Things in games that creeped you the fuck out -

[Raiken]

Zelda link's awakening.
When i was little i could not figure out how to beat the first dungeon, and tought the bow was an important tool to clear it.
The problem was that it was, this early in the game, expensive as fuck, so i tried everything to get it...Untill i could actualy steal it.
Because i was playing a german version of the game i did not fully understand what he was saying when i got out, sand why people started to call me a THIEF in all caps.
I felt guilty as fuck, and tought he would forgive me if i gave it back.
BUT then the motherfucker just fires a beam at you untill you die
I burried the game in the backyard

 

[Duncan Hills Coffee]

Stealth horror games are too nerve-wracking for me to play in general, but Siren does something that just tips it over the edge for me.

If you're familiar with Siren, then you'd know about the sight-jacking mechanic, that is being able to see through the eyes of the Shibito wandering around. That in and of itself is creepy because you could potentially check up on a Shibito only to see yourself through its eyes. But it's when you get caught that really sets me off. The screen flashes with the Shibito's perspective but this time it's colored red. And it's only for about a second before it goes back to your perspective. I really hate seeing it when I'm creeping down an alleyway thinking that the coast is clear only for a Shibito's sight to show up.

And that's pretty much why I can't play more than like 5 minutes without turning off the game in a panic.

 

[Panty Shroom]

1. The cave in Tomb Raider 2 with the fucking tiger in it. I'd hear it growling and then go hide in the water. Ironically that wouldn't work out IRL as tigers don't mind water.

2. In Rayman 2 there's a level with a one-eyed monster that chases you down a slope with his jaws gaping behind you. Intense stuff.

3. The basement in the Last of Us. The moment you get that generator going, stalkers start throwing themselves at you.

 

[Pissmaster]

This guy. Had to sleep with the lights on for a month I think after I rented that game.

I am so glad I never tried that or Uninvited as a kid. Those faces would have terrified me.

Spoiler: if you try to interact with her

 

[Overcast]

Someone earlier mentioned Haunting Ground so I’ll throw in my two cents.

When I first watched an LP of it, I wasn’t really aware of Clock Tower or the survival horror sub genre of hiding from enemies that hunted you across a large map. So watching as this big mentally challenged man chasing around this helpless girl laughing and yelling “My dolly!” with that creepy ass music playing the entire time really unnerved me.

What was worse was that if he kills you, you’re treated to a bloody game over screen where you listen to him moaning and grunting and eventually yelling as he tears you apart. Each of the stalkers in the game have their own version of this. A later one has a guy out right rape your unconscious body.

Even creepier is that there’s a bad ending where the above mentioned rapist impregnates you and you have this shot of Fiona laughing maniacally as she holds her very pregnant belly.

Also the dude’s technically your uncle.

Haunting Ground is so fucked on so many levels and I can’t help but love it for that.

 

[R.A.E.L.]

Someone earlier mentioned Haunting Ground so I’ll throw in my two cents.

When I first watched an LP of it, I wasn’t really aware of Clock Tower or the survival horror sub genre of hiding from enemies that hunted you across a large map. So watching as this big mentally challenged man chasing around this helpless girl laughing and yelling “My dolly!” with that creepy ass music playing the entire time really unnerved me.

What was worse was that if he kills you, you’re treated to a bloody game over screen where you listen to him moaning and grunting and eventually yelling as he tears you apart. Each of the stalkers in the game have their own version of this. A later one has a guy out right rape your unconscious body.

Even creepier is that there’s a bad ending where the above mentioned rapist impregnates you and you have this shot of Fiona laughing maniacally as she holds her very pregnant belly.

Also the dude’s technically your uncle.

Haunting Ground is so fucked on so many levels and I can’t help but love it for that.

Fiona isn't even unconscious while being raped during the game over screen, she's dead. Riccardo is determined to "enter her womb" no matter what.

 

[Marissa Moira]

I'm going to say Man Eater

not that the sharks were scary, but the Gulf is huge and deep and filled with whale pods that come out of nowhere and attack you. The Orcas that appear later are also right out of the 1977 film Orca. The orca boss you fight in a small marine park pool, but that pool is also really really deep so you can't really escape anywhere as this whale thrashes you and holds you down underwater.

The Gulf also has these huge drag nets that act as barriers and they seem to go on forever in the ocean and you feel so small compared to the scale of the level even at max level and size. If you have a fear of deep water the game completely nails it.

 

[JektheDumbass]

I don't play horror games but there were a few parts in Mario Sunshine that bothered me. Like how you tear the giant bloober's arms and face off. Also I had been on the internet long enough to know the Petey Piranha fight is a lot of people's fetish...

I've been startled a lot by games (looking at you, giant eel from Mario 64) but I don't count a physical reaction to stimuli as fear.

 

[JamFlowMan]

In Silent Hill 2 the hallway with the cells on both sides in the prison. Nothing even happens but the sound design is so on point the first time I stepped in there took a few steps and noped the fuck out.

 

[Xenomorph]

So once upon a time there was an Alien game for the Commodore 64. It was an RPG, and you controlled the whole crew of the Nostromo in a top-down view of the four decks of the ship. It didn't really follow the film in that it just guessed about the location of various rooms but otherwise did pretty well. Your goal was to kill or escape from the xenomorph. If your crew got whittled down to just three, you could put everyone in the Narcissus and fly away after setting the Nostromo on self-destruct but you had to get every life form off the ship, including Jones, who runs around randomly from room to room. If you equip a character with a net they can snag him (maybe).

