Yeah, I know, doing a list like this is terribly cliché… but it’s Halloween, and everyone’s in the mood for horror games, so why not?
Now, this is by no means a definitive list. There’s a lot of great horror-themed games out there, and because I decided to limit myself to just five games, that meant that a lot of worthwhile titles had to be left out, so allow me to at least give them a quick mention here before I get started on the list proper: first is Eternal Darkness: Sanity’s Requiem, the Gamecube cult-classic that uses “Sanity Effects,” fourth wall-breaking special effects, like turning the screen upside down or splashing a fake error screen across your TV that makes it look like your memory card was erased, to mess with players and simulate the feeling of their characters going slowly insane as they battle an ancient Cthulhu-esque evil. The second notable mention goes to an Cthulu game, Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth, an Xbox 1/PC FPS/adventure hybrid from a few years back that manages to nail the unsettling atmosphere of the Cthulhu mythos perfectly.
But while both of these games are pretty great, they weren’t scary enough to make it on this list. No, to make it onto this list, a game had to meet two different criteria: One, they needed to be good games, first and foremost, and two, they needed to make me scream like a terrified woman who just woke up in bed next to Mickey Rourke. Only five games have done that to me, and while it’s embarrassing to admit that a video game elicited that kind of reaction from me, I’m sure anyone who has played these games probably had a similar response.
(games presented in no particular order)
Resident Evil
Might as well get the obvious picks out of the way first, and there’s no more obvious choice when discussing scary games than the original Resident Evil. While I personally feel that RE2 and 4 were better games in terms of game play, no other game in the series has been able to top the original Resident Evil in terms of mood and number of jump-out-of-your-seat scares.
Anyone who played the original game back on the PS1 or Saturn surely remembers the “dog hallway,” a seemingly quiet, innocuous looking hallway that you travel through as you first begin to explore the game’s iconic mansion. Nothing happens at first, but as you run through the seemingly safe passage towards the next room, a pair of zombified dobermans leap through the windows and give chase. It happens fairly early in the game, likely when most gamers are still getting accustomed to the game’s infamous “tank controls,” and I know more than one veteran gamer who completely panicked the moment those dogs burst into the room, fumbled with the controls as a result, and end up getting eaten. The sudden noise, and the sudden destruction of your sense of safety all went a long way in setting the tone for all “survival horror” (a term coined within this game,) games to come.
The original 32-bit version of Resident Evil, with it’s now clunky graphics and awkward voice acting, is likely to generate more laughs than scares with contemporary audiences, but thankfully, Capcom remade the game for the Gamecube a few years back, and the new “RE”make will likely terrify modern, jaded gamers just as much as the original version did almost a decade prior. Not only does the remake re-do the entire original game in brand new, nigh-photo realistic graphics (which are still impressive today,) but it adds a host of new elements, most terrifying of which are the new “Crimson Head” zombies. Now, even when you manage to defeat a zombie, it doesn’t stay dead permanently — in time, the zombie will reanimate as even more powerful, faster zombie, so you never feel completely safe.
Starting with Resident Evil 2, each game in the series would grow more and more focused on action, culminating in the great (but very different) Resident Evil 4. But while other entries the series may have more polished gameplay or more exciting combat, nothing quite matches the atmosphere and mood of the original Resident Evil.
Silent Hill 2
While Resident Evil scared audiences with monsters popping out of windows or closets (and eventually, stoves,) Silent Hill has always taken a more subtle approach to horror: like the David Lynch films or Jacob’s Ladder that inspired it, Silent Hill skips the canned scares and instead slowly fills you with a growing sense of dread and anxiety that stay with you long after you’ve stopped playing. Through creative sound work by acclaimed composer/sound engineer Akira Yamaoka and surreal, gritty visuals, Silent Hill takes a distinctly psychological approach to horror that, for reasons you can’t explain, will leave you feeling unnerved and anxious. Resident Evil was scary when a monster burst through a wall; Silent Hill was scary even when I was standing in an empty room, simply because it caused my imagination to run wild with what terrors could be awaiting me beyond the next door.
The series hit its peak with Silent Hill 2, which forgoes the convoluted cult-based plot line of the original game and it’s later sequels for a more personal, character focused story. Seemingly regular everyman James Sunderland receives a letter one day from his wife, inviting him to come join her in the secluded town of Silent Hill. This doesn’t sound too out of the ordinary, until James reveals that his wife died years ago. So he goes to the town only to find it mostly deserted, with the exception of a few, apparently mentally damaged people who are all searching through the town for reasons as mysterious as James’s, and a cast of bizarre, twisted monsters, who hound James at every step.
Obviously, nothing is what it seems, and the game has an excellent twist that challenges your entire perception of James and of the world of Silent Hill. Despite some awkward voice acting, the game simply has one of the best narratives to ever appear in a game, and people are still having discussions to this day about the possible meanings and interpretations of the game’s dark fable.
Fatal Frame 2
All of the games on this list feature horrible, macabre monsters that, more often than not, players have to run away from in order to survive. The next game on this list, Fatal Frame 2, forces you to stand and come face to face with these monsters if you want to live.
The original Fatal Frame introduced the concept of the “Camera Obscura,” an old-timey styled camera that possessed the ability to drain the essences of ghosts by capturing them on film. Set in a haunted, Japanese style mansion, the game tasked with you escaping from the dilapidated, ghost-filled building armed only with said camera, and with the enemies being ghosts instead of zombies or corporeal monsters, they could literally pop out anywhere. Adding the tension was the Camera Obscura itself, which in forced you into a claustrophobic first person perspective every time you needed to deal with a ghost, which left you even more unsure of what was behind you.
