Moments In Games That Scared The Crap Out Of You

[fighterpilot562]

So has there ever been a moment in gaming, where you were scared. Be it a jump scare, a terrifying enemy you faced as a kid, etc.

Please share your stories, also, in a future show for Retro Reload (Unofficial podcast for VGC) we may cover this topic. And if you are okay with us reading your story if its good, please in your post you would like to opt in. We don't have to use your name if you don't want.

[atarileaf]

The first time I remember being scared or last least "jumpy" in a video game was the red dragon in Atari's "Adventure". When you walked in the black castle and that guy popped out and ate you it made my cousins and I literally jump

[segaomega21]

This is more recent than you may be wanting, but I was playing Condemned 2:Bloodshot with my friends, and we came to a level where you are in a cold snowy environment. I don't remember a whole lot from this part but you start to see bear tracks in the snow, shortly after you find a cabin or resort or something and go inside. as we are creeping slowly through the house the tension builds slowly because it is so quiet and eerie as my friends and I are all starring at the TV all of the sudden a freaking Zombie Bear rams through the door and starts chasing you through the place. scared the shit out of all of us. I highly recommend this game for some good jump scares especially this scene.

[dondetti]

Oh yeah, I definately had some bad gaming moments that scared the hell out of me when I was young.

There was this PC game "Bad Mojo" I briefly played and did not recall the name of until someone thankfully gave a hint in this thread recently: http://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,6397.0.html
Super creepy atmosphere, a dark & crude ambient soundtrack and graphic photorealistic scenery was too much for me to handle. When I looked up some discussions I found out I wasn't the only one who thought that crawling over the crushed but not yet quite dead rat in the trap was one of the worst parts.
I watched some gameplay and I still think it's kind of unsettling, well apart from the live action cutscenes which are somewhat awkward in a budget B movie overacting way.

Another one was the point & click/first person action game Waxworks. Some of the more gruesome deaths were super gory, I remember nearly fainting after I got mauled by the zombies in the graveyard, showing the character having his face ripped apart & entrails hanging out. Just too young for this kind of shit I guess. I also really hated Scarlet O'Hara in Uninvited...I played a PC version that looked more realistic than the cartoonish NES version. Not good, but Waxworks really gave me many a sleepless night.

This was waaay back then in pre school and maybe a bit weird: Super Battleship for the SNES. The toothless brown skull symbol when a ship got wrecked was somehow terrifying to me. I think it also had something to do with the general atmosphere of the game as there was nearly no background music, only some sonar/radar noise or artillery fire, but when you die it's this loud alarm and the shrill game over/SOS music, all of this together freaked me out somehow. Same for the countdown parts in Super Metroid, everything goes batshit and I just froze and cried in terror.

In my early teens I actually didn't have much problem with Resident Evil at all.
But Silent Hill, that radio noise. God damn...

[burningdoom]

Resident Evil 2

You're going into the shed/out-building/guard-house, whatever it is behind the police station. Inside there is a desk in the back with a door next to it. I go to open the door and think I have a moment of loading time like usual, as you get the door-opening cutscene. But this time instead the music suddenly blasts in my ears through my headphones (I shared a room with my brother, he was sleeping) and a horde of zombies comes at me instead of the door opening to the next room! Between the music, the unexpectedness of it, and being in the dark of night (due to my brother sleeping), I about pissed myself.

[fighterpilot562]

Resident Evil 2

You're going into the shed/out-building/guard-house, whatever it is behind the police station. Inside there is a desk in the back with a door next to it. I go to open the door and think I have a moment of loading time like usual, as you get the door-opening cutscene. But this time instead the music suddenly blasts in my ears through my headphones (I shared a room with my brother, he was sleeping) and a horde of zombies comes at me instead of the door opening to the next room! Between the music, the unexpectedness of it, and being in the dark of night (due to my brother sleeping), I about pissed myself.

Love it, am I allowed to use this story in a future show?

[bikingjahuty]

Probably the first time I encountered a Crimson Head in REmake on the Gamecube.


I thought that once you dropped a zombie that was it. Low and behold I'm backtracking, and one of the bastards gets up! Not only that, but it's now running!!!! Freaked me the fuck out the first time I played, and you bet that I was making burning those bastards a number one priority after that!

[burningdoom]

Probably the first time I encountered a Crimson Head in REmake on the Gamecube.


I thought that once you dropped a zombie that was it. Low and behold I'm backtracking, and one of the bastards gets up! Not only that, but it's now running!!!! Freaked me the fuck out the first time I played, and you bet that I was making burning those bastards a number one priority after that!

Yep, me too, lol. Remember that.

[burningdoom]

Resident Evil 2

You're going into the shed/out-building/guard-house, whatever it is behind the police station. Inside there is a desk in the back with a door next to it. I go to open the door and think I have a moment of loading time like usual, as you get the door-opening cutscene. But this time instead the music suddenly blasts in my ears through my headphones (I shared a room with my brother, he was sleeping) and a horde of zombies comes at me instead of the door opening to the next room! Between the music, the unexpectedness of it, and being in the dark of night (due to my brother sleeping), I about pissed myself.

