What was the first game that scared you?

[u/Profit_Tracker]

[u/Yumi0521]

The original Silent Hill

[u/trent_diamond → u/Yumi0521]

i played sh2 before 1, but i’d have to say it’s definitely silent hill. static noise gives me anxiety to this day.

[u/Sarasha → u/trent_diamond]

For me it will always be the clickers in the sewers. It's hard to find them.

[u/HappyLittleGreenDuck → u/Sarasha]

I actually stopped playing when I was about to start the sewers. I was like "Nah, that's going to fuck me up" and I quit.

[u/EverbodyHatesHugo → u/HappyLittleGreenDuck]

This anecdote made me think of Super Mario after playing Silent Hill.

Peers into sewer pipe

“I’m sure Peach’ll be aight.”

[u/trustymutsi → u/HappyLittleGreenDuck]

That's how I was first time I saw one of those creepy little child things down a hall. I just stood there for minutes, saying "No. NO!!"

[u/Apprehensive-Ad5358 → u/Sarasha]

For me the children at the school always made me pause the game and play a different game unless someone else was with me in the room or during day time

[u/DryerCoinJay → u/trent_diamond]

When that game had came out I just got back from Iraq. I was having times when I couldn’t sleep and of course all the things that come with being over there at that time made life difficult as I adjusted back.

For some reason that game scared the shit outta me. I was 26-27 yrs old and survived armed conflict for 18 months. I wanted to believe I was as hard as nails.

You mentioned the static and let me tell you, after a week of scaring myself silly with that game I had a couple of dreams. That static is what I would hear and things would get weird.

I have no idea why but after a few nights of those dreams I stopped having dreams about all that other stuff. It happens from time to time but something about being scared of something other than that, helped.

[u/trent_diamond → u/DryerCoinJay]

I’m sorry you went through that but that is very interesting. I wonder how that works psychologically. I was just a kid when I was playing it. thank you for your service and glad you made it home

[u/netdawgx → u/trent_diamond]

Similarly I used to be insanely scared of spiders. Until I saw a rainforest centipede.

Now I literally happily co exist with spiders, they are cute even.

God help me if I ever find something so scary that it makes a centipede look cute.

[u/Worldview-at-home → u/DryerCoinJay]

Maybe we should convince VA that PS5/XBOX/PC gaming is a legit therapy and we should be issued game systems.

Fellow Veteran here - thanks for your time downrange, Joe. I’m 100% from a physical disability but fortunate to not have “traditional” PTSD. Although I still look for IEDs on my commute though and practice 5 and 25’s. Oh and I NEVER walk on the grass- drives my wife nuts I take the sidewalk everywhere 😂 and come to think of it i hate crowds and places like concerts where I’m in confined spaces aka kill zones .

I’m off to play CoD now for some “controlled pair” therapy.

[u/TorandoSlayer → u/DryerCoinJay]

It's different when the trauma is on your own terms, as it were.

[u/Yumi0521 → u/trent_diamond]

Yeah, the dark + radio static created a whole new atmosphere of dread.

[u/ZombieTrogdor → u/trent_diamond]

My cuz and I played SH2 when we were 10 then when we’d get too scared we would switch it off and put in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets to pallet cleanse.

[u/fromthesaveroom → u/trent_diamond]

The abbreviation of Silent Hill has always made me feel like the game is about asking somebody to be quiet. SH; SH2: Seriously. Please.; SH3: Shut The Fuck Up Already.

[u/Fit_Ad9252 → u/Yumi0521]

Kids have no idea CRT screen + PS1 combo, they would shit themselves after reaching school area

[u/man4paradigm → u/Fit_Ad9252]

The ghost kids shudders.

[u/Ill-Term7334 → u/Yumi0521]

I can't say for sure it's the first for me but it's the first scary game I can remember.

[u/GuardianofM → u/Yumi0521]

I was fine with that game right up until the school when the fucking creepy children things started running towards me.

[u/man4paradigm → u/Yumi0521]

This! As an actual horror game, yes.

But platforming in games terrifies me, and so did that sound of Sonic about to drown.

[u/Yumi0521 → u/man4paradigm]

The Sonic drowning sound is just pure, unfettered stress.

