What horror games do you think are scary that most people don't?

[AdeptaSororitas]

The other day I was rewatching some Zero Punctuation and was surprised at how Yahtzee made it sound like the game was not scary a all aside from "jump" moments, then, reading forum posts I found the same thing repeated again and again, even on non-escapist sites.

I personally found it quite terrifying at times, for instance when you first arrive back on the Ishimura and spend a good 20-30 minutes without finding a single necromorph, that creeping dread of when they'd show up, and definatly when you'd here things moving and tried to tell yourself its "just the inside space wind". Or how after your firdst elevator ride you would constantly check and double check each one before you got on. Im sure there are many other games like this and I want to know what my new family of escapists think.

Long story short: What games scare you and fill you with true "fear", that fellow gamers seem unaffected by.

Edit: I forgot to say that this is about Dead Space 2 -.-'

 

[redrefugee]

X-Com. It isn't a traditional horror game, but every time you walk around a corner, through a door, or up a flight of stairs you get extremely nervous in case there is some alien blighter hiding just outside of your line of sight. Nothing is more scary than spotting some alien appearing our of nowhere with a supercharged enemy gun which is pointing towards your best character.

 

[Fleetfiend]

Haha not once in your post did you mention you were talking about Dead Space. The only reason I knew was because of the "Ishimura" tip-off.

But anyways, I thought Dead Space was scarier than most people I talk to seem to think. But it still wasn't as scary to me as I expected, from what I had heard from X-play talking about it. So I guess I'm kind of in the middle. I don't play many horror games though... so I don't have any other examples. xD

 

[lorkoer]

SILENT HILL 2

 

[mstickle]

That part where you talk about the Ishimura where you're waiting for something to happen, that "creeping dread"? A good horror has you feeling like that all the time, the problem today is that most horror games rely on cheap shock scares at almost regular intervals rather than the fear that something might happen but you don't know what or when.

The old Silent Hill games do this wonderfully; heaps of fog, crackles on the radio, somethings nearby but you may not ever see it or maybe it will jump you. I remember one instance in SH2 when I was in a circular tunnel walking in one direction the whole time and my radio was going nuts, I never saw anything and I was terrified to turn around. I went back up the ladder and my husband told me later that you can have an encounter with pyramid head down there. He was behind me the whole time. *shudder*

When you enter a room with one of those vents in Dead Space you know somethings going to come out because it always does and that ruins it for me.

You know what's a fantactic example of something other people might not find scary? The Overlord DLC for ME2, the business with the door lights and the elevator sequence were pretty great. I have a thing about elevators.

 

[Moonlight Butterfly]

Fatal Frame or Project Zero as it's called over here.

It actually really scared me at some points. I was a lot younger then though.

I pretty sure I have a repressed memory or something because Samara from The Ring and those ghosts in that remind me of somthing but I don't know what...and that is the worst thing.

 

[Gralian]

The FEAR games. Why? Because i'm very susceptible to jump scares, which the FEAR games have in spades. I also tend to get a bit too absorbed into the atmosphere, i listen with headphones clamped tightly on my head, hearing the ambiance on a level far more impacting than the TV speakers, inching forward slowly into a room, and pretty much going OHSHI- whenever i turn around and there's that creepy little girl, or even just an enemy pouncing at me all of a sudden. I always, ALWAYS hate that mad run in the school level on FEAR 2, with the vision and sound distorted to hell and you're being constantly hounded by ghosts while you madly rush for the exit. Sends shivers up my spine every time.

Also, i'm not sure if other people think it's scary, but the Condemned games. Both 1 and 2. It's all those ambient noises again. Freaks me the hell out just to hear people running around where i can't see them, or hearing wood break, or creaky doors and pipes, you get the idea. There weren't really any ghosts beyond the odd weird moment with birds and shadows, it was just mentally deranged hobos - but it still gave me the heeby jeebies.

 

[Johnny Impact]

X-Com. It isn't a traditional horror game, but every time you walk around a corner, through a door, or up a flight of stairs you get extremely nervous in case there is some alien blighter hiding just outside of your line of sight. Nothing is more scary than spotting some alien appearing our of nowhere with a supercharged enemy gun which is pointing towards your best character.

That's the one. You haven't experienced risk, or fear of the unknown, until you've done a Terror mission at night. It conveys very well the feeling of being outmatched in every way. Nobody can play that game without at least one lost-the-entire-team scenario. The knowledge that those Things out there in the dark can see you when you can't see them makes it even worse. The unforgiving, brutal power of the game's larger creatures is only partially offset by the stupidity of the AI. I also like how it makes you wait while the aliens take their turn. Sure, you just stare at the screen and wait, but you wait knowing They are doing evil things somewhere just out of view. Ah, glorious paranoia.

 

[Fenra]

I remember playing Resident Evil 2 when I was 11, that scared the crap out of me, probably because I was 11 heh.

Doom 3 scared me but because I am very susceptable to jump scares, I hate jumping, well in that whole "i hate it when its happening but love the rush" deal, like on rollercoasters, and after hearing that the game was full of them, I was on edge waiting for them all the time, hence why I found it so scarey, constantly in a mixed state of fear and panic.

Oh and the Dead Space games, not so much the second, although it did still scare me a lot of the first time scares, such as seeing a necromorph for the first time and the design of the monster scaring me, were lessened by the time I played the second. I must admit thats one thing people dont tend to mention too much in horror games, the simple effect of the creature, whatever it might be, being scarey or freaking you out, which the necromorphs do to me