Classic video games that scare you?

[Raguleader]

So, lately I figured out how to get System Shock to work under Windows XP, lots of fun. Anyhow, a problem I have encountered, aside from the contortionist control scheme the game employs, is that, well, it gives me the mad wiggies. In short, it creeps me out. Mostly I think it's because of the sound effects, and the gloomyness, and the general state of all screwed up that everything is in, with flickering lights, staticky viewscreens, corpses littered everywhere, and automatic doors idly opening and shutting by themselves.

All in glorious 640x480 resolution.

Anybody else get creeped out in some older computer games?

[jayjay]

Shivers and it's sequel were excellent for this. Also the original Diablo...playing it by yourself at 2AM in a dark room is not recommended.

[Bryan Ekers]

"Beware! I live!" still gets to me.

[Cisco]

The original Doom gave me the heebie jeebies. Of course, I was 12 and believed in Hell at the time.

[Odesio]

Mostly I think it's because of the sound effects, and the gloomyness, and the general state of all screwed up that everything is in, with flickering lights, staticky viewscreens, corpses littered everywhere, and automatic doors idly opening and shutting by themselves.

System Shock 2 creeped me out as well. It wasn't so much the visuals as it was the sound. Running around a deck I had already cleared (late at night) and all the sudden hearing some zombie try to give me a warning like, "Run", or "Kill me", was seriously creepy.

Despite such serious flaws, like weapons that wear out so easily, this remains one of my favorite video games of all time. I wish they still made FPS games like this. Maybe they do, but I don't know them.

Marc

[Red Barchetta]

Half Life has some really creepy and scary moments - damn those cyborgs!

[St_Ides]

Depends what you define as "classic", but the original Silent Hill (on the PS1) is the only game I haven't been able to continue, because I was too creeped out.

[Johnny Hildo]

"Beware! I live!" still gets to me.

Don't forget the roar. That SiniStar could really pop up in the most unexpected, pants-shitting of places.

[Red Barchetta]

Depends what you define as "classic", but the original Silent Hill (on the PS1) is the only game I haven't been able to continue, because I was too creeped out.

Yeah, I turned that off after the first enemy appeard after listening to that damn static for like 5 minutes.

[Darkhold]

So, lately I figured out how to get System Shock to work under Windows XP, lots of fun. Anyhow, a problem I have encountered, aside from the contortionist control scheme the game employs, is that, well, it gives me the mad wiggies. In short, it creeps me out. Mostly I think it's because of the sound effects, and the gloomyness, and the general state of all screwed up that everything is in, with flickering lights, staticky viewscreens, corpses littered everywhere, and automatic doors idly opening and shutting by themselves.

All in glorious 640x480 resolution.

Anybody else get creeped out in some older computer games?If you're still playing do a google search for System Shock Rebirth. It's a texture pack that updates some of the graphics in System Shock and makes it look a little better. (note: there is two versions of the file Rebirth and Rebirth: Complemented Version the second one is what you want)

[Otto]

"Beware! I live!" still gets to me.
Came in specifically to mention SiniStar. The state historical society had a fundraiser this past week featuring classic video games, including SiniStar. Initial reaction - "Ooh, sweet, I used to love SiniStar!" Reaction after the first time that goddamn face roared and ate me - "AAAAGH!"

They also had Tempest and Dig Dug, which were much less scary. Also BurgerTime, which isn't scary but with its wiggly hot dogs running after you is creepy.

[Ferret Herder]

Again, it depends on what you mean by classic I guess.

Going very old-school, those damned roaring dragons in the old Atari 2600 game Adventure scared me at the time.

I was more or less fine with the aforementioned Doom, but someone made a realistic-looking Aliens version using the Doom or Doom 2 platform. Scared the shit out of me; I don't think I made it out of the first level before I had to turn it off.

I remember both 7th Guest and 11th Hour making me hit the ceiling at times. The game's pretty quiet, it's late, you're wearing headphones and working away at something or walking down a hall, and bam, you hear the evil villain whisper something in your ear. Bastard.

I finally found Sanitarium a year or so ago, and it might have scared me more if I could have finished the damned thing. It was mostly a puzzle/figure-it-out adventure-style psychohorror game, and then they threw in something about having to destroy (IIRC) a killer pumpkin-head scarecrow and killer crows through combat - i.e., dodging and hitting. I'm not exactly amazing at computer games, so I was never able to get past this part.

