Game of Death: Terrifying Video Game Experiences Recounted by Giant Bomb's Editors [UPDATED: Now With 100% More Ryan Davis!]

@Lifestrike: Jeff Gerstmann knows no fear. And fear knows only Jeff Gerstmann.

There was this old PC game that a friend and I played called AMBER. I hope I'm getting that name right, it's been awhile. That game really freaked me out.

So, I looked up some gameplay footage of System Shock 2, and it's for damn sure I couldn't play that game. Jeezus.

@Cisko said:

There was this old PC game that a friend and I played called AMBER. I hope I'm getting that name right, it's been awhile. That game really freaked me out

Dude....

An old PC game called Amber: Journeys Beyond did it for me.
Really, the only scares were pre-rendered sequences of pots and pans flying around Poltergeist-style, but for my young mind it was almost too much.

My favorite Giant Bomb article so far. I've always loved the bombcast and your videos but I always felt the site was very lacking in written content. That is, until the last year. The site really improved in 2011 and even though I don't really care for most of the premium content I'm happy to support Giant Bomb and Whiskey Media and will renew anual my subscription when time is due. Keep making more stuff like this.

System Shock 2 was amazing and retained it's scariness in co-op multiplayer too. Damn, had some horror movie moments there, as we were exploring the mall area (I think) and someone stumbled upon one of those bee hive egg things, which you couldn't defend yourself against yet and had no option but to run towards the nearest door, getting separated from the team and stumbling upon something even scarier in the room you were hiding in.

As for my first horror gaming experiences, they probably were Last Half of Darkness and kind of surprisingly, the opening of the first Space Quest.

quake 2 or 3 on N64 was the first game that scared me shitless....whichever sequel quake made it to the 64 I can't remember.

@Vinny_Says said:

quake 2 or 3 on N64 was the first game that scared me shitless....whichever sequel quake made it to the 64 I can't remember.

Would've been Quake 2 then. Quake 3 was multiplayer only and the only consoles it was released for were Dreamcast and PS2.

It's been all but confirmed that Dead Space started out as System Shock 3, but that they made it a new franchise early in development when it turned out the System Shock license is stuck in some kind of legal limbo where neither EA nor the ex Looking Glass guys at Irrational have the full rights, the development rights are owned by an insurance company.

System Shock license trouble stuff: http://www.g4tv.com/thefeed/blog/post/713030/the-lost-history-of-system-shock/

"Back when the original game was made, producer Warren Spector negotiated a deal in which EA got the trademark to the series, while the developers at Looking Glass Studios kept the rights. To create another System Shock game, you need both. "My thinking was it would force us to be married so it never would be that either party should be able to say we own that, we’re making the next game, screw you," Spector told the San Jose Mercury News last November.In hindsight, the deal only jeopardized System Shock’s future. Looking Glass Studios closed in 2000, a year after System Shock 2's release, and the copyright to the series went into the hands of an insurance company. That left EA with only the System Shock name, but no actual development rights."

@Brackynews said:

For me I have to say Dead Space stands very close to System Shock. More than jump scares, everything about the horror unfolding is simply frightful. The way people succumb, the plot twists, the cackling suicides, the demon babies... and the sheer variety of deaths Isaac will fall to on the hardest difficulty. Graphics and surround sound absolutely influence the visceral thrills.

"

Dark Souls in Anor Lando. A gargoyle jumped out of nowhere and almost knocked me off a high walkway.

Second place would be the fight with IG-88 in Shadows of the Empire.

After playing through a bunch of System Shock 2, the automated voices in airports started to freak me out, especially if it was night and the airport was rather empty.

Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem.

The insanity effects were amazing, the monsters were fairly frightening, but what really, really got me into it was the plot, specifically one moment in which it's revealed that

This would have been a great video feature too.

@BenderUnit22: I agree, such a great part of that game. All the Thief games had great atmosphere.

@Brad: As much as I enjoyed Bioshock, I always felt a little underwhelmed that it wasn't set in the achingly claustrophobic confines of the Von Braun. To this day, I can't get the moment out of my head when I was in one of those chemical storage rooms, trying to find some goddamn Titanium or something, hearing a slight clang behind me, and whipping around to this crazy mutant guy wielding a shotgun in my face, screaming "KILLLL MEEEEE!".

Just thinking about it now gives me goosebumps.

Definitely should do a video feature version of this. Next year if nothing else.