Also the game randomly picked who was the Company android (it wasn't always Ash), and if left to their own devices they would thwart you in various ways, opening doors you'd secured, etc.

Anyway, as I said, the game was a top-down view in a faux isometric fashion...until the Alien showed up. And then, this:
View attachment 1576372

The image doesn't do it justice: the Alien is animated, and when it pops up on the screen there's a looped screeching sound effect. Scared the hell out of me the first time!

Shyiiiiiit I had a C64 ( I was very young tho) I never knew about this game!!

ETA: Imagine being younger its 2am and the house is dark, everyone is sleeping and you get this flash on the screen

 

[ProblematicUser420]

I've literally been playing Super Metroid since I was 4.

Funny enough the only thing that creeped me out in that game was the beeping theme in the elevators. Always really unsettled me. Doesn't anymore of course but as a 4 year old you'd think it would be the aliens or environments but nope it was just beeps.

Jenova with the eyeball on her titty in FFVII messed with me a lot too for some reason.

 

[Broseph]

The Skullatulla House in OoT freaked me the fuck out so bad when I was a kid that I didn't turn the game back on for weeks, thought that I triggered some fucked up glitch or something so I refused to go in there. It scared me so bad that I never collected the skullatulla tokens and therefore couldn't get the wallet upgrades since I always avoided that sidequest.

The true ending in Star Fox 64 where Andross's head explodes and he's a giant brain trying to pull you inside his medulla oblongata while everything around you was exploding was very unexpected and pretty traumatic for me as a kid since I was used to getting the fake easy ending where you fight Andross's robot doppelganger.

What the hell was up with N64 games having fucked up stuff like that in them?

 

[Duncan Hills Coffee]

What the hell was up with N64 games having fucked up stuff like that in them?

A lot of it might have been the primitive 3D graphics which only enhanced the sheer creep factor because your brain is filling in the gaps that the graphics are leaving open. It's the same reason some people (myself included) find PS1 horror games scarier than modern horror games because the low-poly graphics leave a lot more to the imagination which is always going to be worse than whatever the developer can cook up.

Your examples are definitely creepy by themselves; the Skulltula House has an uneasy atmosphere and Andross' true form is shockingly gory for a kids' game, but the graphics likely made them way worse.

 

[Broseph]

Also playing the first Metal Gear Solid game as a kid used to give me really bad anxiety because I was always worried about getting caught by guards.

 

[Duncan Hills Coffee]

There's this one specific moment in Silent Hill 2 that freaked me out the first time I played it.

It's when you find the note after leaving the hospital. The note is from some doctor and discusses a peculiar patient of his, and how to unlock the next puzzle of the game. At first, the note is vague about who it's addressed to. That's normal, pretty much every note up to that point seems as though it's not addressed to anyone in particular, or if it is, the identity doesn't matter. Plus, it's from a doctor who works at Brookhaven Hospital and it talks about his patient, it's probably meant for his coworker.

Then the last part of the note comes.

"If you still do not wish to stop, James, I pray to the Lord to have eternal mercy on your soul."

It was meant for you.

 

[R.A.E.L.]

There's this one specific moment in Silent Hill 2 that freaked me out the first time I played it.

It's when you find the note after leaving the hospital. The note is from some doctor and discusses a peculiar patient of his, and how to unlock the next puzzle of the game. At first, the note is vague about who it's addressed to. That's normal, pretty much every note up to that point seems as though it's not addressed to anyone in particular, or if it is, the identity doesn't matter. Plus, it's from a doctor who works at Brookhaven Hospital and it talks about his patient, it's probably meant for his coworker.

Then the last part of the note comes.

"If you still do not wish to stop, James, I pray to the Lord to have eternal mercy on your soul."

It was meant for you.

That reminds me of the notes you can find next to a body on the street. They start off eloquently enough with the guy saying he's going to write down everything he's learned, then he describes the monsters and how to deal with them. Okay, no problems here.

Then come the last two notes.

"Run away."

"Run away! Run away! Run away!
Run away! Run away! Run away!
Run away! Run away! Run away!"

It's the repitition and the fact that you don't know what the hell this guy is warning you to run away from that gets me.

 

[FuckedUp]

Lost World in Sonic Adventure was really unnerving for six-year-old me. Music gave it a very ominous vibe. Also the snake platform for whatever reason.

 

[The_MmmBop_Gang]

Walking around that dark, creepy fucking house in Visage after the ghost girl rips the light switches off the wall and using a damn camera flash to see where to go was some of the most tense, unnerving and dreadful shit I've had to endure in a video game.

The claustrophobic hallways in the basement when you hear her start to titter and moan around you was so fucked.

It was awesome.

 

[Scarlett Johansson]

The goddamn sharks in Rusty Bucket Bay and Treasure Trove Cove in Banjo Kazooie.

The goddamn eels and octopus in Jolly Roger Bay in the sequel.

The dogs in the first Resident Evil.

 

[Anja Din]

This guy. Had to sleep with the lights on for a month I think after I rented that game.

Shadowgate and Uninvited were both creepy as hell. That shadowgate music got to me, and running out of torches became like a real stressor playing it as a kid.

the Clock Tower games/Haunting Ground were really creepy, too, with the enemies just randomly popping up and not being sure they’re if they’re gonna pull you out of the hiding space or not.