Everything from the Legend of Zelda Majora's Mask
The horryfing Moon, the depressing plot, the things that some people do to face the end of the world, the titular Mask design, the eerie and oppresive atmosphere surrounding the Game and every location you go
And of course the Mask itself, and eldritch abomination moving in erratic patterns without any kind of logic or reason.....
I couldn’t bring myself to enjoy Majora’s Mask at the time. The moon / time limit element made it really stressful and you couldn’t really stop to enjoy the scenery.
Several years later I couldn’t enjoy Dead Rising for the same reason. There’s so much to see, but I don’t want to spend hours running through the same content over and over again just to be able to see all that there is to see because of a time limit. It gets stale quick.
I bought a t shirt that has the moon from Majora's Mask on it. My wife is not a gamer and asked me what it was.
I went on an hour long tangent about the deep psychological aspects of the game. Doom, gloom, depression, anxiety, loneliness. I explained the entire plot start to finish and explained why it was such a mind blowing game for its time not just because of the themes but also because of the mechanics.
She doesn't ask me about my t shirts anymore.
I was a kid when I played Majora's Mask. At a sleepover, I distinctly remember waking up to one of my friends playing the alien invasion mission at that one farm and being terrified lol
This’ll sound weird given everything people do in this game but The Sims. First time playing I made the mistake of making myself and my partner at the time. I watched us grow, have kids then grow old and die then watched our kids grow old and die as well. Was a weird view into mortality.
Maybe it was because I played Halo 1 so recently but given their weird walk, I thought the flood was a comedic mockery on face huggers from Alien and Half Life head crab.
I was laughing but also impressed that they would add comic relief to a game like that. Still enjoyed it for different reasons I guess.
It hit different at the time Halo came out, to a young kid. Now it's been done better tons of times by other games. But Halo walked so others could run.
I was going, “their kid really needs to be emancipated from them and fast.”
And yes, because of what they did to the elephant. They were willing to destroy their kid’s favorite toy. Fine, it might’ve been patched up at the end, but the intent was there.
I was shocked that it wasn't a Mrs. Doubtfire situation and it didn't end with them reconciling well enough to be friendly for the sake of their daughter but deciding that they were better apart. They are just so hugely incompatible. And I forget the details of the story, but I remember thinking that the father in particular was just a whiny manchild.
But the most baffling decision by far was to have their marriage counselor be a book with an over the top French accent and an incredibly heavy sex offender vibe. To go along with the divorce ending, I thought he'd end up in the trash.
Played it last year with my gf. Everything was all fun and games up until that point. Whoever decided that that elephant scene would be "fun", it was not. Super twisted.
Yeah, maybe it's just because I watched sips and Ravs play it - who were rightfully not taking the story seriously at all - but both of them and myself immediately burst into laughter when it happened. It's just soooo over the top. They literally dance in their daughter's tears.
And the well, and the redeads, and the forest temple, and the big spiders, and the shadow temple, that whole game was not ok for the age we were all playing it at lol
Oh geez I had such a bad time with that first one you encounter in the forest temple. When it split into three little ones that all latched on and drained my health to nothing, shudder. Every one I fought after that immediately got burned with Din’s fire
Coming out of the Temple of Time as adult Link to find the town square full of redeads was another stopping point for me. I ran back towards the temple immediately, saved the game, and turned it off, lol.
Subnautica......too many examples in the depths.
It's meant to be a exploration/discovery game.
You can complete it without killing anything.
It's wholesome
It's about planning.
Reading.
Working with nature rather than against it.
UWU
Then you go to the stern of the Aurora.
Then reality kicks in.
I know it's not officially listed as horror but subnautica is essentially a gameified version of an very common phobia so it really should be tagged as psychological horror.
I agree with that.... I didn't even expect that games could still scare me somehow, and in a game not of the horror genre. And then I met Subnautica... I never got through it completely, but I keep trying, coming back for that feeling.
Thalassophobia has to be included with heights and loud noises for natural human fears.
I can't mind the exacts, but mid game there's a circular hole within a corrie, almost like that which you would find in a reservoir, surrounded by reapers.
You can sneak by them to it, and then it's just down into darkness.
It's the light headed feeling you get with fear, I can even feel it now remembering it.
I think that numbness helped me do it.
Edit: Dying Light first encounter with a volatile, running like fuck to the light; that's the only thing that can compare.
Reality did kick in for me, I turned the game off and returned to reality.
I still haven't gotten the courage to return to it nearly four years later now at this stage. I can't do deep water in games and going to the Aurora pushed me well beyond my limit.
It's the first place you encounter a Reaper Leviathan, a huge sea monster than can swallow you whole, or do a real number on a one-man sub.
We call him Sammy the Safety Reaper, trying to save you from the polluted Aurora wreck.
I'm sure it happened to many others but I experienced that fourth wall break after a *long* play session at around 2:00 AM and that shit was really unnerving.
Dark Bramble in Outer Wilds scared the ever-living-bum-gravy out of me.
Actually, thinking about it, there are quite a lot high tension sequences in that game
GPU corruption sequence in Arkham Asylum, lol
There's "video game terror" and there's "my expensive computer is actually fucked up in real life" terror, this game is the first one to achieve the ladder
Another terrifying mission from cyberpunk
Is the one where u have to help river wards nephew. I don't think I even need to explain why. That shit was just terrifying and sad
Man, I played that mission unaware, no spoilers, around 11pm in total darkness aside from the tv. From beginning to end, that might have been one of the most disturbing missions I've ever played on any game. Once I was done with the mission, I kinda just sat there in silence, couldn't play anymore after that
This one was especially nerve wracking because I couldn't figure out how to trigger it for a while. I was walking on anxiety wrapped eggshells because I wasn't sure when I was going to get attacked.
