Scariest sounds in games

[Vidi Kitty]

So far we have

AVP motion tracker
creepers everywhere, behind you right now even
half life headcrabs, zombies, and barnicles, oh my!
amnesia: the dark de- SOMETHING JUST SMASHED A DOOR GOTTA HIDE GOTTA HIDE
RE4 regenerators, the legless flopping bastards
everything else in minecraft since they all love finding you in the dark while your back is turned, especially cows
Silent Hill everything ever
and a ton more that I'm too lazy to write out!

Most of the best horror in games seems to be due to audio... or lack thereof.

Hows about visual horror? Not gross squick, but something that puts the fear in you from seeing, like the pipes on the roofs in Ravenholm shaking back and forth or the door on the other end of the room you have to enter being ominously locked?

 

[Shadow-Phoenix]

So after playing some of the new AVP, I was quickly reminded of how frightening that little pinging of the motion tracker could be. So I started thinking about other in game sounds that make me jump and/or scream like a little girl. So far I've got:

AVP motion tracker ping
half-life 2 black headcrab screech
the utmost dreaded creeper hissssss from minecraft

Nothing else is coming to mind but I know there are more out there.

What other sounds should go into this list and why?

The AVP motion tracker has to be one of my scariest sounds in gaming as it puts me in an unpleasant situation when the enemy is nearby and also this:

Spoiler

 

[Charli]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bn4GYI8S3dU

Strangely enough the only times I've ever gotten chills from a video game sound (Not counting the sonic drowning music from when I was 5, that's cheating) is this...Not JUST because of the sound but when I went in there all those years ago and asked someone what it was, I just... D: I think that was pretty much my face in real life. Lets just say someone knew what the sound effect was and described it to me in graphic detail. I had a nightmare for nearly a week.

Even with the content nerf I can't go into Naxxramas without muting the sound effects...

 

[Vidi Kitty]

A good one that goes both ways that just came to mind.

Gathering some resources in Monster Hunter, when suddenly your character stops, cowers down for a moment, they eye pops up next to your name and the music kicks in.

bad with imbedding

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-jAjDQQP4iE

 

[Ulquiorra4sama]

It might've been since i played Ocarina of Time the first time when i was a kid and that left me with some sort of trauma, but the sounds of the ReDead always freak me the fuck out D:

EDIT: Just to specify; I don't mean their screams so much as their groaning before they actually do anything. Maybe it's just the overhanging tension of it all before they latch onto your back and start nibbling at your skull.

 

[Angelus SnV]

The first time I heard a Hunter pouncing in L4D I(metaphorically) **** my pants.

me to dude...and it hasn't gotten (much) better as time goes on...still gives me a jolt each time...

not t'mention when it's screamin' and i turn to look for it just in th'split seccond to see it flyin' at my face....*shudder*

 

[octafish]

"your ssssssong is not ours!"

honorable mention, more awesome than scary:

"OSWALD COMPROMIIIIIIIISED!"

The fucking Psi-Monkeys man. Those things drove me insane.

 

[suitepee7]

The sound of the regenerators in Resident Evil 4. I heard one the first time I played it and ended up running round a corner right into it. Dropped the controller and ended up munched by it. Not a fun moment.

this, a thousand times over. its even creepier when you know there's one nearby, but he won't come out until you get closer...

dayum, they scary!

 

[Random berk]

Dead Space had some scary moments, but those were mostly visual, the music and sounds were just disturbing. L4D, when the ground starts shaking and ominous music plays, but no tank shows itself, that can also be fairly tense.

Fallout has some scary sounds. The screech of a ghoul, the sound of rad-scorpion's feet on the ground, the savage yell of a Super Mutant... All of which you get used to after some period of time

Radscorpions are a pain, but nothing less than a super mutant master bothers me, and a ghoul of any kind just gives me a warm feeling when I drop them, regardless of the weapon type. They aren't scary at all.

A good one that goes both ways that just came to mind.

