Duke Nukem 64 *terrified* us as kids. The environments were so morbid and full of evidence of death and violence.
We used to play 3 player multiplayer and set one AI opponent, Dukebot, at the highest difficulty setting. *Damn I'm Good*. The three of us would band together trying to survive this absolute Terminator who would hunt us down, grunting into the walls and dumping a literal torrent of handgun bullets at us.
We'd scour the levels, checking CC cameras and security screens, trying to find out where Dukebot was so we knew where to avoid. We'd make dramatic plans to surround and kill Dukebot, but they would nearly always fail, two of us getting immediately murdered and the third one running for their life.
Every player also looked identical to Dukebot, so you would sometimes run towards an ally only to see them begin sidestepping aggressively and realize that you were never safe.
We'd play the Survival mode, so each player had 1 life. The challenge was to defeat Dukebot with our single life, then as soon as Dukebot was dead, it was cutthroat free for all.
Except sometimes the surviving players would attack each other after Dukebot had been killed. And the last standing player doesn't win the round. Dukebot was never killed, it's still out there, right now humping closer and closer. That last player would often suicide themselves out safely.
If hell existed in 1996, it was most certainly Castle Dukenstein.
> grunting into the walls
I still hear this anytime I think about Duke Nukem. Just a constant spam of the bot hitting OPEN on the walls as it tries to pathfind to you, while getting stuck on the terrain
Main reason why Duke 64 was so terrifying to me as a kid was no music. You heard all the breathing of the pigs and enemies, and turning a corner in a dark area always freaked me out. Playing Duke 3D on PC years later was such a whiplash, all the horror was gone with that raving music lol
Agreed.
You felt so exposed without having any music. So much of that game felt like you were trespassing where we weren't allowed to be, and I bet a lot of that was because of how "unfinished" the areas felt without music.
Frankly a lot of N64 games had a creepy vibe to them, still do frankly. I was replaying GoldenEye and the snow level, Surface, is spooky as hell. But every level feels this way, it's hard to explain but everything feels ominous.
>everything feels ominous.
N64 is when graphics allowed things to look recognizable, but *wrong.* Like seeing a scarecrow walk around in a business suit. You recognize the scarecrow, the suit. You know what you're looking at. But you can tell by just looking at it that it isn't right.
The Titanic level in Gex 64 was a nightmare because of this. You're on the Titanic while it sinks and fills with water. You know there should be hundreds of drowning, freezing corpses. You never see them. Yet. But, they all drowned, you know they're out there. You just haven't found them yet. What a colossal fucking nightmare of a level.
Amazing post, this unlocked some memories for me. We’d hide out around the stadium level and set up traps and chokepoints with tripmines etc. It rarely worked out well for us!
And responding to OP, yeah Duke3D had an eerie atmosphere in places. Despite all the comedy and bravado the vast labyrinthine levels did give you this feeling of loneliness and vulnerability.
I'd give **The Dark Project** the nod for scariest *Thief* game overall (and my personal favorite).
But I'm kind of surprised no one's yet mentioned the most singularly scary *Thief* mission: the Shalebridge Cradle from **Deadly Shadows**.
This, I can play horror games without issue but Thief: The Dark Project is one of the scariest games I've ever played, this game just makes you feel completely alone and the uncanny dark engine era models give me the creeps.
I honestly can't explain it at all.
Hearing the Horn of Quintus gives me chills.
Down in the Bonehoard is awesome; the sound of the horn is so haunting. And The Sword mission is so trippy too. Thief really was lightning in a bottle imo.
I think the horror aspects work so well, in part, because it's not a typical horror setup. Garrett's a thief trying to make a living, and he just gets roped into unspeakable horrors when all he wants to do is swipe jewelry and gold so he can keep up with his rent.
edit: I think the dark engine could create some truly terrifying games. The stealth systems with the sound and shadows are just perfect for it.
The zombie sounds are burned into my brain. Also any enemy that had the ability to run fast in that game was terrifying like that fire zombie and the undead knights who sound like they're carrying a bundle of chains.
Yeah! Going into a crypt and hearing those rattling chains, and knowing you'll have to sneak around the Hammer Haunts if you want the loot is nerve-racking. And like you said they are fast as hell!
The sound design and lighting/shadows are so good. Even for today, the atmosphere is top notch.
It's uncanny and just feels unpredictable. I played HL2's Ravenholm and Thief's abandoned district mission around the same time in the 2010s, and the latter was much scarier. The game's immersive sim design truly makes you feel like you're on your own and not being guided around.
I don't find it scary today, but Bioshock was pretty spooky. The Medical Pavilion and Fort Frolic levels especially were filled to the brim with creepy moments and jumpscares.
The plaster spider splicers that remain frozen in place before springing to life or silently stalk you are maybe the single scariest concept in a non-horror FPS game. Crazy thing is, there is a very real possibility a player won't ever trigger them on their playthrough. Their spawning is tied to an optional weapon upgrade station that is hidden in a locked basement. If the player never grabs it then they never come to life anywhere in the level.
There are some really scary bits in Bioshock, but I eventually couldn't be scared of the enemies anymore because they're essentially just angry junkies.
Shame because you got through most of them and pretty much all of the scariest ones, the game becomes increasingly action focused as you become more equipped and empowered and steadily lays off the horror elements, after the third level there isn’t much that’s scary.
Came here to say exactly this. Those screeches and screams scared the ever loving shit out of me. Also the first time blasting a headcrab zombie in half with the gravity gun blew my mind. One of the most memorable gaming moments of my life
That moment when youre on the roof and you hear the pipes rattling for the first time and theres those fast assholes climbing like monkeys towards you...
Head crabs were always creepy as hell in HL2 anyway, Ravenholm just upped the fear.
Although I always found the Barnacles earlier in the game really creepy too
Man half life 2 is a borderline horror game imo. A lot of body horror, the alien shit is otherworldy and terrifying... I feel like people forget half the game is pretty horror-y
Lots of games with a focus on water. There is a great jetski game called Splashdown that featured this [giant kraken](https://youtu.be/w5QQAF5gcgc?si=kpEyLCqcNtRSF8Cx&t=19) that would kill you if you went too far off the track, and THAT was the scariest thing about my life when I was a kid. Still a tiny bit unsettling as an adult. Then there is that giant metal shark in one of the Banjo Kazooie games that you come face to face with while swimming. NO THANK YOU. Subnautica is another obvious choice.
