What are some REALLY scary PC games out there?

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Dunan

[H]ard|Gawd
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Aug 28, 2006
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i havent seen many - prolly FEAR and AVP (AVP getting the nod over FEAR for suspense) freaked me out the most but i havent seen anything come out that really gave them a run for their money.....

anything out there that makes you say jump out of your seat and say HOLY CRAP:eek:when you play it?
 
The haunted house in Vampire: The Masquerade Bloodlines is classic.

The game was decent but sort of broken when it launched right before HL2, though apparently there have been a huge amount of community fixes throughout the years.

Can be had dirt cheap as well.
 
hmmm what kind of game is that? is it just that level of the game or is the whole game freaky?
 
Dunan said:
hmmm what kind of game is that? is it just that level of the game or is the whole game freaky?
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It's a very early level. The whole game is very creepy but the hotel is definitely the/a highlight. The game is a third person shooter-style RPG.

Very cool game all around, though the weapon combat kind of blows for something based on Source, and there are some awful sewer levels that are a bit of a grind.

More than worth checking out if you're looking for scary though.
 
FEAR is shit scare-wise.

S.T.A.L.K.E.R. is an excellent scary game by any standards.
 
Wally said:
FEAR is shit scare-wise.

S.T.A.L.K.E.R. is an excellent scary game by any standards.
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The outdoor areas in STALKER are completely filled with dread. That game world was so awful I literally dreaded going back into it and never got that far. Playing was stressful...lol.
 
Wally said:
FEAR is shit scare-wise.

S.T.A.L.K.E.R. is an excellent scary game by any standards.
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STALKER wasnt scary to me at all:(

i'm talking about shadowy suspenseful eerie creepy downright shit your pants kind of scary, if it exists:D

silent hill 2 stuff i'm talking about, only worse, like hellraiser movie kind of stuff
 
silent hill games. only games that made me say out loud: 'NO!!'

some freakish, strange shit.
 
Alone in the Dark comes out for the PC and consoles June 24. I think I might check it out.
 
How about Clive Barker's Undying. Sure the graphics won't hold a candle to most games today, but for it's time it was pretty good. I might have to reload that one.

Bioshock had it's moments as well.
 
Condemned Criminal Origins was just effing eerire, scary
There is a level in the original Painkiller, i thinked it was called "Sanitarium", that was scary.
 
You might find Bioshock a little freaky.

Nothing scared me like Fatal Frame 2 though. Unfortunately it's not for the PC.
 
well, you said AVP, so I'm wondering if you're including AVP2 in that. If not, it's a must. Probably my favorite "scary" game of all time, and oodles of fun at a LAN as well.

I think the sound of the motion tracker is probably the scariest thing I've ever heard.
 
System Shock 2 has a more intense, scarier atmosphere than any other game I've ever played.
 
Doom 3 has a good "shock" value at first, but sooner or later you are going to get used to it.
 
damonposey said:
silent hill games. only games that made me say out loud: 'NO!!'

some freakish, strange shit.
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i have silent hill 2 and played through it, thats the stuff i'm talking about, just out of this world freaky crap

cvinh said:
You might find Bioshock a little freaky.

Nothing scared me like Fatal Frame 2 though. Unfortunately it's not for the PC.
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bioshock was meh for freaky/scary. a little on the odd side and a good game, but nothing that ever made me jump

prtzlboy said:
well, you said AVP, so I'm wondering if you're including AVP2 in that. If not, it's a must. Probably my favorite "scary" game of all time, and oodles of fun at a LAN as well.

I think the sound of the motion tracker is probably the scariest thing I've ever heard.
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i had the first one, but havent played the second one, is that one better than the first?
 
Fumarole said:
System Shock 2 has a more intense, scarier atmosphere than any other game I've ever played.
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where can you get it, do they still sell it? i remember that coming out around the same time as half life and unreal back late 90's
 
I've heard that Thief 3 can be pretty scary, especially the Cradle Level. Haven't made it that far in the game, so I can't attest to it. It's only what I've heard
 
Condemned is consistantly pants filling scary throughout.

