What are some REALLY scary PC games out there?

leSLIe said:
those might be creepy, but not scary
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Ok, but other than this or that moment in any game, what game is entirely scary from start to finish?

I also disagree if you include System Shock 2 in that list. You have to allow your disbelief to be suspended (due to dated (even when it was released) graphics,) but there were plenty of times in that game where I'd be low on ammo, my gun would break, and I'd be running away from a gang of hybrids trying to bash my head in with a wrench. All the while telling me how sorry they were to be doing it. It's one of those games that makes you lean over in your chair thinking it might get you a little further away from whatever is chasing you. It's a visceral and somewhat disturbing experience, which I'd classify as being scary. Not startle you scary, or disgust you scary, but unsettle your mind scary with a hint of run for your life.
 
leSLIe said:
u haven't played Penumbra right?
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No actually. I'm going to have to look it up.

Edit: Wow, I wonder why I never saw this. Sounds interesting. Think I'll track down both of them.
 
Wally said:
FEAR is shit scare-wise.

S.T.A.L.K.E.R. is an excellent scary game by any standards.
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As far as S.T.A.L.K.E.R., the only parts that were creepy were inside the "Underground," X16/18 LABs, and Yantar. Other than that, it was a fun game I think. So far FEAR has actually freaked me out through the whole game. I have played through FEAR and both expansions. I'd say that (I think it was Extraction) scared me enough to where I could only play the game in small bits, the hospital was really intimidating.:eek:
 
Frostex said:
Additionally, for entertainment value you might want to grab the Doom3/FEAR videos over at http://www.mackandmesh.com/

If you've not seen these before, basically mesh plays scary games and mack records him and edits the result into videos, they're pretty damn funny at times.

Quote from one of the FEAR Videos

* Mesh gets scared and presses escape to goto the game menu*
Mack "You love the escape key...for those terrifying moments"
Mesh "I know...I'm thinking of re-mapping it to the T key"
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I thought they were pretty good too. The only thing I didn't like was all the comments on some of his videos like "I'm 11 and it didn't scare me!", or "Wow, that part wasn't scary, I'm 13 and the game wasnt scary", stupid little kids.
 
Proxy said:
As far as S.T.A.L.K.E.R., the only parts that were creepy were inside the "Underground," X16/18 LABs, and Yantar. Other than that, it was a fun game I think. So far FEAR has actually freaked me out through the whole game. I have played through FEAR and both expansions. I'd say that (I think it was Extraction) scared me enough to where I could only play the game in small bits, the hospital was really intimidating.:eek:
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I agree. The atmosphere in the sewers in STALKER was really good. Same thing with the labs.
 
J3RK said:
I also disagree if you include System Shock 2 in that list. You have to allow your disbelief to be suspended (due to dated (even when it was released) graphics,) but there were plenty of times in that game where I'd be low on ammo, my gun would break, and I'd be running away from a gang of hybrids trying to bash my head in with a wrench. All the while telling me how sorry they were to be doing it. It's one of those games that makes you lean over in your chair thinking it might get you a little further away from whatever is chasing you. It's a visceral and somewhat disturbing experience, which I'd classify as being scary. Not startle you scary, or disgust you scary, but unsettle your mind scary with a hint of run for your life.
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Those have been some of the best gaming moments of my life. The only thing that made for a better moment is the same thing but while playing coop with a buddy.

Hybrid moans and "I'm sorry!" chasing you down a corridor while you're leaning forward in your chair attempting to run just that much faster and furiously attempting to swap out weapons because of your jammed shotgun. :eek:

I think it had to have been the worst in the engineering area, where you're running into more of the monsters and not having much to defend yourself with yet. Good times!
 
sweet suggenstion guys:D

looks like i'll be picking up

AVP2
system shock 2
vampire bloodlines masquerade
thief 3

they should all be pretty cheap now except for system shock 2

that one will cost more than the other 3 combined :(
 
Dunan said:
hmmm, i found it on amazon for $40:eek:dollars
is it worth getting, will it play in winXP? it says its for 95/98/ME - if it didnt play i'd be pretty sad:(
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The game is hard to find these days and it is worth the 40 bucks in my opinion since I do think it is one of the best games ever made and many would agree.. Check on ebay too. It may be a little bit cheaper there.

