Is it just me or are video games these days with monsters and so on all over the place just not scary in the slightest? When was the the last time you played a new game that made you jump? Maybe this is ridiculous coming from a 19 year old - a supposed adult, but yesterday, I was playing Blood and I couldn't help but jump when a zombie suddenly popped up and started trying to kill me. Also, I will not deny that Doom 2 still makes me a little bit scared. Am I alone in this?

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(chainsoar @ Oct 24 2006, 07:04 PM) [snapback]263339[/snapback]</div>No you're not.
It's not scary when you know there's going to be a highly polished, 3d rendered, inside-out demon like thing for you to kill around every corner.
What's scary is when you go around 5 corners without seeing anything, you start to get aprehensive, and then you go 'round another, and there's nothing, and then another, and then... one comes from an alcove behind you because you're too busy thinking about what's around the next corner. This also means that lower difficulties can actually be scarier because there's usually less bad guys.
It's all about building an atmosphere, and older games are (generally) better at it.
The last new (2000 or later) game that scared me was Return to Castle Wolfenstien.

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(The Spider Mastermind @ Oct 24 2006, 06:17 PM) [snapback]263343[/snapback]</div>I agree with you!

The last game scared me was... Quake 2

Doom 3 is pretty jumpy until you spot the patterns for monster placement, then it gets boring. I find the best atmosphere-producing games are generally adventures - something like 5 Days A Stranger is pretty scary in places.

The last game which scared me was Turok 2, a few years ago. I was walking very happy around when some... things jumped at me from the corner. I was so scared I almost yelled. :P

A long time ago, me and my friend played AVP we walked around a corner and suddenly a alien jump on us :w00t: LOL We were so scared that we runned away from the computer :hysterical:

last game that scared me was doom 2... :(

I'll have to agree with you there. Whenever i see that damn monster with the goat legs and the rocket launcher my trousers immediatly fill themselved up :D

Last time i got scared by a game was a few years back when playing Silent Hill. I still consider that, aswell as playing the first Resi Evil when i was 6, as the most terrifying game experience ever. Movie wasn't too bad either...i'm on about Silent Hill ofcourse, the Resi Evil films sucked nuts!

I quit a game for a few weaks when I get creeped...
I mean... I hate atmosphere of unknown!

Of fear or fright?

Erm... Never? :blink:

5 Days and 7 Days had their moments, I will admit :D but then again, they were designed "Old School". The first Resident Evil was pretty scary when I played it the first time, so was Gabriel Knight (the werewolf story, I forgot the title). But them shooters...? Nah. Just plain, insane, inane fun, no matter their generation.

Overall, I think you're right: Today's game (as has been established by now ;) ) are all about stunning graphics, while they seemed to care more about mood, feeling and tension in the earlier days.

I'm glad you mentioned the 5 and 7 days adventures - personally I found the third installment (Trilby's Notes?) by far the creepiest. The brilliant faded colour scheme of the "insane" world, and the way you could slip into that world randomly.
I especially liked when you randomly ended up inside the basement of the defoe mansion being attacked, and all that you can do is say "it hurts" - I don't really get creeped out by much of anything, so I particularly love the fact that a freeware "ameteur" game was what did it for me :D

HL1 jumping crabs that jump from darkness still manage to scare me. especially in those tight dark places.

When I was playing Vampire the Masquerade Bloodlines. Maybe it's not exactly prevailing throughout the game, but there were a fair few places which had me on the edge. The haunted hotel especially, but abandoned hospital was very good too.

F.E.A.R. IS ONE HELL OF A GAME.... Blood, gore, darkness and a little scary creepy girl!!! EEEEKKKKK!!!!

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(the_fifth_horseman @ Oct 25 2006, 01:58 PM) [snapback]263496[/snapback]</div>Oh yeah, the haunted hotel, that's what I call great atmosphere. :ok:

It really scared the crap out of me. I mean, you arrive there unexpectingly, still happy you found the way through the sewers, and when you approach the front door ...... BANG .... the outside lamp explodes. Perfectly sets the mood from the start. And when you enter, it just gets worse. Especially the kitchen scene was damn scary. :max:

The hospital was scary too, but far less, and let's not forget the werewolf in the park. Of course, after the first playthrough, the tension is much less, because you already know what's going to happen.

Honorable mention too for the London Tower in Vampire TM:Redemption. Definitely not as scary as the haunted hotel, but still great atmosphere.

For me it was more the visions and voices that appeared there.

The house where you first encounter Andrei and the subsequent tunnel section are also noteworthy - the horror is a bit more splatter-type there, tho.

And the plaguebearer cult. Zombie horror, but it starts getting scary after a few minutes.

BORING.
Scariest game evar is like Undying dewd, even at teh nightimez, ya know.

@Midget: Yeah right, like I'd ever be scared by some older game like I was by Call of Cthulu, talk about creepy fish peeps.

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(The Punisher @ Oct 25 2006, 04:34 PM) [snapback]263513[/snapback]</div>Oh please...
Blood and gore - yes, but scary? More like one level in the whole game in 1616517464168748 types of ways remixed all over and the same enemies with their numbers over 1000K. LOLZ
The girl is the most un-scaryest thing I've seen in a game. LOL

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(The Punisher @ Oct 24 2006, 10:57 PM) [snapback]263376[/snapback]</div>ZOMG, that is pretty much the scariest game in the world. Just crank up the volume a tad bit and you'll see what I'm talking about.

Just out of interest Blood-Pigggy, have you actually played any of those older games like Gabriel Knight?

Incidentally, IMHO Lovecraft was a pulp hack, and therefore not particularly scary.

Lovecraft was quite good at writing when you consider his works are over eighty years old. Different times, different settings - it all changes a lot.