Gathering some resources in Monster Hunter, when suddenly your character stops, cowers down for a moment, they eye pops up next to your name and the music kicks in.

bad with imbedding

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-jAjDQQP4iE

Actually, yes, this works for me as well, especially when you hear that deafening roar, and realise that its not a worthless velocidrome, but a huge fucking rathalos standing directly behind you.

 

[SpaceBat]

Basically everything from eternal darkness. From the screams of agony from a woman just behind a door that disappears the moment you open said door, to the footsteps that grow louder and close in on you the more you walk around in a room et cetera.

 

[Alduin Silas]

The jockey's maniacal laughter in L4D2. Something about gibbering, hysterical, UNRELENTING laughter drives up the old hypertension.

 

[k-ossuburb]

See: Akira Yamaoka.

That is all.

 

[TheAceTheOne]

Amnesia... every fucking creak, growl, wind movement, footstep, and even the fucking ambient music made me fear that game with all my soul.

And then you have the sound of the actual monsters. as soon as i hear the "Bleargh!" I run the fuck away and shit my pants =(

So amnesia as is one huge audio freak out fest?

It's also one of the best first person horror experiences I've ever experienced. I second the notion that it's scary as all hell.

The ghouls "Raaagh" sound scared me at first... Then I realized that the scuttling of radscorpions and cazadores was truly scarier.

 

[Kathinka]

"your ssssssong is not ours!"

honorable mention, more awesome than scary:

"OSWALD COMPROMIIIIIIIISED!"

The fucking Psi-Monkeys man. Those things drove me insane.

the whole god damned game was a royal mindfuck...too bad they don't make them like that anymore, because you can't play it with four buttons and a thumbstick. [/glorious pc gaming master race elitist nostalgia mode]

 

[TMAce]

Left 4 Dead 2: I have an uncanny knack for hearing a Tank's growl amongst the other idle infected noises (I play the game too much, it's hard to pick out with a voice chat going etc.) so that puts me on edge, especially when no-one has a decent shotgun.

Metro 2033, while not exactly scary was very tense for me, especially parts nearer the beginning where you're creeping through abandoned apartments, and the breathing into your gas-mask always sets me on edge, especially when a Dark One decided to run past the door at lightspeed and freak me the hell out.

Finally, been said alot but: pretty much everything in Amnesia. For me, the scariest things have to be all the ambient noises when there AREN'T any monsters. They're so quiet and harmless yet you tense up because you never know when a lovely roar or moan is going to cut in!

 

[DJDarque]

I think the scariest moments are where there aren't any noises. My specific example is from Metro 2033 in the level Cave. You just get seperated from your group and as soon as you do you have to fight one of the strongest enemies in the game. And immediately afterwords you go into this abandoned hallway that is pitch dark and it is dead silent. It's like this until you actually reach the cave. I have never been so on edge in a video game, and nothing even happened.

 

[NoeL]

Probably the zombies in Minecraft. Every time I hear one of those suckers I have to drop everything and look around.

The most STARTLING sound is not noticing a skeleton is just around the corner and they fire an arrow in your face at point blank. Damn those things are loud.

... or a creeper dropping on top on you from above.





... *goes back to playing Minecraft*

 

[bladax]

Gentlemen Gentlemen. You have clearly not played Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth.

Shoggoth.
Hotel
Sewers

Lets just say that game in it's entirety is quite jarring. Seriously look this game up. It's ridiculous. It'll leave your skin crawling.

By the way I WOULD find Amnesia un-silly but come on your guy can push a 300 POUND BOULDER, and can KNOCK DOWN A WALL WITH A HELMET sorry but he can't use his apparently steroid filled muscles to simply snap them frikken things in two?

 

[witheringsanity]

regenerators breathing from RE4
sirens in silent hill 1-3
nearly everything in fatal frame
hyper zombies from REmake
hunters "click click" walking from resident evil
nemesis's orchestra sting from resident evil 3

and this takes the cake for me:

Spoiler

seriously, first time i heard that i thought the music was a new monster noise (since i could also hear giant spider footsteps)

 

[Teckdeth]

That horrible raspy, coughy chuckle from the regenerators in Resident Evil 4. Man they freaked me out as a kid!