Scariest thing is hands down the cradel mission in theif 3, in fact after getting 1/2 way through the level and giving up from being scraed I retreated to the eidos forums and wrote an account in a thread where everyone was discussing how scary it was, i'll quote it here, apologies for it being so long but It brings back some good memories and I feel like sharing :)

Warning it does contain major spoilers for the level

*edit*

in addition here is a 10 page breakdown on the level, in pdf format, never read it before, might give it a go later today, decided to also install it again, its very cheap on steam.

/*edit*

***WARNING SPOILERS THROUGOUT*

This mission is great i must say, i've never jumped and screamed (yes screamed, lol) in my entire life.

Theres several other games which are scary, like the doom 3 alpha for any of you who've played that, but once you've seen a zombie and taken him out you realise that really you're a tough muva and can handle yourself.

Thief puts you in the position where you can kill them but its risky to try.

My experience with the level is really funny when you look back on it. And i'd also like to say that i had watched the film Gothika not last night for the first time, i SWEAR, no joke. Scary movie and all in all NOT the sort of movie you want to watch just before you get to this level in thief.

Started the map, thought, ok this is probably going to be scary, its an insane asylum which was previously a nursery (or something like that i cant remember now) so theres going to be freaky ghost kids running around basically scaring the living ****e outta me.

Searched the grounds first, though i'd check for multiple enterances, and short of scaling the walls to find any high up ways in i decided the basement enterance would be best.

This is way into the night around midnight, im playing with full hardware 5.1 surround with my speakers all setup correctly, the rear speakers being about a foot behind me, so it sounds like things behind me are literaly right behind my shoulder. Addiitionally im an easily scared person, i really get into games and fear for my characters safty. Besides its late, dark, the lights are off and theres no one else around in the house ¬_¬

So i creep down the first step....F10, quicksave

Creep down the second step, FLIP 180 DEGREES INSTANTLY to check to see if the trapdoors have closed behind me locking me in....nope not the case, suddenly realise i have my back to the darkness FLIP BACK ROUND 180 degrees in fear of some ghost like kid running at me.

Phew no, im realivly safe, feeling quite good about conqering the 2nd step down into the basement here...

Repeat a few times untill i've reached the bottom of the steps....F10, quicksave again.

Get the courage up to sneak forward, its relativly dark, but i'll stick to the walls just incase.

Sneak forward...

Sneak forward...

Sneak forward...

F10

Sneak forward...

Sneak forward...

Sneak fo - GHOSTLY SOUNDS OMFG OISDHFOISDHFOIUSIFS!!!!!!

TURN

AND RUN BACK OUT...

Ok that wasnt so bad, im still alive, although its fairly safe to assume i've pissed of some sort of spirit or ghost by entering his domain, in all fairness i don't own the place, i should leave right?

So after being almost terrified out of my skull i work up the courage to enter again, a few more quicksaves as i aproach the enterance, look down, F10, step in again, F10, creep forward a bit, F10...

Ghostly sounds again!!! turning left and right frantically, THAT SHADOW THERE...its being all shadow like....no...no ghosts hiding in that ok im over reacting.

Well took me a good 20 odd minutes to check the first few basement floors, using my stylish cower and retreat tactics.

Deep into the basement now, oh my first bit of loot a few candle sticks sitting on a ledge inside this room. Brains working overtime on this now...

Is it a trap, do they want to scare the living crap outta me this early on into the level? Is a ghost girl all mangled up gonna walk out the wall towards me saying "come play with me Frosty" as i move towards the loot....no im probbaly safe.......probably...yeah im safe right? I have my quickload if anything happens right?

...yeah, which reminds me, F10.

So i nab the loot, quite pleased with myself that nothing had yet happned, yet still somehow more wound up knowing the first big scare is yet to come.

Better Check the rest of this room out right? Turn the corner of the inside wall aaaaaannd

OH MY ****ING GOD ITS A HUMAN HEAD RUN FOR YOUR LIFE!!! no...no wait...no..

thats a wall light which just happens to be big and head shaped at roughly the same height as a head... Great so theres going to be more of these strune around the place, better watch out for them.

Turn and round and bump into a large cage with a door, OK....seems a bit freaky to me, its a cage in all fairness its theres to keep things in, so i'll let it do its job and leave it firmly closed, since there appears to be nothing inside of interest, apart from maybe a ghost i can't see yet.

