Moments in non-horror games that scared the shit out of you?

[Ayame Murasaki]

When the Jewel Beast appears towards the end of the Looking Glass Tower mission in Legend of Mana. I shall tell you exactly what I thought as I went through the battle.

OH MY GOD WHAT IS THAT THING
OH MY GOD WHERE ARE ITS EYES
OH MY GOD IT JUST STUCK ITS POINTY JEWEL TONGUE THROUGH MY CHEST
AAAAAAIIIIIIGH RUN RUN RUN
OH MY GOD FUCKING LASER ATTACK
OH SHIT I'M DEAD

...Please pardon the incessant caps-lock, but that thing freaked me the fuck out. (And during some of the other missions in the Jumi storyline, you get to fight _more_ of them. EEP.)

 

[Qvar]

Banjo-Kazooie, the first time I met Clanker. I was swimming through that tunnel minding my own business, when I straigthened the camera and "HOLY SH** RUN RUN RUN RUN".

Minecraft, when they added the new Enderman sounds. I was at a completely dark forest and started hearing those creepy sounds (aparently I targeted an enderman I didn't even see). Then started to get hit. Probably didnt ever run so fast at that game.

The haunted mansion music at Mario 64 when I was young spooked me to death ^^ Also as somebody mentioned, the bottom of the well from Ocarina of Time.

Not really, it's an FPS starring a guy with super powers, there's very little actual 'horror' in it when you're doing a flying scissor kick into a clone trooper's face, although the super natural elements can veer into full on horror territory at time it's not a horror game.

In other words "not horror because I say so". Yet the second tag for the Steam's F.E.A.R. page is "horror".

 

[Imperioratorex Caprae]

OT: If anyone remembers the Tentaculats from X-Com: Terror from the Deep, you have experienced true horror. Every time these fuckers show up, it's like watching Aliens.

Fuck. I had a memory block on that til I read that sentence. I was all of like 13 or so for TFTD and while some things didn't freak me out, bottom of the ocean monsters still did (I lived on an island for the first 2/3 of my life).
Also any form of kaiju can freak me out, combination of living near the ocean and kid fears of giant monsters. I've never gotten over that...

OT: Half-Life freaked me out a bit crawling through the air ducts and getting headcrabbed for the first time with surround sound.... Getting shot at in Rogue Spear with surround (first day I set up the speakers) was surreal. I'd swear I felt the bullet whiz past me and lodge in the wall behind me and I dove underneath my desk... I'd been shot at before and it felt damn near real that time. Good system.

 

[kasperbbs]

Not sure if first Half-life counts as a non horror game, but the section with the flooded building and that goddamned fishthing lurking in the water scared the shit out of me. That blind plantthing also deserves to be mentioned.

But the scariest moment in gaming for me was whenever i killed a bunch of people who didn't fight back for one reason or another and gained 'karma' which means that if i die i will probably drop some of my gear that ive spent months collecting in that grindfest of an mmo.

 

[Shinkicker444]

I have had quite a few moments in non-horror games that have given me the chills, but for the life of me I can't think of them off hand. Only one that comes to mind is in Tomb Raider when you come across the Oni the first time and all the body parts.

 

[socialmenace42]

Minecraft. Anytime you are down a cave with more than you want to lose, especially if you get lost. Monsters lurk. Attempts to dig upwards meet water. Your food supply dwindles. Oh noes!

Slowly mining your way round a lava lake and you hear something rustle behind you... 'shudders'

For me, as a child playing Lego Rock raiders of all things on the PC, the first level where you are required to deal with the giant rock monsters. They had been hinted at throughout the game's cut scenes and training missions but nine-year-old me was not prepared for three of those muthafuckers bursting out of the walls and turning my base into so much rubble... I didn't play that game again for a good couple of years I think.

Also Halo CE The library level. first time through I was not such a proficient gamer just yet, played it on co-op on hardcore. Wasn't fun.

 

[Diddy_Mao]

Mine would be the only trace we see of Scarecrow in Arkham City. I've only shouted "oh, shit!" in two games. Dead Space and at this part. I'll post a video in the spoiler.

Spoiler

I might also add the Asylum from the new Thief game. Haven't played it, I've only seen it online.

That's so cool, I don't remember ever seeing that in the game.

Given what's been said about Arkham Knight I wonder if that wasn't their little hint akin to the Warden's office in Arkham Asylum.



Anyway, as for me. I hate the ocean and everything in it and as much as I'm loathe to admit it, the underwater stage in Mario 64 still gives me the heebiest of jeebies.
Knowing that creepy ass eel is waiting down there to snap at me if I get too close gives me a knot in my gut every time I play it.

 

[Ham Blitz]

Any big fish in the water in video games ever. With the exception of Darksiders, I can't stand feeling helpless in the water as a giant fish comes out of nowhere and attacks you. Zelda, Okami, Ty, Far Cry 3 (DAMN those crocodiles)... I hate 'em all. I'm surprised I've gotten through as many games as I have with this stupid irrational fear. It's not even the REAL ocean I have issues with, it's video game oceans and waters.