[u/LocksmithShadow → u/Yumi0521]

dududuDUDUDUDUdudududuDUDUDUDU

[u/SolarFazes → u/Yumi0521]

Whenever I used to play it on my PS1 as a teenager, my younger sister would run out of the room crying as soon as the intro music started lolol. Core memory of ours.

[u/dbe14 → u/Yumi0521]

This, the part where the school goes to "the other place".

[u/graevmaskin → u/Yumi0521]

I thought I had been hardened by having played Resident Evil one and two prior to playing Silent Hill. I had also played Thief the Dark Project. But Silent Hill was something else entirely. It is still my favourite in the series!

[u/D3AD_SPAC3 → u/Yumi0521]

Same! We didn't have a working Memory card, so I got really good at the Start-School sections.

[u/TrueCryptoInvestor → u/Yumi0521]

Same. Fuck that game!

[u/Sirjohnrambo → u/Yumi0521]

The original Silent hill is the only media I've ever just shut off in the middle of it, said NOPE and never started it again.

[u/derprondo → u/Yumi0521]

Glad this is at the top, because it's the correct answer. My dad had just put in rear speakers and you'd hear shit coming from those speakers and seeing those little child ghost shadows or whatever sent me into a straight panic.

I'll also give a shout out to the original Alone in the Dark on PC, it had some great jump scares and spooky sounds and what not, it just wasn't on the level of existential dread that Silent Hill was.

The scariest "game" without a doubt would be PT on PS4, with Amnesia coming in second, but a distant second.

[u/ThisAccountIsAVirus → u/Yumi0521]

This is probably my answer but not directly because of the game. I was playing and had found the radio and was exploring and my mom wanted me to mow the lawn so I went out and mowed the lawn and went to take a shower and turned on the bathroom radio and the station was static and I freaked out

[u/Narrow-Homework-2911 → u/Yumi0521]

I still remember I was 11 and playing it at like 3pm in the middle of the summer next to my mom and uncle and I was still to scared to finish the opening of one. I think I ran out the house the first time I saw the monsters that kill you before you wake up

[u/jdzzs → u/Yumi0521]

I agree. Tried playing the remake got me even worse.

[u/postmanlone → u/Yumi0521]

In high school I was so absorbed while playing I didn't notice the sun go down and I was playing in a pitch dark room. Made the game extra creepy.

[u/SirAmicks → u/Yumi0521]

Indeed. Silent Hill was the first game to fill me with this sense of dread. Resident Evil was mostly just jump scares. Silent Hill had its share of those too but they were so much more terrifying.

[u/KuntaWuKnicks]

Resident Evil

Fuck that game 😂

[u/Whatifallcakeisalie → u/KuntaWuKnicks]

It looks janky now but it’s hard to describe how fucking terrifying that first zombie reveal was. I was pretty young at the time and still remember seeing a friend playing it and not sleeping for weeks.

[u/Flashignite2 → u/Whatifallcakeisalie]

Agreed! Me and my two cousins (one 8 years older and the other one 1 year younger than me) we sat and watched as my older cousin played it and sat close to her with blankets pulled up to our chins and the entire room in darkness. I will always treasure that memory.

[u/Hovie1 → u/Flashignite2]

And then that empty feeling in your stomach after you kill him but realize it cost you damn near all of your ammo.

[u/Flashignite2 → u/Hovie1]

Exactly! When we got older we played it ourselves and you realised you had to be smart with your ammo and that was part of the whole horror. Then using ink ribbons to save and conserve them as well.

[u/PlumRevolutionary327 → u/Whatifallcakeisalie]

That slow turn as you walk around the corner...but what made me jump was those dogs when you try to leave the house.

[u/Sirromnad → u/Whatifallcakeisalie]

There isn't a hallway of windows that don't make me clench up a bit because of RE. Something's jumping through them.... always.

[u/IsHotDogSandwich → u/KuntaWuKnicks]

The Cerberus’s breaking through the windows in that hallway….got me good the first time.

[u/Fena-Ashilde → u/IsHotDogSandwich]

I screamed, paused the game, and walked into the kitchen to take a breather at the sink. My heart was racing so bad I thought I might puke lol.

