Scariest/Most atmospheric game

[Messiah 2]

Scary:

Doom 3 at first, until you got used to the cheap tricks and frights. Especially parts like the begining sequence where you're roaming back towards marine HQ surrounded by strange new noises, blackouts, screams and that squad radio with the other soldiers screaming.

FEAR only once, when you're in the lift and the lights flicker momentarily to reveal the creepy girl (forgotten her name). From then on it was pretty lame. Otherwise it didn't deserve the name.

AvP - As the Marine of course.

Atmosphere:

Without a doubt had to be OFP for things like after montignac, and the black ops mission on kolgujev. Never had some many heart in mouth moments.

Stalker as well, until you get past red forest, and then it just seemed like the developers got bored and wanted to rush you to the end. I was really looking forward to exploring Prypriat and the Power Station, but wasn't allowed to.

Mafia was brilliantly immersive and had great atmosphere. Every little detail was perfect. It was like walking into Goodfellas.

Kudos:

Those who mentioned Myst and Riven - Truely excellent games. Extremely hard work, but beautifully made and planned. Never completed Riven though. Got put in Jail at some strange village, and never managed to work out how to escape.

[xawery 0]

I seem to be the only one who mentioned Penumbra 1 & 2. Hasn't anyone played it? I highly recommend boths games if you're looking for some sleepless, dread-filled nights :P

[mr burns 131]

I seem to be the only one who mentioned Penumbra 1 & 2. Hasn't anyone played it? I highly recommend boths games if you're looking for some sleepless, dread-filled nights :P

http://frictionalgames.com/penumbradownload/

Judging from the tech demo its a really cool game, thx for mentioning it!

[xawery 0]

Yeah, sorry if I sound like a fanboy, but... well, I am one

There's a funny story about the techdemo. It was released by Frictional Games as (you guessed it) a demo for the engine they had developed. However, it received so much praise that they decided to develop a full game with the same feel. Thus, Penumbra was born. You can find the demo here: http://www.gamershell.com/download_18128.shtml

[Strucknine 0]

Alien on Commodore 64. Sure it's only blips & blobs, but damn if it didn't scare the heck outta me when I was a kid!

I wanted to be scared by F.E.A.R., but it didn't do it for me...

[ArchangelSKT 0]

For my part I have to mention the Hidden and Dangerous series (of course along with OFP) as being some of the best on atmosphere. But I might pick Mafia as the best one.

The music, story and setting is ubercool.

As for scary there are mainly two games, both that I haven`t finished and it would be Undying and Silent Hill 2, if I have ot chose it will be Silent Hill 2 for sure, I got really scared while playing it and it has got a very nice soundtrack and in my opinion one of the most effective graphic\visual styles of any game I have ever played.

[USSRsniper 0]

Also Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth is pretty good too.  

Tried penumbra, and its great, especially when playing at night And it is scary, and has nice features, such as blocking doors, so monsters don't easily enter the room.

[Kenwort 0]

Clive Barkers Undying

OFP Mission After montignac

FEAR

I must admit it was quiet scary running away from the soviets in the dark in a dense forest

Most scariest game I have played was Resident Evil (all parts) almost had heart attack in some places!

But F.E.A.R. is a pretty scary game too.. the little girl just freaks me out when ever I see her

And in STALKER in one place, where you are running trough the drainage under ground, that freaking mind blowing monster attacks you from back while you are running to the exit.. now that was scary!

[Sheps 0]

Actually FN3 is pretty atmospheric. Same for FN 1+2

In career when your way past your prime, just trying to fight anyone without getting knocked out is intense, AKA taking an ass whooping and trying to survive.

[Thunnder Bunny 0]

Scary can mean different things for different people....I hate spiders..as in F'ing freaking afraid of em.

Games with scary atmosphere for me.

-M&M Dark Messiah-...the spiders lair with the BIIIIIG mutha and her kids, creeped me the hell out.

-Elder scrolls 4 oblivion - Getting caught outside in a howling storm ,trying my best to keep an eye out for trouble. Having the music turned down lower than the backround noise means all kinds of creatures get the jump on me. I walk into a house to get out of the storm, only to have a monsterparty follow me in. Hehe it only got worse when I picked up Shivering Isles

-Nocturne- the creepiest thing for me was the camera views...It had It's moments ,but I get more frustrated when developers intentionally skew camera angles to hide creatures and things.... resident evil games have almost written the book on this type of scare tactic.

-DOOM 1, 2, 3,- They all had "OH SHIT!!!!" moments

-SWAT 4- The serial killers house level was dripping with creepy...

-Tribes 2- Yeah, weird to see this game listed here, but 1 map I played long ago had a water level so deep it was pitch black at the bottom. Seeing my stormhammer shot fade into darkness as I kept sinking made me hyperventilate.