This, so much this. For me I think I first started realizing it with that fish in Jak And Daxter. It is why I hesitantly shot at sharks from on top of rocks in Far Cry 3.

The Silent Boy in The Wardens Office on Bioshock Infinite,
I had to pause the game and take a quick 'time out' after that bit.

Also this, the one and only scare in that game.
Speaking of Bioshock games with one and only one scare, Bioshock 2 had one for me which may have been partially due to my circumstances that made it more shocking. On the way to that one girl who keeps calling you a monster, I was about a room away from her when I had to go eat. I paused, went to eat, and then came back to the game. Literally 2 seconds after un pausing, I take a step forward and bam, out comes one of those bulky guy blasting through a wall of crates. It actually got me good.
Most recently, In Dragon's Dogma Dark Arisen I had just entered a dark hallway with only one way to go. Naturally, I started sprinting down the hallway since there seemed to be no enemies, when literally 2 feet in front of my character appears the Death Boss. I immediately turned around and started running the other way.

 

[Ghostface2206]

Super Mario 64 is actually one of the creepiest non-horror games ever, and a lot of it is inadvertently done. There are the obvious creepy moments, Big Boo's Haunt, the piano in said level, the faces of the boos (seriously, compare that whole level to the ghost houses in Mario World and it's like the difference between Zombies Ate My Neighbours and Silent Hill). However, there's so much more creepy things, the portraits of Bowser are genuine scary for me, I seriously cannot handle going to the Endless Stairs because of them, the underwater level with the giant eel that is unpredictable when it will attack you, the fact that it was the first Mario game to feature sections without any music (boo garden is omnious because of it) and finally, the realistic drowning animation for Mario is the stuff of nightmares.

Stuff from other N64 games that creep me out include the Great Fairy from OOT and Andross in Star Fox 64.

 

[IrenIvy]

Another one for Shalebridge Cradle from 'Thief 3'. For me the scariest moment was when lights turned on.
Usually as a Thief I enjoyed shadows but initial darkness was creepy in that place so I welcomed the idea of repairing that fuse to get some light somewhere. But the moment too late after I fixed it I realized that by turning lights on I awoke _something_ and now there are much less shadows now to hide from it... It was just terrifying.
Call of Juarez: Gunslinger. That part of the story when he started to see all those dead people.
The Void. I'm not sure if the game was or wasn't supposed to be a horror but the whole game was pretty terrifying to me. Especially when the first of Brothers was introduced. And second. And Tyrant.

 

[Chaosmancer]

Banjo-Kazooie, the first time I met Clanker. I was swimming through that tunnel minding my own business, when I straigthened the camera and "HOLY SH** RUN RUN RUN RUN".

This applies to me too I think there was another time where there was a non-hostile character that looked like it would rip my face off if I went anywhere near it. Ocarina of Time, first game I played at the age of four, and I was too scared to go into the Great Deku Tree. Seriously, when he opened his mouth, I ran right back to the village and started looking for other things... and the Floormasters in the forest temple, I was terrified any time I was walking through rooms with them in (I also ended up being sent to the start many many times over).

Dark Souls and Dark Souls 2, the pure dread when you are low on health, low on Estus, lots of souls, and you are pushing for the next bonfire. I remember doing it to go to the Tomb of the Giants after beating Pinwheel, I managed to get all the way to the first bonfire in Tomb of the Giants... just as an invasion started so I couldn't light the bonfire and died and lost a hundred thousand or so souls. There were many words said that day, but the controller survived the ordeal.

 

[Saetha]

A lot of stuff from Zelda: Windwaker really screwed me up as a kid. The Redead, for one, with how their heads roll to look at you, to the howling sound they make, to the fact that you can't move at all once they see you. I avoided them like the plague, especially that one beneath the villa you can buy. I did giggle a bit though, once I actually got caught by one and found out that they just chomp on your head for a bit before letting you go.Parts of the Forsaken Fortress, too, like the little gremlin things that spawned if you touched the ground or that statue that FIRES LASERS at you if you come into it's range. I always terrified of leaving Medly or... the tree guy alone in the temple, too, because I thought something would come in and swoop off with them and I'd never complete the level. Didn't stop me from leaving Medly by the giant sun face for, like, a week while I ran to give pictures to the figurine gallery guy.

As for moments that terrified me now that I'm older... There's been a few moments in Terraria, of all things. The first time I summoned the Wall of Flesh was on accident - a voodoo demon died over lava - and I ended up getting klled... but, figuring the Wall of Flesh had despawned, I dropped back down to the Underworld to complete construction on a project. A few minutes later, creepy music starts up. A few minutes after that, I get jumped a random hoard of leeches. Mere moments after that - yep, there's Wally, barreling down at me. The set-up for it was just a lot better than the first time - I knew about the Wall of Flesh by then, so I was all prepared. That second time, though? Eesh.

