Unexpected moments of Horror in Non-Horror Games

[nesbitto]

So there I was playing through Dues EX HR. I enter into a room with an exhibit of models of the human muscle system. That's grand, didn't bother me at all. And then they started moving. Striking poses. Almost pissed myself. Incredibly unsettling, felt unnerved and distracted through an entire boss fight.

So any moments in your gaming past that struck you unexpectedly?

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

I don't know if BioShock counts? It's not exactly a horror game. The beginning of the game is unsettling, and there're a couple of jumpscares. But for the most part it's not a horror game. That's until you drop by Fort Frolic, which is to BioShock what Ravenholm is to Half-Life 2. And now that I'm thinking of "that one scary place in otherwise non-scary games", there's the mansion bit in TimeSplitters: Future Perfect, which was pretty scary (especially the fight against the reindeer-head man). And of course the regenerators from Resident Evil 4 (which despite being technically a "horror game", doesn't have any horror going but those guys). I mean, you're near the end, zombies are rushing and shooting, the stupidity of the plot has solidified and you've already unlocked and upgraded every weapon in the game. Very few horror games keep up the tension during the home stretch. But these fuckers come by, and I swear they're scary no matter how many times you play the damn game.

 

[Dirty Hipsters]

Going down into the well in Ocarina of Time and being greeted by this ************:

Spoiler

8 year old me nearly shit himself.

 

[FirstNameLastName]

Going down into the well in Ocarina of Time and being greeted by this ************:

Spoiler

8 year old me nearly shit himself.

Despite being a rather go to example for this type of thing, I too would have to nominate Dead Hand. That thing was nightmare fuel and a half.

 

[The Madman]

The Thief series isn't a horror series but every game in the franchise, even the shitty new one, has at least one horror level and with the exception of said shitty new game they're all fantastic. Probably the most famous of the series being the Haunted Cathedral from the first Thief game and the Shalebridge Cradle from the third game in the series.

Also the first Thief game has this awesomely creepy moment:


So damned good. I need to replay these games for the billionth time!

 

[josemlopes]

Hitman Contracts, it goes as far as including an actual g-g-g-ghost!

 

[Autumnflame]

I don't know if BioShock counts? It's not exactly a horror game. The beginning of the game is unsettling, and there're a couple of jumpscares. But for the most part it's not a horror game. That's until you drop by Fort Frolic, which is to BioShock what Ravenholm is to Half-Life 2. And now that I'm thinking of "that one scary place in otherwise non-scary games", there's the mansion bit in TimeSplitters: Future Perfect, which was pretty scary (especially the fight against the reindeer-head man). And of course the regenerators from Resident Evil 4 (which despite being technically a "horror game", doesn't have any horror going but those guys). I mean, you're near the end, zombies are rushing and shooting, the stupidity of the plot has solidified and you've already unlocked and upgraded every weapon in the game. Very few horror games keep up the tension during the home stretch. But these fuckers come by, and I swear they're scary no matter how many times you play the damn game.

We dont go to ravelholme.

Place still gives me the shivers

 

[Drummodino]

One of the vaults in New Vegas is a great horror experience. The nuclear reactor in the place got fucked up so now there is radiation everywhere and the place is infested with ghouls (the former residents). Basically you have to jack up on Rad-X, where a radsuit and try and get through the place before you die from radiation, while fending off what are effectively zombies. It has such a tense, urgent atmosphere and I absolutely loved it (despite not being much of a horror fan).

 

[Bat Vader]

Would Arkahm Asylum be considered a horrorish game? There were a few jump scares that freaked me out a bit. Especially the stuff with Scarecrow.

 

[OneCatch]

Going down into the well in Ocarina of Time and being greeted by this ************:

Spoiler

8 year old me nearly shit himself.

Yeah, that thing was fucking horrifying. I think it was the sound it made, coupled with the way that it's main attack involved trapping you in place, coupled with that goddamn unhinging lower jaw.

Granny Rags in Dishonored was pretty grim. Especially the last time you come across her. Dishonored is a little dark at the best of times, but that was another level entirely.

