Nope. Not even for a second.
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00:00There are some superhumans among us who just aren't really affected by horror.
00:04Whether it's grudge-style ghosts, the walking dead, or a run-of-the-mill demon possession,
00:09they just aren't too phased.
00:11If that sounds like you, then I congratulate you, but this particular list is for the rest
00:16of us.
00:17The ones that earned the NOPE achievement in Amnesia The Dark Descent by letting the
00:21game boot, watching the first cutscene, and then quitting out of the game immediately.
00:25Okay, so in most horror games, we definitely got past the first cutscene, but there were
00:30undoubtedly moments that made us decide this is all way too spooky.
00:34Whether it was for an hour, a day, a week, or you never picked up the game again, we've
00:39rounded up 10 times video games got so overwhelmingly terrifying that you thought to yourself, you
00:44know, I think I'm just gonna go do something else.
00:47And maybe switch on some extra lights.
00:49I'm Jess from WhatCulture, and here are 10 video game moments so scary you stopped
00:53playing.
00:5410.
00:55The Ladder – F.E.A.R.
00:57The beauty, or horror if you prefer, of the way that the F.E.A.R. games handle terror
01:01is that they're really expertly paced.
01:04Monolith Productions is very good at making you think something is gonna happen and then
01:08not hitting you with anything at all, making you push on even more tense than you were
01:12before.
01:13Along the same lines, the studio is also really good at hitting you with jump scares at points
01:18you absolutely wouldn't expect to see one.
01:21This case is pretty infamous for that, and it's so damn unsettling I'm betting it's
01:25stuck in your memory whether you want it there or not.
01:28As tense as horror games can be, generally ladders are seen as fairly safe places.
01:33I mean, you're basically stuck on the ladder as your character, so you can't really draw
01:36a weapon if you get attacked, and all you can do is go up and down.
01:40Easy.
01:41If anything, it's a bit of a breather, and far better than skulking around dark corners.
01:45Not in fear, though.
01:47The game whips out its creepy little girl antagonist Alma in one of the most alarming
01:52ways when she appears as you begin your ladder-descending animation.
01:56As soon as you spin around, she appears briefly on the upper landing and giggles at you.
02:02It's a very small moment, but so affecting, and it absolutely feeds into the relentless
02:07dread of moving through this game.
02:09In case your pants were still dry, not to worry, get to the bottom of the ladder and
02:13there's another jumpscare waiting for you there, too.
02:16So basically, screw that ladder.
02:19Take a breather if you need to.
02:20Or just don't go back to the game, I won't tell anybody.
02:239.
02:24Returning to the Ishimura – Dead Space 2
02:27Dead Space is a heavyweight in the survival horror space for a reason, so we'd be remiss
02:31not to include one of its horrifying moments here.
02:34While we're pretty spoiled for choice across the franchise in terms of moments that prove
02:38too much for some players to handle, one of the most unsettling comes during Dead Space
02:432.
02:44Just over halfway through the game, you'll encounter Chapter 10, Deja Vu on the Ishimura,
02:49which, as the name implies, involves Isaac having to revisit the horrifying ship.
02:54All the way through, Dead Space delivers terror through its sound, visuals, immersion and
02:59plenty of other psychological tricks, and this level really synthesizes all of that
03:04into a specific kind of nightmare.
03:06This section is particularly horrifying because it really nails the suspense.
03:11So little happens in the opening of the level, but you know it's only a matter of time
03:15until you realize you're not alone.
03:17It's eerie, it's unsettling, and waiting for the inevitable necromorph pop gets almost
03:22sickeningly tense.
03:24Between the flashbacks, the disturbing audio logs, and the incredibly tense sounds that
03:28you hear as you're moving about the ship, it's actually almost a relief when the big
03:32bad does pop up to crack the tension.
03:358.
03:36That's a Bad Dog – Resident Evil
03:39You didn't think I was going to write this list and not include one of horror's greatest
03:43all-time nope-I'm-not-playing-this-anymore moments, did you?
03:47It might be dated in retrospect, but The Dog Leaping Through the Window in Resident Evil
03:51marked one of the most iconic jump-out-of-your-seat moments in what would kick off one of the greatest
03:56horror franchises of all time.
03:58This scene was classic, even the 2002 movie of the same name recreated it, to great effect
04:04I might add.
04:05There was the fixed-camera-angle horror of walking down hallways, totally unsure of what
04:09might crop up next, and then hearing breaking glass and all of a sudden facing off against
04:14zombie dogs that let a thousand screams ring out across households around the world.
04:19With the absolute speed of the man-eating canines and the complete inability to brace
04:24yourself for this one, you'd be forgiven for shutting off the game to get your heart
04:28rate back to normal before continuing on.
04:307.
04:31The Groom – Outlast Whistleblower
04:34Totally controversial opinion here, but I don't actually think the first Outlast game
04:38is too scary, and that's for one very big reason.
