The 5 Most Terrifying Games of All Time

Alan Stock Alan Stock
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August 9th, 2016

I'm a lover of travel, photography and video games, from the UK. I have worked in the games industry and very passionate about games and their design. Never get bored of them!

The 5 Most Terrifying Games of All Time
Games
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1 – Alien: Isolation

Time to hide cowering under a desk. Credit: Sega.

Time to hide cowering under a desk. Credit: Sega.

This may take the horror game crown. Based on the original Alien movie, you play as Ripley’s daughter, exploring a space station gone to hell. Although there are humans and creepy androids to fight, your nemesis is the Alien itself. It's absolutely terrifying and it stalks you throughout the game.

The Alien is basically invincible to your attacks and if it catches you, it’s game over man, game over. The atmosphere's incredible, and the base keeps the retro sci-fi vibe of the movie with superb dynamic music ratcheting up the tension.  The Alien itself looks and moves just like the films, and it's a rare game in which the monster looks scary up close. Its unpredictability adds to the tension; the Alien has dynamic AI, literally scurrying around in the vents, dropping down randomly (or if alerted) to stalk around the rooms and corridors in the station and if it sees you it moves fast. In a genius and terrifying design move it even gets wise to your tactics, if you keep cowering in lockers it's going to figure that out and get you. Argh!

The Alien feels like a real, malevolent presence out to get you and your only defense is to hide or use distraction tactics, watching your motion tracker desperately for a hint of where it might be. This may be one of the most stressful games you ever play and it’s very faithful to the source material and utterly compelling. Highly recommended.

2 – Five Nights at Freddy's

Terrifying Games

Five Nights at Freddy's - It may not look very scary but trust me, play it. I didn't realise how terrifying animatronics could be until this game. Credit: Scott Cawthon.

This indie game by just one man became an internet phenomenon in the gaming scene especially among YouTubers in reaction videos. Although it’s short, the terror is raw and the premise brilliant. You play as a night security guard at Freddy's, a kids restaurant similar to Chuck E Cheese. Unfortunately, as you're cheerfully informed on your first night, the creepy restaurant animatronics are "malfunctioning".

You must survive the night in the security room, and you can't move. You use grainy security cameras to try and track the animatronics movement as they come to get you. Two doors offer protection but drain power when closed, and if you run out of power, the lights go out and you really don't want that to happen... Juggling the power and checking the cameras becomes incredibly tense. It's horribly freaky and the game uses very effective jump-scares to scare the bejeesus out of you.

If you like the sound of this, there’s been a bunch of sequels and clones of varying quality, the scariest is probably Five Nights at Freddy's 4, in which you play as a child trying to stop the animatronics getting into your bedroom. I found the first game terrifying but the 4th I couldn't even bring myself to finish because it freaked me out so much. Wahh.

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