The sequel took everything about the original and improved on it drastically. Instead of one haunted house to deal with you now had a whole town full of them, and it’s cast of ghosts, inspired both by traditional Japanese folklore and modern horror movies, provided a unique (and grotesque) reprieve from the legions of zombies and mutated animals that usually populate survival horror games. All these elements, plus the game’s unique, selectively colored presentation, and somber, ultimately depressing story, made for one of the best survival horror games ever made. Other survival horror games compensated for their clunky gameplay mechanics with strong atmospheric work and stories, but Fatal Frame 2 was one of the rare horror games that managed to play well as well as provide some legitimate scares.
Haunting Ground
The ghosts in Fatal Frame slowly drain your life force. The monsters in Silent Hill brutally beat you to death. The zombies in Resident Evil eat you alive. What do the enemies in Haunting Ground do? They rape you. Rape you to death.
Released in Japan under the title “Demento,” Haunting Ground certainly lives up to it’s original title. Players are put in the demure shoes of Fiona, who, after getting in a violent car accident, awakes to find herself trapped inside a European castle. As she explores the castle, she befriends a large dog named Hewie, who quickly becomes your best (and for most of the game, only) means of defending yourself from the other inhabitants of the castle, all of whom are bizarre, twisted, maniacs who, if you don’t play very well, will hunt down Fiona and, well, violently force themselves on her in a way which ultimately results in her death.
Now before you go and make some justifiably negative assumptions about the portrayal of rape in Japanese media, keep in mind the rapists are bad-guys and are generally portrayed as pretty horrible people, and the game doesn’t show anything explicit, nor does it glorify the act; everything is implied and nothing happens on screen.
While the game isn’t the most polished or friendly of the games on this list, it’s unique play mechanics and setting set it apart from other survival horror games. As stated earlier, Hewie the dog is your only means of defending yourself, as he’s big enough to attack your would-be rapists, but you have to play a careful balancing game of using him to keep you alive, as well as trying to keep him out of harm’s way, since you’ll need to keep him healthy so he can keep you alive. In addition to that, as your pursuers get closer, Fiona starts to panic, which actually causes her to ignore or misinterpret your controller inputs– making escaping from your enemies (which, by the way, cannot be defeated outside of certain pre-scripted events,).
I don’t want to give too much away, since the game’s unique, surprising qualities are its best features, but one of the enemies you’ll face is a reanimated, flaming corpse of your grandfather. If there’s anything that’ll inspire terror in the hearts of most gamers, it’s the threat of forced, necrophiliac incest. Haunting Ground isn’t a perfect game by any means, but its unique gameplay and terrifiying, albeit admittedly weird premise are enough to warrant a play through.
Amnesia: The Dark Descent
All of the previous games on this list share two things in common (well, other than being horror themed games,): one, they are all last-gen games and two, they all came from big publishers. The reason there aren’t more contemporary games on this list is that most “horror” games by the big publishers nowadays are done in the vein of Resident Evil 4, which sacrificed scares in favor of unrelenting action. While I love games like RE4 and Dead Space, they’re more based around the sense of tension and stress that comes from being surrounded, rather than the traditional scares of the original Resident Evil or the psychological horror of Silent Hill. I love the newer horror games because they’re so much fun to play, but at the same time, I can’t help but miss the traditional horror of older survival-horror games.
Amnesia: The Dark Descent, by small Swedish developer Frictional Games, proves that modern games can be just as scary as their classic counterparts. Basically an adventure game, Amnesia casts you as (surprise) an amnesiac British man who wakes up in a castle in the 1800’s and has to get out by solving a series of environmental and physics-based puzzles… but as you navigate through the castle’s darkened corridors, you’re stalked monsters, and you’re given no weapons to defend yourself. Basically, the only option you have if you want to stay alive is to run and hide, but even if you manage to elude the monsters, hiding in the shadows for too long will slowly cause you to go insane, resulting in a game over.
The game is the ultimate test of wits, as you not only have to be clever to solve the castle’s various puzzles, but you need to maintain a careful balance of evading monsters to protect your health, while at the same time spending enough time out in the open to preserve your sanity. Amnesia is a mostly quiet game that always somehow manages to find the right moment, just when you think you’re safe and you’re starting to feel comfortable, to spring a monster on you, and unlike other horror games where the game stops being scary as soon you become comfortable with the combat, Amnesia stays scary throughout. Amnesia is, at the time of the writing of this article, currently on sale for Steam for $4, which is a steal for a game of this caliber. It’s probably the only modern game that will one day be remembered along with the likes of Resident Evil and Silent Hill as the definitive horror games.
Rian Quenlin
Seconding Fatal Frame, very good game and very unique as well. It’s one of the few games that can genuinely surprise you. I’ve gotten more than one scare just looking through the camera.
TrueStoryBro
Fatal Frame all-time favorite horror. My cousin ( marine ) spent some of his earnings to buy a ps2, but he bought it just to play Fatal Frame. When we were younger we would play it at night just for the thrills. Once my older cousin had pissed his pants and ran out the room. We hadn’t played it in a while. And we craving for horror so we ordered fatal frame on Ebay. 🙂 Really Nice Game.
Chris Hernandez
As far as Resident Evil games go, I found Nemesis to be the most terrifying. I was genuinely scared that he would appear around every corner and kill me.
Fatal Frame and Amnesia are both great choices for this list. I should probably play a Silent Hill game at some point in my life.
Rian Quenlin
The later Silent Hill games are much better than the first one, the first one just ended so abruptly for me.
JS1HUNDRED
Apparently Siren for PS3 is the scariest game ever. Ive been trying to aquire it cheap on Ebay to check it out. Have you played it, Mr Lacerna?