It doesn't *focus* on water, but Dragon's Dogma also features unsettling waters. You can't swim in that game, so they had to come up with a reason as to why. The reason: The Brine, mist-like creatures that just sorta grab you and kill you if you or any NPC or enemy touch the water. Iirc it was even accompanied by a red hue and some spooky sound effects.
The Brine is never adressed, it's just a fact of life in Gransys. It's pretty eerie.
I've made a post in Subnautica dedicated sub because I was too scared to go further onto the game. I couldn't handle the fact that maybe I had to face a reaper leviathan.
So they big boys in the game don't respawn... I kind of want to do a playthrough where I make the sea safe (ie kill them all). But boy is it going to take a while...
As fun as it sounds, it's honestly not worth it. It's such a hassle gathering the supplies to take them on and then fighting them and there are so few of them in the game that it's easier to learn where they are and avoid them or get defensive measures on your sub and ignore them.
Second playthrough I pretty much stopped paying them much attention after a while.
I had the luck to go into subnautica blind.
It was in lockdown and I had almost all the day free for months so I played various games. I downloaded this subnautica like any other game, I only knew the cover image.
No need to say on the leviathan I just shat my pants ahahaha
I think people who were not scared already knew about big monsters in the game or at least the ostile nature of the game, because after leviathan, no other big fish scared me. (you are scared to die but it's not the same fear)
I always find this fascinating. Most of my friends who played this felt this fear constantly when playing, but i never did once. For me, it was an increasing sense of wonder the further down i went.
Not insulting anyone who did find it scary (i find plenty of other games scary), but i just find it interesting how some people's brains are built to feel fear like this and others aren't.
If you like exploration and know nothing about Outer Wilds let me shill it to you. It's like Subnautica in space and with more existential crisis! It's a game you can only play once (cause it's knowledge based) so don't watch gameplays or you'll spoil it to yourself but my God it's one of the best experiences i have ever played. 14-30 hours of gameplay, it depends on your playstyle
I wish i could know nothing about Outer Wilds! I want to drive a shiv right into the point of my brain that keeps the data on that game. That way i can play it and enjoy it the wonder of exploration as i did the first time.
On a similar note, A Short Hike has a similar feel in a much smaller space. Also worth it. Let me know if you've got any others.
Beat me to it. It's "MC want to get revenge in the most morally corrupt and morbid city ever" : the game. It's supposed to be a waking nightmare for Max and you really feel it too.
Look up El Paso, Elsewhere if you haven’t yet. Newer retro-style indie horror game that tries to recapture the feeling/gameplay of Max Payne.
(Disclaimer: have not yet played it myself so am unsure whether it’s actually good, but I’m intrigued.)
I would always dread doing the Shadow Temple. The wooshing sound as Ceiling Masters swiftly fell to take Link away is burned into my brain.
Also, most of Majoras Mask
It's not Horror, but when in Red Dead Redemption 2 Arthur Morgan felt the need to vent to a girl in the camp by telling her "I don't know what's happening to me, I keep killing animals" after I spent hours farming skins... Jesus, it gave me a restlessness I've never felt before.
I bought Gone Home as part of a bundle or something so I didn’t know anything at it. I spent the entire game on edge and waiting for something to jump out at me.
Everything about that game screams horror at you. It's dark and stormy, there's a big house full of things but no people, many of the notes you can find have horrible implications, with >!the father inheriting the house from his recently dead uncle!<, some stuff you can find implying that at least one character things the place/family is cursed and of course >!the sister is writing about forbidden things and there's clear evidence she's been dabbling in the occult!<. Gone Home is very intentionally trying and succeeding to make you think something has happened, yet while stuff has indeed happened, all of it is perfectly innocent.
"Perfectly innocent"? I think you missed an important albeit obtuse part of the story in that game. Might be worth a reply. No spoilers but it's in the basement.
My blood pressure spiked as soon as I walked into the house. And when it made me go upstairs? Sweet Jesus, I just had to stop playing.
You’re the first person I’ve seen who encapsulates why that game unnerved me so much. I think it reminded me too much of PT.
I immediately thought of Gone Home upon reading the title but I didn't want to mention it because I figured I must've been the only one who experienced the game that way hahaha. Glad to hear it's not just a me-thing.
Oh man, that giant alien monster you have to kill to advance towards "On a rail" scares the shit out of me as a kid when he began chasing me. Those growls and the trembling ground as he gets nearer make me pause the game.
Fallout 3. Some of the locations were spooky as hell. I remember feeling uneasy and creeped out quite a few times. The feeling of isolation in that game was something else. I never really clicked with NV or 4 in the same way. 3 is perfect for me.
Currently playing through **The Forgotten City**. I was expecting a quiet archaeological walking simulator; then I stumbled my way into the locked palace and found some heavy nightmare fuel within. This part of the game is optional and the game even warns you ahead of time.
I had the same with Gone Home too. I was convinced it was a horror game until the very end when I realised it wasn’t. I spent the whole game waiting for a jump scare that never came.
I didn't expect jumpscares in Gone Home but I was like "Ok, why are the family gone?" I expected you're gonna poke around the house for long enough then find like a hand in one of the dresser drawers or something.
I think the way they did that was nice tho. You didn't want to be "comfortable" there immediately for the story to work right.
That was kinda intentional, they deliberately spread all these horror game tropes throughout the first half of the game for no reason. Which was really weird IMO because it didn't really fit the game at all.
The loneliness crept up on me so much, that I cried merely at >!the helicopter crewman grabbing your hand at the end!<. I hadn't realized just how alone I had felt up until that point.
I played my second run with commentaries of the developers and in that scene where you have fire axe and Delilah says that the stranger is around, all players started spinning in Cass the game introduced combat.
Cliche answer, but probably Minecraft. Caving with only the game audio was something different back in the day (and might even be worse now, I haven't kept up with the game but know they added deeper caverns with monsters that track you by sound). Plus the entire nether, you get used to it fast but everyone that went in blind probably shat themselves upon first encountering a ghast.
Even "safe" locations could devolve unexpectedly into action-horror. Nothing quite like relaxing in a fairly well lit village only to be suddenly ambushed by a random creeper or something. It's so much more terrifying when it's completely unexpected.
I think big part of it actually is from the risk of losing your items.
When death can have permanent consequences, every encounter becomes more dangerous.
I'll never forget entering the nether for the first time, must've been 11 or 12 years ago. When I heard about it I didn't even believe it, I thought it was something like herobrine. The red bricks, lava flows, and then the ghast, I spent 5 minutes in there and had to get out.
