Fatal Frame and Silent Hill series for me. I love them but good lord they make me jump. My teenagers were making fun of me about Fatal Frame until I had them sit with me and play… in the dark. No more making fun of dad after that.
The Ocean Manor section of Vampire: the Masquerade Bloodlines made me jump a lot the first time I played through that.
Tension through the roof. Nothing before or since has replicated what I felt playing Thief (and Thief 2). Many play sessions lasting multiple hours, quitting only because the relentless intensity was too much. I’ve felt fear while playing other games, but it was never quite so delicious.
When System Shock 2 came out, I played the demo, but was too scared to even finish that, so I didn’t buy it back then, which I came to regret when its reputation kept on growing, so I eventually picked up a used copy somewhere. Still too scared to actually finish it, though.
Was surprised it took until page 2 for someone to mention the Ocean House Hotel from Bloodlines. The only way I managed to get through that the first time was by turning down the volume, putting on some upbeat music and play it daylight.
In Half-Life, headcrabs in air vents and zombies breaking through wood panelling also made me jump every time and some of its single player mods were even worse.
And while reading about games like Amnesia intrigues me, I know that I’d never be able to play it and thus have refrained from getting it so far. I just don’t buy straight horror games anymore, which always makes me a little sad when one gets great reviews. :-/
It’s not just games, though. I don’t read horror stories or watch horror films either, although, strangely, I sometimes enjoy reading the summaries of horror films on Wikipedia…
Same, EVE is the only game which caused physical symptoms; racing heart beat, fighting through panic paralysis to try and control my ship. I don’t think any other game has ever given me such strong physical symptoms.
I think games with PVP and stakes - in-game stakes or, eg, a long running series of 1v1 RTS matches against a friendly rival - tend to really cause me to “zone into” the experience, generally with a very fast pulse and adrenaline and so on. It isn’t the same as the whole “scary game” physical condition - except maybe, eg, when fleeing from death in a stakes-based MMO - but it’s similarly hyper-immersive and innervating.
System Shock 2.
Near that last door in the ‘tutorial’ area (before the first enemy), that ghost almost made me quit the game, but I forced myself to continue. Opened the door and the zombie monster thing came running at me while shouting “I’m sorry” (or was it “Run away!”?). I cried.
I did finish the game in co-op years later, though.
Is that the ghost/poltergeist mission? Yeah that was pretty scary.
I really, really didn’t understand why they put co-op in this game. Nothing removes fear like someone else on your side of the monitor.
There was a small moment in Unreal that scared me. The first encounter with the Skaarj in the hallway when the lights slowly go out. You sit in complete darkness and then… the attack happens.