Halloween is only days away, and the whole internet is celebrating. Scary stories, videos, and memes are all over the place. This has had me thinking a lot about the holiday and what it means to me personally. Most of my favorite Halloween memories involve being scared in some way. These terrifying moments are usually caused by a movie, prank, or haunted house of some kind. Sometimes, though, the source of my fright has been a video game. So in the spirit of the holiday, (and so I can fulfill my editor’s request for Halloween related content) we are going to be taking a look back and covering some of the moments in games that have had a terrifying effect on me.
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
I found a few of the things in OoT to be unsettling. Dark Link, ReDead, and the ruins of Hyrule Market, all bothered me. I mean, now that I think about it, parts of this game are just plain scary. Like many people, though, I was unprepared for my first encounter with Dead Hand. I mean, really Nintendo? This thing was absolutely terrifying to me as a kid. Nothing about this creature is okay. To the adult me that makes him kinda awesome, but when I first played this game he instilled a horrible fear in me.
Demon’s Souls
I am honestly always on edge and a bit terrified during any of the Souls games. The first game is a tension creating machine. Throughout my experience with it I found myself a sweaty, trembling mess. Blue Eye Knights, Mind Flayers, Dragons…. oh, the Dragons….
The bosses are terrifying, and the atmosphere is dread-inducing. Many times throughout my time with Demon’s Souls I was genuinely afraid of what I might find around the corner, or through the next doorway. Although the sequels were pretty terror-inducing in their own rights, nothing scared me like the original. It had a lasting effect on me and changed the way I think about video games. It’s one I will always play with the lights on.
Resident Evil 2
Resident Evil had to make this list at some point. This was another hard choice because to be honest there were times these games frightened me to my core. The encounters with the Cerberus should have taken this spot. That being said the first game in the series didn’t scare me as much as the sequel.
Resident Evil 2‘s lickers scared me to the core. In particular the encounter with the licker in the interrogation room. I know it was just a cheap jump scare that I should have seen coming a mile away, but it still made me scream out loud the first time I experienced it. This, and a few other key moments put the second Resident Evil game on this list. These moments, combined with my lack of skill with the game’s tank controls led to a lot of tense and terrifying encounters.
Amnesia: The Dark Decent
Is it a surprise to anyone that Amnesia made this list? This game is amazing, and everyone with the mental strength to survive it should play it. That being said this game is quite scary at times. Even early in the game I found myself terrified and actually considered turning the game off several times.
I regrettably still haven’t finished this game, although I have put several hours into it. It easily ranks as one of the most frightening games I have played. I even experienced a horrible nightmare at one point involving Amnesia’s malformed abominations. The game conveys Lovecraftian vibes at times and this, coupled with the dark and foreboding atmosphere, combine with a feeling of helplessness to create a truly frightful experience.
System Shock 2
One of the greatest first-person shooters of all time. This game also had me full of fear and anxiety at times. Fighting through hordes of infected monstrosities while trapped on board a spaceship is already a potentially scary experience. Being led along by a homicidal super-intelligent artificial intelligence through a dread-inducing atmosphere is enough to give me the shakes at times.
This game set the standard for many games to come, and one play-through shows why. You can easily see where Bioshock’s atmospheric terror comes from. From beginning to end, System Shock 2 never stopped filling me with fear. I always felt that some new horrible end was waiting for me right around the next turn.
So that’s it, 5 games that thoroughly scared me. I could have added a few more titles to this list, but I wanted to keep it short and sweet. If you have a game that you think I should play that would scare me more than these be sure to tell me. Also, be sure to check out the rest of the site for more great articles and news. Lastly, be sure to have a safe and happy Halloween.
