There are lots of scary computer and video games out there, and even more ready to haunt store shelves this holiday season. And while there are a lot of fine horror games that offer plenty of thrills and chills, they don't all go about scaring you the same way. Some games make you jump out of your chair, others provide a creepy atmosphere, and a select few of them will even get into your head.
In recognition of the many different ways that our favorite scary games encouraged us to sleep with a nightlight, we've called out some of the best examples of the different types of terror throughout the years--the games that best exemplified these special kinds of scare. And to make things even more interesting, we've also included some upcoming games that we hope will continue these creepy-crawly traditions into the future, based on what we've already seen from them so far. So turn off the lights and sample some flavors of fear with us. Have a safe and happy Halloween.
Abrupt Scares
You know the drill: You're in a house or abandoned space station and you've searched every inch of a room for ammo, moon keys, and health packs. Every inch, that is, except for the ones in the closet. The door is closed but crooked. The lights in the room dim, and you hear what sounds like muffled breathing. It's quiet. A little...too quiet. And just when you think you're safe, that's when these horror games get you, hitting you with an unexpected scare that makes you jump out of your seat. These games offer some of the best examples of abrupt scares we've seen.
Doom 3 is like a haunted house in which you have space-age weapons, but it's still scary. Why? Well, if you want to peer into the dark, you have to use your flashlight. To use your flashlight, you have to use both hands. That means that any time you want to gaze upon the terrifying zombies waiting to eat your face, you have to put down your gun. Of course, when you finally muster the courage to shine a beam into that black abyss, you see nothing; the zombies are already behind you.
Resident Evil
Resident Evil is arguably one of the most important games of all time, and the first entry in one of the most successful franchises in the history of gaming. It also has one of the best, most memorable scares in the history of horror video games. Before you even take control of your character, this game goes straight for the jugular with its terrifying dogs, which chase you from the very outset of the game in a cinematic sequence. And if you thought you managed to lock them outside, boy, were you in for a surprise. Just as you're getting used to the unusual third-person control scheme and struggling with your aim at slow-moving zombies, it makes you jump out of your seat as one of these hellhounds leaps through the window. Even worse, they run much faster than you can move or aim.
Resident Evil 2
You go into Resident Evil 2 thinking that you have zombies, dogs, and herbs under control. You simply shoot a zombie dead and then step over it on your way to bigger and better things--until you realize that it's chewing your leg because it isn't dead enough. And if you think that's shockingly freakish, you haven't seen anything yet. After making your way through a burning downtown and an abandoned (by the living) police station, you encounter one of the game's most memorable, and startling enemies, the licker--something with its brains on the outside and a tongue a mile long that leaps out at you in that first hallway.
Atmospheric Tension
Have you ever been scared for no reason? Felt your mouth go dry and your skin crawl just because the environment around you was so convincingly creepy, due to hair-raising sound effects, unsettling visual images, or both? That's atmospheric tension for you, and if used correctly, it can change the whole climate of a gameplay experience from one of casual curiosity to compelling dread. Games with great atmospheric tension keep you on the edge of your seat because they convince you that something terrible is about to happen.
The original Alone in the Dark might not be very scary by modern standards, but it deserves a great deal of credit for helping blaze the trail, both for atmospheric tension and for the genre of games that would become known as "survival horror." Alone in the Dark is the first such game to use fixed camera angles for each room along with 3D graphics. It takes place in a very spooky mansion in which the main character, Edward Carnby, must navigate the creaky, poorly lit place and survive the attacks of crazy-looking monsters that lurk just around the next corner.
BioShock
BioShock's Rapture makes a strong first impression, and leaves a lasting one even after you finish playing the game. It's beautiful and provocative, a modern utopia laid low by corruption and decay. You know something terrible can happen at any time because the mess all around you suggests that terrible things never stopped happening. And while you explore the ruins of this decadent city, you'll constantly hear the eerie audio combination of obliviously optimistic music and the nonsensical ramblings of splicers: the genetically enhanced and completely insane inhabitants of the city.
S.T.A.L.K.E.R. takes place in an area known as "the exclusion zone," where a second, fictitious Chernobyl meltdown has caused the remaining wildlife to become horrible mutants. Furthermore, the disaster has led to valuable "artifacts" surfacing in the area for ambitious scavengers to recover and sell. The game's excellent use of real-world assets gave rise to realistic and highly detailed environments such as the abandoned amusement park at Pripyat. Along with the game's excellent ambient sound effects, S.T.A.L.K.E.R.'s environments create a memorably eerie atmosphere of desolation and loneliness that quickly turns to peril when the mutants come out to play.
