Favorite horror game (and why)?

[OpticalJunction]

binding of isaac because it can be played in less than 5 minutes

 

[Evonisia]

Silent Hill 3, just has a brilliant atmosphere, pacing, design and it has a good cast of characters to support a great story. It's gameplay, while still sticky and awkward, is much better than Silent Hill 1 and 2 and it's monster design is enough to creep me out any day.

Amnesia gets an honourable mention, 'cause it is really good.

 

[EHKOS]

Condemned 1. I was tense the whole way through, and I played it in one sitting at night for the first time. It was magic. And there were certainly some great parts from the second one, including the visceral, graphic scene involving a screeching doll thing having it's head crushed. And I swore that bear survived the explosion, I was waiting for that fucker to show up for the rest of the level. I wasn't entirely convinced he wasn't the last boss either until I beat it. Still, it was NOT as good as the first one by a long shot.

For me, Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines. That hotel freaked me out the first time I played through it, and there were plenty of other levels that were deliciously creepy in their own unique way.

Tzimici furniture. 'Nough said.

 

[Kyber]

Call of Cthulhu: Dark corners of the Earth
I'm a huge lovecraft fan, and even though the gameplay is pretty terrible, it's based off Shadows over Innsmouth, and Shadows over Innsmouth was fantastic. There is just something about discovering unspeakable horrors, horrors that you can't even affect. You are just a spectator in this display of unimaginable horror and fear. To go farther and feed your curiosity , is committing to finding out about things better left hidden. Ia! Mglui naflftagn Dagon e Y'ha-nthlei!

 

[spartandude]

That new(ish) Star Trek game, you dont know when it will happen, or if it will and then suddenly BAM! your caught in a game breaking glitch.

 

[StormShaun]

there is also call of pripyat where you realise an emsission is comming and you have to take cover in the nearest place which happens to be a large crack in the ground which you just know is the lair to lots of something

My pants were soiled when I first met them in Pripyat (It was in a mission). They were hard to find, they hit hard and they made you struggle against them.

With the crack, once again that was part of a mission. When I knew what was down there, it was all "NOPE, NOPE, NOOOOOOPE" from there and I closed the program.
One thing I really liked was the emsission/storm. First time I had to hide inside a damned pipe for all of that time.
It was fun and really added to the immersion/story.

 

[InfernalGrape]

Forbidden Siren 2 (pal/jp though)

Non-linear plot progression, great atmosphere, interesting concepts

p.s.
i love Silent Hill 3-4 also =)

 

[CrimsonBlaze]

I would say Dead Space 2, primarily because the game is takes place 90% in the dark, you're always struggling to chose between exploring an area that might be filled with enemies or to just push forward, and you never feel safe.

There is always something waiting to jump out and attack you. There is even one occasion where you reach an area with a save point and store that, upon feeling relieved to catch a breather, causes instant panic when a necromorph jumps out and lunges towards you. I basically got into the habit of checking every room with a save point from then on.

 

[ScrabbitRabbit]

Wanna have fun with RE4 or Dead Space?
Start a new game and set you TV graphic settings to Brightness 30% (RE4) or 40% (DS1&2), Contrast 60%, Color 0%, and play in the dark. Those games really feel like horror titles if you do that.

Turning off the music in Dead Space also helps immensely. It's just too cheesy not to undermine the horror; sounds like an orchestra falling down.

My favourite is Silent Hill 2. It was pretty damned creepy, but it was also really engrossing. In Amnesia, I didn't want to step forward and see what was around the corner. Sometimes this led to me simply playing something else.

Silent Hill 2 creeped me out just as much but I couldn't just walk away. I had to find out what was going on.

I'll give an honourable mention to the STALKER games, too.

 

[Hosker]

SCP Containment Breach. The randomness of the game coupled with 173 created by far the most frightening game I've ever played.

 

[Tallim]

Call of Cthulhu: Dark corners of the Earth
I'm a huge lovecraft fan, and even though the gameplay is pretty terrible, it's based off Shadows over Innsmouth, and Shadows over Innsmouth was fantastic. There is just something about discovering unspeakable horrors, horrors that you can't even affect. You are just a spectator in this display of unimaginable horror and fear. To go farther and feed your curiosity , is committing to finding out about things better left hidden. Ia! Mglui naflftagn Dagon e Y'ha-nthlei!

Here-here. +1 for Dark Corners Of The Earth, awesome game dripping with atmosphere. I'll also mention Shadow Of The Comet simply because of the pervasive feeling of doom that hangs over the whole affair despite being an ancient adventure game.

 

[Lugbzurg]

Various horror games just don't work for me. A key example is Slender. It isn't scary at all. It's boring, stupid, and downright silly.

One that REALLY worked was SCP-087-B. Yeah, that was the title. It was a tiny, but effective, indie horror game. I've never felt so helpless and trapped in a game as when I played that. Very limited visibility, limited mobility, pretty much no knowledge of where you are or what's in there... Just play it, ok? It's less than 3 megabytes and well worth you time! (Play at night with the lights off and earbuds/headphones on, of course!)

http://www.scpcbgame.com/scp-087-b.html

 

[Shadow-Phoenix]

Project zero, holy shit did that game make me run for the bloody hills.

