The Scariest Games Ever

[Mistah Kurtz]

Seemed like this was a topic that hasn't had any discussion here, and I've been looking for a real piss-your-pants hardcore horror game. The scariest games I've played I think would be...

1. Resident Evil remake for GC

2. Penumbra Black Plague for PC (a short but sweet adventure game)

3. System Shock 2

4. Silent Hill 1 (Although the apartment segments of The Room were pretty creepy)

 

[the monopoly guy]

enough with the fucking zombies!*twitch*
...well it said zombies...didn't it?

Damn pain medication...

And I'm going to make the preemptive "Left 4 Dead" strike.

 

[MalevolentJim]

im betting about 300 people are gonna say Bioshock

However,i think System shock 2 and F.E.A.R were the scariest games ever

 

[Rabid Toilet]

I don't play too many horror games, but I thought The White Chamber was scary as all hell.

It's a freeware point-and-click adventure game for the PC. I would highly recommend it to anyone who likes scary games, as much as I don't understand you.

 

[jeremyTH]

Always remember the perfect scare tatic
First,Complete and total mind fuckery
Than,Random images.

 

[the monopoly guy]

Something-Somethin: Sanity's Requim was damn good at mind fuckery.

I think it was eternal darkenss. No?

 

[jeremyTH]

Eternal darkness BIGTIME mind fuckery!

 

[Ares Tyr]

Games that scared me....

Bioshock, for one, was pretty scary. Alot of dudes jumping out of corners, messing you up, lots of good atmosphere and what not. Also, the whole Little Sister/Big Daddy thing got me. Everytime I heard one, I simultaneously said "JACKPOT!" and "Oh shit....". Good game, more creepy than scary I guess. I liked it alot.

Oddworld: Abe's Oddyssey scared me as a kid because of ya know, the guys getting turned into food "Soilent Green" style and all the guys with their eyes sewn shut.

Dino Crisis was a good ol' spookfest and reminded me why I'm against reproducing dinosaurs.

The Sisters, Dr. Salazar, Regenerators, The Insects, Spider Las Plagas, and the Guardian Boss all scared me pretty good in RE4. Great game. Good suspense and just straight "being chased" feel to it. Particularly in the first few levels on Pro.

 

[Mistah Kurtz]

Yeah, I forgot about Eternal Darkness - haven't thought about that game in years. Condemned 2 was pretty scary too, even online. It's the only online FPS/Beater that scared me while playing online on a regular basis.

Edit: To be honest, I didn't find RE4 the slightest bit scary. It was TENSE, but there's a difference between tension and fear. Once you realize that the best strategy is to run far away and shoot the spaniards in the head as they slowly walk towards you, the game sort of loses the fear factor. RE4 was tense, I think, because it was challenging, not because it was particularly scary.

 

[buggy65]

The Thing... we need some flamethrowers... and we need them now

 

[flare09]

Sometimes Counter-Strike is scary. I was walking around a corner and a terrorist popped around the corner before me and shot me in the face. That made me jump a tad.

 

[Shadowtek]

I agree, Silent Hill 1 scared the crap out of me on a regular basis.

However, FEAR, Doom 3, and Resident Evils weren't scary for me. They was really creepy though.

 

[Ares Tyr]

Doom 3 was one of the scarier games I ever played. Especially when you didn't have your flashlight out.

Tell me when the last time was you heard this name.... Parasite Eve anyone? Scared me pantless as a tender 11 year old.

 

[DeadlyFred]

I'm giving a vote to Condemned. I love playing that game in a dark room with the speakers cranked. It surrounds you with this oppressive air of utter malevolence which just makes me giddy. The way people and... things move actually LOOKs lifelike and I never fail to visibly flinch when some crazy jumps out of the shadows and smacks me in the jaw with a piece of re-bar: absolutely top notch feedback. This is one of those games that totally trumps a pretty simple gameplay mechanic by making everything else well polished and intrinsically relevant to the total gameplay experience.

