Calling all gamers! You know that game? The one where you have been playing for hours, days, weeks, months, and all of the sudden, something happens, and you are scared out of your mind. Scarred for life – or at least for the duration of the game.
Reddit asked its users to share those moments, and thus this list was created. Take a look, but BEWARE: You may encounter some spoilers below.
1. Thunder clap
Playing original Diablo and no lie, about to kill Diablo when a loud thunder clap occurred and shut off my power and pc.
2. I’d scream too
I was younger, probably around 12, and at my neighbor’s house. We were playing Super Smash Bros, but neither of us were very good at it. We didn’t know much about the game. Anyway, all of a sudden, the power goes out, leaving the room completely pitch black. And at that same moment, on the screen, “sudden death” appears out of nowhere and we both scream.
3. Cringe and shudder
My little brother told me about the time when a friend of his was looking over his save files for his Playstation. He looked at an over 300 hour almost maxed out save file of Final Fantasy 7 and hit a button. “Do you want to delete this Save File”. My little brother tensed up and said very carefully, “Whatever you do, do not select yes…” the friend said “What, yes?” hits random buttons… and the Save File is gone.
I cringe and shudder just thinking about it.
4. Beginning of the end
Playing games with my son, who’s 8, and we’re playing Rocket League. I always try to give him a chance to win … until a couple of weeks back. He’s up 2-1, I haven’t been easy on him. And as time dwindles away I’m busting my butt, doing my best to tie the score. I always keep it close, but sometimes I let him win, sometimes I win (Kid’s gotta learn how to take a loss, y’know?).
Except … I can’t score. Little dude’s saving shots, keeping the ball away from me, I’m missing hits, everything.
He wins 2-1. He’s all smiles, does a great job treating the win like a loss — meaning not running his mouth or anything. On the outside, I’m smiling, having a good time, but on the inside is a mixture of frustration, proudness, and general what the heck because this is it. The beginning of the end.
5. Horror film
Playing the first Sims game when I was like 9 years old with some friends, I covered a room in rugs because it looked neat. Turned on a fire because it was cozy. Immediately, the whole room was set ablaze like the rugs were soaked in oil, no gradual fire catching like in the Sims 2 onwards. The parents of the family were trapped and died, the kids on the upper floor couldn’t leave the building because the fire was on the way, we couldn’t change to building or shopping or click any commands (not even speed up) because it was banned during fires. My friends and I were horrified and had to watch them die for like, 5 minutes straight until the fire completely died out.
6. Ghost of repairman past
In the first Sims, randomly, the repairman passed away while fixing my dishwasher. From that point forward, every time I called for a repairman, his ghost would come by and fix my stuff.
Wasn’t expecting that at all.
7. Vivid memory
Playing Resident Evil in the dark and seeing that damn dog break through the window!
I can remember everything about that moment.
8. “Gary”
The vault in Fallout 3 where it’s just full of dudes that say “Gary” scared the crap out of me back in the day. Not sure why, was just uncomfortable.
9. Scary is still scary
Going down that ladder in the first F.E.A.R.
Not the scariest moment in gaming, but it was my first horror game.
10. Pokemon
My first shiny Pokemon was a Graveler. It used explode….
11. Sweating the small stuff
At university I would invite my friend around to play Outlast about 1 night a week until it got completed. For the duration of the game I endured all jump scares stoically, solid as a rock. Except one moment where my character was outside and a freaking leaf flew across the screen. Fell off my chair in fright. Since then if it is ever windy on an Autumn day I can guarantee a smart comment from my friend.
12. Don’t be wasteful
When I accidentally killed my horse in Skyrim. :'(
The first time it happened, I actually screamed. Then I skinned it because my first character isn’t the type to waste resources.
13. Never saw it swimming
In Resident Evil 4, I was just shooting the water at the end of a pier because I thought I’d get the fish.
When that big fish came up and ate me, I actually almost crapped myself.
14. But only a bit
When I was 11 Halo CE came out. I don’t play horror games, and didn’t expect anything like the flood was going to pop up. It creeped me out a bit how closed in the library level was… it was a bit scary to 11 year old me.