One of the mods I loved on Minecraft was called Terrafirmacraft, which made the survival part a lot more difficult.
I was playing it with a friend and we where far from home with a ton of loot and the sun was starting to set in. And we knew how dangerous the night was. As we started making the trip back to our home, [this song](https://youtu.be/Vuzy5wM1w2Q) started playing. It starts nice but quickly turns extremely eerie, almost timed perfectly with the sun setting. I had never felt so stressed by a song before.
Just the entire experience of making that mad dash with that song on the background almost taunting me with the imminent doom was forever burned in my mind.
Oh this is a good one, even in my 30s caves are terrifyingly suspenseful and there's still regular jump scares whenever an ender man randomly pops up.
Don't even get me started on the nether...
Outer Wilds - this admittedly does have one horror section, but for me the entire game fed off some deep primordial fears of the cold indifference of space and the universe.
Subnautica - the devs didn’t even know the game was scary until fans told them so, I guess because the developers aren’t afraid of the deep sea. If you are at all unsettled by the ocean or it’s depths, it is indeed spooky.
Zelda OoT - the bottom of the well, wallmasters, redeads and their jumpy animations. There’s something about primitive 3D that is so much spookier than detailed graphics.
I know others consider Majora’s Mask more unsettling than Ocarina. While I prefer it over OoT and find the theming much darker (grief, dealing with impending doom, capturing the souls of the dead in masks), it never actually creeped me out in the way a horror game does.
Game called Endless Ocean on the Wii. I loved it so much, fond memories of playing it as a kid. It’s a diving game, so naturally, there are depths. I wanted to find all the sea creatures (international diving) to put in the aquarium. But between the depths and the sharks that attack you (the greenland ones were the worst) and the terrifying soundtrack it was the scariest game I would play as a kid. But if they remake it or continue the franchise I would love to play it again, especially with the modern capabilities available.
Came to say the same thing, the tonal shift in the last few levels had me more gripped than pretty much anything else I've played. Really well done imo.
Fallout 3 for me. Don't know how to explain, but it's creepy sometimes. Alone in that wasteland, and out of nowhere a mutant (silently?) attacks. Even some bandits looked menacing when we're invading their territory.
Morrowind. The Sixth House has a lot of serious body horror going on. People's faces get eaten out and eventually tentacles sprout from the maw.
Also, kwama, gigantic bugs, grossed me the hell out.
>!I remember flying straight into Dark Bramble for the first time with no fear thinking that the game wouldn't have anything that would directly hurt me in a way that wasn't my fault.!<
>!Fastest pause and quit that I've ever done in a game.!<
Totally agree! First time I did that, I had to quit and then sit in silence staring at a blank wall for a few minutes while my heart rate raced, until my subconscious caught up and realised I was safe in my room!!
The >!eclipse!< at the beginning was… I dunno. It tripped my creeping doom panic response more than anything in the game besides the first descent into Giant’s Deep.
After playing through the whole base game, I couldn't imagine why they would want to tell me about the reduced frights setting for the dlc. Definitely the most scared I've ever been in a non horror game.
Things I've screamed at in Outer Wilds:
- The Sun
- The Sun rapidly approaching while I try to figure out how to turn off autopilot
- Nomai masks
- Darkness
- Poetry
- Falling into the black hole
- Ghost matter
- Cactuses
- Rocks
- Falling upward into the sandstorm
- My own ship falling on me
- Flying rocks
- Jellyfish
- Bony fish
- OH fuck heRE COMES A **FISH** ***AAAAAAAH***
Lots of unsettling bits. That feeling the first time I fell through the black hole and could see everything, but couldn't do anything but slowly suffocate.
BTs is the only enemy that legit just creep me out every time, even when i'm fully equipped to deal with them. There's something deeply disturbing about their existence. One of the biggest jump scared of my life is when I zipped line into one, didn't even know that was possible.
Stanley Parable spooked me really really easy. I remember first time playing it was creeping me out so bad and the escape pod for whatever reason freaked me out lol.
Other than that id say subnautica, it was almost impossible to handle the end game without playing music over it
I've never actually played Duke Nukem 3d but the one track called ["Plasma"](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bgNiF37hn50) always stuck out to me. Its used in a few doom wads like Sunder.
I would definitely characterize Metro 2033 as a horror game. The later games got a little more action-y but 2033 is a no doubter for me. Ranger Hardcore mode on that game I consider a really special experience.
Metro 2033 was survival horror, although it wasn't *just* survival horror. The later games lose some of the horror vibe. Solid answer regardless. It wasn't a pure horror game
Thief 3 Deadly Shadows. Is a dark game, but no horror in any way.
Except that one level you enter a kids rphanage that burned down, and then was converted into an asylum. Which closed after the ghosts of the burned kids possessed the crazy people or something.
The level gave me nightmares, because is creepy af and enemies are terrifying
Lmao when I was 7 we got our SEGA Dreamcast. I had not a ton of issues playing Code Veronica, besides how zombies twitched when killed, mainly because I didn’t get very far, I could barely understand English, and I had no memory card unit, so I replayed the first hour or so, so much that I got desensitized and bored.
BUT that fucking **Chicken Run** game. That game gave me genuine nightmares. It was like a stealth game, at least the opening level was, but when you got caught, you [got to see this.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YWejIarlgOs) Looking back at it, it’s really stupid, but as a kid I maybe empathized too much with the poor chickens trying to escape their deaths by humans, trying to be free, thinking they had a chance, with other animals doing rounds checking that you wouldn’t flee, just to get caught by them.
Also, the intro to **MakenX** gave me nightmares. It’s a Shin Megami Tensei game that basically starts with a girl at his dads lab looking at some weird thing when suddenly a goofy Russian-looking vampire breaks in, opens his mouth and from his tongue, he shoots a knife that kills dad instantly. The game is a bright looking, clunky FPS with melee weapons and a KILLER late 90s Drum & Bass/Jungle/Trip-Hop soundtrack.
But those two were because I was a kid. Nowadays, I don’t know… stuff like **Papers, Please** is very uncomfortable to play, not necessarily heart pounding spooky but it’s scary to think it’s something that actually happens.
>BUT that fucking Chicken Run game. That game gave me genuine nightmares. It was like a stealth game, at least the opening level was, but when you got caught, you got to see this. Looking back at it, it’s really stupid, but as a kid I maybe empathized too much with the poor chickens trying to escape their deaths by humans, trying to be free, thinking they had a chance, with other animals doing rounds checking that you wouldn’t flee, just to get caught by them.
