# The scariest moments in video/computer games **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 1, 2004, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-scariest-moments-in-video-computer-games/248094 "2004-06-01T16:47:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![HPL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3da27b/32.png) [@HPL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HPL)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2004, 4:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-scariest-moments-in-video-computer-games/248094/41 "2004-06-02T04:37:53Z")
> [@Juniper200](#): > > The golems on Day 9 of _Gabriel Knight I_ by Sierra c. 1994. I immersed myself in that damned game; I was going to beat it if it killed me. And I knew I was getting to the end, but there’s a lengthy puzzle in an ancient burial mound. All these humanoid mud figures are hanging around the rooms being not alive, but you know something you do is going to make them _not_ not alive, but you don’t know what. I didn’t know whether to sigh with relief or piss my pants when they finally started moving. > > And then they ate me about a dozen times, but that’s frustration more than fear. That freaked me out. The old game “Shadow of the Comet” also had a bit of a creepy atmosphere as well. \*\*Kings Quest 6 \*\* also freaked me out when I had to go to the Land of the Dead. ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2004, 5:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-scariest-moments-in-video-computer-games/248094/42 "2004-06-02T05:09:10Z")
I somehow missed **Juniper’s** post earlier. I never thought that they were statues. It’s a burial mound. I assumed they were corpses which had been naturally mummified by the hot, arid environment. NonSpoiler supporting my theory- ‘We need a heart to open this thing. Go cut one from one of the creatures’ ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2004, 5:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-scariest-moments-in-video-computer-games/248094/43 "2004-06-02T05:22:19Z")
Can’t believe nobody mentioned **Metroid: Prime** : when you meet the first Omega Pirate and it appears to be just a giant thingy in a life support tank (which the game is completely freakin’ full of, so you don’t pay much attention except when you first see it and go “whoah… that’s pretty big”)… and then you get within a few feet of it and go to a cutscene of a humanoid thingy which you’re about knee-high to breaking out of its containment device, turning around, and BEATING THE EVER-LOVING CRAP out of you because you’re busy going “holy shit!” The first time I met a Deathclaw in **Fallout** (in the Boneyard) was pretty scary too. Impressive, considering it’s turn-based. The other one was meeting Jaws in **007: Goldeneye** , shooting him, and realizing, “Aaaagh! He isn’t dead!”. ---
**Author:** ![Pixiesnix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/898d66/32.png) [@Pixiesnix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pixiesnix)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2004, 5:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-scariest-moments-in-video-computer-games/248094/44 "2004-06-02T05:48:02Z")
> [@](#): > > All the Silent Hills had their moments. You’d walk into a room, there would be nothing there. You’d go and explore the rest of the map and have to come back to the room and when you’d return there would be bodies hanging from the cieling. You’d hear monsters or strange sounds coming from the next room. Blood-stained walls and blood smears in crazy places. I never saw the first one, but the second one was freaky to watch. It wasn’t just “jump” scary, but more mind-fuck scary. There were a lot of parts were I didn’t want to see the character continue because things looked so terrible. Amen to that. I hate and love those unexpected noises, like the crying in the bathroom in **Silent Hill 1** or the scream in the prison gallows in **Silent Hill 2**. That scream nearly made me wet my pants. There’s one sound event in **Silent Hill 2** that both creeped me out and made me jump out of my seat. It was during a replay of the game, and I was collecting the artifacts to get the “Rebirth” ending (where James restarts the Cult of Samael) and I had only gathered the white substance. I was walking through that apartment with the broken window, where you walk out onto the balcony to get into the next apartment. I had James going through the first room, and suddenly there was this whispering in my ear (I was wearing earphones) saying something unintelligible. It was so unexpected and damned creepy! I have **Silent Hill 3** for the PC, but haven’t gotten around to playing it yet. But from what I understand… They kill off Harry! Dammit dammit dammit! I spent a month of my life in '99 guiding that man through all five endings of the first game, only to have him killed off! I had him vanquishing flying beasties, zombie children and nurse monsters all over the place, and this is my reward! And let me just say that I hate Pyramid Head. With every fiber of my being do I hate him. It was a pleasure killing two of him, the rusty bastard. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2004, 5:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-scariest-moments-in-video-computer-games/248094/45 "2004-06-02T05:57:19Z")
