When was the first time you felt 'TRULY' terrified in a game?

H . R . 2

H . R . 2

Member

PT-1.jpg


I used to be a scaredy-cat to the point that I never tried any of the Resident Evils until two years after RE4 came out.
RE4 was so visually spectacular that I just had to finish it and I am glad I did because it gave me the courage to try so many other horror games.
with the exception of FEAR and CONDOMENED, nothing had scared me since, until ... PT was released.
I first tried the demo with my Sony Gold headset and 3D/surround audio.
the sheer terror that the first sighting of Lisa caused me, the sleepless nights that followed with me hopelessly trying to solve the messed-up final puzzle while reducing my life expectancy by years
was perhaps the most unforgettable memory I have ever had of a horror game.

Tell us about yours!
(kindly blur out any spoilers)
​
 
Silent hill 1 probably? All of it.

REmake, crimson heads. I remember studying the map and memorizing every turn I had to make, then opening the door and holding my breath running to the next room.

Silent hill 2 also. All of it really.

That might be it. Code Veronica has some moments. Or the blind wolverine dude in Resident Evil 4, or the chainsaw guy in RE4 the first time you hear his high pitched yell while he takes your head off.
 
Next one I'm looking forward to is Visage. Heard it's rough. I have it downloaded, waiting for the right time to start.
 
I mean, I haven't been "terrified" of a video game since I was a child, and the most memorable one was definitely the dogs through the window in RE at 3am. Me and a friend slammed that power button and never went back. Even then, you laugh about it minutes later, it's not like I couldn't sleep.

As an adult RE7 was definitely spooky even without VR. Amnesia: The Dark Descent too. What I played out Outlast I remember being spooky.
 
Punished Miku said:
Next one I'm looking forward to is Visage. Heard it's rough. I have it downloaded, waiting for the right time to start.
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played it a little bit while it was in early access, it had some novel ideas but it seemed like it paid more attention to imitating PT than focusing on its own identity. but still well worth trying

AV said:
I mean, I haven't been "terrified" of a video game since I was a child, and the most memorable one was definitely the dogs through the window in RE at 3am. Me and a friend slammed that power button and never went back. Even then, you laugh about it minutes later, it's not like I couldn't sleep.

As an adult RE7 was definitely spooky even without VR. Amnesia: The Dark Descent too. What I played out Outlast I remember being spooky.
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scares are usually catergorised into 3 goups of Terror [ unknown threat ], Horror [invisible imminent threat] and Disgust [when things get bloody]
the first 2 are said to be what makes horror games/movies memorable.
I experienced a ton of terror and a great deal of horror while playing through PT. it was the first time as an adult I was scared out of my wits, but suprisingly I couldn't bring myself to quit. I had turned the lights off, closed the doors, put on the headset, turned it all the way up and to make things more atmospheric I only left one red light on in my room to mimick the lighting in the game. it was truly EPIC.
 
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In a horror sense? Never. Guess I just don't work that way.
Of course, some games startled me with a jump scare, but that's not true horror, that's just a reflex.
 
It was a PS2 game I watched my dad play where this guy was having hallucinations in a prison I think it was the Suffering. Some of my favorite memories of that man are playing games on the couch with him when I was very little. Thanks for helping me remember that.
 
Played Resident Evil 2 at a friends house when i was 6 or 7 and then had to drive home at night with my bike through the woods. So first i was scared by the game and then by my imagination.
 
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Resident Evil 1 Remake.

Crimson Heads is like..."run you fools!!!"

The best is Bomb Forest zombie.

Me: Oh look, it's a different zombie. Let me shoot him

*Suddenly a loud violent explosion sound appears with "You died" message
 
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Alien vs Predator on the Jaguar. It wasn't so much the game itself, but the predator sounded like someone was outside my bedroom window.
 
ViolentP said:
RE: Village. That whole section is intense.
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I haven't finished that yet! F@$#!
just killed Dimitrescue

Saber said:
Resident Evil 1 Remake.

Crimson Heads is like..."run you fools!!!"

The best is Bomb Forest zombie.

