What creeps you out the most in games?

[Solo]

Three words: Ecco the Dolphin

 

[Ruby]

Amnesia is epic though .

This scares the **** out of me. The map, jumpscares scare me too but less.

Image by pcgamer.com - Game: "Nevermind"

;__________________________;

Why.

Just..

Ugh. 

Nightmare-worthy.

Honestly, things that scare me, truly, are things (mostly maps, and the atmosphere) that resonate with me long after I shut off the game. 

 

[mogwai]

I hate zombies, even playful 2d sprite zombies if the music is right. It gives me nightmares.

 

[captainproton]

Honestly, one of the creepiest games I've ever played was Chex Quest, a free CD ROM which came in a box of cereal many years ago. It was a first-person shooter, where you played some Buzz Lightyear-esque spaceman wearing Chex-style armor. You used a ray gun to zap these green blob guys who had taken over some cereal planet.

Maybe it was a bug, but there wasn't any background music, and this maze of abandoned laboratories, where it looked like some pretty serious crap had gone down. there wasn't music, but there were sound effects, so you could be walking down some dark hallway, and all of a sudden hear a faint squish. You turn around and hear a shrill "BLEEAARRRGGH!" from the blobguy inches away!

Also, the blob guys looked a lot like people covered in green slime, like they were maybe the former residents of the planet.

To cap it all off, at the time, our family computer was set up in the basement, since that was the only part of the house with room. So, I'm sitting in a dark basement, lit by a few oddly spaced bare bulbs, exploring the ruins of a lab when "BLEEEAARGGH!"

Made me jump more than once.

 

[Ralpf]

Atmosphere, specifically sound effects and music, though a good creepy story on top would probably be helpful. I'm not sure jump scares still work on me...

 

[Simon D. Aelsi]

Little spooky girls and dolls... >_<

 

[Arkane609]

Iunno.. Horror's not my cup of tea. My mates and I would watch or play horror games sometimes and all of them spazzes out like something's going to kill them. But I'm just sitting there, pretending to get scared so that I'd fit in. ;~;

But basically, I'm scared of anything that would make me want to avoid certain aspects of my day to day life. But if you want specifics, it'd be flying cockroaches. 

 

[whitesphere]

For me, atmosphere can definitely creep me out.  This includes clever use of lighting, as well as good use of sound effects.

To make a game extremely creepy, I think a good approach is to gradually fade out background music, maybe add in a few unpleasant noises, such as a meaty squish and thud if a killer is chasing you.     Or, maybe have a heartbeat which you speed up as the player gets into more tense situations.  These sounds work best if they are somewhat subdued.  

Add in some tints which obscure the map to a degree, such as stygian blackness, or thick fog, with the player having a flickering light source...

In a horror game, if you keep the player off-balance, mentally, not knowing what to expect next, that goes a long way towards creepy.  

Jump scares are startling but not creepy per se.

 

[Ralpf]

Iunno.. Horror's not my cup of tea. My mates and I would watch or play horror games sometimes and all of them spazzes out like something's going to kill them. But I'm just sitting there, pretending to get scared so that I'd fit in. ;~;

But basically, I'm scared of anything that would make me want to avoid certain aspects of my day to day life. But if you want specifics, it'd be flying cockroaches. 

I was at a friends house one night years ago, he had bought Doom 3 recently. So we were playing through the campaign, and I ended up taking over, he kept seeing stuff and wasting ammo on shadows, which isn't good in that game. I did the same things but I usually stopped just short of pulling the trigger.

Flying cockroaches...that sounds...unpleasant.

 

[Chiakscare]

Since its first title, the Fatal Frame franchise has horrified me consistently. It captures everything that generates fear: isolation, atmosphere, and consistent sense of danger which makes the player dread going into the next area.

Fatal Frame 1 accomplished this best in that you became close to the people who preceded you, knowing that they all died violently; as you stalked their ghosts throughout the mansion, you knew it was only a matter of time before they'd want to kill you. The only unknown being when.

 

[Caitlin]

With good atmosphere, good atmospheric music and the unexpected, especially when you're attention is turned else where, that's what I love... plus, I sometimes get startled.  I can be a bit oblivious in real life, so I get startled, but in games, I have have my attention drawn away.

 

[Zizzy47]

Being in water (specifically dark water) always seems to freak me out.

 

[C-C-C-Cashmere (old)]

Silence and a lack of knowledge about what will happen next.

 

[captainproton]

Graphics-wise, I don't think there's anything quite so profoundly disturbing as a distortion of the human form. Giant bugs and tentacular, Lovecaftian monsters may be scary as all get out, but to see something which is very human, but also very *not* grabs hold of something deep in the psyche. If it's at all possible, through the distortions and mutilations, to see the creature as human, we almost see the creature as ourselves. Zombies, even slow zombies, are scarier than vampires, werewolves and squiggly space monsters. Why? Vamps usually look like people. Werewolves look like, well, wolves. Even Frankenstien's monster was more tragic and sympathetic than frightening. The squiggly space monsters, of course, are scary because they are so inhuman and unrelatable, but it's a different kind of scary.

Then there's things like the Pyramid Heads, which really aren't distorted, but are definitely "humanly inhuman" and scary as all getout. And, I was so glad when my store stopped carrying the Human Centipede DVD because just looking at the blurry silhouette on the cover made me want to curl up in a ball and throw up.

 

[Ultim]

I think The Evil Within will do everything that scares you guys...(including me)

 

[Ralpf]

Graphics-wise, I don't think there's anything quite so profoundly disturbing as a distortion of the human form. Giant bugs and tentacular, Lovecaftian monsters may be scary as all get out, but to see something which is very human, but also very *not* grabs hold of something deep in the psyche. If it's at all possible, through the distortions and mutilations, to see the creature as human, we almost see the creature as ourselves. Zombies, even slow zombies, are scarier than vampires, werewolves and squiggly space monsters. Why? Vamps usually look like people. Werewolves look like, well, wolves. Even Frankenstien's monster was more tragic and sympathetic than frightening. The squiggly space monsters, of course, are scary because they are so inhuman and unrelatable, but it's a different kind of scary.

Then there's things like the Pyramid Heads, which really aren't distorted, but are definitely "humanly inhuman" and scary as all getout. And, I was so glad when my store stopped carrying the Human Centipede DVD because just looking at the blurry silhouette on the cover made me want to curl up in a ball and throw up.

Pretty much just hearing about it did that same to me....

 

[Ultim]

flying cockroaches. 

I just killed one the other day.

 

[doncht]

Some creepy music I guess. I can't really describe it but I'll know when I hear one. 

 

[Arkane609]

Being in water (specifically dark water) always seems to freak me out.

THIS TOO. OH MY GOD.

 

[ThatOneGuysWife]

Chase scenes in games scare me. Especially with tense music or a creepy atmosphere, or

bonus points:
a map that is determined to make it HARD for you to get away.