 

[Bored Tomatoe]

Condemned and condemned 2 scared the hell out of me......
also doom 3 when i was 10, although now that i play it.. it just isnt scary anymore.
Maybe because it uses the "monster pops out of closet" technique.

 

[mjhhiv]

Fatal Frame 2

 

[Asymptote Angel]

I'm too big a sissy to play lots of horror games, but here's what I remember being spooked by:
-The giant bat, Medusa heads, and the mummies in the first Castlevania. I was five, okay?

-I was scared to death of Metroids (and I started with the NES) until I started playing Metroid Prime. I was nervous when I knew the first one was coming up, but I got over it when I started killing them.

-Any level in Mario 64 and Banjo-Kazooie where you were swimming and a big fish could come and eat you.

-Tawfret in Jet Force Gemini. Still one of my top five games ever, but I was scared to death of the zombie bugs when I was eight or nine. Also, the Cockroaches freaked me out pretty badly.

-The first Rainbow Six for the N64. Every time I walked through a door or around a corner, my guy would get shot to death and the sad music would play. Made me jump every damn time.

-FEAR was the first game I ever played that was actually designed to be scary, and it did a pretty good job. The combat was good too. Then again, it's the only piece of hair-in-front-of-eyes-little-girl horror I've ever seen, so it hit me harder than my friends who had seen The Ring.

-By the time I got Bioshock, I was quite a bit maturer than I was when I played the N64 games, so I never really jumped or got nervous while I was playing it. However, my hat is off a thousand times to the atmosphere designer, and I felt that rare but genuine sympathy and liking for the characters. (People complain about that hallway with the corpses where the lights go off. If you couldn't see what was going to happen when the lights came back on, then you may need to have your gamer's license revoked.)

-Condemned. Hold me. Hold me tight and tell me it's going to be over soon. (Never played Bloodshot)

-Most recently, I've played Silent Hill 2 and 4 (never tried 1 or 3). I didn't find 4 scary or even unnerving (except when I met Double-Headed Oh-My-God-Hold-Me Ghost Baby Thing). I don't remember 2 ever making me jump, but it did succeed in making me paranoid and nervous, and I give it a lot of respect for that. It says a lot about a game when the deepest character never says anything more complex than a grunt.

 

[ratix2]

im betting about 300 people are gonna say Bioshock

However,i think System shock 2 and F.E.A.R were the scariest games ever

anyone who says bioshock either hasnt played a truly scary game or they dont know what it is to actually be scared more than "mommy leave the lights on". and while the exact same cant be said of doom 3 fact is the only "scares" were of imps jumping out at you when you try to enter another room.

anyway, penumbra: overture. the audio combined with the fact you cant see 2 feet in front of your face without some sort of illumination and the fact that the enemies are listening for you around every corner makes it one of the scariest games ever played.

fear wasant that scary, but i will say that monolith knows how to get under your skin with audio thats barely existent (alough in a good way) and the games strange pacing.

 

[Bored Tomatoe]

condemned 2's multiplayer was underrated, crime scene is so much fun!

 

[Leon Wesker]

Seemed like this was a topic that hasn't had any discussion here, and I've been looking for a real piss-your-pants hardcore horror game. The scariest games I've played I think would be...

1. Resident Evil remake for GC

2. Penumbra Black Plague for PC (a short but sweet adventure game)

3. System Shock 2

4. Silent Hill 1 (Although the apartment segments of The Room were pretty creepy)

I'm with you on System Shock and especially RE-make (as I call it). It's a shame that my favorite Res game, 4, really kicked the horror element of the series in the head, but the remake is definitely piss-soaked-pants frightening. It's those "F"ing crimson heads, man! Zombies are bad enough, did you REALLY have to give them the ability to run and scream at you? Damn!

But, to add to your list, I would say Silent Hill 2, and the original Dooms. I know there's only the most limited in lighting tech, I know it's all pixellated, but it was the first shooter AND first horror game AND first PC game I ever played, and will always hold a special place in my heart. Even if that special place is Fearville.