Anyone remember Shadowgate? Very old icon-based Adventure game from the mid-to-late eighties (?). Graphics were pretty primitive (actually, the B&W graphics on the Mac version were pretty spiffy, but it looked like crap in VGA), sound was fairly sparse, game play was psychotically difficult. But it had the single best scare in any video game I’ve ever played. Wandering through a crypt, you see a number of sarcophogii. One is empty. One has a bag of gold coins in it. One is full of green slime you have to burn with a torch to bypass. And one has a banshee in it that, as soon as you open the coffin, leaps out and gives a scream that’ll make your ears bleed. This in a game with no music and minimal sound effects. I was playing it as a kid, and it scared _everyone_ in the house, even if they were rooms away. My parents still remember it: probably the only video-game related memory either of them, excepting all the endless trips to the software store to buy me a new game and the inevitable return when one of the disks came up damaged. ---
**Author:** ![Tentacle\_Monster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ba9def/32.png) [@Tentacle\_Monster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tentacle_Monster)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2004, 6:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-scariest-moments-in-video-computer-games/248094/46 "2004-06-02T06:23:41Z")
**KCSuze** : All I’m going to say is: Go for the UFO ending. It’ll take a playthrough or two, IIRC ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2004, 6:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-scariest-moments-in-video-computer-games/248094/47 "2004-06-02T06:31:00Z")
_Return to Castle Wolfenstein_…any of the levels taking place in the haunted catacombs. Especially in the later levels, when you have to re-infiltrate the castle, and you… Run across an ancient corpse stretched out, motionless, in an open sarcophagus. The soundtrack is rigged to hit a crescendo as soon as you’re close enough to the corpse for it to lurch to unlife, right in your face. God-_damn._ That, or the few times when you get attacked by ghosts, soaring straight towards you like missiles. _Shudder_ I play it with the brightnes turned up, and with a 5 year old graphics card. And it’s STILL scarier than anything Hollywood puts out! ---
**Author:** ![Darkhold](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/90db22/32.png) [@Darkhold](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darkhold)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2004, 7:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-scariest-moments-in-video-computer-games/248094/48 "2004-06-02T07:26:22Z")
**Miller** I remember Shadowgate! First ‘puzzle’ game I ever finished. I had it down so well by the end I could get through it in about 20 mins or something. (I’m not sure what my record was but it was insanely short) I remember the screaming banshee though I don’t remember being scared by it. Heh I never figured out you can burn the slime away. I know there was a way you could get around it (alternate path to the room with the mirrors?). ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2004, 11:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-scariest-moments-in-video-computer-games/248094/49 "2004-06-02T11:29:52Z")
Sinistar’s “Beware! I live!” still gets me, a little. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2004, 11:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-scariest-moments-in-video-computer-games/248094/50 "2004-06-02T11:39:57Z")
Just from having watched a friend play **Eternal Darkness** , I have to agree- that’s a creepy damn game. The insanity stuff is just great: fake error messages, fake flies on the screen, the screams, your head falling off… **Tentacle Monster** : No. Shit. ---
**Author:** ![Ms2001](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ms2001/32/18463_2.png) [@Ms2001](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ms2001)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2004, 12:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-scariest-moments-in-video-computer-games/248094/51 "2004-06-02T12:06:30Z")
**Eternal Darkness** : Opened up the menu, only to find all my hard-earned items gone! **Silent Hill 3** : A room with a mirror. Oh, you know the one I mean. That was the first time I had to put the game on hold until I calmed down. ---
**Author:** ![Athena](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/35a633/32.png) [@Athena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Athena)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2004, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-scariest-moments-in-video-computer-games/248094/52 "2004-06-02T14:57:10Z")
The first time I was really-and-truly scared was with the first Diablo. I’d stay up late playing it, and let me tell you, being in a dark house at midnight with those eerie Diablo sounds really freaked me out. The second time was about my first 30 levels of Everquest. I’d never had much experience with on-line games before, and was simply terrified that I couldn’t just save the game and have a safe point to return to. I lived in fear of dying someplace deep in a zone and losing all my stuff. I’d literally get shakey hands while completing quests and such. I sorta miss those days; now, I have enough friends that I literally never have to worry about losing a thing. Worst case I strongarm a guild necro into summoning my corpse for me. **Burrido** , you’ll be happy to hear that Fear can just about be cleared with one good group nowadays. No more 4 hour corpse runs! Well, not in THAT zone, at least. ---
