Most frightening horror game you've ever played?

[Nix33]

Mine would probably be Silent Hill 2. The reason why I found it so terrifying is the balance they struck between the combat and the atmosphere. I don't know how to put it. Okay, I think I got it.

Silent Hill 2 is a good horror game for the same reasons that F3AR is such a piece of shit.

If that makes any sense to anyone at all. Okay, let me try again. You can't be scared if you're a walking death machine. Did that make even slightly more sense?

Probably not.

Look, in Silent Hill 2, you're weak. You're a human lost in a world of nightmares and terror. You're a squishy bag of blood that's quintessentially defenceless. Combine that idea with what is probably the most unsettling soundtrack I've ever heard, and you've got a damn good horror game on your hands.

In F3AR (*twich* why the three instead of an E *twich*), you're probably the best-equipped soldier this side of MARSOC. Even though I walk through the Valley of Death, I fear no evil, for I am the meanest motherf***** in the valley.

 

[Zhukov]

Gonna be crazy unoriginal and say Amnesia: The Dark Descent.

Hey, don't look at me like that. I liked it before it was cool damnit! I was following Frictional since the release of Penumbra. Get off my lawn!

It was well paced and it didn't rely on jump scares. You'd usually hear the monsters coming long before you saw them. Hell, you'd often go through an encounter with barely more than a glimpse of something vaguely humanoid and mutilated shambling about in the dark.

I also liked that it wasn't in a desperate hurry to show you its monsters. It had a sense of restraint. You go a good 20 minutes without seeing anything and the first time you see one, it's just a hazy figure standing in a gloomy corridor that turns and walks away after staring at you for a few seconds. And it's way creepier than having it attack you. Compare to, say, Dead Space, where you walk in the door and within 2 minutes the game is shouting, "LOOK! MONSTERS EVERYWHERE! CAN YOU SEE THEM?! HERE THEY ARE!"

I also liked that you couldn't fight back. You had to either stealth past them or flee. It made for somewhat barebones mechanics, but it was better than the (once again) Dead Space situation where an unspeakable horror comes bearing down upon you... and then you calmiy blow its legs off, decapitate it and then kick it around like a big fleshy pinata until ammo comes out.

Gotta say, SH2 didn't really do it for me. I found the story interesting once I'd adjusted to the godawful voice acting, but as a horror game it just didn't do it for me. It was too aged. All the monsters looked comical and glitchy. I probably would have been more affected if I'd played it in its heyday.

 

[Nix33]

Gotta say, SH2 didn't really do it for me. I found the story interesting once I'd adjusted to the godawful voice acting, but as a horror game it just didn't do it for me. It was too aged. All the monsters looked comical and glitchy. I probably would have been more affected if I'd played it in its heyday.

You should probably get the visually overhauled director's cut. HD backgrounds and better-looking monsters.

I don't quite agree with you there on Amnesia. The mechanics are extremely barebones, something I usually adore (less gimmicks, more room for actual gameplay) and for the first half hour or so, I was decently frightened. But then it just sort of melts into this uniform paste of recycled and not really stylistically exciting backdrops that I rummaged through without giving them a second thought. The hide and sneak mechanic you mentioned works surprisingly well, but the fact that your screen goes blurry when you see a monster just kinda ruined it for me. I don't know about you, but I like to see what I'm fleeing from before it decides that my face should be an entrée for its next dinner party. Maybe I'm just nitpicking.

A couple more games come to mind. The Resident Evil rip-off, Cold Fear, was a game I very much enjoyed and even made a video on back when I was incapable of growing more than three sickly-looking hairs on my baby-smooth chin. And then there was this other game where you're trapped on this abandoned Russian cargo ship that's covered with ice and inhabited by man-eating totally-not-cliché-as-fuck monster zombie things. If I recall correctly, it had amazing graphics for the period, including dynamically melting ice and reflective flare guns.

 

[Casual Shinji]

Silent Hill 2 for me as well.

It's just scary, not because you're defenseless, but because... it's just scary. It's hard to explain since fear is subjective. I was never scared because I felt physically powerless, but because I felt mentally powerless - The game keeps throwing curveballs at you, starting with the trek down the gravel path where you hear disturbing growly noises around, but nothing's coming to attack you. Or the sudden whisper in that one appartment. It takes you by surprise without being a jump scare, and unsettles your train of thought.

I found the story interesting once I'd adjusted to the godawful voice acting, but as a horror game it just didn't do it for me.

