So what has everyone got that causes brown trousers. Halloween is just a few days away so thought would start a thread on the worlds scariest games.
So to get the ball rolling :
Shalebridge Cradle on Thief Deadly Shadows was damned scary level. There was intensity in the game itself creeping about in the shadows. This level though, its just plain intimidating.
"The Shalebridge Cradle used to be an orphanage, and then an insane asylum. At the same time. The children were moved to a separate ward, but shared space with the asylum patients. One night a fire started in the staff wing (no one knows how, but much can be deduced from the facts that the staff were callous and brutal in their treatment of patients, one of the inmates was a pyromaniac, and a lone chair can subsequently be found in the ruins, placed so that the sitter would be looking directly at the tower as it burned), destroying some of the upper portion of the building and after which the building was abandoned. Before the orphanage was closed, two orphans had an encounter with a being called The Hag. One of the orphans, Lauryl, was killed, and the other one, Drept, survived, later joining the Hammerites and spending his life researching the Grey Lady that had killed his friend."
http://thief.wikia.com/wiki/Shalebridge_Cradle
Metro 2033 has some decent horror elements and so do the STALKER games. STALKER when you are in the sewers and see shadows or things moving about with grunts and groans, you just dont know what is round the next corner. Metro 2033 is just a dark sinister place with most of it being underground.
Undying was and still is a great game for its time, Jericho had the potential but was just missing the suspense. I think the setting on Undying nailed it perfect.
Just bought the Penumbra pack on Steam for £3.99, going to play it later tonight with the lights out, see how far it pushes me. Play and love Amnesia, one of the scariest games I have ever played.
Bought Silent Hill from PSN yesterday, the bit with the locker (twice gets me everytime). Its a creepy old town, visuals are looking dated by todays standard but I think that it actually adds to the tension really well.
System Shock 2 has a few decent moments, like the meeting with Shodan near the end, its really creepy and the way the floor dissapears, it really gets you. On System Shock 2 it has its in your face moments but its what you hear and dont see that gets you half the time.
Dark Souls & Demons Souls can get tense at times. Granted not so much horror but the intensity is there. Dark brooding levels with creatures silently waiting for you round dark corners.
Speaking of Dark Corners. Bethesda's Call of Cthulhu game. First person adventure game set in Lovecrafts universe. Granted, later in the game you get weapons but getting chased and searched for by the fishermen, not forgetting the creatures later in the game. It plays with the insanity of the character, visual effects when things start going awry.
What gets me is good use of sound and subliminal stuff when it comes to horror games. Something that just gets in your face makes things intense but it takes things away from the scare factor as you are expecting something to jump out at you. I think suggestion and sound though can really get you. You expect something to happen and it doesnt and it keeps you on a prolonged anxiety trip, feeling totally alone in the environment.


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