As for it working on XP, it works for me but I'm not going to say it will work for sure for you.
 
Silent Hill 2 was one of the very few games that honestly gave me the chills. There is a pretty good PC port too.
 
Everett1 said:
Aye

Funny how System Shock 2 scared me yet games like Doom 3 and Half Life 2 didn't.
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I find that gamers have been desensitized over time with how well production quality has gotten over the years. Imagine if we could play Doom 3 back when the original Doom was released, you'd probably shit your pants-- if you recall plenty of people claimed that the original Doom scared them :confused:
 
inotocracy said:
I find that gamers have been desensitized over time with how well production quality has gotten over the years. Imagine if we could play Doom 3 back when the original Doom was released, you'd probably shit your pants-- if you recall plenty of people claimed that the original Doom scared them :confused:
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Good point and shitting the pants probably would happen back then.

Not sure why modern games are netural in terms of the scare factor to me.

I forgot to add Doom to the list, but I was nine at the time.
 
Dunan said:
i have silent hill 2 and played through it, thats the stuff i'm talking about, just out of this world freaky crap



bioshock was meh for freaky/scary. a little on the odd side and a good game, but nothing that ever made me jump



i had the first one, but havent played the second one, is that one better than the first?
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I agree on silent hill 2..one of freaky games
 
Proxy said:
As far as S.T.A.L.K.E.R., the only parts that were creepy were inside the "Underground," X16/18 LABs, and Yantar. Other than that, it was a fun game I think. So far FEAR has actually freaked me out through the whole game. I have played through FEAR and both expansions. I'd say that (I think it was Extraction) scared me enough to where I could only play the game in small bits, the hospital was really intimidating.:eek:
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I thought it was all really good. Those parts really built the dread up, but there were other parts where I was really reluctant to go into some buildings or even open fields because of the sound design and time of day - sunset was terrifying. The trainyard? The open area where Freedom are based? Those things had me laughing like a loon trying not to freak out.
 
Everett1 said:
Good point and shitting the pants probably would happen back then.

Not sure why modern games are netural in terms of the scare factor to me.

I forgot to add Doom to the list, but I was nine at the time.
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To be properly scared, something has to take you by surprise. Not just startling moments, (which can be used to aid in this,) but with something like System Shock 2, there really wasn't a previous game that had some of the psychological aspects. Hearing dead crew members last stands (I guess System Shock 1 did this as well, but they fine tuned some of it a bit, and the setting was a little scarier in 2,) having your gun break at a bad time, having things killing you that wish they weren't, etc. These were fairly new concepts (or at least if not new, not used much in these combinations previously.)

This should have guaranteed that Bioshock had the same effect, but for me even though I loved the game, the effect was diminished a bit. It's because I knew what to expect. I knew I'd be hearing the dead citizens of Rapture as they breath their last breath.

I think in order to make a game scary now, different methods, different combinations of them, etc. would have to be employed. F.E.A.R. worked for me quite well because I hadn't played a game quite like it until then. Doom 3 worked ok, but I got used to the scare methods pretty quickly, and started approaching rooms slower, with more ammo saved up, and ready to blast the first thing that twitched. (still fun in its own way, but less scary) Maybe combining the psychological aspects, and atmospheric sound, etc. of System Shock 2, the menacing presence of F.E.A.R., some of the monster closets of Doom 3, and then adding some new twist in with this, would be enough. (maybe sprinkle some weapon breakage in for good measure, as long as it isn't completely overdone)

I want to be afraid to enter a room again. :)

Of course, once someone raises this bar again, they'll have to find a new way to improve. Maybe the new Aliens game will add something to the scary list. It'd be nice to have something like that on a modern engine with aliens crawling out of the walls everywhere, motion tracker blipping, maybe some heart-beating sounds, etc.

Anyway...
 