Your jet pack couldn't even save you....phobias can really screw with you.

Other notables already listed

-Bloodlines-

-OFP - ARMA-....cause you just know that tank wants to kill you ,and a shrub does not = proper cover.

[The Susser 0]

Gauntlet (Arcade)

Doom

Operation Flashpoint.

[NeoNiels 0]

1. Alien vs Predator 2.

"That better be a boot.............it's a boot!   ",

"MOVEMENT"

2. F.E.A.R.

Alma scaring me even when i expected it.

3. Half-life 1 & 2 + expansion packs.

All had some pretty good moments.

Others are OFP (some campaign missions altough i made some pretty scary and atmospheric ones myself), Painkiller, Bioshock, Stalker and Oblivian shivering isles.

[Longjocks 0]

1. Silent Hill - It was quite unique in its style at the time, despite not being unique in genre. Your avatar was not a superhero and his tools remained humble which made it all that much more plausible. The more plausible something is the scarier it can be.

2. Prey - The game creates a distinct feeling of loss of control. You can't save anyone and you're given glimpses of your former life throughout the game, setting up the idea in your head that you aren't going to survive. Plus this is one of those rare titles where no holds were barred - children were not spared. This wasn't just implied, it was displayed visually and through audio triggers. Harming of kids hits home with most people more than adults.

3. Resident Evil 2 - Where it loses points for being a sequel and where the characters are purpose-built to kick arse, it gains them back for creating an uneasy atmosphere where you grip your controller in anticipation of what you're going to find behind the next door. Every window a potential hazard, every body a potential enemy. The music really helped in this one also.

[funnyguy1 0]

-Nocturne- the creepiest thing for me was the camera views...It had It's moments ,but I get more frustrated when developers intentionally skew camera angles to hide creatures and things.... resident evil games have almost written the book on this type of scare tactic.

Seconded. I've played only a demo of it long time ago, but I admit that it was quite scarry.

[sander 14]

Hi,

The sound of a BMP in OFP was outright scary when you were an infantryman without any form of AT weapon. In Arma hearing the spoken commands of an unseen enemy nearby can be quite unnerving when alone and short on ammo.

Rainbow Six and Rogue Spear (the Kosovo level especially) kept me on the edge of my seat. There was excellent use of radio messages and music to add to the atmosphere during the execution phase of missions. A bonus of these games that they had in common with the original Ghost Recon series was the fact that the opposition talked their own languages. This adds a lot more to atmosphere than the accented English some game makers use for the opposition.

SWAT3 was successful in imparting the mindset of a police officer on the player. The initial tendency to approach the missions with the same mindset as Rainbow Six (the military approach to HR, if it is threatening shoot it) was quickly abandoned in favour of keeping all loss of life, even that of the opposition, to a minimum.

The Hidden & Dangerous series rank for me as the most atmospheric WW2 games. They conjure up the same atmosphere as older war movies. Its close relatives are also characterised by great atmosphere as well as gameplay. I got Mafia from a bargain bin after reading lots of positive reviews on the Offtopic section of this forum and I must agree it belongs to the very best games produced to date. Vietcong 1 is another game that I liked a lot for the effort the makers had made to get a feel that matched up with the impression I got from reading about the subject of the SF run CIDG camps. Unfortunately I felt this was lacking from Vietcong 2.

Regards,

Sander

[chris330 0]

Thief 3 (I think) : The insane asylum level. Oh man, dodging invulnerable monster-thingies in straightjackets all electrified from "shock therapy" with all that flickering lightning and...yeah.  

Also other Thief games, particularly the zombie missions. Me no likey non-killable enemies that go "braaaainnsss"

They are killable. They are undead and they can be killed with flashbangs. Two should be enough Found this out when running from one of them for the second time and I flashbanged him again. Suddenly realised I wasn't being pursued anymore and when I turned round he was flat out on the floor face down

Mine would be:

Thief

Deus Ex

System Shock 2

Fear

Hitman (the jungle level)

FarCry

Rogue Spear (multiplayer)

Aliens Versus Predator (having to confront facehuggers as a marine)

Operation Stealth (Amiga)

Darkseed (Amiga)

Another World (Amiga)

Wings (Amiga)

Flames of Freedom (Amiga - a brilliant ArmA/OFP mod of this could be made)

The list goes on, and on, and on

[canis lupus 20]

I just found a game called the Crown, you play as a ghost researcher, you don't kill the ghosts, it has a great atmosphere and some pretty scary moments, but I wouldn't call it a scary game its a very calm game...

I must say its a long time since I have enjoyed a game as much as I have this one