First game that ever scared you?

[NobodyHere]

Pretty it would be Spore for me, specially the sea monster.

 

[Aldia Aldia]

GTA San Andreas.
There's something about how the entire world of that game behaves that just shivers me timbers. Add to that the whole "blue hell" (the game's limbo) that I accidentally found while messing around with cheats.

Rockstar has a very specific kind of liminal horror to their games.

 

[breremarer]

Ocarina of Time for me as well

Funny enough, I am the third Ocarina in this thread and with a third different reason! Lol. It was the Re-Dead for me. Those things terrified me as a kid! I'd have to rush through the sections in future Castle Town, and the Graveyard was a real test of endurance for me! That game's creepy, man!

Ocarina was the first time a game spooked me as a kid, but for genuine 'I need to take a break before I keep playing' fear? That's Fatal Frame II, when I first played with my brother, at like 12 or 13. He and I still debate to this day whether we were more scared of it or Silent Hill 3, and all I know is that both scared the absolute shit out of us.

It gets more uncommon as an adult, but the last time a game gave me nightmares was Outlast II. I barely got through that one.

 

[Deleted member 466]

Resident Evil 3, I wasn't even playing it lmao.

 

[facsimile]

Can't really remember the first, but I'd say Shivers and its sequel are both "scary" games I most enjoyed playing in life.

 

[Pandaprewmaster325]

Silent Hill origins , i was 6 and cried trying to sleep but couldn't because that burning house section was stuck in my head......years later i play Silent Hill 1 and what do you know i have by far the scariest experience more than trying to pass some hole on the roof that if you fell into you are done

 

[Ikagura]

Probably Half-Life.


Don't mock me, it was realistic for its time.

 

[GuyZero32k4]

Resident Evil Outbreak.
Kinda of the game, kinda of not. Told this story in another thread. Read on.:

I'd be playing this game on my surround sound system full blast. Didn't give a shit what the neighbors thought. Loud enough gunshots would sound loud. Bass would shake the floor. You'd feel like you're in it. Hear zombie coming toward character from rear speaker. I'm like "OK fucker, I'm gonna end you!" As I'm making the character turn around to start shooting, I feel something large hitting the back of my right ear. I went stuck on stupid like I was having a stroke, one side frozen. Hands locked and I dropped the controller. On screen David is getting chomped by a zombie. I turn and look it was my cat who'd jumped on a shelf behind where I was sitting and tapped my ear for attention. I'm like " OH YOU..... LITTLE....... FUCKER!"

 

[Shihainin]

Watching my older sister play Fatal Frame II when I was like 7-ish lol.
Made me scared of the dark when I was a kid, but I've grown out of it now that I'm older, and I've actually played the game; it's been one of my favorite horror games now. It's oddly nostalgic to think about none-the-less.

 

[Lee__Kanker]

As a kid I was scared of 1st person games in general, iirc I had brahma force on the ps1 as a kid, too intense! It's like they're hitting me for real! haha

Post automatically merged: Apr 16, 2026

Watching my older sister play Fatal Frame II when I was like 7-ish lol.
Made me scared of the dark when I was a kid, but I've grown out of it now that I'm older, and I've actually played the game; it's been one of my favorite horror games now. It's oddly nostalgic to think about none-the-less.
View attachment 174881

I remember my cousin playing FF1 in a dark room when I was 7ish, the rope man was so scary!!
Before that he played Max Payne 1 and he was in that part where he sees his family dead, mustve been the first time I saw a dead baby in anything

 

[BrawlMan]

GTA San Andreas.
There's something about how the entire world of that game behaves that just shivers me timbers. Add to that the whole "blue hell" (the game's limbo) that I accidentally found while messing around with cheats.

Rockstar has a very specific kind of liminal horror to their games.

Wait until you get to Manhunt.

 

[Lee__Kanker]

Wait until you get to Manhunt.

GTA San Andreas.
There's something about how the entire world of that game behaves that just shivers me timbers. Add to that the whole "blue hell" (the game's limbo) that I accidentally found while messing around with cheats.

Rockstar has a very specific kind of liminal horror to their games.

