after level until you become cocky, then this watery visage drops down from the sky. Your AI ally comes up with nothing when analyzing it and presumes it to be a shadow cast from another dimension. It is invincible, the level is dark enough for it to ambush you and it makes the most horrid rhythmical gurgling that creeps ever closer in its unrelenting pursuit. All you can do is run as it chases you down like an insect.

You go down a level, thinking the lapse in music signifies your escape. Only a minute or two later you hear it again because it follows you everywhere, across all levels unlike every boss before or after. I would oft hide in pipes or crevices whist hearing that f**ker circle about outside. Never go to the Submerged Castle.

 

[Joby Baumann]

Not sure if STLAKER is a horror game or not, but the underground sections tend to be terrifying

 

[Euphbug]

I know I won't be the only one, but... The eel in Mario 64. It's really sad that thing is still more frightening then anything I've seen in a dead space game or RE6. I guess even Mario can do horror better haha. Speaking of mario 64, that piano was pretty nasty to.

I was 11 when the N64 came out and that eel creeped me out, but felt like a PBS puppet after I experienced THIS.

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

Skip to 12:37 for nightmare fuel if you're afraid of deep, dark water and what may lurk within...

Also, The Unfinished Swan was terrifying at times. Like Shadows of the Empire did, The Unfinished Swan did not sit well with my fear of rising, never-ending, deep, dark water.

Oh my, I have said on many times in these types of threads about that Eel when I was younger, but you just had to remind me that the sewer level even existed. I love that game but man if I forgot (or blocked out) or moments of that sewer level. I don't think I ever went back to the level to get any of the challenge medals after I beat that game.

 

[Sheo_Dagana]

I'm reaching back a bit here, but I'll never forget this particularly creepy moment in original (not Anniversary) Tomb Raider... When you get far enough into the first chapter and you end up facing dinosaurs, I thought it was kind of weird and didn't make too much sense. I went with it, though. Remember that games did not have good draw distances back then. There's a particular section where you're running forward without a care in the world, and a Tyranno-fucking-saurus Rex comes out of no where and kills you before you really know how to get away from it.

I was seriously scared shitless beyond anything Resident Evil or Silent Hill has ever thrown at me. There was no warning, no build-up, no tense music. All of a sudden, it was just you and a huge ass dinosaur that gave you about ten seconds to figure out what to do about him before he wasted you.

The Tomb Raider series has had other creepy moments as well, but that's the first one that came to my mind.

 

[Riley Holt]

This one was a glitch, but I damn near pissed myself. Waaay back on the GameCube, I was playing Medal of Honor: Rising Sun. It was a conflict my grandfather was a part of, so I wanted to play it. There was one point, I think it may have even been multiplayer. In the baseball field, where the announcer usually would be, was a machine gun nest. You could get up there and cause some trouble for the folks down below. Anyway, as I was using it, I must have pointed it at some weird angle, because suddenly there were floating eyes and teeth in front of me. I nearly threw my controller. Apparently, I was seeing the inside of my or an ally's head, but was clipping through, so only the eyeballs (facing me for some reason) and the teeth were showing. Holy... crap.

I'm sure if I went through the thread I could find plenty more, but that one is the first to come to mind, and WAY off in terms of being a scary game. As for actual game events, I'd have to think before posting again.

 

[IrateDonnie]

Not sure if STLAKER is a horror game or not, but the underground sections tend to be terrifying

This so much this, I remember playing it & going through a tunnel & right at the end something jumped out & started screaming at me. I turned it off & haven't played it since.

 

[Trixsy]

... Yeah, that was creepy as hell.

Also, I never played Dreamfall. Is it any good?

If you enjoy story-based experience then it's definitely worth looking into. If however you're among the type who look at something like 'The Walking Dead' and say that it isn't a game, then no, you should probably steer clear of Dreamfall as it's very much focused purely on the story rather than gameplay.

Keep in mind Dreamfall is a sequel though, the first game is called The Longest Journey and is one of my personal favourite games of all time. Just such a charming experience. And while you can play Dreamfall on its own, it's so much better if you've played the first game as well.

There's currently a kickstarter for a third game in the series that's already gotten funded, LINK. Personally I'm excited!