 

[Astralwyrm]

I remember when I was a lot younger having a nightmare involving the Giant Atlantean boss from Tomb Raider after watching my brother trying to beat it. A giant flesh monster with no legs who could swing Lara around like a rag doll.

[http://s31.photobucket.com/user/Griphon/media/Giant_Atlantian.jpg.html]

 

[Evonisia]

I know I certainly shit myself at most things in Gears of War when I first got my 360, but as I hadn't seen Pitch Black at the time I was greeted by a section near the end of Act 2 where you have to drive a truck through half a freaking city where swarms of Kryll (who have glowing yellow eyes and eat you like piranha) would burst out of windows everywhere to charge your car. You have a UV light to hold them off, but you can't drive and use the turret even on Co-Op so I was too scared to actually play it at first.

Granted Gears 1 is one of the few glorious shooters that has a horror focus in it's campaign, but good God I didn't need that after a whole Act's worth of regular Kryll management.

It's a large reason for why I'm so pissed that the Kryll were just ignored by the series, and when they came back their Gears 1 form was basically retconned.

 

[Lightspeaker]

The one that always comes to my mind is SWAT 4 and the Children Of Taronne Tenement mission.

Everything up to this point has been fairly tame. The second mission had you raiding the house of a guy abducting women and killing them which is pretty grim but other than that its mostly been fairly straightforward serving warrants or responding to robberies or whatever. Then comes this mission. Which is raiding an apartment block taken over by a cult who have built a bomb in it.

So you work your way through the building, killing or arresting the cultists. And then you get to a staircase down to the basement with glowing stars on the walls. Then you bust into the basement and...

...part of the concrete has been ripped up...and the earth dug up...and "Farewell" painted on the wall...and a bunch of signs along the lines of "Deliver thyself with grace". The cultists have murdered and buried all of their own children.

That one made me wince a little. With extra impact because it doesn't show anything explicit.

 

[TheVampwizimp_v1legacy]

There is always the broodmothers from Dragon Age. That's some messed up gross out shit right there.

I don't know if BioShock counts? It's not exactly a horror game. The beginning of the game is unsettling, and there're a couple of jumpscares. But for the most part it's not a horror game. That's until you drop by Fort Frolic

Yeah, if Bioshock has one scary moment, it's the first time you walk past one of those plaster dancer sculptures, turn around, and realize it has moved *shudder*

And you're right about those Regenerators too. Those things cause simultaneous creeping horror and actual panic. God, are they well-designed.

 

[Aeshi]

The Stalker from Warframe still scares the bejeezus out of me whenever he turns up, despite the fact that I KNOW I'm more than capable of turning him into mincemeat by this point.

 

[Vykrel]

343 Guilty Spark was a massive surprise back in 2001. up to that point, Halo was an action game.

and Ravenholm from Half-Life 2.

 

[Amorphous Blob]

Remember in Wolfenstein: The New Order at the concentration camp when that woman get right up close to the camera with her messed up face, that really freaked me out.

 

[DeaDRabbiT]

So there I was playing through Dues EX HR. I enter into a room with an exhibit of models of the human muscle system. That's grand, didn't bother me at all. And then they started moving. Striking poses. Almost pissed myself. Incredibly unsettling, felt unnerved and distracted through an entire boss fight.

So any moments in your gaming past that struck you unexpectedly?

In Dark Souls II when you get around to the Prowling Magus, I didn't want to go into that room just because of that disgusting chanting they were doing. The worst part about that is you have to actively FIND the way into the room even though you are horrified of what you may find.

And I don't know what classifies as horror but trying to defuse bombs while swimming (rather badly for a turtle I may add) through electrified seaweed (wtf) gave me PTSD.

 

[BarryMcCociner]

S.T.A.L.K.E.R. does atmosphere so well for a game with such shitty visuals, just the underground labs holy fuck.

 

[moondude]

For me it's the town of Andale in Fallout 3. I was just wandering around and came across this town with a giant sign claiming to be the happiest place in Virginia. But the families that lived there were just so happy and contently avoiding the subject of the nuclear winter going on outside. It was just too weird since everywhere else in the game people were struggling to survive. I got the hell out of that town and have avoided it on every play through since.