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.
Resident Evil first then a few years later Silent Hill. Those two kept me awake many nights in my teen years.
Uff, hard to say, a lot of the ones comented before applied to me.
As old pc gamer still missing one of the most influent scariest games. Alone in the dark… when you have to deal with the monsters added to frustration of bad controls…
Also dark seed, with all those HR Gigger stuff…
Definitely RE for me. I couldn’t sleep after the first time I saw a crimson head. The sharks were terrifying too
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.
The 7th Guest was the fist one I really cared about. I grew up watching horror movies from the age of 5, but never really played a horror game until I got The 7th Guest in a CD-ROM drive bundle for Christmas of '93. It’s not so much a horror survival game as it is a horror puzzle game, but a great game nonetheless. I’ll never forget the opening: “Old man Stauf built a house and filled it with his toys. Six Guests were invited one night, their screams the only noise…”
I remember this game too! The live action cut scenes were really creepy as a kid. I distinctly remember the hands trying to press through the painting and the ghost luring you deeper into the maze. My dad and I got stuck at the one Othello style puzzle with the amoebas. We went out and bought a guide to get past it, only to learn that the author of the guide couldn’t solve it either.
What do you mean by formative horror? A horror game that had ultimately planted your interest in the horror genre?
Wolfenstein! The lighting and colors alone creeped me out. I could only play a few seconds before I had to stop. But I kept starting it.
Carmageddon and syndicate war 2. They were more ‘fun’ than wolfenstein but they also had these dark cities.
Silent Hill 2 was creepy as hell. We’d all budle up around a TV and start it after the parents went to bed and turn off all the lights.
F.E.A.R. as well.
I also couldn’t finish the Bioshock demo because I was too sacred so I made my brother play it for me.
My childhood originally consisted of the SNES and N64, but I mostly remember things from the N64. I don’t recall a lot of true horror games for the platform. There was Resident Evil 2, but the scariest things I remember were specific areas of Ocarina of Time such as the shadow temple or beneath the well.
Fallout 3 isn’t a horror game but man that atmosphere is crazy. I remember one of the very first missions has you go to galaxy news radio from the first settlement, megaton to talk to the DJ. It’s a really long journey through subway tunnels and ruined DC streets. The wasteland is pretty horrific and lots of enemies are disgusting and almost disturbing to look at.
As much as Bethesda gets shit for that game, they did an amazing job converting the atmosphere from the first two games into a 3D world.
Hugo’s House of Horrors.
The dog and the butler (chef?) terrified me.
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!
F.E.A.R.
FEAR was so darn good.
A seminal classic!
Animal Crossing and the crushing weight of mortgages
You’re kidding, right? I wish a bank would be so lenient with me as to let me pay off my interest-free loan with terms of ‘whenever you feel like it, off the money you make as a freelance forager.’
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