IamMe
Have none of the people ever played Eternal Darkness?? not only was it scary it was psychologically damaging
Delerio
do you take Marijuana?
Mr. Mann
How do you take marijuana?
shakesfirst
Gotta say that the Resident Evil games didn’t scare me and I HATE horror, seriously I’ve got ex-girlfriends that still laugh at my reactions to stupidly bad horror movies. Dead Space freaked the livid KA KA out of me(It’s a shame the game play was so repetitive), the F.E.A.R games didn’t help with my mental health either.
Gluktah2001
Silly list, no System Shock means an invalid list. It’s really that simple.
Easycure
ever played “Call of Cthulhu”?
Justin Blalock
Amnesia is in a league of its own, even compared to these other games.
I love horror-survival games, and I love horror movies, I’m one of those perverse people that actually *enjoy* the sensation of fear.
So what I’m saying is, these days it takes a lot to *really* scare me when it comes to media like this. My passion for this sort of media has resulted in me being fairly desensitized to it after all these years.
However…
Amnesia: Dark Descent was so scary at times that I found myself hyper-ventilating, and had to take a break because I was literally dizzy with fear-adrenaline.
No other game or movie has done that to me in 20 years.
AND IT WAS AWESOME.
Furryletsplayer
amnesia the dark descent: when the leaked gameplay came out the entire page of youtubes search engine only had 2 videos, just like portal 2 leaks, thats due to the indie co. being small, no publicity.
TheMAMBA
The guys who put these lists together suck. Resident Evil and Silent Hill are not even close to scary. Suspenseful at times maybe but not scary. Dead Space is scarier than all of these choices.
leehwgoC
Yeah, you obviously haven’t played Amnesia.
And in fact, if you think Dead Space is scary, in which you play a one-man army bristling with ridiculous weaponry, then you probably won’t even be able to play Amnesia, period.
Richard Lourence
Are you fucking kidding me? Amnesia is only scary if you are a 12 year old.
XShadow_of_TimeX
cue ur flashback of pissing u urself while playing. Amnesia is scary if you really get into the game.
McCoy
SO RIGHT Amnesia is scary i played it i died 29 times!!!!! DUDE IT TOOK ME 3 MOUNTHS TO BEAT THE GAME I hate the MONSTER IN THERE gives me the chills
Darkiller
You sir don’t know what you are talking about, i bet you played the game with a bunch of friends in the room and in plain day light THAT is why it is not scary, this kind of game to have any effect on you needs to be played alone, with headphones for maximum sound immersion and at night in a dark room, i did that, and i sheet my pants on Amnesia, the same didn’t happened with Dead Space it made me jump on some places but never truly made me be afraid of going on to the next room like Amnesia did. BTW i’m 31 years old.
Danireyes
nice : D
R3v109
its different if your playing custom maps. no campaign isn’t that scary but custom maps can be scary at times. just to get that out there
TFT
Yeah if you have to play like that the game isn’t scary, you scare yourself by putting yourself into all of these conditions, headphones are only scary because of sound queues that are ridiculously loud and freak you out, muted and in the dark the game is a joke (fun to play, but not scary) Silent Hill 2 is incredible in that, in the day at normal volume and normal gaming conditions it is able to still scare me at some places (4 complete playthroughs, the first time was awful, I wanted to cry sometimes lol) Same with the guy who says Slender is scary it’s an atrocious game in general, not scary at all and not fun.
Lord Ba'al
So you are saying that you are a fucking pussy that you can’t even play amnesia in the dark with full volume headphones? OMFG you go and play amnesia and other scary games with your friends in broad fucking daylight!! any horror games will not be horror at all if you play it with some bunch of pussy like you in daylight!! Pussy noob!!
BanzaiKen
I take it you didn’t read the warning from the developer that said specifically “Please play this in a darkened room using headphones,” then helped you attune your shader resolution to the darkness of the room, and finally left advice that the “game is best enjoyed as a storytelling experience, the gameplay mechanics will make it pretty easy to win.” It pops up the first time you configure your game on the PC…
In essence you are arguing that because you want to play Mariokart by driving via your testicles rather than your hands and because you can’t it sucks, compared to Crash Team Racing, which has specific testicle driving functionality built in.
Guest
Try playing home alone in a dark room at night time with headsets on.. If that isn’t good for you look up gameplays of Amnesia and see how terrified they are. A 12 year old shouldn’t be playing Amnesia anyway it has nudity in.
Parkersims51
gameplays or not good enough if you watch pewdiepie play he makes it look like a big joke
Danireyes
fuck u t(-_-t)
DickHead^
yea…no you’re an idiot…. you probably just saying it wasn’t scary because you want to look all big and bad or your too poor to buy it and your parents don’t love you to get it for you….
Parkersims51
dude… thats fucked up
Danireyes
screw you to asshole
TheMAMBA is a bitch
mmmm….no your wrong. Have you ever even played amnesia? Dead space doesn’t even get close.
Squeezit
Fatal Frame is the scariest game series I have ever played. Amnesia, Dead Space, none of it ever came close to Fatal frame, though I admit they did a great job nonetheless.
isthatright?
Bro true fucking story. Me and my cousins would play it at night a few years back. My older cousin pissed his pants once. We bought a new ps2 just to play the game. 😉
Falk
I agree Fatal Frame is one of the creepiest games ever. But even though I have played most of these games (never had a chance to play amnesia) in a dark basement, they don’t scare me. Neither do horror movies for that matter.