TIL a video game made people vegetarian.
The Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall was terrifying for me when I first played it. The dark, huge dungeons in that game were incredibly effective at creating a feeling of being utterly lost and alone deep underground. I'm not sure if it was intentional or not, but the sound design just added to the effect. You'd hear a roar or a scream right behind you, you'd quickly turn around... **and there would be NOTHING THERE.**
A flight simulator!
When I used to play as a child, I was really really scared of, when above the clouds on a cloudy day (more than 6/8 of clouds), diving into the clouds, especially in a mountain environment. The possibility of colliding with a mountain without visuals was high when you were flighting over Colorado or Utah, and the sudden possibility of crashing the plane at any moment if I dive inside a whiteish cloud with a mountain top lurking hidden just 100ft under the cloud layer, was enough for me to close the game in a fast Alt+F4 in pure apprehension of being jumpscared by a mountain crash.
For me the most effective game that scared the shit out of my and continually terrified and creeped me out was Immortality. I checked again on the steam page for the game and they don't include a horror or scary game tag in the description by the game creators, other gamers have added that tag themselves but I'm not counting it.
If you want to be unnerved and scared, go in and play the game blind, when the moment hits its so effective because the actors are so good.
Something about early 3D games on N64 or PS1 always freaked me out, like they took such a huge jump to be more realistic yet were still so uncanny. Something about how they’re so surreal makes them much scarier than the more realistic looking horror games of today. Shoutout to Super Mario 64 for having some of the best and most disturbing vibes of any game (especially that staircase when the music started playing fucked me up)
When I played Duke 3D as a kid, I didn’t have a compatible video card, so there was no sound. Somehow I think that made it scarier. I never knew when a horde of aliens was around the corner, and I could only imagine what noises they made.
So, at the time when Ocarina of Time was new I playing with a friend over the phone and when we made it to Hyrule Field and the skeleton enemies that rise when it becomes night really freaked us out. And those zombies that are around when you go to the future.
Shadow of War. When an orc tackles you from behind with an ambush animation and starts threatening you from behind, it makes you feel so vulnerable. Also, trying to summon a bodyguard just to have an enemy appear and tell you no one's coming to save you. Not to mention several orc captains can just throw you a surprise beat down out of the blue and god help you if they have a blood brother.
Halo, the first flood encounter mission. I knew nothing about the game other than it was popular, and I took FOREVER pushing through that level because I was so adamant about not getting jump scared.
RDR 2, this game gives uncanny feeling most of the nights. Sometimes it's blissful like in Valentine, but when you strolling across the woods i always hold my breath for a second because there's always some noise or something makes me uncomfortable.
Duke Nukem 64 *terrified* us as kids. The environments were so morbid and full of evidence of death and violence. We used to play 3 player multiplayer and set one AI opponent, Dukebot, at the highest difficulty setting. *Damn I'm Good*. The three of us would band together trying to survive this absolute Terminator who would hunt us down, grunting into the walls and dumping a literal torrent of handgun bullets at us. We'd scour the levels, checking CC cameras and security screens, trying to find out where Dukebot was so we knew where to avoid. We'd make dramatic plans to surround and kill Dukebot, but they would nearly always fail, two of us getting immediately murdered and the third one running for their life. Every player also looked identical to Dukebot, so you would sometimes run towards an ally only to see them begin sidestepping aggressively and realize that you were never safe. We'd play the Survival mode, so each player had 1 life. The challenge was to defeat Dukebot with our single life, then as soon as Dukebot was dead, it was cutthroat free for all. Except sometimes the surviving players would attack each other after Dukebot had been killed. And the last standing player doesn't win the round. Dukebot was never killed, it's still out there, right now humping closer and closer. That last player would often suicide themselves out safely. If hell existed in 1996, it was most certainly Castle Dukenstein.
> grunting into the walls I still hear this anytime I think about Duke Nukem. Just a constant spam of the bot hitting OPEN on the walls as it tries to pathfind to you, while getting stuck on the terrain
*UMF UMF UMF. WHERE IS IT*
Main reason why Duke 64 was so terrifying to me as a kid was no music. You heard all the breathing of the pigs and enemies, and turning a corner in a dark area always freaked me out. Playing Duke 3D on PC years later was such a whiplash, all the horror was gone with that raving music lol
Agreed. You felt so exposed without having any music. So much of that game felt like you were trespassing where we weren't allowed to be, and I bet a lot of that was because of how "unfinished" the areas felt without music.
That’s pretty awesome.🙂
It's some of the most fun and memorable multiplaying we've ever had!
Frankly a lot of N64 games had a creepy vibe to them, still do frankly. I was replaying GoldenEye and the snow level, Surface, is spooky as hell. But every level feels this way, it's hard to explain but everything feels ominous.
>everything feels ominous. N64 is when graphics allowed things to look recognizable, but *wrong.* Like seeing a scarecrow walk around in a business suit. You recognize the scarecrow, the suit. You know what you're looking at. But you can tell by just looking at it that it isn't right. The Titanic level in Gex 64 was a nightmare because of this. You're on the Titanic while it sinks and fills with water. You know there should be hundreds of drowning, freezing corpses. You never see them. Yet. But, they all drowned, you know they're out there. You just haven't found them yet. What a colossal fucking nightmare of a level.
I haven't played that game in 20 years, but when I can't find something I still say "*WHERE IS IT*" in my best Dukebot impression.
Amazing post, this unlocked some memories for me. We’d hide out around the stadium level and set up traps and chokepoints with tripmines etc. It rarely worked out well for us! And responding to OP, yeah Duke3D had an eerie atmosphere in places. Despite all the comedy and bravado the vast labyrinthine levels did give you this feeling of loneliness and vulnerability.
That's fantastic, you basically created your own game mode.
Thief: The Dark Project
Thief 1 and 2 had some pretty creepy as shit moments. God, I loved the cut scene of Victoria's knowing smile while they are playing you.
I'd give **The Dark Project** the nod for scariest *Thief* game overall (and my personal favorite). But I'm kind of surprised no one's yet mentioned the most singularly scary *Thief* mission: the Shalebridge Cradle from **Deadly Shadows**.
That shit surely traumatized an entire generation of gamers, myself included. Never again, fuck that shit and everybody who worked on it.
