10 Scariest Video Game Moments.

From old behemoths like Silent Hill and Resident Evil to new (sort of) househould names like Outlast and Alien: Isolation, these are moments found within games that gave us a hard time keeping our eyes unshut and grasping the controller to continue playing.

 Running into the Xenomorph 

Alien: Isolation did something that no movie, or video game for that matter, since Aliens (or even since the birth of the universe in Alien) had done to the beloved horror icon: justice. 

The very first encounters are some of horror gaming's most preeminent and frightening moments. Notwithstanding the unnecessarily long journey and the diminished impact of the eventual confrontations, the alien's AI does an impressive job in keeping the player suffering the monster when it's around and missing it during the parts it's gone.

The Invisible Guest

Amnesia: The Dark Descent was a much needed shift during a period of uncertainty and lack of creativity in the horror gaming department. With a simple but compellingly functional gameplay and a so-thick-I-can-cut-it-with-scissors atmosphere, the game was able to evoke fear from the player in the two most primitive ways: visceral fear of the horrible and irrational fear of the unknown.

The latter was masterfully executed in the game's scariest sequence in which the player is forced to move through and around a cellar solving puzzles meanwhile a horrible creature (as horrible as your imagination dares to conceptualize) hunts.

"First" encounter with Pyramid Head

Silent Hill 2 is the closest thing we have ever had for a perfect horror game. The second installment in the now dormant series (with an upcoming showcase in a couple of weeks from the date of this post) is deemed as the best survival horror game by many fans and critics alike.

The quotation marks are in order due to the fact that we are referring to the very occasion in which we behold Pyramid Head molesting a couple of headless but legful mannequins while we,dumbfounded, hide and witness; in fact, the first time we get to see it is before that sequence in an excellent buildup and cliffhanger of events to come. 

 Meeting Lisa Trevor

The Resident Evil franchise is no stranger of appaling moments. But, perhaps, no installment has offered a better and more round experience than the remake and reimagination of the game that started it all. Resident Evil: Remake is the best survival horror game; or at least, the one that best executes the concept. 

Several changes and additions were well-welcomed; for instance the never-dead Crimson Heads or the arc of George Trevor. This brought about a story not only scary but also deeply saddening. The introduction of Lisa Trevor is a masterful example of creating tension and making the player feel that, despite being a remake of a highly-known game, you do not know what is around the next corner. Oh! And all of this with the best-looking graphics of its time.

Splashing with Chris Walker

Outlast took the world by storm when it first came out almost a decade ago. The franchise owns countless of nerve-wracking moments throughout the (up to now) three installments (yes, Whistleblower is so good I consider it a main game).

Tapping into the success and recognition earned by Amnesia: The Dark Descent, Outlast went far beyond and brought the scares, psychological and visceral in equal measure. 

The aforementioned sequence that concerns this spot is one that is carved onto my mind for what it made me go through. The sewers is an ominous section of the game, but being there in the dark with our favorite mutant soldier and an ever disposable battery is horror in its prime.

Piggsy

Manhunt is one of those games (along with Rule of Rose and a few more titles) that makes you feel bad to even own a copy of. The premise alone would be capable of sending a shiver down the spine of many players.

Despite its reputation, it is a very solid horror game that focuses more of its "virtues" in making you feel guilty and horrified of yourself.

The Piggsy sequence is a horrifying experience from any perspective. It possesses many of the things that rank high up in most players' nope lists. Fear of being killed with a chainsaw: checked. Fear of a maniac wearing a pig mask: checked. Fear of being in a Texas Chainsaw Massacre-like building facing a mentally-ill individual who oinks like a pig: checked.  Oink.

 Creeping The Creeper

The Suffering is a forgotten gem in the vast horror catalogue of the powerhouses that were Playstation 2 and Xbox. Without really reinventing the wheel, the game took advantage of what Silent Hill and Resident Evil triggered and mastered.

No game before or since has accomplished the daunting task of living up to the greats on their respective categories. Rather on the  Resident Evil vein (although very Silent Hillesque) the title offers thrills and scares galore.

Within the second installment Ties that bind, one can find very creative and nightmarish boss battles; The Creeper is the highlight. Similar to Konami's horror magnum opus, this moment is as NSFW in design, concept and execution, as anything the Team Sillent put out. 

The Mannequins

Condemned: Criminal Origins, as renowned as it is, still roams outside the scope of many players. Rivalling Dead Space as the best horror title of the seventh generation of consoles, this horror effort does justice and lives up to psychological thrillers such as Seven and The Silence of the Lambs.

In a sequence that, during the first playthrough, demands you to get yourself together after experiencing it,  the research of a creepy building is needed just to realize that you are not alone. It's one of those moments in which the things that are not supposed to move, move (despite knowing that they will do it anyway). After all, it's a horror game, isn't it?

Lisa

P.T. will always be the most unforgivable What if? of all time. No game has ever managed to be as complex and simple at the same time. Being one of those games that are highly unlikely to complete without a proper guide (in spite of being a playable teaser), this title is a build up to one big scare. We all know which one.

Here lie my dreams and hopes of the project being retaken now that a forthcoming Silent Hill showcase is in order.

Sneaking past Anima

The Evil Within divided audiences and critics alike. Maybe mocking itself more than necessary (especially those Resident Evil references by Shinji Mikami) and lacking innovative features and controls, the game was in a limbo between acclamation and hatred.

However, The Evil Within 2 is the total opposite of a sophomore slump. Superior in every single imaginable way, the title broadens the world and provides fiercer and scarier enemies. 

The first creature to come into mind may be Laura or The Keeper (and deservedly so), but Anima did the trick for us. Everything, from the humming and chanting to the design, is pure nightmare fuel. Tension at its finest. Sebaaaaaaastian.