10 Video Game Moments So Scary You Stopped Playing
Nope. Not even for a second.
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00:00 There are some superhumans among us who just aren't really affected by horror.
00:04 Whether it's grudge-style ghosts, the walking dead, or a run-of-the-mill demon possession,
00:09 they just aren't too phased.
00:11 If that sounds like you, then I congratulate you, but this particular list is for the rest
00:16 of us.
00:17 The ones that earned the "nope" achievement in Amnesia The Dark Descent by letting the
00:21 game boot, watching the first cutscene, and then quitting out of the game immediately.
00:25 Okay, so in most horror games, we definitely got past the first cutscene, but there were
00:30 undoubtedly moments that made us decide "this is all way too spooky."
00:34 Whether it was for an hour, a day, a week, or you never picked up the game again, we've
00:38 rounded up 10 times video games got so overwhelmingly terrifying that you thought to yourself, "You
00:44 know, I think I'm just gonna go do something else.
00:47 And maybe switch on some extra lights."
00:49 I'm Jess from WhatCulture, and here are 10 video game moments so scary you stopped
00:53 playing.
00:54 10.
00:55 The Ladder - Fear
00:56 The beauty, or horror if you prefer, of the way that the fear games handle terror is that
01:01 they're really expertly paced.
01:04 Monolith Productions is very good at making you think something is gonna happen and then
01:08 not hitting you with anything at all, making you push on even more tense than you were
01:12 before.
01:13 Along the same lines, the studio is also really good at hitting you with jump scares at points
01:18 you absolutely wouldn't expect to see one.
01:20 This case is pretty infamous for that, and it's so damn unsettling I'm betting it's
01:24 stuck in your memory whether you want it there or not.
01:27 As tense as horror games can be, generally ladders are seen as fairly safe places.
01:32 I mean, you're basically stuck on the ladder as your character, so you can't really draw
01:36 a weapon if you get attacked, and all you can do is go up and down.
01:40 Easy.
01:41 If anything, it's a bit of a breather, and far better than skulking around dark corners.
01:45 Not in fear, though.
01:47 The game whips out its creepy little girl antagonist Alma in one of the most alarming
01:51 ways when she appears as you begin your ladder-descending animation.
01:56 As soon as you spin around, she appears briefly on the upper landing and giggles at you.
02:01 It's a very small moment, but so affecting, and it absolutely feeds into the relentless
02:07 dread of moving through this game.
02:09 In case your pants were still dry, not to worry, get to the bottom of the ladder and
02:13 there's another jump scare waiting for you there too, so basically, screw that ladder.
02:19 Take a breather if you need to.
02:20 Or just don't go back to the game.
02:21 I won't tell anybody.
02:23 Number 9 - Returning to the Ishimura - Dead Space 2
02:26 Dead Space is a heavyweight in the survival horror space for a reason, so we'd be remiss
02:31 not to include one of its horrifying moments here.
02:34 While we're pretty spoiled for choice across the franchise in terms of moments that prove
02:38 too much for some players to handle, one of the most unsettling comes during Dead Space
02:43 2.
02:44 Just over halfway through the game, you'll encounter Chapter 10 - Deja Vu on the Ishimura,
02:49 which, as the name implies, involves Isaac having to revisit the horrifying ship.
02:54 All the way through, Dead Space delivers terror through its sound, visuals, immersion and
02:59 plenty of other psychological tricks, and this level really synthesizes all of that
03:04 into a specific kind of nightmare.
03:06 This section is particularly horrifying because it really nails the suspense.
03:11 So little happens in the opening of the level, but you know it's only a matter of time
03:15 until you realize you're not alone.
03:17 It's eerie, it's unsettling, and waiting for the inevitable Necromorph pop gets almost
03:22 sickeningly tense.
03:24 Between the flashbacks, the disturbing audio logs and the incredibly tense sounds that
03:28 you hear as you're moving about the ship, it's actually almost a relief when the big
03:32 bad does pop up to crack the tension.
03:35 Number 8 - That's a Bad Dog - Resident Evil
03:38 You didn't think I was going to write this list and not include one of horror's greatest
03:43 all-time "nope, I'm not playing this anymore" moments, did you?
03:46 It might be dated in retrospect, but The Dog Leaping Through the Window in Resident Evil
03:51 marked one of the most iconic jump-out-of-your-seat moments in what would kick off one of the greatest
03:56 horror franchises of all time.
03:58 This scene was classic - even the 2002 movie of the same name recreated it, to great effect
04:03 I might add.
04:04 There was the fixed-camera-angle horror of walking down hallways, totally unsure of what
04:09 might crop up next, and then hearing breaking glass and all of a sudden facing off against
04:14 zombie dogs that let a thousand screams ring out across households around the world.
04:19 With the absolute speed of the man-eating canines and the complete inability to brace
04:24 yourself for this one, you'd be forgiven for shutting off the game to get your heart
04:27 rate back to normal before continuing on.
04:30 Number 7 - The Groom - Outlast Whistleblower
04:34 Potentially controversial opinion here, but I don't actually think the first Outlast
04:38 game is too scary, and that's for one very big reason - running like hell is a very viable
04:43 strategy in almost every situation.