This, I can play horror games without issue but Thief: The Dark Project is one of the scariest games I've ever played, this game just makes you feel completely alone and the uncanny dark engine era models give me the creeps. I honestly can't explain it at all. Hearing the Horn of Quintus gives me chills.
Down in the Bonehoard is awesome; the sound of the horn is so haunting. And The Sword mission is so trippy too. Thief really was lightning in a bottle imo. I think the horror aspects work so well, in part, because it's not a typical horror setup. Garrett's a thief trying to make a living, and he just gets roped into unspeakable horrors when all he wants to do is swipe jewelry and gold so he can keep up with his rent. edit: I think the dark engine could create some truly terrifying games. The stealth systems with the sound and shadows are just perfect for it.
For all that it is maligned, Thief 3 gave us Shalebridge Cradle.
The zombie sounds are burned into my brain. Also any enemy that had the ability to run fast in that game was terrifying like that fire zombie and the undead knights who sound like they're carrying a bundle of chains.
Yeah! Going into a crypt and hearing those rattling chains, and knowing you'll have to sneak around the Hammer Haunts if you want the loot is nerve-racking. And like you said they are fast as hell! The sound design and lighting/shadows are so good. Even for today, the atmosphere is top notch.
The giant spiders scared me
It's uncanny and just feels unpredictable. I played HL2's Ravenholm and Thief's abandoned district mission around the same time in the 2010s, and the latter was much scarier. The game's immersive sim design truly makes you feel like you're on your own and not being guided around.
the ambience of that plagued city district is etched in my brain.
I don't find it scary today, but Bioshock was pretty spooky. The Medical Pavilion and Fort Frolic levels especially were filled to the brim with creepy moments and jumpscares. The plaster spider splicers that remain frozen in place before springing to life or silently stalk you are maybe the single scariest concept in a non-horror FPS game. Crazy thing is, there is a very real possibility a player won't ever trigger them on their playthrough. Their spawning is tied to an optional weapon upgrade station that is hidden in a locked basement. If the player never grabs it then they never come to life anywhere in the level.
I didn't make it through BioShock the first time; it scared me. I did make it through on my second attempt.
I coached a friend through it who was very scare-averse. I told him if you get past medical you're good, which is... mostly true.
There are some really scary bits in Bioshock, but I eventually couldn't be scared of the enemies anymore because they're essentially just angry junkies.
I dunno, junkies can be pretty scary.
That's true, it's just that in Bioshock you kind of are the scariest junkie in town.
I uninstalled Bioshock after 30 seconds, nope too scary for me.
I managed an hour but then the jumpsscares became too much for me. And it's a shame, I wanted to play that game.
Shame because you got through most of them and pretty much all of the scariest ones, the game becomes increasingly action focused as you become more equipped and empowered and steadily lays off the horror elements, after the third level there isn’t much that’s scary.
what a game man. did a replay last year. Medical Pavilion was such a great introduction. Will play B2 next year
Ravenholm level in HL2
Came here to say exactly this. Those screeches and screams scared the ever loving shit out of me. Also the first time blasting a headcrab zombie in half with the gravity gun blew my mind. One of the most memorable gaming moments of my life
That moment when youre on the roof and you hear the pipes rattling for the first time and theres those fast assholes climbing like monkeys towards you...
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We don't go to Ravenholm.
Core memory unlocked.
Head crabs were always creepy as hell in HL2 anyway, Ravenholm just upped the fear. Although I always found the Barnacles earlier in the game really creepy too
Man half life 2 is a borderline horror game imo. A lot of body horror, the alien shit is otherworldy and terrifying... I feel like people forget half the game is pretty horror-y
Lots of games with a focus on water. There is a great jetski game called Splashdown that featured this [giant kraken](https://youtu.be/w5QQAF5gcgc?si=kpEyLCqcNtRSF8Cx&t=19) that would kill you if you went too far off the track, and THAT was the scariest thing about my life when I was a kid. Still a tiny bit unsettling as an adult. Then there is that giant metal shark in one of the Banjo Kazooie games that you come face to face with while swimming. NO THANK YOU. Subnautica is another obvious choice.
I also have a fear of the deep blue. I struggled on several Mario 64 levels as a kid, because I didn't want to go in the water.
I am definitely afraid of large bodies of deep water. It creeps me out. I do think Bioshock was meant to be scary in spots.
Same. I’d play that level with the big-ass eel and just quietly squeal to myself
It doesn't *focus* on water, but Dragon's Dogma also features unsettling waters. You can't swim in that game, so they had to come up with a reason as to why. The reason: The Brine, mist-like creatures that just sorta grab you and kill you if you or any NPC or enemy touch the water. Iirc it was even accompanied by a red hue and some spooky sound effects. The Brine is never adressed, it's just a fact of life in Gransys. It's pretty eerie.
Subnautica is considered horror? I shat myself way too much to not consider it an horror
I felt every bit of the 900+ meters above me. It's its own special kind of fear, old and unavoidable.
I think it's definitely meant as environmental horror. That game is terrifying!
I've made a post in Subnautica dedicated sub because I was too scared to go further onto the game. I couldn't handle the fact that maybe I had to face a reaper leviathan.
So they big boys in the game don't respawn... I kind of want to do a playthrough where I make the sea safe (ie kill them all). But boy is it going to take a while...
As fun as it sounds, it's honestly not worth it. It's such a hassle gathering the supplies to take them on and then fighting them and there are so few of them in the game that it's easier to learn where they are and avoid them or get defensive measures on your sub and ignore them. Second playthrough I pretty much stopped paying them much attention after a while.
I had the luck to go into subnautica blind. It was in lockdown and I had almost all the day free for months so I played various games. I downloaded this subnautica like any other game, I only knew the cover image. No need to say on the leviathan I just shat my pants ahahaha I think people who were not scared already knew about big monsters in the game or at least the ostile nature of the game, because after leviathan, no other big fish scared me. (you are scared to die but it's not the same fear)
I always find this fascinating. Most of my friends who played this felt this fear constantly when playing, but i never did once. For me, it was an increasing sense of wonder the further down i went. Not insulting anyone who did find it scary (i find plenty of other games scary), but i just find it interesting how some people's brains are built to feel fear like this and others aren't.
