# Horror games actually horrifying?



## chavosaur (Feb 7, 2013)

Ive been thinking about Horror gaming lately.
See, what bothers me, is what most games portray horrors as. Which is basically, Nothing but pop out/ jump moments. I wanted to know what games yall could name that were truly SCARY. A game that actually fits the Genre of horror, without having to rely on BOO! moments.
Personally, I cant think of a game that can bring full on HORROR without those BOO moments. Not that ive played anyway.
In games defense though, it seems like horror is really difficult to pull off in a game. Even in movies nowadays. It all depends on someones opinion and what truly scares them.
Gore doesnt bother me, but may freak other people out.
BOO moments can give me a fright, while others just give em blank stares.
What about y'all? What is a game that truly scared you to your wits end?


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## Another World (Feb 7, 2013)

the first silent hill game actually scared me. that fog, and the constant beating of the ps1 controller. the problem is that it hasn't aged that well, i'm not sure those graphics would be as scary to me if i played it today.

there is a great rpg for the nes that has a nice horror vibe for it, it was the game resident evil was based on. i did a recommends of the english translation. i'm sure it won't really "scare" anyone, but its still something to check out. its a creepy adventure from start to finish.

http://gbatemp.net/threads/gbatemp-recommends-revival-009.315757/

-another world


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## lufere7 (Feb 7, 2013)

Well I haven't played it, but I've heard Amnesia is scary as fuck and is actually an horror experience, without cheap jump scares. Haven't played it so I can't really affirm what I've heard though.


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## The Real Jdbye (Feb 7, 2013)

I've never really gotten scared by a game, they're just not scary. Doom 3 had a few moments where I jumped though, but I was barely 13 or 14 back then.


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## Gahars (Feb 7, 2013)

While there's the usual suspects of great horror games (the early Silent Hills, Eternal Darkness, etc.), I'm going to throw in Spec Ops: The Line.

It's a very different sort of horror, though, and one unlike any other game I've played. The only monsters are people - the "villains", the "heroes"... and the player. I've never felt so unnerved and uncomfortable with myself while playing a game. It's not conventional horror, but what it offers makes it far, far scarier.

Seriously, it's a great game. If you haven't played it, pick it up - I think the price has dropped a lot since its release. It's definitely worth your time.

EDIT: Hell, even the loading screen text gives me the creeps. "You are still a good person."


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## Sterling (Feb 7, 2013)

Amnesia is a good bet. Hardly any games create an atmosphere that drags you in. Dead Space 1 did this to an extent. The story, the environment, and some of the musical scores make the game easy to scare you. The only problem is, none of these games are dynamic. You see one scare and never fall for it again. Amnesia is powerful in that, sometimes you never know if you're going to get attacked, or if you need to pull that lamp out, or stay behind those barrels in the darkness.


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## Taleweaver (Feb 7, 2013)

ZombiU scared me on more than a few occasions. And not because of startling, as you (usually) know where the zombies are due to the heartbeat sensor. But it's the whole atmosphere, the heartbeats of animals, the lack of weapons and the fact that dying sets you back a whole lot. It's all meant to make you uncomfortable from the start 'till the end.


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## Tom Bombadildo (Feb 7, 2013)

Amnesia was mentioned, but it's only scary if you've got the right environment and if you can really immerse yourself into the game. Play it when it's night, no lights, with headphones on and the sound turned up. EDIT: IMO though the game isn't that scary, it's just tense and there are times when there is a sense of urgency that might make you feel scared, an example being a chase sequence or avoiding a monster.

Other than that, early Silent Hills games to mind.


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## Psionic Roshambo (Feb 7, 2013)

When I was a kid I managed to inherit a copy of E.T on the Atari 2600, I didn't know anything about games at the time (being as the 2600 was still new at the time, wood grain and all.) so I tried it out.... I am not easily defeated by any video game.... So after like several hours of trying to figure this thing out, I came to the conclusion I needed the instruction book because I was obviously doing something wrong... After reading the instructions, it was no help... The game is horrible and while I still own it to this day. I do check on it to make sure its locked away so no one else can play it.....