Haha, I remember Manhunt 2 having the honor of being one of the very few games to ever get banned in italy, even if it was only for like a year

Yeah rockstart used to have a bit of a knack for horror, they made those dingy empty american towns of cities where it feels like something horrible is gonna jump you or something supernatural's gonna happen

 

[BrawlMan]

Haha, I remember Manhunt 2 having the honor of being one of the very few games to ever get banned in italy, even if it was only for like a year

Yeah rockstart used to have a bit of a knack for horror, they made those dingy empty american towns of cities where it feels like something horrible is gonna jump you or something supernatural's gonna happen

Even then, that still didn't stop from the uncut PC version from releasing nearly everywhere else in the world. Rockstar pretty much sees both of these games as an old shame. The second game I sort of get, but this doesn't really bother me. Most of the original people who made these games aren't even there anymore.

 

[Lokgamer]

I was about 7 when I played Silent Hill 1; considering I was a scared boy... well, I didn't have fun. But for some reason I finished it, and kept playing after that, because there was something captivating about it.

 

[SylvanSwordstress]

Metroid Fusion. I had nightmares about the SA-X for weeks.

 

[Stardust Queen]

Ironically it was New Super Mario Bros, the first game I ever played. It's the game over screen that got me as a kid.

like its not just me that finds this disproportionately eerie right?

 

[facsimile]

Ironically it was New Super Mario Bros, the first game I ever played. It's the game over screen that got me as a kid.

like its not just me that finds this disproportionately eerie right?

Same energy:

 

[Merkabruh]

It wasn't a game but a whole console startup, as the PS1 startup sound that scared my younger self, which made me want not want to play the system for a long time

 

[Xdqwerty Xdqwerty]

FNAF

 

[Grumpy_Old_Man]

Most probably the arcade game Sinistar with quotes like "Beware, I live" or "Run, coward".

 

[Iracunda]

This is gonna sound so silly, but when I was like 5 or 6 I HATED big head modes in games. I think big eyes freaked me out lol.

 

[KamakoKamako's icon]

Some rooms in Metal Gear Solid 1, man that fucking Psycho Mantis music was some stuff alright, also most parts in any game were the music just stops, i swear to god that makes me sweat. Also most enemies with dark sclera, that just unnerves me the hell out.
View attachment 174771

"That's strange, there's no guards here..."
"..And what happened to the music?"

 

[Badseed Badseed]

The reality of life BEFORE video games was scary enough for me

 

[HiddenQueen]

Resident Evil III was the first game I was genuinely scared of.

The intro itself still unsettles me.

That intro setting up all that happened is incredible.

This unassuming, seemingly kid-friendly text-based RPG
View attachment 174723

Hudson Soft strikes again.

the atmosphere of silent hill 1 - i felt out of breath after playing it sometimes

Silent Hill 1 I played emulated on a school computer and the initial alley sequence freaked me out so bad in public.

Ocarina of Time for me as well lol I remember being terrified of the wallmasters in the Forest Temple, and also using a level skip cheat to go straight to Bongo Bongo and not deal with the Shadow Temple, it took me a while as a kid to gather the courage to go through it legitimately xD

Proud of you for getting there but yes, the Forest and Shadow Temples are incredible atmosphere spaces. Same with destroyed Hyrule Town.

This intro (and therefore the game) was the first thing that scare the shit out of me.

Holy shit it's Alone in the Dark.

I don't remember anymore
and I am easily scared

I could say Doom but I don't think it scared me honestly I never was a Horror game guy to begin with so I have no clue its been to long since a game scared me and I played Silent Hill 2 and 1 since I am a adult.

hm maybe Silent Hill 2 when my bro played it at my place when I was little.

I mostly caused me a scare and fear trough many Creepypasta stories I absorbed like a sponge back then.

Hey it's okay! I didn't pick a horror game but just went with the first memory of me being spooked.

Well, I was a kid in the early 2010s and that's when people realized it's pretty easy to make a scary game with a marketable character. The first game that scared me was probably FnaF

Which is fair, that game really does fix you in the 'you will be scared if you fuck up' position strongly.

God, I used to be scared AF watching my dad play DOOM and Resident Evil games

My only comfort was in knowing he was gonna kick ass

That's real sweet; my Dad helped me defeat King Thwomp in Mario 64 and also would kick our ass in Diddy Kong Racing.

As a child from the 2010s it'll probably have been Fnaf 2 I have a distinct memory of playing the demo in a hotel and getting scared of it lol

That's the one with the music box yeah?

A t-rex(or a dinosaur of some kind) that shows up out of nowhere in the first tomb raider, I weas watching my older brother play it and I started screaming when it suddenly showed up and it was very close to the screen.

First game to actually scare and properly creep me out was resident evil 1, though I played it after I finished 2. It was much creepier.

RE1 is awesome, finished it for the fourth time recently, it's fun to speedrun a little. But as for the T-Rex; was there music in TR 1? I feel when I tried it, it was a little creepy cus of how quiet the game could be.