I cannot agree with your statement that Lovecraft's works aren't scary. Once you get into the mindset, they turn out to be among the best horror stories produced by a human mind. Compared to his writing, some of the books by King and Masterton look like child tales.

When I've been playing WoW for hours, and my eyes are getting tired, and something levels higher than me jump at me and attack me. Especially if there are 4 beasts or more. I can scream like the little girl I am...

Then you are playing it on the lowest detail and the sound off! :D

And I love AVP but AVP-2 ist scary at all... The missions are boring, or i like the Predator missions but Humans and Aliens missions suckz... But I like the Minigun! >:)

It's actually kind of paradoxal with me, since when I first played games like Doom, I wasn't scared at all. ( I was about 4 or 5 years old by then) Now when I play them, they sometimes just scare my pants off.

The latest game that has been scary was probably Fatal Frame.( A.K.A Project Zero) The only thing that is between you and all the nasty ghosts is a camera. Yes, a camera. Plus, the scenes in this game create and excellent atmosphere.

The ropes... the ropes.... the ropes!! There are more ropes now...

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(the_fifth_horseman @ Oct 26 2006, 08:47 AM) [snapback]263630[/snapback]</div>Fair enough, all I meant was that they don't scare me, and I don't particularly enjoy the style of prose. Besides, I just can't get the image out of me head of that photo of him where he's wearing that silly triangle hat, and kind of grinning - it ruined the " dark mystery" of him for me.
Also, I think that a fair portion of his "Sex Magick" theories were daft. But going into that here would be rampantly off-topic I guess :whistling:

Bearing in mind that I detest the writings of Stephen King anyhow.
For me, Mary Shelly's "Frankenstein" gets me going every time, as do some of the other "gothic" writers such as Henry James and Robert Louis Stevenson. Despite some of their books containing actual monsters (i.e. Not Human) the actual horror comes from the running theme of the "monster within" which exists in all of us - and that scares the bejeesus out of me :)

Kind of like that jabba-the-hut plant-type-machine dude in Dreamfall, he was so vile and vicious, yet humanly fragile, that I found the character pretty horrific.

Doom is scary, cause if oyu play with gamma correction off it's quite dark. then you press a button or enter a certain area and suddenly a door opens behind you but you dont' know untill you hear the horrific sound. then you turn arround thinking it's maybe one or two beast waiting for oyu there but you quickly find out there is a whole bunch of them.

Hexen does it similar, only in Hexen there are more ambient sounds, there is the mist and quick smashing maschines. i remember there is one level where you press a button to open the doors. offcourse you then turn arround and step towrads the open door when suddenly your character goes aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaargh while he is falling in the chasm. it scared me. ok so i loaded, jumped the chasm. but wait i see a powerup on a bed. i think "cool" and step on the bed. a quick SMASH! and i am splashed under the roof that came down on me.

there are also some creepy parts, like those ghosts comming out of the grave or when you walk and then suddenly got hit by salva of plasma/magic from behind etc.

The only game that made me have nightmares is Silent Hill 4. :) The creepyest thing I have ever played. The movie is good also. Silent Hill 1 was great too.

And I remember jumping from the seat playing Resident Evil (the second part)

Few days ago I was playing Doom 2. Speakers were on, I was walking on a dark corridor, almost reached end of the level, there was totally silent. Then suddenly one of those Barons from Hell started screaming when it spotted me. I almost felt from the chair <_<

@Lulu: Yes I have, pixels = not scary, as for the second game, bad FMVs = not scary.

Highly detailed monsters with Surround Sound blasting on full volume in the middle of the night, deep dark shadows and a limited arsenal of powerful but unaccurate weaponry = scary.

I find translating some reviews here at abandonia downright scary allright, but that's another matter.

The dense atmosphere in Silent Hill series is what I call "scary". Maybe disturbing would be a better word. I like games which don't resort to cheap tricks like: (silence) BOOO - Be scared now!
I mean games which you play, (and you dont have to fall from a chair or something) and feel uneasy wondering what the hell is that strange shape you see in your living room. :ok:

After a retro FPS fest the other night, which finished after several hours of Blood, Quake 2 and Doom 2 at about 2am I found myself looking nervously at every shadow and making my way up the stairs to my room really quick after turning the downstairs lights off. Weird for a guy who revels in horror and gore.

What about "Alone in the Dark 1"... played with the music up, at night with a thunderstorm and rain.. in the DARK!

Talk about scary..

Call of Cthulhu was definitely spooky. Gilman the hotel manager is better than Silent Hill's Colin the Janitor to me eveeen. Many places in CoC make you think...exiiit...stage leeft! Silent Hill is pretty cool also. I liked the scene with the cat in the locker. I might have to check out Vampire the masquerade. The only game to give me nightmares EVER is Banjo-Kazooie, and I don't know how. Go figure. :tomato:

What about system shock 2? That game gave me a few scares :unsure:

Last time where I experienced a "almost shitted in my pants" experience, was in Condemned: criminal origins. The mood is very paranoid in it too. You never know when you are getting some leadpipe at you not to mention from what direction.

Also, talking about bloodlines, the haunted hotel was hellofa scary. I think what scared the muck out of me more was the tzimisce fleshcrafted monsters that blasted through doors making this infernal balls shaking screaming.

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Vendermarch @ Oct 26 2006, 11:08 PM) [snapback]263731[/snapback]</div>Yup. :ok: That will be Silent Hill 4.
Great atmosphere, with great graphics and great sound too.

I agree with DuckPatch that alone in the dark is the one made me have to take a dump almost the entire game. To this day if you ask me what the scariest game is? It is Alone In The Dark Great amophere and sounds that send chills up my spine. This one is a classic amd without it we may never have seen great games such as Resdient Evil and Slient Hill.