Only James and Angela have arguably bad voice acting. And the thing with them is that they're emotionally detached weirdos. But Mary/Maria, Eddy, and even the kid Laura have excellent performances.

I also liked that you couldn't fight back. You had to either stealth past them or flee. It made for somewhat barebones mechanics, but it was better than the (once again) Dead Space situation where an unspeakable horror comes bearing down upon you... and then you calmiy blow its legs off, decapitate it and then kick it around like a big fleshy pinata until ammo comes out.

This is something that needs to handled with great care though, because the "defenseless stealth" in Outlast absolutely pissed me off. I don't mind being somewhat defenseless, but gimme somekind of edge. It would make no sense to just lay there and let a monster have its way with me without some form of struggle from my part, whether it be a kick or crossing my arms or something.

I'm also not to keen on the "killed by fear" death mechanic a lot of these games seem to have. If that's their way of scaring me it might work the first few times, but after while it'll just become frustrating.

 

[The Wykydtron]

I don't really play horror games but I have started playing Outlast (in 20 minute bursts before I say fuck this noise and play something else natch) and it's pretty scary. I'm half stuck on that guy in the basement when you have to turn on all the switches. I'm just no good at the stealth and since i'm still getting used to keyboard controls my running away turns into spastic flails with my fingers on the wrong buttons before running into a wall and dying. I'm not even scared by that point, I usually laugh about it.

What you really need to look out for is the sneaky horror sections in non horror games. The hotel quest in Vampire: The Masquerade was really good. How do you make a ghost house scary to a motherfucking vampire? Simple, zero enemies but all poltergeists throwing everything at you all the time so there's no physical enemy for your vampire powers to be of any use against. Clever really.

 

[FillerDmon]

I still have to say that time and time again, when anyone mentions horror, I have to go back to Haunting Ground. Having recently just played some of the Resident Evils, I can say with impunity that I hate the idea of horror games where you are allowed to fight back against the source of your fears, at least in the "we'll eventually overcome them" sense. In Haunting Ground, the only protection you have while trapped in a gigantic creepy castle full of death traps and socipathic killers of various shapes and flavors is... a dog. A loyal, cute, awesome dog, but a dog all the same. And you, rather than being some soldier, or even someone with mild combat experience, are a harmless teenager. Your only real weapon is your bond with Hewie and your nerves, which the atmosphere of the game will fully test.

Just the right touch of helplessness combined with the chance of being able to make it out alive. Some people sneer at the game for the fact that Fiona, your player character, is incredibly fanservice-y, but once you get immersed in the struggles she experiences, that dies down pretty quickly. It's easily still my favorite horror game; genuinely terrifying without being misanthropically depressing, and has real horror, rather than weird creatures to shoot and jump scares.

 

[WhiteFangofWhoa]

I don't play much horror, so I'd have to go with Clock Tower. Still manages to scare despite being a SNES game, and I think a big part of that it due to:

1) You have no attack capabilities beyond shoving, which doesn't work if your character is too scared (see below).
2) The main killer, Scissorman, makes a disturbing clicking noise when chasing you that gets louder (and faster? Possibly?) the closer he is to you, even if you can't see him. This noise doesn't scare your character, but it will put the tension into you.
3) Your character can become scared by various things to the point that she is constantly tripping over herself while running. This is not a good thing when Scissorman or the H.P.Lovecraft Baby is on your tail.

Everyone you meet is either crazy evil or gets murdered horribly before your eyes (except the one guy who was a good person at one point but now so starved that he will try to eat you). The bad ending where your character commits suicide out of the trauma of this (she can't be more than 16) after escaping actually sounds pretty plausible.

 

[Nix33]

Can someone potentially do like a short overview of Outlast for me? I'm looking to get into it, but is it worth spending money on? How much bang for your buck do you get, so to speak? Does the content justify the price tag? Is there anything wonky going on with the game I or anyone else should be aware of? And, most importantly, does it have an FOV slider?

 

[Pink Gregory]

Oh yeah, SH2, naturally.

Not for any wider gameplay reason, I suppose for aesthetic reasons, but also for certain moments.

1. Walking down that tunnel under the lake. Genuinely closed my eyes at certain points.
2. At about 3 points in the game (I won't spoil where), there are these tiny, back-of-the-hearing-range sounds that made my whole body shudder.

Other than that, the first Condemned. It doesn't even need supernatural beings to be tense. A fine game indeed.

Actually, I have started playing REmake recently; and ohboy, tension.

 

[Vern5]

I wish I had the time to get a hold of Silent Hill 2 but, since I don't, I'll have to claim Silent Hill as my scariest game to date.