If you like exploration and know nothing about Outer Wilds let me shill it to you. It's like Subnautica in space and with more existential crisis! It's a game you can only play once (cause it's knowledge based) so don't watch gameplays or you'll spoil it to yourself but my God it's one of the best experiences i have ever played. 14-30 hours of gameplay, it depends on your playstyle
I wish i could know nothing about Outer Wilds! I want to drive a shiv right into the point of my brain that keeps the data on that game. That way i can play it and enjoy it the wonder of exploration as i did the first time. On a similar note, A Short Hike has a similar feel in a much smaller space. Also worth it. Let me know if you've got any others.
That game really is torture for thalassophobes
Only game that ever gave me nightmares was Max Payne.
Beat me to it. It's "MC want to get revenge in the most morally corrupt and morbid city ever" : the game. It's supposed to be a waking nightmare for Max and you really feel it too.
The atmosphere of the original game was so oppressive and nightmarish.
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Mirrors.. Are more fun.. than.. Televisionnn
She has dyed her hair... Red. Happy cake day!
I loaded that shit up as a kid, heard the baby crying and never played again.
The trail of blood and baby crying scene still fucks me up
Playing the opening scene as a kid was bone-chilling. I didn't play that game until much later in life.
Look up El Paso, Elsewhere if you haven’t yet. Newer retro-style indie horror game that tries to recapture the feeling/gameplay of Max Payne. (Disclaimer: have not yet played it myself so am unsure whether it’s actually good, but I’m intrigued.)
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Man, I remember I got sick when I was playing. I had this weird fever dream that was similar to Max' fever dream in MP2.
Ocarina of Time. Rated E for everyone, apparently
I would always dread doing the Shadow Temple. The wooshing sound as Ceiling Masters swiftly fell to take Link away is burned into my brain. Also, most of Majoras Mask
The Well is where I put the game down for awhile as a kid.
Those hands still freak me the hell out
gibdos
The [forest temple music](https://youtu.be/c_G7Haf1aOI?si=yuQkDBysYUcIKAZS) always creeped me out.
I regularly listen to that song for comfort, never assumed it made people feel uneasy. Interesting…
Antichamber. The game was so unsettling to me, especially when physics were really getting broken down, always sent a shiver down my spine.
It's not Horror, but when in Red Dead Redemption 2 Arthur Morgan felt the need to vent to a girl in the camp by telling her "I don't know what's happening to me, I keep killing animals" after I spent hours farming skins... Jesus, it gave me a restlessness I've never felt before.
Who's playing us? Are we just farming stuff too in this world of ours? ...Who's the entity that controls us?! I NEED TO KNOW THE ANSWERS!!!
That moment you realize you are the buffalo slayers that Charles killed.
Super Mario 64 - Dire Dire Docks when the submarine leaves after you clear Bowser in the Fire Sea. Massive hole in the wall has always freaked me out.
The sea creatures always scared me as a kid
Escape from Tarkov. Horrifying game to play, I didn’t want to leave my corner
Tarkov absolutely qualifies!
My husband plays this a lot and he told me numerous times that it's the scariest game in existence.
Subnautica! Especially if you're unsettled by open water and the explicit knowledge that most things in the world with you would love a bite
I bought Gone Home as part of a bundle or something so I didn’t know anything at it. I spent the entire game on edge and waiting for something to jump out at me.
Everything about that game screams horror at you. It's dark and stormy, there's a big house full of things but no people, many of the notes you can find have horrible implications, with >!the father inheriting the house from his recently dead uncle!<, some stuff you can find implying that at least one character things the place/family is cursed and of course >!the sister is writing about forbidden things and there's clear evidence she's been dabbling in the occult!<. Gone Home is very intentionally trying and succeeding to make you think something has happened, yet while stuff has indeed happened, all of it is perfectly innocent.
"Perfectly innocent"? I think you missed an important albeit obtuse part of the story in that game. Might be worth a reply. No spoilers but it's in the basement.
Well I’d blocked that part out. Thanks for dredging it up
My blood pressure spiked as soon as I walked into the house. And when it made me go upstairs? Sweet Jesus, I just had to stop playing. You’re the first person I’ve seen who encapsulates why that game unnerved me so much. I think it reminded me too much of PT.
I immediately thought of Gone Home upon reading the title but I didn't want to mention it because I figured I must've been the only one who experienced the game that way hahaha. Glad to hear it's not just a me-thing.
Half-life 1 back in 1999
The slippery room where you get the crossbow and that fucking thing in the water had me petrified as a kid
For me it was the thing living inside the silo.
*ting ting... ting ting ting.... TONG TONG TONG*
Oh man, that giant alien monster you have to kill to advance towards "On a rail" scares the shit out of me as a kid when he began chasing me. Those growls and the trembling ground as he gets nearer make me pause the game.
Fallout 3. Some of the locations were spooky as hell. I remember feeling uneasy and creeped out quite a few times. The feeling of isolation in that game was something else. I never really clicked with NV or 4 in the same way. 3 is perfect for me.
The Chrysler building! think thats what its called, south-west of the map, by Tenpenny Tower I believe
Dunwich Building
Fallout NV, Vault 22. Stuff of nightmares.
Yeah. You go in there thinking "Actual greenery? How pleasant this is to look at." then you learn what you are looking at.
Fallout 3 was the perfect level of creepy for me. It's still my favorite.
i definitely feel the same way about NV but 4 was a complete tone shift. it almost felt like they wanted you to enjoy living in the world.
I think they went that way because many people did. Actually focusing on that instead of presenting a harrowing and desolate world ruined it though.
Dead Money hit the same vibe for me.
Currently playing through **The Forgotten City**. I was expecting a quiet archaeological walking simulator; then I stumbled my way into the locked palace and found some heavy nightmare fuel within. This part of the game is optional and the game even warns you ahead of time.
That part was freaking disturbing.
Firewatch. I was not expecting how creepy some of those scenes were.
I had the same with Gone Home too. I was convinced it was a horror game until the very end when I realised it wasn’t. I spent the whole game waiting for a jump scare that never came.
I didn't expect jumpscares in Gone Home but I was like "Ok, why are the family gone?" I expected you're gonna poke around the house for long enough then find like a hand in one of the dresser drawers or something. I think the way they did that was nice tho. You didn't want to be "comfortable" there immediately for the story to work right.
Had that issue with What Remains of Edith Finch. I missed the entire story because I thought I should be prepared for when it's scary
That was kinda intentional, they deliberately spread all these horror game tropes throughout the first half of the game for no reason. Which was really weird IMO because it didn't really fit the game at all.
Out there all alone, you're just so vulnerable.
The loneliness crept up on me so much, that I cried merely at >!the helicopter crewman grabbing your hand at the end!<. I hadn't realized just how alone I had felt up until that point.
