Team Talk: What’s your most haunting gaming experience?

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It’s that creepy time of year once again, which means it’s time to terrify and torture one another with a plethora of spooky game recommendations.

Since we’ve already covered our favourite horror games in the past, this Halloween we’re pondering the select moments that truly haunt us. And we aren’t talking about the terrifying fate of seeing a  “save file not found” message displayed on the screen...

What’s your most haunting gaming experience? Let us know in the comments.

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by James Michael Parry

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@James_Parry

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by Team PTC

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@pass_controller

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James | Alien Isolation

While I could easily talk about BioShock again (constantly returning to that well to try to complete it was traumatic in itself), instead I recall a game I didn’t even complete – Alien Isolation.

The idea of being alone against a near-unkillable, perfect predator in any circumstances is harrowing, but Creative Assembly's iteration of the iconic Xenomorph was particularly persistent, and haunts me to this day.

Everyone loves a safe space - even Resident Evil has rooms that offer a breather now and then - but in Isolation you don’t get those defined moments to relax, making the entire game an exercise in controlling your own nerves as much as you control the player character herself. Fortunately, Amanda Ripley is much tougher than I would be in the same situation.

I still haven’t played Dead Space for the same reason; I know I’m useless in those situations. The pressure of creatures creeping towards me instantly causes a state of panic which makes me liable to make stupid mistakes.

One day, perhaps, I’ll manage to save Ripley. For now, she remains perpetually trapped on Sevastopol Station, because I’m too much of a scaredy cat to save her.

Sorry, Ripley - you're on your own for this one.

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Sam | Resident Evil 4

This week's Halloween-themed topic filled my head with classic moments from Resident Evil 4. The relentless, wheezing Regenerators and crazed Garraor encounters are two of many contenders, but the game’s trial-by-fire introduction beats them out.

Not far into Resident Evil 4, at a point easily reached during the first play session, players reach the infamous village fight. Leon must hold out for an unspecified amount of time as endless hordes of enemies doggedly pursue him. Before too long, the affectionately (and accurately) named “Chainsaw Guy” also joins the fray.

If this fella with a burlap sack on his head gets too close, Leon can instantly kiss his cranium goodbye and it’s back to the beginning of the encounter. When this holdout already feels as though it lasts for an eternity, the tangible fear of lost progress is just icing on an already terrifying cake.

Little touches really help to sell what a desperate struggle it is. Leon can block off entry points with furniture, have no choice but to retreat upstairs (not generally a good idea) as the horde breaks through, then be forced to dive headfirst out of a second floor window just to buy himself a moment’s breathing room.

Chainsaw Guy's name is probably the only affectionate thing about him.

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Liam | Resident Evil

Because I don’t enjoy horror as a genre, picking a most haunting moment was pretty easy. When you’re as big a coward as I am, pretty much everything could be considered terrifying. However, there is one gaming moment that is still very much haunting me to this day, and that’s the first time you come across a zombie in the original Resident Evil.

I was only around eight years old when RE came out, and I wasn’t really aware that games could be so terrifying, having grown up on Super Mario, so I was totally unprepared for the absolute horror that was that scene.

Even watching it back now as an adult is uncomfortable, there’s just something so grotesque about it. I don’t know if it’s the fixed camera angles hiding what’s around the corner, the wet crunch as the zombie munches on its victim, or the horrifying, slow turn as it notices you, but it gave me nightmares for weeks.
 
It’s ruined most zombie games for me (though I did enjoy the cathartic mowing down of the undead in World at War’s zombies mode) and put me off the franchise; the only one I managed to complete was Resi 4, and that’s only because it ditched zombies for angry villagers.

*Shudders*

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What's your most haunting gaming moment? Let us know below.