Scares & Tension in Games

[Moonface]

Even if you've never played a horror game, there's still a chance you've encountered something in a game that scared or unsettled you, whether it's from tension, something sudden, feeling vulnerable, or anything else that qualifies. So what moments have made you feel that way in a game, and are there any moments that can still get to you even though you've experienced them before?
If by chance you're not phased by much in games, what games have at least done a good job with creating a tense or uneasy atmosphere that you appreciated even if it didn't get to you?

Most horror games will get me scared the first time as I don't know what to expect and/or don't know the game well enough to have confidence in tackling any monsters it throws at me. However it's rare that feeling lasts until the end of the game.

Night during Dying Light would scare me for the longest time, and even now it can still put me on edge if I don't feel like I have a good way to escape a chase upon being spotted.

Another consistent thing that scares me is creepers in Minecraft. Many times I've had one suddenly drop next to me from a higher ledge and the injured hiss it makes has made me panic into my inventory and die so many times. Hate those silent bastards. 

[lp0 on fire]

I am not one for horror, but give me a good psychological thriller/horror (e.g. Silence of the Lambs, The Shining)
Fuck jump scares, fuck them right to hell, they are cheap and over used.

Give me the slow building of dread and "why am I here" don't give me "BOO!"

A common writing saying is "Show, don't tell", and I think this has been used a bit too literately in horror films/games. They should tell us though the use of background details (i.e. Fight Club) and atmosphere (details, acting, music, et al) that something is up.

yay post 200!

[Nightingale]

I remember getting absolutely scared (yes, scared) during the Pittsburgh part of The Last of Us.

Getting that stupid generator running with all the stalkers moving around, splashing on the water and with so little light to stop them until it was -generally- too late really had me on edge.

[Moonface]

I remember getting absolutely scared (yes, scared) during the Pittsburgh part of The Last of Us.

Getting that stupid generator running with all the stalkers moving around, splashing on the water and with so little light to stop them until it was -generally- too late really had me on edge.

This is the basement section in the hotel right? If so that part scared me so much the first time and still gets me tense on subsequent play throughs. The darkness limiting visibility and the enemies being the ones that hide from you are what does it for me. Then you turn the generator on and the Bloater shows up while the other enemies are bum rushing you...

[Dragon Lord]

The thing that tends to scare me the most in games is underwater parts. Well, at least in big, open bodies of water. Like when you have to go get the Zora eggs from that pit in the ocean in Majora's Mask. I have a pretty big fear of the ocean, so any time a game requires me to dive down into a huge open body of water that has creatures in it, I really don't want to do it.

When I was a kid, I was never able to finish Majora's Mask because of having to go out into the sea at Great Bay, and I also never was able to do a 120 Star run in Mario 64 because of Dire Dire Docks. Wasn't until I was older that I was able to get myself to go back and finish them fully.

The only types of games where I don't have any problems with underwater parts is 2D games. It's only games where you can't see what's below, above or behind you in the water that give me problems. Which is why I'd never be able to do my own play through of a game like Subnautica. That game is pretty much nightmare fuel for me.

[Nightingale]

I remember getting absolutely scared (yes, scared) during the Pittsburgh part of The Last of Us.

Getting that stupid generator running with all the stalkers moving around, splashing on the water and with so little light to stop them until it was -generally- too late really had me on edge.

This is the basement section in the hotel right? If so that part scared me so much the first time and still gets me tense on subsequent play throughs. The darkness limiting visibility and the enemies being the ones that hide from you are what does it for me. Then you turn the generator on and the Bloater shows up while the other enemies are bum rushing you...

Precisely that one, my friend.

[Maniakkid25]

I'm a little pansy, and I get scared by the War Wasps in Metroid Prime. So, needless to say, I'm not really a fan of super horror games, which is why I'm never playing Resident Evil 7 as much as I hear nothing but good things about that game.

[Moonface]

The only types of games where I don't have any problems with underwater parts is 2D games. It's only games where you can't see what's below, above or behind you in the water that give me problems. Which is why I'd never be able to do my own play through of a game like Subnautica. That game is pretty much nightmare fuel for me.

I'm curious, if a game had you in say, a Zero-G environment that was dark, would it have the same effect? Or is it the addition of water that pushes it into nightmare fuel territory?

[Dragon Lord]

I wouldn't be bothered by that at all, it's mainly just underwater because of what lurks in it. If I 100% know that there is absolutely nothing in the water, then I'm okay. It's when I know that there's something in there, that's when I start to get really freaked out.

Though in some cases I still get freaked out a bit. There are no giant sea creatures in Skyrim, yet I still have a hard time going underwater out in the open sea in that game.

And it doesn't matter if what is in the water is hostile or not, I still get uneasy knowing that there's anything in the water at all, or if the body of water is too large that I can't see what's beyond a certain point.

[Moonface]

Ah. Similar to me with anything involving darkness in games. If I know it's safe, I don't care. If I know it isn't safe, or don't know if it is, then I'm normally very on edge, even if it's a narrow corridor.

[lp0 on fire]

Ah. Similar to me with anything involving darkness in games. If I know it's safe, I don't care. If I know it isn't safe, or don't know if it is, then I'm normally very on edge, even if it's a narrow corridor.

Hello brightness my old friend,
I have come to turn you up again,
for the shadows they be creeping..

[Mr EliteL]

I tend to not like/avoid horror games, mainly for cheap jump scares or the feeling of being trapped in a situation that's bleak. Would prefer the psychological way of getting scared. Survival horror and zombies and anything similar became boring for me. I remember playing Resident Evil...2 I believe, as a kid and was very scared. Didn't want to play it anymore, and never did again, or another RE game. Back then was for that reason, which then grew to general disinterest.

Back in the 2012 days when I was playing online games like Ib, Witch's House, Mad Father, those games were good small scares I enjoyed when playing for the first time. Also watching a Slender game for the first time was great for becoming frightened by a game. However after a while the concept got stale and repetitive. Released too many different versions in a short time span, because of the huge popularity it got from The Eight Pages.

Yet again I get to mention this experience, but meeting a Drake at night in Dragon's Dogma for the first time was a scary moment. Not knowing what was coming up behind me in pitch black pretty much (just enough to see your Arisen, but nothing much of surroundings), was scary yet exciting as well. I wish to experience that again, but being spoiled for stuff to easy nowadays. Since I don't play as much games anymore too, and I tend to be watching behind someone else's gameplay.

[Moonface]

Yeah, Slender was scary the first few times but then it just got dull. It might have benefitted from procedurally generated maps so that you can't just memorise the layout and know exactly where to check for pages, because its current format just turns into a speedrun game of memorising where to look and grabbing them all. Scares aside, it doesn't even present a challenge once you get to that point and it doesn't take long for that to happen.

I wish there were more games out there that don't let you get complacent after a while. You either get too powerful, or you just know exactly what's going to happen. I'd love to see more games that make you always feel like you're playing the game for the first time again, so that you can always get to experience the dread and tension of the unknown.

[Nightingale]

I think I have another one to add to the list:

Until Dawn.

The whole darn game.

[Hotspot]

I don't play horror games, so I'd definitely go with enemies in Minecraft, with their creepy noises (The music also doesn't help).

Watching people on youtube played Dead by Daylight, was.. well not necessarily scary, but adrenaline pumping when the killer finds a survivor.