There are plenty of scary games out there, much more than what we’ve played; but these are the games that have scared us the most. Happy Halloween!
Mark
4. Resident Evil 4 (Wii, 2007)
Even though I played this game years after its original release, it was amazing how scary this game still was. The settings, the eerie quiet, and Los Illuminados all freaked me out every time I played it. It ended on a bit of a hokey note, but the all-around journey was great. “Morir Es Vivir” still makes me shiver every time I think about it.
3. Imagine Party Babyz (Wii, doesn’t matter)
The birthing scene was unnecessarily bloody and violent.
2. Condemned: Criminal Origins (Xbox 360, 2005)
Bums are scary enough when they’re not all whacked out and trying to kill you in some dark, run-down warehouse.
1. Dead Space (Xbox 360, 2008)
Having not played a ton of scary games in my life, this was a short list, but no matter how long it is, Dead Space my definite number one. I spent the weeks leading up to the game watching the animated comics and reading the lore, so when I went in I had a full-world experience. I’ll never forget the first alien that chases you down the hall right when you get on Ishimura. So scary.
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Russ:
6. F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin (Xbox 360, 2009)
This is a game that I recently bought but don’t have the guts to play yet. Even when I played the demo, I knew that I was going to have a hard time enduring it. I’m scared of ghosts, and girls, and this is a game about a ghost girl or something; therefore, I know that it deserves a spot on this list even before really getting into it.
5. Dead Space (Xbox 360, 2008)
Dead Space was unique because it was scary but so good. It also left me feeling like nowhere in the game was I safe, even in the “safe” areas between levels. The fact that you could shoot and move at the same time really knocked down its scariness factor, but it was still an intense moment in gaming that I think everyone should play.
4. Aliens vs. Predator 2 (PC, 2001)
Yeah, I know what you’re thinking, that this isn’t a scary game at all. Those two AvP movies were jokes, right? Well, you see that little needle thing on the bottom-left of the screen when you play as the Marine? That’s a motion detector, that starts beeping any time anything nearby starts moving. It will make you pee your pants, because the aliens in this game are so ridiculously fast and deadly. Hands down the scariest FPS I’ve ever played.
3. Resident Evil 4 (Gamecube, 2005)
This was the first Resident Evil game I played, because I could actually stand its control scheme. It’s a long, unforgiving adventure, and I loved every 20+ hours it took me to play it. In fact, it was so intense that I only played it in 20 minutes increments, and it took me months to beat. There’s nothing I can say about this game that hasn’t been said before, except this: purple strawberry fingers.
2. Scary Maze (Flash, unk)
Tyler Miller sucks.
1. Silent Hill 2 (PS2, 2001)
A friend and I started playing this game on a bright, shiny Saturday afternoon in 2002. Two hours into it, we stopped playing and put the disc away forever. If it’s scary enough to force two grown manboys to stop playing it during the day, it deserves to be my scariest game of all time.
Russ Crandall:
Tyler Miller:
Steve McKay:
Giang Cao:
Silent Hill 2 was one of the first survival horror games I ever played, and the first SH game I was ever exposed to, and it just blew all of the other survival horror games away – I was literally on the edge of my seat all the way through that game.
To this day, no game has had such a profound effect on me, which is why the SH series is my favourite survival horror series of all time.
Strangely, I just don’t seem to feel that first person shooter survival horrors are all that effective. I think it has something to do with having too much freedom; I always seem to find that all of the “scares” happen when I’m looking the wrong way, which sort of kills the mood a little.
If you were to suggest a Silent Hill to play for someone that has never played one, which would it be?
Silent Hill 2 without a doubt, though that comes with a couple of caveats:
1. The first Silent Hill gives the best background (story-wise) as to what is going on in Silent Hill, and Why. However, SH1 is a VERY CLUNKY PS1 game – these days, it may not be the best introduction to the series. I am, however, very excited to see what they’ve done with the game in Shattered Memories.
That said though, the story for SH2 is completely unrelated to SH1 (SH3 is the direct sequel) and does a good job of letting you form your own conclusions as to why Silent Hill is the way it is.
2. Silent Hill 2 is also quite cumbersome – it plays much in the same way as the old Resident Evil games, though I would say that it’s a more fluid game; the controls work better, the melee combat is more effective (as in, it actually works!) and is more of an integral part of things. The combat is also a little easier in SH2, and the game gives you a lot of (effective) guns and a fair amount of ammo for them.