Alex had the best choice here. Besides a few Silent Hills, and perhaps some really obscure sh**, Amnesia is easily the most effed up, straight up terrifying game ever made. The most effective horror game of our time - it's kind of a shame it's a PC exclusive. I mean, great for PC fans, but an experience like that should reach as many gamers as possible imo.

Speaking of obscure sh**; Tale of Tales' indie game "The Path" is alternatively one of the most boring games you can find, and also a deeply unsettling one in some places. To quote Dennis Reynolds from Always Sunny, "It's the implication that things might go wrong for her...". The whole freakin' game is built on that.

No Shivers?

Kessler wins! Who'da thunk it?!

I really want to play System Shock 2 because of how much praise it has received. Then again, I really don't want to play System Shock 2.

I was incredibly happy to see the Ocean Hotel in Vampire make this list. Especially since I just picked the game up (again) during Steam's Halloween sale.

Just played Amnesia to the elevator (from the beginning, though I'd been down in the Storage room post-explosives once before) and DAMN THAT IS STILL SCARY.

Also picked up VTM: B, the F.E.A.R. collection, the Dead Space games, BioShock, and the weird-ass Sherlock Holmes games us E3 Bombcasters all love so much on Steam as part of the Halloween sale. Hoping to either write or record playing stuff with all of those, and I picked up Dead Space 2 to specifically spend a little more time with that single-player.

I wish System Shock 2 could be legitimately obtained these days, and furthermore I wish it could run on modern operating systems.

After all I've heard about that game, I feel like I'd absolutely love it.

God that Ocean House Hotel level was unbearably scary.

Oh, Child Ryan, if only you knew...

I remember Chicken Run for Playstation scaring the shit out of me when I was like 8 or 9.

Matt Kessler 10+ respect earned

Games were so much scarier when I was younger. I guess because I wasn't familiar with their limitations, I thought anything could happen. But at some point I just abruptly stopped being scared to play anything.

So much as I love Penumbra and Amnesia, I think the times I was most scared where when I played stuff like Doom 3 and FEAR, and was in the process of being desensitized. And yeah, when I was 7 years old, Ocarina of Time was pretty fucking intense too.

@BenderUnit22 said:

I NEED to give credit to Thief: Deadly Shadows's "The Cradle" level. One of the most atmospheric, disturbing levels in video game history.

I gotta agree with this one, both hated and loved that level.

I remember absolutely terrified of Ocarina of Time, because whenever I made progress I was so afraid of losing it, that I inched every step and ended up never coming close to beating it.

@BenderUnit22 said:

I NEED to give credit to Thief: Deadly Shadows's "The Cradle" level. One of the most atmospheric, disturbing levels in video game history.

Shalebridge Cradle terrified me. The sounds alone in that level are incredibly disturbing.

I ain't affraid of no games.

Though that Hotel in Vampire were indeed quite spooky. It was the first time I experienced that kind of visual and audio trickery in games.

@TheLastOtaku said:

God that Ocean House Hotel level was unbearably scary.

Yeah, it helped that the game was already very atmospheric. I was so immersed into the game when I played it during Christmas break 2004 that the whole vampires living among us masquerading as normal people idea felt like it could be real. Much of it was the setting I think. Had it been medieval fantasy instead of modern day LA it would not have felt so real.

I'd have to go with the hotel from Vampire: The Masquerade too. I was so into that game but that section just came out of nowhere really. Nothing before it had been scary, or nerve-wracking. The game had been atmospheric, but stepping into that place and then when stuff started happening and the story unfolded it was genuinely terrifying.

Definitely time for another playthrough of that game I think.

I haven't been especially scared by games in recent years, but I remember being positively scared shitless by point and click adventure games when I was little, like the Myst series (as well as another, which I cannot remember). The way you were completely alone in such alien environments and were so limited in your vision made me feel like I was always being stalked (especially since you sometimes were!)

@chiablo said:

@BenderUnit22 said:

I NEED to give credit to Thief: Deadly Shadows's "The Cradle" level. One of the most atmospheric, disturbing levels in video game history.

The build up to this level was so incredibly creepy, that by the time I reached the entrance in the game, I quit playing; "fuck this scary shit," said I.

I lasted about 5 minutes inside, basically long enough to be forced to turn on the lights and lose all my hiding places. I couldn't finish it. Most of these moments people are mentioning are simple jumps and scares that pass as quickly as they appear, the build up to and Cradle level itself were genuine spine-chilling terror. Masterful work by the developers and nothing I've played since has come close.