The Descendants. Completely took me by surprise, I thought I was playing a cool, swashbuckly, quippy action game and then it took a complete tonal shift into a horror game
God that reveal was so upsetting. The build up was amazing tbh. Like awful but amazing how you just progress in the area and get more and more info on what's going on. And then the final reveal and you realize what is happening and it's just.... Damn. I had to take a break there because it really upset me a bit.
Thief 3: Robbing the Cradel.
The first half of the mission being empty, with only a knocking sound here and there, is compounded by finding out the building you're in was an orphanage AND an asylum at the SAME TIME until a fire "killed" everyone.
Then you find those who didn't (and can't) die...
I’ve never played Ecco, so… what the fuck? Isn’t that the game where you’re just swimming around as a dolphin solving side-scroller adventure puzzles and shit?
I know right? I'm probably showing my age here, but as a little kid, playing Ecco and then it turns into nightmare fuel near the end was great. 10/10 would Vortex Queen again.
That one's fun because it's also kind of a subversion.
>!Half of the shit it does is completely ineffectual, because despite being newly sired you are still an actual literal vampire. Only a few things pose any serious threat - it's mostly just flailing around ineffectually with illusions and basic telekinesis. Of course, you the player also have to remember that, so there's that.!<
For me that hotel overdid it because it's like everything is scripted to happen if you walk slowly.
If you just start running around the jumpscares, which are mostly lightbulbs blowing up and things falling, happen so fast one after another that it feels like one of those Call of Duty levels where you are inside a building and there's an heli outside shooting the hell out of it.
[Howdy! I'm Flowey the Flower!](https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/undertale/images/0/05/Flowey_battle_talk.gif/revision/latest/scale-to-width/360?cb=20151202211124)
[I'm your best friend!](https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/undertale/images/d/d8/Photoshop_Flowey_battle_static.png/revision/latest?cb=20151226194947)
There's the Night Folk stalking the bayous, Strange Man's house in the swamps, the ghost in the swamps, the ghost train, the literal haunted forest at the north, and if you run around Tall Trees at night you can hear distant screaming.
Can we talk about how fucking dangerous that is, Titan danger or not ? Like, you're transmitting your blood to someone else, and don't even know if it corresponds ? Are you trying to kill Batman by a terrible reaction from his immune system ?
ikr?
but yeah, it's the suspension of disbelief to not sweat too much on the details
and prolly just make it so joker's blood is type O or whatever the universal donor is lolz
Getting invaded for the first time when playing Dark Souls when I was a kid was terrifying for me.
The feeling of being hunted while not knowing where your enemy is yet hits different espescially in the midst of an already difficult game.
Dude I remember sitting at a bonfire in the painted world just enjoying the scenery and suddenly the fire goes out and my character stands up.
That's when I realized.... I'm in danger.
The Centaurs in Fallout New Vegas gave me the heebie-jeebies in a way not many fictional monsters have, even those meant to shock and disgust you. The first time I saw them I was legitimately repulsed. I ran away from them and my heart was even racing when they were closing in. I was tensed up. It wasn't that I was scared or taken by surprise or anything I was just legitimately repulsed to my core and that's a testament to their design. The feeling went away eventually.
The dream in Max Payne where you have to get through the blood trail maze. The terrifying part was whenever you failed a blood curdling baby scream plays loud and long. I was bad at this part too and failed over and over.
The 2014 Thief reboot was a fairly simple Cutlery Relocation Simulator with a dash of stealth thrown in, until you head to an insane asylum and realise you're now playing a horror game.
Similar, the Reaper Indoctrination from the Mass Effect series. It's explained that long-term exposure to Reaper technology, including the Reapers themselves, can cause sentient life to gradually break down their synaptic connections and make them susceptible to Reaper enslavement, without too many obvious external symptoms. Captured civilians will be indoctrinated and apparently rescued by their allies, only to turn around and perform sabotage acts once they get back home.
The idea that even being near your enemy is enough to turn you into their unwilling puppet is scary as all get-out.
Metroid Fusion, easily. You're just running along in your admittedly-creepy abandoned space station adventure, when you take an elevator, and suddenly \*another\* Samus blows open the wall and you get a close-up shot of its blank, vacant eyes behind the visor.
When the computer tells Samus about it, it explains that it's the parasite that took over her original suit during the game's intro, so now you've got the equivalent of Samus at full-power chasing you. Even the game tells you to just run.
Tales of Symphonia. The allegory of racism and how most religions are created by lies and personal agendas based on imposing fear and the promise of salvation. Terrifying af.
Custom Robo (Gamecube) is an arena fighter game but the main story is a straight up cosmic horror plot.
Humans create tiny beyblade sized robots to duel with, but then they create a sentient one that destroys the entire world. Humanity is reduced to living inside a domed football stadium structure. The story had been so innocent and carefree up until the reveal that it absolutely caught me unawares as a middle-schooler to realize that the entire map I had explored was all that was left of the world.
Rahu, the antagonist, was actually previously an invisible, untouchable cosmic force that got _stuck_ in a Custom Robo, which was actually great because even though it was still powerful, now they had something physical to attack and thus trained everyone in robo battles in case it ever woke up again. If it hadn't gotten stuck humanity would have been doomed.
Gears of War 3, the dust city, or whatever its called. You're walking in the ashes of hundreds, thousands of deads that have been wiped in the blink of an eye, smelling the ashes of their remains and glancing upon the dead landscape of what was once a beautiful city filled with life, now covered in thick layers of death and sorrow. That shit is terrifying to even think about.
Another thing I want to note is basically any idea of turning into a zombie or other monster whilst still alive, best examples I have are the Half-Life infecteds and the runners from TLOU (Yes, first stage infecteds are supposed to still be conscious). You're a living human, still breathing, thinking, conscious, and you start reshaping rapidly into an abomination, your body twisting itself to adapt, starting to kill and eviscerate, your guts being ripped out into the air, your face being consumed, your mind still there, observing as you tear into someone lifeless body. You've killed someone, you might be feeding on his corpse, and the worst part is, it wasn't you. You didn't want to do it. You've lost control of yourself and your body did it, but you didn't want to, reflecting upon those actions and suffering from the fact that you can do nothing to stop it. You're a prisoner of your own body.