It's said that "In space, no one can hear you scream." However, System Shock 2 proves otherwise, given that the terrifying computer overmind and the hideous alien collective can not only hear you--they've already killed everyone else and are actively searching for you, too. System Shock 2 presents a unique environment that combines the loneliness of high-tech deep-space travel with a sense of atmospheric dread that's not only provided by the corpses strewn about the ship, but is also, like in the game's successor BioShock, provided by the journals of fallen crew members, who offer horrifying glimpses into what happened to them…and what might happen to you.
The Thing
The thing about The Thing is that it could be standing right before your eyes, and you wouldn't even know it. It could be Betty, or it could be Jack, and you wouldn't even know until it was too late. And then it would be you (or, you would be it, or however that works). That's right, people are what make The Thing--the 2002 game that continues the storyline of the cult-classic motion picture--such an ambient and creepy experience. Anyone around you can secretly be a weird alien, and the ones who aren't, well--they completely freak out. Not only does the game do a great job of re-creating the remote atmosphere of the motion picture, but it also ups the ante with interactive characters who are always around you...and who always threaten to turn on you when you least expect it.
No Fatal Frame? Or Silent Hill 1? Strange. Aside from that, nice article. Thumbs up for Silent Hill 2, System Shock 2 and Eternal Darkness. Also Bioshock, although I was more enchanted than scared^^ Hey, Aliens vs Predator is missing too... the list should have been much longer.
There's a lot of scary games missing here! :(
I like this list. I like it a lot. Dementium seems to be missing but it pretty much covered every game I'd have thought of but why RE4 and RE5? Whatever, this list has more RE games than any I've ever seen before and I like that.
The original Super Famicom Clock Tower is way scarier than most of these, which is quite a feat for a sprite-based game. Also, the fact that it's a point-and-click game makes it really nerve-racking when a scissorman pops out of nowhere and you have to get your character to escape behind some door.
Where's Half-Life? That game makes me piss myself.
how could you have possibly left off the first silent hill. easily one of the most mind blowing games of all time. when the daughter calls on the phone, halfway through the school... methinks there is no scarier or psychologically freaky gaming moments of all time. for shame!
The Suffering: The Ties that Bind is not on this list. That makes Jack a sad boy. also... PIGGSY LIVES!
This list needs the evil dead games. Those were scary first time through.
Why is Fatal Frame not on this list? Seriously.
F.E.A.R. was great. F.E.A.R.: Extraction Point freaked me out about 10x worse though.
Good list. It may not be comprehensive, but it recognized the two games - Undying and Eternal Darkness - that I thought deserved mention.
Well the list should have been about twice as long. I mean really, SSSTTTTTAAAAAARRSSSSSSS wasn't in there.
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where is resident evil 3 or the suffering
the only "future" scare featured in this article was RE5. WTF.
I'm with Muzzy on this one...no Fatal Frame? I don't see how people find zombies more frightening than ghosts. Zombies have to obey the laws of physics for the most part...ghosts come straight at you through solid objects while you have to run around tables and tombstones...
you forgot ET and Superman 64
Damn, I wish they'd release Condemned 2 for PC... I loved the first one, scared the crap out of me. RE4 wasn't that scary, though. Good game, but not scary. Otherwise, awesome list.
The Licker encounter wasn't that scary. Now Nemesis from RE:3. That's scary.
Extermination deserves to be on this list.
?????? No Manhunt, no Fatal Frame? Resident Evil 1,2, AND 4, but not Nemesis??!?!?!?!! No Thrill Kill either, but hardly anyone knows about that one anyway.... This list is far from comprehensive
Nice job on the lists, dude. Though, I'm gonna have to agree with another comment I've seen. Manhunt should definitely be up there. I'd say it's definitely the scariest and most demented game I've ever played. After a few hours, I would never play it again.
why isn't manhunt on this list. the smileys will freak the living **** out of you. Piggsy will scare the **** out of you if your not paying attention to the screen. and the whole setting to the game is dark and creepy
To me, the only thing scary about any Resident Evil game is it's lame control scheme. Not being able to move while shooting or using the knife sucks, and I don't care how many RE fans claim it helps the games atmosphere. You're just putting a bad spin job on bad gameplay. On the other hand, good to see the Condemed series on the list, plus FEAR (can't wait for FEAR 2) and Left 4 Dead (the best zombie type attack game out)...but they missed the boat picking certain games over The Suffering games. -=p
why is resident evil 2 up there? i mean ya resident evil 1 for sure goes up but why 2? o ya and it needs silent hill also. -
Oh for crap's sake, who the hell compiles these lists? Joe Strawberry Sixpack?
