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The top 10 scariest PC games
Too old to get away with trick-or-treating? Then stay indoors with our countdown of the top 10 scariest PC games ever made
Fear is an unusual emotion. It's a mixture of physical and psychological impulses that generate a familiar set of reactions: muscles become flooded with oxygen to prepare for immediate bursts of activity; the extra blood needed generates heat, and small beads of perspiration begin to assemble on your skin; your pupils dilate to allow you to see farther, and you're more inclined to violent, uncharacteristic or erratic behaviour. Fear isn't very nice.
And yet, it's been a part of human consciousness – and human culture – since, well, the beginning of time. Horror films are huge business: the Saw trilogy has grossed over £170 million at the Box Office, and the literary genius of Mary Shelley's ‘Frankenstein’ spawned the entire genre.
It was as natural as fear itself, then, that horror would play a pivotal part in the history of gaming. From the incessant, enigmatic alien beeps in Space Invaders to today's epic survival horror titles that rival Hollywood productions for budget and impact. Which games, though, are the real spine-tinglers? Which titles call for an immediate underwear replacement or send you screaming from the room? Read on, as we discover the top 10 knee-knockingly terrifying PC titles of all time.
Click on the game titles below for all the gory details.
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- 1 - F.E.A.R – Monolith Productions, 2005
- 2 - Alien vs Predator – Rebellion, 1999
- 3 - Fahrenheit – Quantic Dream, 2005
- 4 - Alone in the Dark – Infogrames, 1992
- 5 - Resident Evil 2 – Capcom, 1998
- 6 - Thief: Deadly Shadows – Ion Storm, 2004
- 7 - System Shock 2 – Looking Glass Studios, 1999
- 8 - Clive Barker's Undying – DreamWorks Interactive, 2001
- 9 - Doom – id Software, 1993
- 10 - Anchorhead – Michael S. Gentry, 1998
Playing FEAR in the dark with the lights out on hardest difficulty in 7.1 surround sound is so atmospherically terrifying, i physically can\'t play it for more than an hour at a time, it has even made me jump at a LAN in bright light with mates around. A mate used to give me shit about that - until he started playing the game too and also jumped at the LAN and then told me he saves the game straight after scary bits so he doesn\'t have to repeat them LOL! You need a good sound card to feel enveloped by this game IMO - i didn\'t really find it scary or atmospheric with an onboard sound card. When i played AVP i used those 3D goggles that ASUS cards came with, and at one stage i FULLY jumped out of my chair when an alien jumped at me and it looked like it had jumped out of my monitor!!!!
Comment by defiant79 at 3:50pm 14th December 2007
The scary bits in FEAR were excellent but felt tacked on to a decidedly average FPS. STALKER was significantly more terrifying. For sheer creepiness though I can't believe no one has mentioned They Hunger for Half Life.
Comment by The_Moph at 3:55pm 11th November 2007
I think Bioshock should have a place in this list... although its not that scary, it does carry a fairly high amount of adrenaline and suspense. Perhaps number 8/9?
Comment by mitzy1002000 at 11:58am 11th November 2007
AVP2 is the scariest game to date. You cant beat the atmosphere. F.E.A.R is scarey and I'm a huge fan but nothing made me jump out of my seat as much as AVP2
Comment by von_stylon at 5:14pm 9th November 2007
are the only part of any game that really scared me. FEAR is spooky, not scary, and anything that jumps out and says BOO! when I'm not expecting it will make me jump. But those zombies, man ... *shiver*
Comment by _irad_ at 8:56pm 4th November 2007
Armed assault is pretty scary.. when you look at how much it will cost to get a machine that can run it decent
Comment by spiderIPC at 2:03pm 4th November 2007
I like to put S.T.A.L.K.E.R on the list as well, I nearly wet myself. :-)
Comment by Thanh55 at 9:52pm 3rd November 2007
Actually, as an English Literature student, I can tell you that the Gothic genre was inspired by Horace Walpole's work, 'The Castle of Otranto,' published in 1764. So there! ;-) theChipmunk
Comment by theChipmunk at 6:12pm 2nd November 2007
10.Quake 1 (old but with plenty o\' demons) 9.Quake 2 8.Alien vs. Predator 7.Prey 6.Half Life 2 :Ravenholm 5.Far Cry 4.F.E.A.R 3.Silent Hill 4 2.S.T.A.L.K.E.R 1.Doom 3 (hell Was bloody Crazy) Ahhh the fun of crapping yourself...
Comment by pcwhizz69 at 1:03pm 2nd November 2007
Phantasmagoria is over 12 years old and when I played it for the first time it scared me to death!
Comment by skippylee1 at 9:08am 2nd November 2007
Phantasmagoria is over 12 years old and when I played it for the first time it scared me to death!
Comment by skippylee1 at 9:08am 2nd November 2007
Totally dull and predicatable, why is this even here. It tries to create an atmosphere and never delivers. Half life two's fast zombies scuttling up drainpipes is far more creepy. You hear the drain pipes rattling and you can hear the scream then........
Comment by kazara1001 at 8:32am 2nd November 2007
Good to see it so near the top, considering it came six months after Half-Life and could've been overshadowed.
Comment by KHenry_07 at 10:10pm 1st November 2007
F.E.A.R all the way for me.... i made me shat my pants first time i encoundered Alma, ya know, sitting in a darkened room, well into the game, your just coming to the top of a ladder... and BAM! there she is in ya face!
Comment by barron_greenback at 9:33pm 1st November 2007
some parts of far cry were prety scary, and what about doom 3?
Comment by dimasoft at 7:16pm 1st November 2007
There was an Aliens conversion for Doom that scared the crap out of me the 1st time I played it.
Comment by bluetuba at 12:28am 1st November 2007
In terms of 'jumping out of your seat', I would have to have Quake on that list. Anybody under 25 probably won't understand how unnerving it was to be "exposed" in a 3D world. Enermies shooting you from above????
Comment by wilding2004 at 11:17pm 31st October 2007
I would have probably had STALKER: Shadow of Chernobyl on there, quite near the top. I would probably have also added Far Cry too because the moments when it was scary it was properly scary, the part where you're left dropped in the jungle with barely any ammo was properly unpleasant. That said I've not played all the games on that list, they might be spookier.
Comment by Grotmonkey at 7:12pm 31st October 2007
FEAR is definatly at the top of mine. Makes you jump so much. Thats the only one I've played actually. I thought HL2 Ravenholm section was pretty damn scary too, it was the first time anyway.
Comment by Cerberus_xiii at 3:54pm 31st October 2007
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