Scariest Video Game Moments

The school in Silent Hill. Every part of it.

Any "something breaks through the glass" part of the Resident Evil games.

The interrogation room in Resident Evil 2.

Yep, the "bit with the phone" is the only time a game has actually creeped me out in the same way as a movie could. Silent Hill 2 never really scared me, but it did leave me feeling vaguely disturbed and in need of a shower.

In my opinion, Resident Evil is over-rated as a "scary" game. They're great action adventures, but they're only scary in the most basic ways. They've made me jump a few times, but usually by relying on the old "sudden attack plus loud noise" gambit. That's why I never understood the utter hate for the movie, as if it somehow betrayed the series - when it's just as silly and cliched as the games are.

With Silent Hill, I think the scariness comes more from an ongoing mood/atmosphere which the games set up. But they also have their fair share of one-off frights. A good one is in SH2, when you see Pyramid Head just staring at you from across the bars.

Resident Evil has taken those "monster suddenly breaking through the glass" bits to a fine art. Capcom know the fans love it so much, that they do loads of these false scares now, e.g. a glass window shattering just a little wee bit instead of completely breaking (like the false dog/hallway scare in Gamecube RE), in anticipation of a REAL scare later. Your nerves end up in tatters... Great stuff!

Clock Tower- far too many individual moments to list, but perhaps my fave is when you're investigating the secluded house of that old guy, and walk into the den only to find Scissorman watching cartoons and laughing his head off. Freaky.

Shadowman- the first time you encounter those squealing "hog head" things.

Yeah pretty much the same thing with Silent Hill 1. The school with the phone thing really freaked me out. Also seeing those crusified bodies in the school also. Also when you could hear the children in the school. SH2 didn't really scare me as much as just disturbed me.

Fatal Frame was the game that really scared me from start to finish. I have never by movies, books, real-life situations, or by videogames been that scared in my whole life.

The bathtub in Eternal Darkness. No contest.

The bit in Quake when you're alone in the quiet courtyard, and you step on the sign, and the two cubes rise up and disappear into the locks and the fiend jumps out. The one moment in a video game that scared me to hell.

The first time Pac-Man made that horrible whining cry and turned himself inside out before disintegrating into nothing...sweet Jesus, I wet myself.



Obligatory smart-ass response quota met--as you were.

Thing is, the RE games can't compete with stuff like Fatal Frame or Silent Hill in terms of scariness... FF has shit-scary ghosts, SH has that whole moody/weird/fucked up/nightmarish/non-reality thing going on, whilst RE basically just has the physical threat factor.

But where RE scores most highly, is that it's just an incredibly FUN game to play for horror fans. The genre references are absolutely everywhere (the new Crimson Heads even reanimate in that Evil Dead style!). Atmosphere and little details are what matter most in the RE universe. It's the closest thing to being in your own horror film, whilst still keeping it at a "fun" level (and not taking things into nasty Silent Hill Satanic child abuse nastiness). A heavy criticism which some people level at RE games is that they're getting too scifi/action oriented, but IMO the Gamecube version sorted that out by taking the series back to its horrific roots. And the upcoming RE Zero looks nice and dark, too.

At the end of the day, there's nothing better than exploring a creepy old zombie-infested mansion, blowing the shit out of the various monsters with some high-powered ordnance.

The mirror towards the beginning of Undying.

Honorable mention: Everything else in Undying.

Another nod to SH2, this does fall more into the disturbing category though, there is a cut scene where you are in the closet watching the triangle head and two of the leg things that really bothered me, it was just unpleasant. Another thing about the SH games, the monsters don't move at normal speeds, I hate that, I know it is a gimmick, and this is just a personal thing, but people moving at wrong speeds creeps me the hell out.

Glad to see someone finally mentioning Undying.

Undying did have some cool creepy moments, as mentioned, but what the hell was all that caveman shit at the end? That kind of took me out of it. But cool sound effects and good use thereof.

I remember being disturbed by the alien worlds in Half-Life, even though it's not a "horror" game. Very immersive and completely WRONG worlds. Plus the bug-headed zombies. And those barnacle things on the ceiling? At least scifi/horror, that.

My most favourite horror gamne was System Shock II for the PC. The sense of mounting doom and on-your-edge fear in that game was so real that I had difficulty sleeping at night. I wa so tense when playing it, especially at the beginning where all youa re doing is creeping around trying to avoid getting attacked and gather the equipment you need to survive. The radiation areas were especially nerve-racking, what with having to fend off alien symbiotes while getting through a maze or corridors without succumbing to radiation sickness.

Resident Evil III: Nemisis was a bit frightening when you are in the police station and the big baddie is waiting for you when you get out, or the small baddie breaks through the window.

Fratal Frame, pretty much every part of it, many parts that made me jump to. It's just plain scary and creepy.

I have GOT to find a copy of System Shock 2 somewhere. The game seems to have simply ceased to exist somewhere along the line.

And yeah, Half-Life could be pretty scary. The ol' headcrab-in-ventilation-shaft trap was terrifying (at least for the first 50 times), and the barnacles still make my skin crawl.

I have seen SS2 in EB in their disciunt/re-released section several times. EA re-released it sans box last year I believe? Check used video game places too...it invariably shows up now and again. I have owned the game on three seperate occasions (I usually sell games after I play them to trade in on other games, with the exception of my PSX 1) and have loved it every time. It is very difficult to beat, but the payoff was fantastic.

The first time I heard the Shambler in Quake.

Crawling through the airducts for the first time in Half-Life...when the face-hugger jumps out.

About 70% of Sanitarium.

Anyone else on this one?

Peace.

The showdown with that huge slug creature in Silent Hill. I think it's in the school. Damn near cacked my pants.

Aha now that's taste!

The only PC horror I dug more than Sanitarium was Harvester. Both great games though.

That guy banging his head against the wall is one of the most disturbing things I've ever seen in a game.

And let me chime in for the original Half-Life. Lots of good "Boo!" moments in that one.

Yes, Sanitarium is fucking CREEPY. I don't know if i'd call it scary, just disturbed and freakish. Every area of the game is like Jacob's Ladder, and just as strange and weird.

I never really got creeped out by Sanitarium, though it is super fun.

Silent Hill 1, pretty much the very beginning was the worst, everything after I was resigned to be freaked out, but man, going down that alley, following the blood and then the kneebiters, Christ that killed me.

And the bit in RE1 I believe, where there's a body on a table/bed and you don't know whether it's going to get up or not, THAT had me going worse than the dogs coming in through the windows.

Fatal Frame's kimono ghost got me too, that guy going on about the "woman in the kimono" chasing after you, yikies. Although the entire game (what I've seen so far) is freaky as hell to play, I LOVE it

SH2 is very freaky indeed... though it manages to it purely by anticipation mostly... you just never know what is gonna happen in those decaying buildings and dark hallways.

I second Sanitarium, it was an intensely creepy game, the scarecrow level, with all the ghostly kids and stuff was damn twisted, as was the guy bashing in his head (or the guy falling into the abyss in the same level). a feast of nastiness, i thought. it went a bit off the rails at the end though...

RE2: the hands that garb you through the boarded up windows. I didn't anticipate that. the random sounds of zombies shuffling about, keeping you on your toes.

Fatal Frame/Project Zero: I haven't bought it yet, but once more it goes onto my to buy list (after Vice City, that is)

I forgot about that one, again not necessarily scary, but unnerving as all get out.

YES.