Psychologically disturbing games.

[J T]

I find that the most psychologically disturbing games are those where your protagonist is facing something other than physical, external harm. While I do enjoy Resident Evil, the worst that can happen to your character is that he gets his face chewed or chainsawed off. Instilling fear by showing bodily harm is a very well-beaten path, so we're culturally desensitized to it at this point.

For this reason, "Haunting Ground" is unique since it raises fear of bodily invasion. A lot of the threats to your female protagonist have an subtle (and sometimes not so subtle) undercurrent of rape.

Also, Silent Hill 2. That game is scary because of what you find out about the main character and the NPCs, so the horror is internal as opposed to external.

Exactly! Physical harm is scary in real life, but it's been done so many times in games and movie that it's expected as a major plot device. I like Haunting Ground because there is that creepy sexuality to it that you are talking about. What's even more disturbing about it is that Fiona, the main character, is clearly designed to be sexy not only to fit her role as the lusted over and chased after girl in a strange place, but also for your own perverse enjoyment as the player. It seems that they kind of want you to ogle over her body, while at the same time giving you the job of trying to keep her away from potential rapists, so you are in these weird contradictory roles of voyeur and protector from sexual predators. You are both the villain and the hero.

[Ack]

Are the Fatal Frame games worth the cost of entry?

In a single word? Yes.

At least I thought so, but I made a point to play alone in the middle of the night. Ghosts may not scare you, but having to look your enemies in the eyes as they rush you, only to discover they have no eyes, really got to me. And the voices...turn the audio up for this one if you can, it's worth it. However, I should note that I've only played the first.

Silent Hill, Silent Hill 2, and Silent Hill 3 are the obvious choices to me, considering they're all billed as psychological horror's triumph in video games. The later Silent Hills were still enjoyable to me, but the first three are king. I haven't tried Shattered Memories yet, but it intrigues me.

Haunting Ground bothered me if only because of the "subtle" rape connotations going on in the game. Sure, it's a video game, I'm used to sexuality in female characters being emphasized to an extreme, but the way the game focuses on it at times seems almost voyeuristic, and playing a nearly helpless female lead who must escape from mostly male protagonists who seem intent on violating her really made my skin crawl. And the sounds when she dies...ugh.

If you like Haunting Ground, you may want to try its campier British relative, Clock Tower 3. There are some nasty points in it where you're chased down by serial killers, but it is more than a little corny at times. Still, watching a madman with a mallet bash in a little girl's skull was worth the price of entry.

Kuon is ok, especially if you're a fan of the genre, and it has admittedly made one friend of mine terrified of whicker baskets and Japanese twins, but there's a lack of new gameplay: There may be multiple storylines to explore, but they're the same old thing over and over.

Condemned can make for a pretty interesting experience. While it is a very violent game, you will run through some extremely dilapidated areas, such as an abandoned mall, school, and subway system, fighting enemies face to face with whatever you can find. And what I like about the first person view is that it forces you to look at the people you're putting down, both to see what's coming at you and to see what you're doing back to them. The mall is one of my favorite levels.

The Penumbra Trilogy is a series of three PC games that will enjoy messing with you, though I'd say the second, Black Plague, is the best. Most people consider the third the worst, more of an exploration of the physics engine than anything else.

The Ring: Terror's Realm is psychologically terrifying simply due to how bad it is. Avoid.

And then there are a ton of horror titles from the PS2 generation I haven't gotten to yet. The Thing, Extermination, The Suffering, just to name a few. I've been slacking in my horror gaming lately, been playing lots of PC FPS titles.

[MaliceValentine]

Definitely Silent hill one on PSone and i cant highly enough recommend number 2 for ps2 both exactly what your looking for.

I'm currently playing Siren: Blood Curse on PS3 an its scaring the crap out of me to hell...not sure if its what your looking for....

Also Eternal Darkness is a wonderful title that made me fall in love with the Gamecube.

Also what is not horrific but is psychologically disturbing it recommend Killer 7 beautiful game, excellent dialog and scripting as well as how freaky it is at points, but it is very art house so be careful you'll either love it or hate it.

[(-_-)]

I know the first half of condemned 2 made me jump quite a few times by lots of little things like sound and atmosphere.

I just played Bioshock on the first time and I found that to be pretty intense. The Big Daddys and the little sisters popping out of corners frightened me till the end of the game. The setting and atmosphere is all very good too. I played it on Survivor which escalated my fear of practically everything though.

I think Demon's Souls counts as psychological horror. It's essentially a survival horror rpg. After the game beats you till you learn to play properly, you become paranoid about everything. The little things in that game are amazing. The areas all feel dark and claustrophobic even though they are fairly large. I ran straight off a cliff to my death because I heard a bell ring and tired to escape just the sound of it.

[Pulsar_t]

I'm currently playing Siren: Blood Curse on PS3 an its scaring the crap out of me to hell...not sure if its what your looking for....

Also Eternal Darkness is a wonderful title that made me fall in love with the Gamecube.

Criteria: PC/PS2!



Here's a snapshot of Sanitarium, in case it jogs someone's memory.

[Lord_Santa]

I'm currently playing Siren: Blood Curse on PS3 an its scaring the crap out of me to hell...not sure if its what your looking for....

Also Eternal Darkness is a wonderful title that made me fall in love with the Gamecube.

Criteria: PC/PS2!



Here's a snapshot of Sanitarium, in case it jogs someone's memory.

what engine is that?
reminds me of Postal...

oh yeah:

Postal is rather disturbing (PC)
no
not nr. 2
that's just distasteful

:edit

Call of Cthulhu - Dark Corners of the Earth (PC)
Call of Cthulhu - Shadow of the comet (PC)
Call of Cthulhu - Prisoner of Ice (PC)

Lovecraftian games are almost always disturbing

I *especially* recommend Dark Corners of the Earth
it was made by Bethesda, whom stopped supporting it; *but* if I'm not completely mistaken there's still a community holding it in high regards (me included; even-though I prefer the Xbox1 version)

[noiseredux]

I don't know if any of you guys read sydlexia's blog but strangely the new article is actually about things in NES games that disturbed him as a child.

sydlexia.com

[the7k]

I was thinking about mentioning the Call of Cthulhu games. I never played them myself, but I remember Destructoid's Anthony Burch talking about how even though they were mediocre games, they really succeeded in making the player feel helpless - created fun through dis-empowerment.

Also, has no one mentioned The Void?

[Ack]

Hey JT, have you ever played I Have No Mouth And I Must Scream, based on the story by Harlan Ellison? He even helped design the game and provided voice work as the machine AM.

You might also enjoy Dark Seed and Dark Seed 2, with art designed by H.R. Giger.Some pretty disturbing imagery going on in both of those.

[Scooter]

Parasite Eve I and II both had some rather disturbing moments. But to date, the moment that bugged me the most was in Silent Hill I. When Harry was walking through the "bad" world's school. At one point he has to detour through a large classroom to avoid a blockage in the hallway. The only furniture in the room is a table with a phone on it. The phone doesn't work of course. As you reach the far door to leave the room and go on your way the phone begins to ring. When you answer it you hear your daughter saying, "Daddy? Where are you Daddy?" then the line goes dead. That was more disturbing than any monster or any horrible death scene for me for some reason.