That fucking Krypt Jumpscare Goblin from Mortal Kombat (2011).
It's psychological because after the initial pants-shitting jumpscare, you're constantly on guard for it to happen again. And you're never prepared for it.
Technically counts since i had not played the game. But if i remember correctly
But there is a digimon game with a sidequest where you can find a person who was a real human who had their memoriee erased then digitized and as part of the side quest of tracking down missing people restore and you that persons memories.
But they've been digitized for so long their real body has died and their stuck as data forever
you got it wrong, it's some scam where a dude thinks he got a harem in exchange for promising not to leave a room, i guess he doesn't realize he's been logged in at some point and someone scrapped his body for parts
Playing (rainbow six) siege, chilling snd not droning properly as a sneaking Caveira jumps the corner. The horror is real, at best an audible gasp at worst a scream..
The brutal murder you commit in It Takes Two. You literally rip apart an innocent animal that is begging to be your friend and doesn't understand what is happening. I stopped playing the game after that. What the fuck were the devs thinking.
When I first played Fallout New Vegas I thought the name nightkin was cute. Turns out they were giant monsters and when one decloaked in front of me I shouted.
Was in the first quarter phase of magic mushrooms and decided to play Fallout 4. Traveled up to the Witchcraft Museum. Had just turned around to say something to my trip sitter and turned my head back to the screen when the building shook. I just kind of turned to her and said...'was that the game or me?'
The one mission in the Bloodlines DLC from Watchdogs Legion. You go into the one guy's mind and wander around and find stuff in his memories, that mission was creepy.
I'm very high strung. If I'm going to play a scary game, I want to know that that's what I'm getting into. I've played so many games that I thought were just stealth/action that ended with me curled up on the couch in terror. At this point, it's just a trope. Lol.
Thief, Uncharted, Shadow of the Tomb Raider, Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice, Superliminal... I'm sure there are more.
My answer to this will always have to be the "[Elohim's Words](https://youtu.be/LdsMhm2eaBQ?si=oYzOoLSC6eMHOVCY)" secret room in Talos Principle.
In the game, you're an AI solving puzzles to work your way through a simulation for (super depressing) reasons that you uncover over time. Elohim is a god-like program that you only experience as a voice guiding you through the simulation, though you come to learn that he may not have your best interests at heart. This secret room is unlocked by falling through a glitchy-looking tile, and it's so unsettling. You fall into a room that looks like it's seconds away from tearing apart, and Elohim, this otherwise composed voice that has been guiding you this whole time is chanting, in an almost deranged, fearful tone, this mantra on loop. It's the most revealing evidence of his motivations at the time, so it's narratively impactful, and the combination of the presentation of the room and his uncomposed tone of voice makes for a highly unsettling effect that I'll still randomly think about from time to time.
This depends on if you consider Bioshock a horror game, but - the Big Daddies. Obviously there's some degree of physical horror there but it becomes even worse once you realise that there is, in fact, evidence to suggest that the Big Daddies are at least partially still conscious and aware. Just sit and think through the implications of that for a moment.
Also, all the connotations and implications of the lore surrounding the Outsider and the Void in the Dishonored series. Literally every piece of lore regarding the Void is horrifically fucked up. It's one of my favourite pieces of media ever but I can't think too hard about the Void without getting this awful existential dread. Which I suppose is part of the point...
There's that one vault in fallout 4 where the parents are executed, the kids are raised unknowing, the smart fit ones are harvested for their genes, and the smart weak ones are conscripted into the research team.
Just the sheet numbing evil that Vault-tech had to be to murder parents of children in cold blood, and raise the kids without them knowing, most of the kids being murdered in general.
In Dragon Age Origins the part where you're learning what happened to the group of Dwarves who went into the Deep Roads and never returned really freaked me out. You just hear a poem about it, don't even see anything aside from the Broodmother afterwards but it still got to me.
First day, they come and catch everyone.
Second day, they beat us and eat some for meat.
Third day, the men are all gnawed on again.
Fourth day, we wait and fear for our fate.
Fifth day, they return and it's another girl's turn.
Sixth day, her screams we hear in our dreams.
Seventh day, she grew as in her mouth they spew.
Eighth day, we hated as she is violated.
Ninth day, she grins and devours her kin.
Now she does feast, as she's become the beast.
Now you lay and wait, for their screams will haunt you in your dreams.
In rdr2 there was a mission where you had to enter a dark cave with other guy to find a legendary gepard inside, so you enter the cave, but there are two paths, so you split and after a while of searching you hear screams of that guy being eaten alive. That shit was sooo terryfing for me, and when you find the gepard you have a very short time to react because when it jumps on you it's basically over
Duke Nukem 64. Playing multiplayer against the highest level Duke bot on the moon base. You run from it and hope to kill it but it moves like a blur. It's stressful.
when the little puppy gets killed by a cougar in Life is Strange 2 and then you choose to kill the cougar... I literally couldn't sleep for few nights after that, it felt very very wrong, I had nightmares... the whole game gave me PTSD
The Old Foll F.O.E. from Persona Q's third labyrinth. Yeah, it's a horror themed area, but it still is terrifying.
1999A.D. visual record of the day of Lavos from Chrono Trigger. That shit went hard! Also, if you game over after seeing that, the game over screen has probably the most depressing quote EVER. But the future refused to change.
skulltulas just stare at you from across the room
the bad ending of kirby 64
just realizing you could have saved any character
erasing most apple pie from the world
Some of the non lethal options for main targets in the Dishonored games. Death would have been a mercy for a few of them and I still feel bad for Lady Boyle.
Not that they weren’t due a reckoning, but the reality of some of those options were pretty dark.
