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on pc, it's system shock 2 - there is an awful sense of isolation in an oppressive and cold atmosphere (even if you make it ok, you're still stuck alone on a spaceship in space), there is excellent use of sound and a horrible wrongness to the enemies, and there is also quite limited resource, and watching your ammo slowly drain away is like watching your blood pump out of an open wound...
i'd put the marine campaign of aliens vs predator (the original, not 2) as a second, while it doesn't really evoke true fear in me, the darkness and quick, lethal enemies combine nicely with the blip blip heartbeat pulse of the motion sensor
the problem with horror games, like horror movies, is that the best they ever manage - or even attempt - is to make the viewer jump, to shock them... and shock is as far from fear as i am from my target healthy weight... tapping into the player's own sense of self-preservation, evoking that true sense of fear, it takes a lot more than scary monsters jumping out of the shadowsÂ
The "fright moments" in DOOM 3 and F.E.A.R. became very predictable. In DOOM 3, if a room is wide and fairly clear you are most likely in for a fight. If the room is a narrow corridor or a ventilation shaft, expect a sudden but non-threatening fright such as a dead body falling from above. In F.E.A.R. almost every Alma moment was in a long hallway. I don't think fear has to be threat...I would like to see a game that is made to scare without a single enemy to kill...now that would require some serious artistic direction.
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Although Bioshock looks like it'll capture that whole "You're hopelessly trapped here" feeling. As for a scary game I have played, System shock 2 got me with the robotic midwife machines :P
silent hill 3, silent hill 4 (the room) and clive barker's undying
edit: and alone in the dark series was damn scary back in the days. they don't feel so scary anymore cos they look like crap and don't have any lighting effects (meaning no decent darkness effects)Â
When I was younger games like The seventh Guest, The Eleventh Hour And Hell used to freak me out a bit and for some reason so did Chronicles of the sword.adzzy
Oh yeah, I remember Hell :D Anyone remember Sanitarium that was a freaky good game!!
Condemned,Undying.Zillaschool
Yeah, Condemned was another good one.
if you say "without F.E.A.R's":)
then i'd say that condemned and the two labs in S.T.A.L.K.E.R are as scary as hell,doom 3 wasn't scary in most of it(except the spiders,HOLY COW THE LITTLE BASTARDS!)
Penumbra: Overture is very scary, and it's not BOO! scares. There are far fewer monsters than in most horror games. You will find one or two every so often, then maybe a group of weak ones, etc. There are quite a few moments when you know an enemy is near, and since enemies are actually hard to kill and you don't find one or two in every room you are actually afraid of them. If you like games with that type of horror then I recommend downloading the demo, and if you like it then get the game.
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EDIT: Oh, and once you get into the cave place I would suggest lowering the gamma so you can't see anything without your torch or glowstick. So you are forced to use your torch, but you don't want it to run out.Â
PC games that scared the **** out of me (in order of level of fear, 1st being the most scary):
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1. Aliens versus Predator (especially as Marine)
2. Blair Witch Volume 1: Rustin Parr
3. Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines (Ocean House Hotel quest)
4. Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth
5. The Suffering
6. Doom 3 (partially)
7. Half-Life 2 ("We don't go to Ravenholm" level)
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