Bone Chilling Games

As ghouls, ghosts, and goblins are preparing for their adventures on everyone's favorite undead holiday Halloween, I am counting down my list for bone chilling games that terrified me so bad, I had to keep glancing over my shoulder everytime I heard the wind blow.

Alan Wake

In May 2010, Remedy and Microsoft finally released long awaited and very overdue survival horror title, Alan Wake.

You take control of Alan Wake who is a best selling author.  Unfortunately he has been suffering from writer's block and has been unsuccessful in writing another novel.  Alan and his wife, Alice travel to the small, but beautfiul town of Bright Falls to help him reopen his mind and let his imagination flow through his fingers and into another novel.

Upon entering Bright Falls, you are to assume that this sleepy little town surrounded by beautiful landscapes and never ending mountains, is well, normal.  You quickly learn that is not the case as you find yourself looking for answers as to what exactly happened to your wife at the cabin on Cauldron Lake.  Did she really fall into the merky waters surrounding the small cabin or has Alan simply lost his mind and living in a fantasy world of one of his best selling novels?  As Alan tries to work through it all, he is armed with a flashlight while being chased through the dark and deadly woods by "The Taken" which have taken over the townspeople and controlling vehicles and machinery around Bright Falls.

So what made Alan Wake so scary?

Siren Says: Alan Wake is almost a total package.  While it is missing some classic survival horror mainstays, it makes up for that in story and being able to make the gamer get so engrossed in the game, that they forget where they are and in that instant are actually living Alan Wake's life.  The sound effects and the constant feeling that you are alone while traversing through the dark and lonely woods of Bright Falls makes Alan Wake one of the most bone chilling games I ever played.  In fact, I was never able to beat it, because of that.  Everytime I go to put it into my 360, I stop, because all I can hear is "The Taken" in my head.

Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem

Originally developed for the N64, Silicon Knight's Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem later found it's way onto Nintendo's tiny console, the Gamecube in late 2002.  This mind freakingly extraodinary entry into the survival horror genre won quick praise from gamers and the media.

Throughout Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem you play as the Buffy resembling, Alexandra Roivas who is attempting to figure out why her grandfather was murdered.  Alexandra arrives at her grandfather's sprawling mansion and discovers a book titled, "The Tome of Eternal Darkness".   Upon reading the book, you find yourself reliving the stories in the book.  There are many characters throughout different time periods that you must play as in order to discover the secrets behind Alexandra's ancestors.

During the gameplay, Eternal Darkness incorporates the "Sanity Meter".  The "Sanity Meter" represents the character's overall sanity.  When certain events are triggered in the game, the character's meter will start to go down causing the player to experience some sanity effects.  Some of the sanity effects are bleeding walls, the volume appearing to be turned down on your television and a fake volume meter is displayed on your screen, and the appearance of monsters that upon being attacked, disappear into thin air as if they were never there.  There are a host of other sanity effects besides the one's mentioned.

So what makes Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem frightening?

Siren Says:  Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem is perhaps one of the most underrated games of it's time.  This game had it all, along with the ability to cause the gamer to question their own sanity when the sanity effects began.  I remember playing this game at night and having to turn the light on, because I thought I heard a woman's voice and here it was from the game's sanity effects.

Resident Evil

Sony's Playstation was the first console to show off Capcom's new and unforgettable zombie loving series, Resident Evil.  One of the truest forms of the survival horror genre to ever be released, eventually showed up on the Sega Saturn and received an incredible graphic makeover for the Nintendo Gamecube.

The one that started it all, Resident Evil introduced zombies so terrifying that one undead beast was enough to make gamer's find themselves sitting in a warm yellow puddle and dogs so shockingly disturbing, that it left gamer's gripping their controllers out of sheer terror.

Gamers found themselves taking control of either the powerhouse Chris Redfield or the smaller, but faster Jill Valentine while they were investigating the mysterious murders within Raccoon City that led them to a seemingly harmless abandoned mansion.  Upon entry, Jill and Chris along with the other members of STARS Alpha team quickly discover that something more sinister and deadly has begun taking over. 

With every door that needed to be opened and the creeking that followed, Resident Evil showed signs at the very beginning that this game mastered everything a survival horror game should be and then some.

Siren Says:  Crows, dogs, zombies, and breaking glass.  This game terrified the sh*t out of me and still does.  I can't even gather the words to describe how bone chilling this game is to me.

Silent Hill 2

James Sunderland is lured to Silent Hill to figure out why he received a letter from his deceased wife Mary in Team Silent and Konami's Silent Hill 2 for the Playstation 2 and Silent Hill 2: Restless Dreams for the Xbox.

When entering the dreary and foggy town of Silent Hill, James meets a young woman who looks strikingly like his dead wife, Mary.  Maria is killed by the towering and freakishly scary Pyramid Head, but later reappears not knowing what James is talking about when he tries to figure out why the woman he just saw die, is sitting in front of him in a locked cell.  As he sets out to try and free Maria who begins to talk about his life with Mary, James comes across disturbing nurses and of course the huge knife wielding Pyramid Head.  One sound of the knife sliding across the floor as Pyramid Head loomed closer sent gamers running for the closest door.

While wondering through the many creepy places of Silent Hill, James discovers a radio that seems to locate enemies when they are within close range.  One sound of static and gamers find themselves fumbling to switch off their flashlight and wondering which direction the enemy is coming from.

