2013's Creepiest Video Game Moments

I'm so startled right now.

2013 was a great year for horror fans. The resurgence of video game horror is undoubtedly sure to please gamers that love the rush of adrenaline that accompanies especially spooky in-game moments. With the year winding down, we asked IGN Editors to share what moments of 2013 produced the biggest scares in their life. So if you're a horror fan, pay attention!
Then again, if you're like me and get the heebie-jeebies just from that creepy floating hand in The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds, these memories below might best be considered a list of games to avoid at all costs. - Justin Davis

Old-Fashioned Jump Scares - Outlast

Outlast is the stuff that nightmares are made of. From the first time I played it in a pitch black, claustrophobic closet at PAX East 2013 to when I reviewed it a few months ago, the game did an impeccable job of throwing me in the depths of a complete hell. The single moment that continues to stick out to me comes in the opening moments, shortly after your plucky journalist has gained access to Mount Massive Asylum. Like any good horror setting, the lights in many of the rooms were out, so I had to use the night-vision setting on my camcorder in order to make any sense of the darkness. Through the green and black blur, I slowly opened a door, only to find myself staring directly at a body swaying from a noose. The sound cue at that moment caused me the jump, and immediately sprint to the other side of a room. As soon as I thought I’d made it to safety, another body reached out to me, and an impaled man rattled off a death knell that forced me to take a moment and collect myself somewhere far away from my PC. - Marty Sliva

Lost Souls of Dead Children - Year Walk

Year Walk's unsettling atmosphere is at its most haunting when you're seeking out the lost souls of dead children. The scene is set up in a fashion that should be hilarious -- it's a task assigned, wordlessly, by a horse wearing a suit in a frozen lake -- but is utterly frightening. Clues about the babies' whereabouts invariably involve blood. They shiver violently as you deliver them to the haunting Brook Horse, who casually whisks them away into nothing, leaving you with nothing more than guilt, dread, and a key to the next tense event. - Mitch Dyer

The Boys of Silence - Bioshock Infinite

My scariest moment of 2013 is from BioShock Infinite. The whole portion of Comstock House with the Boys of Silence and Elizabeth screaming and being tortured left me feeling sad and creeped out. It was when I unknowingly turned a corner and a Boy of Silence popped out in my face that actually scared the crap out of me. I specifically stay away from most scary games because I get so freaked out, and this moment really made me jump. - Leah Jackson
The biggest “jump” I got was from Bioshock: Infinite. The Boys of Silence are easily the creepiest enemies in the entire game, and when one spawned RIGHT behind me in Comstock House, I was so startled I couldn’t even scream; I just had Booker run out of the room as fast as he could! - Meghan Sullivan

Overrun by Zombies - State of Decay

Early in the State of Decay – before I quite realized how terrifying and dangerous its zombies are – I tried to clear out a small outpost that had roughly 8-10 zombies in it, including a couple of the “hero” undead. I was playing as Marcus, and as I blasted and swung away at the horde, I started to get the sense that I was in over my head. Sure enough, I fatigued and then, before I knew it, I was at the bottom of a zombie pile. They tore me limb from limb and ate my remains, and when I continued my game as Maya, I naively (and foolishly) thought I could retrieve Marcus’ backpack, so I could at least salvage something from his death. As I moved closer with Maya, the day had turned to night and the mob had gotten much, much angrier. I turned and ran in the opposite direction before I could get within 20 feet of Marcus’ backpack. Rest in Peace, my friend. I’m sorry that my ego got you killed. - Ryan McCaffrey

Hunted - The Last of Us

My most frightening moment is from The Last of Us, when David is hunting Ellie around an abandoned restaurant. Trying to evade him was one of the most tense moments I’ve EVER experienced in a video game, and the entire ordeal left me badly shaken long after I finished the story. - Meghan Sullivan