Yes this game is so evil it can give you nightmares....  

Games don't scare me at all in reality, but I do get a huge kick out of making my wife and daughter play scary video games!!! Just recently I got them both to try out the demo of Zombie U, my daughter ended up throwing the controller at my wife and my wife played for about 30 seconds (being attacked by the very first zombie you run into.) at this point she then threw the controller at me. I killed the zombie paused and laughed my ass off.


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## nachoscool (Feb 7, 2013)

The Resident Evil Remake on the Gamecube is the scariest game you can ever play. If you think the original Playstation version is scary, then you will find the REmake horrifying.


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## ouch123 (Feb 7, 2013)

Ehh... I know people are going to disagree with me on this, but I've only played two games which I found genuinely scary. They were:
Silent Hill (PS1)
Resident Evil 4 (GC)

Now, Silent Hill's already been mentioned a few times, so I don't think I particularly have to elaborate on that one. Resident Evil 4 on the other hand has been, to me at least, the Resident Evil with the scariest atmosphere. Except for the island (which has a special surprise for anyone who gets too complacent with the action aspect), the game was overall much scarier to me than the other ones I've played, and I've played all the main titles except RE1 (PS1, I played REmake), RE3 and Revelations.

Mostly, though, you have to get immersed before you get scared. Some people get scared playing MGS3 by becoming immersed with the idea that you're alone behind enemy lines and if you fail, you'll be abandoned by your country and wiped out of history. Others don't get scared by games generally considered to be scared, merely because they never get into them.  In fact, one game, Ju-On: The Grudge actually makes a point of berating you for being a wuss (Google "scare level sissy level") or reprimanding you for not getting "into it."


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## Sicklyboy (Feb 7, 2013)

I can attest for Amnesia being scary as fuck.

If you're going to play it though, you have to play it right.  Late at night, all lights off, door and windows closed, no background distractions, headphones or good speaker system turned nice and loud.

There are no few jumpscares in the game (the ones that are there are pretty much just environmental stuff, not interactive, and they're few and far between).  The game instead relies on getting under your skin and inside your head.  I have NEVER IN MY LIFE had such an intense, hanging feeling of pure dread while playing a video game.  Not a dread as in "I don't want to play this game", a dread as in "I really want to keep playing, but I do NOT want to go to the next room... this one is nice and safe..."  Actual enemy encounters are extremely uncommon, as far as face to face ones go.  They usually don't come near you and instead stay a bit further in the distance.  However, it's not hard to alert them to your presence and send you into a fucking panic as you try to run.  Also keep in mind that you have no way of fighting; your best option aside from running is to throw something at them, which stuns them for about a second and a half.

This is the only game that has, on occasion, sent my heartrate spiking and actually made me start shaking because I got so scared at one point.


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## Lanlan (Feb 7, 2013)

I try to get scared by games but I just can't. I played stuff like Slender and Amnesia in the dark with headphones to no avail. It sucks really. Resident Evil: Revelations had me sweaty and nervous in the place with the knee-high water but that's just because my screen was flashing red and I was outta green herbs. That's the most a game has affected me in a long time.


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## Nemesis90 (Feb 7, 2013)

It all really comes down to what you yourself fear the most. Defenseless among danger? Having standard weapons but fighting overwhelming odds? Or maybe you just like a more cinematic spookfest with minimal interaction. I myself find grotesque and morbid encounters pretty scary (to a lesser extent nowadays lol jaded) so i preferred classic RE in my younger days.

Which brings me another point. ATMOSPHERE. This is incredibly important in horror games considering music, atmosphere and general immersion. If you have screechy violins playing constantly or generic monster closets every 3-5 minutes i come to the conclusion it's mediocre as a horror game, monster surprises should be spread very thin through a horror game if they're ever used, and low key dark ambient used as music really can heighten the mood, especially if it coin sides perfectly with the environment.