J3RK said:
To be properly scared, something has to take you by surprise. Not just startling moments, (which can be used to aid in this,) but with something like System Shock 2, there really wasn't a previous game that had some of the psychological aspects. Hearing dead crew members last stands (I guess System Shock 1 did this as well, but they fine tuned some of it a bit, and the setting was a little scarier in 2,) having your gun break at a bad time, having things killing you that wish they weren't, etc. These were fairly new concepts (or at least if not new, not used much in these combinations previously.)

This should have guaranteed that Bioshock had the same effect, but for me even though I loved the game, the effect was diminished a bit. It's because I knew what to expect. I knew I'd be hearing the dead citizens of Rapture as they breath their last breath.

I think in order to make a game scary now, different methods, different combinations of them, etc. would have to be employed. F.E.A.R. worked for me quite well because I hadn't played a game quite like it until then. Doom 3 worked ok, but I got used to the scare methods pretty quickly, and started approaching rooms slower, with more ammo saved up, and ready to blast the first thing that twitched. (still fun in its own way, but less scary) Maybe combining the psychological aspects, and atmospheric sound, etc. of System Shock 2, the menacing presence of F.E.A.R., some of the monster closets of Doom 3, and then adding some new twist in with this, would be enough. (maybe sprinkle some weapon breakage in for good measure, as long as it isn't completely overdone)

I want to be afraid to enter a room again. :)
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Bioshock's "Audio tapes" you listened too through the game added a lot to this and generated a lot of sympathy for the characters you had to kill. the "Humanized" a lot of the "villans" in the game.. If you played through without listening to them, it really reduced the experience of the game.
 
TheBluePill said:
Bioshock's "Audio tapes" you listened too through the game added a lot to this and generated a lot of sympathy for the characters you had to kill.
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I agree, and I did have sympathy. The game worked great in that aspect. I'm pretty sure the unsettling effect was just diminished a bit since I play the System Shock games pretty much yearly. Though, that said, they still have a little more impact even being played that often than Bioshock. At least in the lean over in your chair, to run faster aspect. This being the case, it still completely sucked me in like the others, just in a slightly different way.
 
TheBluePill said:
Bioshock's "Audio tapes" you listened too through the game added a lot to this and generated a lot of sympathy for the characters you had to kill. the "Humanized" a lot of the "villans" in the game.. If you played through without listening to them, it really reduced the experience of the game.
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***Bioshock spoiler alert***

Yeah, they also helped you understand the plot a lot more, in fact you could more or less work out you were Ryans son if you payed attention.
 
honestly the most scared i've ever been in a game was in HL1 when out of nowhere a headcrab jumps at you when in a vent.

I literally threw my mouse at my screen.

The fact that I wasn't expecting any scares from that game, plus that I had never seen a similar implementation in a game really added to the shock value for me. I'm sure that if I saw it in a more modern game I'd write it off as unoriginal now
 
Bioshock, System Shock, Stalker are some decent ones as already mentioned.

Great games all of them, and definitely worth the bargain prices they are now ;)
 
well i installed thief 2 on my modern day system and damn it all if it wont play:D
i never did finish the game and it looks like thats for sure now:(

main menu comes up but once you click anywhere with the mouse the game crashes.

so i run in windows compatibility mode of win98 and it loads......only to be met with a black screen when the game starts. tried to change drivers, but nothing.

oh well.

man i hope AVP2 and system shock 2 dont do this when they come in:eek:

maybe i'll look into thief 3 :idea:
 
Dunan said:
well i installed thief 2 on my modern day system and damn it all if it wont play:D
i never did finish the game and it looks like thats for sure now:(

main menu comes up but once you click anywhere with the mouse the game crashes.

so i run in windows compatibility mode of win98 and it loads......only to be met with a black screen when the game starts. tried to change drivers, but nothing.

oh well.

man i hope AVP2 and system shock 2 dont do this when they come in:eek:

maybe i'll look into thief 3 :idea:
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Go here: http://www.ttlg.com/forums/showthread.php?t=75031
 
My favorite scary game is a single "Shalebridge Level" out of Thief- Deadly shadows; nothing else comes close.