Good to see Kessler and Rorie (and Alex) being included in this too. Still need answers from Jeff, Vinny and Drew!

My pick would be System Shock 2.

Greatvwrite up guys! Yeah, i love playing somewhat themed gsmes around a certaim season if i can

@Sveppi said:

Games that have scared me shitless over the years include Doom 3, FEAR, Resi 4 and Dead Space.

Why are there only games from within the last 7yrs :/

Siren Blood Curse is the scariest thing Ive played in recent years. I thought they did a fantastic job with the monster design by balancing the bizarrre with the familiar just enough to make them disturbing. Seriously underrated game.

My first memory of being scared shitless by a video game was actually Tomb Raider 2 when the shark chases you through the sunken ship, to this day I have a minor water phobia in certain games.

@L44 said:

One horror game that really failed to scare me was Condemned 2. Except for the bear level...

Really? I though it was great at building atmosphere in the first few level, but then the game ruins it by giving you guns, having a retarded bear chase and having you shout at people to make them die.

They should do a QL Retro for Thief: Deadly Shadows with the Cradle.

@gbrading said:

I really want to play System Shock 2. It's so disappointing it's not available via any legitimate means apart from secondhand.

Exactly, everyone talks about it with such high praise and its Levine's love child so would be good to see where it all started.

System shock 2 is hands down the scariest experience I've had in video games. Could not finish it.

One of the scarier moments in my gaming career was playing Treasure Island Dizzy on the Quattro Adventure cartridge for the NES.

I wonder if they intended this game to be one of the SCARIEST games on the NES. Here's what you do. Start the game, and immediately turn off the music (Pause the game, read the instructions on the screen), and play. If you leave the music on, you'll quickly find out that it's best to turn the music off anyway, as the music will penetrate your soul with its terribly short loop.

Anyway, for most of the game, the only thing you'll hear is Dizzy's footsteps and the sounds of you picking up and putting down items. No big deal, right? Dizzy's footsteps are really soft, and the pickup/drop sound, while loud, is expected as it comes whenever you press the A button. Mind you, this is one of those trial-and-error games where it's very unlikely that you'll be able to spot a hazard the first time around. Furthermore, Dizzy is a one-hit-wonder when it comes to touching, well, anything that moves. Another thing about the game is that the art style is disarming; most enemies smile and have googly eyes. You don't know if they'll help you or KILL you if you attempt to interact with it. So put it all together—hearing only footsteps, one-hit deaths, unsuspecting peril, and the inability to identify friend from foe—and you have a concoction for disaster. When Dizzy dies, a quick and LOUD diddy plays. Kinda like "wah wah wah waaaah". It might be just another NES BGM, but when you've been walking around for long enough without dying, hearing nothing but footsteps, and then you unexpectedly die, this song hits your eardrums, BAM, like a two-by-four hitting you squarely in the temple! Then you come to from the shock, and you find yourself in a pool of your own excrement. Well, that hasn't happened to me, but I can see how a person with a lesser fortitude fall victim to such a fate. Even when you're staring at the object of your demise, be it a harmless fish, or a bamboo cage hanging from above.....even the shoreline (!). You're not careful, and BOO! BGM death!

So, you don't believe me? Why don't you find the game and play it and see for yourself? Don't say I didn't warn you.....mwa ha ha....ha ha ha haaa....HAAAA ha ha ha ha ha ha!!!! Ha huh huh....uh.....oh man..............that was good.

When the zombie turned around for the first time in the original Resident Evil. Oh and all of Turok on PS2.

That was fun to read, I want to play Amnesia but I don't think my Pc can run it :(

Not sure if it can run Penumbra either..

Woe is me :/

BioShock! The dentist and atmosphere scared the living sh*t outta me! Definitely BioShock! And Fallout 3 to an extent...

Silent Hill 1. My character lit a match and the babies started coming after me and I turned that shit off and took it back to blockbuster. Wasn't able to revisit and beat that game for another 8 years.

Resident Evil 1. My younger brother was 8 at the time and he walked in as the dogs burst through the window and slaughtered Jill. He would not go upstairs (where our bedrooms were) by himself for 2 years.

One day I WILL make it through Amnesia. 

Silent Hill 2 for me, I played that when I was 10 and them first 20 mins were nothing happened left me shaking the rest of the game