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Scariest Horror Games

Z

Zolo

Member
I've been looking for horror experiences this October, so I'm curious what people recommend for the genre. I'm usually not someone that plays or watches anything horror, but I've just been having an itch to play and watch some horror material. I got Outlast in the recent Humble Bundle free giveaway, so I figure I'll try that first.

Anyway, I figure this thread could be used to discuss what people consider the scariest games they've played. Bonus if it's not well known.
 
A

AKingNamedPaul

I am Homie
Silent Hill 2 is incredible and silent hill 3 satisfies the thirst for more if it does click with you. I have found most other horror games to have much less immersion, but maybe i'll learn something in this thread.
 
R

Raging Spaniard

If they are Dutch, upright and breathing they are more racist than your favorite player
I remember watching some clips of Siren on PS3 and the NOPE factor was pretty off the charts
 
C

chrono01

Member
The Fatal Frame series is great, as it forces you to actually focus on what's terrifying you to deal damage. I never played IV, due to it not releasing on the Wii in NA, and couldn't play V since I lacked the space to download/install it (why didn't we get a physical version in NA!?).

So yeah, I'd recommend Fatal Frame. Start with the first and work your way up.
 
Banjotanooki

Banjotanooki

Member
REmake:
RE_ZombieWakeup.gif


As soon as I heard Lisa's moaning through those doors, I turned off the game and didn't play it for another 3 years.
 
F

Fou-Lu

Member
Outlast didn't do it for me at all.

Amnesia and the Penumbra games are pretty amazing. I actually found the first Penumbra the most terrifying of pretty much any horror game because of the environment.
 
Z

Zolo

Member
chrono01 said:
The Fatal Frame series is great, as it forces you to actually focus on what's terrifying you to deal damage. I never played IV, due to it not releasing on the Wii in NA, and couldn't play V since I lacked the space to download/install it (why didn't we get a physical version in NA!?).

So yeah, I'd recommend Fatal Frame. Start with the first and work your way up.
Click to expand...

Yeah. Part of what makes horror games to me scarier is that if I'm watching a movie, I can just bury my head into a cushion. With a game, I have to actively move or something.

I also have a problem where when I'm playing, I feel it gets too scary to continue, but I feel like if I'm not scared while playing, I'm not getting the proper experience out of it.

Outlast didn't do it for me at all.

Amnesia and the Penumbra games are pretty amazing. I actually found the first Penumbra the most terrifying of pretty much any horror game because of the environment.
Click to expand...
The Penumbra series is the main horror games I've played. It wasn't that scary due to me playing with a friend though.
 
Z

Zolo

Member
JDHarbs said:
P.T.%2BGif.gif
Click to expand...

Played through this with my friend too and still have it. :)
It also got me really bad when I played it again on my own later where I didn't realize it saves your previous save. I REALLY wasn't expecting her to show up the first time I was going through the hallway.
 
T

TheSpaceBetween

Member
Dead Space is the most scared I've ever been playing a game. And yes, I've played what many consider to be more scary games such as the Silent Hill series Amnesia, etc. But nothing compared to the Ishimura and those Necromorphs...
 
J

jviggy43

Member
Pt is the greatest horror game I've ever played. And it was a 15 minute demo. The joy of playing it is almost eclipsed by the fact that konami fucking canceled it.

Original slenderman was pretty great for it's simplicity and it's free online.

RE1 and 4, both for different reasons.
 
Tajaz2426

Tajaz2426

Psychology PhD from Wikipedia University
The Silent Hill games have always been on the scary side, especially as I was growing up. I would probably say now that The Evil Within did a good job at getting under my skin.
 
R

Rymuth

Member
36686-Clock_Tower_%5BU%5D-1455790877.jpg


Really effed me up as a kid. When the music kicks in and the sound of those scissors snipping in the distance, that's when the screaming started in our household
 
L

Lasty95

Member
PT

I've got a pretty good tolerance for this kind of stuff but PT proper freaked me out.

Dead Space was a good, nervy balance of horror and action. Remember it being super tense.
 
B

Blues1990

Member
Alien: Isolation and Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth are up there, if you ask me. Until Dawn is great if you're a fan of the Slasher genre of horror movies.
 
G

GravityInsanity

Member
jviggy43 said:
Pt is the greatest horror game I've ever played. And it was a 15 minute demo. The joy of playing it is almost eclipsed by the fact that konami fucking canceled it.

