Things in Games That Terrify You

[Luca72]

I AM SINISTAR. BEWARE I LIVE.
That shit creeped me out for the longest time as a kid. Used to have nightmares about it.

ggrrRRAAAAAAAUUUUUUGHHHHH!!!


I have to bring up System Shock 2. I hate bugs, but for some reason that fear doesn't usually cross over into a video game. I can fuck up a demon centipede, or an over-sized spider. It's the feeling of bugs on me that really gets to me.

This is where System Shock 2 once again showed it's genius. There is this parasitic swarm that will occasionally attack you, usually when you're minding your own business looking through loot. It doesn't do much damage at once, but if you stay in it's vicinity, it'll DPS you down to nothing. Oh, and you can't kill it. Because it's a huge swarm of insects! They die on their own after about 15 seconds, so your goal is to keep away from them.

So what happens, is you'll be doing your thing, trying to creep around so you don't call too much attention to yourself. Then one of these swarms will attack you. And you will proceed to run into the hallway screaming, trying to get the damn things out of your hair, and you will most likely agro half the enemies on the deck in the process.

 

[Silvanus]

In order. #1 is the thing that disturbed me the very most. Jesus, I still remember the feeling today, and it was over a decade ago.

Spoiler: #1

Spoiler: #2

 

[Moonlight Butterfly]

In order. #1 is the thing that disturbed me the very most. Jesus, I still remember the feeling today, and it was over a decade ago.

Spoiler: #1

Spoiler: #2

I love that in both those pics the heroes just have this 'Well shit.' look about them xD I forgot about the Temple of Shadow and Down the Well those places where just messed up.

 

[ResonanceSD]

The Boys of Silence from Bioshock Infinite

Spoiler

Comstock's House is creepy place, no thanks to these guys, but they didn't really scare me, until after a cutscene, when one of them comes from behind you out of nowhere, scaring the shit out of me

Spoiler

Eh, I just shot those guys and later learned it was a stealth section.

That bit where they spawn in one behind you after a voxophone session was just fucking dumb. Not real horror, just a cheap jump scare.

 

[Moonlight Butterfly]

The Boys of Silence from Bioshock Infinite

Spoiler

Comstock's House is creepy place, no thanks to these guys, but they didn't really scare me, until after a cutscene, when one of them comes from behind you out of nowhere, scaring the shit out of me

Spoiler

Eh, I just shot those guys and later learned it was a stealth section.

That bit where they spawn in one behind you after a voxophone session was just fucking dumb. Not real horror, just a cheap jump scare.

I don't think the jump scare works if you shoot them. First time I played through on Medium I didn't even notice it. Next two times on 1999 mode I nearly hit the ceiling. I think sneaking about just winds you up.

 

[gigastar]

For a time, Prowlers in Planetside 2.

Why? Becuase due to a botched buff to thier main weapon, they could one hit kill most infantry with only splash damage. And this is on a tank with a double barreled main gun.

And it gets worse when most Prowlers use HE rounds, with a bigger explosive radius.

Spoiler: This guy

GET THE HELL AWAY FROM MY SENTRY!
As someone who uses the engineer and heavy often in TF2 I fear this guy.

Pfft, try dominating half the enemy team as Heavy on a pub server. Spies come like locusts.

 

[ResonanceSD]

The Boys of Silence from Bioshock Infinite

Spoiler

Comstock's House is creepy place, no thanks to these guys, but they didn't really scare me, until after a cutscene, when one of them comes from behind you out of nowhere, scaring the shit out of me

Spoiler

Eh, I just shot those guys and later learned it was a stealth section.

That bit where they spawn in one behind you after a voxophone session was just fucking dumb. Not real horror, just a cheap jump scare.

I don't think the jump scare works if you shoot them. First time I played through on Medium I didn't even notice it. Next two times on 1999 mode I nearly hit the ceiling. I think sneaking about just winds you up.

It was still a "I'M RIGHT BEHIND YOU" for me, because I didn't turn around before the tear appeared.

But yeah. Slight jump, then several shots to the face.

 

[Chester Rabbit]

Water. If I fall into any dark murky body of water in a game I start panicking and just try for the nearest pieces of land I can spot to get out. This is always funny to me too seeing how in reality, I love swimming. You couldn?t pay me enough to get out of the water before I felt like I had my fill of swimming for the day; but in video games no. I avoid anything that involves swimming like the plague. I think this fear either comes from Donkey Kong 3 or Morrowind(there were scary things in that water). Whatever the reason whenever I play a game these days and have to take a swim I just get anxious as I just know there is always some disturbing malicious creature ready to swim out of the depths to eviscerate me. No way am I letting my guard down ever again, I did that with Dishonored and that literally bit me in the ass.

 

[DRTJR]

stumbling into deathclaw when i'm both unprepared and underleveled. That feeling is true fear.