Me: Oh look, it's a different zombie. Let me shoot him

*Suddenly a loud violent explosion sound appears with "You died" message
Click to expand...
oh I remember watching my cousin play RE2 for the first time. he had apparently tried the opening bit before. he hands me the controller and tells me to press START. "RESIDENT EVIL 2 !!!!!!!!!!" I drop the controller and smash it to pieces. he chased me out. I avoided him for like 3 years
 
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Silent Hill 1 was the first time I felt true terror. It was a spine tingeling experience unlike anything I've experienced to that point. Sure, Resident Evil had a few good scares but SH was on a whole other level. It was fucked up beyond repair. The soundtrack especially was gut wrenching to the point I didn't know if I could finish it. However, I prevailed and it made me fell instantly in love with the series, and it didn't slow down until Downpour where I finally gave up on the franchise. It was clear Konami wasn't even trying anymore so why should I bother?
 
Punished Miku said:
I still need to play that. Maybe I'll do that one first.
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Your mileage may vary considering I was laughing my ass off through the whole baby chase scene. RE8 is a straight up zany, campy, absurd game with a preposterous plot and I loved every second of it, but I couldn't take any of it seriously because of how it's presented. Way different to RE7.
 
Not even a horror game....the part in Metal Gear Solid 2 where the "Colonel" starts to melt down and keeps calling you to yell random gibberish about purple tuned space worms is still the most genuinely unsettling thing I've ever experienced in a video game.
 
ManaByte said:
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no way this was your first truly scary horror "sequence" in a game.

anyway, my first true scary experience was Nosferatu Wrath of Malachi and after a few years Penumbra and so on and so forth. The last horror game that truly terrified me but not in a cheap short way but increasingly was Visage.
 
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Mr Hyde said:
Silent Hill 1 was the first time I felt true terror. It was a spine tingeling experience unlike anything I've experienced to that point. Sure, Resident Evil had a few good scares but SH was on a whole other level. It was fucked up beyond repair. The soundtrack especially was gut wrenching to the point I didn't know if I could finish it. However, I prevailed and it made me fell instantly in love with the series, and it didn't slow down until Downpour where I finally gave up on the franchise. It was clear Konami wasn't even trying anymore so why should I bother?
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oh the soundtrack was haunting!

AV said:
Your mileage may vary considering I was laughing my ass off through the whole baby chase scene. RE8 is a straight up zany, campy, absurd game with a preposterous plot and I loved every second of it, but I couldn't take any of it seriously because of how it's presented. Way different to RE7.
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yes. in terms of gameplay it is solid but it makes a fool of itself more than once and can never be taken seriously. unlike my experience with RE7 which was far more grounded than RE8

wolywood said:
Not even a horror game....the part in Metal Gear Solid 2 where the "Colonel" starts to melt down and keeps calling you to yell random gibberish about purple tuned space worms is still the most genuinely unsettling thing I've ever experienced in a video game.
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In a non-horror game, the first time I was really scared was playing through the first level of Syphon Filter , I stared at the screen with my mouth open, drooling over the controller, horrified at the sight of soldiers getting burnt to a crisp by my taser
 
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skit_data said:
Alien Trilogy made me shit my pants as a 6-year old. Probably the first time.
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Alien games were so good growing up :)))
I remember the first level of the marines campaign of Alien vs predator 2 (i think), where you have to go down inside an abandonned base to go rescue fellow marines and there are no ennemies for 3/4th of the level but i was nevertheless scared shitless because they give you the movie's motion censor and of course there's lots of beeping but it's just some not properly fixed appliance or stuff like that... Until it's not and shit hits the fan real quick and i ctrl alt del to escape that nightmare :messenger_grinning_sweat: good times...

For me it was always more what you don't see and just imagine than what they show you. I was a pretty avid stephen king reader from 10 onwards so i was kind of vaccinated from the gore and grossness (if it's even a word). But when devs build an atmosphere that give you time to imagine a threat, i'm running under my blanket real fast!
 
AV said:
Your mileage may vary considering I was laughing my ass off through the whole baby chase scene. RE8 is a straight up zany, campy, absurd game with a preposterous plot and I loved every second of it, but I couldn't take any of it seriously because of how it's presented. Way different to RE7.
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I've played every RE game, so I'm sure I'll enjoy it lol. But yeah, seems like a bit of a hybrid in tone between RE7 and RE4. I already have the game too, so I'm going to play it some day for sure.
 
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RE1 Was the first scary game I saw, my dad playin on the pc and I walked in on the cutscene for the first zombie and dear lord I had nightmares of that bald white ass skull for YEARS.