Original slenderman was pretty great for it's simplicity and it's free online.

RE1 and 4, both for different reasons.
Click to expand...

The potential this game would've had.
heuyz0vxxqqhvzsasz9q.gif

twge5qee9lwrjs5rmhoh.gif
 
Cramoss

Cramoss

Member
Silent Hill 4 (Apartment sections are the scariest SH has ever been), 2 not so much but still
Fatal Frame 2/3
Siren (whole series)
P.T.
Dreadout (janky as fuck tho)
Amnesia
Anatomy
Cry of fear
 
J

Jagsrock

Banned
Condemned is easily one of my favorites, the atmosphere is creepy as hell and it's got a lot of very memorable moments.
 
G

Gulz1992

Member
You can’t go wrong with the first three Silent Hill games. The first game in particular is a masterpiece of psychological horror and nerve-wracking terror.

Biggest problem is actually finding ways to play them. Whatever you do, do not play the HD Collection.
 
SoulUnison

SoulUnison

Banned
It's weird, I don't consider the Silent Hill games "scary" at all, just deeply, deeply alienating and unsettling.
Yet, I can't play Skyrim because of Frostbite Spiders, and I can't play Half-Life games because of headcrabs.

I guess arachnophobia is just much more deeply resonant with me than most horror tropes.

Oh, but Fatal Frame. Fuck those games. I think part of it is how ghosts are inherently "jump scare" devices.

JDHarbs said:
P.T.%2BGif.gif


How am I the first to mention PT?
Click to expand...

See, this just makes me giggle because the humanoid isn't perfectly synced to the light bulb when it disappears/goes out, so it's like it just blinks away a split second before the light goes out again.
I imagine there's a bank of light switches on the wall and one is marked "Foyer Light" and another is labelled "Do not hit - freaky ass monster lady."

The thing about good foreboding horror of this type is that the concept and execution needs to be universal and flawless or you sort of unintentionally jump the fence into B-horror territory.
 
G

gfxtwin

Member
PT shook me more than any game or movie I can think of (while watching as a grown person). The fact that Silent Hills is never coming out leaves a scar on my heart, and I mean that as earnestly as possible. And you're really lucky if you can even Play PT now. Thankfully I still have it on my PS4.

REmake is of course an older game but is so well designed and looks so good to this day that it holds up very well. That mansion will stay in your memory for quite a while.

Outlast is really well-made. You feel so helpless and that makes every minute of the game intense.

Dying Light isn't all that scary (during the day...at night it definitely can be) but it's pretty much everything I always wanted to see in a zombie game. Takes place in an open world city with many explorable interiors, zombies everywhere, melee weapons and firearms and parkour abilities to avoid being swamped by hordes of the undead. Looks really nice too.

Resident Evil 7 is a classic in the genre. Takes a lot of what was great in REmake and changes your protagonist to an everyman and the setting to a gothic plantation house in a creepy swamp. The gameplay is very strong - similar to previous RE games in how you really need to plan ahead to avoid running out of ammo and supplies. The atmosphere is so palatable. The enemies range from Outlast-style slashers, to the more zombie-like mold creatures. It's a brisk, intense experience and although it didn't scare me all that much, I was impressed.
 
G

gfxtwin

Member
SoulUnison said:
It's weird, I don't consider the Silent Hill games "scary" at all, just deeply, deeply alienating and unsettling.
Yet, I can't play Skyrim because of Frostbite Spiders, and I can't play Half-Life games because of headcrabs.

I guess arachnophobia is just much more deeply resonant with me than most horror tropes.

Oh, but Fatal Frame. Fuck those games. I think part of it is how ghosts are inherently "jump scare" devices.



See, this just makes me giggle because the humanoid isn't perfectly synced to the light bulb when it disappears/goes out, so it's like it just blinks away a split second before the light goes out again.
I imagine there's a bank of light switches on the wall and one is marked "Foyer Light" and another is labelled "Do not hit - freaky ass monster lady."

The thing about good foreboding horror of this type is that the concept and execution needs to be universal and flawless or you sort of unintentionally jump the fence into B-horror territory.
Click to expand...

I mean, pretty sure it was intentional to evoke a feeling of unease that what you saw was an apparition, not a real person character in the game.
 
SoulUnison

SoulUnison

Banned
gfxtwin said:
Uh, pretty sure it was intentional to evoke a feeling of unease that what you saw was an apparition, not a real person character in the game.
Click to expand...

