Has a game ever scared you to the point that you couldn't play?

[Tohuvabohu]

The first Fatal Frame had some moments that made me stop playing. Although I played in... "increments", I was still able to beat it.

But the one that really takes the shitcake is, as many others have said, Amnesia: The Dark Descent.

I played through the Penumbra games, which also put several stains in my boxers, but time and time again - I was able to play through them entirely.

But Amnesia? I couldn't even finish the goddamned demo, it was just way too much. I told myself I wouldn't let the game freak me out, I turned my lights off, put my headphones on, and sat the fuck down, and tried to play the Demo.

Things were going well, for about a minute. Then I turned a corner, and some door swung open due to a gust of wind, and just like that - All my will and bravado flew out the fucking window. I was slowly moving forward, and then I saw a... shadow. And some noises. And well, no thnx amnesia.

I spent 15 minutes standing underneath a lantern feeling safe and warm before I decided I've had enough Amnesia for the day.

One day I'll play through it... With the sequel coming out and all, I gotta play it. I just got to.

Not looking forward to it though... Fuck.

Resident Evil: Blast away zombie heads with ease.
Silent Hill: Meh.
FF7 Jenova: OHMYGODBURNITWITHFIRE!!!!!!!

I remember that. It freaked me the hell out too. I think it's because of how.. sudden it was. I never thought we'd be shown a closeup of a freaky decapitated body in a Final Fantasy game at the time. In fact, it was so sudden and fast, and made me go "What the fuck was that!?!?" so much that I immediately reloaded my previous save so I could see it again.

 

[Whoracle]

I played one of the Thief games when I was, maybe, 10? I was really enjoying the first level, but then came the second level which was some kind of mine littered with dead bodies. In order to get through one of the rooms you had to walk around a barrier, there was one way to it where you had to walk over a dead body. Thinking it would probably make a crunching noise and alert some guards or other if I stood on it I chose to walk the other way, but it took longer and eventually I decided to just walk across the body. The body jumped up. I screamed. I turned the computer off at the mains.

I have since lost the disk and wish that I could find out which game it was - I was really enjoying it before it scared the living daylight out of me!

This'd be Thief 1 then. It's on GOG right now for 10 bucks, as are 2 and 3. Give 'em a go.

 

[Snowbell]

This'd be Thief 1 then. It's on GOG right now for 10 bucks, as are 2 and 3. Give 'em a go.

Thanks a lot
Now if only I knew what GoG was ;_;

 

[aegix drakan_v1legacy]

I know it's brought up often, but...Amnesia: The Dark Descent. The Demo nearly gave me a panic attack. The atmosphere of the game was just perfect to illicit such a response from me that, when I went into the basement and first caught a glimpse of the monster, I started running, then all the lights went out, and I had to shut it off.

That's exactly my experience with the game too. >_< I had the full game on my laptop, but I'm not ready for it yet. I've been training myself up with other horror games first.

So yeah, Amnesia is the only game I stopped playing due to fear.

I did consider dropping Half life 2 at ravenholm, but I managed to pull through.

 

[Whoracle]

Thanks a lot
Now if only I knew what GoG was ;_;

http://www.gog.com <- Good Old Games. You'll get old(ish) games there made fit for running under newer operating systems, with no DRM. Worth checking out.

 

[Clive Howlitzer]

Nope. I bought Amnesia: Dark Descent for a friend though and they still haven't finished it because it stresses them out too much. I think that is hilarious.

 

[putowtin]

silent hill

3am, pitch black bedroom, and then.....


the radio crackled..... ahhhhhh!

 

[Rose and Thorn]

Pretty much every game everyone mentioned so far...yeah I'm a baby. I haven't tried Amnesia: The Dark Descent yet because well....I think it may put my health at actual risk.

 

[Ragsnstitches]

When I was a kid, the original Rebellion made "AvP" caused me hassle. I couldn't get past the Marine campaign and I struggled with the Predator campaing when the Aliens came on scene. So for 2 years I had only completed the Alien campaign, because being the big scary bug was so much easier.

If I went really far back, I remember 2 games that caused me to stop playing and gave me nightmares. Hexen and Alien 3 (N64 and Genesis respectively). Both were rentals and both were returned on the same day they were picked up. I was between 6 and 10ish... way too young for them.

I had a mild issue with Resi 2 (the licker bit in the safe room). But I was able to push my way forward. Didn't help, Lickers were terrifying throughout the game.

I don't ever get crippled with fear with games, my brain just seems to find workarounds. I still feel moments of tension and mild panic, but it's usually as a result of ammo scarcity or low health. The fear of monsters seems to have left me, though I still love playing games with spooky creatures.

 

[rob_simple]

I used to play Silent Hill 2 in small chunks after I borrowed it from a friend but it just scared me to the point that I was literally getting nothing out of playing it --other than being ill with fear-- so I just gave up.

 

[The Funslinger]

Yeah, well.
Dead Space.
Dude needs explosives. 2 parts. one in the laboratory or something. k np.
2nd part is in the morgue.
And I was like.
No thanks.

"You want me to go to the morgue? In an outbreak of things that spawn from dead bodies?"

As much as people take the p*** out of dead space for it being watered down modern horror, it still does have it's moments.

There's a moment like that in Metro 2033. Cursed Station.

Metro does manage the atmosphere very well, and it's like: Okay, so we're pinned here with the survivors because waves of monsters keep coming out of the dark tunnel. Here's vague directions to explosives and more vague directions to the points you need to plant them at. Both where the monsters are coming straight from. Oh, you want help? Don't be crazy, a guy could get killed out there!

