I tell you, Dark Souls instills this weird kind of fear that no other game does.

It doesn't jump out at you (except for those dogs, god damn they are quiet), but it's some weird kind of psychological fear that makes you afraid of the game itself.

That said, I just experienced said fear when I had returned from a bathroom break after pausing in front of the first fog screen in Blight Town, which means I was standing on a meter-wide platform and could easily fall off. Then I grabbed my headphones and put them on, only to discover that the cord was hooked on the left analogue stick. I experienced in slow motion as I tried to put on my headphones as quickly as possible so I could fix the cord, but doing so only pulled it more and before I knew it, I walked right off the platform and fell to my death.

Now this is definitely not as bad as some stories I've heard on this forum, at least I didn't kill an NPC and I was close to a bonfire. But still, the fear I felt as my guy walked off the edge of the platform, completely out of my control, was something I don't think any other game has managed to make me experience.

That said: I love this game.

In your experience, what moment was the most psychologically terrifying for you?

By having a real consequence to player death, Dark Souls is one of the scariest games I have ever played. I haven't played much, but there have been at least two "oh shit, wtf is that??" moments in this game already.

That sounds familiar. The fact that you can still move while in your menu screen seems to lead to a lot of mishaps.

But that moment of fear for me was definitely that time I was exploring more of the sewers from the bottom up. I didn't want a repeat of the last time I fell into the pit of basilisks (froggy big eyes). Since the jump is unreliable, I thought I better clear out the basilisks one-by-one from the lower levels first, before attempting to jump over those holes upstairs.

So as I enter and start sneaking up on the first Basilisk with my bow and arrow, a black phantom has entered my game! At the worst possible time! This of course was just the AI-controlled phantom Kirk and a scripted event so no big deal, but I freaked out as if it was a real person doing this to me.

I try to ready myself to block him, but it doesn't work. Somehow I brought up the menu, so I'm defenseless without realizing why. Then the basilisk notices and comes behind me and starts to gas me as I'm getting hit by Kirk. I bleed, die and get cursed at the same time. Stupid Kirk.

I can tell that Dark Souls is definitely not my kind of game, but I really enjoy reading other people's horror stories. Keep posting, you crazy masochists!