With that being said i shall recommend some of my favorites

Resident Evil 2 (aged a bit but has perfect music and immersion in my opinion)
Resident Evil REmake (Essential to a horror fan)
Fatal Frame 2 (Like spooky ghosts? Well Fatal Frame cranks it up to 11)
Eternal Darkness (I love the fear mechanic used in this game)
Doom 64 (not necessarily a horror game, but the music alone makes this arguable, more creepy than Doom 3 in my opinion)
Clock Tower (The SNES verison, there's a translation floating around since it's JP only)

And i think that covers it. Oh and the only scary thing about Amnesia is the horrible enemy A.I.


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## porkiewpyne (Feb 7, 2013)

Slenderman LOLOLOLOLOLOL XD


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## Sicklyboy (Feb 7, 2013)

Nemesis90 said:


> And i think that covers it. Oh and the only scary thing about Amnesia is the horrible enemy A.I.


 
What's so horrible about it?  The enemies run towards you until you die.

The game itself, if you really do immerse yourself in it and actively try to stay immersed in the game, it can really get to you.


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## Nemesis90 (Feb 7, 2013)

Sicklyboy said:


> What's so horrible about it? The enemies run towards you until you die.
> 
> The game itself, if you really do immerse yourself in it and actively try to stay immersed in the game, it can really get to you.


 
Well considering my playthrough, they tended to act pretty stupid most of the time, there were a few times where they even completely ignored me right out in the open. I also didn't really care for the fact that all you had to do was hide in a corner for a few moments to bypass them. I won't deny the immersion though, that was done pretty well, however, the wavy insanity effect you get in the dark is just a placebo effect. The best part of the game for me was the painting that did you know what, very subtle.

I KNEW i forgot a game. it was based off my favorite horror movie, The Thing!


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## Issac (Feb 7, 2013)

Silent Hill 1 and 3 together, and Silent Hill 2... The magnificent story and how it's all connected and all that... 
Silent Hill 4 is also really good, and a bit terrifying when it comes to item handling and all that (and ghosts going through walls and shit).

Alan Wake can be scary... and it has a great story


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## Qtis (Feb 7, 2013)

Some games thought to be scary are mostly scary due to the shit lighting in the games. Dead Space is a game that I think is pretty cool, but the way the horror is put in it has made me not like it as much I would prefer. If I can't see shit in a game, I'll probably come to hate it. Gameplay is great sans the annoying "OK I'm about to die and I have no idea why or from where". I think I could partly change this problem with playing with my TVs settings (it adjusts the backlight according to the displayed image), but meh. It works great with 99.9% of the games I play.

As for real horror, I think the atmosphere creates a lot of it. Music and sounds are a key factor, which give a lot to games. Try to imagine Heavy Rain for example without the tension caused by music and sound effects.


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## Nah3DS (Feb 7, 2013)

Fatal Frame: I only finished the 2nd one and played a bit of the 4th one. It will scare you for the first 10 minutes, then you get used to it and that's it (like every horror game). The sound effects are top notch, playing it at night with the lights off and the volume up it's awesome.
The ghost are okay, but sometimes I found myself laughing at them (specially this one), it's hilarious 

Enemy Zero: a really weird game, the setting is the cliché space station (like Alien) full with invisible creatures. The tension comes from the gameplay itself... but that comes with a price, the game it's really frustating... REALLY FRUSTATING Watch this review


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## MeowTheMouse (Feb 7, 2013)

Silent hill was the creepiest most twisted thing I ever played, other than SH, I find games like amnesia as a joke. That is of course my own personal opinion.


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## Deleted member 318366 (Feb 7, 2013)

Resident evil 4 (GC version) scared the shit outta me a couple of times...but that was back when i was young lol.


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## Thanatos Telos (Feb 7, 2013)

SCP Containment Breach, Amnesia, and Penumbra: The Black Plague.


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## LockeCole_101629 (Feb 7, 2013)

Silent Hill

those scene, fogs, everything
feel so small, cramp, suffocating with barely visible area.
omg...

I only play it for about 15mnts, and give up.
no, nope, NOPE. Good game? Okay... but NO.


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## BlackWizzard17 (Feb 7, 2013)

Sonic.exe play it


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## Tom Bombadildo (Feb 7, 2013)

A note for Amnesia, if you find the original story bland like me, you can also invest in some custom stories that are quite scary.