[Rhythmdvl]

Another nod to Sinistar -- especially the sit-down version.

Of those who experienced the trauma, how many find themselves occasionally intoning "I hunger" when grabbing a snack?

[Hogwash]

The level 'Robbing the Cradle' from Thief: Deadly Shadows is one of the scariest games moments I've ever experienced. I'm not alone; I've seen an entire games magazine article (http://gillen.cream.org/wordpress_html/?page_id=618) dedicated to this single level and its creation. Excellent use of storyline, sound and atmosphere.

Hell, the setting is an abandoned mental hospital that was also a freakin' orphanage. You can't go far wrong in the scare stakes using a foundation like that.

The Thief series in general has many creepy moments and a capacity to scare. Furthermore, the first couple of games in the trilogy were brought to you by the same guys that made the System Shock games - the now defunct Looking Glass Studios.

[Gukumatz]

The level 'Robbing the Cradle' from Thief: Deadly Shadows is one of the scariest games moments I've ever experienced. I'm not alone; I've seen an entire games magazine article (http://gillen.cream.org/wordpress_html/?page_id=618) dedicated to this single level and its creation. Excellent use of storyline, sound and atmosphere.

Hell, the setting is an abandoned mental hospital that was also a freakin' orphanage. You can't go far wrong in the scare stakes using a foundation like that.

The Thief series in general has many creepy moments and a capacity to scare. Furthermore, the first couple of games in the trilogy were brought to you by the same guys that made the System Shock games - the now defunct Looking Glass Studios.

QFT. I never got through that level, and I consider myself a truly hardcore gamer and horror fan!

[Argent Towers]

I don't know how many of you played Clock Tower for Playstation (there's another Clock Tower for an even earlier system but I'm talking about the 3D one,) but that game was scary as hell. You are all alone in a series of creepy buildings being pursued by a guy with giant scissors.

[Raguleader]

If you're still playing do a google search for System Shock Rebirth. It's a texture pack that updates some of the graphics in System Shock and makes it look a little better. (note: there is two versions of the file Rebirth and Rebirth: Complemented Version the second one is what you want)

As far as I can tell, that's only for System Shock 2. There was a project or two for porting SS1 to the SS2 engine, but I dunno if anything came of that.

[marshmallow]

Not really "scare" but more like "spook when playing at 2am in the dark":

Resident Evil 1/2
Quake 1

Damn those moaning zombies! And giant masses of charging flesh that seemingly come out of nowhere...

[Love Rhombus]

Hell, I must be a weenie, because the floating eyes in Dig Dug weired me right out when I was a tiny manlet. Resident Evil also got me.

[Talon Karrde]

System Shock 2 creeped me out as well. It wasn't so much the visuals as it was the sound. Running around a deck I had already cleared (late at night) and all the sudden hearing some zombie try to give me a warning like, "Run", or "Kill me", was seriously creepy.

Despite such serious flaws, like weapons that wear out so easily, this remains one of my favorite video games of all time. I wish they still made FPS games like this. Maybe they do, but I don't know them.
Bioshock (http://www.2kgames.com/bioshock/) is the game to look out for.

[Least Original User Name Ever]

I think I crapped myself 5 times playing Fatal Frame on Xbox. (I think it was Xbox)


Just..so many creepy things.. I can only take so much. I'm human, you know.

Gah.

[Argent Towers]

Not really "scare" but more like "spook when playing at 2am in the dark":

Resident Evil 1/2


If you're playing the B scenario, you get the added benefit of a grey-skinned giant in a green trenchcoat smashing through the walls when you least expect it at several points throughout the game.

[pinkfreud]

I remember both 7th Guest and 11th Hour making me hit the ceiling at times. I had a lot of fun making my way through The 7th Guest, but I had nightmares related to both the images and the sounds, so I never tried The 11th Hour. Even though it has been more than a decade since I played The 7th Guest, I still have an occasional nightmare in which that taunting voice says something such as "Feeling... lonely?" in a tone of mockery and disdain that chills me to the bone. The music gave me the jimjams, too.

[Bryan Ekers]

wiggly hot dogs running after you is creepy.
Somehow, a phrase I'd not have expected from a gay guy.