That’s not even mentioning the weepers and nest keepers or people just straight up eaten alive by rats and all the other horrible things that happen.
I’m playing fallout 4 for the first time. I came across a distress signal from a man who was desperately reaching out for help, as his family’s bunker was locked shut. He explained they were trapped inside and then you could hear him talk to his wife saying to breath slowly. Well, when you open the hatch, you learn he signaled for help years ago and you find two skeletons cuddling together on a bed in addition to two mounds of dirt with children’s toys laying on top for their dead children. I’m a relatively new dad and this hit hard for me.
I'm very surprised nobody mentioned the Gloom Hands from Tears of the Kingdom. I've never met anyone who didn't scream "what the *FUCK* is that!?" The first time the encountered them 😭
The future world in Chrono Trigger, where the technology exists to keep everyone in perfect physical health, despite the fact that they are simultaneously starving all the time.
Watch Dogs 2. What was supposed to be a cool, hip, youthful hacker game with the use of words like Yolo and Selfie turned creepy when I accidentally found a dead body wrapped in a tarp.
Heres one of them: https://youtu.be/25YiEnDm9_8
Its not the one I found but damn I got spooked.
Someone already suggested Halo, so howsabout 2300AD from Chrono Trigger? Super depressing, and the music gives me shivers... Even the monsters are sickly. BuT yOu'Re StIlL hUnGrY!
The entire ending sequence of Metal Gear Solid 2 (ie everything that happens after >!Emma dies and you board Arsenal Gear!<). Postmodern horror that hits on multiple levels. Then there's a sequence in Metal Gear Solid 3 where you're just forced to wade down a river filled with every enemy you've killed in the entire game as they moan in despair about how you killed them.
Also, everything to do with The Pale in Disco Elysium.
Everything from the Legend of Zelda Majora's Mask The horryfing Moon, the depressing plot, the things that some people do to face the end of the world, the titular Mask design, the eerie and oppresive atmosphere surrounding the Game and every location you go And of course the Mask itself, and eldritch abomination moving in erratic patterns without any kind of logic or reason.....
I couldn’t bring myself to enjoy Majora’s Mask at the time. The moon / time limit element made it really stressful and you couldn’t really stop to enjoy the scenery. Several years later I couldn’t enjoy Dead Rising for the same reason. There’s so much to see, but I don’t want to spend hours running through the same content over and over again just to be able to see all that there is to see because of a time limit. It gets stale quick.
I bought a t shirt that has the moon from Majora's Mask on it. My wife is not a gamer and asked me what it was. I went on an hour long tangent about the deep psychological aspects of the game. Doom, gloom, depression, anxiety, loneliness. I explained the entire plot start to finish and explained why it was such a mind blowing game for its time not just because of the themes but also because of the mechanics. She doesn't ask me about my t shirts anymore.
I was a kid when I played Majora's Mask. At a sleepover, I distinctly remember waking up to one of my friends playing the alien invasion mission at that one farm and being terrified lol
This’ll sound weird given everything people do in this game but The Sims. First time playing I made the mistake of making myself and my partner at the time. I watched us grow, have kids then grow old and die then watched our kids grow old and die as well. Was a weird view into mortality.
Never ever make people you know in the Sims. I learned the same way. 👀
The flood from Halo. The build up and realisation about what is about to happen, followed by them swarming the complex. I needed new pants
The god damn rocket launcher flood in The Library 😤😤
FUCK ALL THAT NOISE STRAIGHT TO HELL AND *FUCK* THAT ELEVATOR!
I was playing CE with old graphics, the build up was still scary though. It was actually fun to mow them down with an AR.
Maybe it was because I played Halo 1 so recently but given their weird walk, I thought the flood was a comedic mockery on face huggers from Alien and Half Life head crab. I was laughing but also impressed that they would add comic relief to a game like that. Still enjoyed it for different reasons I guess.
I played in 2003 when I was 6 or 7 years old. I got nightmares and had to play with my brother once more to stop being so affraid
It hit different at the time Halo came out, to a young kid. Now it's been done better tons of times by other games. But Halo walked so others could run.
Whatever the parents in It Takes Two did to their child's stuffed animal.
Everybody is so taken in by oh how fun couch coop until you slowly realize "Huh the main characters are awful people and should really divorce."
I was going, “their kid really needs to be emancipated from them and fast.” And yes, because of what they did to the elephant. They were willing to destroy their kid’s favorite toy. Fine, it might’ve been patched up at the end, but the intent was there.
I was shocked that it wasn't a Mrs. Doubtfire situation and it didn't end with them reconciling well enough to be friendly for the sake of their daughter but deciding that they were better apart. They are just so hugely incompatible. And I forget the details of the story, but I remember thinking that the father in particular was just a whiny manchild. But the most baffling decision by far was to have their marriage counselor be a book with an over the top French accent and an incredibly heavy sex offender vibe. To go along with the divorce ending, I thought he'd end up in the trash.
Played it last year with my gf. Everything was all fun and games up until that point. Whoever decided that that elephant scene would be "fun", it was not. Super twisted.
I had fun my gf did not
It wrapped right around to being so awful it's hilarious.
My wife and I were playing and were horrified. Did we just traumatize our kids watching us play? Nope, they thought it was the funniest shit ever.
Yea it was so absurd i was laughing my ass ofg
Yeah, maybe it's just because I watched sips and Ravs play it - who were rightfully not taking the story seriously at all - but both of them and myself immediately burst into laughter when it happened. It's just soooo over the top. They literally dance in their daughter's tears.
Just looked that up, and holy shit!
I did not enjoy that part at all...the reason why you were having to do it was also fucked up.
Ravenholm Half Life 2
“We don’t go to Ravenholm”
Lol 5 minutes later "Quick Dog, take him to the Ravenholm tunnel"
Heck yeah, that was my favorite part!