Also, Cry of Fear, Afraid of Monsters, and Nightmare House 2 are quite scary as well. The first 2 are Half Life 1 mods, and the second is a HL2 mod.


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## chavosaur (Feb 7, 2013)

I never had the chance to play silent hill, Ima pick it up on ebay ^.^
Resident Evil Revelations only truly scared me when I had to deal with those water creepers. They were so unnerving and the noises they made only made things worse >.>


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## ShadowSoldier (Feb 7, 2013)

F.E.A.R (the first one) had me going pretty good. None of the shit was like BOOOM MOTHER FUCKER! but rather of how twisted it was. I mean the hallway scene.. shit that still haunts me. I am not ashamed to admit, I will never play the F.E.A.R games, I mean, look at this shit!



That terrifies me! It's not all big pop ups either. There's also that one game that was on the 360 that was pretty scary, Condemned I think it was called.

But as of late... I guess the only game that's really spooked me would be ZombiU, especially that damn nursery area.


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## XDel (Feb 7, 2013)

It's fairly easy to find a good horror adventure...

...avoid the main stream offerings at all costs (as a general rule, with a few exceptions).

Take Resident Evil for example. A fun game series to play yes, but scary? Not in the least bit. The story is too sci-fi mixed with chinky comic book elements, and the voice acting in the old game also helped hinder the full horror experience.
This is what held Silent Hill back for me was the horrid voice acting.

Ironically I recall playing through Alone in the Dark years ago and being freaked out, then when Silent Hill and Resident Evil came along I felt a little disappointed. I thought to my self,"man with as good a graphics are, you'd think they could at least scare me half as good as an old DOS game did." Then again in Alone in the Dark you were alone. You were not busy in the diner chasing some female cop's hot tail, nor were you running around with a team of military trained what ever's trying to take down some giant corporation who had been performing unlikely experiments to comic book proportions.

I REALLY dig Eternal Darkness as it will mess with your head to be sure, but as far as really really really good Horror adventures, look no further than:





I'm honestly not sure if there is anything better than these two out there...

...if you want a genuine scare that is.


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## Celice (Feb 7, 2013)

Someone suggested Spec Ops: The Line. I'm going to have to disagree with that being a "horror experience." It tries harder to draw a surreal landscape, realism warped with fantasy, and along with this unreliable footing, it also shocks the player with realistic depictions of war and confusion.

Mark the verb 'shock.' The game really has no greater horror value in this regard than the cheap jump scares, where most of the player's reaction is going to be from a non-expecting perspective. If you frequent any raw-upload site, you've already seen all the tricks the game tries to pull (grotesque depictions their fall-back card), and so it becomes some sort of cheap parlor trick that hardly moves you. It actually becomes an estranged satire of war, almost a parody, that makes it as comical as it is absurd. No, the only horror you'll find there is if you're naive and haven't bothered to really investigate what people do under traumatic conditions.

That being said, it is an interesting experience that I do suggest one try. It just isn't a horror experience.

-----

Aside, I still find it incredibly interesting how many people are unseated and feel scared, uncomfortable, and untrusting whenever they play The Stanley Parable. It's definitely an experience I suggest people try, as it's a free mod using the Source engine. It seems most of the horror comes from having many elements of perceived stability ripped from beneath the player, and puts direct emphasis on whether agency has a role in determining events. And whether you, as a player, have any chance to really have a meaningful experience--both within, and without, the game.

It's a true experience that many games utterly fail to attain. And it's horror in the same way that the early Silent Hill games are horror: they transfix your human eye on unreal conditions that betray your empathy and rationality, and seat you instead in a dark, devouring place that refutes all semblance of naturality.


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## Qtis (Feb 7, 2013)

Half Life: They hunger? A good mod in the days, kinda scary. Probably due to me playing it mostly in the middle of the night :3


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## weavile001 (Feb 7, 2013)

slender sure is scary.
amnesia isnt is very scary.
resident evil 1,2 are one of the bests but the 5,6 are only action


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## Tom Bombadildo (Feb 7, 2013)

Slender is scary if you're a 3 year old girl.