15. Bitter
My sister unplugged my Battlefront II save file when I was saving to the card and it got corrupted. She wanted to watch TV.
I had hundreds of hours of stats on that account. I’m still not over it.
16. But only the ankles
There was an evil hamster in the Hamtaro videogame that used to give me nightmares. I was convinced he would emerge from the baseboards and stab my ankles.
The “water” part of the original amnesia.
17. It knows me
Metal Gear Solid 2 when Raiden is running around naked and the game starts “glitching”, there was a part where it says not to sit so close to the TV and you should get some rest or something along those lines… it was 3am and I was sitting right in front of the TV. I just shut the game off.
18. Nope
When I was in middle school I got MYST for my DS. It’s totally silent except for possible machines you turned on or clues. In one building there were these books. You open them and there are screens inside with fuzzy moving images of people talking in creepy, old radio-like voices. NOPE.
19. That’s not creepy at all
Alien Isolation. Medical Bay. When a person sends you to look for something in an area where the alien is actively searching for you. You can’t just hide and wait for it to go away. It will not go away. It waits. For you. Because it LEARNS.
Took me a month to beat that part.
Then the Hive level.
Took me more than a year to beat Alien Isolation.
Recommended.
20. Haunting
Being up 14-1 round in CS:GO only for the opposing team to win every single round after that to win the game. It was terrifying and I still think about it often.
21. Look away
That part in Dead Space 2 with the laser in the eyeball.
Anything eye related makes me freak out, it’s as if my eyeballs don’t want to see their kin being hurt in any way.
22. Real vs. Fake
Condemned. Minus the hallucinations, the mannequin sequence in that game was so well designed. The AI is basically designed to move ever so slightly right when they are about to leave your line of sight and make noise when you’re not looking.
When the game has you going around smacking mannequins just to make sure they aren’t real you know it’s done a good job of getting under your skin.
23. That’s normal
Animal Crossing for the GameCube. There was a thing that let you visit a friend’s town by sticking their memory card in the other slot. When you visited it was really aggressive about warning you not to turn off the game while in the other town.
Yep that happened. It was an accident.
My character when I got the game to boot up again was a changed little villager. Where once was a happy face was two black pits for eyes and a mouth in perpetual scream. And all my money was gone. Turned the game off and cried in fear.
24. Travesty
The first thing that sprung to mind is hotel basement in The Last of Us. Up until that point in the game you had never not had a partner or two, and then suddenly you are alone in a pitch black pit of monsters.
But that aside, the real answer is the entirety of PT. It’s a horror classic and it’s an absolute travesty that it’s no longer available for download.
25. Extensive
I was 8 when I got Ocarina of Time. Those freaking zombies you have to get passed to get the sun song and leave the temple of time as adult link have scarred me to this day.
26. Psych
Eternal Darkness on GameCube.
I’m 17 playing this while home alone on a stormy night. My sanity meter is ratcheting up. My pet cat has a habit of playing with the cables behind the TV.
Enter a new room, and the video drops from the screen, goes black, says “VID 1” in green at the top. “Screw you cat!” Go to look behind the TV to fix things. Lightning. Look behind TV, and the cables are still plugged in. Thunder. Blood curdling scream from TV. I jump, hit my head, and have to get a new pair of pants.
Why? Why make me think there are problems with my hardware? Ohhh to make me drop my guard and absolutely terrify me in ways I never expected to be scared.
27. Espanol
That moment when you queue on US East in Dota 2 and your team spams the chat in Spanish .
28. Always save
40 minutes of skyrim without saving, getting killed by a trap.
29. Piano man
That damn piano in Mario 64.
I can hear it in my head right now, stomping across the floor with its chomping teeth. It pretends to be a normal piano, and even when you know it’s not, it still scares you when it comes alive. I think it’s because I can never quite tell how close I have to get before it happens.
30. “tssssss”
Whenever I hear a “tssssssss” behind me in Minecraft.
31. Hallucinations
Max Payne where he has the hallucination with the baby crying and his wife screaming. Still gives me nightmares.
32. Cut scenes
Any difficult section in a game with unskippable cutscenes before it.
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