Be Excellent To Each Other

(I'm sure I made a thread like this before. Maybe it was on WoS)

I like scary games, a lot. I think games have more oopertunity to scare you as they can be more immersive than films or books.

But my main reason for starting this thread is that I've just got a copy of Project Zero (Fatal Frame) that works on the 360!
Time to find out if scary games released nine years ago still "work".

I've also got Fatal Frame 4 and the new Silent Hill on their way for the Wii.

That Sega one for 360.

The Regenerators in Resi 4 were terrifying.

Condemned? There was one bit that's likely to make you jump.



Personally I find it hard to detach myself from the fact I'm playing a game, so I don't really get scared by games.

For just making me jump though, I'm sure you've found that bit in Eternal Darkness...

Condemned had a good atmosphere especially if you played it in the dark with no-one else in the house & the surround sound turned up. The hateful combat ruined it for me though, that & the hateful boss meant I never finished it despite making it to the end of the game.

Saw made me jump a couple of times, esp when I walked into my first booby trap. Cue lots of laughing from Joans and Dudesflame...

Hmm, I've not tried Saw. That's a PC game, right?

At least Condemned 2 took that hateful combat and er, added more of it. The magic man wasn't bad though.

360 and PS3 too.

And the PC aswell.

*takes off running so fast he hears the wind gushing past his ears*

Made me jump but



Gave me the creeps.

Great bloody game.

The creepiest (creepy being a bit different from scary I guess) game I played was on the PS2, a strange game called Gregory Horrorshow. One of the characters was a lizard nurse with a giant syringe, and she'd chase you round and, urgh. The game style was in no way realistic, but there was a feeling evoked by the character movements, the stylised look of the game and the background music that really gave me the creeps. I don't know of anyone else who played it, though.

The creepiest (creepy being a bit different from scary I guess) game I played was on the PS2, a strange game called Gregory Horrorshow. One of the characters was a lizard nurse with a giant syringe, and she'd chase you round and, urgh. The game style was in no way realistic, but there was a feeling evoked by the character movements, the stylised look of the game and the background music that really gave me the creeps. I don't know of anyone else who played it, though.

I like scares in my games too. The best in this generation that I've found so far are in Dead Space. A lot of that creepy atmospere is from playing in near darkness in 5.1. Brilliant. Resi5 was a let down scare wise, great game, but could have been better. I'd love a good Fatal Frame or Silent Hill for the 360, I'm interested to hear your reports of the Wii versions.

Region lock

Eternal Darkness for me. It's the game your Gamecube was made for.

Yes. The voices when you cast the spells were superb.

Annoying how Project Zero is listed as non-working but the sequel apparently does. I've given up on trying to play original Xbox games on a 360 now anyway as every time I get the urge to play a particular game, I find it's not on the list.. last one being FMX.

I found F.E.A.R really scary for a while. However, the scariest bit of any game I played was in the first Thief game.

I've got the 360 version. Might have to pop it on again tonight now, I seem to remember I was a bit stuck.

I'd say all the Thief games are fantastic for this. Just you, alone and fairly powerless against these horrible things. System shock 2 is tremendous as well, especially when you're frantically sneaking around on your first play trying to stay alive.

For the PC, the penumbra games are effective little low-budget spook-em-ups, again tied to how powerless your character can be and the sense of panic that comes with it. The original STALKER also properly scared the hell out of me at parts, so much so I'd stay in town limits after dark and rarely venture out. But when you had to, gngh. Even the demon mutts were sudden, frantic death if you weren't ready for them. All these bizarre creatures, but the worst ones only came out at night, mostly, so you didn't have to face them most of the time. Which just made it worse when you did, of course.

Top Stalker moment: hiding up high in a crane cab in a facility overrun with armed zombies. I don't think I've ever played a game where you felt so alone, and the whole world, even the air itself seemed to want you dead. Top game, that.

I recall that the "Haunted Hotel" bit in Vampire: The Masqurade, er... Redemption? I think? Or Bloodlines, maybe. The one with the sisters (but not) who owned the nightclub. Anyway, that was scary.

Ooh, good call, I'd forgotten about that. Wonderfully done. And it was definitely Bloodlines.

The only really scary game i played in the last 15 years or so is STALKER. I know this is a game that gets a lot of criticism here, but the atmosphere it creates is second to none. FEAR 1 has some jumpy moments but it's not creepy at all.

I do remember being scared by Alone in the Dark and Ecstatica. Great games. As for newer Survival horror stuff, it lacks the atmosphere of the old games (or maybe it's difficult to impresss me). Eternal Darkness and RE4 are great, but i didn't found them scary.

EDIT:Yes, Grim, i forgot Bloodlines. Some really creepy stuff. The Ocean House hotel, King's way and that mansion in Hollywood which is the scenery of snuff movie. Probably RPG of the decade too.

I can remember Silent Hill 2 creeping me out so much that I finished the bulk of it on one Saturday morning, with my girlfriend in the room the whole time. As soon as the game was done, the disc was ejected, put back in the box and then it was immediately frogmarched to the shops and traded in. I never wanted to put myself through it again. Though I did kind of enjoy it.