Not that that stopped me from playing, but it gave me pause for thought.

 

[Grathius22]

I tried Doom 3 when I was younger. Everything was all fine and dandy until the scientist turns into a zombie and you have to kill him. I flipped my shit, and turned the Xbox off really quick.

Also, Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of The Earth. At the hotel. I played that at night, and with those crazy guys chasing you through the apartments and you have to get those doors shut AND bolted in just the nick of time, my heart was pounding out of my chest.

 

[Doclector]

Yeah, well.
Dead Space.
Dude needs explosives. 2 parts. one in the laboratory or something. k np.
2nd part is in the morgue.
And I was like.
No thanks.

"You want me to go to the morgue? In an outbreak of things that spawn from dead bodies?"

As much as people take the p*** out of dead space for it being watered down modern horror, it still does have it's moments.

There's a moment like that in Metro 2033. Cursed Station.

Metro does manage the atmosphere very well, and it's like: Okay, so we're pinned here with the survivors because waves of monsters keep coming out of the dark tunnel. Here's vague directions to explosives and more vague directions to the points you need to plant them at. Both where the monsters are coming straight from. Oh, you want help? Don't be crazy, a guy could get killed out there!

Not that that stopped me from playing, but it gave me pause for thought.

I swear to god, if khan wasn't so awesome, I'd have tried to punch him right there.

 

[zelda2fanboy]

Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire. I was only like 10 at the time. The IG-88 boss fight was terrifying, not only because of the very powerful pulse weapon and the creepy robot gibberish voice whenever he got close and snuck up on you, but the fact it came after a very long and difficult train level that you had to redo if you died.

 

[The]

I know it's brought up often, but...Amnesia: The Dark Descent. The Demo nearly gave me a panic attack. The atmosphere of the game was just perfect to illicit such a response from me that, when I went into the basement and first caught a glimpse of the monster, I started running, then all the lights went out, and I had to shut it off.

The first time I played through the demo, I had the same feelings. The second time I played it with a friend, and near the middle, he was freaking out and asked me to turn it off.

 

[The Funslinger]

Yeah, well.
Dead Space.
Dude needs explosives. 2 parts. one in the laboratory or something. k np.
2nd part is in the morgue.
And I was like.
No thanks.

"You want me to go to the morgue? In an outbreak of things that spawn from dead bodies?"

As much as people take the p*** out of dead space for it being watered down modern horror, it still does have it's moments.

There's a moment like that in Metro 2033. Cursed Station.

Metro does manage the atmosphere very well, and it's like: Okay, so we're pinned here with the survivors because waves of monsters keep coming out of the dark tunnel. Here's vague directions to explosives and more vague directions to the points you need to plant them at. Both where the monsters are coming straight from. Oh, you want help? Don't be crazy, a guy could get killed out there!

Not that that stopped me from playing, but it gave me pause for thought.

I swear to god, if khan wasn't so awesome, I'd have tried to punch him right there.

Yep. Now I'm pinned by nazis, and I wonder if getting a scoped AK was a good idea...

 

[Alssadar]

The freaking mutants in Fallout New Vegas who can only be noticed after you get in really close proximity (ie, two feet away). It didn't help that they hid in bushes, and there were bushes every couple of feet. They also creep me out, as they have no eyes, and yet they can still detect where I am. That sensation itself is alien and scares the piss out of me. (This doesn't apply to the guys in RE4, however.)
Also, STALKER lab x-18. My favorite quote I made aloud was "Barrels aren't supposed to move like that!" (I was talking about wooden boxes, but I was scared, nonetheless.) I also did lab x-16, which wasn't as bad. Although, any mutant sound makes me panic, for I can't determine the sounds of the invisible Bloodsucker from the leaping Snork.
And my first time into Ravenholme was bad--running around with little ammo and no shotgun, as zombies jumped from around corners in a seemingly endless system of waves, screaming in their demented backwards tongue. And then there were the poison head crab zombies (Shudder).

 

[Soviet Heavy]

for me it was two half life mods by the same guys, afraid of monsters and cry of fear. Confusion and lot's of scary corridors and perfectly timed jump scares got me.

Cry of Fear is made by the Afraid of Monsters guy? Wow, I'd seen it on Moddb, but I never connected the two. That's awesome!

Speaking of mods, Nightmare House 2. NH1 is kinda conventional jump scares, but NH2 ramps it up. On the Half Life 1 side, there is They Hunger. While They Hunger can also be hilarious, some sadistic fuck decided to put crying baby sounds in the hospital section. That's been overrun by zombies.

 

[Hemlet]

Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire for me. Actually that whole game was filled with tense, crap-your-pants boss fights. Hell, the very first boss fight of the game is an AT-ST that you have to face on foot.

The big one for me though was the ENTIRE sewer level. A dingy, brown and green smeared level filled with almost completely opaque green water. Water that you are required to swim in when you face the boss, which is a gigantic mass of spiked tentacles, one big ass tooth filled mouth, and an eyeball stalk coming out of the throat. It was on that level that my 8-9 year old self went "nope!" and shut the game off to play Turok instead.

 

[BlackEagle95]

The zombies of Minecraft disturb me to no end. It's hearing that growl like moan, combined with the fact that I have almost no way of knowing where they are. I can't handle not being to face a threat. The silence made it worse. I finally started to blast Frank Klepacki in the background to alleviate some the panic.