[Eltanin]

Hunt the Wumpus (http://www.mobygames.com/game/hunt-the-wumpus/), which I played on a TI-99 when I was 4 or 5 years old. Four colors and some creepy sounds effects were enough to terrify me for life.

[jayjay]

Hunt the Wumpus (http://www.mobygames.com/game/hunt-the-wumpus/), which I played on a TI-99 when I was 4 or 5 years old. Four colors and some creepy sounds effects were enough to terrify me for life.

That thing could play games? I thought the only thing 99/4As were good for was programming to endlessly loop obscene phrases in the electronics department of JC Penney...

10 print "Blow me!"
20 goto 10
30 end

[GreedySmurf]

It's gotta be Aliens V Predators on the PC.

Playing in a dark room at 2 in the morning, the grpahics on screen are gloomy and your motion detector goes off with that classic blipping sound, and your spinning waiting trying to see that damn aline that you know is out there somewhere. :eek:

[Wolfian]

The dungeons in the original Zelda used to get to me. I think it was more the creepy music than anything. That and I was like 6.

[Autolycus]

Donkey Kong is pretty darn creepy if you ask me.

[levdrakon]

I don't know how many of you played Clock Tower for Playstation (there's another Clock Tower for an even earlier system but I'm talking about the 3D one,) but that game was scary as hell. You are all alone in a series of creepy buildings being pursued by a guy with giant scissors.I played Clock Tower. The main character's fear/panic meter thing was pretty effective at making me nervous and jumpy all the time.

I'd also second Aliens vs. Predator. I've got AvP Gold on my Mac but still haven't gotten very far in it. Not solely because it's scary. It's also kinda hard, without a decent controller.

The Resident Evil with the famous scene where the dogs jump through the windowwas my first true yell-outloud scare, and my roommate who had already played made sure he was sitting there watching for when it happened. He got a good laugh out of watching me scream and frantically trying to run for my life.

Those Silent Hill's are killer too. Can't remember which one, but the one where you have to make your way through a dark, empty subway system? Oh, man I had to wear adult diapers through there.

[Raguleader]

I played Clock Tower. The main character's fear/panic meter thing was pretty effective at making me nervous and jumpy all the time.

Heh, a couple games I've played have something similar, but both are a bit newer than what I'd call "Classic". There was Eternal Darkness, which had a "Sanity Meter" which would get lower and lower, depending on your character (different characters have different abilities to cope), and based on how much weirdness you were exposed to (in the form of zombies, weird monsters, crazy magic, etc.) Generally, the best way to restore sanity was to kill zombies (you know, deal with the problem directly). To remind the gamer that he was supposed to be losing his grip on reality, the game would do various things to mess with you based on how insane you had gone. This could range from the screen tilting ever so slightly to the room being upside down when you enter it, to the volume being messed with, the "Your controller has been disconnected", and even a Microsoft style BSOD, along with all sorts of other twisted stuff.

Then there is Indigo Prophecy, which has a "Character Morale Meter" which shows your character's mood ranging from suicidally depressed to mildly depressed (nobody is happy in this game, evidently). You could do different things to cheer your character up, and different stuff would happen to depress him again. I think if your character's morale hit 0, they killed themself, but I stopped playing the game after it wigged me out too much.

[Red Barchetta]

Heh, a couple games I've played have something similar, but both are a bit newer than what I'd call "Classic". There was Eternal Darkness, which had a "Sanity Meter" which would get lower and lower, depending on your character (different characters have different abilities to cope), and based on how much weirdness you were exposed to (in the form of zombies, weird monsters, crazy magic, etc.)

Man, Eternal Darkness was awesome. However, I still contest the game would be way better if the Sanity Meter were not visible. It made it too easy to simply dismiss something odd as a "sanity effect" because your meter was low.

[smiling bandit]

Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth. This game washardly ever played by anyone, since they printed few copies and advertised for it like a schizophrenic 4-year-old. (Seriously; I saw lovely ads and previews come out long before the game, but when it was about to be released? Nothing!) The technology was dated, but there were some pretty cool aspects: the occaissional flashback (or is it? mwah ha ha!), going mildly insane from seeing horrors - especially in boss battles. Sometimes you have out-of-body experiences where you see through the eyes of a monster. The opening of the game is extremely creepy and the second stage, where you get chased through the town by a monstrous mob with no weapons, after they bust down the door of your apartment, is freaking awesome to play and scarier than all-get-out.

