These are the moments that made you have to get up and change your pants. We’ve all played games that have frightened us, but some scary pc games delivered that extra something that made it hard to sleep for a few days.
This list goes over 10 of the absolute scariest moments in gaming. We’ve tried to move away from jump scares since they are a cheap way of getting a scare out of the player. Instead we are trying to focus on moments that played with your mind and really freaked you out. A disclaimer is worth noting that several of these games contain mature content and viewer discretion is advised.
10. Mr. Tibbits (Condemned: Criminal Origins)
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Just your every day find in a locker
Many of us remember playing Condemned and following the bloody trail into the locker room. You’re a detective on the biggest case of your life. All of your hard work has led up to this moment when you discover a little surprise in the locker room. You know that something terrible has happened but you’re not sure what. If you want to know what happens, have a look at the video.
9. The Stalker (Dead Space 2)
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What even is that? Its like an undead dinosaur!
All of the enemies in this game can qualify to be on this list. Dead Space is a franchise that should not be played by those with weak hearts. Around every corner is another monster waiting to dig its fangs into your frail body.
The Stalkers are the worst though, they follow you around silently throughout the entire game, always watching and waiting for the most opportune moment to strike at you. You will not see it coming and you’ll be caught completely off guard.
8. Pyramid Head (Silent Hill)
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The pyramid cone thing is to protect his sensative skin from UV rays and sunburns
It is likely that you’ve seen or heard of Pyramid Head before even if you’ve never played one of the Silent Hill games. The twisted character grew popular and became the franchise’s mascot after its first appearance.
Silent Hill is a series that knows how to scare you and they do it well. In fact, Silent Hills 2 is one of the best scary PC games on the market. You’ve been stumbling around what seems like an abandoned village. You’re trapped inside and you don’t know why, but strange things keep happening that are starting to mess with your sense of reality.
The icing on the cake is when James Sunderland, the protagonist, discovers the Pyramid Head assaulting a couple of Mannequins. Instead of running as you probably should, you hide in the closet and watch.
7. The Witch (Left 4 Dead 2)
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A huddled crying woman will quickly become your worst nightmare
Left 4 Dead 2 can definitely test your nerves. You play as one out of four survivors of a nasty zombie outbreak with one goal in mind, to get out of the infection zone. It becomes a lot less scary when you play with a friend to watch your back, but if you’re playing alone, it can be incredibly terrifying.
The worst part of this game is the witches. They are undead women that sit on the ground crying. Don’t bother them and they won’t bother you. But if you do bother them, prepare for the fight of your life. The Witch is incredibly strong and fast, and she will down you with just one or two hits. Startling the witch is one of the scariest things in the game, especially if you are unprepared. The shrilling screech always makes your hair rise.
6. Doctor Trager’s Chase (Outlast)
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He's a doctor... maybe
The journalist and protagonist, Miles Upshur, received an anonymous tip to investigate the Mount Massive Asylum. After he meets Dr. Trager he probably really regretted the decision to follow through on that tip though. Dr. Trager was an insane freak that was mutilating patients and committing mass murder in the asylum.
In true horror fashion you get caught by the mad doctor and have to make a mad escape after he mutilates your hands. You are desperately trying to get away through the dark blood smeared halls of the asylum as your fingerless hands drip blood everywhere you go. The entire time you have the mad doctor taunting you over your shoulder.
5. Getting caught by Slenderman (Slenderman the 8 Pages)
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He'll make you lose your mind before you lose your life
Slenderman was originally created by Eric Knudsen as an internet meme, and it quickly grew to become one of the most popular internet characters online. Slenderman is a tall and thin man without a face that usually abducts children and feeds off of people that have gotten lost. He is known for stalking his prey for a long time causing serious paranoia before delivering the final blow.
Slenderman the 8 Pages was an immediate hit as a scary PC game and became widely popular for really capturing the spirit of Slender. Your car has broken down and you are stuck in the forest with just a flash light and a video camera. You make your way to your friend’s house only to find her missing and signs of a break in.
Gradually you find more and more signs of Slenderman’s presence and start going crazy as he stalks you through the forest. You don’t know what will happen first, Slenderman catching you or your flash light dying.
4. Mannequin’s (Condemned)
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What are the odds that they just want to talk?
Once again you play an investigator on a huge case when you run into this frightening sequence. If mannequins didn’t set you on edge already, they will now. The most disturbing part of this scene is that you don’t know if anything will happen or not. You are being stalked by something, and you don’t understand why it is happening or what it will lead to. The only thing you are sure of is that you are afraid to keep going, but you’re also too afraid to stay.
3. The Screamer Encounter (Dying Light)
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This is the reason you stay in at night
Dying Light is an exciting and action packed parkour game in which you can freely roam the city and fight zombies at your leisure. Sure there were a few jump scares in the game, but overall it wasn’t very scary. At least that is what I thought before I ran into the screamer.
You are infiltrating a zombie infested apartment building to place explosives on the upper levels when suddenly you run into this creature. Keep in mind that you are in a dark crowded building trying to stay unnoticed by the undead horde. This encounter ought to freak you out.
2. Ghost over the Shoulder (Fatal Frame)
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A good old game of peek-A-boo
While Fatal Frame is a console game, it can be simulated on a PC emulator, so it still qualifies to be on this list of scary PC games. The game has been highly praised for its unique gameplay and exciting but frightening storyline.
One moment in the franchise took the throne for being the absolute most frightening, and that came in the second game when you discovered something… spectral over your shoulder. Check out the video, it says more than words ever could.
1. The Morgue (Amnesia)
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This is by far the most disturbing scene in a horror game
The title of this scare should be enough to tell you that it will be disturbing. This survival horror game gives you control over a young man who wakes up in the dark halls of a castle without any memory of his past (amnesia, get it?) He has to collect clues to figure out what is going on and who he was.
One of the more disturbing scenes in the game comes when you find yourself stumbling around the morgue. Amidst the piles of bodies, you come across a day old corpse that you need to extract blood from… So you drill a hole in the head and drain it with a rusty old pipe.
If that wasn’t enough, the moment you proceed to do this the monsters that have been chasing you comes pounding on the door. You better run for your life or it’ll all be over.
This concludes our list for the most terrifying moments in scary PC games. Let us know in the comments below which scary moments are your favorite.