Quinndale Holliman
DEAD SPACE DEMO SCARED ME WHEN YOU DIE AT THE DOOR LOL
Guest
Resident Evil and Silent Hill ARE scary, Dead Space isn’t scary at all. Dead Space is only a dark place with things jumping out of you. RE and SH are more than that.
guest
seems you forgot dead space…
Radarda
Dead Space is scary… for 13 year olds. Amnesia? FEAR levels, so not “ZOMGHEARTATTACK”, just a few scares.
Advice – If Dead Space is scary for you, then don’t even try playing Eternal Darkness
Radarda
Dead Space is scary… for 13 year olds. Amnesia? FEAR levels, so not “ZOMGHEARTATTACK”, just a few scares.
Advice – If Dead Space is scary for you, then don’t even try playing Eternal Darkness
Awcuschieri88
I personally like this list, every game on this list that I played will be in my memory forever and still give chills today..I remember being that little kid trying to playing with the volume low under my blanket scared as hell but couldn’t stop playing..even today replaying them still give me a small chill just remembering how these games affected me..I really need to play amneshia but got no pc..yet..it breaks my heart that games aren’t like this anymore I’m dying for a RE 2 3 remake..I wish the survival horror genre would come back to life but all we can do is wait…o and anyone who thinks dead space is scarier then RE 123 Fatal Frame or Silent hill is a either a liar or a bullshiter..cause I can play those in a basement alone in the dark,shit I’ll play those games in a haunted basement alone but RE, SH ,FF no chance in hell buddy..True Survival horrors fans I love us and hope we won’t be forgotten
River
why is resident evil 1 rather amnesia i can play resident evil like a silent ninja
Bouzane
You opened with Resident Evil while excluding System Shock II? That’s almost as shameful as the foolish suggestions that Dead Space (yawn) should have been included.
Maphisto86
To me Dead Space was much scarier then the Resident Evil games. Though I agree that it is not among the Top 5 scariest out there but that is a very elite group considering the amount of horror titles over the years.
SilentShadow
Dead space is only scary because the gameplay sucks so hard your afraid you will empty your mag before hitting him one time…
MackX
Parasite Eve is the scariest game of all time.
Tylerman87
splatterhouse… its not THAT scary but its epic
Danireyes
f u have you ever heard of silent hill shadered memories
Lorn Ba'al
Its shattered memories you pea brain!
Tetzelify
How. The. Fuck. Can you forget dead space in this article?
Brian BriBri Jaqua
how the hell did you forget dead space?
Brandontapia01
Fallout 3 is kinda scary 😛
Blakester1997
amnesias not scary. well a bit but not like horror game scary.
Danireyes
u suck
Lovehurts219
Fuck Dead Space..
Danireyes
i with u brotha
Pokemon Indigo
Sure… This is a lot more scary than Pokemon games !!!
Sam Watkins
The Penumbra series by frictional games (who later made Amnesia) is also very scary. I found it feels more realistic than Amnesia.
John Assunção
I played haunted grounds and here, must add two features that makes the game scary indeed, or at least did put my heart beats beyond counting, the endless hunting or should I say Haunting capabilities, enemies could show anywhere as if they’re really walking through the map in real time looking for, playing the game, two, or ten times would not make enemies find you on the same room, enter for the same door… and hell, they really followed you around in a way Nemesis never dream to do with his “stars” babling, and for the second, the fewer and limited places to litteraly hide from, like beneath a couch, a bed, inside a wardrobe, giving you the same caustrophobic fpv of fatal frame 2 without the camera obscura shooting ability, lay beneath the couch fpv and watch daniella’s or debilita’s feet wandering around or worse, see daniella’s face as she crounch to look at you in a well-face-to-face-found-you stille or debilitas grabing your feet and draging you out makes me really say, yes, haunting ground is a whole new survival horror game, gameplay included and one game that lingers in my mind today
thx for putting it here
theneslink
SCP anyone?
Medellinstyle
COME ONE!!! CONDEMNED….
Rian Quenlin
Gonna say this, once you learn how Amnesia works, it really ruins how scary it is, which is a shame.
Vladimir
true that, still, i re-played the game like zillions of times, i just love the interface and that u have to explore stuff… and yeah, fuck dead space :))
Opethyoureyes
CLIVE BARKER’S UNDYING!!!! another brutal snub
onetoughSOB
what a terrible list non of these games are scary but then again games don’t scare me that quickly
Hitwithchicks009
Even Doom 3 is scary if played in a dark room … i used to love playing it
Willian Barbosa de Oliveira
Amnesia is not a game, IT’S FUCKING LIVE NIGHTMARE.
Metal Princes
that’s damn true, i had to stop playing it when I rode the elevator to the jail cause everyfucking time i turn the lights on that monster appear and killed me (oh yeah and for jackass: I realize this doesn’t sound so scary but try to play it first fuckers..)
Matthew Haylock
i would like to dissagrree but hell yh
Parkersims51
dude go on youtube and type down pewdiepie plays anmesia, he makes it seem not so scary more of fucking hilarious
Naala
pewdie isnt that fun anymore he is only acting these days check his old vids like DS2 and ull see if u morfar is alot better these days his jokes isnt forced like pewdies are . .
ruovizzz
Amnesia ……………………yeah it is a nightmare can’t even relax for a second
ADHDavy
your telling me
pbergonzi
Agreed–a true horror story with you in it–fantastically psychologically compelling–the scariest game I’ve ever played.
BanzaiKen
Wanna feel even worse? After you beat the game go on the wiki and count how many actual monsters events there is in the game. A good portion of the “scare” moments were achieved with only sound effects, nothing more, and relied more on the player being totally mental at that point than a traditional boogeyman. I got all the endings, but I still can’t convince my girlfriend to beat the water part and I was ready to quit after the Jail on my first playthrough.