[bubastis]

The resident Evil remake on Gamecube... discovering for the first time that zombies you've killed can re-animate, faster and stronger than ever just about scared the poo out of me. Walking down the hall, past a corpse that you killed hours ago, and have walked past dozens of times, then bang; it grabs your ankles....


:eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek:

[Antinor01]

When I was 9 or 10 I was at a friends house and we were playing Kings Quest on his Apple. (it came out in 84 so that sounds about right) This isn't my freakout, but his during the scene where you enter the witch's house. She happened to be there at the time and he completely freaked, jumped out his chair and ran out of the room. His mom told me that he had a major fear of witches, couldn't even watch Wizard of Oz. I found it rather funny.

[Jophiel]

My first game scare was from Project: Firestart for the Commodore 64. You're investigating a spaceship and find the main computer terminal, a corpse who helpfully wrote "Danger" with his torn off arm before dying and a lot of empty hallways with no sound but the echoing of your footsteps. Then you open one of the doors and...

WEEEET WEEEEET WEEEEET WEEET!!!! Dada-dun-da dada-dun-da...

...as giant shambling green aliens come at you. You had a laser-rifle but limited ammo and it took multiple shots to take an alien down so killing them all wasn't an option. Also, as the game progressed, it'd give cut scenes of the aliens clustering around some sort of pod, then the pod cracking open, then the open pod surrounded by the torn carcasses of the aliens so you'd know something seriously bad ass was stalking you now...

Granted I was a lot younger then but my friend and I had never played anything quite like it and still reference the game from time to time.

[anamnesis]

I second all the mentions of the System Shock and 7th Guest series. Also a Sanitarium fan. I had prematurely high hopes for F.E.A.R. with the early sequences from the first level of the game that included a lot of creepy lighting, shadows, and good heartbeat and breathing sound effects, but it never panned out. Doom 3 had the right ingredients to utilize scary lighting but it never delivered, although the later levels where the corridors were coated with bloody, crawling flesh were unsettling. Looking forward to BioShock myself.

Anyone ever play Creature Shock (http://www.the-spoiler.com/ACTION/Argonaut/creature.shock.1/index.html)? Very simple, somewhat hokey action-adventure along the same line as 7th Guest (animated video backgrounds) with a mix of puzzle-based shooter thrown in. It never got much press but it had this pervasive, eerie quality of desolation to it where you never knew what might crawl out of the darkness around the next turn. Story was pretty thin, but it had great sound design and some edgy animated sequences which included cutscenes of genuinely creepy alien monsters sneaking up on you in the darkness. Gave me bigger chills than anything in the System Shock series because there was usually no suspense or anticipation, just a lot of jumps and scares. :)

Red Barchetta: The Half-Life creatures weren't cyborgs in the traditional sense. They didn't have any mechanical body parts, they were just aliens with armored slave control harnesses.

[Max Torque]

I'm gonna reach way, way back into my bag o' tricks and pull out Alien on the Commodore 64.

Yeah, the graphics were very simple, basically just a map of the three levels of your ship. The plot was more or less like the movie: at the beginning, one character is killed by the alien (not always Kane). You have to guide Ripley and the rest around the ship, trying to kill the alien, or really just plain survive. One of the characters is an android (not necessarily Ash), and if you leave the android and one other person alone in a room together, the android may attack, so you try to travel in threes. Plus, people get frightened when they're left alone, and they may panic, which means you lose control of them as they flee to a random location. The escape shuttle can only take a maximum of three passengers, and it won't launch if there are any living things on the ship (the alien is not recognized as a living thing, but Jones the cat is).

So, with that as the setup, you start playing. And that's when the sound starts to get to you. You see, there are basically two sounds that are with you at all times: the sound of the alien sliding from room to room, and the sound of the heartbeat of the character you're presently controlling. As the situation worsens (alien attacks, crew members being killed, being left alone), the heartbeat gets faster, and yours pretty much speeds up right along with it. And there's one more sound that pops up occasionally: the alien removing the cover from an air vent. Uh oh, it's in the ducts....and when it attacks, the alien pops up on the screen and a siren goes off and people are dying and AAAAHHHHHHH.......