04:42Running like hell is a very viable strategy in almost every situation.
04:47Not with The Groom, though.
04:49In the Whistleblower DLC, you'll come face-to-face with someone who is fairly easily one of the
04:53nastiest bad guys in video games.
04:56Not only is he your run-of-the-mill, crazy, murderous type, he's a little lonely.
05:00And well, he wants to cut your junk off and make you his bride.
05:04I can't think of a more chill way of saying that.
05:07As you can imagine, you spend a lot of this DLC running away from him, desperately trying
05:11to hide when that fails, and it's especially concerning as the stakes are pretty freaking
05:16high.
05:17Because of the whole not wanting to have your junk cut off thing.
05:19Outlast had already mastered its creepy night vision camera mechanic, mad dash running sections
05:24and jump scares, but this section forces you to slow down and absorb the fear.
05:30Piling on dealing with the psychotic Eddie Gluskin, the twisted narrative, relentless
05:34panic and sickening visuals, makes this an experience you could be forgivably desperate
05:39to put down.
05:40Number 6.
05:41The Rat King – The Last of Us Part II
05:44Sometimes the scariest scenes that make us absolutely require a screen break after playing
05:49are the ones that come in games we don't expect to scare us that much.
05:53Despite the totally valid creepiness of the clickers, The Last of Us isn't a horror
05:57game, and once you nail the pattern of skulking around quietly, even the clickers shouldn't
06:02worry you too much, especially if you've been hoarding firepower.
06:06That doesn't so much apply to the Rat King in Part II, though, who is as disgusting and
06:11horrifying in the game as it is in real life.
06:14Just like the Cordyceps virus, actually.
06:15The Last of Us Part II is phenomenally crafted, which is all well and good for the developers,
06:20but it's pretty nauseatingly scary for those of us on the other end, enduring the claustrophobic
06:25blood-soaked hallways, skin-crawling tension, and horrifying boss encounter.
06:30The garbled screams coming out of this monstrosity are bad enough, quite apart from the fact
06:35that you need to run like a bat out of hell, navigating poorly-lit hallways, and mashing
06:40quick-time encounters as fast as possible.
06:42You always know something's going to crop up in these games, but no one expected the
06:46almost-invincible mutant blob.
06:49I feel like I need to lie down just watching a replay of this one.
06:52Abby might not have been everybody's cup of tea, but the enemy of my enemy is my friend,
06:57and the Rat King can go do one.
06:59We're all in this together.
07:015.
07:02San Cristobal Medical Facility – Alien Isolation
07:05Right up there with the survival horror greats, Alien Isolation did a perfect job of making
07:10you feel exactly how somebody would when stalked by one of the scariest monsters ever created.
07:15Much like many of the other games on this list, you can really take your pick of when
07:19players might want to put this one down out of fear.
07:22But there are two things we know for sure.
07:24The first is that a lot of players did actually put this game down because it was too scary.
07:30And the second is that when you properly first see the xenomorph, everything gets a little
07:34bit too real.
07:36Alien Isolation is an interesting case, because I'd argue the beginning of the game isn't
07:40all that scary.
07:42Not to worry though, the ante gets so upped, you'll be longing to go back to when everything
07:46was a whole lot more calm.
07:48The San Cristobal Medical Facility is when things start to get real, and the alien is
07:52first properly introduced.
07:54The game lets you off the rails a lot more, and it's up to you to avoid the alien and
07:58not get nabbed.
07:59It quickly becomes apparent that you're a fish in a very dark barrel that's also
08:03inhabited by a shark.
08:05If the alien-abandoned-hospital combo doesn't get you, the lack of weapons you have at this
08:10point, the sounds of alien footsteps, and the compulsory stealth elements will.
08:15Hide or die, that's pretty much it.
08:17This one will either have you boasting at how you bested the level, or quietly putting
08:22it down, pretending maybe you never played it in the first place.
08:254.
08:26Dolores Visage
08:28SandSquare Studios' 2020 psychological horror game Dolores is so scary, it's honestly
08:33hard to even watch clips of this game if you're not a horror fanatic.
08:37The game is divided into several chapters, and perhaps the most mind-breaking and terrifying
08:42is called Dolores.
08:44You'll wander through a very spooky house, learn its layout, and see its stories unfold
08:48as you go.
08:49You have a sanity meter to contend with, and paranormal events will occur as you move about
08:53the map.
08:54The whole thing is quite honestly an absolute nightmare, and it's probably the closest
08:58we're ever going to get to a full-game version of Hideo Kojima's PT.
09:02Whether it's creeping dread that gets you, psychological horrors that bury deep inside
09:06your brain, or highly effective jump scares, this game has it all.
09:12Everything's just a bit too quiet, right up until it isn't, to the point where it
09:15feels like you're being toyed with.
09:18While every chapter is terrifying in various ways, Dolores delivers a plethora of unexpected
09:23scares and an endlessly mounting dread that escalates to the point where you can't quite
09:28take it anymore.