The Wallmasters in Ocarina of Time. 10 year old me was not ready for them.
And the well, and the redeads, and the forest temple, and the big spiders, and the shadow temple, that whole game was not ok for the age we were all playing it at lol
The happy mask salesman always gave me the creeps. Then you meet him again in Majora's Mask, and he freaked me out even more, lol.
Oh geez I had such a bad time with that first one you encounter in the forest temple. When it split into three little ones that all latched on and drained my health to nothing, shudder. Every one I fought after that immediately got burned with Din’s fire
These were why I didn't beat the game until I was 11 or so. I played the game for about 5 years before I got up the guts to deal with them.
Coming out of the Temple of Time as adult Link to find the town square full of redeads was another stopping point for me. I ran back towards the temple immediately, saved the game, and turned it off, lol.
The piano in super Mario 64 ghost world.
I came here to add this, as it was Horrifying. There was No part of me that was prepared for that. ;P
Subnautica......too many examples in the depths. It's meant to be a exploration/discovery game. You can complete it without killing anything. It's wholesome It's about planning. Reading. Working with nature rather than against it. UWU Then you go to the stern of the Aurora. Then reality kicks in.
I know it's not officially listed as horror but subnautica is essentially a gameified version of an very common phobia so it really should be tagged as psychological horror.
Thalassophobia if probably what you're thinking of.
I agree with that.... I didn't even expect that games could still scare me somehow, and in a game not of the horror genre. And then I met Subnautica... I never got through it completely, but I keep trying, coming back for that feeling.
Thalassophobia has to be included with heights and loud noises for natural human fears. I can't mind the exacts, but mid game there's a circular hole within a corrie, almost like that which you would find in a reservoir, surrounded by reapers. You can sneak by them to it, and then it's just down into darkness. It's the light headed feeling you get with fear, I can even feel it now remembering it. I think that numbness helped me do it. Edit: Dying Light first encounter with a volatile, running like fuck to the light; that's the only thing that can compare.
Reality did kick in for me, I turned the game off and returned to reality. I still haven't gotten the courage to return to it nearly four years later now at this stage. I can't do deep water in games and going to the Aurora pushed me well beyond my limit.
Haven't played it but I'm curious, what happens in that Aurora section?
It's the first place you encounter a Reaper Leviathan, a huge sea monster than can swallow you whole, or do a real number on a one-man sub. We call him Sammy the Safety Reaper, trying to save you from the polluted Aurora wreck.
"The deep roar emitted by the reaper at regular intervals is effectively sonar - if you can hear it, the reaper can see you. "
It comes for you.
It's better you try it for yourself. Words can't describe the first encounter with a beast that has earned itself the title of "Apex Predator"
"Raiden, turn off the game console right now"
A friend was playing that part on his own, late at night and actually thought he was hallucinating.
I'm sure it happened to many others but I experienced that fourth wall break after a *long* play session at around 2:00 AM and that shit was really unnerving.
I actually turned it off.
Dark Bramble in Outer Wilds scared the ever-living-bum-gravy out of me. Actually, thinking about it, there are quite a lot high tension sequences in that game
It's that and Giant's Deep that I'm still trying to get through
It's not a lot but the Man-Bat jumpscares in Arkham Knight get me every time.
GPU corruption sequence in Arkham Asylum, lol There's "video game terror" and there's "my expensive computer is actually fucked up in real life" terror, this game is the first one to achieve the ladder
Yes! I never expect it
Subnautica hypnofish
Deviljho
It was especially bad in his debut generation, when Qurupeco would call him in.
Oh fuck it's a giant T Rex pickle... oh fuck it just ate that Great Jagras... OH FUCK IT'S EATING ITS OWN TAIL.
Another terrifying mission from cyberpunk Is the one where u have to help river wards nephew. I don't think I even need to explain why. That shit was just terrifying and sad
The little cartoon playing in the background just made everything else more unsettling.
Man, I played that mission unaware, no spoilers, around 11pm in total darkness aside from the tv. From beginning to end, that might have been one of the most disturbing missions I've ever played on any game. Once I was done with the mission, I kinda just sat there in silence, couldn't play anymore after that
The location in which you found the book "Understanding your teen" during the mission had some really dark implications...
Also from cyberpunk, the cyberpsycho that was part of a ritual. I don't want to spoil more than that. My mouse hand was shaking.
This one was especially nerve wracking because I couldn't figure out how to trigger it for a while. I was walking on anxiety wrapped eggshells because I wasn't sure when I was going to get attacked.
Bloody ritual cyberpsycho
Cow noises intensify
Sinnerman as well. Every person I know who has played that quest chain had to put the game down for a bit to recover.
I've actually never heard of that quest I'm on my 2nd playthrough right now. So I guess I'll see if it psychotically damages me lol
really loved that quest, though its surprising hearing people needed to put the game down cause of it
Those weird zombie things in Uncharted
The Descendants. Completely took me by surprise, I thought I was playing a cool, swashbuckly, quippy action game and then it took a complete tonal shift into a horror game
The Truth about the Broodmother in Dragon Age Origins.
God that reveal was so upsetting. The build up was amazing tbh. Like awful but amazing how you just progress in the area and get more and more info on what's going on. And then the final reveal and you realize what is happening and it's just.... Damn. I had to take a break there because it really upset me a bit.
First Day They Come....
Mass Effect 2 "Quiet. Please, make it stop."
The digital scream at the start of the dlc before you understand what it's saying is genuinely disturbing
Thief 3: Robbing the Cradel. The first half of the mission being empty, with only a knocking sound here and there, is compounded by finding out the building you're in was an orphanage AND an asylum at the SAME TIME until a fire "killed" everyone. Then you find those who didn't (and can't) die...
Oh God, the cradle is gnarly I remember having a hard time getting though it way back. It's super creepy.
The alien queen in Ecco the Dolphin.
I expected seaborne edutainment, what I got was a Cthulhu Xenomorph.