The paranoia... so much paranoia and all of it was continuously fostered by the short rendering distance, the blurry textures, and the terrifying sound design. Nothing puts you on the edge like the music suddenly ramping up for no reason only to die down right around the time you encounter something grotesque.

 

[Evonisia]

I think I played Silent Hill (all of the main ones) too late to consider any of them scary.

I can honestly say that one of the first Zombie encounters in The Last of Us scared the shit out of me. All you have is you and your visible noise, one clicker, two patrolling Zombies and a few sad, crying Zombies. Intense stuff. With the exception of the University room full of Clickers and a Bloater, it fails on the gameplay/atmosphere mixture to create a tense and scary feel from then on.

But if I did have to say something that lasted more than five minutes, Condemned. Easily. There's just something really unnerving about wandering through a dark apartment by yourself, wondering whether a crack addict or a hobo will jump out from that kitchen brandishing a large plank of wood with a nail in it to brain you.

 

[Fiz_The_Toaster]

Gonna get on that ole bandwagon and say Silent Hill 2 mainly because of the atmosphere and how the town just messes with you if you know here to look. Also, the story very well-written in that you never really knew exactly what was going on, and the characters were contradicting everything you thought was up. Plus, the monsters and fog.

Also, Amnesia: The Dark Descent and the Justine DLC.

I didn't really think a first person game would legitimately scare me the way it did. The dark vs insanity aspect of the game was pretty neat and really had me looking for tinderboxes. I've ran into dead ends because of those damn monsters, and that cistern level was just...no, just no.

With Justine, shit didn't get too much for me until the last area. DEAR GOD THAT LAST AREA. Everything that came out of Malo's mouth was just creepy and really really unnerving. It also didn't help that he knew exactly where you were, and chased you as you are looking for pieces to open a door. Hiding didn't help and creeping around doesn't work either. My poor little nerves didn't stand a chance. D:

 

[lacktheknack]

Anything other than Silent Hill 2, really. Everyone keeps telling me "It's atmospheric!" (Atmosphere is good, but it's not the most effective scare tactic for me), "You're a helpless civilian!" (I picked up the chainsaw in the first five minutes), and "It relates to adult fears!" (I don't share these fears for various reasons). It's a decent adventure game, but it's literally the least frightening horror game I've ever played.

Silent Hill 2 is about a man coming to terms with a destroyed relationship (to put it lightly). I've only been in one romantic relationship, and it ended hilariously well. I literally have nothing in common with our dear James Sunderland. I don't get it on a subliminal level. It's like those commercials with starving African kids in them - you see it, you feel bad, and you feel sympathetic, and maybe you even want to donate, but unless you've been IN a famine and starvation situation, you know at the back of your head that you can't genuinely relate to these people, you can only try.

I found Silent Hill 1 to be scarier, even though I also didn't really relate to its theme there either (loss of child), if only because the world felt more dangerous than SH2 ever could hope to.

Silent Hill 3 and 4, though? THAT'S something I get. SH3 deals with more "teenaged" fears that I fully got as a teen (death of parents, abandonment, etc) and SH4 triggers a deep-seated fear I have of watching people get injured (seriously, poor Eileen! D. Ergo, they're far, FAR scarier than the other entries.

On the more visceral side, if I'm being honest, Slender probably takes the cake. Stalking? Paranoia? Dark forests? Minimal sound cues? Body horror? Yep, just checking off my list of deep seated fears right there. Add in a giant spider and there's no way I'd be able to finish the thing.

 

[lacktheknack]

Can someone potentially do like a short overview of Outlast for me? I'm looking to get into it, but is it worth spending money on? How much bang for your buck do you get, so to speak? Does the content justify the price tag? Is there anything wonky going on with the game I or anyone else should be aware of? And, most importantly, does it have an FOV slider?

I think the content is wroth the price tag. It's short, but really intense. It's not got the best atmosphere, but the enemies are dangerous, the chases are fast, and hiding in the lockers while they stumble around opening them at random is really, really tense. There's some pretty major body horror in there as well.

If you enjoyed Amnesia but thought it was a bit too slow, Outlast should be right up your alley.

As for FOV, there's no slider, but you can change it.

http://steamcommunity.com/app/238320/discussions/0/846963710902292389/

 

[Beffudled Sheep_v1legacy]

Fatal Frame 2: Crimson Butterfly.