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## narutofan777 (Feb 7, 2013)

well whenever i play dark souls and a skeleton jjumps at me I jump too.


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## Guild McCommunist (Feb 7, 2013)

Silent Hill 2 is pretty good although most games rely on jump scares instead of suspense and build up.

EDIT: Also Silent Hill: Shattered Memories. A very different Silent Hill game but really good, one of the better games for the Wii (it's also on the PSP but I can't attest to its quality as I played the Wii version).


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## Hells Malice (Feb 8, 2013)

I'm sad that not a single person mentioned Corpse Party. Considering it is one of the very few horror games to actually be horrifying.
Barely any jump scares, just has you fucking terrified to progress for fear of brutal murder (which, hell, still happens on the good/true path).

I've never played a game that scared me until that.  FEAR, SH, RE? What a joke, none of those are even remotely scary.


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## Celice (Feb 8, 2013)

Here's a list of some horror games, with an explanation of WHY they're scary, that many people may not know about.


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## AngryGeek416 (Feb 8, 2013)

Resident Evil Remake. Best Survival-Horror game ever made hands down.


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## The Catboy (Feb 8, 2013)

There are very few games that actually scare me and really it's only a few games Silent Hill 1-2, ZombiU, and Fatal Frame 1-2
Most games nowadays focus too much on action or jump out scares, which are only scary once, but then lose their charm.

Edit: I forgot about Silent Hill: Shattered Memories, nothing is scarier than psychological horror.


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## Foxi4 (Feb 8, 2013)

From experience I can recommend Fatal Frame - it's _actually_ quite scary, even if it's mostly jump scares. The Calling is also pretty good if you're into that kind of games. There aren't a whole lot of good horror games out there.


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## Hadrian (Feb 8, 2013)

Super Mario Bros. 3, playing on a NES, when you're on the last world and suddenly you've used all the power ups you have saved and you've fucked up so badly that a few more deaths mean having to start that World all over again.

Not much scares me at all, They Hunger (Half Life mod) had some creepy zombie moments, as does the Fatal Frame series too.


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## Guild McCommunist (Feb 9, 2013)

Celice said:


> Here's a list of some horror games, with an explanation of WHY they're scary, that many people may not know about.


 
I didn't watch the video but I saw Alan Wake as the display image.

Because Alan Wake had bad graphics?


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## bowser (Feb 9, 2013)

First time I played Half-Life 1 (at age 14) I was pretty scared. It was my first ever zombie game. Heck it was my first ever "grown up" game.


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## XDel (Feb 9, 2013)

I have never heard of Slender, will check into it.


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## Celice (Feb 9, 2013)

Guild McCommunist said:


> I didn't watch the video but I saw Alan Wake as the display image.
> 
> Because Alan Wake had bad graphics?


Dude--that's kinda sad. "Don't judge a book by it's cover" ring any bells?

I'm guessing that frame was used sometime at the beginning of the video as a reference to other recent horror games that aren't so bad, but not the kind the uploader was talking about, which are horror games both good AND potentially unknown. I don't know if YouTube allows certain users to selectively choose their preview frame, but every time I've uploaded something, YouTube forcefully guesses captivating/popular images for their videos and gives the uploader two or three choices, or to have no preview thumbnail whatsoever. If this is the case, I wouldn't doubt that the uploader put up with the two horns and chose Alan Wake, as opposed to some other, less-exciting thumbnails.

Though, I suppose you missing out on the games is your just deserts in the end.


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## Issac (Feb 11, 2013)

Guild McCommunist said:


> I didn't watch the video but I saw Alan Wake as the display image.
> 
> Because Alan Wake had bad graphics?


 
Nah, Like Celice said, the thumbnail wasn't from one of those games. The Alan Wake footage was running while he talked about "mainstream horror games", though I'm not sure if he meant that it wasn't scary at all. (He did say stuff about games with good graphics forget that they're supposed to be scary, or something).