Work my way around the basement eventually getting out up the ladder through the lobby area, ok nothing terribly interesting here, hang on wasnt there a spiral stair case near the enterance?

So i go back down check that out, move up it only to start hearing...

clomp...clomp...clomp...clomp...*****...clomp...THI S...clomp...

OK RETREAT, i don't care if *IT* hears me legging it down these stairs, the exit is this way, im nice and safe near that, ruuuuuuun!!

Sit at the bottom of the stairs for a little while...now did whatever it was making them running noises hear me run away and come looking for me, in which case this freaky ghost/zombie person might be half way up these rather crampt staircase...maybe only one way to find out.

Make my way back up, scout out the floor slowly, constant clomping noises which sound like a childs feet on a wood floor above me. Ok so this might just be part of the scary atmospheric music in the level, it might not actually be anything like most of these voices so far.

Ok so the clomping seems most load near this second spiral staircase going even further up, well we'll avoid this for now, lets check out where the other ways go. Scout out the rest of the level, see it links together, ok so i need a fuse and the only way left is up that spiral staircase towards the clomping sounds.

Ok at the bottom of the spiral staircase again.......F10

About 27 F10's later i reach the door, brace myself and open, holy mother of god its an attic, when has an attic ever been a good place in films a games? Not a lot of shadows for an attic, so i creep forwards......hey that clomping has stopped and i cant see anything.....apart........from...............oh no..

A Big Box on the other side of the room, ok mental images of a chopped up little girl inside or some tortured soul type gimp like of pulp fiction, someone who in all liklyhood isnt going to be please to see me.

Ok so keep your eyes on the box, if it moves or tips over then you know where the door is...

Inch into the room a few cm and

BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!OIDFIODSoisdfoois dglkjdoijpdkfgnaknfgkg whack esc...

Never jumped so much in my life!

ok carry on playing, resume the game, banging stops almost emdiatly. So im thinking, right box is a last resort i probably want to do everything to make sure i leave that till the last moment...ohh a painting, i'll nick that first THEN go near the box.

"Heh heh heh heh" i think to myself, my loot...

*click*

Girls ghosly voice...annnnnd **** myself, this room is on the verge of giving me a heart attack.

Blue glowing effect with a GOD DAMN SHADOW!!!! well this isnt good, anyways she seems friendly enough, calm down and listen, get my new objectives, she wants her blood back. Ok time to grab the fuse and trek back the cella. Get her blood, ok its still warm....thats not disturbing in the least...

Fuse back in and FHOOOOOMM!!!! all the lights on..

Great my only means of hidng has gone down the drain, a bit of F1, get my flash bangs at the ready, anything that comes near me is gonna get a few of these in the face leaving me time to retreat back outta here.

Up through the gate into the new area, load it up give my heart a few seconds to help it return back to normal, and its done loading, resume my previous crawl through the level like a coward tactic.

So i move foward carefully and goto the left doorway, hey its bright through there in that room, i'll stick to my doorway for now...ohh look a counter with a book on it, i really should go an read that. So i inch into the room while drawling, theres a light source behind the counter back a ways AND...MY...HEART...STOPS!

A bloody shilouette of a head and shoulders flys past somewhere at the back of the counter, ok so theres actual physical "things" around here and they probably want to be left alone. Retreat back into the room near the loading area....ohhh theres a ladder here, i didn't notice that a few seconds ago, i'll check this way out first theres no moving shadows in this direction.

So i climb up take a quick look around, my heart is really racing by now, theres still freaky back ground noises, its rather dark up here and theres a balcony, creep towards that and decide its probably a bad idea to look any closer, ok so theres nothing else up here that i cna see, back down the ladder, lah de dah, down the ladder we go, ho hum....I get to the bottom of the ladder and flip around only to be greeted FACE TO FACE with GOD KNOWS WHAT ITS TOO DAMN DARK IN HERE TO WORK OUT WHAT IT IS, im not kidding i actually screamed at this point, it smacked me in the face......you'll never see someone hit the quickload button as fast as that.

Little did i know that whatever it was, its patrol route actually comes through the door and into the room where it warms its hand on the fire place which looks to be magical.

