What Scares *You* In Games?

[Starbird]

Title.

So...I was playing through some older games while waiting for the next Diablo III patch to come out and wound up going through Half Life 2 again for about the 5th time (yes, I'm bored).

I realized something odd. Every time I play it, there is one part early on in the game where I am so creeped out I actually can't watch (I have to look away from the screen for a few seconds every time it happens).

It's the bit where you are caught by the out of control portals and are dropped into deep, murky water where you hang for a few seconds before a large fish-monster-dinosaur thing swims at you mouth open.

Brrr...I almost fell off my chair when it happened the first time.

So yeah - in games, anything with deep water, especially where I can't see bottom, *especially* where I may be attacked by a large monster makes me deeply uncomfortable. Even something as tame as WoW can do it to me.

So - how about you? What causes you to freak out in games?

 

[Zhukov]

I came here to say deep water as well.

How 'bout that, huh?

Makes sense since I get pretty edgy around deep water in real life too. I mean, if you can't see the bottom then there could be anything down there.

 

[Starbird]

I came here to say deep water as well.

How 'bout that, huh?

Makes sense since I get pretty edgy around deep water in real life too. I mean, if you can't see the bottom then there could be anything down there.

Gah :|. Do not like.

There was this arcade game I remember from ages ago called the Ocean Hunter. It was a rail shooter that looked like it used the House of the Dead engine but was set in deep water environments, often against *huge* enemies. I battled to watch at times, but just couldn't help playing it. And for about half an hour after I was done, I'd be jumpy as hell.

Actually, it's not just water. There was this game called SiniStar (I think?) from the Quake 2 era that did something similar in space. Basically you, alone, in a massive, foggy environment with a gigantic monster that could at any time start hunting you.

Is there a name for this phobia? I wonder.

 

[krazykidd]

Death?

The last game that had me afraid of dying was dark souls . Appart from that i haven't been afraid of dying much , because there is little or no consequence for death , which sucks in my opinion. Everything so easy and with little consequence :/. I think i'ma start getting into roguelikes.

 

[Sean Hollyman]

The sensation of being followed, and you think somethings there but you can't quite see it.

FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU

 

[Karoshi]

Deep water as well. Gothic had some of the scariest water monsters for me. *shudder*

Not being able to save manually is a horrible nightmare of mine. I am used to saving every 5 minutes, during scary parts I save every minute. Not being able to do so... is aweful.

 

[Pink Gregory]

Fucking creepiest thing has been in - predictably - Silent Hill 2.

While exploring a hotel room, I suddenly heard an unintelligible whispering sound that was right at the front of the sound mix; kind of scary in itself.

The REALLY creepy part?

I died after that and had to reload exploring that room for the first time.

I never heard it again.

...

 

[Bernzz]

Depends on the game. Personally, I usually love water themed levels and areas, like the sunken Space Pirate Frigate Orpheon in Metroid Prime.

Being alone can get me, again, depending on the game. Couldn't care less in Skyrim, followers just ruin my stealth.

In Metro 2033, however? Good god, I need a companion nao I don't like these tunnels I'm alone I'm scared ohgodhelpme

 

[purplecactus]

I'm not so sure about actually being scared, but as far as being creeped out goes then a few things can do that. Strange random unintelligible whispering is one of those things, and echoes whilst in tunnels/other echo-y places tend to make me think I'm being followed by something I can't locate, thus creeps are given.

Things jumping out at me without any warning make me spring about five miles out of my seat, but the actual fear factor there lasts maybe a second, if that. The urge to punch it in the most physical sense is what lingers.

 

[Chemical Alia]

Before I even read your post, the dark water in Half Life 1 and 2 were the first things to come to mind.

Though it's not because of the monsters in the water, just the water itself v:

 

[Haz88]

For me it's being trapped or constrained. Others have mentioned HL2 where the teleport goes to shit, but instead of me being afraid of water or drowning I freaked out because I was unable to run away. Also, I haven't played Dead Space through yet because there was one place 3 or 4 chapters in where loads of monsters trapped me in a very small laboratory which made me lose it completely and just quit the game. I better give it a go again soon.

 

[Sean Hollyman]

Deep water as well. Gothic had some of the scariest water monsters for me. *shudder*

Not being able to save manually is a horrible nightmare of mine. I am used to saving every 5 minutes, during scary parts I save every minute. Not being able to do so... is aweful.

You'd hate Silent Hill then, the save points actually require you to look for them, which means going everywhere before you can save and rest easy. There's no autosave either.

 

[Dirty Apple]

The atmosphere in the newest Doom had me on edge as it was, but there was one part later on in the game when I came to a crossroads and was trying to decide which hallway to take. I arbitrarily decided left and, after having taken a few steps, the lights flickered and a little, barely audible voice said, "Don't go down there." It ran chills up my spine and that was it, I turned around and went the other way.

To this day, I don't know if it was a scripted event or just a random effect. Good golly, though, did it creep me the hell out. This part of the reason that I still haven't tackled Amnesia, eventhough it's been in my library for 5 months. I'm not sure I could hack it.

 

[Sean Hollyman]

Fucking creepiest thing has been in - predictably - Silent Hill 2.

While exploring a hotel room, I suddenly heard an unintelligible whispering sound that was right at the front of the sound mix; kind of scary in itself.

The REALLY creepy part?

I died after that and had to reload exploring that room for the first time.

I never heard it again.

...

I didn't hear anything in that room, but at the start when you're going down that long path to the town from the car park, I swear I heard weird noises following me! Made me feel uneasy as hell and I'd barely started!

 

[Applejack]

Those ReDead things in Ocarina of Time that stand there waiting for Link to get close so that they can jump on him and strangle him to death. It's very creepy to see.

 

[Evil Top Hat]

Mudcrabs.

I still get nightmares.

 

[lithiumvocals]

The sensation of being followed, and you think somethings there but you can't quite see it.

FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU

Why would you post that GIF? I know he's watching me now...

Silent Hill 2 is creepy as fuck, but Silent Hill 3 scares the shit out of me. The sound design is fucking fantastic at both eerie silence and harsh, irritating cacophony, especially because of these fuckers [http://silenthill.wikia.com/wiki/Pendulum]. I hear that buzzsaw shit in my nightmares.

 

[Frontastic]

Yup, gonna have to jump in and go with deep water myself. Although I'd broaden it to anything huge and cavernous that you can't see all of. The first two Tomb Raider games still freak me out for that reason.

The levels were huge but the draw distance awful so you had this black fog obscuring anything more than 15ft in front of you. Then usually something would emerge screaming from it and try and kill you. Tomb Raider was also fond of deep water. Legend had a horrible bit were you were dropped into this huge underground lake where the game wouldn't let you dive below the surface and you could just tell there was going to be a boss fight in there. But the game let you swim around quietly while the unseen Lovecraftian horror just moaned somewhere in the distance. I still get severely creeped out by that bit.

 

[Mordekaien]

Deep water for one for me too. I don't like swimming sections in general.

On a side note, Bloodsuckers from S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Fuck those guys.