Dim the lights, crank up the volume and grab a change of underwear!

Honourable mentions: Resident Evil, Fatal Frame, Doom III, Wolfenstein 3D, F.E.A.R. 2, Condemned 2: Bloodshot, The Suffering, Dead Space

There are a lot of great horror titles out there, and whittling them down to a shortlist was always going to be difficult. We were looking for a game that could be both tense and scary to play, as well as being undeniably good . Don’t agree with our choices? Have your say in the comments!

5: F.E.A.R. (PC, X360, PS3)

Developer: Monolith

Monolith have carved out a niche near the top of the western horor game scene- but F.E.A.R. put them there. Truly nervewracking sound design, creepy visuals and awesome shadow effects consipred to create a constantly oppressive atmosphere that can leave a player emotionally and physically drained after a couple of hours. I literally had to pry my bloodless fingers off of the controller after a long session!

F.E.A.R. definitely doesn’t deserve the top spot, though. Its rambling, samey levels frequently lead to abject boredom rather than bloodcurdling terror, and the Point Man feels far too capable and overpowered to be a true horror protagonist. It’s difficult to be freaked out when you’re a dual-wielding scissor-kicking powerhouse with a penchant for John Woo slowmo! Still, its effective (if cheap) scare tactics and frequent terrifying hallucinations earn F.E.A.R. a place in the top 5. Plus, evil little girls are scary as hell.

4: Eternal Darkness: Sanity’s Requiem (Gamecube)

Developer: Silicon Knights

You know a horror game’s doing its job when the main character starts to go mad. However, it takes a truly exceptional IP to convince the player that he’s going crazy! Eternal Darkness completely breaks the fourth wall by occasionally tricking gamers into thinking that their television’s changing channel by itself, that save game files have been mysteriously deleted and that other horrible gaming nightmares are occurring… and all the while bombards you with some of the scariest moments in videogame history.

Seriously, the bathtub scene gets me every damn time.

Eternal Darkness is generally considered to be one of the most unsettling games of its generation- and is well worth another look this Halloween. Just remember not to turn your television off when it starts “playing up”…

3: Silent Hill 2 (PS2, Xbox)

Developer: Konami

Let’s face it: no horror game hall of fame would be complete without an entry from the Silent Hill series. Konami’s epic franchise blends impeccable storytelling, shockingly explicit adult themes and a real feeling of powerlessness in the face of implacable, mysterious evil…as well as the most fucked up monsters you’ll ever witness outside of H.R. Giger’s worst nightmares. Or wet dreams. He’s a strange lad, that one.

Choosing between the first three was always going to be tricky- but Silent Hill 2 edges out the competition by being so very, very twisted. The motivations and sins of its protagonist as well as the symbolism behind its monsters is both thought-provoking and deeply disturbing…you’ll need at least a couple of playthroughs to figure out what’s really going on. Plus, the constant feeling of being completely helpless and alone in a hostile environment makes the few jumpy moments truly terrifying.

2: Condemned: Criminal Origins (X360, PS3)

Developer: Monolith

Picture the scene. You’re stalking a psychotic serial killer through a dark warren of tunnels when you notice a fire axe on the wall. You’ve already got a half decent weapon, so you decide to save it for later. However, after a couple of minutes you return… only to find that it’s missing. Someone’s picked it up… and is waiting for an opportunity to leap out from the shadows and hack you limb from limb with it.

Condemned: Criminal Origins casts you as a normal bloke thrown into a subtle, masterfully-crafted horror story. You’ll have to fend slavering madmen and depraved serial killers with literally anything you can get your hands on- and, more worryingly, will have to work out whether the world’s going insane…or you are. Horror is always more effective when you don’t truly know what’s happening, and Condemned allows your imagination to fill in most of blanks. No horror afficionado’s game collection is complete without Monolith’s underrated sleeper hit.

Oh, and the scene with the department store mannikins will stay with you forever. Trust me, you’ll need a change of underwear for this one!

1: System Shock 2

Developer: Irrational Games/ Looking Glass Studios

Picking the winner was always going to be difficult, but System Shock 2 made the choice a whole lot easier. We were looking for an experience that stays consistently scary each and every time you play it through- which simply can’t be said for most games. After all, Alma or Serial Killer X might force you to wring out your delicates the first time they jump out at you… but they’re just annoyances keeping you from the gameplay the second time around!

System Shock 2, however, doesn’t rely on cheap jumpy moments. Its effectiveness is rooted in the fact that you’ll drop a log every time you encounter an enemy…which are randomly and continually respawned throughout the levels. Stalking the corridors of a creepy abandoned spaceship with a pipe wrench is terrifying enough. Knowing that any corner or shadow could be hiding a murderous zombie alien hybrid is even worse. But knowing that even rooms that you thought were safe could now be infested by an undead ex crewman who will beg you to kill him even as he stoves your head in with a bloodstained pipe…is something else entirely.

The sound design seals the deal. You can hear your enemies from tens of yards away; but they’re not the usual slavering, gibbering monsters that you’re used to. Instead, they were all once human or programmed for serving humanity and still remember their former lives. Hearing cyborg nursemaids singing lullabies to the children that they murdered themselves is as creepy as it gets…and reminds you that they’re very, very close. To top it off, your only ally is a mysterious force of pure evil that makes GLaDOS resemble Mac OS. SHODAN’s voice acting and scripting is some of the finest you’ll ever witness in a computer game, and’ll send a shiver down the spine of even the most hardened gamers.

Practically every horror game today owes at least something to System Shock 2 (hell, Dead Space even quotes from its dialog ad verbatim), but even its greatest fans have to admit that its graphics are bordering on the archaic. No worries though: treat yourself to the Rebirth texture pack and take the terror to the next level. Watch it though, System Shock 2 doesn’t get on well with dual cores…

So, that’s our pick. But remember: true horror is in the eye of the beholder. Don’t agree with our choices? Have your say in the comments!

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