Slow-Creeping Apprehension - Gone Home

As soon as I spawned on Gone Home’s porch, I was creeped out. Once I set foot inside and saw that A) nobody was home, and B) the large house’s old wiring caused many a light to flicker or go out unexpectedly, I kept waiting for the other shoe to drop. When was the psychotic/mutant/undead girl going to leap out at me and eat my face off? Even though the house remained empty at every turn, I kept expecting something terrible to finally reveal itself – suddenly and terrifyingly. I was so on-edge that all I could do to cope with the fear was live-tweet my progress in the game, but not even the reassurances of my kind followers could reassure me. Damn you, Gone Home. And bravo. - Ryan McCaffrey

The Spookiness of Silence - Gone Home

The only game that scared me in 2013 is Gone Home -- and depending on how much you know about the game, you might think me completely crazy. But I went into Gone Home knowing nothing. I saw that Marty reviewed it highly and then Polygon's Justin McElroy was Tweeting that people just needed to play it with a blank slate. So, I bit. I bought it and played through on a Sunday, and while the crashing lightning and spooky Greenbriar estate made me anxious, it was the ample amounts of 'nothing' that freaked me out. I expected a ghost or a mutant around every corner, and every corner I turned yielded... nothing. It just made me more creeped out until I finally went into the TV room and came across the book on poltergeists. That's when it was on. That's when I started darting in and out of doorways trying to trigger whatever ghoul was going to come at me. And when nothing did, I just kept getting more scared. Gone Home doesn't do anything but put you in a house, and it scared me more than any zombie game I've played in my life. - Greg Miller

Family Issues - Gone Home

I found the basement in Gone Home very early on, and stumbled across a first-printing copy of a book by Kaitlin's father, Terry. Nearby was a letter from Terry's father expressing utter disappointment at his son's choice to engage in science fiction writing. The last lines of the cold, berating note hung in my mind, "You can do better." Much later, I walked into Terry's study upstairs. My stomach churned at the sight of the huge handwritten sign hanging over his writing desk: "You can do better." I've never felt so sick and horrified while playing a game as I did finding that echo of parental cruelty reverberating though this man's life over the course of decades. - Jared Petty

Snorting Manpigs - Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs

The most important, but often under-appreciated element in great horror is sound design, and this is something that Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs absolutely nails. About 90 minutes into the game, I finally reached an area where I came in contact with the titular pigs. A dark, damp, subterranean prison that was populated by dim torches and man-sized metallic cages. Before I could get a taste for my surroundings, the sound of the hellish creatures filled my headphones. Hearing the snorts of the Manpigs as their hooves clap on the ground, all while I tried my hardest to stay out of sight was terrifying to say the least. Thanks Amnesia, now I can’t watch Babe without being slightly afraid for my life. - Marty Sliva

The Abandoned Mine - Slender: The Arrival

I was given the task of recording the video walkthrough for Slender: The Arrival (Suspiciously after Destin Legarie overheard my fear of horror games). But how scary could a tall guy in a suit be, right? As it turns out I did ok mastering my fears and evading the creepy Slenderman. In truth I felt pretty full of myself as I left the forest and entered an abandoned mine. And then, in the eerie stillness of the mine, I heard it. The sound of skittering, and the quiet but jarring sound of nails across a chalkboard. Slenderman did not make those noises. I turned and spotted a hunched hooded figure racing towards me. Slenderman did not run. I panicked and ran through the mine, turning on generators and hoping I would not find myself cornered by this new figure that seemed to work in tandem with Slenderman. Finally all the generators were running, and I made a mad dash for the elevator. Victory was mine! As the elevator churned to life and began its slow ascent, I turned to see what had become of my pursuer...only to find him inches from my face. I still don't like horror games, and now I hate abandoned mines too. - Brendan Graeber

Incredibly High Stakes - Dark Souls II

The Dark Souls II beta only lasted a few hours, but that was enough time to remind my why I find those games so frightening. It’s not because of jump scares or a creepy story – it’s because the stakes are always high, and each step you take leads you further into the unknown. After gathering a nice amount of souls, I sprung a trap in the forest. Enemies swarmed me, so I ran… directly into another batch of enemies. As they killed me, I knew I probably wouldn’t get those souls back. - Brian Albert