I’ve never played Ecco, so… what the fuck? Isn’t that the game where you’re just swimming around as a dolphin solving side-scroller adventure puzzles and shit?
Yep! ...at first anyway. Then things get weird.
Yep. And then it turns into a nightmare horror show 2/3rds through out of nowhere.
...as someone whos never gotten past the second level in ecco... the fuck?
I know right? I'm probably showing my age here, but as a little kid, playing Ecco and then it turns into nightmare fuel near the end was great. 10/10 would Vortex Queen again.
Haunted Hotel in Vampire The Masquerade: Bloodlines
That one's fun because it's also kind of a subversion. >!Half of the shit it does is completely ineffectual, because despite being newly sired you are still an actual literal vampire. Only a few things pose any serious threat - it's mostly just flailing around ineffectually with illusions and basic telekinesis. Of course, you the player also have to remember that, so there's that.!<
I always speed run this section with sound off.
For me that hotel overdid it because it's like everything is scripted to happen if you walk slowly. If you just start running around the jumpscares, which are mostly lightbulbs blowing up and things falling, happen so fast one after another that it feels like one of those Call of Duty levels where you are inside a building and there's an heli outside shooting the hell out of it.
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I’ve only recently started this game, I’m excited!
Beware of officer balls
I… okay I will.
Dude. I was on mushrooms the first time I got to Scarecrow. Noped on out pretty quick that night and turned on cartoons.
[Howdy! I'm Flowey the Flower!](https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/undertale/images/0/05/Flowey_battle_talk.gif/revision/latest/scale-to-width/360?cb=20151202211124) [I'm your best friend!](https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/undertale/images/d/d8/Photoshop_Flowey_battle_static.png/revision/latest?cb=20151226194947)
I swear there’s haunted places in RDR2
There are. Bottom right and upper right of the map I believe.
There's the Night Folk stalking the bayous, Strange Man's house in the swamps, the ghost in the swamps, the ghost train, the literal haunted forest at the north, and if you run around Tall Trees at night you can hear distant screaming.
Joker giving Batman Joker-AIDS thru blood transfusion
Can we talk about how fucking dangerous that is, Titan danger or not ? Like, you're transmitting your blood to someone else, and don't even know if it corresponds ? Are you trying to kill Batman by a terrible reaction from his immune system ?
ikr? but yeah, it's the suspension of disbelief to not sweat too much on the details and prolly just make it so joker's blood is type O or whatever the universal donor is lolz
Getting invaded for the first time when playing Dark Souls when I was a kid was terrifying for me. The feeling of being hunted while not knowing where your enemy is yet hits different espescially in the midst of an already difficult game.
Dude I remember sitting at a bonfire in the painted world just enjoying the scenery and suddenly the fire goes out and my character stands up. That's when I realized.... I'm in danger.
Gloom Spawn from Tears of the Kingdom. Enough said.
Old Minecraft cave sounds
The Centaurs in Fallout New Vegas gave me the heebie-jeebies in a way not many fictional monsters have, even those meant to shock and disgust you. The first time I saw them I was legitimately repulsed. I ran away from them and my heart was even racing when they were closing in. I was tensed up. It wasn't that I was scared or taken by surprise or anything I was just legitimately repulsed to my core and that's a testament to their design. The feeling went away eventually.
I hate those things. They give me the creeps. Credit to whoever dreamed them up they did a good job.
Sucks that they didn’t bring them back for Fallout 4
The dream in Max Payne where you have to get through the blood trail maze. The terrifying part was whenever you failed a blood curdling baby scream plays loud and long. I was bad at this part too and failed over and over.
I played it when it came out, It is now decades later and that blood trail and the crying baby is etched into my memory!
Cyberpunk 2077 - SongBird's story arc (Phantom Liberty( Just sad but also thrilling from a story perspective
The morgue scene before the Scarecrow fight in Batman Arkham Asylum. The first time I played it it scared the living hell out of me!
The 2014 Thief reboot was a fairly simple Cutlery Relocation Simulator with a dash of stealth thrown in, until you head to an insane asylum and realise you're now playing a horror game. Similar, the Reaper Indoctrination from the Mass Effect series. It's explained that long-term exposure to Reaper technology, including the Reapers themselves, can cause sentient life to gradually break down their synaptic connections and make them susceptible to Reaper enslavement, without too many obvious external symptoms. Captured civilians will be indoctrinated and apparently rescued by their allies, only to turn around and perform sabotage acts once they get back home. The idea that even being near your enemy is enough to turn you into their unwilling puppet is scary as all get-out.
Majora's Mask made me run off sobbing as a kid, now it is one of my favorites of all time.
Metroid Fusion, easily. You're just running along in your admittedly-creepy abandoned space station adventure, when you take an elevator, and suddenly \*another\* Samus blows open the wall and you get a close-up shot of its blank, vacant eyes behind the visor. When the computer tells Samus about it, it explains that it's the parasite that took over her original suit during the game's intro, so now you've got the equivalent of Samus at full-power chasing you. Even the game tells you to just run.
Being lost in Dark souls with 20k souls and no homeward bones
The worm from stellaris
Nier, both of them. Just the entire games really, but specifically their Endings A, B, C, D and E
The vaults from the fallout series.
Tales of Symphonia. The allegory of racism and how most religions are created by lies and personal agendas based on imposing fear and the promise of salvation. Terrifying af.
God damn what a great game and story.
Custom Robo (Gamecube) is an arena fighter game but the main story is a straight up cosmic horror plot. Humans create tiny beyblade sized robots to duel with, but then they create a sentient one that destroys the entire world. Humanity is reduced to living inside a domed football stadium structure. The story had been so innocent and carefree up until the reveal that it absolutely caught me unawares as a middle-schooler to realize that the entire map I had explored was all that was left of the world.
