What makes a game truly scary?

[Zero Aurion]

horror games need more freaky ass shit jumping out at you randomly when you least expect it, that's the only thing that scares the hell out me in tv, movies, or games. Only other things i can think of are the chainsaw guys from RE4, and for some reason the robot thing from Bioshock..... fine, and Dark Samus from Metriod Fusion.

[Andy_Jerk]

I don't play a lot of modern horror games but in general I would say that any creature that sinks so far into the uncanny valley that it becomes off putting in a hyper realistic and very fluid way would startle me more than some giant mass of fangs and tentacles. Sort of like if you've been watching television and you look into a dark part of the room and pick up an afterimage of the face you had just seen on tv.


One modern horror title I did buy was Splatterhouse because I grew up with the earlier incarnations, and while I do like it, I think it would have been scarier if the mask wasn't able to give you advice. Then you would have felt more alone like in the original arcade/16 bit games.

[luffy4]

horror games need lot of blood to be scary

[m24bm]

You think all is good, you think all is well but when you are all alone, you think that you are safe, only then will you think you're in Hell.

Seriously though, the scariest game I ever played was Minecraft lol. You're digging a tunnel, you've got a couple torches laying around and you hear a shuffle, you turn around and there are 4 zombies coming towards you and you start swinging your pickaxe like it's a sword to combat them. Then you're out chopping trees and night suddenly falls. You're rushing back to your fortress and right when you get to the door "ssssssss" you turn and Boom! A creeper explodes, you're dead and half your fortress is in ruins.

You're planting TNT, a creeper explodes and again, you and everything around you cease to be.

All you need to make a game scary is things popping out from seemingly nowhere.

[xplics]

I must be a total wimp when it comes to scary games, because most that I encounter scare the caca out of me hahaha. Well maybe the only exception that comes to mind is Resident Evil 4 and 5. Other that that the classic RE, Silent Hill, and forget about freaking Dead Space, I just turn the game off after a while.

[Yubson]

Seriously though, the scariest game I ever played was Minecraft lol.

You only walk during days, right?

[lordrand11]

Personally I believe atmosphere in a game is what makes it truly scary. Take Amnesia: The Dark Descent the character you are playing as is in a dark environment and you constantly hear footsteps behind you and you have to run. Another perfect example of well executed atmosphere is Eternal Darkness on the gamecube. Eternal Darkness's atmosphere was one of more or less insanity, things that aren't really there, as well as programmed in-game glitches that not only add to the horror of the game but as well to the wtf moments in it. One of the perhaps funniest in there is when you finish one of the first couple of chapters in the game a screen pops up and tells you thanks for playing the demo of this game and the real copy comes out at a certain date, another example is your character falling through the floor only to find that you haven't even gone up the stairs yet.

[TheRealSpiders]

Eternal Darkness was awesome when it comes to the mindfuck factor, especially when the game tells you your save data couldn't be found. I've never raged so hard.

[Alan Heer]

To me, what is often scariest is the thought of what I'm fighting once was. For this reason monsters that once were humans or animal scare the crap out of me. Zombies aren't scary in and of themselves, but they were once people and if they infect you, then you will become one of them. The thought of getting bitten and having to deal with the fact that you are going to die and even go after family members as well. Zombies do not even need the flesh, they gain nothing from eating people except to possibly curb their insatiable hunger. The Taken in Alan wake are often humorous when you hear their gibberish until you realize that those phrases are the only thing that is left of their humanity. RE4 and 5 may not have been very scary, the Majini and Ganados also are scary in that they are technically still alive and they are completely under control by someone else. The loss of one's freedom is worse than death and for that they frighten me and I pity them. The shades in Nier were also once human and that scares me, but the game isn't really scary. Same thing for Xenosaga with it's Gnosis. The scariest creature in a game to me is Lisa Trevor. http://residentevil.wikia.com/Lisa_Trevor

She took an anti-tank missile and still lived. Even fighting Wesker didn't kill her. And though the Spencer Mansion has been destroyed, something tells me she is still alive (in game). She was made that way through scientists playing God. She became mentally depraved and violent. She has ripped the faces off of her victims and wears them. You can't beat her. Tyrant died to a missile, she survived.

The second scariest creature is the crimson head. Though the crimson head is an intermediary between normal zombie and the licker, I consider it faster. When you shoot a zombie without a) destroying it's head or b) burning it's corpse, the thing comes back alive later as a faster more furious zombie. http://residentevil.wikia.com/Crimson_Head.

The scariest game I have played is also the first horror game I have played and that is Resident Evil Remake. Both RE RE and RE0 are the scariest to me, with RE RE being a little scarier. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vk7uf...eature=related.

[Kitty Paine]

Background music is a very big factor. It sets the mood for the setting. Happy cheery music isn't gonna make you scared obviously.
A sense of despair, such as being trapped or out numbered, say by zombies.
Low lighting can also be a good factor. Darkness can conceal your enemies. You never know when something is going to jump out at you.

The music in Silent Hill 3 and Fatal Frame make me super nervous and jumpy.
Resident Evil 4 and 5 being surrounded by zombies make me nervous and jumpy. Chainsaws.... *dies on the spot*
Ju-on: the Grudge, scared me to death cause Kayako could pop up just about anywhere and I am afraid of the dark.

[Anthony Salinas]

Good topic. To me, at least; I think what makes a game scary is a good flowing story. I have played a lot of games that have graphic images, spooky monsters etc...but it is all waste if I find myself trying to figure what the led up to this point.

[Takion Sun]

Helplessness. A monster is not scary if you can just whip out a chain gun and mow it down before it can say "Boogedy-boo." Fatal Frame is a good example, as, other than your Camera Obscura, you're alone and defenseless. Another good one is in Prince of Persia, when that giant...thing...is chasing you down the long corridor, and you can't do anything but run. A more recent example is Amnesia: The Dark Descent, where you're given no weapons at all against a myriad of grotesque blood-thirsty demons. To a human mind, the feeling of helplessness is the most terrifying emotion of all, at least in my opinion.

[drklnk22]

i hear you talk, but to me (by far) the scariest games are the clocktower series... you don't have a gun, you have a flask of holy water and it only stuns them. I was terrified and i wasn't even playing, my roomate was.

[Flegmatica]

What makes a scary experience is the soundrack. Take a really scary game and mute it, then play a happy tune on the backround. Not so scary anymore ey?

Two really eerie tunes from one of my favorite game series [Resident Evil 1-3, 4 and 5 ain't scary anymore...], also scariest.

[crimsonedge]

Sound plays a large role, and also surprises, walking into an empty area, then all the sudden you get jumped around a corner. Situations like that take me longer to react the first time around.