Scariest moments in a non-horror game

[TheKruzdawg]

Ravenholm. Already been said, but I hated that part of the game.

I just experienced this and it scared the bejeezus out of me. I was driving the Mako on some random planet when all of a sudden a Thresher Maw explodes out of the ground directly beneath me, sending the Mako flying through the air as it roars in fury and I'm left helpless while it smashes its claws down, killing us. Freaked me out. I am now very wary of any large flat area when I'm driving the Mako.

 

[bruggs]

When I was a kid, I was so scared of Andross in Lylat Wars (Starfox 64) that I had to stop playing two planets before Venom.

Just in case.

Also, every metroid game I've played has scared me a little. Fusion in particular.

 

[AMMO Kid]

Once I tried to make a three pointer with Shaq on a NHL 2K game.

 

[Maeshone]

Prince of Persia: Warrior Within...

Spoiler: you know the guy I'm talking about..

The guy takes you by surprise. and when you're running for your life, you get this eerie feeling

I loved those sequences, best part of the entire game in my opinion, and Warrior Within is my favourite in the series (yes, it really is)

As for me, the creepiest part in any game I've played that isn't a horror game is probably Oceanview Hotel in VTMB. Actually picked it up on Steam now that it's on a weekend sale (if you haven't played it already, pick this game up! Just be sure to get the unofficial patches)
I did pick up Thief 3 when it was on sale, but I haven't played it yet... Too much WoW, TF2 and L4D2 lately...

 

[CiferForLiberty]

The moments in Minecraft where I end up digging into a giant whole for the night and block off the opening so things can't fall on me, and I hear spiders and skeletons ALL night. And finally when I burrow my way out there's a spider waiting for me. And then there's just creepers.

Fallout 3 got me a lot when Radroaches and Molerats stalk me. I don't hear them, and I jump a fucking foot in the air because they screech and bite me.

And trying to swim down to the giant slaughterfish in Oblivion was tense for me.

Nothing in Bioshock really scared me, but listening to the Splicers was sometimes just a bit unnerving.

 

[Zeema]

Fallout 3 my first encounter with a Albino Radscorpion

 

[Exius Xavarus]

The Dwarven story arc in Dragon Age: Origins.

Spoiler: Near the end of the story arc.

The first time I ran into Hespith and the first time I fought a Broodmother. Hespith is quite possibly the most disturbing thing I have seen in a non-horror game. Save for the Broodmother. That thing haunts my dreams.

 

[Zechnophobe]

The completely silent electro-shop ... inmates in shalebridge cradle are a memory I will likely never forget.

Everything in that game makes sound. EVERYTHING... except those guys. Who could sneak up on you while you were picking a lock. I remember my heart pounding in my chest as I start to pick a lock (you can't look around) hoping to the Maker that one didn't find me while I was busy...

And that's only the first half of that level. The second half is even more unnerving.


I also have to give props to Minecraft. That game is one of the biggest surprises in horror ever. You just don't know it going in cuz yer like "oh, this is lego's and shit, right?"

And then... you dig.. and you dig, until you start hearing BREATHING THROUGH THE MFing WALLS.

Brilliant design.

 

[Breaker deGodot]

Minecraft. I think TVTropes said it better than I ever could.

"You're at bedrock level in a nearby mine. Near pitch black darkness, a narrow hallway, limited weapons. No music, no sounds (with the exception of when you mine). And you know that there are zombies, skeletons and spiders waiting randomly around to tear you to pieces, but you haven't found them yet. NOTHING IS SCARIER."

Pretty much that.

 

[Lenin211]

I had quite a few scary encounters with centaurs in Fallout 3. For example, when I first went to D.C. It was nighttime and I could barely see it. I entered VATS and saw it, in its full horror, and quickly ran away back to megaton.

 

[Black Arrow Officer]

SWAT 4 was the scariest game I've ever played. Games like Fear and Fatal Frame that are intended to scare me don't do so much as briefly surprise me. Not even Silent Hill spooked me as much as Swat 4. Fantasy, supernatural scares I can shrug off, but SWAT 4 was so realistic and so human that I was constantly dreading opening each door. One slip up, and your entire team is cut down by an assault-rifle wielding maniac in less then a second. In one of the first levels, you have to arrest a serial killer who's been kidnapping women from a college campus and killing them. When you go into his house, there's empty cereal boxes, decaying walls and cockroaches everywhere, giving the level a very uneasy feeling the second you enter. And when you head into the basement, you see a bunch of newspaper clippings strewn all over his bedroom wall about his victims, plus a few creepy paper masks hanging around. And then, you finally reach a gruesome "Art Table" where he makes mannequins and masks out of his victims before killing them. One of his victims, still alive, is wiggling around on the floor. That scared the shit out of me the first time I played through. You go through a little secret corridor and there's his second victim locked in a room with him as he's telling her to "hold still" and he'll be "finished with her in just a minute." Without thinking, I shot him right in the head and then pumped the rest of my M4 rounds right into his fat, worthless carcass. When a game impacts you that much emotionally, I call it a work of art in fear.

 

[Stammer]

THAT F*CKING PIANO

Also pretty much the entire "Overlord" DLC for Mass Effect 2.

 

[ManimalR]

The nazi bunker filled with descendants in uncharted 1, fucking terrifying

 

[iDoom46]

1) When you first encounter The Flood in Halo CE. Scared the ever-loving crap out of me. MAN, was I glad when you finally get back to fighting regular old Covenant. It was like meeting old friends... who want to kill you.

2) I know some people count BioShock as a "horror" game, but I'd say its more of a highly-stylized, atmospheric game than an outright scary one. That said, the first level had me shitting my pants in fright. Took me MONTHS to get back to the game again. After that, though, I was good.

3) There were several moments in the Half-Life games where I was outright terrified. Because I would get so absorbed into the game I really felt like I was running for my life.

 

[Gladiateher]

I recently played dark messiah might and magic and I found the part with the spider tunnels to be genuinely frightening. I don't really play survival and this was the first time I was just straight up scared by a game. The crushing confines of the caves, completely covered in thick sticky spider webbing was fantastic atmosphere. Than there were the noises, the lowlight, and the spiders. The fucking spiders man, theyll tear your balls off, and theres never justa few there are always like 20. I'm not even afraid of confined spaces or spiders.

 

[Iron Lightning]

Cargo! The Quest for Gravity, the whole fucking thing. It's cheerful as hell but the buddies creep me the fuck out. That's alright though, the game's still pretty good just for being truly original in a time of copy-paste formulaic games.

 

[Sweet Potato Vines]

I recently played dark messiah might and magic and I found the part with the spider tunnels to be genuinely frightening. I don't really play survival and this was the first time I was just straight up scared by a game. The crushing confines of the caves, completely covered in thick sticky spider webbing was fantastic atmosphere. Than there were the noises, the lowlight, and the spiders. The fucking spiders man, theyll tear your balls off, and theres never justa few there are always like 20. I'm not even afraid of confined spaces or spiders.

So imagine what it's like for someone with arachnophobia...

 

[BlueSinbad]

Running away from the massive boulders in Crash Bandicoot...

 

[bpk428]

Left 4 Dead gave me nightmares when I first watched my friends play it, and I was 18 at the time.