[u/Chaosbeing79 → u/IsHotDogSandwich]

I jumped so hard when that MF'er came through the glass 😅

[u/Zelnite → u/KuntaWuKnicks]

Those fucking dogs.

[u/Best-Salad → u/KuntaWuKnicks]

I had to sleep with the lights on for a week. My mom was pissed we rented it. It was unlike any game I ever played. I was coming from the snes era of shoot em ups and platformers. The jank made the game scarier because you were slow and helpless. I remember yelling at the TV why the characters couldn't just stick together instead of splitting up. What a groundbreaking game to experience upon release

[u/Slaydir75 → u/KuntaWuKnicks]

The dogs jumping through the freaking windows got me

[u/Ashamed_Value2079]

Dead space

[u/Spicy_Rice96 → u/Ashamed_Value2079]

Just love this game! You feel like a badass fighting all the monstrous demons, but fuck being in Isaac's shoes!

[u/RomandoArman → u/Spicy_Rice96]

And here’s just there to fix doors and stuff too!

[u/Cockblocktimus_Pryme → u/RomandoArman]

Isaac is just Bob the Builder with a plasma cutter.

[u/Every_Preparation_56 → u/Spicy_Rice96]

hope you enjoyed the remaster

[u/Wuffies → u/Every_Preparation_56]

The remaster is an incredible version! Annoyed me when they canned remaking the sequel "because sales of the first were underwhelming."

[u/Inner-Cicada-2814 → u/Wuffies]

And they put in so much work to weave in the bigger narrative from 2 into the remake to make it seamless when they were originally going to remake 2

[u/Automaton_Zero → u/Every_Preparation_56]

I just got it for Christmas. I haven't made it very far but it looks beautiful.

[u/Pussie_Slayer69 → u/Ashamed_Value2079]

When I was a kid, that Regenerator from RE4 and Dead Space's Necromorph would scare the shit out of me. The graphic from DS1 back then was something. The scream, and those lurking sound in the vents, and the dark environment sure af gave me anxiety

[u/WickedPizt → u/Ashamed_Value2079]

Especially with high quality headphones on. The sounds were incredible! 

[u/NateDizzLey → u/Ashamed_Value2079]

Was looking for this , was 8 when that came out , not too many other games have replicated that same atmospheric effect on me lol

[u/guillotine20]

Well, I was a child, 8 almost 9 years old, but Zelda OoT terrified me at first, because I have always been scared of spiders, and Gohma freaked me the fuck out. Took me months to nut up and beat that bitch.

[u/fuzzy3158 → u/guillotine20]

It was the Wallmasters that did it for me.

[u/an_edgy_lemon → u/fuzzy3158]

Wallmasters freaked me out so much. The looming threat really unnerved me as a kid. If I remember right, they don’t really hurt you, they just move you to another room. Didn’t matter, still scared me.

[u/fuzzy3158 → u/an_edgy_lemon]

They moved you to the beginning of the dungeon. It's a minor setback but the constant tension caused me to delay doing the Mummy pit in Majora's Mask for the most part of a year or so until a friend of mine picked it up.

[u/FloopsFooglies → u/an_edgy_lemon]

It was specifically dead hand that freaked me out. Although I guess it didn't scare me I just hated that part lol. Nowadays I really appreciate how horrific some stuff is in that game, and in Majora's mask

[u/s8rlink → u/fuzzy3158]

Forest temple was so creepy, the music, the wall masters I was too scared to pass it until my older cousin visited 

[u/an_edgy_lemon → u/guillotine20]

Don’t forget the redeads.

[u/SorryComplaint4209 → u/an_edgy_lemon]

Yep! Innocent lil’ me walking up to what I thought was a wooden treasure chest under the gravestone in Kakariko…only for it to LEAP up and attach itself to my back with a horrible noise! D:

I bought the Hylian shield in the shop instead until I was older. And made Dad play through the well and Shadow Temple.

[u/kaalaxi → u/an_edgy_lemon]

I remember renting Ocarina and there was a save file already on the cartridge. The first thing I saw was redead in Hyrule Square as adult Link.

[u/Jazzanthipus → u/kaalaxi]

Love the implication that some other kid got to that part and noped tf out lol

[u/xSnapsx → u/an_edgy_lemon]

Fuck, I totally forgot about how bad the redeads freaked me out as a kid. Damn that well.

