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Scary parts in games that aren't meant to be scary

Gaiff

SBI’s Resident Gaslighter
Games like Bloodborne don't count.

Here's a few of mine.

Ocarina of Time, Bottom of the Well: This part used to freak me out, especially since being a kid, you did half the damage of adult Link. I would just run straight to the boss, kill it, get the Lens of Truth, save, and restart the console to get back to the start of the dungeon and leave. Didn't even backtrack myself.

Donkey Kong 64, Angry Aztec: In the second level, the desert one, there were some bananas hidden in pyramids that when collected would trigger a timer and some guy off screen would tell you, "Get Out!" and you had to rush to the exit through a maze before getting shot.

StarFox 64, Andross: The giant laughing head as soon as you pop into the arena scared the hell out of me. His voice was also unnerving.

Oblivion: Lots of those old tombs and underground lairs with skeletons and ghosts are a bit spooky. Skyrim never managed to capture that kind of atmosphere.

Halo, The Library: That level is complete shit but the build-up to the Flood was masterfully realized. After watching the footage of the dead marines, your objective pops up and it's just "Escape!"

I find those parts even more unsettling than full-blown horror games like Silent Hill or even Fatal Frame because I'm mentally prepared to get frightened in those games. I never expect anything to scare me in Zelda or Donkey Kong.
 
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Hrk69

Gold Member
This is the bane of my gaming experience

I mostly hate horror (mainly jumpscares, I don't mind gore at all) and dropped many games because it was too scary to continue.

Recently I tried continuing Returnal but I couldn't. Those 1st person sections are fucking scary

Now I'm taking it safe by playing Ocotopath Traveler 2 lol
 

Chuck Berry

Gold Member
Nintendo 64, the thread.

GIVaHhf.jpeg


Edit: I swear I didnt see you post about this ^ lol
 
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R6Rider

Gold Member
Shadlebridge Cradle in Thief: Deadly Shadows
Using theories of interactive horror design developed by Smith in 2000, the team sought to create the scariest level ever to appear in a game. They took influence from works such as House of Leaves, Session 9 and the Silent Hill series, and they studied mental asylums and reportedly haunted buildings for inspiration.

not too spooky, but the Pit in Escape From Butcher Bay.

EDIT: I guess I read the title as in games not meant to be scary instead of specifically the elements not meant to be.
 
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Urban

Member
That fucking Piano in Mario 64

I can think of plenty, but this will always be my number one:

SM4sS4s.gif


Simply in virtue of how damn effective it was, thanks not only to the masterful buildup but perfect execution of it all.

oh shit! i forgot about that. That scared the shit out of me back then!
 
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azertydu91

Hard to Kill
I don't really remember the details but there was one part of a scooby doo game when I was younger that scared the shit out of me.
It was a screamer when you open a sarcophagus and then a white/ghost face popped with a scream
, my memory is a bit hazy but maybe it will ring a bell for some of you.
 

nkarafo

Member
Out of bounds glitches.
This is an underrated comment.

Some of the most terrifying gaming moments for me were the unfinished/future WoW maps you weren't supposed to reach. I remember the old "Deadmines secret" video scaring the shit out of me. I also tried to reach more such areas myself in my own private server (as an admin) and noped out of almost every one before i could fully explore them. I don't know what it is about those areas that creep the hell out of me.

Speaking about unreachable/out of bounds/unfinished areas, "easter egg" areas can also sometimes be creepy in a similar way.
The Statue of Liberty secret
in GTA IV for instance. Imagine discovering it by casually exploring hard to reach areas, without knowing it exists beforehand.
 

El Muerto

Member
Ocarina of Time, the music in the fire temple. Shit creeped me out big time. Me and my brothers bought it day 1 from K-mart. Stayed up late and that music was playing. Super eerie hearing it when you're half awake. It was later patched out in the grey cartridges.
 

March Climber

Gold Member
Perfect dark multiplayer against bots. Get those boys difficulty high on perfect agent and mix their sims up. They'll Shoot at you moving backwards while crouching through vents and shooting fast as fuck😂
I really, really hope this new Perfect Dark brings back the first game's multiplayer with tons of challenges and bots. Literally gave so much life to what should have been such a simple multiplayer mode.
 

Drell

Member
I'm not easily afraid of fictionnal things. I saw resident evil 2 and laughed at it when you got eaten by zombies in my early teenage years. And to these days, horror games/movies always bored me more than they scared me. Probably because that's not the kind of emotions I'm looking for in a game.
Nintendo 64, the thread
But despite this, the souless statues you can summon in majora's mask made me uncomfortable, even more after knowing the ben creepypasta. But not anymore. Instead I found something older on the same platform, same series: It's that forest temple theme in OOT. What the hell with these voices humming along with the flute?

Back in the day I was discovering this temple and there was this room with this puzzle where you had to push blocks and climb. At the top were these skeleton floating heads with a blue aura making weird noise the whole time you were solving the puzzle. This along with this music still makes me feel uneasy.
 

March Climber

Gold Member
But despite this, the souless statues you can summon in majora's mask made me uncomfortable, even more after knowing the ben creepypasta. But not anymore. Instead I found something older on the same platform, same series: It's that forest temple theme in OOT. What the hell with these voices humming along with the flute?

Back in the day I was discovering this temple and there was this room with this puzzle where you had to push blocks and climb. At the top were these skeleton floating heads with a blue aura making weird noise the whole time you were solving the puzzle. This along with this music still makes me feel uneasy.
Nintendo 1st party devs had some inner darkness that just about fully faded away during the Gamecube generation. It oddly coincided with the death of Sega consoles.
 
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