House of the Dead and Resident Evil 2 in that exact order. Resident Evil 2 gave me nightmares for nearly 2 weeks.

House of the Dead 2 looks awesome when I see footage of it. I'm going through RE2 with my wife the first time and lost a whole chunk of my save due to getting fucked up by that big crocodile and not knowing the gimmick.

Harry Potter PS2 games and stealth sections scared the shit out of me when I was kid so much that I had to play game without sound.

I didn't know they had creepy bits back in the day based around stealth!

When i was a kid when i was playing mario world on snes next to me was a guy playing resident evil 2 the intro part where leo has to pass through a zombies that part scare me. Now i know that game was re2 because i remember that part. it's like a trauma to play horror video games to be honest or watch it next to kids

The opening run to the police station is so cool, it kinda makes me wish for more city parts in RE2 originally just to give a sense of scale.

I think it was either the Dianogas in Dark Forces or the Facehuggers in the Alien Trilogy demo. I really didn't like things getting up in my face.

I also remember nearly shitting myself the first time I encountered a shambler in Quake.

Later on though it was Resident Evil II - that I think was the first game that really stayed with me in terms of scariness. I only very recently played through it as a way to prove myself I wasn't scared of it - and it's a great game!

The Dianoga in Shadows of the Empire was my first Star Wars intense time. I think back on that game fondly and just started Dark Forces recently but I remember IG-88 freaking me the hell out as a boss fight in Shadows

Post automatically merged: Apr 24, 2026

Some rooms in Metal Gear Solid 1, man that fucking Psycho Mantis music was some stuff alright, also most parts in any game were the music just stops, i swear to god that makes me sweat. Also most enemies with dark sclera, that just unnerves me the hell out.
View attachment 174771

The music stopping is perfect.

Holy shit it's Alone in the Dark (again)!

Splatterhouse 3 gave me nightmares for days.

What's the setup of that one in particular?

I played Drakengard when I was quite young, and something about the writing and vibe really creeped me out. I actually put the game in a drawer for a while because I thought it might be evil.

Holy heck playing Drakengard one as a young kid must be incredibly intense. And yes, that game could make sense feeling evil playing it that young.

I think as kid it was a resident evil, as a teenager it was F.E.A.R. Files, I think it might have been Perseus mandate that had the crazy moments.

F.E.A.R the one with Alma and the shootin?

This nasty fucker from the Neversoft Spider-Man game:

Holy fuck that's metal and also him screaming 'dieeee' with that choked sound is so intense.

Post automatically merged: Apr 24, 2026

Pretty it would be Spore for me, specially the sea monster.

Games like Subnautica and DREDGE I see drew inspo from somewhere.

GTA San Andreas.
There's something about how the entire world of that game behaves that just shivers me timbers. Add to that the whole "blue hell" (the game's limbo) that I accidentally found while messing around with cheats.

Rockstar has a very specific kind of liminal horror to their games.

Oh heck yeah, liminal horror! That's rad to hear about, the unintended.

Funny enough, I am the third Ocarina in this thread and with a third different reason! Lol. It was the Re-Dead for me. Those things terrified me as a kid! I'd have to rush through the sections in future Castle Town, and the Graveyard was a real test of endurance for me!

That game's creepy, man!

Ocarina was the first time a game spooked me as a kid, but for genuine 'I need to take a break before I keep playing' fear? That's Fatal Frame II, when I first played with my brother, at like 12 or 13. He and I still debate to this day whether we were more scared of it or Silent Hill 3, and all I know is that both scared the absolute shit out of us.

It gets more uncommon as an adult, but the last time a game gave me nightmares was Outlast II. I barely got through that one.

While the modern choices are nifty, I have to focus in on being a fellow Ocarina lover and sufferer; I mentioned above but Castle Town in the future was such a shock to the younger me and I always thought the civilians who died in Ganondorf's rise were the Re-Dead's. My mind was world building effective ways to scare me.

Resident Evil 3, I wasn't even playing it lmao.

RE3 like Ocarina got a lot of play here, Nemesis putting in that work even when not playing it.

 

[Graw]

Super Metroid. Me and my cousin played through it together the first time. We didn't have a manual or anything so we just kind of made up our own stories about the enemies and bosses and stuff and would sit and try and freak eachother out whenever the other one was playing. Especially Maridia and the Wrecked Ship. I remember we spent a lot of time trying to get through Maridia and just the music, the environment and the weird monsters really creeped us both out.