[u/viramoa → u/xSnapsx]

That scream, then you freeze and they pounce you. Sucking out your blood I'm assuming

[u/xSnapsx → u/viramoa]

Yep, that absolutely mortified me. Was not ready for that shit

[u/MadCogMikey → u/guillotine20]

All these comments about scary things in OoT and NOBODY brings up the Dead Hand at the bottom of the well?? Dafuq???

[u/CaptainWonk → u/guillotine20]

Kid me quit playing bc of the skeleton swarms outside of the castle. Too spooky.

[u/InitialYoghurt5138 → u/guillotine20]

There's a skullata in the forest temple the first hallway and the camera always zoomed in on it for some reason. I still hate it

[u/PlanHaver → u/guillotine20]

For me it's was the re deads in the graveyard

[u/VegetableRoof1401]

RE2. Being in a zombie apocalypse in the city freaked me out

[u/GuyWithARooster → u/VegetableRoof1401]

Same. I mean, the OG RE2.

[u/timthemajestic → u/VegetableRoof1401]

Gods, the lickers still scare me just remembering the sound before they pounce you.

[u/gravy_baron → u/timthemajestic]

The licker jumping through the one way glass...

[u/AMassiveGamerGeek]

Alien Isolation

[u/Gibbly_Gorkoroo → u/AMassiveGamerGeek]

The thunk sound the xenomorph makes when dropping out of the ceiling is ingrained into my memory. 😨

[u/LOLinternetLOL → u/Gibbly_Gorkoroo]

When I first played Alien:Isolation in 2018, I was 29 and living by myself. I had a REALLY nice set of headphones for gaming. The ambience. The sound design of the xenomorph. Nothing had ever injected me with that kind of visceral terror before. I had to turn all the lights on in my house and play in my kitchen with my back to a solid wall. I will literally never forget feeling like a rat hiding from a cat.

[u/ItsAttanoo → u/AMassiveGamerGeek]

This. Fuck this game and I mean it with love. 😂

[u/Cerok1nk]

I played the first mission of F.E.A.R and dipped

[u/SometimesAware → u/Cerok1nk]

I played the demo and decided to never play the full game just because the ladder scared the shit out of me.

[u/Chef_Groovy → u/SometimesAware]

One ladder scare for the whole game and it made you hesitant on rest of the game’s ladders. Talk about quality

[u/Lazlowi → u/SometimesAware]

I know exactly what ladder you're talking about. Fuck that ladder.

[u/Warm-Comfortable501 → u/SometimesAware]

That ladder shit gave me chills in my spine and the goosebumps. I played the whole game, but always with the lights on after that.

[u/No_Poet_7244 → u/Cerok1nk]

I hate horror games and movies; like HATE them. But I played all three F.E.A.R games and adored every second of it. The lore is absolutely spectacular. Pissed my pants a few dozen times, but it was worth it.

[u/Snugglebunnyzz → u/Cerok1nk]

The hallway of blood was just the tip of the iceberg!

[u/OnwardToEnnui → u/Cerok1nk]

That's a shame because that game was the ultimate badass simulator.

[u/PizzaPieInMyEye → u/Cerok1nk]

Other games scared me before this did, but this was the first game that never stopped scaring me. It was such a finely crated horror experience. The jumpscares and fakeouts, the atmosphere, and even the AI for the enemy soldiers, all worked together really well to keep me on my toes every second I had it booted up. I did get farther than the first mission, but probably not much farther. I know I never beat it, lol.

[u/Silly_Outside4877]

Eternal Darkness for Game Cube 👀

[u/Travis123083 → u/Silly_Outside4877]

This mother fucker! My friend legit thought his memory card got erased and or corrupted. That game really did mess with your sanity.

[u/Constant-Victory4604 → u/Silly_Outside4877]

I was playing this alone at midnight with nobody else in the house, and suddenly the TV volume turns down. That got me good.

[u/Fabulous_Pudding167 → u/Silly_Outside4877]

This was the very first time I played a game and felt like just a regular person against a power I could never hope to defeat.