EChaos666
Nosferatu
arseniccandy
i think dead space is scary, but you have to play it in the dark with the volume all the way up. It’s not scary if there is a lot of light…
..
amnesia isnt scary in my opinion
Cliche_Psycho
This list requires more Eternal Darkness
Marshall Turner
but in Amnesia when you go insane you just fall down then go back up
liam78787
You should have put dead space somewere on the list if not number 1, amnesia is aswell a very scary game though
Gohst
Ok why in every top horror game list, theres the game haunting ground. The thing is I never found haunting ground scary, and I’m the type of person who pisses his pants in dead space. But haunting ground is just disgusting. why in the hell would you want to play a game were you get brutally raped to death, not only is it just sick but also kind of a waste of time. Yay forced necrophiliac insest!!! WTF!!!! that shouldn’t be put into anything, no matter the developers were trying to do!!Ever!! How sadisticly perverted can people get, game should be burned along with the supposed legion of fans who love the thrill of strangers and family members trying to rape them.
Me
Are these games only for the computer or…
Theredsnifit
-Resident Evil “REmake” is for Gamecube & Wii.
-Silent Hill is for Playstation consoles.
-Ditto for Fatal Frame.
-Not sure about Haunting Ground.
-Amnesia is only for PC.
mp4-12c
abe’s odyssey?
Debo4735
I’m a 37 year old 6’2″ 235lb ex-college football player that fears no man, but I had to put Dead Space 2 down after I died in a truley grusome fashion yet again. Also yes you get some cool weapons but you don’t get a lot of ammo. Most of the time you don’t get ammo unless you kill something. Then there’s the fact that there are so many different kinds of things that can kill you in so many horrible ways. DS2 is the most nerve racking and frightful game I’ve ever played.
Theredsnifit
Really? The Dead Space games probably have more ammo than every Resident Evil game ever, combined.
S Orangzeb
Very Very Well written list, I agree with all of these titles to be truly horror, thanks mate.
Quinndale Holliman
they forgot CARRIER THE GAME FOR DREAM CAST IT WAS FUN AND SCARY PLUS IT HAD INVISIBLE MONSTERS YOU HAD LISTEN FOR
ichigoame
I watched a walkthrough of haunting grounds a few months ago, such a sweet story between fiona and hewie which makes it unique to horror games, I don;t see how all of the enemies are rapists,
*SPOILER ALERT*
one of them is a woman and,though she seems to want your insides, because ”she is incomplete”
it’s more of a jelousy thing,not a directly sexual thing
Theredsnifit
One of the enemies rapes you so he’ll be reborn in you, and another literally hugs you to death, which I guess counts. The woman, by the way, cuts out Fiona’s reproductive organs.
Bryant03nj
SCP CONTAINMENT BREACH is the scariest watch on youtube be scared of the evil looking banana man >:)
Vespertilio
Amnesia has earned its rightful place as being one of the scarriest survival horror game ever .
Comparing it to Dead Space ? Seriously ?
The only thing scarry about the game ( and it aint even that scarry) are the jump scares which you get used to after the first few . In Amnesia the jump scares are very diverse . Not just monsters but all sort of noises that make you want to hide in a corner . And the idiots who say amnesia sucks : Fuck you and go play the game at night with your notebook on your belly , headphones and dont play to win it but play to let the athmosphere envelope you .
Peace out .
Senatime
If you are looking for an immersive and scary experience this new discover of mine http://www.nevermindgame.com/ will mostly likely suffice more then anything on the list here. A game the manipulates itself based on your reactions.
Nathan Fuller
im wondering if slender will be in there soon in the list
Galbothlaorda
Just FYI, they are making another Amnesia game. I forget the name of it, but they are sticking true to the feel of the Dark Decent.
Prokillza
Now you gotta add Slender 😀
Matthew Haylock
most boring games ever the scariest is amnesia it will make piss ur self oh yh fuck dead space amnesia makes is look like a disney game
David Miller
Dead Space is without a doubt one of the biggest failures at horror in the history of the industry. Its a fun game but scary? No way in hell.
Matthew Haylock
so basically wich obe would vote best dead space or amnesia
Matthew Haylock
oh yh never ever say u hate amnesia or ill fuck u up and down and allaround u here me
Wikkitshaam
I hate amnesia, boring game, what u will do ?
Matthew Haylock
i would find out where u live and smash all ur consoles and make ur life a living hell ok?
AMNESIA HATER
FUCK AMNESIA
Matthew Haylock
once i was sitting playin amnesia at 12,o clock until sominjumped at me i pissed my self and my mates was sittin next to me im so glad it was made and im only a kid so f u
Matthew Haylock
i just tweeted this to show people who thinks dead space is scary they can go get fucked
Matthew Haylock
oh yh peeps if u like me add me on twitter and xbox 360 xbox360 gamertag is venatickarma4 twitter iss mtt oh yh i love amnesia so tweet me new news and shit
Matthew Haylock
time to masterbate to lorno jk im only 10
guest
to say resident evil isnt scary is quite true…to say it wasnt scary in 96 when compared to literally anything else on the market is just ignorant…playing it now it aint that bad at all but then before silent hill, before clock tower, before just about any other true horror game it was the shit, dead space isnt scary at all, hell the origional avp was scarier than that due to the random enemy locations and if you actually read the flyer it says dont play for more than an hour at a time because the suspense factor will make you jumpy as hell
Asdas
Amnesia ? Fuck amnesia stupid idiots. Its shit, not game. Boring, not scary.
Dsf
Amnesia ? Fuck amnesia stupid idiots. Its shit, not game. Boring, not scary.
Asdas
Amnesia ? Fuck amnesia stupid idiots. Its shit, not game. Boring, not scary.