Those games don't get nearly enough love. I picked up the longest journey in a steam sale... and then proceeded to buy dreamfall right after. Need to replay them though, get re-hyped for the third game!

 

[Dalisclock]

... Yeah, that was creepy as hell.

Also, I never played Dreamfall. Is it any good?

I liked it, but it's not as good as The Longest Journey. It's two biggest flaws are

-that a couple of the chapters are little more then the main character running from one end of the map to the other, so yeah, the chapter has no puzzle solving and is over in 5 minutes(I'm looking at you, Dark People's Library).

-the game ending on about a million cliffhangers while only resolving a grand total of one of the plot threads. It wouldn't have been so bad but until about a week ago, pretty much everyone assumed that there would never be a sequel to resolve everything(and whether or not Chapters actually does is yet to be seen). In fact, I suspect one of the reasons Chapters is doing so well on kickstarter is that a lot of people want to see just how the story is supposed to end.

 

[Ipsen]

A vote for the Shadow of the Colossus, 10th colossus.

Spoiler: OMG GTFUCKAWAAAEEIII!

Yea, this colossus...not so much creepy, but very much actively fear-inducing. It also brought the aspect of the colossus' eyes much closer to home; with those eyes, its not just pissed, it KNOWS where you are.

Going through the Prison of Hope (3-1) in Demon's Souls for the first time scared the crap out of me, especially the insane prisoners that would attack without warning and hearing the singing that accompanies a mindflayer before you can see where it is.

+1.

 

[Mocmocman]

If Bioshock counts...

Spoiler

Picture can't really capture the experience of going in there first time.

If not then there are some houses in CoD: World at war, Final Fronts that are just unsettling. Not scary, but unsettling.

 

[superking9292]

Swat 4

second level when you are looking for the kidnapper.

starts of routine. then you find the basement....

things are not well there

That is a good one. Really creepy mission, and good game.

The Children of Taronne Tenament... the basement... that is all

 

[DragonV2.0]

Rayman 2 Cave of bad dreams

don't let the first few levels of the game fool you there is some creppy stuff in this game, when i played it as a kid i just never could muster the courage to play past that bit, i never even made it to the boss, once i realized that those wall arm thingies ate you i was done

when Rayman 2 was released on the 3Ds i saw this as my chance to beat this game and i did beat it, however then i got the joy of playing tomb of the ancients... oph

 

[Beat14]

I have read through the thread, so I want to add something that no one has mentioned, so here it goes.

Dark Souls, in The Painted World or Ariamis you have to pull a lever that is located in a semi flooded crypt like basement area. It's dark down there, with one shaft of light punching through the darkness... and all the rolling skeletons wheels.

My first time down there I ran straight towards the light at the far end and had ~6 skeleton wheels after me. The horror.

 

[Cheesus Crust]

When I was in the Deep Roads in DAO. The feeling of going deeper and deeper into the roads whilst seeing more darkspawn and so on felt creepy. The fact that I had to go through the ruined civilizations of the dwarves also added to the creepiness. To think that it used to be an entire city or country and now is in ruins.

 

[JemothSkarii]

It was in Mass Effect 2. I spent about 40 minutes laboriously creating my character exactly the way I wanted it...

...and then I saw it in-game.

Yeah, I had that experience, I thought I made this awesome character, then came...

THE ACCIDENTAL ADVENTURES OF ASIAN SHEPHERD!

There was no intention on making him Asian...I'm just sad that ME3 didn't import the face

OT: For me it would be the scene in Binary Domain with the 'Junk Yard' and you're trapped with two guys who hate each other...and a surprisingly good Japanese accent by Johnny Yong Bosch.

But man was it creepy >.<

 

[Denamic]

Another Dark Souls moment.
The first time I entered the Ash Lake. The atmosphere is just amazingly uncomfortable. You feel so small and out of place. It's not like it's a hard place with difficult enemies or anything; it's just chilling.

 

[emissary666]

About half-way through Hotline Miami, when all the dead bodies start showing up. I'm generally only scared by jumps, but having mutilated corpses just appearing in what used to be "safe" areas was a bit too surreal.