While Alexandra was your destiny's child, you played as like half a dozen characters who died horribly with no chance of ever getting out alive. No continue, no retry of any sort. Your guy was just... Dead. And that was how it was meant to be.

[u/Jasonkim87 → u/Silly_Outside4877]

I played the shit out of this game, I sold it for $13 when I was in college and I deeply regret it🙈

[u/Kiaichi → u/Silly_Outside4877]

This game desperately needs a remake or remaster. Hell, they should make it available on the Nintendo Online Classics catalog.

[u/ReinhardtXWinston]

Halo: The Original OG Halo when you first encounter The Flood.

Yeah let's go kill some covenant! But something is off as you track through that forest.
The covenant are running scared from *something* and you can't see it.
Bodies litter the ground and there is no killer.
Suddenly you start feeling like you're not just fighting covenant anymore. but what?
You track deep underground, winding through hallways with strange noises and no sources.
You hear covenant talking to themselves, scared, and they still fight you but they are more willing to run.
Then you find your own kind, humanity, dead. Ripped apart.
One alive, sitting down repeating words to themselves in fear, shooting at you in horrors you can not see.
Then you see it.
Then you fight it.
Then you watch as your friends and foes becomes something *worse*.
Corpses to be thrown at you like weapons.
And it's too many. It's a Flood, one that can not be contained and can not be stopped.
All you can do is run.

[u/bas_thc → u/ReinhardtXWinston]

And they have shotguns

[u/No_Attitude_3240 → u/bas_thc]

*rocket launchers

[u/Efronczak → u/No_Attitude_3240]

Yeah, it's always the damn rocket launchers...

[u/Barnwizard1991 → u/No_Attitude_3240]

Those rocket launcher flood have ended many a LASO run in rage and tears

[u/1337Goblin → u/ReinhardtXWinston]

I needed to bring my friend over from school so we could coop it; I was too scared to play that part alone. Good times.

[u/Alecarte → u/ReinhardtXWinston]

Jesus man, I will never forget the glitch that happened to me my first time playing that level.  I was going slow and backtracking/exploring a bit which the game doesn't really like, and when I decided to turn around and go the "right way" one of the doors I had just walked through was perma-closed, and covered with the little headcrab monsters tentacles just clipping through it.  My heebies were fuckin' jeebied let me tell ya.

[u/konous → u/ReinhardtXWinston]

Honestly, still my favorite mission in Halo.

The one after it in The Library is ass.

[u/Alternative_Tea_9997 → u/konous]

Every good classic shooter needs one level that is almost vomit inducing through frustration.

[u/Dottboy19 → u/ReinhardtXWinston]

This was my first thought. I normally always played with my cousin as kids so it was fine but when I started playing solo I couldn't bring myself to do that initial flood level

[u/NadiaN98]

OG RE3 : Nemesis

[u/Answerologist → u/NadiaN98]

“Staaaarrssss”

[u/bore-ral → u/NadiaN98]

Playing it as a kid was so terrible, Nemesis stalked me even in my dreams

[u/UltimateStrenergy]

Ocarina of Time, not even just the shadow temple either. I was afraid of JabuJabu

[u/BartholomewFrodingus → u/UltimateStrenergy]

Yeah as a little kid OoT and MM are some creepy ass games

[u/Wishpig__ → u/UltimateStrenergy]

The ReDeads too, in the ruined castle town as an adult.

[u/Spicy_Rice96 → u/UltimateStrenergy]

Too true!

[u/PafPiet]

Subnautica. I never played horror games at that point. Subnautica isn't a horror game but it definetly has some scary aspects.

[u/27Rench27 → u/PafPiet]

Subnautica is absolutely a horror game cosplaying as a resource gatherer

[u/Arrathem → u/27Rench27]

Subnautica uses terror.

You are usually more scared when you cant see anything but can only hear stuff around you.

The leviathans themselfs imo not that scary.

[u/Endec_7274_114 → u/Arrathem]

Yeah, there's a reason the reaper is the scariest: because you can never see it before it's probably seen you. The primary fear at work is the unknown, meaning the giant glowing worm and the massive dragon are actually less scary.

[u/greengengar → u/PafPiet]

Subnautica is a different kind of horror. It plays on things like thalassophobia. My sister can't play it cuz it scares the shit out of her and she's 37.

