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[Jude]

The goddam monkeys in System Shock 2. Actually, all the enemies in that game. Often it's not even the creepiness of them but the knowledge that you're going to have to fight one, and your gun is always two shots from jamming and two bullets from empty.

Although the monkeys' chittering is pretty eerie, to say nothing of "I'M SORRY!!!" and "KILLLL MEE!!!!"

[Heron TSG]

The 'Witches' in Left 4 Dead were scary, but mainly because you couldn't use a flashlight very often, causing all the other things to be scarier.

[Sir Pseudonymous]

The things that make things scary is knowing they can kill you easily, and coming out of no where. Otherwise it's just nervousness.

Gonna disagree with this. I find that things are much less scary when they kill you often. It's just more incentive to save more often.

I haven't been too freaked out by STALKER: SoC yet. Zombies? Meh. Snorks? Hard to track, but not overly sinister.

If I've seen anything "scary" yet in STALKER, it's anything with a gun. The enemies have a frightening tendency to pop you one in the cranium.

There is a fine line between scary and annoying. But fear-from-difficulty is something you become desensitized to over time, I suppose.

Bloodsuckers are terrifying the first couple of times, and after that are just treated with caution. So are poltergeists, which are just kind of annoying once you get past the whole "OH GOD WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT SHIT!?!?!???!!!" part. Snorks, however, are very obnoxious if you fail to pick them off with a well placed shot before they start to move, and are always startling if they pop out of nowhere at you. Enemies with guns... I can't really agree with that, since most of the guns are hilariously inaccurate. Zombies are just normal enemies, except they're slow, don't use cover, and take more to bring down short of a headshot.

[cowofdoom78963]

Have you ever seen one of those skeletal turtles from SMB3?


Those guys still give me the chills.

[Aqizzar]

So now I a wondering, how did Valve create an enemy whose destruction I prioritize over anything else, even my own survival? They aren't particularly dangerous, in fact they can't even kill me directly except by gently tapping me for half an hour until i fall off a ledge, they give ample and very clear warning of impeding attacks and never ambush, their stature isn't any more imposing then that of my cat and they aren't any harder to deal with then their regular stubby legged brethren.

Valve noticed this exact effect during playtesting, that otherwise competent gamers would go into a blind panic and expend ridiculous effort and resources to kill poison headcrabs, even though they can't actually kill you (though being at 1 health for a few seconds is pretty deadly).  Partly it's just that nasty rattlesnake sound, which we already associate with being deadly.  Partly it's that they're really fast, which means hard to hit, which in a FPS means dangerous out of proportion to stature.  And partly it's ingrained gamer instinct.  Anything that can hurt you that much, that fast, and leave you that vulnerable must be bad, even with the aforementioned not-deadly clause.


I guess I haven't played many really scary games or anything, though I should.  I like them.  The closest thing to scary I can remember at the moment wasn't even that scary, just aggravating to the point of dread.  Brainsuckers in X-COM: Apocalypse.  The only weapon in the game you have no defense against but luck, they appear without warning, are impossible to hit, and make those hideous squishing noises while they jump around.

I'm almost embarrassed to say this, but my biggest fear in gaming when I was a little kid?  The ghosts in Mario 3.  I have no idea why, I remember when I was really little I figured out their shtick easy, and certainly they're almost a joke compared to platforming now.  And yet, when I was 6ish years old I had such a pathological fear of them I would stock up on all the level-skippers and whistles so I'd never have to face them (which of course was their only weakness).  Maybe it was just that I couldn't kill them, although I remember having a dementedly terrifying dream that for some reason happened to remind me of a Mario game.

[Heron TSG]

There's somebody else that used to be afraid of Mario Ghosts? I nearly crapped my pants when I saw the giant one in Super Mario 64.

[Jude]

The 'Witches' in Left 4 Dead were scary, but mainly because you couldn't use a flashlight very often, causing all the other things to be scarier.

I dunno, nothing in L4D has ever scared me, at all. Startled once in a while although not even as much as you'd think.

[Thexor]

The 'Witches' in Left 4 Dead were scary, but mainly because you couldn't use a flashlight very often, causing all the other things to be scarier.

I dunno, nothing in L4D has ever scared me, at all. Startled once in a while although not even as much as you'd think.

Witches are totally scary... until you realize that a few auto-shotty blasts to the skull will kill them before they stand up. At which point, Witches are less dangerous than Commons.

Heck, at least in L4D1 you had time for 1, maybe 2, blasts. Now, you can unload half an auto-shotty clip into them before they attack. 