Silent Hill 2 boasts six different endings depending on your actions taken throughout the game.

So what makes Silent Hill so creepy?

Siren Says:  It's not exactly the scariest game out there, but it is definitely one of the creepiest with the game's overall sound.  Silent Hill 2 has the ability to get into one's head with just the sound of Pyramid Head's knife scraping across the floor.  That game still makes me shudder and I could never finish it, because of that.

There you have it.  That is the list of games that are so bone chilling I will never play them again.  Here are what Gamerciders had to say about their most bone chilling played games.

"Condemned: Criminal Origins.   Scariest use of an abandoned mannequin warehouse EVER. Playing that game always puts me on edge.

Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem. That game was da SHIZNAT back in the day. I can't believe how awesome the "Sanity Meter" was and the weird and effed up stuff the game would do to you" -CoyAndChris 

"Fatal Frame 1 and 2. My wife and I played Fatal Frame 2 while we were house sitting for a friend out in Penn. He lived in a very nice gated community with a huge deer population/problem. We played it at night with the lights off and there were deer wandering around the yard and looking into the windows. Scared the hell out of both of us so we shut the game off." -Super Kev 1000

" Not much of a Horror genre gamer but Dead Space made me jump a few times." -Chinese Baboon

"Dead Space puts me on edge more than anything, and the latest game to give me a scare was Alan Wake. That stupid old woman pops up in your vision when you're not expecting it. I think I have a video clip of that somewhere." -Dateranoth

"Just playing Dead space now and it has made me jump, the splicer in Bioshock that would show up right behind you would get me every time. " -Dubl Duece

"This is a game another member of Gamercide can relate to as well, since we both played it together at the same time. Condemned 2 was the game that I have gotten quite a few scares out of. The lights off and the TV very loud makes this a truly horrifying experience. David (Bacon V3) and I would start the game at the exact same moment and go through the game simultaneously while we chatted in party chat. There were a lot of screams to be heard. I think I probably screamed my loudest due to fear because of that game. Needless to say, neither I nor David have finished it yet." -SycoYAFF

" Fear. Nuff said." -MajorWhiteBoy

"The beginning of Bioshock was pretty creepy, but not the entire game.  Dead Space however... I never completed the game, lol" -Skylark95

" The only game I can really recall making me jumpy was Condemned: Criminal Origins. The way the game was pretty much always dark, as well as focusing heavily on close combat and tight spaces to navigate in made the experience a lot more creepy. Not to mention the mannequin level, and the way the enemies would pop out at you constantly when you least expect it." -Elite Effect

"I don't think there's been a game that has truly ever scared me, but there are plenty that have made me jump. When the berserker made its appearance in Gears of War was a memorable moment for me. I literally jumped when it busted through the wall the first time. Other games like Bioshock, the Resident Evil series and a few others have done that to me too, but it wasn't a lasting or deep scare that went beyond being surprised and caught off guard." -Pogre

The Suffering is just plain creepy. The enemies are made up of different things, like hypodermic needle fingers, and blade arms. With Amnesia, it's all about the immersion and the fact you can't defend yourself. There are no weapons. You must use a cool head, and find other ways through the game without dying or losing your sanity."       -PeeKnuckle

" The scariest game I've ever played was Max Payne. That dream sequence was too creepy. Next on the list would be The Darkness. As soon as I got my darkness power, I got a pit in my stomach and got scared as hell." -eminutia

"I don't realy play scary games lol.... cause i know ill just turn it off.  Last game that made me do that was Doom 3..... I know..I'm a sissy." -Kira Onime

"I know this may sound weird but a level in Banjo Kazooie scared me. The one with the big metal shark, you swim through a tube and you can see his face at the end, I couldn't finish it because I couldn't get close enough. Around the time Golden Eye came out I started having a fear of first person shooters and it took me years to get over it. I'm really not sure why but just sitting an anticipating an enemy coming around the corner made stuff leak down my leg." -Green Grenades

" The game that scared me the most was the original Resident Evil. There were so many moments where you would get attacked unexpectedly. You approach a door to open it it, only to have a zombie break it down just as you get there. The moment where the dogs crash through the hallway windows was another one. The only game that could even come close to Resident Evil for me was Bioshock, but having preceded that game by almost a decade Resident Evil holds a place in my heart as the first and best horror game I've played.

Another had to be in metal gear solid. The fight with Psycho Mantis has to be one of the first gaming moments to break that barrier between game and reality. The way it seemed to know things (by way of reading the memory card) was the freakiest moment for me. For a game like MGS to actually get me to shut the game down because i was so freaked out is a a feeling i'll never forget, and what is a developers purpose but to create a game that will create a lasting impact that won't be forgotten. " -LGWyant

"Resident Evil was the first, Fear was the second, then Condemned came along and topped them all. The atmosphere in that game was intense and nothing is scarier than your own imagination. They used both those elements to make the ultimate scare factor. If you have not played the first Condemned, try it with ALL the lights out and surround sound. On Halloween. In a empty house. At night." -towncryer

" Condemned 1 (not 2!) and RE1. RE1 I think was the scariest. I never beat it, sh*t just kept flying out of closets at me and I couldn't take it lol." -Banstyle

" Bioshock 1 gave me a chill, I remember I was doing something one time in a corner and out of no where I turn around (after I thought I killed everyone) i saw a damn clown looking dude. I was like confused and actually jumped in my seat." -UND3RxOATH