Gaming moments that scared you

[Whaturmuva]

What moments can you recall in games that gave you a good scare?

I think the worst for me ever was in Resident Evil 2 when the licker jumps out from behind the mirror... I almost broke my window throwing the controller out of shock.

[Diachron]

I love a good scare, and I love a good Survival Horror game. The Resident Evil games have given me many a I-just-soiled-myself jolt, but some of the Silent Hill and Fatal Frame games have left me with a lingering sense of dread of discomfort that lasted much longer. Crimson Butterfly gave me nightmares.

Ironically, the most traumatic gaming experience in memory had nothing to do with a Survival Horror game. It was very early on in Ultima Online. My friends and I had scraped together enough gold for a house and lucked upon a tiny plot to place it on. A few months down the line, we were mugged during an evening excursion, and the thugs used our key to launch a home invasion. We lost many weeks of accumulated resources while we fatally fought off the assailants and then hid in the house as reinforcements (for them!) arrived to initiate a siege.

That may sound provincial now, but this was 1998, before the rules of civilization developed for persistent worlds, and long before we became desensitized to the trials and tribulations of online gaming. We ended up feeling violated and besieged-- emotions I had previously never associated with a video gaming experience.

[JustaBitOutside]

I think probably some of the biggest scares of late came from Dead Space during the first play through. For me shock really stems from unpredictability, especially violent unpredictability.

[Jason]

I dunno about Dead Space - whilst it's undoubtedly a massively tense and atmospheric experience, I found it was a little formulaic with regard to 'jump moments', and you could usually see them coming.

The most recent game that really had me getting twitchy was the original F.E.A.R.
The moment when you go down the ladder and as you turn to climb down you see Alma STOOD RIGHT FUCKING BEHIND YOU nearly made my mouse fly across the room.

Also, Clive Barker's Undying is a magnificently spooky game, despite being really old now. I highly recommend it.

[MyNameDidntFit]

I've never met a game that scared me. I've met games that have startled me or made me somewhat tense with anticipation... but games just haven't gotten to the point where they can be truly scary.

Books... now books can be scary.

[dimples]

Well many things in the Resident Evil games have scared me. I get scared easily when playing. I could freak out while playing Surf's Up :D

[MotherGraham~]

I dunno about Dead Space - whilst it's undoubtedly a massively tense and atmospheric experience, I found it was a little formulaic with regard to 'jump moments', and you could usually see them coming.
I agree. Dead Space managed to give me a lot of 'Woops, fell off my chair!' moments. I remember the first 'escape' scene of Dead Space all too well. Never had I such a 'scary' moment as that one. Ever. I really should get Dead Space 2.

That said, Clive Barker's Jericho was one hell of an awesome game, with many scary moments, too. It most certainly is deserving of mention, and I recommend anyone to buy it if they have the chance.

[Diachron]

As mentioned I loved all the Silent Hills. I played Silent Hill 2 with some friends, and we played it the way all survival horrors should be played-- at night, with the lights out, and with the volume turned way up.

In SH you move between the normal world and the nightmare world. But parts of each world bleed into each other throughout it all. In one transition, we were tending to a wounded character and then forced into the nightmare world.

The sounds (which were turned way up in the dark, remember), were a garble of strange, almost recognizable but distant beats and whispers. We puzzled it through for a bit until my friend blurted out "It's her heart beating! It's her heart beating in the other world, and she's muttering through her nightmares!"

We fell into disturbed silence.

Those are the moments that creep me out. I love getting jolted into cardiac arrest, but that kind of creeping horror gets under your skin and makes you afraid of the dark.

If you play a horror game, it's best played in utter darkness and with sensory overload. Whenever I've gone back to finish things up during the daytime (like I recently did with Alan Wake), it's been harder to achieve the necessary suspension of disbelief to make the magic happen.

[Serio]

The only game I can remember being genuinly startled was Singularity. It wasn't the mutated scientists zapping about, or the strange tall things that leapt at you. No problem with those. But the decomposing corpse in the pipe filled with water? That made me jump out of my seat.

I'd say it was a combination of the sheer suspense. The entire mystery was being unravelled, and I was anxious to figure out the truth so I just rushed through the pipeline. Then, out of nowhere you swim face first into a corpse and you hear the typical "shock" sound.

Games that managed to creep me but not startle me include S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Shadow of Chernobyl(with some of the mods, naturally), Penumbra: Overture, and to a degree The Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall.

[Tiny Cy]

For me it was the first play of left4dead. I'd not really played any games for a few years and Jason showed me this doozy. well I nearly dropped the laptop when a boomer jumped out and vommed on me. It was pretty intense. I haven't played it, but watched and listened (in surround sound) Jason play Dead Space...that was quite tense. Just the anticipation and sounds, not the actual monster things.

[Jack]

Call of Cthulu is fucking freaky.