Doom 3 for outright, shrill scares. Silent Hill 2 or 4 for general creepiness. Resident Evil 4 or Dead Space for a good middle-ground experience with good combat.
Don't know how picky you are about combat. That's often the sticking point with survival horror games. Some of them ladel on the atmosphere, gore, and scares, but just kind of tack on a generic punch/kick/use-item battle system that serves only the most basic function. If you're OK with that, Silent Hill would be great. It's like being awash in a very creepy dream and just trying to find your way through; puzzles and key-fetching more than aciton. But very good in its own way. If you want a deeper combat experience, I'd recommend Dead Space or Resident Evil 4 (no sense messing around with any previous REs if you haven't already played them, and you're picky about controls--they all control like shit except for 4); Doom 3's just a FPS, obviously, but it's goddamn scary. Play it in the dark, alone, with a good set of cans up high, and you will definitely be on edge.
I don't know why people are saying Dead Space, it wasn't scary at all, except for at the beginning when you didn't have a gun yet, that shit was crazy.
But if you want a scary game, I agree with anyone (I haven't read the entire thread) who said Penumbra: Overture. Now THAT's a scary game.
Also Silent Hill 2, but that's pretty much a given.
" I seriously disagree with all the deadspace flying around. Its very ResE4, more action than scares. I can't say Iw as ever scared during that game. "
I would have used Resident Evil 5 as a comparison instead, saying as RE4 was actually pretty damned scary.
Condemned is the only game that scared me enough to keep me from finishing. I've never played any Silent Hill games though so it may be true of them as well.
" I seriously disagree with all the deadspace flying around. Its very ResE4, more action than scares. I can't say Iw as ever scared during that game. "
I would have used Resident Evil 5 as a comparison instead, saying as RE4 was actually pretty damned scary. "
I didn't find that, but its just me. Granted, I have played the hell out fo that game, so if it scared me the first time it sure hasn't during the last hundered or so hours I spent with it,.
Penumbra is a good choice, seriously consider condemned as well. You will enjoy probably Dead Space, but don't expect anything truly scary.
No game has scared me as much as the first Fatal Frame or its sequel Fatal Frame II. I wasn't even playing Fatal Frame. I was watching a roommate play it and I was freaking the hell out.
I'm sure everyone will disagree with me, but the only game that has ever scared me has been F.E.A.R 2. The total mind-fuckery in that game is insane, and I heartily recommend it if that's what you're looking for.
It's also a fun shooter that still looks quite good, so that's another plus.
To me, dead-space, and the rest of its ilk, do little-to-nothing to scare me. The jump-scares become predictable quickly, and the atmosphere was never quite well-developed enough to draw me in.
Dead Space does a good job at making you jump in points, and there are some tense dark hall kind of parts. Bioshock had one part pretty early in the game the made me jump so bad. I haven't tried much Silent Hill, so not too sure about those games.
To set yourself up, volume up pretty good (if you have surround sound......crazy) and turn off the lights. Always helps with the creepy atmosphere.
Definitely Silent Hill 2. Ive been playing it lately and sure its dated graphically but its creepy atmosphere still hold up quite well and its still disturbing and scary.
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