For me it was Dead Space 2 when I was 12-ish. For reference, at this point the most gruesome/gorey/violent media I was exposed to was the Halo 3 Flood levels and the original 2 Alien movies.
I had way too much fun playing it to be traumatized by it at the time, although when i was old enough to understand the horror of the whole “your memories and experience becoming food for a god-like being that has absolutely zero respect for your existance”, that did inform my perspective of other media such as Evangelion or Childhood’s end when I watched them for the 1st time.
What was your equivalent to this? I’ve heard the Resident Evil games are quite common for this but I want to hear your perspective.
You must log in or register to comment.
My brother and I used to play a game called Splatterhouse on Turbografx-16. It was humorously horrifying, given the highly pixellated gore on screen.
That game caused a lot of bullshit with those parent groups and whatnot. Definitely one of the better TG-16 games for sure.
Then Carmageddon and Grand Theft Auto came along a few years later lol…
Doom 3 when I was a young teen, although much later it was Amnesia: The Dark Descent that got me more interested in horror games.
I really wanted to enjoy doom 3, but even 20 years later I haven’t finished the main campaign. Too many cheap jumpscares and the switching to the flashlight just to see, really put me off in the end. However, it was a pretty game for the time.
Amnesia is great, I haven’t finished that one either but it’s the good kind of horror, much more creepy and slow-burning.
Slenderman. The OG. I didn’t like horror of any type and was always so scared. I was in early college years and chaperoning for a church trip and the two kids in my room were high schoolers I was friends with. They wanted to okay it but we’re too scared. Idk what, something about them being too scared to play and making me do it gave me the courage to. Slenderman just looked so goofy in this game. I finally couldn’t take it seriously. These two kids were like cowering behind the hotel bed though lol.
Later it was Amnesia: the Dark Descent. It was tough but I got through it. I played it during 4he middle of the day with the lights on lol. I would pause whenever anything scary happened but I got through it!
I never played horror games when I was a kid, but Dead Space and Amnesia: The Dark Descent were the two games that really solidified what I wanted out of a horror game. Having the ability to defend yourself instead of running is still something that makes or breaks a horror game for me.
Dead Space still scares the hell out of me.
The body horror has always been one of the best things about Dead Space, the creatures are just horrifying
Resident Evil 1. I saw bits and pieces of my older brother playing it on the PS1, but was too scared to watch very long. I remember the iconic opening up to the zombie looking over its shoulder and then standing up right in front of you.
I rented it years later for the Gamecube and tried to play it while my little brother watched. I was playing super slowly and wasting all my ammo on every zombie because I was so scared. I remember one part vividly, I was in the long hallway where you pick up the arrowhead and theres a zombie just around the corner. I could hear the zombie so I baited him down the hallway so I could shoot him from a distance. I started shooting when he was off-camera and coming towards me, and when he appeared at the bottom of the screen and his head rotting head being very large in the perpective, I said “woah look at his head” at the exact moment before I got a headshot and the zombies head exploded. Me and my brother were really shocked, so I just paused and quit out. That was enough resident evil for me.
More years later I got resident evil for the DS for cheap at EB games and it became the first game I ever beat repeatedly for different endings and faster times, eventually leading me to now say that horror is my favorite genre.
Also, I never got into Silent Hill as a kid but since playing them in recent years I think they perfectly encapsulate my love for that age of gaming and survival horror in general.
And The Evil Within 1 is the best survival-horror action game ever made. In all its extreme jankiness and difficulty. I did a challenge run of no keys, no upgrades, no cheese in the cheese spots, single segment, no dlcs items, AKUMU difficulty and got 5 deaths. Shit is hard.
Silent Hill was the first video game I really played all the way through on my own (and was also on the first console we ever owned). I had played Mario, Sonic, Donkey Kong, Goldeneye, etc. at my friends’ houses, but that was the game that really started it all! I was already into horror stuff at that point, so it was right up my alley, though. I still think of Pyramid Head on foggy days.
Related, but PT was a fun experience when it first came out. Played it once on my own and then once with a group of friends!
I played Silent hill with my friend, whenever one of us got scared we threw the controller to the other one, there were times that we were playing 10 seconds each.
Same here! Silent hill 2 and 3. We usually played F-zero x or Diddy Kong racing to ease the atmosphere before wrapping up for the night. But it was so sparking creepy to go home at 3 in the night still…
I was about 13 so we played after school and before we had to go home for tea, it was super creepy though and I still feel uneasy in the fog.
Fatal Frame II: Crimson Butterfly
The old Japanese village scene with the super dark graveyard area. Somehow the image still stuck hard in my head.
Parasite Eve and Silent Hill 1. I became a big Silent Hill fan and then eventually came to play and enjoy some of the Resident Evil series.
These games came out in very late teenage-hood for me, but the amount of nights piled around the TV with the bros, pounding beers and bongers, and scaring ourselves…oh man the memories. Those games were absolute rippers, Parasite Eve 2 especially (except for that end boss)
What do you mean by formative horror? A horror game that had ultimately planted your interest in the horror genre?
That, or really anything that you were exposed to at an early enough age to influence your tastes or how you contextualized the themes it explored later in your life.
Eternal Darkness for the Gamecube. Got me more into Lovecraftian horror and horror in general.
It was a little later than ‘childhood’ because I didn’t really get into gaming until I was in college, but I would have to say Outlast was my foundation when it came to horror games. I had so much fun playing it over and over, and I still revisit to this day, even through I know it like the back of my hand.
Oddly enough, because I hold Outlast in such high regard, it’s kinda of difficult for me to play walking sim-esque horror games that I truly enjoy because I have yet to find one that give me the same sense of satisfaction while playing it (the only exception being the first two Amnesia games).Phantasmagoria by Sierra Online.
F.E.A.R.
I remember when I first rented FEAR at blockbuster, that section of the hallway at the start is so memorable.
I don’t remember specifics but it’s when you’re going through the building and keep seeing the little girl, then you get to a cluttered hallway and I think it was set ablaze and you were thrown back by her
I remember having just the demo installed for the longest time and just playing that brief section of the game over and over. It was just so damn cinematic and awesome.
FEAR was so darn good.
A seminal classic!
Eyes
Growing up with the NES, horror games weren’t really a thing.
Some were spooky themed, but I doubt they qualify as horror by any standard. Like Castlevania, Ghost & Goblins and such.
The first real horror game I remember playing was Phantasmagoria. But I was a teen at that point, so it’s not really from my childhood.
Edit: Remembered my actual first horror game.
friday the 13th on nes is kinda spooky, especially the music
