Have You Ever Been Scared Playing a PC Video Game?

Oddly enough, the only PC game that has actually managed to scare me recently isn't a big budget FPS horror game, it isn't even a SMALL budget game. It was a free-to-download adventure game called '5 days a stranger'. It's very retro, along the lines of the original monkey island games, but with a horror instead of comic theme.

But despite all that, it REALLY knows how to press the tension buttons.

Check it out

Yes, It was called StoneKeep....a RPG in a bottom of the a castle....there was a part where you go into the sewers and you could hear these giant snakes coming for you in the water.

System Shock 2 was pretty good at scaring the bajeebas out of me.

Oh, and the Longest Journey 2 was quite creepy in a number of places at the start of the game.

I don't think I played them directly, but 7th Guest and 11th Hour (they're both technically of the same continuity).. Those games were freaky. And the puzzles seemed insane.

Can't play 'em. For some reason I always get a headache and feel nauseated when I try to play a video game...

Pong.

Those bitmapped cubes give me nightmares...

Fear
System Shock 2
Doom 3

System Shock has come out a couple of times...gonna have to give that of a shot.

For me , playing the original Half-Life in a dark room late at night. Those headcrabs leaping outta nowhere gave me a few "skid mark" moments believe me ...LOL!  

Heh. This was a while ago. Quake II. Sidling down a ramp in a darkened area, concentrating on finding the power cube receptacle. Silence but for my labored breathing and the faint thump of distant machinery. I'm down to 15 hit points. I spot the hatch cover I'm looking for and move out into the chamber, away from the wall. Suddenly, from both above and behind, the sound of iron maidens rising from the floor. You know the one:

"Hhhhhuh... OOOooooohhhh!"

Then the sight of missiles fired at short range; and I couldn't even react because I'd thrown the freaking mouse at the speakers!

It was a free-to-download adventure game called '5 days a stranger'. It's very retro, along the lines of the original monkey island games, but with a horror instead of comic theme.

If you liked that one you should play '7 days a skeptik'. Its a sequel to '5 days a stranger' and it is also possible to download it for free. Trust me it scares the hell out of you.

Almost forgot another very tense,scary game ... "Aliens vs. Predator 2"! Most of the time your surroundings are very dark, with only your little lamp (which only lasts so long before it goes out)to guide you, and all the time hearing distant screams and screaching and the "thump,thump,thump", of the motion detector as the Aliens chase you in the darkness ... "white knuckles" all the way!

AVP 1 & AVP 2
FEAR
Doom 3 (all three version made me physically sick while playing.)
System Shock 1 & 2
Far Cry (some parts)
Half Life 2 (sewer part when zombies jump out.)

Clive Barker's Undying was a good scare for it's time. It had excellent use of sound effects to add to the atmosphere.
F.E.A.R. (of course)

FEAR
But Far Cry? It's not scary, it's just really hard to kill those big monkey things.

Undying was great in terms of scare factor.

I hated to play Doom II at night . . . (wow, I'm showing my age!)

I obviously need to play this FEAR game if I want a good scare . . .

The original Myst, believe it or not, had some parts that creeped me out. Not so much really pee your pants scary, but the overall vibe of being in this environment totally completely alone, with the music and the photo-realistic surroundings. After a while the aloneness kind of soaks into you. Dunno if they intended it to be that way, but they nailed it with me.

As was said the early Quake games kind of got to me, I guess because that was so early and being in a 3d environment was kind of new. I'm more jaded now, unfortunately. I was startled a few times in Doom III, and in Oblivion, but nothing really seeped into me as if I were there feeling the vibe of it.

I know there were others early on. I'll have to think on it.

OH... duh. Thief 1 and 2. At the time Thief came out there hadn't really been anything with that kind of immersion and sophistication in the AI. It was truly a first person sneaker, and I spent a lot of time trying to get through missions without being noticed or killing anyone.

The segments where you had to find your way through the dead parts of town, infested with zombies, or when you were going into the bizarre world of the woodsie lord was really, really creepy. The gothic cathedrals of the hammers, and the abandoned, haunted hammer prison. There were these ghosts that had kind of a whispering sound with chain noises.

I would urge anyone that hasn't played the original Thief games to get them at any cost. They hold up graphically and in terms of play to anything being made to day. The poly count is lower, but they are works of art that haven't been matched as far as I am concerned.

But Far Cry? It's not scary, it's just really hard to kill those big monkey things.

Holy Cripes! Those trigen are very fast! I fonud it damn scary when they would get me from behind or the side while I was engaged with other enemies. If you did not find it that scary, you might turn up the difficulty level a bit:)

Oohh! OOOOH!
Everyone, my personal scariest game ever -

The White chamber.

It's a surreal horror sci-fi game that, despite being in space, seemed more like a classical fantasy horror sort of thingy to me. Terribly frightening, mostly with the "WHAT THE HELL? THAT SHOULDN'T BE HERE!" Moments. I.E. being teleported to a beach. That was weird.

Despite the lack of other characters and such, the cutscenese, shiny anime stylings and pants-pissing art made this game one of my favorites. Look for it at StudioTrophis.com i think. Studio Trophis is the producer, I know that.

And, um, yes, you are guilty, you are sorry.

Shadow Man was the scariest game that I ever played. Going through halls filled with blood, nightmarish zombies screaming pitifuly (and I mean SCREAMING not the boring moaning of most games), making you too scared to cross the next corner, Looking at the towering, black, awe-inspiring asylum once you finally got to it. Ah the memories.  Well Shadow Man and Martian Gothic, that game I could never finish, although that's because that game was simply confusing, but I never really liked that game.

This may sound lame but... When it gets really intense when playing Halo on Legendary against the Flood, and they sneak up behinde you and whack you, especially in my awesome 5.1 surrouns sound...

Yes! Someone finally represented the Thief games! right on!

There have been a few games that startled me, namely Far Cry, Call of Duty, and the Half Life twins.

As for actual anxious fear, only one, Delta Force Extreme.

That sounds odd, so let me explain. In multiplayer they have helocopters, and on a cetain map I found that I could hide in the grass, wait for a enemy to start winding up thier gunship, then run out (shooting the pilot) and steal the chopper.

The fear set in as I lay there, hopeing they don't see me, while knowing that if I went too soon then the helo wouldn't be ready and I would be gunned down as I tried to get it off the ground; or that I would run out too late, in which case it would fly away and I would be stuck in thier base with everyone looking at me.

Real fear isn't being spooked, it's in the tension of things.

Another one with really creepy parts in it was the Wheel of Time. It wasn't a real big game, well-played or anything, but the Ways were really, really creepy. That game just had a great ambience about it.