 

[thejackyl]

As people have said, Water

It terrifies me in video games, and it terrifies me outside of video games. I mostly blame this guy:

Spoiler: Manual/Strategy guide drawing

Spoiler: Sprite

You would think something that big would be relatively slow in water, but no, it's fast, hard to hit and takes a LOT of punishment. I think I stopped playing Super Metroid for a lost time after I ran into him... until I learned the Grappling Beam trick. After that he wasn't nearly as scary to me.

And this guy:

Spoiler: Why I never got all 120 stars in Mario 64

 

[Extra-Ordinary]

Invincible enemies that kill you in one blow. A la, the bear in Condemned 2.
And more recently, the teleporting ANYTHING in F.E.A.R. 2. It's not strictly teleportation, but disappearing, being gone for a second, and reappearing closer to me really freaks me out.

 

[cojo965]

So my home in Minecraft XBLA is built on top of a massive mine system that is where most of my resourses come from. Lately though I haven't been going down there because it scares me, not out of what's down there (I play on peaceful), but because of its layout. It's so big that it's very easy to get lost, I'm certain that it has taken me 30 minutes to a hour just to get out of the mine before. I have been trying to get help with cutting out the level of complexity of the system without success so I've taken to looking for other places nearby to mine. So my question to the Escapist is, what sort of things terrify you in games?

Captcha: my bad. Captcha, I swear to God if you're the reason I keep getting lost in my mine I'll find you and smash you.

Why don't you just leave a trail of torches?

I don't like water enemies in games they scare the pants off me. Especially if you get a looming shadow of blackness before you see them fully brrrr.

Sharks in Tomb Raider 2 used to freak me out a lot.

Simply put, one corner with a torch looks very similar to another.

 

[Mikejames]

I'm not sure if there's one specific thing.

The atmospheric feeling that you're being watched can be a good one.

Oh Stanley Coleman...

The Boys of Silence from Bioshock Infinite

Spoiler

Comstock's House is creepy place, no thanks to these guys, but they didn't really scare me, until after a cutscene, when one of them comes from behind you out of nowhere, scaring the shit out of me

I jumped.

Though I think that being caught off surprise by the total lack of other horror elements helped.
The ghost doesn't count...

 

[uchytjes]

Enemies that teleport (or at least seem to). No matter what, if it teleports it scares the shit out of me. Even normal NPCs that won't hurt you. The instant they begin to teleport around is the instant I freak the hell out. Case and point:

Comstock's House is creepy place, no thanks to these guys, but they didn't really scare me, until after a cutscene, when one of them comes from behind you out of nowhere, scaring the shit out of me

Spoiler

That was the only point in the game that I actually felt scared. He came out of nowhere and made that loud noise at me (another weakness) and I instantly proceeded to freak the hell out. Another example (from the same game even) is Elizabeth. My only real problem with her was her constant teleportation antics she would play on me. Whether or not she actually was doing so I don't know, but she just wouldn't stop and I couldn't keep any track of her. One moment she is behind me, the next she is crouching on top of a railing.

I'm not even joking. [http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=137452703]

 

[QuadFish]

Antlion guard in the caves in HL2 Ep 2. There's a part where you have to navigate through a sort of ring tunnel with little holes in it you can hide in every so often, but as soon as you walk back into the main tunnel the guard knows where you are and charges you. The first bit is basically a leap of faith where you have to jump down and bolt for the first safety hole, and those assholes at Valve put it just too far away to reach while sprinting without getting bumped once by the thing. Of course, you could turn around to see where he is, but you'd slow down... You could run backwards but it's not as fast as sprinting forwards, so the only thing you can do is run and run and run knowing that a giant charging antlion is literally inches behind you. And once you do find safety you know you have to run out eventually to make any progress but you can't really tell how close he is and it's scary as balls. Usually every chase ends with my view flicking around when my arm has a fear spasm moments before reaching safety.

 

[Mordekaien]

These from Dark Messiah of Might & Magic

Spoiler: spoilered for size

And it's funny, since I don't fear spiders in RL, just these ones- They can climb the walls, jump at you from half a mile away, and their attack poisons you, and leaves you with 10 health. Fuck those guys.

EDIT: I forgot to mention Bloodsuckers from STALKER. They made me quit the game about 3-4 times, based only on sound alone.

 

[CyanideSandwich]

The first time you see a Big Daddy in Bioshock scared the shit out of me. It still does, if I play on hard.

 

[lunam-kardas]

Probably the scariest thing ever. Ever. You thought that going through the door would save you, but ohhhoho no!

Run...[small]they will catch you.[/small]

You Sonova- I JUST blocked that thing from my memory! Now I'm going to need another decade and a half of repressing!

 

[lacktheknack]

When I played "First Times", a text adventure, there was a lovely scene where you stumble around in the dark as the voice of a dissected doll gets closer... and closer...

Basically, it left a hellish chase sequence entirely to my imagination. The guy who made the game was a genius and a bastard.

 

[Dirge Eterna]

When I first played Resident Evil on thr PS1, hearing the foot scuff and moan and knowing all I have is a few shots and my health is faltering.