Top 10 Scariest PC Games
#1: System Shock 2 (1999)
The calm before the storm...
It couldn't be anything else really - any game that can genuinely unnerve and frighten you, merely with half-crazed computers and test lab monkeys was going to be the number one choice, no matter what. The plot is fairly generic, even for something that’s 8 years old, and involves a lone member of the military waking on the deck of a spaceship that’s undergoing its first faster-than-light trials. Cybernetically spliced with various accoutrements, one soon finds out that not only is the ship in quite a bad state but it has been attacked by some alien force - the crew are nowhere to be seen although various ill-looking mutated "people" are very much present. Fortunately it turns out that one isn’t totally alone and is soon given tasks to complete by another survivor, one of the ship’s scientists. However, the tension rapidly builds up through a mixture of scripted and free-form events; in places, the atmosphere is virtually palpable thanks to the game's best feature: audio. The missing crew air their thoughts to the player via strewn data logs; the voice acting is excellent and surprisingly varied. Ambient sound effects help maintain the feeling that one really is inside a battered spaceship but it’s the random cries of the wandering enemies that drive it all home. Remember the monkeys? One can feel genuine chills simply hearing their "ook ook" noises, distantly along a corridor, knowing full well that one doesn’t have enough ammunition. And when the computer starts speaking - oh boy...
This isn’t about cheap shocks and boo! moments - one is forced to imagine what must have happened to the crew and ship; it's never made quite explicit until the later stages, so the reasons for the empty corridors and rooms are offered via ghostly visages and one’s own inferences. Sadly, it’s not all tea and medals, or at least not today. Father Time has been somewhat mean to System Shock 2 - firstly, he's taken a branch from the Ugly Tree and given the game a sound beating and despite various mods and updates, there's no escaping that the visuals pale in comparison to the likes of FEAR or even AvP2. Secondly, there's the unavoidable fact that in 1999, Windows XP and dual-core CPUs didn't really exist and it can be a mammoth task to get it to run solidly on a modern machine. It's worth it though: the gameplay is still exquisite and many titles of late can't claim to have even half the features that the game offers. It's a long and hard battle but the experience easily repays the effort.
HAL has nothing on this lunatic.
Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the Most Scariest PC Game, as voted by Futuremark visitors and YouGamers staff: System Shock 2.
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Related Stuff Games: Resident Evil 4
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