Best horror games?

[argyle]

Silent Hill 2 is the best I've played.  I think what really sets it apart for me is that, beneath all the creepy-as-hell monsters & decaying buildings there's a story grounded in reality that makes the whole experience that much more disturbing.  Then after you play it, read the story FAQ where the guy who wrote the official guide actually talked to the dev & got the straight answers from him about exactly what everything meant - it makes it that much more disturbing when you realize what's really going on.  Amazing game, I hope Silent Hills can live up to it. 

[Oheao]

Silent Hill
Resident Evil
Fatal Frame
Haunting Ground
Clock Tower
Corpse Party
White Day
Nanashi No Game
Siren
Hellnight

[koemo1]

Amnesia freaked me out, but silent hill 2 was creepy as well

[blipcs76]

Most of the games that have been mentioned so far.  I'll add:

Condemned Criminal Origins (only played bits of this one, which was enough for me.)
Zombi U (the nursery is the one of the scariest locations I've ever played through in a game.  Couldn't get out of there fast enough.)

[kuribo]

I'm a little late to this thread, but I wanted to throw in a suggestion or two, especially since people already mentioned a couple of great series! 

I haven't gotten around to playing Amnesia, but the three short Penumbra game on PC was made by the same studio and it is quite a scary game too.  One of the things that makes it so intense is that you have no weapons and have to hide from everything essentially.  It is a budget title but still really worth playing.

I'm glad someone mentioned Condemned too.  I've only played Condemned 2, but it definitely has an unsettling environment and there is a part with a bear in that game that will keep you on your toes to say the least.

[exonerator]

It's no modern 3D horror title along the lines of Silent Hill or Resident Evil, but one that comes to mind for me is Splatterhouse. This game must be mentioned in any "horror games" list. It's incredible, and for the time, it was pushing what could be acceptable in a video game. It was gory before the ESRB, and it was a genuinely fun arcade beat-em-up.

[burningdoom]

It's no modern 3D horror title along the lines of Silent Hill or Resident Evil, but one that comes to mind for me is Splatterhouse. This game must be mentioned in any "horror games" list. It's incredible, and for the time, it was pushing what could be acceptable in a video game. It was gory before the ESRB, and it was a genuinely fun arcade beat-em-up.

In my opinion, that game is all style over substance. I owned it on my TG-16. It does show a bit of gore and horror imagery for the time. But the game-play is about as simple as an action-platformer can be. You can't even really call it an action-platformer. You have a very basic attack. You walk to the right. And you hit bad guys along the way before they hit you. In the most basic sense. It got repetitive fast, and was more of a conversation piece than anything.

[argyle]

BTW, is anyone else getting The Evil Within in a couple of weeks?  I watched the TGS trailer for that today and I gotta say it looks extremely good! 

[krelyan]

Eternal Darkness is fantastic!  I remember immediately starting the game again as soon as I finished it.  Other than that, I'd vote for the first hour or so in the village in RE4.  I'm not sure if I've ever found a game creepy all the way through.  It seems once you get used to the mechanics the scare tactics go out the window which is a shame.

[evilnick]

Eternal Darkness is fantastic!  I remember immediately starting the game again as soon as I finished it.  Other than that, I'd vote for the first hour or so in the village in RE4.  I'm not sure if I've ever found a game creepy all the way through.  It seems once you get used to the mechanics the scare tactics go out the window which is a shame.

Eternal Darkness remains my all-time favorite game, and what it lacked in jump-scares, it more than made up for it with one of the best horror atmospheres in gaming.  It's rare for me to finish a game these days and just replay it again, but I did it with Eternal Darkness--three times, until I had the complete ending after playing through aligned with all three of the fighting Ancients. 

It's one of the only games I would re-purchase in an HD remake format if released, simply to support it again.  I wish Nintendo would just hand the franchise to Retro and tell them to bring it back.