A friend of mine introduced me to the game back in 2007 and just handed me the Ps3 controller and let me figure things out on my own.

naturally when i saw the first ghost I ran all the way back leading me up 3 flights of stairs while believing I was truly safe, but safe I was not when my jaw dropped in horror as I watched the ghost rising up directly through the floor below me, cornering me into a corner which caused me to take as many photos as I could to eliminate the spirit but in the end she grabbed me and it was game over.

Resident Evil 2+3 still hold a very special place in my heart though.

 

[Someone Depressing]

The Clock Tower series.

a) It's unpredictable.
b) No self defense (excluding Ghost Head, where you get fucking machine gun)
c) The enemies are usually, just normal people. And if they aren't, they're physically ordinary. It's more the idea that this sane, rational human being wants to rip out your uterus.

And Resident Evil 1-3 because it's so corny, stupid, and so poorly made that it has a very, very special place for me. Mostly, because as a kid, it gave me guidelines on "this is good" and "this isn't good".

And don't forget OFF as a close second. The gameplay isn't much - take a picture of an enemy, lick your thumb, and then rub the ink around = damage (that doesn't even make sense in turn-based RPG terms.. but it's an attack) but the story is complex and symbolic. Of course, I lost all hope in a sequel when I found the secret ending by mistake: Alien monkeys did it. What a way to ruin an awesome game.

Maybe Penumbra, but the monsters stopped being scary and more hilarious when I thought I heard one say "stupid twat".

 

[MysticSlayer]

In terms of being scary: Amnesia: The Dark Descent. While it had a slow start and sort of fizzled out at the end, everything in between kept me on the edge of my seat and in horrified anticipation of the next monster. The atmosphere was well done, keeping me uneasy to downright horrified throughout the experience.

In terms of being enjoyable: Depends. If anyone counts BioShock as a horror game, then that. Otherwise, Resident Evil 4. While RE4 really wasn't that scary, it did a good job of keeping a constant sense of tension, and the earlier sections on The Island were genuinely creepy. Not to mention, it was actually enjoyable to play.

 

[Headdrivehardscrew]

Apart from the well-known ones, which I all pretty much equally love (Biohazard/Resident Evil, Resident Evil 4, Silent Hill, Condemned, etc.), but generally just the first title in the series... if I can only pick one, I'd probably go for Midway's The Suffering.

Yeah, I know. It's old as ass, eventually falls apart, looks and sounds and feels quite horribly out-of-date these days, but... it was just one of the first truly horrific rides in the new millenium. It got Stan Winston monster designs that just worked, no matter how battle-hardened you considered yourself to be. It had effects and bits no other game offered. It gripped me and didn't let me go for quite some time, invading my dreams, inspiring me to draw and write and ponder on things I haven't given much thought on in a while. Simple things we tend to take for granted, such as living a normal life, not killing people and not having to deal with things invading our world that made certain elements of Half-Life or Cthulhu seem laughably benevolent in comparison. For me, it just took action-y survival horror to a whole new level, and the next 'original' title that reminded me of this one particular ride was Condemned.

Most horror series in games consist of one exceptional title, just as with movies. Usually, it's the first one.

Just look at Amnesia.

 

[JagermanXcell]

Resident Evil 4 and Silent 2.

Yeah I know RE4 has action but the in between horror moments were some of the best in the entire series more so then 2's Mr.X and 3's Nemesis encounters. To name a few of the best... the garden maze, the sewers with the bugs, and your first encounter with a Regenerator.

Spoiler

NOPENOPENOPENOPENOPENOPE

And Silent Hill 2 because of the misadventures of Pyramid Head.

 

[Popbangwoo]

Mine has got to be Doom 3. Just the fact that the monster "Spawn" rather than the normal thing where the monster is already there is ridiculous. That moment when you open the lift and one of the big motherfuckin brown alien things is in your face, and you turn around and 2 more appear. Yeah, scared the crap out of me. Oh, and did I mention theres a level thats based in hell?

Second to that has to be Outlast. Ive played A:TDD, and was pretty scared, but outlast is a whole new level. It feels like the film REC, and has a brilliant story, gameplay everything...

 

[TheMadDoctorsCat]

System Shock 2

It's challenging, has a great story, well written dialogue, and while the voice acting doesn't always nail it, when it does it's spectacular. It also does an amazing job of creating an oppressive atmosphere, which is something I find most modern horror games lack. Horror isn't about jump scares, being startled isn't the same as being afraid, horror is about creating a sense of unease and challenging the audience's feeling of safety either through effective atmosphere or through a chilling narrative. Then just to top it all off System Shock 2 also got two of the best villains in the entire gaming genre, SHODAN and The Many.

There have been entire articles written about how damned well done SHODAN is, that's how good she is. Heck, I'll link my favourite: The Girl Who Wanted To Be God by Kieron Gillen, who retired from game journalism and now works as a writer for Marvel.

I have to go with the original "System Shock", although #2 is great as well. Fantastic article by the way. Thanks for the link.

 

[Silvanus]

Probably Silent Hill 2. Of the few horror games I've played it was the only one that did horror properly well.

My favourite, too. Playing SH2 was the only time Horror has genuinely made me short of breath in fear, panicking and desperate to escape (specifically, in the underground "prison" section). No other game, or for that matter film or book, has elicited that great a response.