Your_An_Ass
i hate amnesia
Norimastus
ok first off fuck everyone who said dead space isnt scare sure amnesia is scarier but so fucking what and yea i say dead space is scary the first not second
Skye
And what about Corpse Party? THAT’S TRUE HORROR.
Angiru
Fuckin loved Corpse Party
Clueless Gamer
Why is Slender Man Game Not here?
Phil
Um… check the date?
Lord Ba'al
Hahahaha!!
Jason Few
Because it’s not even scary?
Edshadomadness
um i never played amnesia but i pissed myself just reading the comments and yeah finaly a rape game
TheJellyKilla
okay to all the people that are arguing why games are on the list it includes a guideline, story immersion, does it hook you? do you want more ALL of the games above gave us that. A game is not good if it consists of only jumpscares, Amnesia fans will understand me ;), Dead Space, INCREDIBLE storyline and some good scares but mostly jumpscares PLUS its pretty hard to be scared of an alien when you have a souped up plasma rifle in your hand, resident evil, one of the innovator’s of the horror genre INCREDIBLE story almost every horror gamer knows what the t- virus is wesker chris leon ect… same with silent hill im not familiar with haunting ground so i will not say anything And Amnesia This game deserves to be on the top of every list throw on a headset and you will find yourself hiding in the corner of a room or in the cabinet dodging brutes the fear of entering a room because your scared for your life i’ve played the majority of the games on the list and i woulden’t change the list at all!!!
Gone
My jerkass older brother allowed me to play the first Resident Evil for Sega Saturn when I was 3/4 years old… There’s a reason I remember things from kendergarden but nothing more ’til the 4th grade.
Parkersims51
dude what about the first FEAR wasn’t that at least scary? that game got me freaking out when i play it
Guest
Amnesia isn’t scary. I’ve played through it and it’s not slightly scary. How did Amnesia make it in the list but Eternal Darkness didn’t?
David Miller
Good job, you didn’t put in Dead Space. I am sick of people claiming that game is in any way shape or form scary, because it is most definitely not.
Shane Towne
indeed.
Hossi Blumengaarten
why the hell is RULE OF ROSE(2006), that game is freaking amazing and so messed up
so hard to come by and it cost 100 bucks in Amazon and Ebay. check that game out
RULE OF ROSE(PS2 2006)
Matthew Haylock
finally someone agrees with me
Zachary
Amnesia is a scary game, but I don’t like how they phrased it. You don’t try to escape the castle, you’re trying to find (forgot his name) and kill him. Also, when you go insane in the dark, all it does is disorient your vision, not “result in a game over”. Dead Space uses Jump Scares, never really worked on me, just uses suspense. I also don’t think Amnesia has much replay value because you tend to remember when the scary things happen.
Bro
I really love how a few people comment like pewdiepie owns the internet
thatoneguy
I find it funny how almost every comment has to rag on dead space. if you really want to be freaked out check out Eastern Mind: The Lost Souls of Tong-Nou play through
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&NR=1&v=te-HrgU9zFw#t=3m39s
tomdoda
wheres slender
ADHDavy
i played it for the first time and it scared me so much that i baracaded myself in the lab at the begining. lol
Sup3
Amnesia and Dead Space, easily the 2 most scariest games.
JackOfBladesIsANoobBoss
hmm good but i think resident evil isnt as sccary and bioshock 1 should be there because of the drug addicted muted canible zombies and lil 7yr’s operating on corpes to hrvest undigested drugs, tht and man hunt not because its scary but because it was banne dfor its pure gore
William Lamme
FEAR isnt on here, credibility fail.
Kbop a doo
Whaaat are you seriously arguing? Different things scare different people, you can’t really argue that…
justaguy
wow a game on rape from japan -_- how suprising…
Lexi
Admit it. When you first saw the Amnesia monster, you thought of PewDiePie.
Mike Chambers
What’s with all the Dead Space hate? DS does have plenty of “jump
scares”, yes but most work really well because they often happen in a
place you least expect it.
Getting through the areas that are a vacuum can get very
anxiety-inducing because you have no audible cue if a necromorph is
near. You will be walking along and suddenly you’ve just been slashed
half-to-death with no warning.
The fact that you’ve got a weapon
in your hand helps, but ammo is very scarce and you need to be very
accurate because most enemies are almost impossible to kill with shots
to the body. It may sound easy enough, but when three slashers jump out
of an air vent and are 2 feet away from you making those horrifying
screeches and you’ve only got 5 plasma energy shots left you damn well
better not miss the limbs or you’re done for in seconds.
Most of
the psychological horror is effective as well imo. Combine all of this
with a top-notch story, graphics, and voice acting and you’ve got a new
instant-classic survival horror game.
I was honestly quite bored
by Amnesia, and I tried. I really, really did try to like it. There is
too much time between monster appearances, and the insanity stuff just
gets annoying. No, I don’t need a scare every 10 seconds to have fun
with a game but when you’re talking, at times, HOURS between
encountering a monster and then simply running into a dark corner and
crouching for 20 seconds makes it give up and leave… call me crazy,
but I just ain’t very scared.
All that’s left after that is
walking through corridors and lighting candles. Come on people, Amnesia
is incredibly lame. I can’t understand all the love for that game. It
has a lot of extremely innovative elements, I will definitely give it
that, but as a whole I just didn’t think it all came together to make a
good complete game.
When I first started playing it, I was
getting into it and I thought I’d
come across a real gem, but after a few hours of play time I was
disappointed at the lack of substance. The atmosphere and a great
physics engine alone just isn’t enough keep me interested.
Erik Borgerson
what about condemned?
