Gaming can be an emotional experience. It can be so refreshing but also incredibly stress-inducing and at times terrifying. With Halloween only a few short days away I decided to ask some of the GamEir team about the moments in gaming that scared them. Here’s what the GamEir team got back to me with. They are still hiding behind the covers after dredging up these old memories.
Graham ‘the damsel’ Day
My game of choice for this GamEir feature is going to come across as something of a wild card. When Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver came out on the PlayStation I was beyond excited. Here was the sequel to the adored Legacy of Kain: Blood Omen which followed a new mysterious protagonist. His name was Raziel and the world he lived in was unforgiving and monstrous. After being brutally punished by his sire Kain he was left for dead. Fast forward centuries and he travels through an unfamiliar world filled with even greater monsters.
My moment of terror, and maybe this shows how skittish I am, began when I entered the section involving Zephon and his terrifying brood. Within Zephon’s area, there were several puzzles that involved moving various blocks. As you did so Zephon’s children would descend from holes in the wall and they were terrifying. They would skitter around and attack from all angles. They were giant vampiric spiders. It also doesn’t help that I suffer from arachnophobia. Combine all these elements with a design that was quite disturbing, especially for an eleven-year-old, and you have a section of a game that is absolutely horrifying. It has still stuck with me to this day.
Niall ‘the ghoul’ Glynn
It’s no secret that I’m a big Bioshock fan. Ever since Rapture’s sunken beauty seduced me away from Wii Sports back in 2007 I’ve loved the series. So with Infinite’s promise of a radical departure from the first two titles, I couldn’t have been more excited. Little did I know what I was in store. That it was in Columbia’s bright blue skies rather than Rapture’s dingy depths that my most pant-shittingly scary videogame moment would occur.
Having followed the development closely (a long period of time if you recall the multiple delays) I was incredibly excited every time a new freakish member of Columbia’s American-exceptionalist white-supremacist denizens was revealed. Finally, an enemy that will be truly delightful to dispatch! After years of dull cover shooters and politically dubious wartime FPS games, enemies would be fun to fight and satisfying to kill again.
Enter the Boys of Silence.
Announced as a walking security camera system for Columbia with the ability to summon reinforcements if you’re spotted, these eyeless brass-instrument-headed freaks were easily the most unnerving enemies announced. In the final game, however, their purpose was relegated to one late-game set piece.
Creeping through a twisted alt-universe orphanage/laboratory I was under no pretence of escaping a jump scare. I may have been young but was no fool! However, as the moment drew near, I received a text message which gave me a light enough surprise that my phone dropped on the floor. I reached down to pick it up and looked up at my TV just in time for the Boy of Silence to forsake his title and let out a piercing alarming scream.
Dear readers, with my own carelessness I had elevated a fairly rote jump scare into a tangible real-world moment of shock and horror. I had reached my limit with Infinite that day and with a definitive “nope”, the Xbox was turned off.
I have no memory what that text was about but I hope it was worth it. Happy Halloween all and enjoy your spooky games!
Lewis ‘the masochist’ Magee
Eight years ago on August 12th 2014, the PlayStation store was host to a new demo for an upcoming game. P.T by 7780 Studios was played online by a variety of people around the world on their PS4 systems. Upon completion, it was revealed to be Hideo Kojima’s new game, “Silent Hills”. A joint creation of Hideo Kojima, visionary director Guillermo del Toro and manga creator Junji Ito, Silent Hills seemed to be bringing the increasingly lacklustre series back to a strong return.
Then the game got cancelled.
Cancelled and eight years later the sting of this decision still hurts. It wasn’t just the tag team effort of the three visionaries behind the project (that obviously plays a part) but it was what P.T had accomplished in a vertical slice of a teaser that apparently was not representative of the would-be final product.
When asked what moment in video games stood out as my scariest moment my mind went to the silence of ‘Silent Hill 2’ or the first jump scare I experienced in ‘Condemned’. The more I pondered on the question my mind settled on a moment from P.T.
You’re tearing me apart Lisa
For those who never had the pleasure of playing through the teaser, you control an unnamed character as you guide him through an ‘L-Shaped’ hallway of a home. Upon reaching the end of the hall and opening the door, you are looped back to the start of the hallway. Each ‘loop’ bring different elements and slightly increases the fear factor with each journey through.
During one of these loops, the player has gotten a glimpse of Lisa in the hallway for a brief second. Lisa was this gigantic woman, grotesque, disfigured and bloody. Her moans echoed throughout the hall from the radios on the desk. The radio on this loop is playing loud static and a news broadcast is fighting through, providing snippets of a story about a man who has murdered his family and taken his own life. As you approach the door to start a new loop and pass the radio the news presenter will suddenly say,
“look behind you…”
The second it takes to process what just happened and turn to the radio to look for the source of the warning the man repeats,
“I said, look behind you…”
And as quick as it was said it’s gone and the news story is continued. All you are left with is a simple choice. Do you look?
I hope you enjoyed this peek into our gaming lives. Let us know in the comments below what has scared you and let’s share in the terror.
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