13 Scariest Moments in Gaming This Generation

Scariest Moments this Gen

Trying to find the scariest games to write about from this generation is a bit like trying to squeeze blood from a stone. Suffice it to say, there's just not very many scary games out there, and those that claim to be scary (like Resident Evil 6, for example) are far from scary. 

It's for their rarity that we appreciate genuinely scary games even more, and why we decided to showcase thirteen of the scariest moments in games we've encountered this generation.

There may never be another Pyramid Head to drag his oversized sword across the floor, but thankfully there are a few games from this generation that have managed to awaken our primal fears as well as the original Silent Hill games have. 

Keep in mind that some of these games weren't even designed to shock and horror, but they accomplish it just as well as any game dedicated to survival horror.

Grab a mug of hot cocoa, wrap yourself in a blanket, and read on to discover the thirteen scariest moments in modern video gaming.

#13 Siren Blood Curse - Escape from the Saiga Hospital

Escaping from Saiga Hospital in Siren: Blood Curse is one of the scariest moments in the game, and it's not the only one. Siren isn't a very well known game because it wasn't well advertised, but as this scene depicts, it's indeed one of the scariest games of the generation.

#12 Fatal Frame 4: The Doctor

It was difficult to single out any single scene from Fatal Frame 4, so we've decided instead to select an entire collage of horrifying moments from the game.

#11 Half Life 2: Ravenholm

"We don't go to Ravenholm", reads the mission label. Right as you're split up from Alyx Vance, you're forced to brave the town of Ravenholm, now infested by headcrab zombies. Even in your HEV suit, you can't help but feel skittish as you set foot into this ghost town.

#10 Dead Space: Head Banging

Imagine yourself alone drifting on a space ship absent of human life, when all of a sudden you encounter a man banging his head on the wall. What could possibly go wrong?

#9 Metro 2033: Library

Metro 2033 has its share of horrors, ranging from the haunted subway tunnels to desolate buildings out in the nuclear-stricken wasteland of future Moscow. Yet few of these areas are as scary as the library in the middle of the city, which is inhabited by monsters.

#8 Condemned: Mr Tibbits

As a criminal investigator, you're tasked with solving crimes and in Condemned: Criminal Origins, you're tasked with solving your biggest case yet. The case you're on leads you to discovering the corpse of Mr. Tibbits within a locker. Just watch the video and see what happens.

#7 Bioshock Dentist Scene

The plastic surgeon in Bioshock operates an office that comes fresh out of your worst nightmares. He's a combination of a horrible dentist and a man who just wants to make "art" out of your face by carving you up.

#6 Heavy Rain: The Lizard

Heavy Rain is a gut-wrenching game that'll keep you tense throughout, but there's no scarier moment than when Ethan has to cut off one of his fingers.

#5 Condemned: Mannequin

Mannequins are certainly scary, as Silent Hill 2 proved to us years ago. Condemned allows us to relive some of that horror in a mannequin scene of its very own.

#4 Dead Space 2: STALKER Encounter

It's bad enough that necromorphs will pop out of the ventilation shafts to give you a scare, but few things aboard the Sprawl are as terrifying as the stalker, who stalks you throughout and strikes when you least expect it.

#3 Fallout 3: Dunwich

Fallout 3 can be a scary game at times, especially given the barren, post-apocalyptic setting it takes place in. However, there's no scarier moment in the game than when you have to enter the Dunwich building.

#2 S.T.A.L.K.E.R: Psychic Monster

STALKER will have you at the edge of your seat from the get-go, as you defend yourself against scavengers, mutant attack dogs, and military men who aren't too happy to have you wandering around. But one of the scariest things in the game is when you take on a psychic monster that's capable of turning your brain into pulp just by looking at you.

#1 Amnesia The Dark Descent: Water Horror

Water missions aren't very fun, but Amnesia blows the whole convention out of the water—as it were—with one of the scariest sequences in modern gaming.