This is pretty much the only horror game I have encountered that I have to force myself through. Not because it is bad or hard but because it just terrifies me.
The setting and snippets of backstory give it a very lonely, creepy and even oppressive atmosphere. Some of the ghost designs are pretty damn horrifying too.
And your only weapon is a camera that does garbage damage unless you want to waste the really good film type.

It just tickled my horror bone in a way the Silent Hill, Resident Evil, and even Amnesia games never did.
It is also my favorite horror game.

 

[Nix33]

Can someone potentially do like a short overview of Outlast for me? I'm looking to get into it, but is it worth spending money on? How much bang for your buck do you get, so to speak? Does the content justify the price tag? Is there anything wonky going on with the game I or anyone else should be aware of? And, most importantly, does it have an FOV slider?

I think the content is wroth the price tag. It's short, but really intense. It's not got the best atmosphere, but the enemies are dangerous, the chases are fast, and hiding in the lockers while they stumble around opening them at random is really, really tense. There's some pretty major body horror in there as well.

If you enjoyed Amnesia but thought it was a bit too slow, Outlast should be right up your alley.

I'll be looking into it, considering I've seen the screenshots and they look like something straight out of a Jounji Ito comic. Body horror is probably one of my favourite types of horror, right after psychological horror.

Maybe I'll do a little user review on it too. Thanks a lot for the info. I really appreciate it.

 

[Theminimanx]

System Shock 2. Now, I'll admit that frightening isn't the best word to describe it. But holy hell, is it TENSE.

Used items are never coming back, the areas are never secured, the monsters will never stay dead, you're never safe. The finite supplies and respawning monsters create a time pressure far more effectively then any artificially enforced timer ever could.

And there's just nothing quite like having just escaped a horde of bees, being at low health and trying to find a healing item while knowing there could be a killer spider right around the corn- OH GOD IT'S HERE KILL IT KILL IT KILL IT!

 

[JUMBO PALACE]

Since Amnesia was taken I'm going to say Condemned Criminal Origins. It probably hasn't aged super well but I remember it being one of the most fun and scary games I've played. Good story with a nice mix of atmosphere, psychological, and violent horror.

 

[Nix33]

On the more visceral side, if I'm being honest, Slender probably takes the cake. Stalking? Paranoia? Dark forests? Minimal sound cues? Body horror? Yep, just checking off my list of deep seated fears right there. Add in a giant spider and there's no way I'd be able to finish the thing.

I disagree completely with your post. The first three quarters of it are just personal taste, and I get that. I've been in one relationship, and it was with the spawn of Satan, and I was glad to get out of it. So I can very much relate with James Sunderland. But that's ad acta at the moment.

What I can disagree with you on factually, is Slender. The game is cheap. It focuses on cheap scares, cheap pursuit tactics, and just overall cheap atmosphere. Forests? The Blair Witch Project called. Not to mention that the game breaks one of the most basic rules of horror. Try not to show your monster. Keep it in the shadows. That's how you establish a pursuit mentality. The on/off idea of chasing. It may be there, it may be not. It may be safe to turn around, and it may not be. In Slender, you're pretty bloody aware that there's a tentacle thing behind you and it's looking to kill you. And yes, I am thoroughly aware that horror is a genre steeped in anticipation, but this is the wrong kind of anticipation. Anticipation of the horror variety is supposed to keep you on edge, to keep you involved in the plot, to keep you guessing. Slender does virtually none of that.

Also, how exactly does Slender as a character fit the bill of body horror? I mean, there's noting particularly unsettling about him. Nothing gory or shocking. He's might as well be LeBron James wearing a Doc-Ock costume. Slender is youtube bait, and a classic example of it. From what I've played of it, it felt like a cheap game that had zero effort put into it and was aiming to exploit the Slender craze of the moment, which it did brilliantly.

Slender is scary only if you're frightened of your own shadow and/or desperately inexperienced in real horror. Sorry if that sounds harsh, but I am an arsehole, and I wear that banner with at least a certain dose of pride.

 

[Random Argument Man]

Fatal Frame 2: Crimson Butterfly.

This is pretty much the only horror game I have encountered that I have to force myself through. Not because it is bad or hard but because it just terrifies me.
The setting and snippets of backstory give it a very lonely, creepy and even oppressive atmosphere. Some of the ghost designs are pretty damn horrifying too.
And your only weapon is a camera that does garbage damage unless you want to waste the really good film type.

It just tickled my horror bone in a way the Silent Hill, Resident Evil, and even Amnesia games never did.
It is also my favorite horror game.

I've only taken out the first ghost and I was too scared to even continue. So yeah, Fatal Frame 2 wins it for me too.