04:46 Not with The Groom, though.
04:48 In the Whistleblower DLC, you'll come face-to-face with someone who is fairly easily one of the
04:53 nastiest bad guys in video games.
04:56 Not only is he your run-of-the-mill crazy murderous type, he's a little lonely, and, well, he
05:01 wants to cut your junk off and make you his bride.
05:04 I can't think of a more chill way of saying that.
05:06 As you can imagine, you spend a lot of this DLC running away from him, desperately trying
05:11 to hide when that fails, and it's especially concerning as the stakes are pretty freaking
05:16 high.
05:17 Because of the whole not wanting to have your junk cut off thing.
05:19 Outlast had already mastered its creepy night vision camera mechanic, mad dash running sections
05:24 and jump scares, but this section forces you to slow down and absorb the fear.
05:29 Dealing on dealing with the psychotic Eddie Gluskin, the twisted narrative, relentless
05:34 panic and sickening visuals makes this an experience you could be forgivably desperate
05:38 to put down.
05:40 Number 6 - The Rat King - The Last of Us Part II
05:44 Sometimes the scariest scenes that make us absolutely require a screen break after playing
05:49 are the ones that come in games we don't expect to scare us that much.
05:53 Despite the totally valid creepiness of the clickers, The Last of Us isn't a horror game,
05:58 and once you nail the pattern of skulking around quietly, even the clickers shouldn't
06:02 worry you too much, especially if you've been hoarding firepower.
06:06 That doesn't so much apply to the Rat King in Part II, though, who is as disgusting and
06:10 horrifying in the game as it is in real life.
06:13 Just like the Cordyceps virus, actually.
06:15 The Last of Us Part II is phenomenally crafted, which is all well and good for the developers,
06:20 but it's pretty nauseatingly scary for those of us on the other end, enduring the claustrophobic
06:25 blood-soaked hallways, skin-crawling tension and horrifying boss encounter.
06:30 The garbled screams coming out of this monstrosity are bad enough, quite apart from the fact
06:34 that you need to run like a bat out of hell, navigating poorly lit hallways and mashing
06:39 quick-time encounters as fast as possible.
06:42 You always know something's going to crop up in these games, but no one expected the
06:46 almost-invincible mutant blob.
06:49 I feel like I need to lie down just watching a replay of this one.
06:52 Abby might not have been everybody's cup of tea, but the enemy of my enemy is my friend,
06:57 and the Rat King can go do one.
06:59 We're all in this together.
07:00 Number 5 - San Cristobal Medical Facility - Alien Isolation
07:05 Right up there with the survival horror greats, Alien Isolation did a perfect job of making
07:10 you feel exactly how somebody would when stalked by one of the scariest monsters ever created.
07:15 Much like many of the other games on this list, you can really take your pick of when
07:19 players might want to put this one down out of fear, but there are two things we know
07:23 for sure.
07:24 The first is that a lot of players did actually put this game down because it was too scary.
07:29 And the second is that when you properly first see the xenomorph, everything gets a little
07:34 bit too real.
07:36 Alien Isolation is an interesting case, because I'd argue the beginning of the game isn't
07:40 all that scary.
07:41 Not to worry though, the ante gets so upped, you'll be longing to go back to when everything
07:46 was a whole lot more calm.
07:47 The San Cristobal Medical Facility is when things start to get real, and the alien is
07:52 first properly introduced.
07:54 The game lets you off the rails a lot more, and it's up to you to avoid the alien and
07:58 not get nabbed.
07:59 It quickly becomes apparent that you're a fish in a very dark barrel that's also inhabited
08:04 by a shark.
08:05 If the alien-abandoned-hospital combo doesn't get you, the lack of weapons you have at this
08:10 point, the sounds of alien footsteps, and the compulsory stealth elements will.
08:15 Hide or die, that's pretty much it.
08:17 This one will either have you boasting at how you bested the level, or quietly putting
08:21 it down, pretending maybe you never played it in the first place.
08:25 4.
08:26 Dolores - Visage
08:28 SoundSquare Studios' 2020 psychological horror game Dolores is so scary, it's honestly
08:33 hard to even watch clips of this game if you're not a horror fanatic.
08:37 The game is divided into several chapters, and perhaps the most mind-breaking and terrifying
08:41 is called Dolores.
08:43 You'll wander through a very spooky house, learn its layout, and see its stories unfold
08:48 as you go.
08:49 You have a sanity meter to contend with, and paranormal events will occur as you move about
08:53 the map.
08:54 The whole thing is quite honestly an absolute nightmare, and it's probably the closest we're
08:58 ever going to get to a full-game version of Hideo Kojima's PT.
09:02 Whether it's creeping dread that gets you, psychological horrors that bury deep inside
09:06 your brain, or highly effective jump scares, this game has it all.
09:11 Everything's just a bit too quiet, right up until it isn't, to the point where it
09:15 feels like you're being toyed with.
