Top 5 scariest settings in video games
Video games are more than just mindless entertainment. They are a gateway, much like books and cinema, to other worlds. If a video game is done well it can suck you in and take you to places you’ve never imagined could exist, and they’re only getting better with immersion as technology goes on.Sometimes this can be for a wondrous and magnificent experience. Other times it can leave you crying in the corner with no memory of what happened and the fear to even switch the game back on looming bigger than a skyscraper in your mind.
Video games are more than just mindless entertainment. They are a gateway, much like books and cinema, to other worlds. If a video game is done well it can suck you in and take you to places you’ve never imagined could exist, and they’re only getting better with immersion as technology goes on.
Sometimes this can be for a wondrous and magnificent experience. Other times it can leave you crying in the corner with no memory of what happened and the fear to even switch the game back on looming bigger than a skyscraper in your mind.
With that in mind we’ve decided to take a look at the top five scariest settings in video games.
As a quick disclaimer this won’t be naming any specific locations such as Silent Hill or Racoon City. This will be more of a general look at the setting, though those places may be referenced.
Without further spiel let’s dive right in.
Post Apocalyptia
The end of the world can be a terrifying thing, especially if you’ve just got used to the comfort zone of modern life in the setting you’re playing as. While Fallout probably doesn’t strike many as a “horror” game it’s still pretty scary.
From a perspective of being the Lone Wanderer or any of the Fallout protagonists, forced into a world gone mad from what was once a peaceful life in a vault or in a safe zone.
It plays mostly on the fears of what the world has created, the psychopaths and bandits that prey on the weak are the least of your concerns but still highlight the nature of some humans.
For the most part the biggest fears that games like Fallout put into me was the fear of giant stealthy scorpions sneaking up and stinging me in the spine.
Of course Fallout isn’t the only example of post apocalyptia but it’s probably one of the most well-known, and while V.A.T.S can break the immersion sometimes it still remains a treacherous and deadly place to return to.
Haunted Towns or Homes
Yes, the best example of this are the Silent Hill games. Is the internet appeased?
Granted I’d not played the Silent Hill games until much later in my life. It wasn’t a series that I felt comfortable playing because of how many people saying how scary it was.
Fast forward to 2014 and I’d just managed to crawl my way through Five Nights at Freddy’s and felt pretty good about myself. So I decided to give them a look.
It gave me more respect for haunted locations as a setting, even if the game was a little dated with how it looked.
For the most part movies depict Paranormal Activity as the apex of haunting and those movies are just plain dumb. Immersion is almost at zero and you feel that anything that gets the movie over with faster would be a blessing.
With games like Silent Hill that utilize the haunted locations to their full effect you want to keep going, you want to survive. But every little bump in the night causes you to look back with that little moment of hesitation that could spell your doom.
Space
It’s true what they say, in space no-one can hear you scream.
All of these settings have an element of isolation to them, Space is probably one of the most lonely places in the universe.
With nothing around you but vacuum and the metal walls of whatever station or ship is keeping you safe from it there really is nowhere to run.
For the most part in these games there’s no escape so whatever you’re stuck against in this place. So suit up and be prepared to wet yourself because you ain’t going nowhere.
Forests and Jungles
The feeling of isolation is made so much worse by the knowledge that a friend might be just around the corner.
The same could be said for my Post Apocalyptia example, but in that friendlies are signposted to all hell, so much so that they might as well be carrying around a big sign saying “bandit bait”.
Forests can contain anything that nature is capable of creating. The Forest is about the encounters of a place crash survivor with uncontacted native tribesmen of an unspecified region. This brings out the fear of a more primitive culture who have adapted to an environment better than you have.
No matter what you’ll be trying to make yourself secure but these enemies don’t need security. This applies to any enemy in the forest, be they man or beast. A tiger is happy with a den and a hunk of meat, but a man or woman from urban life will think they need so much more.
Nature truly holds the advantage in forests so bring your tent and mosquito net.
Underwater
Space is probably to most isolating place on this list, but it’s still very unlikely to happen. Even being lost in a forest is pretty unlikely for most gamers because any “jungle holidays” will usually take place quite close to settlements.
Underwater is the most likely, and therefore makes it a lot scarier than the others.
The fear of the deep puts many people off swimming and what could lurk behind a solid surface isn’t nearly as scary as what could await you in all 360 degrees surrounding you, just out of view in the cloudy depths.
For the isolation, unknown and potential threat of being stuck in the middle of the ocean, or underwater, it gets the top spot on this list.
Do you agree with this list? What setting do you find the scariest? Let us know in the comments below.