**Author:** ![tanstaafl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ba8739/32.png) [@tanstaafl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tanstaafl)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2004, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-scariest-moments-in-video-computer-games/248094/53 "2004-06-02T15:59:18Z")
> [@rjung](#): > > Though you recollection of events is a little hazy: you had to land the ship, turn off your shields, wait for the astronaut to knock, then open the airlock and let him in. If you got an alien instead, you could turn on the shields and fry 'im. Conversely, if you opened the airlock too early, the alien would go _into_ your ship, and proceeded to destroy it from the inside out… Yeah, I remembered the bit about the shields and just didn’t mention it but I had forgotten about them knocking to be let in. I wonder where my old 800 is? I remember seeing it somewhere in the basement a few years ago… > [@Bryan Ekers](#): > > Sinistar’s “Beware! I live!” still gets me, a little. Oh yeah, Sinistar. Forgot him. I remember jumping about five feet when I first got that “I _live_!” ---
**Author:** ![Engywook](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/bc8723/32.png) [@Engywook](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Engywook)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2004, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-scariest-moments-in-video-computer-games/248094/54 "2004-06-02T18:16:56Z")
> [@Really Not All That Bright](#): > > Can’t believe nobody mentioned **Metroid: Prime** : when you meet the first Omega Pirate and it appears to be just a giant thingy in a life support tank (which the game is completely freakin’ full of, so you don’t pay much attention except when you first see it and go “whoah… that’s pretty big”)… That the Omega Pirate? The only way I could ever beat that thing was with a lot of luck. The sound of shattering glass hasn’t been quite the same since I’ve played this one. Particularly harrowing is that dark, hexagonal room where 'troids are breaking out of their aquarium… ---
**Author:** ![jfortun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/2acd7d/32.png) [@jfortun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jfortun)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2004, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-scariest-moments-in-video-computer-games/248094/55 "2004-06-02T18:28:50Z")
When the T-Rex appeared out of nowhere in the original Tomb Raider game. I actually shouted “holy sh!t” and started to run away. In Unreal when you get trapped in a corridor and all the lights go our only to be attacked by a baddie. As someone else mentioned, the first headcrab- ok- ALL headcrabs in Half-Life. Every single moment in Rainbow Six. I am sure more will come to me. ---
**Author:** ![HPL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3da27b/32.png) [@HPL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HPL)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2004, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-scariest-moments-in-video-computer-games/248094/56 "2004-06-02T18:30:32Z")
> [@DocCathode](#): > > I somehow missed **Juniper’s** post earlier. I never thought that they were statues. It’s a burial mound. I assumed they were corpses which had been naturally mummified by the hot, arid environment. NonSpoiler supporting my theory- ‘We need a heart to open this thing. Go cut one from one of the creatures’ According to the novelization(yeah, I’m geeky enough to have bought the damn thing), they are Golems. Kind of like robots but made of clay and dirt. They don’t have hearts, but Wolfgang knew that… ---