Anyways i loaded and decided enough was enough, i can't be doing with this, being scared every 3 1/2 seconds, time to make a stand, lie in wait with some fire arrows (which i'd saved up and had about 15 of) here it comes still cant really see what it is its too dark in this room, hahahaah SUCK FIRE ARROW SUCKER, "goodbye" i shout as it fwaps it dead in the head....uh-oh, its still coming and now its pissed of, RELOAD!!! Second fire arrow direct hit! boom, down ya go sucker.

Quite pleased with the outcome i sneak into the next area, goto the left and theres what looks like holding cells, great theres another one of these suckers, fire arrow his ass to the floor.

Ok so i've just watched gothika the night before, a lesson to be learnt if ever i saw one, looking into dark cells which contain mental patients is just asking for trouble...but on the other hand theres no way im giving up the chance to find out whats in the room before i open the door, so i kinda look through the slit from afar, think to myself "hmmm no lets check the rest of the room out first" turn to look down the corridoor only to see one of the mental patients charging akwardly at me in full light, to late for fire arrows he's getting to close, what the hell do i do AND QUICKLOAD!!!

Im not sure if the dude i had just put on the floor had gotten back up or if it was a scriped sequence that spawned one when you looked through the gap in the door, either way it scared the crap outta me.

Anyways i decided not to go any further, i've not played the rest of the level yet but its definatly been the most scary level in any game yet, even scarier than some of the marine missions in AVP and AVP2. Im pretty nerve wrecked now, alhtough it has been fun, looking back on what i've played so far its very funny to recall whats happened, hope you enjoyed reading about my misfortune with this level so far, if anything else funny happens with the rest of the level i'll try adn remember to let you guys know.

Great level, thumbs up (sorry about long post)
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Dunan said:
STALKER wasnt scary to me at all:(

i'm talking about shadowy suspenseful eerie creepy downright shit your pants kind of scary, if it exists:D
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You mean like the part of STALKER in which you're exploring and underground research facility, which is shadowy, suspenseful and eerily creepy? Where you can be walking along in silence for 10+ minutes and have things being thrown at you out of nowhere? Or you can be hearing and seeing physical evidence of something very powerful trying to bust down a door in front of you, but when it opens there's no trace of it?

While Stalker didn't feel like that all the time, the bunker sequences were easily in the realm of what you're describing.

System Shock 2 does well for the psychological level of fear and it was a good scary game. Not sure where you can find it these days, there might be a few places that you can buy it online, do a search. I think the review at the Home of the Underdogs also had some info about that as well. If you somehow manage to get a hold of it, remember that affinity needs to be set to only one CPU.

FEAR fails on so many levels when it comes to scariness. The Ravenholm portion of HL2 had more scare in it than this entire game did, enough said.
 
mrmetal_53 said:
I've heard that Thief 3 can be pretty scary, especially the Cradle Level. Haven't made it that far in the game, so I can't attest to it. It's only what I've heard
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That was my favorite level. It was pretty scary. Too bad it wasnt all like that.
 
The first time I played through Ravenholme in Half Life 2 I though it was kind of creepy.

Frostex said:
Condemned is consistantly pants filling scary throughout.

Scariest thing is hands down the cradel mission in theif 3, in fact after getting 1/2 way through the level and giving up from being scraed I retreated to the eidos forums and wrote an account in a thread where everyone was discussing how scary it was, i'll quote it here, apologies for it being so long but It brings back some good memories and I feel like sharing :)

Warning it does contain major spoilers for the level

*edit*

in addition here is a 10 page breakdown on the level, in pdf format, never read it before, might give it a go later today, decided to also install it again, its very cheap on steam.

/*edit*
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I enjoyed reading about you re-living that moment.
 
Stalker did nothing for me.

SS2 was scary as shit.

For me though, it was AVP & AVP2. The marine missions in AVP2 were so suspenseful.

The 1st 20min of Doom3 was great also...after that, shit.
 
Chombo said:
The first time I played through Ravenholme in Half Life 2 I though it was kind of creepy.



I enjoyed reading about you re-living that moment.
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I agree, I thought Ravenholm was pretty creepy. I think it was due to the sounds that zombies made. Something about hearing that scream, turning around, and getting slapped in the face. And I don't get scared easily :(
 
mrmetal_53 said:
I've heard that Thief 3 can be pretty scary, especially the Cradle Level. Haven't made it that far in the game, so I can't attest to it. It's only what I've heard
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"Pretty" scary isn't the right word. :D They did a huge article on Robbing the Cradle in some magazine (can't remember which) just trying to touch on its genius.

