What was the first game to truly scare you and why?

I was talking to a friend about favorite games and he was going on and on about Bioshock and it reminded that it took me almost 3 years to build up the courage to play that game after my first experience with it. It all started cause he let me try his file and where he was, he was near a little sister. I thought it was really cool to just follow her and see what she was doing as she drained from splicers. A thump behind me. A low, gutteral roar. Next thing I know my character flies through the wall and most of my health is gone. I just couldn't do it...I couldn't beat the Big Daddy. I turned around and saw this hulking monstrosity with glowing red eyes and I was legitametly scared and couldn't play the game. I ended up picking it up about a year ago but I couldn't muster the courage to actually play and beat the game. Well, I recently finished and loved the game but I have to say it was the first and only game to actually scare me...

What about you? Any stories of games that scared you?

Eternal Darkness.
 
Damn, that game got to me.

Porky Pig's Haunted Holiday. That forest level is just fucking WRONG.

Nothing's scared me like Amnesia and Slender have, though. I should really play the old Silent Hill stuff, as I've only played Shattered Memories.

probably ocarina of time bottom of the well because i am a giant baby

edit: although I still played through that, just while unsettled. the first game to make me turn off the console in fright was silent hill 2 and I never ended up beating it because I was too afraid. I'm sure I could handle it now, though.

The original Silent Hill.

Condemned: Criminal Origins freaked my shit

I'm sure there was something before it, but I still to this day haven't beat Silent Hill 2. I can't play it for longer than a half-hour before I just feel wayyyyyy too uncomfortable. The sense of dread that game instills in me is just paralyzing.

The ravenholm section of Half-life 2. Fuuuuck. That was back when I was really scared of zombies. But yeah, not much ammo and the sounds the zombies make. God damnit I know you're dead but please stop screaming. I generally avoid scary games so that's the only one I can think of.

When I was a kid (7 i think) Friday the 13th on the classic NES. For modern day games Resident Evil was the 1st jump with the dog that jumps through the window.... But if you get a really good sounding stereo and hook it up to your tv and play Silent Hill 2 in the dark with the volume up really loud the sound in that game can creep the shit out of you.

And yes I eventually beat Silent Hill 2 with that set up, what a great game.

The original Clock Tower. That little creep with the giant scissors gave me nightmares for weeks.

Alone in the Dark. No, not that one, THIS one. And, while it was more creepy than scary, it was pretty damn creepy.

I also got a real feeling of vertigo when I looked over the edge of the final boss platform in Tomb Raider, which was... odd.

Bart Simpson's Escape from Camp Deadly on the GameBoy, because it was terrible. I'm not joking, either.

The original Resident Evil

It was never really the *POP* scares like the dog through the window and such. It was always the eerie music, the odd furniture and the down right creepy paintings on the wall. Something is so very...strange about that place. The camera angle in the game made you feel like you were being watched by somebody.

The cabin section in that game was even worse, that place made the mansion feel safe, just the way the pre rendered backrounds were done that really scared me. The music was always very X Files like, eerie, haunting etc

There was never a scary game before it, Doom had a fight *POP* scares like when you picked up a item and lights went out but the game's artstyle was never scary, it was always more "badass" like a 80s metal album cover.

Condemned was pretty spooky, I thought Alan Wake had its moments as well.

MissionForce:Cyberstorm

Those death animations scarred my childhood. ;_;

..... And I still have nightmares based on them on occasion. :(

San Andreas, the first time I glitched into blue hell was fucking terrifying.

Amnesia was the only game to truly scare me...

Also I played Prince of Persia 3D when I was like 7 and a prisoner dude that i thought was dead started talking to me, I fucking jumped out of my seat.

The first game that did it for me was the original Resident Evil on the PSX. There was just something about that game that made my heart race and I absolutely loved it. Nothing did it again until the remake on the GC.

amnesia: the dark descent, holy cow, that got me a few times, ii was in the dorms and had a friend over and before you know it i had like 9 guys all huddled around my computer screen, when something jumped we all just left the room, there were a few times i had to hit the esc key and leave the room.. but yes amnesia will always have that special place on my hard drive for those spooky nights

Resident Evil.

Why you no start with gun Chris!!!

Though most of the fear comes from your character controlling like crap.

The itchy/tasty scene from the first Resident Evil broke my mind to the point where I avoided closed closets for about a year

Silent hill: shattered memories.

Probably Resident Evil 2. I don't remember any NES or Genesis games ever scaring me. I got RE2 with my Playstation, though. I wasn't even the one playing it at the time. I watched my dad go through most of it, but there were a bunch of moments that scared the shit out of my 8 year-old self. The licker jumping through the interrogation room window sticks out to me. My heart was pounding for about 10 minutes after that.

First one was Resident Evil 2. Couldn't sleep for days as a kid

Friday the 13th on NES for sure. That damn fwoosh sound when Jason appears freaked me out.

That fucking dog.

That god damn fucking dog.