09:29Catching horrible things out of the corner of your eye that you can't totally confirm
09:33you saw, hearing indecipherable unsettling things, and trying to press on anyway is a
09:39serious exercise in being the baddest, bravest gamer around.
09:43If you find most horror games to not be scary enough and you haven't tried your hand at
09:47this one, there's a good chance it's made for you.
09:50Number 3.
09:51The Prison.
09:52Amnesia The Dark Descent.
09:53It's no secret that Amnesia The Dark Descent, and Frictional's whole back catalogue for
09:58that matter, have firmly cemented themselves as some of the scariest games ever made.
10:03The added horror of being unable to defend yourself, with only tinder boxes, an oil lamp,
10:08and conveniently placed cupboards at our disposal, makes Amnesia an incredibly tough hang.
10:13There is some disagreement as to which area is the most terrifying in The Dark Descent,
10:17with The Choir, Storage, and The Flooded Cellar all prime selections, but I'm going to go
10:22with The Prison because that's when I put this one down.
10:26By the Prison level, you're pretty acquainted with the pattern of running and hiding from
10:29ghoulish gatherers, and making progress little by little, even though you're horribly frightened.
10:34But that's about to get much more difficult.
10:37You see, The Prison is dark as heck, confusing and riddled with enemies.
10:41Within the first minute of walking in, you hear growling and wailing in the distance.
10:45You're relentlessly pursued as you try to make progress, and the whole thing is anxiety-inducing
10:50enough to have you crawling into the corner of a cell, staring at the wall, and hoping
10:54you don't become gatherer chum.
10:56Or was that just me?
10:58Let me know in the comments.
10:59The game is so clever at eliciting this absolutely primal fear that you just about get paralysed
11:05and can't will yourself to push on, unless you have the ability to repeat the
11:09it's-just-a-game, it's-just-a-game mantra.
11:12Number 2, Crawling Woman, Fatal Frame 3.
11:16Fatal Frame, or Project Zero as it was known in some regions, is another masterful horror
11:20series that's pretty much unbeatable at its best.
11:24Unbeatable of course for the purposes of this list, meaning so scary you absolutely want
11:28to put it down.
11:29Again, if we look through the series, there are so many terrifying enemies and unsettling
11:33moments to choose from here.
11:35You've got the decapitated head you spot through a peephole, broken neck lady, long-arm
11:40guy, fallen woman, and the creepy kid twins, which will sound like a weird vague who's
11:45who of NPCs if you don't know what I'm talking about.
11:48The game's clever mechanic which only lets you defeat ghosts by pointing a camera at
11:52them, going into first person, and doing the most damage when they're right about to
11:56strike is psychotically genius as far as horror systems go.
12:00There's no escape here, not from the freaky enemy designs, the intense feeling of vulnerability
12:05and being constantly under threat, or the claustrophobic fixed camera angles.
12:10One of the scariest ghosts you'll come up against is Crawling Woman in Fatal Frame 3.
12:15Basically you're in this tiny little crawl space when you happen upon her, making it
12:18really hard to get away from her quickly or put any distance between the two of you.
12:23And as you can imagine, that makes this whole encounter nigh-on traumatizing.
12:27It doesn't help that she scurries around like a spider and her whole face gapes at
12:31you when she strikes.
12:33So much nope in so many ways.
12:35From the slow introduction of every ghost to the sinister environments, nowhere is safe
12:40in Fatal Frame games, and you'd be well forgiven for preferring to put them down as a result.
12:451.
12:46Lisa attacking, seeing Lisa anywhere, the whole freaking game, PT
12:51Earlier we mentioned Visage is really terrifying in how it properly emulates a lot of what
12:56made PT so scary.
12:58Well, I'm sure you can gather if we were going to put Visage on the list, then PT was
13:02absolutely going to make it as well.
13:04Hideo Kojima's horror masterpiece, PT, is just about in a realm of its own when it comes
13:08to showcasing a series of moments so scary it frightens players off.
13:13You can really take your pick here, as almost everything that happens is a fair enough moment
13:18to decide the playable teaser is just a little bit too scary.
13:22Whether it's the chilling appearance of Ghost Lisa appearing at the window on the landing
13:26down the hallway right behind you, in the crack in the bathroom door, or the fetus crying
13:30in the bathroom sink, this game is a nightmare simulator that only the toughest horror fans
13:35have made it all the way through.
13:37That's it for this list, I'm so scared I need to go turn on all the lights in my
13:41entire home, but make sure you leave me a comment in that section down below if you
13:45can think of any other video game moments so scary you had to put the game down.
13:50As always, I've been Jess from WhatCulture, thank you so much for hanging out with me.
13:54If you like it, you can come say hi to me on my Twitter account, where I'm at jessmcdonald,
13:58but make sure you stay tuned to us here, because we've got plenty more gaming goodness.