09:17 While every chapter is terrifying in various ways, Dolores delivers a plethora of unexpected
09:23 scares and an endlessly mounting dread that escalates to the point where you can't quite
09:28 take it anymore.
09:29 Catching horrible things out of the corner of your eye that you can't totally confirm
09:33 you saw, hearing indecipherable unsettling things, and trying to press on anyway is a
09:39 serious exercise in being the baddest, bravest gamer around.
09:43 If you find most horror games to not be scary enough and you haven't tried your hand at
09:47 this one, there's a good chance it's made for you.
09:50 3.
09:51 The Prison - Amnesia The Dark Descent
09:53 It's no secret that Amnesia The Dark Descent, and Frictional's Hold Back catalogue for that
09:58 matter, have firmly cemented themselves as some of the scariest games ever made.
10:02 The added horror of being unable to defend yourself, with only tinder boxes, an oil lamp,
10:07 and conveniently placed cupboards at our disposal, makes Amnesia an incredibly tough hang.
10:13 There is some disagreement as to which area is the most terrifying in The Dark Descent,
10:17 with the choir, storage, and the flooded cellar all prime selections, but I'm going to go
10:22 with The Prison because that's when I put this one down.
10:25 By the Prison level, you're pretty acquainted with the pattern of running and hiding from
10:29 ghoulish gatherers, and making progress little by little, even though you're horribly frightened.
10:34 But that's about to get much more difficult.
10:36 You see, The Prison is dark as heck, confusing and riddled with enemies.
10:41 Within the first minute of walking in, you hear growling and wailing in the distance.
10:45 You're relentlessly pursued as you try to make progress, and the whole thing is anxiety-inducing
10:50 enough to have you crawling into the corner of a cell, staring at the wall, and hoping
10:54 you don't become gatherer chum.
10:56 Or was that just me?
10:57 Let me know in the comments.
10:59 The game is so clever at eliciting this absolutely primal fear that you just about get paralysed
11:04 and can't will yourself to push on, unless you have the ability to repeat the "it's
11:09 just a game, it's just a game" mantra.
11:12 2.
11:13 Crawling Woman - Fatal Frame 3
11:15 Fatal Frame, or Project Zero as it was known in some regions, is another masterful horror
11:20 series that's pretty much unbeatable at its best.
11:24 Unbeatable of course for the purposes of this list, meaning so scary you absolutely want
11:28 to put it down.
11:29 Again, if we look through the series, there are so many terrifying enemies and unsettling
11:33 moments to choose from here.
11:35 You've got the decapitated head you spot through a peephole, broken neck lady, long-arm
11:40 guy, fallen woman, and the creepy kid twins - which will sound like a weird vague who's
11:45 who of NPCs if you don't know what I'm talking about.
11:47 The game's clever mechanic which only lets you defeat ghosts by pointing a camera at
11:52 them, going into first person, and doing the most damage when they're right about to
11:56 strike is psychotically genius as far as horror systems go.
12:00 There's no escape here, not from the freaky enemy designs, the intense feeling of vulnerability
12:05 and being constantly under threat, or the claustrophobic fixed camera angles.
12:10 One of the scariest ghosts you'll come up against is Crawling Woman in Fatal Frame 3.
12:14 Basically you're in this tiny little crawl space when you happen upon her, making it
12:18 really hard to get away from her quickly or put any distance between the two of you.
12:23 And as you can imagine, that makes this whole encounter nigh-on traumatizing.
12:27 It doesn't help that she scurries around like a spider and her whole face gapes at you when
12:31 she strikes.
12:32 So much nope in so many ways.
12:35 From the slow introduction of every ghost to the sinister environments, nowhere is safe
12:39 in Fatal Frame games, and you'd be well forgiven for preferring to put them down as a result.
12:45 Number 1 - Lisa Attacking, seeing Lisa anywhere, the whole freaking game.
12:50 PT.
12:51 Earlier we mentioned Visage is really terrifying in how it properly emulates a lot of what
12:56 made PT so scary.
12:58 Well I'm sure you can gather if we were going to put Visage on the list, then PT was absolutely
13:02 going to make it as well.
13:03 Hideo Kojima's horror masterpiece, PT, is just about in a realm of its own when it comes
13:08 to showcasing a series of moments so scary it frightens players off.
13:13 You can really take your pick here, as almost everything that happens is a fair enough moment
13:17 to decide the playable teaser is just a little bit too scary.
13:21 Whether it's the chilling appearance of Ghost Lisa appearing at the window on the landing
13:25 down the hallway right behind you, in the crack in the bathroom door, or the fetus crying
13:30 in the bathroom sink, this game is a nightmare simulator that only the toughest horror fans
13:35 have made it all the way through.
13:37 That's it for this list, I'm so scared I need to go turn on all the lights in my entire
13:41 home, but make sure you leave me a comment in that section down below if you can think
13:45 of any other video game moments so scary you had to put the game down.
13:50 As always, I've been Jess from WhatCulture, thank you so much for hanging out with me.
13:53 If you like it, you can come say hi to me on my Twitter account, where I'm @JessMcDonald,
13:58 but make sure you stay tuned to us here, because we've got plenty more gaming goodness.