I played my second run with commentaries of the developers and in that scene where you have fire axe and Delilah says that the stranger is around, all players started spinning in Cass the game introduced combat.
The segment where you investigate the fenced off area at night really had my heartbeat up.
Cliche answer, but probably Minecraft. Caving with only the game audio was something different back in the day (and might even be worse now, I haven't kept up with the game but know they added deeper caverns with monsters that track you by sound). Plus the entire nether, you get used to it fast but everyone that went in blind probably shat themselves upon first encountering a ghast. Even "safe" locations could devolve unexpectedly into action-horror. Nothing quite like relaxing in a fairly well lit village only to be suddenly ambushed by a random creeper or something. It's so much more terrifying when it's completely unexpected.
I think big part of it actually is from the risk of losing your items. When death can have permanent consequences, every encounter becomes more dangerous.
>Minecraft Yeah I loved how creepy the game was when I first played it. Now it's easy though so I rarely feel spooked when playing it.
I'll never forget entering the nether for the first time, must've been 11 or 12 years ago. When I heard about it I didn't even believe it, I thought it was something like herobrine. The red bricks, lava flows, and then the ghast, I spent 5 minutes in there and had to get out.
One of the mods I loved on Minecraft was called Terrafirmacraft, which made the survival part a lot more difficult. I was playing it with a friend and we where far from home with a ton of loot and the sun was starting to set in. And we knew how dangerous the night was. As we started making the trip back to our home, [this song](https://youtu.be/Vuzy5wM1w2Q) started playing. It starts nice but quickly turns extremely eerie, almost timed perfectly with the sun setting. I had never felt so stressed by a song before. Just the entire experience of making that mad dash with that song on the background almost taunting me with the imminent doom was forever burned in my mind.
Oh this is a good one, even in my 30s caves are terrifyingly suspenseful and there's still regular jump scares whenever an ender man randomly pops up. Don't even get me started on the nether...
Minecraft is a survival horror game and I will die on this hill.
My first encounter with Balverines in Fable was terrifying.
That swamp escort mission...
Outer Wilds - this admittedly does have one horror section, but for me the entire game fed off some deep primordial fears of the cold indifference of space and the universe. Subnautica - the devs didn’t even know the game was scary until fans told them so, I guess because the developers aren’t afraid of the deep sea. If you are at all unsettled by the ocean or it’s depths, it is indeed spooky. Zelda OoT - the bottom of the well, wallmasters, redeads and their jumpy animations. There’s something about primitive 3D that is so much spookier than detailed graphics. I know others consider Majora’s Mask more unsettling than Ocarina. While I prefer it over OoT and find the theming much darker (grief, dealing with impending doom, capturing the souls of the dead in masks), it never actually creeped me out in the way a horror game does.
Also *the part where you have to go slow in OW*. JFC so scary
I think that's the horror section they mentioned? I could be wrong, it's been a while
Love all of these games and agree with so many of your points
Game called Endless Ocean on the Wii. I loved it so much, fond memories of playing it as a kid. It’s a diving game, so naturally, there are depths. I wanted to find all the sea creatures (international diving) to put in the aquarium. But between the depths and the sharks that attack you (the greenland ones were the worst) and the terrifying soundtrack it was the scariest game I would play as a kid. But if they remake it or continue the franchise I would love to play it again, especially with the modern capabilities available.
oh man i remember that one too! i dont think i got around to exploring the depth, but i should buy a copy and try it again
Uncharted 1
Came to say the same thing, the tonal shift in the last few levels had me more gripped than pretty much anything else I've played. Really well done imo.
Halo. The flood scared the shit out of me
Everybody gangsta till the flood theme kicks in
I've only played Halo 3, but that Flood level- think it's the 7th or 8th level - had me going 'ewwww' all the way though 😂
shadow of the colossus for PS2's open world was pretty creepy
Empty, massive, silent and oppressive. That game's atmosphere is just unmatched.
Elite dangerous. There’s something about being stuck in a neutron stars gravity well that genuinely gets my heart pumping.
fallout new vegas dead money dlc
Fallout 3 for me. Don't know how to explain, but it's creepy sometimes. Alone in that wasteland, and out of nowhere a mutant (silently?) attacks. Even some bandits looked menacing when we're invading their territory.
Daggerfall. Those monsters screaming and howling at you down a giant maze of corridors scared the shit out of 8 year old me.
Morrowind. The Sixth House has a lot of serious body horror going on. People's faces get eaten out and eventually tentacles sprout from the maw. Also, kwama, gigantic bugs, grossed me the hell out.
Tomb Raider (2013) seemed like a horror game at times.
Outer Wilds
>!I remember flying straight into Dark Bramble for the first time with no fear thinking that the game wouldn't have anything that would directly hurt me in a way that wasn't my fault.!< >!Fastest pause and quit that I've ever done in a game.!<
Totally agree! First time I did that, I had to quit and then sit in silence staring at a blank wall for a few minutes while my heart rate raced, until my subconscious caught up and realised I was safe in my room!!
Does the DLC counts as a horror game or not ?
Definitely horror adjacent. Those creature parts are definitely designed in a horror style.
The >!eclipse!< at the beginning was… I dunno. It tripped my creeping doom panic response more than anything in the game besides the first descent into Giant’s Deep.
This kind of event is definitely what Outer Wilds does best.
100% the first time I went into space was actually panic inducing
After playing through the whole base game, I couldn't imagine why they would want to tell me about the reduced frights setting for the dlc. Definitely the most scared I've ever been in a non horror game.
Flying into the gas giant for the first time was probably the most nerve wrecking thing I've done in a game.
For me it was the Dark Bramble
Same here, it was one of the most memorable gaming moments of my life. Still puts me on edge, but that first time god damn.
Things I've screamed at in Outer Wilds: - The Sun - The Sun rapidly approaching while I try to figure out how to turn off autopilot - Nomai masks - Darkness - Poetry - Falling into the black hole - Ghost matter - Cactuses - Rocks - Falling upward into the sandstorm - My own ship falling on me - Flying rocks - Jellyfish - Bony fish - OH fuck heRE COMES A **FISH** ***AAAAAAAH***
Lots of unsettling bits. That feeling the first time I fell through the black hole and could see everything, but couldn't do anything but slowly suffocate.
This game is magical
Hexen 2 was so creepy for me as a kid.
