We all know of the Survival Horror video game genre but not all games are meant to be scary. Some games that I played scared me for certain reasons despite I don’t think it was intentional. What are some games you would call unintentionally scary? I’ll name a few for myself.
- Metal Gear Solid/Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes (The original PS1 demo of MGS1 scared me as a kid and I can still see it scaring younger kids these days. Particularly the sound of the Alert Phase once you get spotted by the guards). The sequels however didn’t live up to be scary like the original game. (Though it was never meant to be scary to begin with.)
- Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six (Particularly the PS1 version of the game as there is hardly any music in the game and it’s played in almost complete silence. Even when you open doors and hear them close behind you I can’t help but think you’re being followed at times. The N64 version can be scary as well but it seems to have more life in it than it’s PS1 counterpart so that may be why it may not seem as scary.)
- Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Lone Wolf (Unintentionally scary because you are own your own with no back up and when exploring the levels you will often hear enemy guards yell “HEY YOU!” before shooting at you which almost always results in instant death.)
- Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell (Hearing voices and conversations of the enemies going on while you’re trying to sneak past them scared me and my brother when we were kids.)
- Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell Chaos Theory (Pretty much unintentionally scary for the same reasons of the first game. So far I haven’t seen anything that really scares me in the game’s predecessor Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell Pandora Tomorrow.)
- Tomb Raider I,II, and III. (The fact that when you are going around certain corners in certain levels and you never know when an enemy is waiting for you or heading in your direction. Some of the enemies are pretty scary too like the Yetis in Tomb Raider II as well as the flying statues in the floating islands level. Not to mention the absence of music at times makes jump scares a lot easier.)
- South Park for N64, PS1, and PC (I have the N64 version but I know the game isn’t meant to be scary as much as it’s meant to be funny but hearing those Turkeys gobbling when you’re on the run from them can be quite terrifying.)
- Spider-Man The Movie game for PS2, Xbox, and GameCube. (While most of the game is just childish fun the level “Breaking and Entering” as well as the other Oscorp levels are extremely scary when you are trying sneak around and hearing the guards saying “IT’S SPIDER-MAN!” along with them pressing the alarms which sends out the Super Soldiers and you must hide in the shadows from them. It’s extremely scary when you think you’re safe and the Super Soldiers see you and start attacking you. Also the eerie and suspenseful music makes it even scarier. You’d think a Spider-Man game wouldn’t be THAT SCARY!)
What are some video games you’ve played that weren’t meant to be scary but for some reason they just scared the crap out of you?