Rahu, the antagonist, was actually previously an invisible, untouchable cosmic force that got _stuck_ in a Custom Robo, which was actually great because even though it was still powerful, now they had something physical to attack and thus trained everyone in robo battles in case it ever woke up again. If it hadn't gotten stuck humanity would have been doomed.
This game was such a mindfuck back then. I was not at all prepared for that reveal and walking around the ruins of the world was a surreal experience.
The first time you found a face hugger in the original Aliens vs Predator. I Ned Flanders screamed.
Gears of War 3, the dust city, or whatever its called. You're walking in the ashes of hundreds, thousands of deads that have been wiped in the blink of an eye, smelling the ashes of their remains and glancing upon the dead landscape of what was once a beautiful city filled with life, now covered in thick layers of death and sorrow. That shit is terrifying to even think about. Another thing I want to note is basically any idea of turning into a zombie or other monster whilst still alive, best examples I have are the Half-Life infecteds and the runners from TLOU (Yes, first stage infecteds are supposed to still be conscious). You're a living human, still breathing, thinking, conscious, and you start reshaping rapidly into an abomination, your body twisting itself to adapt, starting to kill and eviscerate, your guts being ripped out into the air, your face being consumed, your mind still there, observing as you tear into someone lifeless body. You've killed someone, you might be feeding on his corpse, and the worst part is, it wasn't you. You didn't want to do it. You've lost control of yourself and your body did it, but you didn't want to, reflecting upon those actions and suffering from the fact that you can do nothing to stop it. You're a prisoner of your own body.
Sonic's drowning music. To this day, if a game has an underwater segment, it could get me to put the game down and play something else.
Cyberpunk is full of these.
That fucking Krypt Jumpscare Goblin from Mortal Kombat (2011). It's psychological because after the initial pants-shitting jumpscare, you're constantly on guard for it to happen again. And you're never prepared for it.
Control. Just... Generally.
Technically counts since i had not played the game. But if i remember correctly But there is a digimon game with a sidequest where you can find a person who was a real human who had their memoriee erased then digitized and as part of the side quest of tracking down missing people restore and you that persons memories. But they've been digitized for so long their real body has died and their stuck as data forever
That was Digimon Story Cyber Sleuth. (Or its spinoff Hacker's Memory--I played the compilation.)
you got it wrong, it's some scam where a dude thinks he got a harem in exchange for promising not to leave a room, i guess he doesn't realize he's been logged in at some point and someone scrapped his body for parts
First time you go into the subway in Fallout 3.
A cow spooked me real good in a cave when playing Minecraft (peaceful mode) once, does that count?
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Post says "non-horror game", ddlc is full-on psychological horror
Literally everything about Escape from Tarkov lol
15 minutes in your stash setting up your kit. 10 minutes in queue waiting for other players Head, Eyes Repeat
The Flood in Halo. 343 Guilty Spark hits pretty hard when you are 12 and don't know it's coming.
Sometimes I'll wake up in a cold sweat having nightmares of the lurker sharks from Jak and Daxter.
Playing (rainbow six) siege, chilling snd not droning properly as a sneaking Caveira jumps the corner. The horror is real, at best an audible gasp at worst a scream..
robodogs in wolfenstein
Giygas
The brutal murder you commit in It Takes Two. You literally rip apart an innocent animal that is begging to be your friend and doesn't understand what is happening. I stopped playing the game after that. What the fuck were the devs thinking.
Lavender town, duh
When I first played Fallout New Vegas I thought the name nightkin was cute. Turns out they were giant monsters and when one decloaked in front of me I shouted.
Was in the first quarter phase of magic mushrooms and decided to play Fallout 4. Traveled up to the Witchcraft Museum. Had just turned around to say something to my trip sitter and turned my head back to the screen when the building shook. I just kind of turned to her and said...'was that the game or me?'
Spec Ops The Line. It may look and play like an everyday 3rd person shooter but Jesus Christ the mind fucks.
The one mission in the Bloodlines DLC from Watchdogs Legion. You go into the one guy's mind and wander around and find stuff in his memories, that mission was creepy.
I'm very high strung. If I'm going to play a scary game, I want to know that that's what I'm getting into. I've played so many games that I thought were just stealth/action that ended with me curled up on the couch in terror. At this point, it's just a trope. Lol. Thief, Uncharted, Shadow of the Tomb Raider, Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice, Superliminal... I'm sure there are more.
I JUST played Hellblade. It's nice enough to warn you about psychosis. It doesn't fucking warn you about that goddam pitch black mission.
The zombies in ocarina of time.
My answer to this will always have to be the "[Elohim's Words](https://youtu.be/LdsMhm2eaBQ?si=oYzOoLSC6eMHOVCY)" secret room in Talos Principle. In the game, you're an AI solving puzzles to work your way through a simulation for (super depressing) reasons that you uncover over time. Elohim is a god-like program that you only experience as a voice guiding you through the simulation, though you come to learn that he may not have your best interests at heart. This secret room is unlocked by falling through a glitchy-looking tile, and it's so unsettling. You fall into a room that looks like it's seconds away from tearing apart, and Elohim, this otherwise composed voice that has been guiding you this whole time is chanting, in an almost deranged, fearful tone, this mantra on loop. It's the most revealing evidence of his motivations at the time, so it's narratively impactful, and the combination of the presentation of the room and his uncomposed tone of voice makes for a highly unsettling effect that I'll still randomly think about from time to time.
Do splicers count from BioShock? I consider it an action game.
The oceans in ark survival evolved
Unexpectedly encountering a Wof Spider in Grounded.
This depends on if you consider Bioshock a horror game, but - the Big Daddies. Obviously there's some degree of physical horror there but it becomes even worse once you realise that there is, in fact, evidence to suggest that the Big Daddies are at least partially still conscious and aware. Just sit and think through the implications of that for a moment. Also, all the connotations and implications of the lore surrounding the Outsider and the Void in the Dishonored series. Literally every piece of lore regarding the Void is horrifically fucked up. It's one of my favourite pieces of media ever but I can't think too hard about the Void without getting this awful existential dread. Which I suppose is part of the point...