Love it, am I allowed to use this story in a future show?

Sure.

[telly]

Please share your stories, also, in a future show for Retro Reload (Unofficial podcast for VGC) we may cover this topic.

Oh man, if there ever was a time that I would want to be on the podcast, it would be for this episode. I love the Silent Hill series, and Silent Hill 2 is my favorite game of all time.

But my scariest moment would have to be the hospital level in Silent Hill 3. The masterful atmosphere and music of Silent Hill made the entire hospital level a tense and scary moment for me. Even now I still get nervous thinking about that damn level, more so than any jump scare ever could haha. It's the single most scary level out of any Silent Hill game.

But anyway, it's hard to capture the whole level just by describing it, but I'd have to single out the nurses from SH3. The way they walk, with the heavy breathing and terrifying music/ radio static, as the slump and slouch over to you in the claustrophobic hallway or trying to hit to shoot you!  It's incredibly stressful. And then they start running at you!

That doesn't even cover the blood stained/ boiling walls and beds, the creepy foot dangling out of the hospital bed. The blood and rust, the creaky wheelchair. Plenty of gruesome imagery/ trap rooms, grating music, there's too much to even describe. And I love playing all of it Even watching someone play it is still stressful, if you don't want to pick up the actual game.

I have to keep myself from reading some of these because I don't want to spoil any of the scares for games I haven't played yet, like Resident Evil 2

You can put whatever you want in the podcast, sorry I wrote a lot

[critter7405]

I have to say sitting in the dark at a friends house playing resident evil on ps1. I actually was just watching him and he gets to a certain spot and said. I am letting you know something is going to happen. So he slowly started walking toward the hallway and out jumped the damn dogs through the windows. That scared the shit out of me. Lol

[fighterpilot562]

I have to say sitting in the dark at a friends house playing resident evil on ps1. I actually was just watching him and he gets to a certain spot and said. I am letting you know something is going to happen. So he slowly started walking toward the hallway and out jumped the damn dogs through the windows. That scared the shit out of me. Lol

Dude, that is pretty much my story lol. Friends house, he said something and everything haha

[retrogemcollector]

Doom 3 by far. To this day I have not been able to play more than 2 hours.

[kamikazekeeg]

Probably one of the biggest jump scares I had was years ago back when me and two friends were playing Fatal Frame together.  I don't remember which game it was in the series, but we being babies about the horror stuff, and we would pass the controller around whenever someone didn't want to keep playing.  Underneath my friends bed was a huge bass speaker, like this shouldn't be in a household big, let alone underneath a bed, as I was pretty sure it was a car bass speaker lol.  So apparently that had gotten turned up and while the game volume was loud enough, the bass had been turned up too high.  We are playing, on edge, that game has great creepy atmosphere, and then suddenly a ghost pops up, there's a huge boom from the bass, shaking the bed, and we all freak out, having to hurriedly pause the game till we could pull ourselves together because it had gotten us so good.  Certainly the most impacting jump scare a person might have lol

More recently, in Batman: Arkham Knight, there's an amazing jumpscare when you play in New Game + and I won't spoil anything, but it legit got me to the point that I had to slide back from the desk, and recover, really laughing to myself.  It was so brilliant.  I hadn't been spooked like that in awhile.  Heck, there's technically two jumpscares in the game, but both are so spoilery, I don't want to say anymore, but if you played the game, you know...You know lol

Also so far, I've never beaten a Silent Hill game.  I've tried to play Silent Hill 2 through 4, but because I'm determined to play them in the dark, I've never gotten very far.  They are creepy ass games.  I saw Thedarkpersian bring up Doom 3 which could fit into that at times, but I can beat those games cause of the action it.  Same for Dead Space.  Crazy games, but because I can blow up the horrors, it's playable.  I actually hate most horror games.  I don't want to just be scared and I don't see any real game value with games like Amnesia and Outlast where I just have to run and hide all the time lol Silent Hill borders that line, but those are just generally creepy games.  Might have to go back someday to see if I can play them at all.  I was actually pretty hyped for Silent Hills before it got canceled.  I was gonna delve into a straight up horror game, but it wasn't to be.

[thewelshman]

Strangely enough, the biggest scare/jump I ever got from a game happened to be from my most favorite game of all time. I remember getting Final Fantasy 6 December of 1994. Of course, this meant I got to play my brains out during the Christmas holiday. I was 13 years old and had all the time in the world. Anyone familiar with FF6 is familiar with the scene that follows the fight with Kefka in Narshe. It was about 3am and the sound was up on my tv. I watched with anticipation as the Returners approach the frozen esper...then in the silence, Terra turns into an epser and lets out a shriek that made me jump, and fall out of my chair. MY tv was up louder than I realized. It was safe to say, my room being located above my parent's room promptly woke them and I was in bed soon after. To this day,  still cringe with the memory when I replay that game. It's my all-time #1 game, and that's my all-time jumpy moment.