Seriously, playing Alien alone at night was murder on the blood pressure. Anyway, the highest score I ever got was 20%, which was saving three people and Jones via the escape shuttle and self-destructing the ship. If everyone dies and the alien makes it back to Earth, your score is 0%. It's also 0% if you escape the ship but neglect to set the self-destruct. Whoops, alien reaches Earth, all of humanity dies.

[Bosstone]

Bioshock (http://www.2kgames.com/bioshock/) is the game to look out for.Bioshock is also made by some of the old Looking Glass designers. The studio may be defunct, but Bioshock is definitely inspired by System Shocks 1 and 2. From what I can tell, it's going to be an absolutely amazing game.

[anamnesis]

Max, that sounds awesome. These days with all the film-to-game translations, the simplest aspects of the story are lost and yet such a primitive game manages to maintain them. The scariest parts of the first two Alien films were, after all, that which was often left to the imagination. I wish I could play this classic.

[wasson]

Phantasmagoria.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phantasmagoria_%28computer_game%29

[metonymic]

I love the System Shock games so much -- they're terrifying. I love the creeping realization in System Shock 1 that although you're so close, you will probably always be just slightly too late to save anyone... and that leaves you completely alone. I can't wait for Bioshock!

These adventure games (5 Days a Stranger, 7 Days a Skeptic, and Trilby's Notes) by Ben Croshaw are pretty scary -- and free! (links to downloads in "external links" section) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chzo_Mythos

They're well-written, and quite creepy. 7 Days is probably my favourite.

[Cemetery Savior]

It's gotta be Aliens V Predators on the PC.

Playing in a dark room at 2 in the morning, the grpahics on screen are gloomy and your motion detector goes off with that classic blipping sound, and your spinning waiting trying to see that damn aline that you know is out there somewhere. :eek:

On the HR Giger thing....there was some game my roomate and I played in 1993 or so. It was a 'mood' game....had a lot of Giger graphics in it....I think it took place in a house, and had some Cthulu overtones. I think the character was supposed to be going slowly insane, and you'd lose if you spent too much time going nutty.

Anyone remember the name of the darn thing? I had nightmares for a while after playing that one.

-Cem

[Balance]

The Thief series in general has many creepy moments and a capacity to scare.
Those damn zombies. My creep-out threshold is pretty high, but the zombies pushed me over it. You'd have this panicky running fight and drop one, then move on. Coming back through the area, it would look clear (since the zombie is on the ground) and you'd forget it was there...until it moaned at you. That groaning noise always freaked me out. Also, the ghosts (with the muttering) and the fire-shadow critter in the ruined basement freaked me out a few times.

I loved Eternal Darkness--definitely a creepy game overall. I didn't really feel the sanity meter detracted from the feel all that much, and it was pretty much necessary in terms of game mechanics. The sanity effects that got me most were the voices, and the bugs on the screen (if you were playing in a dark room, it really looked like a huge roach or somesuch crawling across the TV screen).

In general, creepy sounds seem to get to me more than creepy visuals.

[enigm4tic]

It's gotta be Aliens V Predators on the PC.

Playing in a dark room at 2 in the morning, the grpahics on screen are gloomy and your motion detector goes off with that classic blipping sound, and your spinning waiting trying to see that damn aline that you know is out there somewhere. :eek:

ah came in here just for that one. Especially hunting through dark halls or when they busted out of random places, that blip sound compounded with the alien shriek when they charged you from nowhere flipped me out every time. Now whenever I see a movie where somebody gets freaked out and starts shooting in random directions I understand why.

I hear FEAR is really creepy, but I haven't played through it yet myself.

[Mahaloth]

Eternal Darkness for the Gamecube.

Some of the insanity effects are incredible. I remember my character trying to reload the pistol and blowing his/her brains out instead.

Scared me to death.

[Miller]

On the HR Giger thing....there was some game my roomate and I played in 1993 or so. It was a 'mood' game....had a lot of Giger graphics in it....I think it took place in a house, and had some Cthulu overtones. I think the character was supposed to be going slowly insane, and you'd lose if you spent too much time going nutty.

Anyone remember the name of the darn thing? I had nightmares for a while after playing that one.

-Cem

Dark Seed.

[Mangetout]

3D Monster Maze (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3D_Monster_Maze) for the 16K Sinclair ZX81 - you're running around a 3D maze, trying to find the exit and there's a T-Rex in there... somewhere... a line of text at the bottom of the screen says 'FOOTSTEPS APPROACHING'...