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Condemned is definitely psychologically creepy. It wears you down until you don't want to turn the next corner... in case there's somebody hiding there instead of an exit.
silent hill was by far the scariest game of the time, I still think its one of the scariest ever!
Are you srious? No "CLock Tower" ?
Condemned?
man they should have The Suffering on there and The Suffering ties that bind
The asylum(haunted of coarse) level from Thief: Deadly Shadows caused me to nearly **** my pants. It was only one level, but holy crap was it frightening! Especially the sound. I'll never forget it.
I've played most of these games, and I must say that this Article is poorly formatted, let me explain. most of these games are the among the best in one or more of the categories listed so limiting them to one category is just wrong, honestly a percentage rating system for each game listing its score in each category would have been ideal. some should not be considered horror at all. S.T.A.L.K.E.R is one of these, when i played this game i passed more time completing side/faction quests that the Horror scenes were mostly irrelevant and are not on the same level as the other listed games. I didn't play games like fatal frame, project zero, resident evil (played only 4) or older ones, so honestly i can't say if they should be listed. still i feel that by not listing we are ignoring a good part of the older video game history
what about aliens vs predator? i think that is one of the most intense and scary videogames made
The darkness had better psyche than FEAR. IMO
okay many of you say bioshock wasnt scary. i found it pretty scary when seeing some doctors shadow, operating on someone, and when i got close he dissapeared, when i got back, he suddenly popped out of a locker og something. that was scary!! i could also get alot of other horror moments in bioshock but the comment would get too long
No mention of Fatal Frame?!? wtf?!?
Half-Life 2, although containing significant levels of peril, cannot be counted on here. There are scarier ones to fill the space.
The original Fatal Frame was probably one of the most frightening games I've ever played in terms of psychological horror, atmospheric tension, and abrupt scares. Wandering through that abandoned, cursed house with no weapon but a camera, listening to crazy, ominous chanting, only to have a ghost pop up literally an inch from your nose...now that's horror. That is the only game I've ever been afraid to play by myself.
yeah, Silent Hill is NOT gross, it is the King of psychological horror (except for the last one...not very scary) and you forgot to mention that some of those games were so broken that you probably gave up on the game before it got really creepy, just out of frustration...Call of Cthulha, case and point.... if you make it out of the bed, jump out open the back door, close the door behind you, then lock it run across the room move furniture out of the way, open the door, close it behind you, lock it......well, you get the picture...after my 99th time of getting hacked to death by the BIG BURLY sailors that are breaking down the doors with axes, I just about had it.... then ONCE I made it out the window, jumped across to the other building, through the corridor only to have NO save point and got hacked to death anyway......AHHH....I still feel the frustration of that game, too bad too, because it was one of the creepiest ones going
why is silent hill in gross out and not psychological?Gamespot dont know jack any more,and weres Project zero,without a doubt the scariest game ever
F.E.A.R was a good one too and i almost forgot this dead space game is preety cool too in horror stuff and yes the gamespot really is pushing it by only paying attention to x360!!!make me mad!!!
well what about silent hill!!!!? actually the room was the last game that scared me!!!! stalker!!!?that game was funny not scary!!! bio shock just made me laugh when it tried to scare me
lol by that logic Banjo Kazooie should be on this list cuz he can die!
i need more Hp lovecraft!!! more scary than ever!!!
i think metal gear solid should be on there,its not really scary but the lasting doom that your constantly in danger is a freak out
yeah...when the tyrant crashed through the wall in resi 2. That was scary!
Fear was so good, so creepy even if the graphics sucked u never knew when the girl was gona turn up
Good list, good article. Gosh, F.E.A.R scared me a lot.... the first time I saw Alma, I didn't think she could hurt me. Then i died. Alma is so creepy! YOu can never tell if she exists or not....... AVP2 was so nail-bitingly creepy that I almost peed my pants as the marine. COuldn't play for more than 10 minutes at a time, or else I'd start shaking uncontrollably ^^
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