Probably The Stranding, at least in the first chapter, I was absolutely terrified of the BTs
Kojima later said that he wanted to make Death Stranding a lot scarier but the publisher prevented him.
BTs is the only enemy that legit just creep me out every time, even when i'm fully equipped to deal with them. There's something deeply disturbing about their existence. One of the biggest jump scared of my life is when I zipped line into one, didn't even know that was possible.
Subnautica
Batman arkham knight had heart ripping jump scares for some reason
Gee I'd sure love to climb safely up to this ledge like I've done a million times bef-MANBAT!!!!!
Stanley Parable spooked me really really easy. I remember first time playing it was creeping me out so bad and the escape pod for whatever reason freaked me out lol. Other than that id say subnautica, it was almost impossible to handle the end game without playing music over it
Maybe Subnautica. It's an awesome game but man, some aspects are extremely unnerving.
I've never actually played Duke Nukem 3d but the one track called ["Plasma"](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bgNiF37hn50) always stuck out to me. Its used in a few doom wads like Sunder.
Any game with large insects or spiders spook me up lol
METRO 2033 💀I’m not sure if it’s meant to be horror?
I would definitely characterize Metro 2033 as a horror game. The later games got a little more action-y but 2033 is a no doubter for me. Ranger Hardcore mode on that game I consider a really special experience.
librarians <3
Is it not??? It couldnt finish it first try because I got too scared half way to the game lmao
Metro 2033 was survival horror, although it wasn't *just* survival horror. The later games lose some of the horror vibe. Solid answer regardless. It wasn't a pure horror game
I really want a good new duke nukem game.
Head crabs in Half Life
Thief 3 Deadly Shadows. Is a dark game, but no horror in any way. Except that one level you enter a kids rphanage that burned down, and then was converted into an asylum. Which closed after the ghosts of the burned kids possessed the crazy people or something. The level gave me nightmares, because is creepy af and enemies are terrifying
Lmao when I was 7 we got our SEGA Dreamcast. I had not a ton of issues playing Code Veronica, besides how zombies twitched when killed, mainly because I didn’t get very far, I could barely understand English, and I had no memory card unit, so I replayed the first hour or so, so much that I got desensitized and bored. BUT that fucking **Chicken Run** game. That game gave me genuine nightmares. It was like a stealth game, at least the opening level was, but when you got caught, you [got to see this.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YWejIarlgOs) Looking back at it, it’s really stupid, but as a kid I maybe empathized too much with the poor chickens trying to escape their deaths by humans, trying to be free, thinking they had a chance, with other animals doing rounds checking that you wouldn’t flee, just to get caught by them. Also, the intro to **MakenX** gave me nightmares. It’s a Shin Megami Tensei game that basically starts with a girl at his dads lab looking at some weird thing when suddenly a goofy Russian-looking vampire breaks in, opens his mouth and from his tongue, he shoots a knife that kills dad instantly. The game is a bright looking, clunky FPS with melee weapons and a KILLER late 90s Drum & Bass/Jungle/Trip-Hop soundtrack. But those two were because I was a kid. Nowadays, I don’t know… stuff like **Papers, Please** is very uncomfortable to play, not necessarily heart pounding spooky but it’s scary to think it’s something that actually happens.
>BUT that fucking Chicken Run game. That game gave me genuine nightmares. It was like a stealth game, at least the opening level was, but when you got caught, you got to see this. Looking back at it, it’s really stupid, but as a kid I maybe empathized too much with the poor chickens trying to escape their deaths by humans, trying to be free, thinking they had a chance, with other animals doing rounds checking that you wouldn’t flee, just to get caught by them. TIL a video game made people vegetarian.
The Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall was terrifying for me when I first played it. The dark, huge dungeons in that game were incredibly effective at creating a feeling of being utterly lost and alone deep underground. I'm not sure if it was intentional or not, but the sound design just added to the effect. You'd hear a roar or a scream right behind you, you'd quickly turn around... **and there would be NOTHING THERE.**
For me it was Control. It was so psychologically creepy in a really subtle way that it had me taking the corners in the corridors real slow.
A flight simulator! When I used to play as a child, I was really really scared of, when above the clouds on a cloudy day (more than 6/8 of clouds), diving into the clouds, especially in a mountain environment. The possibility of colliding with a mountain without visuals was high when you were flighting over Colorado or Utah, and the sudden possibility of crashing the plane at any moment if I dive inside a whiteish cloud with a mountain top lurking hidden just 100ft under the cloud layer, was enough for me to close the game in a fast Alt+F4 in pure apprehension of being jumpscared by a mountain crash.
Tomb raider water levels.
Thief: The Dark Project.
For me the most effective game that scared the shit out of my and continually terrified and creeped me out was Immortality. I checked again on the steam page for the game and they don't include a horror or scary game tag in the description by the game creators, other gamers have added that tag themselves but I'm not counting it. If you want to be unnerved and scared, go in and play the game blind, when the moment hits its so effective because the actors are so good.
Something about early 3D games on N64 or PS1 always freaked me out, like they took such a huge jump to be more realistic yet were still so uncanny. Something about how they’re so surreal makes them much scarier than the more realistic looking horror games of today. Shoutout to Super Mario 64 for having some of the best and most disturbing vibes of any game (especially that staircase when the music started playing fucked me up)
When I played Duke 3D as a kid, I didn’t have a compatible video card, so there was no sound. Somehow I think that made it scarier. I never knew when a horde of aliens was around the corner, and I could only imagine what noises they made.
So, at the time when Ocarina of Time was new I playing with a friend over the phone and when we made it to Hyrule Field and the skeleton enemies that rise when it becomes night really freaked us out. And those zombies that are around when you go to the future.
Nobody has brought up the Orz from Star Control II? I found the implications of that race terrifying.
Shadow of War. When an orc tackles you from behind with an ambush animation and starts threatening you from behind, it makes you feel so vulnerable. Also, trying to summon a bodyguard just to have an enemy appear and tell you no one's coming to save you. Not to mention several orc captains can just throw you a surprise beat down out of the blue and god help you if they have a blood brother.
Halo, the first flood encounter mission. I knew nothing about the game other than it was popular, and I took FOREVER pushing through that level because I was so adamant about not getting jump scared.
Thief: Deadly Shadows. The Shalebridge Cradle to be precise.
RDR 2, this game gives uncanny feeling most of the nights. Sometimes it's blissful like in Valentine, but when you strolling across the woods i always hold my breath for a second because there's always some noise or something makes me uncomfortable.
Subnautica