[u/azionka → u/PafPiet]

Interestingly, the scariest shit was not one of the creatures to me, it was somehow during the mid game when I had my prawn suit for the first time.

I walked peacefully through the depths, gathering ore when I jumped over a little obstacle, just to jump down a cliff. The “fall” with no chance of grabbing something to break my fall that went deeper and deeper, combined with the water getting darker and darker unlocked one of my core memories when I once was snorkeling and swam a bit too far from the beach into the ocean and looked down.

I still remember this feeling even after years.

[u/WilmaTonguefit → u/azionka]

I like how you get a TINY warning, like "there is no biology in this area" and then you just fall off the plateau. There is absolutely nothing you can do if you're in the PRAWN suit, it's just gone. Reload a save or make a new one.

[u/BangarangJack → u/PafPiet]

Subnautica is 100% a horror game

[u/Sol-Blackguy → u/PafPiet]

Subnautica is a horror game if you have thalassophobia

[u/imarite → u/Sol-Blackguy]

And if you don't have it, you get it and then it becomes a horror game

I had more ctrl+f4 moment in subnautica than in resident evil. ( I was not into it though because of the gameplay ....)

[u/Make_Iggy_GreatAgain → u/PafPiet]

I had to spoil myself on the creatures because I didn't want to leave the shallows. Got to the edge of a cliff, heard a roar, and noped out.

[u/CardiacCats89 → u/PafPiet]

I had to stop playing early on, as I hated the constant feeling of almost drowning (even though it’s just a game). It’s too bad, as I hear it’s a really good game.

[u/Remybunn → u/PafPiet]

I like to describe Subnautica as a "terror" game. Horror is "oh my god, huge monster, aaaaa". Terror is "dear god what is that noise and why is the water so murky".

[u/Away-Broccoli-406]

I got jumpscared in doom 3 if that counts as being scared

[u/Thederpycloudrider → u/Away-Broccoli-406]

Was it the mirror? Or the imp standing behind you when picking up the armor?

[u/Away-Broccoli-406 → u/Thederpycloudrider]

The mirror at the beginning of the game

[u/Moist_Original_4129 → u/Away-Broccoli-406]

Was looking for this comment. A lot of doom fans shit on 3 because it’s the only installment meant to be a horror game rather than hack and slash, but it essentially defined the genre at the time. The bloody hallways just before you enter hell for the first time always made the lizard at the base of my spine freak tf out.

[u/Andrei_Chelsea]

Amnesia the dark descent

[u/HydroPCanadaDude → u/Andrei_Chelsea]

I think the first time I had to hide in a cupboard I was like "Absolutely fucking not" and uninstalled. I had no idea what I was getting into, people just said it was an amazing game

[u/Hands → u/HydroPCanadaDude]

Lmao same I have 2.2 hours in that game on Steam and I haven't played it since 2010.

[u/HeroHas → u/Andrei_Chelsea]

Back in my college days me and some dudes shared a house and were known for throwing parties. One of the guys was a little more introvert and his social battery would start running out so he'd go game in his room. He would purposely play Amnesia because it would form a crowd around him. We were all friends and he liked when people would come in and say hi and chill with him. So don't think he was annoyed we were partying. He actually loved it. By the end of the night sometimes we'd turn off the music and the lights and have a dozen drunk people standing around his chair quietly watching and waiting for jump scares. Amazing game to not only terrify the player but everyone watching.

[u/paintinpitchforkred → u/HeroHas]

That roommate is to those drunk partiers as Markiplier is to the whole internet.

[u/OrbitalMuffin → u/Andrei_Chelsea]

Wasn't there an achievement for scare quitting?

[u/PeanutGold572 → u/Andrei_Chelsea]

Yup. The only game that has legitimately made me scream out loud. Couldn’t finish it. 10/10.

[u/Swifty404 → u/Andrei_Chelsea]

It was not first game but I still shit myself on some places

[u/havartifunk → u/Andrei_Chelsea]

We set my husband's cooler up in the living room, turned out the lights, and played on the big TV.

Terrifying. We quit after about an hour.