As for my experiences... I tend to be easily frightened. I literally had to psyche myself up before the Core level on Crysis. You're learning a new, zero-G means of propulsion, you're disorientated, and you've got these lightning-fast aliens darting towards you. Oh, and with one mid-way exception, you don't have any extra ammo drops - it's not that you're likely to run out of ammo, but the knowledge that you could find yourself facing those things with nothing but your fists was frightening enough.

[Jack A T]

Chrysalids from X-Com: UFO Defense.

Poison headcrabs from HL2.

Bloodsuckers in a deserted village at night when I'm underequipped for the army warehouses in STALKER: SoC.

[JoshuaFH]

Wait, the poison headcrabs CAN'T kill you?

...Man.

[Ioric Kittencuddler]

Hm, the werewolves in Vampire The Maquerade: Bloodlines were fricking scary.  It's like, you're a vampire, you're a badass, and then this gigantic thing comes out of nowhere and takes out someone even more badass than you in a split second, dragging him off a cliff.  Then another one comes for you!  Bullets have no effect!  Come to think of it allot of enemies in that game were fairly scary.

The Peacekeeper in Sword of the Stars scares the crap out of me.

I'll second facehuggers in AvP without hesitation.  Also cranes in AvP 2.

Headcrabs are startling sure, but not really scary.  I guess the poison ones are.

Oh yeah and while we're on the subject, those parasites from Alien Swarm are horrible.

Every other player in EVE Online.

Fleshpounds in Killing Floor.  scarier than L4D Witches because of the noises they make and the fact that once you go down you stay down.  None of this suddenly gaining 300 extra HP malarkey or whatever.

Oh yeah, the pursuit cops in Mirror's Edge are kinda scary.

Marauders in Red Faction Guerrilla give me the creeps.

Finally, probably one of the scariest is the Hidden in The Hidden Source.  At least when he's played by a good player it's awesomely terrible.

[Pathos]

Wait, the poison headcrabs CAN'T kill you?

...Man.

No, but if they hit you everything ELSE can.

[Jude]

Witches are totally scary... until you realize that a few auto-shotty blasts to the skull will kill them before they stand up. At which point, Witches are less dangerous than Commons.

I dunno man, they never scare me at all. I mean, I guess I get "scared" in the sense of "Aw, Goddammit, we're gonna lose a player cause that noob woke up the witch" but not scared scared.

[Sinistar]

I don't remember being ever mortally scaredd while playing S.T.A.L.K.E.R.:SoC. Poltergeist in second lab did however gave me goosebumbs, but it was sort of pleasant thrill. Got me nervous when I saw barrels flying towards me and strange electric clouds floating around. But the sole feeling of unatural danger, loneliness, darkness and few but still adequate means of defense was actually quite pleasant.
Snorks' howling made me a bit more nervous, Bloodsuckers' too.
But Oblivion Lost mod for this game...makes a whole different experience. I still wasn't terrified while playing, but on nightmerish difficulty there were moments when I freaked out when seeing two pseudogiants coming towards me. Not because they were scary, but damn tough to kill. And that goes to all other mutants in this mod. While Vintor (VSS Vintorez) was quite an overkill when it came to human enemies with its power accuraccy and, most of all, 30 rounds mag, I am ALWAYs cautious when around mutants.
And Controllers...are someting special as well in this game. For me at least. Also, nights can be PITCH BLACK.
S.T.A.L.K.E.R.:SoC fans, I highly recomend OL mod.

On the other hand I did not find F.E.A.R. scary at all. In fact I just loved whenever Alma appeared. Why? Because it was refreshing during constant gunfights and it meant some sort of a twist in a story was bound to happen soon. And knowing that she is just that, a harmless story twist, rendered her scareless for me.
Only time I freaked out a bit was while cimbing down the stairs, seeing her appear on top, myself coming down, turning and BAM!, Paxton Fettel stands before me. Oh joy.

These days there are not many games, movies, things that scare me. Not trying to sound like some tough guy however. Thats just porbably because I shat bricks as a kid when lights in the mine in Unreal started to turn off and Skaar started to growl. One of the finest moments in my gaming history. 
Made me start playing this now legendary gaming gem with cheats, aye.

Now, I would LOVE to play/watch some reeeaaallyyy scary game/movie. Any suggestions besides those in this topic?

[Dakk]

The werewolf in Vampire The Masquerade: Bloodlines was scary because he could break through walls, was faster then you (unless you have celerity maxed, which I did), and was invincible for all intents or purposes.

I thought it was sorta lame he was completely invincible though. Too bad they probably won't make a sequel. An sequel with an open world, more character types and more sidequests would be damn awesome.

In fact most things that involve the original World of Darkness PnP RPG were awesome, but now some other company bought it and made it into a twilight eske thing, the horror. The original one was very unforgiving and evil altogheder, the atmosphere was great.