What's the spookiest location in gaming? | Team Talk

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With announcements from Silent Hill and Resident Evil promising more spooky journeys to come, we got thinking about the spookiest horror locations in the second of our trio of terrifying Team Talks.

It doesn’t have to be a horror game either, sometimes the spookiest settings are the ones which catch you by surprise. Some of those football stadiums in FIFA can be really rough on a Saturday night…

Is there a level that makes the hair on the back of your neck stand on end? Share your favourites on our Discord.

by Team PTC

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​@pass_controller

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Resident Evil - Spencer Mansion | Chris Brand

Much like it did with Liam, Resident Evil left quite an impression on me. That first encounter elicited the appropriate fear response from my young mind but it wasn't strong enough to overcome my curiosity, and indulging it rewarded me with new experiences each time, with even the most insignificant of details taking up permanent residence in my brain.
 
I can recall hearing a snippet of Moonlight Sonata in the piano room, not far from where we saw our zombie friend dining on Kenneth, and knowing I'd always recognise this hauntingly beautiful tune.
 
Though I can't remember what prompted me to stand on a balcony overlooking a wooded area and fire a shot from the grenade launcher, I can remember my surprise at Jill exclaiming "It's just a painting!" when the projectile exploded just a few metres away. This was unlike anything I'd played before.
 
Despite poring over the map and thoroughly investigating Spencer Mansion for what seems like a large percentage of my life, those memories have eroded with the passage of time and the exact layout escapes me.
 
If it wasn't for fear now outweighing my curiosity, I'm fairly certain I could plot a route through the game without too much trouble, just relying on recollections of specific rooms or notes, and the context behind the strange goings-on that are taking place elsewhere in the mansion and its grounds.
 
Some of the later, more action-oriented, RE games lacked the same atmosphere, the faster pace offering a different kind of tension, a much more urgent feeling of unease, one which had me focusing more on relocation than exploration, as my adrenaline pushed me to keep moving forward. Resident Evil, perhaps by virtue of hardware limitations, had the right ratio of action to suspense that allowed me to take my time and really immerse myself in my surroundings.

Aliens vs. Predator - Freya’s Prospect | Liam Andrews

It would have been very easy for me to match Chris’s choice this week, seeing as I’m barely able to endure an hour in Spencer Mansion before calling it a day, but I thought I’d (gladly) avoid the Resident Evil series this week.
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That being said, I did mention last time that I briefly owned a copy of Resident Evil 0, and part of the reason I returned it was because of the game’s opening setting. Zombies in a mansion is one thing, but being stuck on a narrow train with them, unable to stop or get off, was unbearable. Worse, completing the train part only ‘rewarded’ you with a trip to a zombie infested mansion!

Terrifying.

Instead, I’m picking the opening level of the Marine campaign from Aliens vs. Predator (2010). Most people probably wouldn’t call this game scary, but for a coward like myself, playing as a lonely Marine abandoned in an Xenomorph-infested mining facility was very stressful.

Everything in the poorly lit corridors was designed to look like an Alien was just about to tear you to pieces. Coupled with sudden noises, often sounding like they were coming from somewhere very, very close by (along with the occasional motion tracker bleep), and the whole experience was hugely unnerving.

Luckily, shooting Aliens in the face with a Pulse Rifle was a very effective way of conquering my fears. If only they’d thought to add one into the early Resident Evil games, I might have completed more of them.​

BioShock – Rapture | James

​Look, I know I’ve brought up BioShock once or twice before, but I’ve never waxed lyrical about the game’s magnificent setting, Rapture.

An iconic spooky setting has to have atmosphere, and not only does Rapture have that by necessity – since it’s all underwater, it has to – but it really oozes it out of every Roaring 20s-inspired corner.

There’s the murky holes that Little Sisters will occasionally crawl out of, the flowing curtains, complete with sweeping and often slightly torn fabric, and the dimly lit hallways, with spotlights that flicker on at just the right time to reveal the game’s incredibly unsettling Splicers.

The concept alone, that Andrew Ryan dreamt of a utopia under the sea only to see it fall into disarray is such a beautiful, dark twist on one man’s dream of perfection, and metaphorically packs a punch with a sense that there’s no such thing after all.

Despite the limited technical power of the original release, which is sharply and smartly polished in The Collection version, the understanding of water, reflection and light by Irrational Games is clear at every turn, and adds to the feelings of claustrophobia and dread.

To visit Rapture on its best day is nothing to the experience you get in BioShock, an relentlessly creepy experience.