AvPII as the marine was scary also; SS2 also has great atmosphere that BioShock missed, imo ,,, D3 was a boring "boo" to me

Thief 2 runs in Vista, btw. Better in XP but there is still a lot of banding and color screw-ups with the newer GPUs and drivers from AMD and Nvidia
 
apoppin said:
My favorite scary game is a single "Shalebridge Level" out of Thief- Deadly shadows; nothing else comes close.

AvPII as the marine was scary also; SS2 also has great atmosphere that BioShock missed, imo ,,, D3 was a boring "boo" to me

Thief 2 runs in Vista, btw. Better in XP but there is still a lot of banding and color screw-ups with the newer GPUs and drivers from AMD and Nvidia
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i looked up some reviews on thief deadly shadows and the reviews say the game is sub-par, not that great. obviously not as good as the first 2 apparently :(
 
deadly shadows is a good game. you still have the entertaining voice acting from guards and characters. graphics are good, I mean its not the best game of all time, but its definately worth playing through.
 
Dunan said:
i looked up some reviews on thief deadly shadows and the reviews say the game is sub-par, not that great. obviously not as good as the first 2 apparently :(
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Never trust reviews. The first two in the series were created for PC and had huge maps and were really long. However, the graphics sucked even for 2000 =P

The third in the Series is a very good game - Deadly Shadows; however it was made for the console also and the GUI sucks and the maps are small. The entire game is NOT "scary" - not at all - *except* for a single Level - Shalebridge that is set in an Abandoned Children's Orphanage that was also an Insane Asylum of torture.

it is Creepy beyond belief and it is a masterpiece of understated horror involving children and their tortured ghosts. it plays like the best of Steven King reads, imho.
 
cpt.whistlepants said:
Yes, it has alot of fixes for issues you will have for the Thief series. It worked for me the last time I loaded Thief on an XP box.
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hmmm i checked out the site and it says its the drivers.....i'd have to go all the way back to the 8xxx drivers to get it to work but i dont think i can because i have an 8800GTX

i'll have to look and see what were the first drivers to support that card

thanks


i just checked the nvidia site and even the 91.xx drivers were just supporting the 7600GT series of cards....
looks like i wont be playing thief 2, at least not with the current card i have.:(
 
Dunan said:
hmmm i checked out the site and it says its the drivers.....i'd have to go all the way back to the 8xxx drivers to get it to work but i dont think i can because i have an 8800GTX

i'll have to look and see what were the first drivers to support that card

thanks


i just checked the nvidia site and even the 91.xx drivers were just supporting the 7600GT series of cards....
looks like i wont be playing thief 2, at least not with the current card i have.:(
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Sorry it didnt work for you. Newer Nvidia cards blow at some old 3d engines, especially with the Dark engine. It forces dithering to off which will cause you to crash or the textures will be distorted. I dont think it would matter if you got an older driver. The new ATI cards dont have this issue, at least the 2900 series doesnt. I personally have and older game box just for playing older games. It can be a pain.

Edit: I just found this link, it supposedly adds dithering support to the newer nvidia cards. It relates to the dark engine, from what I read its working for most.
http://timeslip.chorrol.com/ddfix.html
 
cpt.whistlepants said:
Sorry it didnt work for you. Newer Nvidia cards blow at some old 3d engines, especially with the Dark engine. It forces dithering to off which will cause you to crash or the textures will be distorted. I dont think it would matter if you got an older driver. The new ATI cards dont have this issue, at least the 2900 series doesnt. I personally have and older game box just for playing older games. It can be a pain.
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yeah unless i run it in win95 or win98 mode it crashes to desktop. when it does work i get the dreaded black screen and the pc hangs with CPU throttled at 100%:eek:

i can try older drivers but i really dont thing it'll work:(


thanks man i'll check it out when i get home
 
Dunan said:
yeah unless i run it in win95 or win98 mode it crashes to desktop. when it does work i get the dreaded black screen and the pc hangs with CPU throttled at 100%:eek:

i can try older drivers but i really dont thing it'll work:(


thanks man i'll check it out when i get home
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I forgot to add this link too, it may help getting the dithering patch to work. I have a box with a 8800 in it I am going to try this on when I get home. Widescreen is working now too.

http://www.ttlg.com/forums/showthread.php?t=117616
 
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