Question Of The Month Reader Responses: Issue #260

In issue 258, we asked readers what the scariest game they've ever played is. Their replies were a surprising mix of survival-horror classics and some more modern scares. Here are some of the responses.

Scares In Space:

• The scariest game I've ever played has to be Dead Space. I've always been a big horror game fan, and I was eager to play when it came out. Playing the original Dead Space was like going back in time to original horror games. It was filled with great scares and horrifying enemies. But, what was truly scary was how the protaginist dealt with his psychological issues, and you were right there along for the ride. It was as if the character was falling apart as you went, and it was terrifying to think that it might just not be the necromorphs that tore you apart, but the character's own mind.
  
  David DeGolier
• By far, the first Dead Space. Instead of the traditional "come at you from behind or straight ahead" approach, enemies in Dead Space came at you from all directions. Whether above or below, air ducts or floor vents, the game kept you on your toes. Add in the creepiest version of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star and the infinite cold reality of the fact that you are floating in space with nowhere to run, and you have an experience that leaves you afraid to play in the dark, and without company.
  
  Tim Slape
• The scariest game I’ve ever played was Dead Space 2. Having to stab myself in the eye with a needle literally made me shudder and caused my hand to jerk, which in turn made me perform the move wrong and killed me. This was one of the best games of all time.
  
  Alexander Cooper
• The scariest game I have ever played was Dead Space III. The scariest part about the game was playing it with my fiancé. He would randomly gasp over the mic and make me freak out. Also, when Issac and John start working together, and then John starts hallucinating, I was freaking out, asking him, "Do you see it?!" He would say no, and I thought he was lying. Then I went into the other room and we switched controllers, and realized that the two characters had completely different perspectives. It added depth, which was amazing! It also added to the fear, because I never knew when I would be thrown back in that world without my fiancé to fight by my side.
  
  Amy Viehweg

Residential Zone:

• The scariest video game I have ever played is definitely a toss up between Resident Evil 2 on the N64 and Resident Evil 4 on PS2. Both were before the actiony third-person shooter period of RE, both made you hate when you missed a shot, and they both had the damn dogs.
  
  Jahlen Smalls
• Resident Evil 2 demo I had as a kid on PlayStation One. It was a long demo like they were back then, and I always played at night when it was darkest.
  
  Adam Fenton

Prepare To Meet Your Doom:

• Doom 3! To this day, playing that game alone in the dark with the sound up (or better yet, with headphones on) – you had better shut and lock your door, because any kids, family, or friends can sneak up on you and make those frights all too real. One of the only games out there to reward your curiosity for exploring with a fright so powerful that if you aren't on heart meds already, you will be soon after!
  
  Ian Smith
• My scariest game would have to be the original version of Doom 3.  It's beyond outdated now, but having to switch between my shotgun and a flashlight – some times in total darkness – had my heart racing. Throw in the ambush scares and tight quarters, and then flick off the lights and you have a supremely scary game for its time and even today.
  
  Tony Cassesse

Eternally Eerie:

• Eternal Darkness gets my vote for the ingenious way they pulled off the sanity effects. I hadn't bothered to read anything about the game, and wasn't prepared for it at all! So there I am, lights off, volume low, 2:00am, and the whispering starts. It barely registered at first, then progressively started to gnaw at my attention. I remember pausing the game to listen to the house to see where it was coming from. Silence. Resume playing, and it came back. It was creepy, and amplified the tension of the game exponentially. When I finally did figure it out, it made the game that much more compelling, knowing it was trying to mess with me as much as it was my character.
  
  Matt Vinson
• Eternal Darkness:  Sanity’s Requiem for the Nintendo Gamecube. The hair on the back of my neck still stands up on end every time I think of walls leaking blood or books floating off library shelves all by themselves. Creepy...
  
  Eric Fink

Amnesiacs:

• The scariest game I've ever played was Amnesia. Why? Because at one point, I actually couldn't play it. I had to watch a YouTube playthrough because it physically took too much out of me. So, I guess the scariest game I ever played was the game I couldn’t play.
  
  Adriana Alvarez
• The scariest game I've ever played would have to be either Fatal Frame or Amnesia: The Dark Decent. In both games you are helpless with no real weapons and have to explore the surroundings without knowing what's coming around the corner.
  
  Bryce Bakker

Pretty Terrifying:

• The recent Silent Hills Playable Teaser. It builds suspense so well that you never know what's next, and the sound design is incredible. I know it's short, but I put down the controller several times just because I didn't want to move forward. I had to stream it and have a friend watch it with me and help me proceed – and I'm a 32-year-old man. My wife loves horror movies and she didn't make it more than ten minutes before she stopped.
  
  Justin Holman
• The P.T. demo for Silent Hills was by far the scariest gaming experience I have ever had. If any games deserves the title scariest game ever, it's that one. I can't wait for more!
  
  Jeremy Myhra
• P.T. Is the scariest thing I've ever played. It's atmospheric, slow paced, and creepy as all hell.
  
