[EkkieBurt]

I was browsing The Underdogs website the other day, for the purpose of catching up on all the vintage gaming I’d missed out on in my youth, when title for the Commadore64 caught my attention. The game was Project Firestart, a title I had chosen to ignore in the past, what a mistake that was. Anyway, I figured that because the download was available here and now, I might as well give it a try, so I got around to playing the game and immediately hailed it as the perfect example of how timeless classics are able to hold up to this day.

The one thing which crossed my mind after playing the game for a few moments was of how much it reminded me of 7 Days and 1213, though don’t make the mistake of thinking they’re anything alike. The game follows a story inspired by the movie Aliens and other like minded flicks during the 70 and 80’s… it’s kind of an amalgam of said movies, but manages to retain an original gaming edge.

I highly recommend downloading the game and an emulator for it, (CCS64) and giving it a whirl. You’ll also need a map for the game, Google it.

The purpose of this thread is to provide a place for all of you who whish to contribute to a list of horror themed games which follow a similar vein to the Chzo mythos (an attempt to keep this thread topic relevant to the forum), or even games you feel are horror classics in themselves.

Fire away.

[Spiner]

Shadowgate.

Nothing like creepy music, horrible descriptions of your death and a grim reaper staring at you whenever you made a mistake to traumatize a 5-year old with sprite graphics. Having to depend on torches to survive didn't help to minimize a pre-existing fear of the dark as well.

Fatal Frame series

The first night had the most original scares I've seen in awhile, but sadly they kind of lost their luster on the replay/backtracking. Oh I never liked playing this series in the dark, but it was fun as hell to do so. In Dig Dug the monsters would morph into scary faces that could pass through walls and corner you. For years developers forgot about this as they focused on "survival horror" clones that had enemies obey the almighty wall. Nothing quite like having the tables turned on you and suddenly the environment is no longer your friend as you get attacked by 3 ghosts on the final night that are half-submerged in the floor and forcing you to restart your game because you saved just before it.

Which Way Adventure

http://www.youtube.c...h?v=0NFEZjZp8lY

Trilby: Art of Theft.

Thank you Yahtzee. Your retro low-rez epic that features darkness as a main gameplay element has brought a new lease to the shadowgate-fueled childhood phobia years after I thought I conquered it.

[Thaluikhain]

Well, I thought 5DAS and 7DAS were scary, but TN and 6 DAS more or less weren't. I mean, the whole place being covered in claret is rather lame, though at least Trilby was bit a bit tongue in cheek "Every room has something written on the walls in several bucket of blood. Here the word is 'pain'...I can sort of sympathise".

Actually, more or less anything called a "mythos" or "cycle" isn't scary.

Alone in the Dark was scary at first, until you get into it, then it's a collection of "do weird thing with item" tasks.

There were a few levels in C&C Tiberian Sun which approached sci-fi horror, though they never really got there and I don't think they were trying to go for the whole horror angle.

[Legion]

Heh, Shadowgate was indeed freaky. My mistake was opening the coffin full of slime.

System Shock 2 had its good moments. Nothing like getting your arse handed to you by a room full of Midwives and a gun turret. And those fucking spiders - augh, I hated those eight-legged freaks.

Scariest game of all time however; just pure psychological terror...... one word.

Phantasmagoria.

[Jenx]

Well, since I hardly find games scary it's not easy to point out such titles.

I suppose I would have to say System Shock 2. I actually never managed to finish this game because at some point I was so freaked out I didn't really feel like going forward anymore. This has happened twice to me now, and I'm just waiting for the time when I'll have the urge to play it again and probably stop at the same place as I did before.

I also found play as the Marine in AvP to be so hard at times it really gives you shivers. You walk trough a needlessly long and dark tunnel on some god forsaken planet and don't take your eyes out of the scanner, waiting for the moment it will bleep, meaning that in 5 to 10 seconds from then you shall die a horrible death in the hands or other organs of some alien.

[Snake Logan]

It’s not so much games that scared me in the past, it’s the individual characters from those games. Here is a small and incomplete list.

5 Days a Stranger and 7 Days a Sceptic - John Defoe.
Trilby’s Notes and 6 Days a Sacrifice - Cabadath.
Clock Tower 3 - Robert Morris, John Haigh, Harold Powell, Jemima and Ralph.
Clock Tower 2 - Dan Barrows.
Silent Hill 4 - Walter Sullivan.

[David-kyo]

I'm surprised nobody mentioned Shadow of the Comet or any other Cthulhu-themed game.

[Gobbler]

Pacman.

[Snake Logan]

I concur. That small yellow cannibal is also very scary.

[Thaluikhain]

I'm surprised nobody mentioned Shadow of the Comet or any other Cthulhu-themed game.

Alone is the Dark is Cthullu themed...sort of.

[AdamM]

System Shock 2. System Shock 2. And System Shock 2.

I don't think I could actually bring myself to play it with the lights off.

This post has been edited by AdamM: 17 January 2008 - 12:00 PM

[Dannysaysnoo]

System Shock 2. System Shock 2. And System Shock 2.

I don't think I could actually bring myself to play it with the lights off.

If System Shock 2 was scary, i must be resistant to fear.

That game was the most disappointing in the fear department for me, ever. Everyone is saying, "AAARG!" while im saying "hmmm."

I think System Shock 1 was scarier....

[David-kyo]

I think it's the people with arachnophobia that get freaked out because of SS2 (I heard someone made a mod that removed them altogether), I wasn't really scared, but it had a very good atmosphere. Also, if you install the mods that make the textures and the models look better, it adds a bit to the scare effect, because not only do the graphics become better, but facial exp​ressions appear on the corpses and the hybrids which can get a tad freaky.

[avenging]

there was one level of thief:deadly shadows that started to get to me after a while

never played system shock 2 or 1

the first silent hill had it's creepy parts

for the most part though there aren't too many really creepy games

[Sylv]

I'm surprised no one's mentioned The White Chamber yet. It's a horror-adventure game available for download. Don't let the Yugioh style character design turn you off from trying it, (especially since everything else looks just fine), it's quite good.

Anyhow, Silent Hills 1 - 3 all made me panic to varying degrees (Haven't played SH4 yet so...). And then there's my old arch nemesis, Fatal Frame. I had to quit during the final night of Fatal Frame 1. I don't suffer from claustrophobia but once I photographed "The People" down in that cavern I felt like I had to get out nownownownow. And the ghosts were harder and I didn't level up my camera enough and boo hoo...I have Fatal Frame 2 but who am I kidding, I'll never finish it either.

People have mentioned System Shock 2 which is good, because SS2 was fantastic. I'll also throw out a nod to Clive Barker's Undying. It had some cool game mechanics and was genuinely creepy, especially inside the mansion and crypt.

Oh, and the entire game wasn't marketed as horror but there was a strong horror theme throughout the whole thing - the Wheel of Time FPS. Which was actually good! The part where living mist tries to creep out of the walls and strangle you freaked me out, but then I'm easily frightened by the environment itself coming alive to kill you.

Sanitarium deserves a nod. More liable to be strange than scary, but an excellent story and if you're a fan of horror as shown through psychadelia and madness at all I'm sure you'll find something to like.

Lastly Thief 3, despite the game's problems, has the Cradle which is easily one of the most unnerving sections I've ever played. The first half is beautifully creepy and there aren't even any enemies around. The second half where there ARE monsters is actually a let-down in comparison. Still, all in all a magnificent level.

This post has been edited by Sylv: 17 January 2008 - 02:52 PM