Scariest Moments in Gaming History: Destructoid Staff Share Their Picks

We asked the staff what the single scariest moment in video game history is, and the answers ranged from relentless stalkers and an abandoned school in Silent Hill to a war crime in Spec Ops: The Line and a very old Tomb Raider. No two scares landed the same way, which says a lot about how personal fear is.

Being hunted beats being startled

Andrej went straight for games built around pursuit: "The entirety of Ravenholm in HL2, the first appearance of Pyramid Head in SH2, the first sections of Outlast 1, hearing Mr. X's footsteps in RE2 Remake." He added that being chased is particularly horrifying to him, and he singled out the BTs in both Death Stranding games, especially the Middle Knot City Ruins section. Then he added "DEFINITELY the entirety of Amnesia: The Dark Descent."

His list shows that great horror doesn't need a sudden release after a stretch of suspense. Denying players even the relief of a scream, because they can't stop running from an enemy they can't shake, works just as well. So does the quieter psychological dread Silent Hill is known for.

A school at night

Pedro's pick is the original Silent Hill, played with a friend in a pitch-black bedroom late at night. The pair entered Midwich Elementary School as eight-year-olds. "We held our breaths through our entire sequence, but nothing could have prepared us for the childlike apparitions that roamed the halls," he said.

What made it worse, in his telling, was that the apparitions weren't hostile. They felt like innocent kids subjected to a fate they never chose, and as a child himself, he found that unsettling. "It's the only time I've ever paused a horror game out of fear, and it's stuck with me ever since," Pedro said.

When the horror is real

Arka picked a moment that has nothing to do with monsters. "I played Spec Ops: The Line when I was 15. There is this one scene where I (the character) thought I was killing terrorists. Instead, I poured white phosphorus on survivors," he said. The sight of a child's skin burning left him with a dread he would rather not discuss.

Editor Luci offered the opposite end of the spectrum: "a random shadow fills me with dread." Players are most vulnerable when they are relaxed, and our biology and life experience decide which kind of scare gets through. Someone who shrugs off a jump scare can still be rattled by a quiet, ordinary shadow.

My own pick: the original Tomb Raider

I have played most horror games since the original Alone in the Dark, and nothing has unsettled me more than the first Tomb Raider. I'm not even counting the legendary T-Rex encounter.

The wolves can sneak up on you in the first level, while you are still getting used to the controls. A bear waits in a pit for Lara if she misses one jump. The Atlantis levels bring the worst of it: creatures that look like they came out of Hellraiser, move like total freaks, make horrifying noises, and explode when they die, a final jump scare nobody asked for.

Then again, I may be forgetting something so frightening that my brain deleted it. The eel in Super Mario 64 is a strong candidate.