  Nicolas Harris

Creepy Encounters:

• I was 13 and my new friend had just got a copy of Resident Evil 2 for his PlayStation and invited me over to his house to play. Mind you, I've never been to his house before. It was late, and I was the only one awake, playing RE 2 in the dark with headphones on. There's this part of the game where you're walking down a quiet hallway – too quiet – when a Licker comes smashing through a big window at you. This startling scene was the exact moment when his cat – which I didn't even know existed – decided to jump into my lap. I jumped over the back of the couch, and the cat hit the wall. It took me a good 20 minutes to get my breathing under control. So, even though it wasn't entirely due to the game, I will always remember Resident Evil 2 as the most scared I've ever been playing a video game.
  
  Jeremy N.
• I played a marathon session of Silent Hill 2 when I was stationed overseas in the Navy, with several friends watching the game and helping me with puzzles. When we got to the part near the end where James has to go to a certain hotel room, someone gasped and said "Holy s---!" We all looked at him questioningly and he said, "What room are we in right now?!" That was when we realized that my barracks room was number 312, just like the hotel room we were headed to in the game. We knew it was just a coincidence, but we were so freaked out we had to stop playing for a while.
  
  Zach Osterloh
• The scariest game I ever played was the multiplayer on Conkers Bad Fur Day for the Nintendo 64. Why, you ask? Because when I was seven, my brother Sam, his friend Jake, and I would play together. Jake was way better than us, so he was always on the other team, and he would whisper to me, "Toby, I'm coming to get you!" in the most quiet, sweet, and somehow f---ing terrifying voice I have ever heard. That was enough to scare the daylights out of me then, and it still probably would.
  
  Tobias Mintzmyer 

Traumatized For Life:

• I've been a huge fan of horror all my life, but I never get more than an eerie feeling or an "oh sh--" flinch. While it's not my favorite horror game, Condemned: Criminal Origins brilliantly exploited a half-second ease from the constant tension to make me scream. Loudly. My roommate at the time actually stopped whatever he was playing to come to my room and laugh at me. He apologized later in life while playing the game for himself and screaming uncontrollably. Plus, even if I can't remember anything about that game in 20 years, I will never be able to forget the department store mannequins.
  
  Travis Stecher 
• I wasn't too much into video games when the golden titles of horror were out like Resident Evil and Silent Hill. But the scariest game that I've played would be my very first horror game, Haunting Grounds for the PS2. The dark, brooding atmosphere and tense chase music were enough to make me scream, and to this day, Daniella's laugh still gives me the chills!
  
  Christian Calso
• Run Like Hell constantly caused me to slink every where, made me jump multiple times per hour of play, and caused my wife who just watched to jump even more than me. I spilled so many Bawls and Jolt sodas that I finally started using a commuter mug (A.K.A. an adult sippy cup) to cut down on time spent sopping up. By the time I completed the game, my jump response had been totally used up. I went on and played Resident Evil with nary a flinch.
  
  Frank Ross
• The scariest game I ever played would have to be the first Silent Hill. When you would hear that radio start to make noise, it would scare the bejeezus out of me. That was a game I'd have to shut off my PlayStation, because i didn't want to keep changing my underwear.
  
  John Grant II

Surprising Scares:

• The scariest game I ever played was Tomb Raider 2. It might seems silly, but I was about 12 years old at the time, and the PlayStation was very new in my home. I had never dealt with a scenario where you had to evade danger so quickly in the third dimension. I just walk around – what's that sound? TIGER! How do I get away? Why do my guns keep going back in their holsters? Oh God! Run – ahh! Spike trap! What the hell – boulder – gah! Very scary, very tense, very frightening.
  
  Steven Chisham
• If I am being completely honest, one will never know the meaning of true terror in its rawest and most animal form until they have been attacked by the piano in the Big Boo’s Haunt level in Super Mario 64. Every single man, woman, and child I witnessed play that level for the first time nearly dropped the controller and screamed for sweet deliverance when they grabbed that red coin, and I know I nearly soiled myself when that demonic instrument suddenly began gnashing its teeth at me. That to me was pure terror, and to this day, I refuse to play that level.
  
  Yani Araujo
• The scariest game I ever played is surprisingly Majoras Mask. It's scary because it doesn't rely on things like jump scares. I has this creepy undertone with the world ending in a few days and then, in almost any area, you can look up and see one of the main antagonists, the moon, staring you down with his maniacal expression. Now that's really creepy.
  
  Kenny Mogauro
• The scariest game I've ever played is actually kind of surprising; wait for it...Portal! The morbid ambient music, low amounts of light, GlaDOS' 'joke' – "...you will be baked, and then there will be cake." – all that business with the Companion Cube, Ratman's schizophrenic (and frankly unsettling) drawings and the overall themes of captivity, death, and even torture, all make it the most disturbing game I have ever played.
  
  Avi Ackermann
• The scariest game I have ever played was Metroid: Fusion. In most new horror games, the enemies only look scary – like in Dead Space – and aren't mentally horrifying. Metroid: Fusion is unique because it only uses mental scares and not jump scares.
  
  Connor Ramaswamy

Entomophobia?:

• The scariest game that I have ever played would have to be Fallout: New Vegas. The game itself isn't that scary – it's the ever-constant threat of the game crashing and losing my progress that scares me the most.
  
  Trevor Perez

What's the scariest game you've ever played? Share your traumatic experiences in the comments below!