Banjo-Tooie specifically the underwater world, it has this giant octopus that you need to get past in order to get to the world the thing was ugly as hell and hard to avoid I think you couldn't even kill it and when you're underwater you're helpless so I avoided that world for the rest of the game . When I came back some time later I found one of those freaky fishes that have a lightbulb on their heads but that one was huge! that world is just a freaking nightmare , to me feeling helpless in a place where I can't even move right surrounded by giant creatures is the scariest thing ever ... so I'd never want to see a whale in my life.

Silent Hill 2, was the first game I played that was of the "horror genre". I played it at night pooping my 13 year old self, I never thought games could be scary, but the atmosphere of this game got to me and I still love that game.

The Atmosfear / Nightmare VHS game, because I was playing that game when I was way too young. And also, to be fair, some of the jumps do come out of nowhere.

I also got super scared by the classic 'dog-jumping-through-the-window' scene of RE1. I was playing it with friends, and we just straight turned it off at that point. Dog through the window -> Turn lights on -> Turn off game -> Walk out the room.

Resident Evil 3. My brother bought it, and I was pretty young. Nemesis freaked me right the fuck out.

An old DOS Jeopardy game I played when I was like 5. Something about the characters scared the absolute shit out of me.

I wish I was kidding, too. That game gave me nightmares.

re4 scared me at times mostly the part with the dogs in the garden maze in sadlers castle i really thought they couldn't get out of that cage but they did and i did pee a little in recent years though Ive became jaded to most horror games im not surprised by jump scares anymore but a game that has always scared me was system shock 2 and its weird it was never really jump scares in that mostly the atmosphere and the way that music just never seems stop being tense and that in combination of when you set off a security alarm and send a near endless amount of hybrids at you

When I was 5 I was terrified of the tree monster enemies that could eat you in Spyro the Dragon.

The first Regenerator in Resident Evil 4. When you hear the glass break and the heavy breathing, I fell out of my chair.

The bathroom scene in Eternal Darkness, those who have played it will know it. I was playing it with a friend who had played most of the game before, so he just sat there smiling, waiting. And when it happened, the controller flew in his face and I was hiding behind the couch. This was a month ago, I still shiver sometimes.

I'd like to say Amnesia, but I've never played long enough to see a goddamn monster. I get so freaked out by the atmosphere that I quit 10 minutes in.

Granny's Garden. Might look much now but it was 1983's equivalent of the Ebaums Scary Maze Game.

Fuck that Witch.

Crash Bandicoot.

I was like 6, and I'd gotten to the N. Brio boss fight, and his head started swelling and turning green and it horrified the shit out of me. As soon as I saw that happening straight up sprinted out of the room into my bed room and had an existential crisis. what fun <3

It was when my SNES mario game froze and I freaked and I ran out of my room.

Silent Hill, I only had a demo of it. Although I had a lot of fun freaking out my friend with it who was way more scared than me.

After some searching and banging my head against the wall, I remember this beast: The Rescue of Pops Ghostly....scary game for a young kid and one of the first video games I've ever played.

Fucking Dogs

Edit: This not me but this how I acted when I played.

Resident Evil. The damn dog part. Also the itchy/tasty part.

The one and only game is 7th guest. I saw a baby in a painting pull out a knife and stab a lady. It was like 12 or 1 at night and I had been drinking a bunch of cafe vienna. I had to stop playing and turn on the lights.

Ocarina of time. Those fucken hands that dropped down scared the shit out of me.

Vampire the Masquerade Bloodlines, that haunted mansion. I had to stop playing.

ummm... nothing really but i guess resident evil directors cut came close. but i think it was because i was young and smoked a lot of... well... yea

Resident Evil 2. I was in elementary school when that came out so I was more scared of zombies and the like then I am now. The licker jumping through the two way mirror room and zombies hands coming out of the poor wooden barricades in a certain hallway in the police station are memorable scares.

Fatal Frame 2 is probably the all time champ in terms of how much it got me. I still refuse to go near that game, even now.

Resident Evil Survivor. I've witness stuff that I've shouldn't have seen.

I was a kid at the time a small boy. I remember playing this game and getting scared shitless. I wanted to quit plenty of times, but the game had no save system and I didn't want to lose my progress. So I man up and beated the game within a few hours. I'm glad I finished this game because afterwards I've became a fan of the survival horror genre, and I started playing abunch of other horror games. Nowadays its pretty hard to scare me I've pretty much became fearless.

@jonnyboy said:

Granny's Garden. Might look much now but it was 1983's equivalent of the Ebaums Scary Maze Game.

Fuck that Witch.

Holy shit dude, i totally forgot about that witch! I usede to play that game in primary school and that bloody face used to pop up and make me leap out of my seat! The odd time she didnt the girls sitting next to me screaming did lol

carnivores. getting jumped by a raptor was fuckin scary as shit!!

Metal gear solid, the bit with the elevator at the end and the invisible dudes just appearing out of nowhere really freaked me out. Plus the general dread of being spotted by the guards, it was overall a tense and frighting experiences. I was only seven or eight when i played this game though.