Then in hardmode, there was my first encounter with Skeletron Prime. Except... it wasn't SP himself that scared me. I didn't know that he could randomly spawn at nightfall, so the first time I got that "The air suddenly feels cold around you" I pretty much curled up in the corner and waited to get murdered. I had absolutely no idea what it was all about. The message that SP had awoken was almost welcome by that point.

And while this was more of an "Oh shit" moment rather than actually terrifying, I was in the underground jungle once, fighting a man-eater with a ray gun when a shot goes wild, disappears off-screen, I hear a breaking sound and... "The Queen Bee has awoken!" That made for a miserable few minutes.

 

[fix-the-spade]

In other words "not horror because I say so".

Precisely, never argue with a Yorkshireman.

More seriously, FEAR is not a horror game because it does not fit the definition of horror and it is not sold as a horror game. On the Steam tags you neglect to mention three of the five tags are Action, FPS and Bullet Time, whilst on the Steam Genre list it's under Action, Vivendi sold it as an Action game too.

Horror depends on placing the protagonist in a situation of vulnerability, if the protagonist can effectively deal with whatever the problem is, it's not horror. In FEAR you wiew the world of Point Man from behind an assault rifle, in the whole game there's exactly one sequence where you have to run away, from a wall of fire, it's a ten second scripted event as opposed to the actual peril of Amnesia (a real first person horror game). There's nothing 'horror' about mercilessly shredding legions of enemies, a few ghosts and a psychic little girl to pieces with sci-fi themed machine guns in glorious bullet time and aerial kung fu moves.

So yes, FEAR isn't a horror game because I so say, the vendor and the publisher agree with me.

 

[TheMigrantSoldier]

The Bongo Bongo fight in Ocarina of Time was a little unnerving, what with a headless, armless figure playing with you. Coupled with the Redeads in that temple.

 

[Gergar12_v1legacy]

Gta5 mountain lions. There is a reason they are called that. They are one hit kills, and then their are the sharks, but I was smart enough to use the shotgun after seeing how they drew aggro on the player over all else. They chase you despite boat, and jet ski npc over there, and there being closer. It's bull crap sharks don't even hunt humans... Only a bull sharks like to eat humans...

Seriously, I am playing as Trevor, and wearing body armor, and they cut through me like tissue paper. ( mountain lions)

Next time I hunt... I am using a suppressed assault rifle.

 

[Qvar]

FEAR is not a horror game because it does not fit the definition of horror and it is not sold as a horror game.

Yes I guess that the fact of the game's name being FEAR was pure chance when they put together the "First Encounter and Assault Recon" acronym.

 

[maidenm]

Bowser's laugh in Super Mario 64 made me cry.

...

I was ten years old, but still...

Lavender Town in pokemon red/blue/yellow. It didn't help that I wasn't fluent in english yet so it took a really long time for me to understand a lot, wich ofc made the impact bigger for me when I did ("Is that a hand on your shoulder?" took me several times to understand and after that I've been scared of that NPC).

Chesty stuff from Fable 2 made me freak out often. Entering the "party"... urgh.

 

[DoubleU12]

The first time I encountered a Crawling Titan in the Attack on Titan fan game.

I was playing on the Forest stage, not knowing that the titan had been added to the update. I had already played on the other 2 stages before this particular game and had died before I had even seen it. I thought I saw something odd about 1 of the titans in the distance when I first started the stage but when I dropped down I couldn't see it any more, and was distracted by the titan directly below the starting point so I had forgotten about it and resumed playing.

I had chopped down probably 3 or 4 titans when I saw the titan again in the distance. I only had a moment to ask myself "What the heck?" before it turned and charged at me with speed I was not prepared for.

In those few moments it took for it to get to me, I experienced a huge surge of genuine, irrational fear.

 

[Alexei F. Karamazov]

I'm a bit disappointed that everyone is mentioning Half Life 1, but not because I don't think it's good. I bought the PS2 version a while back, and I sadly found it unplayable, mostly due to the controls. This is probably going to be an astoundingly stupid question considering Valve made the game, but would there happen to be a Steam version?

OT: I think the one that stands out is Bioshock. Even though it's kinda supposed to have incorporated horror elements, it's not technically a horror game, which is why I'm mentioning it. I first started playing it at 9 or 10 at night, alone, and most of the lights were off. If anyone knows anything about the game, they know there's child murder; next to that, they know that it's extremely atmospheric. I didn't know this at the time, and found the beginning extremely tense. Until around the time they give you the shotgun, I was one jittery SOB. Sadly, no game for me has yet recreated that feeling of "I have maybe 3 bullets, my best bet for survival is to brutally murder my fellow man with this wrench, and they might be in the shadows waiting to take a considerable bite out of my health bar."

Actually, now that I think about it, I had the exact same circumstances (the no lights etc. bit) while playing the Walking Dead Episode 2. At the very end in the house (if you've played, you know what part I mean), the lighting of the game perfectly matched the lighting in my room. Needless to say, it was very immersive.