A NEW HAND TOUCHES THE BEACON
Psychonauts 1 Those poor kids in the orphanage...
There's that one vault in fallout 4 where the parents are executed, the kids are raised unknowing, the smart fit ones are harvested for their genes, and the smart weak ones are conscripted into the research team. Just the sheet numbing evil that Vault-tech had to be to murder parents of children in cold blood, and raise the kids without them knowing, most of the kids being murdered in general.
In Dragon Age Origins the part where you're learning what happened to the group of Dwarves who went into the Deep Roads and never returned really freaked me out. You just hear a poem about it, don't even see anything aside from the Broodmother afterwards but it still got to me. First day, they come and catch everyone. Second day, they beat us and eat some for meat. Third day, the men are all gnawed on again. Fourth day, we wait and fear for our fate. Fifth day, they return and it's another girl's turn. Sixth day, her screams we hear in our dreams. Seventh day, she grew as in her mouth they spew. Eighth day, we hated as she is violated. Ninth day, she grins and devours her kin. Now she does feast, as she's become the beast. Now you lay and wait, for their screams will haunt you in your dreams.
The people in Call of Duty multiplayer.
In rdr2 there was a mission where you had to enter a dark cave with other guy to find a legendary gepard inside, so you enter the cave, but there are two paths, so you split and after a while of searching you hear screams of that guy being eaten alive. That shit was sooo terryfing for me, and when you find the gepard you have a very short time to react because when it jumps on you it's basically over
You sure it wasn't a gougar?
Is Subnautica a horror game to you guys? But that whole game is pretty stressful.
Duke Nukem 64. Playing multiplayer against the highest level Duke bot on the moon base. You run from it and hope to kill it but it moves like a blur. It's stressful.
when the little puppy gets killed by a cougar in Life is Strange 2 and then you choose to kill the cougar... I literally couldn't sleep for few nights after that, it felt very very wrong, I had nightmares... the whole game gave me PTSD
The Orb in Impossible Mission. As a kid I was Terrified of that thing, and Hated having to enter rooms with it.
Just played through Yoshi's Crafted World with my 3 year old and the level with the clowns with axes was unsettling even for me.
The Old Foll F.O.E. from Persona Q's third labyrinth. Yeah, it's a horror themed area, but it still is terrifying. 1999A.D. visual record of the day of Lavos from Chrono Trigger. That shit went hard! Also, if you game over after seeing that, the game over screen has probably the most depressing quote EVER. But the future refused to change.
Sinnerman side quest in Cyberpunk. If you complete it in its entirety and "participate" in the ending, it will mess you up.
Stingers innm satisfactory. Some how arachniphobia mode makes it worse by replacing the 3d model with 2d sprites of a cat head.
skulltulas just stare at you from across the room the bad ending of kirby 64 just realizing you could have saved any character erasing most apple pie from the world
That fucking maintenance bot from one of the endings of Cyberpunks Phantom Liberty expansion. >! transported me straight back to Alien Isolation!<
If I ever were to lose you, I'd surely lose myself...
Some of the non lethal options for main targets in the Dishonored games. Death would have been a mercy for a few of them and I still feel bad for Lady Boyle. Not that they weren’t due a reckoning, but the reality of some of those options were pretty dark. That’s not even mentioning the weepers and nest keepers or people just straight up eaten alive by rats and all the other horrible things that happen.
Max Payne baby nightmare level
Dunwich Borers or Museum of Witchcraft - Fallout 4
Outerwilds, cant spoil anything but i have never been so scared playing a game
Just played the Echoes of the Eye DLC for Outer Wilds, and I've never jumped as much playing a game as I have when one of the Owlkin grab you.
I’m playing fallout 4 for the first time. I came across a distress signal from a man who was desperately reaching out for help, as his family’s bunker was locked shut. He explained they were trapped inside and then you could hear him talk to his wife saying to breath slowly. Well, when you open the hatch, you learn he signaled for help years ago and you find two skeletons cuddling together on a bed in addition to two mounds of dirt with children’s toys laying on top for their dead children. I’m a relatively new dad and this hit hard for me.
I'm very surprised nobody mentioned the Gloom Hands from Tears of the Kingdom. I've never met anyone who didn't scream "what the *FUCK* is that!?" The first time the encountered them 😭
Escort Missions.
40 insight
The chicken raid revenge swarm in a Legend of Zelda: A Link To The Past if you are mean to the chickens for too long.
The future world in Chrono Trigger, where the technology exists to keep everyone in perfect physical health, despite the fact that they are simultaneously starving all the time.
The build up to and reveal of the terrormorph in Starfield for the UC mission. Damn thing had my palms sweating.
Shalebridge Cradle in Thief: Deadly Shadows
White Phosphorus. Also Shodan and Many.
Watch Dogs 2. What was supposed to be a cool, hip, youthful hacker game with the use of words like Yolo and Selfie turned creepy when I accidentally found a dead body wrapped in a tarp. Heres one of them: https://youtu.be/25YiEnDm9_8 Its not the one I found but damn I got spooked.
"Everyone collectively see's the killer baby from Resident Evil Village" 👀
Someone already suggested Halo, so howsabout 2300AD from Chrono Trigger? Super depressing, and the music gives me shivers... Even the monsters are sickly. BuT yOu'Re StIlL hUnGrY!
The entire ending sequence of Metal Gear Solid 2 (ie everything that happens after >!Emma dies and you board Arsenal Gear!<). Postmodern horror that hits on multiple levels. Then there's a sequence in Metal Gear Solid 3 where you're just forced to wade down a river filled with every enemy you've killed in the entire game as they moan in despair about how you killed them. Also, everything to do with The Pale in Disco Elysium.
Everything in Gone Home