**Author:** ![shijinn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cc9497/32.png) [@shijinn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shijinn)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2004, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-scariest-moments-in-video-computer-games/248094/57 "2004-06-02T18:56:08Z")
**alien vs predator** - as a marine (of course) so i found myself scouting out a place for some reason. as usual, everywhere i end up the lights fail, mostly. the ones that don’t, well, flicker. thank goodness i had a _lot_ of flares. checking out cabins along a dark corridor is mental suicide, especially when they throw in facehuggers. no… they don’t take the easy way out and have one of those damn forsaken crabs appear out of nowhere to give you a hug and kiss. i opened the doors to one of the private cabins braced for lunging aliens and see it’s empty. _sigh of relieve_ i lowered my rifle and approached the desk, kicking a chair out of the way when i heard the sharp _clitter clatter_ of an eight-legged creature \*sharing the same room with me. \* think i wasted quite a bit of flamethrower ammo clearing that sector. a deep breath to settle my heartrate as i entered what looks like a canteen. _fssssh fssssh fssssh_ as i throw 3 flares at the other corners, barely lighting up the area dimly lit by red emergency lights from above. _crash_ as a wave of three aliens dropped out of a ventilation shaft some distance behind me and charged. _short controlled bursts_, i thought, as the familiar sounds of the pulse rifle rattled away. a little bit of the alien’s blood got onto my armour, hissing into the plate as another wave dropped down. better prepared now, i released a grenade which took out two of them as i shot the last one down. _yeah! take that!!_ i was dimly aware i was entering into hudson mode as yet another wave of three came at me. _oh you want some more?_ i wasted two of them when the rattling stopped. i looked down at the rifle’s blinking red l.e.d., the clip was empty\*. _oh shit…_ - yeah yeah, i switched off auto-reload for realism. ---
**Author:** ![Lobelia\_Overhill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/54ee81/32.png) [@Lobelia\_Overhill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobelia_Overhill)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2004, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-scariest-moments-in-video-computer-games/248094/58 "2004-06-02T19:01:41Z")
[QUOTE=jfortun] When the T-Rex appeared out of nowhere in the original Tomb Raider game. I actually shouted “holy sh!t” and started to run away. [QUOTE] At least you saw/heard it, I just got stomped on! :eek: actually once I got the sound working it was even more scarey … ---
**Author:** ![lno](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a8b319/32.png) [@lno](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lno)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2004, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-scariest-moments-in-video-computer-games/248094/59 "2004-06-02T19:13:34Z")
**Aliens vs Predator** 1 and 2 have been mentioned several times in here, but those games both gave me cause to jump in my seat, and I admit that at least once I yelped and fired nervously at hissing steam or swinging chains. In the Starflight thread floating around Cafe Society, I mentioned the panic I had when my ship was transported thousands of years into the past, and my navigation officer couldn’t recognize any of the stars and my communications officer only had static on all channels. Especially because it was a one-way trip… **The 7th Guest** spooked me back in the day. (Heh, I bought a video card that had _one megabyte_ of video memory for my 386 so I could play that game…) During one part of the game, you’re walking through a maze in the cellars. The music score fades away, and the sound effects of dripping water and other ambient noises are the only things you hear. I was playing it well past midnight with headphones on, and when I walked into a dead-end, Stauf’s voice boomed out “Feeling … lonely … ?” Yeah, I jumped. ---
**Author:** ![GGW\_Abu\_Ghraib](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9d8465/32.png) [@GGW\_Abu\_Ghraib](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GGW_Abu_Ghraib)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2004, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-scariest-moments-in-video-computer-games/248094/60 "2004-06-03T01:26:09Z")
‘Undying’ has some great scares in it. A lot of them are related to your characters ‘scry’ power, which lets you see in the dark, and also see ghosts, images from the past, and other creepy things - for instance, the faces on some paintings would turn demonic when you looked at them with scry…in another room you could hear a faint sobbing and when you used scry you would see a fresh blood stain on the mattress (and you later read in a journal why it was there). When there was something to see with scry, you would hear a little voice whisper ‘scry’, so you were usually expecting to see SOMETHING (although I’d frequently jump anyway). Well, the worst scare was when I was exploring one of the relatively peaceful areas - the ruins of a monastery, well lit, outdoors, no monsters. There was a dark corner, and I turned on scry so I could see it better, and I jumped out of my chair when I saw the place was packed with the ghosts of monks. There was no voice prompting me to look, and the only reason anybody would have used scry was laziness (I could have seen in the dark corner as well if I had just walked closer). Parts of ‘Far Cry’ scared the crap out of me too. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-scariest-moments-in-video-computer-games/248094.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-scariest-moments-in-video-computer-games/248094.md?page=4)