You're misunderstanding.

I'm not talking about the effect of the monster blinking in and out of existence, I'm talking about how the concept is that the creature is linked to the current state of the light bulb, but while the entity and the light are synced up correctly on appearance, they're de-synced when the creature disappears/light turns off.

It breaks the idea and makes it comical to me, instead of unnerving.

It's a special effect failure. It does the -opposite- of what you posit because instead of being of a creepy mystery it becomes "that 3D model that just got deleted."
 
T

Teggy

Member
Kind of depends on what scares you. I mostly get scared by dark and grimy/gory environments and unsettling sounds.

I noped out of Silent Hill 2 and Outlast
Evil Within got me really on edge
Dead Space is creepy as hell but the guns take some of the tension down
Resident Evil 1-6 have their moments for me but 7 is the only one that really freaked me out
I was not scared at all by Alien Isolation except for
the nest
because the environments are so sterile.

However I know a lot of people thought A:I was very scary and Evil Within was not.
 
G

gfxtwin

Member
SoulUnison said:
You're misunderstanding.

I'm not talking about the effect of the monster blinking in and out of existence, I'm talking about how the concept is that the creature is linked to the current state of the light bulb, but while the entity and the light are synced up correctly on appearance, they're de-synced when the creature disappears/light turns off.

It breaks the idea and makes it comical to me, instead of unnerving.

It's a special effect failure.
Click to expand...

Are you talking about how the figure disappears a millisecond before the light goes out?
 
Danjin44

Danjin44

The nicest person on this forum
gfxtwin said:
PT shook me more than any game or movie I can think of (while watching as a grown person). The fact that Silent Hills is never coming out leaves a scar on my heart, and I mean that as earnestly as possible. And you're really lucky if you can even Play PT now. Thankfully I still have it on my PS4.

REmake is of course an older game but is so well designed and looks so good to this day that it holds up very well. That mansion will stay in your memory for quite a while.

Outlast is really well-made. You feel so helpless and that makes every minute of the game intense.

Dying Light isn't all that scary (during the day...at night it definitely can be) but it's pretty much everything I always wanted to see in a zombie game. Takes place in an open world city with many explorable interiors, zombies everywhere, melee weapons and firearms and parkour abilities to avoid being swamped by hordes of the undead. Looks really nice too.

Resident Evil 7 is a classic in the genre. Takes a lot of what was great in REmake and changes your protagonist to an everyman and the setting to a gothic plantation house in a creepy swamp. The gameplay is very strong - similar to previous RE games in how you really need to plan ahead to avoid running out of ammo and supplies. The atmosphere is so palatable. The enemies range from Outlast-style slashers, to the more zombie-like mold creatures. It's a brisk, intense experience and although it didn't scare me all that much, I was impressed.
Click to expand...

I know I might be odd one here but I personally never can get myself immersed in first person horror games. I personally find third person much more immersive and I also live animation so I want too see my character move. I guess this why I prefer Evil Within, Silent Hill and Dead Space to Resident Evil 7 or Amnesia.
 
E

eyeball_kid

Member
Fatal Frame II: Crimson Butterfly. Couldn't even finish it. It was quietly terrifying in that way Japanese horror does so much better than western horror can.

You find yourself in an abandoned Japanese village. You have no weapons. Just a camera.

gfs_52988_2_23.jpg

kL6Ke93.gif
Click to expand...
 
drotahorror

drotahorror

Member
The only games that have filled me with some sort of tense feeling in the past decade is Outlast 1 and 2, SOMA, Dead by Daylight, RE7, uh, I think that's it. Amnesia and Alien Isolation don't do it for me at all, I don't really like either of those games.

Just like movies, it's very hard to be scared or afraid of anything in the entertainment industry.

I actually want to go to one of those haunted attractions where they ducktape your mouth and do all sorts of crazy shit to you so I can get that feeling of being afraid again.
If you're curious what I'm talking about in the above sentence, something similar to this - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dkgzrspm8sM

There's a few in the USA.
 
H

hao chi

Member
Vilix said:
Condemned.
Click to expand...

Condemned and PT are the two scariest games I've played.

The first few hours of RE7 were also quite scary for me.

Alien Isolation and the Fatal Frame series are great games that may give you the scares you're looking for.
 
K

Kalentan

Member
Resident Evil 7 with VR is up there. The VR adds just another dimension that just makes it step above any other horror game.
 
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