Are there any horror games that are actually scary without using jump scares?

[blankedboy]

Minecraft is the most frightening game i've ever played.

Survived the night walk out your house and oh piss a spider jumped out and ate your face.
Almost had a heart attack.

That's quite literally a jump scare. VOIDED

I'm told Amnesia and Penumbra are both incredibly scary, and I suppose they are.
Also, the Island of the Dead mod for AvP2 is pretty fucking scary. It does use a couple jumps and screamers, but even without them it's insanely creepy.

I mean, you're stuck on a broken submarine with nothing but a terrible knife, and there's zombies all through the cramped one-way-out corridors. I haven't even played past the first level.

 

[Firetaffer]

The first F.E.A.R.! Everything else after that ain't that good....

I've played halfway through F.E.A.R and it's uh, full of jump scares.

 

[Doclector]

Try the suffering series on ps2 (I think it was released on xbox as well, but I don't think it was made backwards compatible) the gameplay is full on action, the hordes of enemies coming practically non stop, but the atmospheric environments, creepy visions and ghosts, and a good solid backstory of what exactly the monsters mean helps bring it above the usual action horror crowd.

 

[King of the Sandbox]

Ok, I've downloaded Amnesia off of Steam and it's doing pretty well so far. I'm playing with the lights off, my stereo system turned up (I don't have any decent headphones) and I gotta say, in the first 20 minutes it's the scariest thing I've ever played without jumpscares.

The first time I made the mistake of looking at the things after me really did give me a small, heart-thumping fright.

Thanks for the recommendations. ^_^

 

[Gigano]

Well, there's technically Saya no Uta [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.263822-Coming-Up-With-Topic-Titles-is-Hard-Saya-No-Uta], though it being a visual novel, the "gameplay" is very limited and old school (think Zork and Myst).

Can't be beat when it comes to being relentlessly horrifying and disturbing though.

 

[Bolleman]

I would agree with many others and recommend Amnesia: The Dark Descent, I personally haven't played it beyond the demo, but even that scared the shit out of me, and I don't think the demo even has any monsters.

 

[KiraTaureLor]

Personally I love horror movies, and I do get jumpy and all that crap, but it only last a short time, and not even throughout the whole movie, or game.

The most horror fear excitement I got out of horror games would be zombies in Black ops, mainly because of the amazing sounds.

For horror movies you would have to look for ones that explore your beliefs, and philosophies, and hey may not always be in the horror sections, and if that doesn't work, then I guess you should look at real life caught on camera horrors, or pictures, that always last in my mind.

(consider the army.)

 

[Hiphophippo]

Most of the previously mentioned games in this thread are pretty sound for a good scare. I'd also like to throw my hat in for Minecraft and not for the occasional jump scare you get from Creepers. There's just something unsettling about it. Maybe I overanalyze things but digging ever downward in an alien world kinda creeped me out.

 

[octafish]

Another vote for System Shock 2 (Damn monkeys indeed) and Condemned: Criminal Origins.

 

[dogenzakaminion]

Amnesia is quite scary though it does resort to jump scares quite often. these are of course strengthened by the overall mood. Eternal Darkness is a good example, one that I like at least, although the scariest moment is a jump scare. The Gamecube version of RE1 is the only game where I was just scared to go through the next door, but that was also a long time ago. System Shock 2 and the Condemned games still scare me.

Oh, and obviously Minecraft

 

[AetherWolf]

System Shock 2
LSD Dream Emulator (wububububu [http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/LSDDreamEmulator])
Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem (haven't played it myself but I hear lots of good things about it)

...Meh, I'm not a very avid horror player myself, sorry.

Edit: Forgot about Yume Nikki!

 

[Beat14]

Well its not quite what you're looking for but STALKER series offers a few tense/scary moments. I am currently playing Shadow of Chernobyl with the Complete mod for it, which is basically an overhaul of the game, improving on what is already in the game, not adding content. I have just got to the underground lab and I am finding it pretty scary.

Having said all that Stalker series is not meant to be like a horror game, the series just have a great atmosphere about them.

 

[Zhukov]

Oh hey, another opportunity for me to recommend Amnesia: The Dark Descent.

So yeah... Amnesia. The one and only real horror game of recent years.

I was in much the same boat as you. I played a bunch of horror titles and found them all to be weak sauce. Dead Space, Condemned, F.E.A.R. , you name it. Not one good scare to be found.

Then Amnesia came along, blew my socks off and turned me into an instant fanboy. It's scary. It's well paced and intelligently designed. It's a nice blend of oh-god-what's-around-that-corner apprehension and oh-jesus-christ-it's-right-behind-me-run-for-your-life terror.

Basically, if you're into horror games, you damn well owe it to yourself to play this.

 

[GonzoGamer]

Try the Teletubbies games... Terrifying at best.

Yea,
How are kids not terrified of those creepy things.
I found Fallout New Vegas to be very scary.
It got me wondering: how broken does a game have to be before it?s sent back for more testing. Seems like they?ll release anything these days and just patch it up later. Problem is that a few month/patches later and it still runs like crap.

 

[Vern5]

I enjoyed Call of Cthulhu for this. There are a few jump scares but the terror is mostly based upon the fear that your character may lose his mind at any second coupled with the fear of being discovered by angry, mutated townsfolk. That game actually stresses me out when I play it.

 

[Vern5]

Try the Teletubbies games... Terrifying at best.

Yea,
How are kids not terrified of those creepy things.
I found Fallout New Vegas to be very scary.
It got me wondering: how broken does a game have to be before it?s sent back for more testing. Seems like they?ll release anything these days and just patch it up later. Problem is that a few month/patches later and it still runs like crap.

I'm play FNV on a laptop on low settings (because I melted my graphics card once playing FO3 at medium-high) and the game runs smooth barring a few hiccups when there are lots of moving objects to render. Need advice?

 

[James Raynor]

Jump out scares are more startling then scary.

 

[GonzoGamer]

Try the Teletubbies games... Terrifying at best.

Yea,
How are kids not terrified of those creepy things.
I found Fallout New Vegas to be very scary.
It got me wondering: how broken does a game have to be before it?s sent back for more testing. Seems like they?ll release anything these days and just patch it up later. Problem is that a few month/patches later and it still runs like crap.

I'm play FNV on a laptop on low settings (because I melted my graphics card once playing FO3 at medium-high) and the game runs smooth barring a few hiccups when there are lots of moving objects to render. Need advice?

Yea, don't rub it in.
I should've gotten it for the PC. I don't know what I was thinking buying it for the ps3. Bethesda is notorious for not supporting the ps3.
They aren't really that great at supporting the pc either but at least the modders are. Have you tried the user made patches and the mods and stuff?
If the dlc gets better, I'll get the goty version for the PC but I am never again getting any game Bethesda is involved with for the ps3.