BA DUM TSK
Slender?
fukyoup
Fuck Pewdiepie and the majority of you fucking tweenage dipshits…
John Fuex
Dead Space should be on this list. No question.
plumninja
slender isnt in there
Sir James
Doom 3……….!
Eric Baker
But we can all agree that when pewdiepie LPs a horror game, we can instantly classify it as “not scary.”
And yes I agree that once you know how Amnesia works internally it ruins the scare factor.
But you want to know what”s really scary? Prepare to Die modes. Limited saves, scarce resources, little to no weaponry, and insta-deaths a plenty? Those things make me turn in my sleep.
stonedwolf
Cthulhu Dark Corners of the earth is a genuine classic. Hugely overlooked.
Dimitri
The first Condemned game should be on this list. That game fucked with you.
Michael Tiegs
haunting ground was released in australia… and i don’t remember being raped, well i guess because i didn’t let them get near me lol
james jenkins
umm. the original fear.
Ben Curtiss
Amnesia is not scary
if you find it scary then stop playing it
Ray
obscure(2):The Aftermath anyone?
Gus
I think dead space2 is scary
artouramorgan
artour is the best
45
To all those complaining which games are scarier:
Fear is a relative thing only for the individual, not the whole. A man with arachnophobia is terrified of spiders and a man with a pet spider with no fear differs greatly. For myself I have no fear towards any serial killer movie, due to studying law. Have they made me jump, yes, But with no real dread afterwards.
Back to the games though, I found Deadspace (which has 2 games and 2 movies, which is more than most other games can say) scary but even more so the F.E.A.R series. I found myself thinking I saw something from the game from time to time due to it. In other words, to-each-their-own, whatever woollies your mammoth, it’s your money enjoy it and always remember we all have different scares
Alexia
Amnesia=DEFINITELY scariest. o_o
Marlena
Personally I’d have Siren: Blood Curse up there. That game gave me the fucking chills o_o but Amnesia should be number 1. TERRIFYING.
Fischer Benjamin
Amnesia was awesome^^ I played till the end anjd it was Scary nad i played with ur mind pingpong if u didnt watched out^^ Gamers play the game and be astunished^^
James
The suffering was a good horror game
Herpy Hero
uhh what about slender
JT
F*** Fatal Frame, in a good way I mean. Try playing in in the dead of night, pitch black and man, that game scared the crap outta me! I had to stop playing multiple times. lol
Dan Fearless
I enjoy every jumpscare of fatal frame totally worth the time invested , the 3 was rly good to me as well , the dinamic of “in your dreams visiting the mansion ” kept me awake several nights LOL
Barbara Gibson
When someone says they are looking for good Survival Horror and I mention Fatal Frame they say pretty much what JT said, but not in a good way. It is hilarious to see these big tough guys like “H**l No, I ain’t playin that!” apparently it is too scary for them to play. Then, tell them that little old me finished all 3 that I could get on PS2 and you’d think I deserved a medal LOL
Falk
I agree. I loved the fatal frame series. Anyone who was too scared to finish it should just stop playing horror games.
Barbara Gibson
I agree! Although I do admit to jumping six feet in the air when my daughter walked in and said hello! That’s what I get for playing at 1 am. In the dark. LOL.
Simon Noonan
Im terrified of ghosts and even I stuck out fatal frame 2 DC(fantastic game :D). the run to the final boss from the last save point was insane.
Barbara Gibson
Oh yeah. The only worse end of game run like a little girl moment is F.E.A.R. Alma is terrifying
Liam Allen
amnesia bloody rocks
Liam Allen
but i have yet to find something that gets me as paranoid as what did slender did to me 😀
Bennydakid
WTF!!! where is doom3 on this chart. Doom3 scared the hell outa me and i have played ALL of those games. none of which were on the level of DOOM3. Its so dark and things jump outa the dark and surprise you…..i screamed and nearly shat myself when one zombie came outa the darkness between some lockers. RE-DO THE LIST
André Niemand
Not many share your belief that Doom3 is scary. Sorry :/ It’s not on par with Amnesia to say the least.
SaVa_Da_FlaVa
Guys be nice some people are just kids, that’s why Obama should ban kids from the internet. (“The annoying girls on fb that just copy & paste comments”)
Garrett
Doom3 was not scary at all. More of an action game than horror.
Ken
Missing Clive Barker’s Undying. The best game no one played.
ERIC
HI HI HI THAY WERE NOT SCARY
SaVa_Da_FlaVa
Well Hello to you to. 🙂
FuckingFunny
Slender is scarier than amnesia
Dan Fearless
I have played slender and it did not shock me as amnesia , the tension on amnesia is far more engaging than slender,
ElMoshyWTF
Slender Is Genial And Amnesia Too!
Billionbroz
No not really slender is shit a brick scary but amnesia is shit a zebra scary!
Michael Helmut Kukoswki Hobgoo
agreed slender might not have much thinking required but the music increases tension and he will come out of nowhere
André Niemand
Amnesia will make you SH!T BRICKS. Seriously!!! Love it. Especially Pewdipies’ reactions are legendary!
Dan Fearless
pewds rocks!
∞Franceschi Though∞
Yes, Pewdiepie is a Legend 😀
Ancient
Unless you pick up a book and hide behind it, or jump ontop of the Shadow.