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## Guild McCommunist (Feb 11, 2013)

Issac said:


> Nah, Like Celice said, the thumbnail wasn't from one of those games. The Alan Wake footage was running while he talked about "mainstream horror games", though I'm not sure if he meant that it wasn't scary at all. (He did say stuff about games with good graphics forget that they're supposed to be scary, or something).


 
Oh god I feel glad I didn't watch the video if he says such stupid things and uses terms like "mainstream".

Also implying Alan Wake was a mainstream game.


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## Issac (Feb 11, 2013)

Guild McCommunist said:


> Oh god I feel glad I didn't watch the video if he says such stupid things and uses terms like "mainstream".
> 
> Also implying Alan Wake was a mainstream game.


 
Yeah you didn't miss out on anything... Maybe the first two games he talked about seemed interesting, but otherwise it was pretty lame. Oh, maybe he didn't use the word "mainstream", but it felt like he did at least  
But it was all really really really slow. often it was a lot of gameplay footage, without any talking or anything... didn't even show interesting parts.


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## duffmmann (Feb 11, 2013)

Silent Hill Shattered Memories horrifies me.  And this all boils down to one reason, you can't fight the horrors that haunt you.  All you can do is run.  And they can catch you and kill you.  The game also features the ability to look behind you as you run.  I remember so often pressing that button in hopes of not seeing anything, yet always freaking out when sure enough there's something right on my tail.


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## batman (Feb 12, 2013)

Never been real scared by any game.
But silent hill I think is the closest one to actually scare me.
Nothing scares the batman (except bats).

When I was a child, The land before time (movie) scared the hell out of me though. I found Sharptooth very frightening. It was the 1st movie I saw on cinema. Only 5 years old or so.


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## XDel (Feb 12, 2013)

I doubt this will work any more for a scare, but when DOOM released for the Playstation, I made sure to pick one up just so I could play through it with all the new lighting enhancements, ambiance, and what not.

I'd pull up my lazy boy in front of the TV, hook up my Sony to my 70's Hifi Cabinet with 70's head phones that fully covered my head, turned out all the lights, smoked out, and played DOOM till I could not hold my eyes open any more.

This would scare the crap out of me, and it did not help that my friends would just walk in and sneak up behind me either. 

I miss those days!


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## Hells Malice (Feb 12, 2013)

XDel said:


> I have never heard of Slender, will check into it.


 
Don't bother wasting your time. Slender is about as scary as Super Mario Bros, except it isn't even fun to play.


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## koimayeul (Feb 12, 2013)

There is this old PsOne game, Galerians which is actually totally creepy with genetic experiments, a mad IA and a teenager taking drugs to survive and shoot mental waves, exploding brains on overdose.. Akira style.


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## XDel (Feb 12, 2013)

Hells Malice said:


> Don't bother wasting your time. Slender is about as scary as Super Mario Bros, except it isn't even fun to play.


 

I looked it up... I think it would be an interesting concept if done under an advanced DOOM engine, but ya...

...coming from someone who was saying Amnesia was crap. It is strange that they should suggest a game that appears to be running on the same general concept of game play, except on a much more primitive level and with inferior graphics.


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## Chary (Feb 12, 2013)

I remember Resident Evil and Silent Hill being scary as a kid. (They still kinda are) The Zombie level in Simpsons Hit and Run also terrified me. (When I was REALLY little) 

Fatal Frame is a decent horror game that I can think of, I guess. Can't really think of many horror games that aren't, "jump out, SCARE, eek!"


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## leic7 (Feb 12, 2013)

Define 'scary' please. Like, what type of movie would you consider 'scary'?

Rule of Rose (ps2) wasn't actually billed under the 'horror' genre, but it freaked me out more than any of the so-called horror games. It's a pure psychological drama that can get under your skin and you will feel it throughout the entire game. Unlike the horror games that rely on cheap tactics to startle you, this one fucks you up through the sheer power of its storytelling. An example of a movie in this category is: _Sister My Sister_.

The Mirror Lied (pc) is a very short game made by the people who made _To The Moon_, it's also NOT a 'horror' game, but...well, you'll see. It's about ~20min long, if you have the time, give it a try and see if you'll like it.


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