First one I played was Turok on the n64, watchin big bro play and I nagged so much he just gave me the controller and left. Was paralyzed with fear since I didnt know how to play and he said dino's were gonnah come find me lol
 
Mr Hyde said:
Silent Hill 1 was the first time I felt true terror. It was a spine tingeling experience unlike anything I've experienced to that point. Sure, Resident Evil had a few good scares but SH was on a whole other level. It was fucked up beyond repair. The soundtrack especially was gut wrenching to the point I didn't know if I could finish it. However, I prevailed and it made me fell instantly in love with the series, and it didn't slow down until Downpour where I finally gave up on the franchise. It was clear Konami wasn't even trying anymore so why should I bother?
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I go with this. SH was crazy, especially at the time it released. I had some shockers in a few games here and there but probably no other game aside from SH1 managed to make me feel as uneasy throughout. Masterpiece!
 
DOOM at 9/10 years old as the first for sure. I think the first Resident Evil kind of tapped it a bit too. The whole itchy tasty journal entry most certainly did, still one of my absolute favorite things period. Silent Hill 2, especially at the time, was a game that made me feel a way no other game made me feel.
 
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Toots said:
Alien games were so good growing up :)))
I remember the first level of the marines campaign of Alien vs predator 2 (i think), where you have to go down inside an abandonned base to go rescue fellow marines and there are no ennemies for 3/4th of the level but i was nevertheless scared shitless because they give you the movie's motion censor and of course there's lots of beeping but it's just some not properly fixed appliance or stuff like that... Until it's not and shit hits the fan real quick and i ctrl alt del to escape that nightmare :messenger_grinning_sweat: good times...

For me it was always more what you don't see and just imagine than what they show you. I was a pretty avid stephen king reader from 10 onwards so i was kind of vaccinated from the gore and grossness (if it's even a word). But when devs build an atmosphere that give you time to imagine a threat, i'm running under my blanket real fast!
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That's in AvP 1999 I think, it's fucking terrifying. Could be AvP2 also now that I think about it, but you're getting hunted by a Predator.
I find AvP 1999 scarier though because it's so fucking dark and you just wake up in your cabin and everyone's gone. The lighting is so effective in AvP 1999, it surpasses AvP2 graphically in many ways.

Unreal is another game that's scary as fuck in the beginning. The sounds, the blinking light and hearing the Skaarj roar and prisoners screaming.

Edit: It's funny because when watching let plays of AvP 1999 there's always tons of music playing. Afaik it didn't have any music, because it was on a separate disc or something so all you had was the sound effects.
 
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Gigyas in Earthbound. At 10 years old the insane ramblings of an alien hellbent on death gave me nightmares for two nights before I was able to beat him.

Also the window dogs in the original resident evil, I couldn't calmly walk past a big window at night alone for months after that.
 
Wouldn't say terrified but Doom 3, FEAR and Silent Hill 2 certainly generated a sense of dread and unease throughout.
 
lifa-cobex said:
Fetal Frame 2. My mate just put it on and then fucked off to the shops to leave me to play it on my own.
Fucker.


Special mention to Siren: Blood Curse...
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I heard a rumour a while back about Siren 2 being in the making
fingers crossed, either a new SH or a new Siren
 
skit_data said:
That's in AvP 1999 I think, it's fucking terrifying. Could be AvP2 also now that I think about it, but you're getting hunted by a Predator.
I find AvP 1999 scarier though because it's so fucking dark and you just wake up in your cabin and everyone's gone. The lighting is so effective in AvP 1999, it surpasses AvP2 graphically in many ways.

Unreal is another game that's scary as fuck in the beginning. The sounds, the blinking light and hearing the Skaarj roar and prisoners screaming.

Edit: It's funny because when watching let plays of AvP 1999 there's always tons of music playing. Afaik it didn't have any music, because it was on a separate disc or something so all you had was the sound effects.
Click to expand...
You are absolutely right about the lightning so it must be AVP 1999!
What an atmosphere they managed to create with such few polygons and effects that crazy when you think about it...
 
Not sure about the first time, but nothing has disturbed me and freaked me out recently more than Doki Doki Literature Club......i was not ready for this game
 
the first resident evil. i was only like 6 years old and i was watching my uncle play. i was half scared to death and half fascinated by it.
 
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Resident evil 2 ps1 was my first survival horror game.
Too scared to play past 11pm with headphones and the lights off.

Still managed to give me 2 nightmares.
 
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