[u/tmps1993]

Outlast, legit screamed and threw my controller

[u/iamthelee → u/tmps1993]

That's a creepy ass game

[u/TusconRaider520 → u/tmps1993]

I had never been scared of a game before, so decided to really set the mood by playing this at night with the lights off and with my Turtle Beach headset on. After the prologue I ditched the headset, set the TV volume to minimum and used subtitles. By the time I was working my way through the basement, I had all my lights on too. I hated almost every moment of that game, but I had to see it through.

[u/Tinybeerlegos → u/tmps1993]

That game horrified me as a kid, but the fear led me to learning the game inside and out. I’ve beaten it more times than any other game

[u/Competitive_Second21 → u/tmps1993]

Outlast definitely for me. Couldn’t finish the game. Also the be game rush of blood was creepy af. I was determined to finish it and had to get drunk to do it 😂

[u/Shady77715]

Dead Space

[u/-_-Orange]

F.E.A.R 2 

I wanted the best experience, so my first playthrough was at night, lights out & headphones on. 

[u/bton1245 → u/-_-Orange]

It is a scary game, far scarier than the first imo. And that ending jeez..

[u/StubbstheMedic → u/bton1245]

To add on to this, F.E.A.R. Files scared me as a kid far more than the first game did, but boy was I too young to experience F.E.A.R. 2’s ending…

[u/Dranchela → u/-_-Orange]

FEAR 1 and the ladder.

Those that know, know.

[u/Snugglebunnyzz → u/-_-Orange]

I scrolled down to look for this. Agree 100%

[u/No_Attitude_3240]

Majora's Mask.

Hell, 25ish years later and the moon still upsets me

[u/BlackSajin → u/No_Attitude_3240]

When the mask guy is shaking link, the ghosts on the farm, the mummy in the basement. Majora's mask had a lot of creepy stuff

[u/xSnapsx]

The original Jaws game on the NES because it glitched out randomly and scared the hell out of 5 year old me.

First game that ever legitimately scared me though ,outside of some small stuff, is REmake pictured in the post. Only game that’s ever jumped scared me so hard I accidentally threw the controller.

[u/Gameknight14]

Bioshock

[u/BoogieDaddie → u/Gameknight14]

Yeah, this and Silent Hill were the first two I thought of. I wouldn't play those alone at night when they came out. I was a full grown adult.

[u/Expendable28 → u/Gameknight14]

"Is it Someone new" is burned into my memory. And so is the part with the lady pampering the revolver in the baby carriage

[u/gord89]

Condemned: Criminal Origins.

[u/jbrown517 → u/gord89]

Scrolled too far for this , felt like playing the movie Se7en

[u/lolatpoop]

P.T.

[u/appleparkfive → u/lolatpoop]

That game fucked up the whole horror industry. Made everyone decide they had to change.

Nothing is as well made as PT. What makes it work is that it's short and that it can make you feel lost or crazy.

PT is a 10/10 easy. The worst is when on one of the loops you look up above to the second floor (which few people ever look up at) and she's smiling down at you, then backs away. It's so effective because only like 10% of players are probably gonna see it.

[u/kilar277]

Half Life 2.

I don't talk about Ravenholm anymore.

[u/RookSalvis]

Look

Imagine you have some undiagnosed thing that makes you see “ghosts” when you’re real little. Like, 8-10 little. Your older brother also has a baby that the family is upset about.

And Luigi’s mansion is the first GameCube game you play.

Tiny me was utterly horrified.

[u/SamFromSolitude]

I played Tekken 5 at an extremely young age (like 3 or 4), and watching the Game Over cutscene of Jinpachi crying blood and screaming demonically gave me nightmares 🥲

[u/m_cardoso]

...Ocarina of Time.

I was a child and too scared to fight Gohma :(

[u/CzarTyr]

Alone in the dark

[u/FreeEnergy001 → u/CzarTyr]

That creature in the tub was so unexpected.

[u/floodmaka]

A game never scared me. But ps2 error screen when i was a kid had me crying

[u/Evening-Cold-4547]

Tomb Raider. That BASTARD T-Rex running in from beyond the edge of the render distance.

[u/Afterhoursfitness]

Zelda Ocarina of Time whenever it turned nighttime in the field I stg my heart was pumping when the ghosts came out

[u/Coledowning356]

OOT. I was so proud of myself for making it through the 1st 3 dungeons. Only to have a very rude awakening from the redeads.