Angel Rios
only if its a Servant
Vince Amadeo Zoleta
hahah your right
One Gamer
from all the top X horror game, yours is the one i can agree the most with. Good job.
redpyramidlives
SH2 wasnt scary at all. I have mental problems that make me have panic attacks after i play something disturbing. I play SH2 all night every so often for the story without meds and im fine.all the other silent hills i have trouble with, but by far sh4 gave me the most terrifying experience. I cant even think about the game too late at night. plus the game gets intensely harrowing one walter starts you get into the second half once practically nowhere is safe. And if you know who becomes possesed be prepared for multiple near heart attacks to add to the tension. and those walls…well you get my point
Michael Helmut Kukoswki Hobgoo
never played sh2 played 4 and 1 and 1 is my favorite one so far
redpyramidlives
Sh2 I can play all day and have no problem. the others (even homecoming) were far scarier. SH4 makes me lose sleep. the second half of the room was the most harrowing experience ever. and if you know who gets possessed prepare for multiple heart attacks to add to the already disturbing goings on.oh and those creeping red walls… anyway thats my opinion. by the way if i already posted this forgive me, my ps3 is telling me my last post came up blank.
jeff hunter
amnesia was confusing. played about two hours and got stuck, only scary when i was baked
Michael Heide
This list needs more Eternal Darkness: Sanity’s Requiem. Yes, it flew below radar because it launched on a console that had already gained the reputation of a “children’s console” at that time. But it’s an absolute milestone of the genre. A Lovecraft-inspired story that stretched from Ancient Rome to modern days, with multiple characters, some of them related. And whenever your player character saw a monster, they would lose “Sanity”. If the Sanity bar got too low, the hallucinations started. Dutch angles, blood dripping from the walls, crying and screaming, and tons of really clever meta scares that fooled the player, not the character. Add to that insanely intuitive controls, a great combat system (including several powerful spells) and an eerie soundtrack, and you’ve got a game that every survival horror fan should have played.
It’s almost a crime to leave it off this list.
Mezofan
Phantasmagoria should be here!
ali bashir
where is slender ????????
Eric
Clock tower
Giorgio Carraro
I’ll also add The Call Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth (which is even scarier than Amnesia) and the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. series, not exactly an horror game, but the overall atmosphere is disturbing and it can get really REALLY scaring!
Patrik
No, its not scarier than Amnesia. Though Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth is a very good game for the first 1/3 of it when you are without guns and have to escape the wicked town. But once you get weapons it was all downhill for me. A good game but not scarier than Amnesia. Its hard to top Amnesia really.
Keltari
The original FEAR was the scariest game ever. The subtlety is what made it truly scary. The shadows of people – or things – in the distance running, dying, etc… The few, but powerful glimpses of Alma when you least expected them. That game was scary. Other games just throw things at you for shock value and dont come close to FEAR.
DEATHEON
o3o
Nova Prime
Personally, I thought that The Suffering games should have been on there, more-so the first than the second. Those games were pretty intense and yet no one remembers them.
Xuereb
Where is Nosferatu ?
Bo smith
Where’s slender
ElMoshyWTF
Slender????
eternal darkness
What no eternal darkness the greatest horror.game that desperately needs a sequal
Cody Masyk-Jackson
WHAT ABOUT SLENDER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
some random 15ish guy
Slender gives a static warning…
Amnesia gives no warning and u have to escape a castle over finding paper
Justin Yarborough Reed
What about Exmortis? Has no one played that? Talk about shit that’ll make you jump…
544
gahhhh fuckin amnesia
*shudders*
Adam Contreras
In Amnesia, your weapons is your head! No guns & no blades. Your brain is your only weapon.
Joe Lysaght
there was a game for the xbox called the Suffering, about a lovecraftian hell breaking out from under a prison island, holy hell, it scared the bejeezus out of me
Michael Helmut Kukoswki Hobgoo
forgot slender much scarier than amniseia
waffleischeezey
Amnesia isn’t scary, seriously.
fuck
dead space too
kevin kang
fear 3 is way scarier
Jameel Aboulhosn
Fatal Frame 2 and Amnesia were two of the best scare games ever. My girlfriend like ran away crying from the computer when she played Amnesia for just a few minutes, and I said screw it and quit too. Fatal Frame 2, omg. That broken neck bitch ghost that refuses to die, she scared the bejesus out of me quite a few times, not to mention the massive samurai ghost in the room full of dead bodies after the flashlight goes out.
Jameel Aboulhosn
WTB Eternal Darkness HD Remake or otherwise new version on PS3 or next gen console. System Shock 1 and 2 also.
Lee
AWWW Why isnt Slender there?
Jonatan N. Paz
What about Manhunt 2??
Christopher Vicino
Eternal Darkness: Sanity’s Requiem
Nikolaj
I was underwhelmed by Amnesia. Once I discovered that the monsters disappeared when the scary music turned off there wa snothign scary about it.. :/
Preston Cheetah Vargas
Does no one else think Condemned?
larissa
What about ju on the grudge and fear 1&2…
Angel Rios
slender and kuon should be on atleast top 10, i love amnesia and resident evil, and i like watching silent hill
Angel Rios
imma watch a lp of fatal frame 2
plevel
amnesia? ahahahaha i played it and its terribly boring.. the only fun is to watch pewdie play it -.-“
Bariman43
Predicted all of the games on here except for Haunting Ground. Kudos for at least being slightly unique.
zazlxos
they forget ” Slender Man ” :p
Simon Noonan
SCP Containment Breach – enough said 🙂 (just as scary as amnesia for a game of aged graphics)
shinigami117
I watched a let’s play of Amnesia by Lanipator, I wasn’t impressed (by the game, Lanipator’s commentary was hilarious). Daniel was a sissy and there was absolutely no reason he shoudn’t have been able to pick up a weapon and fight back.
The game that has frightened me the most is The Elder Scrolls: Arena. The dungeons are very dark so every time a creature attacked me I had a small heart attack lol. But when I got a light spell I stopped getting frightened.
derp
Amnesia isn’t even scary…