I'd also agree with Stalker being creepy as fuck in places. I used to dread bits where I'd have to go underground and, like SisterCheeba, would normally spend the nights at the bar and only go off doing missions during the daytime. I've never known a game that can create such atmosphere as that one.

The red double take in Doom 3 made me jump so hard I broke my keyboard tray.

I vowed never to play it again with headphones in the dark. However, I'm a glutton for punishment and did so the very next day. There were no other real jumpy moments but the crying little girl who turned into a devil made my blood run cold.

When we got our Amiga 500, way back when I was 8 or something, I vaguely remember having nightmares induced by 'Nightbreed', a game which came bundled with the machine. I don't think I've played it since, but it really freaked me out at the time.

The worst game for creeps, ever, was System Shock 2. Forget your Japanese pseudo horror *Waaaaaaggggggghhhhhhh! Mummy I just shit myself!" games or your Doom 3 "Oh look, hilariously a cupboard has just opened behind me" moments, SS2 was truly terrifying during and long past the game finished.

Actually it was more of....

Walking through dark claustrophobia inducing corridors and hearing a little girl crying.It starts off very very faintly so you stop to avoid making any walking sounds on the metal floor. At first you can't really make it out but as you begin to get closer it sounds like a young girl crying and sobbing. The EAX and 5.1 made it pan around you and it does that Nyyyeeeeeeaaaah thing where it drags on. In the end it starts to get really creepy. So much so I wanted it to stop. I dragged myself down a tiny pitch dark corridor and climbed a ladder into a small room. When you get there it gets louder and louder before you finally see a small girl weeping and sobbing. But she has her back turned. As you walk up she turns around, cries really loudly and then her head turns into a demon and comes flying toward you.

So it was hardly a cupboard opening behind you. And at the time the graphics were absolutely revolutionary and made it all the more believable.

There were far too few moments like that one sadly.

Brilliant!

Aliens on the CPC is the scariest game of all time. It looks like crap and only had about three sound effects. But one of those sound effects was the 'ping' of your scanner when an alien drew near... truly terrifying. Also, instead of giving you six lives (or whatever), the game put you in control of all the characters from the movie. Every time you lost a life, it felt significant; especially when you were down to your last lonely marine. A compelling argument could be made for it being the first survival horror game, way before Alone in the Dark.

Incidentally, I don't find modern games scary at all. The 'uncanny valley' effect completely ruins the horror for me: it's like watching a rubbish CGI cartoon, or something.

AvP on pc for me was something that bordered on unplayable.

RE1. Dog. Window.

I was a bit creeped out by Fallout 3 at times.

I played Gregory Horror show and it WAS creepy!! I agree...

It had a similar feel to Luigi's mansion which, in my opinion was also kind of creepy. Not scary as such, just creepy.

Maybe it's me?!?

RE2, I think, in the police station when the licker jumps throuhg the one way mirror. I squealed like a girl.

I can't play jumpy games for very long, as I have a stroke or a heartattack or something.

I can't play scary games unless Miss Malabar is here, in which case I'm forced to put on some kind of bravado, while repeatedly calling her names for being such a girl. Much the same as dealing with spiders.

Really? The last time I tried it didn't work.

I love scary games, even if they are a bit shit or really cheap scares. Dead Rising, Alone in the Dark, Resident Evil, Silent Hill, Dead Space, AvP (original two), etc etc. I can't seem to play them for too long, though, or my nerves end up in shreds.

Woofters.

I'm more upset by Malabar, he's not even from Shandy land.

Up is shit.

Motherfucker!

p\/\//\∂

I can't believe i forgot System Shock 2. Besides scary, it was extremely stressfull.

I really liked Doom 3, and i disagree with the not-so-good reputation the game has nowadays, but i didn't found it scary at all.

Ninty have re-trademarked Eternal Darkness.
I'd be happy with just a Wii version with crappy controller update, but please be a sequel, pleeeease!

Daggerfall. If you went outside at night the ghost of King Lysandus would come for you, bellowing "VENGEANCE!" What's worse, if you ran back into the inn and upstairs into your bedroom and attempted to get into bed and sleep (or hide under the quilt, more likely) it'd inform you that you couldn't sleep because enemies were near. And you could hear through the wall the chilling cry of the ghost shouting.

That used to shit my fourteen year old self right up that did.

Ooh - here it is...

I'm surprised that Nintendo haven't pumped out a few more (or loads) of New Control releases. They would be cheap (to produce) and filling (for the bare Wii software release schedules).

Perhaps it's a new game that will use the pulse-sensing Vitality Sensor in some mysterious way? Or something on the 3DS using the 3D display trickery? Can't wait to find out.

I found Manhunt insanely tense and scary when I played that on the PS2 back in the day... don't think I ever had the curtains open or lights on for it. The whole thing was broodingly suspense-filled, but the bit where nearly made me wet myself.

You finished Dead Space yet /\1ß3®†?

Tell me what you thunk of it!