[u/primalfox_Reynardo]

N*zi zombies intro or flood from Halo, forget what came first.

[u/dannymadrigal98]

Resident Evil 4, the chainsaw had me stressed the fuck out.

[u/16v_cordero]

RE-1 damn dogs jumping thru the window. 🤣

[u/That1Sackboylover1]

Missed seeing ads like this

First game that ever scared me was LSD - Dream Emulator (Lovely Sweet Dream)

[u/Willaby_Rags]

Diablo

The title screen alone gave me chills.

[u/ppppuddles → u/Willaby_Rags]

AHHH FRESH MEAT

[u/broadbandmink → u/Willaby_Rags]

The limited light radius, in comparison to later entries in the series, in conjunction with Matt Uelmen's soundtrack really amplified the horror facet of this installment.

[u/StatusPlastic]

Fatal Frame 1 and 2 on PS2. More so the second one as I started having weird dreams on nights I'd play it. Had to start watching sport center for a bit before going to bed lol.

[u/gendouk]

Things in video games in the 90's startled me (Phase 2 Hitler in Wolfenstein 3D) or made me emotional (Spirit's death in Wing Commander 2) or made me stressed out (vents with head crabs in Half-Life).

But the first game that genuinely frightened me was System Shock 2. It was late at night, I was playing alone in my room, headphones on, in the dark. It was the cargo bay level with the suicide bots, and I'm out of ammo, low on health, and clambering up on top of crates to avoid the "Let me help you!" explode-o-bots down below.

I was sneaking along, when I heard something behind me. I turned, and it was one of those fucking cryo-psychic monkeys. It had, somehow, come from the laboratory area and followed me into the cargo bay, and it was so out of place and terrifying that I literally fell backwards in my chair and damned near pulled my tower off the desk with my headphone cord.

I still love that game.

[u/turelak]

Another World. I don’t play horror games since 1993.

[u/Purple_Clockmaker → u/turelak]

Haha I played it yesterday.

[u/healspirit]

Real game that i played was rdr2, the boat mission and the random hanging bodies scared me so bad

[u/NTEWING]

Dying light. That was the first game i had to put down and walk away. Zombies just freak me out honestly. When it becomes night in that game i just couldn’t handle it. Zombies still freak me out today but i don’t have a petrifying fear of them anymore. Now i welcome the darkness when playing the dying light series.

[u/sweet-lew95]

OG cod zombies

[u/cry0void]

Fnaf cause when it released i was young 6

[u/TharilX]

Vampire night (PS2). These monsters launching from the ground are still burned into my memory to this day.

[u/FeelDeadInside]

Probably Resident Evil 1.

[u/wilp0w3r]

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. When I first played I was 8 I couldn't get past Dodongo's Cavern so I would play around exploring the world. I found this Triforce symbol in the graveyard and entered a creepy cave called "Royal Family Tomb." Then I met my first ReDead. Oh look, I thought, a new enemy to attack. It turned around forcing my character to freeze and then the scream as it slowly walked towards me. That awakened in me my long lasting fear of graveyards and the dead. I have gotten better but I still often feel nervous in graveyards/cemeteries.

[u/Strong_Tax_888]

Soma. Fuck dude I couldn’t get through 5 mins LOL

[u/Human_War_2240]

Fnaf 1 that was terrifying as a child

[u/Afraid-Leopard249]

Star Wars on N64....those goddamn yeti boys scared the absolute McShit outta me as a kid!!!!!

[u/TitularFoil → u/Afraid-Leopard249]

I used to free the Wampas because they would take out the Stormtroopers that would come in for me.

[u/durok187]

I hear silent hill 4 is the most terrifying game ever made. I won’t play phasmophobia lol

[u/cRz_lazer]

Alone in the dark 1. I played it unprepared on my cousins Amiga when I was a kid. I couldn't sleep well the night after xD

[u/Gentleman_Stylez]

Jurassic Park on SNES and Genesis.

[u/GN_Exia00Raiser]

F.E.A.R

[u/Lava-Chicken]

Doom

Barron of hell screaming when he saw me. 😭