Unfortunately, the rest of the game isn't too scary for those who are somewhat accustomed to horror.

- But if you can see past the bad graphics, Thief 2 and Thief 1 fan-made missions often rank as some of the scariest experiences ever in a game. (the original Thief 1 campaign was all about bone-chilling horror)

What I like about the Thief universe is that fact that it's not like scripted, Japanese survival-horror, where things jump out at you just because they can (and there's no doubt that they WILL at all the obvious moments). Rather, the enemies are naturally-occurring, so if you have a run-in with something terrifying (and the Thief 2 zombies have an ingeniously scary look AND sound to them - props to whoever designed them) it's entirely your fault... and since the missions are usually somewhat open and free, if you choose to, you can often bypass scary areas entirely if you decide that you simply can't handle them. 'Adds a whole new dimension of appreciation, and that thought of "oohhh, there was something creepy back there that I skipped, and I don't even know what it is." Makes you want to tell your friends.

[warning: spoilers beyond this point]

Thief Gold (Thief 1 expansion)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3f8Mj3ycpaQ
(not a great example, but it's something)

Thief 3 - Tour of Robbing the Cradle (first half, before the fun starts)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=srDSPtKZhfk&fmt=18
- One of the greatest things about this mission is that throughout the whole first half, you encounter nothing. Nada. Zilch. So you get used to the workings of things, until... [cue scary music]...
 
FrozenLiquidity said:
You mean like the part of STALKER in which you're exploring and underground research facility, which is shadowy, suspenseful and eerily creepy? Where you can be walking along in silence for 10+ minutes and have things being thrown at you out of nowhere? Or you can be hearing and seeing physical evidence of something very powerful trying to bust down a door in front of you, but when it opens there's no trace of it?

While Stalker didn't feel like that all the time, the bunker sequences were easily in the realm of what you're describing.
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ah, i forgot about that bunker level, you're right, that was quite creepy with the boxes flying at you and stuff. thats what i'm talking about. that part in stalker was pretty intense:D
 
hmmm, i found it on amazon for $40:eek:dollars
is it worth getting, will it play in winXP? it says its for 95/98/ME - if it didnt play i'd be pretty sad:(
 
Dunan said:
hmmm, i found it on amazon for $40:eek:dollars
is it worth getting, will it play in winXP? it says its for 95/98/ME - if it didnt play i'd be pretty sad:(
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yes it will play on XP just fine. I even played the demo on Vista a while back.
 
$40 for System Shock 2??? Something is reeeeeeeeeeeally wrong there. You can get Deus Ex for $5, and that came out AFTER.

Btw, here's a thread on how to run SS2 on XP: http://www.ttlg.com/forums/showthread.php?t=69958

Call of Cthulhu and the two Penumbra games seem sorta of creepy.
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Call of Cthulhu is very creepy indeed, but too buggy and frustrating to even recommend. I wrote a review of it a while back, and gave it a 5/10 (though it should have been a 9/10 if it was actually beta-tested and not shoved out the door).
 
Dario D. said:
$40 for System Shock 2??? Something is reeeeeeeeeeeally wrong there. You can get Deus Ex for $5, and that came out AFTER.

Btw, here's a thread on how to run SS2 on XP: http://www.ttlg.com/forums/showthread.php?t=69958


Call of Cthulhu is very creepy indeed, but too buggy and frustrating to even recommend. I wrote a review of it a while back, and gave it a 5/10 (though it should have been a 9/10 if it was actually beta-tested and not shoved out the door).
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thats the minimum price i see anywhere. and those are used. brand new is $100:eek: check it out:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-list...0?ie=UTF8&qid=1210880088&sr=8-1&condition=all


ocellaris said:
I'd go with Silent Hill 2. That game was really instense :eek:
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played that a few years back, it was pretty freaky

cannondale06 said:
yes it will play on XP just fine. I even played the demo on Vista a while back.
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right on, i think i'll try it, and fire up thief 2 also - there was one level i just couldnt get past in that game, i forget which but i got so frustrated with it i never played it anymore. i dont know how far i really was in that game either.
 
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