Help me find the scariest games around

January 5, 2012 7:49 AM

Help me fire the scariest games around for the iPad and the PS3.

After a long (long) winter, I feel like going back to video-games. I usually play mostly sports games (F1, Fifa, etc.) but looking at YouTube videos last night made me remember of the scariest game I've ever played, Fatal Frame 2 (PS2). I was wondering whether similar games exist for the iPad and the PS3.

Please note I'm not looking for gory games, but scary ones - by that, I mean things that will bring me trouble sleeping at night, so we're talking psychological horror here: dead people, ghosts, unsettling mood, scares, and so on.

Some games I liked playing over the years that would fit in that criteria: Phantasmagoria (old one eh), Fatal Frame, Silent Hill (some of them), The Path. Final piece of info: I'm not into first-person shooters, so Doom 3 is out :)

posted by dcrocha to sports, hobbies, & recreation (10 answers total)

Amnesia: The Dark Descent is supposed to be absolutely, gut-wrenchingly terrifying. One is advised, for the full experience, to play this game at night with headphones and no lights.

It may play on an iPad, but more likely for PC / Mac.

I found Bioshock to be sufficiently startling.
posted by glaucon at 7:53 AM on January 5, 2012 [1 favorite]

Dead Space and/or Dead Space 2! Terrifying. In the best way possible.
posted by pazazygeek at 8:38 AM on January 5, 2012 [1 favorite]

I'd recommend the Siren:Blood Curse on PSN. It fits pretty squarely in between FF and Silent Hill.

Seconding the Dead Space games, the first one has just a sense of oppressive dread surrounding it, while the second one is somewhat more of a horror-action game (think Resident Evil 4), but they're both great games.
posted by Oktober at 8:44 AM on January 5, 2012

Amnesia: The Dark Descent is supposed to be absolutely, gut-wrenchingly terrifying.

I will second this. I'm not sure its available on a platform, but its quite inexpensive via Steam for PC (maybe you can get it on IPad). That game will literally scare the poop out of you. Amnesia is a first person game, but there's no shooting. In fact you never even get a weapon. There's lots of running, and hiding, and pooping.
posted by elendil71 at 8:56 AM on January 5, 2012 [1 favorite]

Dead Space 2 was great, much better than DS1.

I really enjoyed Dark Souls this year, and at times it was terrifying from both the enemies/areas (god damn you sewers) and white-knuckling in the intensity. The difficulty is overrated. It's difficult like learning to play the piano. Once you get over the hump...

Fear 3 had a few good levels for scares. Was fun to play.

Silent Hill: Homecoming creeped me out at times big-big. Definitely felt like a throwback to old Resident Evil controls which is another terror but for different reasons.

I've heard Siren: Blood Curse is very scary but haven't played.
posted by OnTheLastCastle at 9:35 AM on January 5, 2012

I find the demos for Condemned and Condemned 2 so horrifying that I didn't even try playing the actual games. If you like grimy, sickening horror in the Saw vein, you'll probably love them.
posted by Happy Dave at 10:39 AM on January 5, 2012

Amnesia: The Dark Descent, as mentioned, is absolutely what you want. It's first-person but more of an adventure game -- your character is utterly defenseless, which is where the scary bit comes in. Unfortunately for you, it's PC/Mac only.

The Dead Space series might be worth a try but they're basically dark, gory shooters (sort of an updated, third-person version of Doom 3, I suppose). The sound design, however, is super spooky.
posted by neckro23 at 12:05 PM on January 5, 2012

I'm with you - the Fatal Frame games are the scariest I've ever played, and I've played a lot of games. I haven't found anything else that comes close, unfortunately. Dead Space has some good scares, but is also pretty gory.

It's a bit of a stretch, but you might want to look at the Heavy Rain demo. It's more of a thriller, and definitely flawed, but there are some very tense bits, including one where I got so wound up in the game that I thought I had injured myself in real life.

Definitely check out The Dark Meadow and Papa Sangre for iOS, though.
posted by Sibrax at 3:40 PM on January 5, 2012

Seconding Papa Sangre (all sound, no graphics!).
I played it once and it was super cool but way too creepy for me!
posted by exceptinsects at 5:02 PM on January 5, 2012

I've written about this before, so I won't say much --- particularly because it doesn't specifically meet your platform needs --- but Amnesia is so scary it should be pretty much be labelled as a laxative.

I've played dozens of horror games for the iPad and the PS3, and nothing has come even remotely close to the visceral terror that game has inspired in me. If you have access to either a PC or a Mac and would like to wet your pants in terror, then I "recommend" Amnesia: the Dark Descent.
posted by Tiresias at 8:41 PM on January 5, 2012