Jump Scares in Games

[Flygonmaster]

So, sometimes, a game will seem relatively nice with its scares. It builds them up at least a bit before throwing them at you. But sometimes, a game just goes "Screw that!" and throws an unexpected loud noise, a scare chord, or something else at you while, maybe, something you thought was dead leaps up for a second before going down for good. For example, we have various Eternal Darkness sanity effects, plus this Deadly Creatures moment:

You see the Gila Monster come at you, but a shovel comes down and stabs it straight through the back, killing it- or so you thought. You have to wait, there are flies blocking the exit. Suddely- ROARRR! The gila springs back to life and roars in pain for a second, before collapsing for good. That is a moment I'll never recover from.

[Extreme5000]

First reply!

Also, The Novistadors and Regenerators/Iron Maidens in RE4. They scare the shit out of me. They aren't really jump scares, but they're damn scary.

[Seven Rain]

Le watching my Mom play Clock Tower 3 when I was a young teen:
"Huh... Isn't Clock Tower supposed to be scary? All she's doing is running around solving puz-"
*CRASH*

Spoiler! :

Seriously, that hammer dude did not show up unless he could break through a wall and scare the shit out of you. The game would go on forever without him showing up then suddenly LOLIHOPEYOUWEREN'TUSINGTHATWALL.

[H0lyhandgrenade]

I react so big at jump scares it's embaressing. I'm way too easy to scare. "YEAGHGGHH!! *hammers attack button*" ... Luckily I DO tend to react correctly, shooting the head off whatever thing is immediately, but christ do I yell. I pride myself though that I instinctively shout; I don't scream. Take that, girliness!!

It happens to me in a lot of games, but the one that comes to mind is in Resident Evil 4. It happens a few times there. Like I think you're going through some water in the castle or something, then suddenly BOOM monster that was invisible right in front of you.

[robybang]

I think the only scares in games that affected me were the ghosts on the ghost ship in Okami. Not so much that they appeared suddenly, but that they stayed on screen longer than I was comfortable with. And that giant tentacle thing in the ship until I figured out how to keep it from attacking.

[Bre Ishurna the Wolf]

There I was, playing Metroid fusion. I was going down the elevator to the first area I needed to clear. Then boom, fake Samus comes in.

"Oh. This isn't so ba-"

Cutscene with fake Samus's suit's face, semiclear visor.

Spoiler! :

HOLYSHIT NO IRISES GETITAWAY D:

[Afrohawkman]

OH GOD I REMEMBER THAT. Metroid Fusion was one big scare really but that's one of the big ones. Another one is when they specifically tell you to take out a monster and then in red say, "Don't stay too long, the SA-X is tracking you." That scared the shit out of me, I knew it could show up in regular rooms so I was extremely cautious during that part.

[Bowserknight]

You get a few jump scares from SA-X throughout the game... if you have the sound off.

Spoiler! :

You can't hear the tapping.

[RyoSoulreaper]

Metroid Fusion and Majora's Mask were the only two games I ever played that scared the living fuck out of me.

Fusion had SA-X. That thing was like death in a battle suit and everytime I ran into it that music played and I ran like hell!

Spoiler! :

*SA-X sees me*"OHGODOHGODOHGOD!

Majora's Mask......That canyon and freakin.......Stone Tower. So many nightmares.

[Bre Ishurna the Wolf]

Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess also kind of creeped me out.

Especially the cutscene after you save the fourth light beast from twilight.


That did A) Broke a bit of my sanity, and B) Gave me a heart attack

[Flygonmaster]

Guys, you're getting a bit off-topic, this is for scares like that random zombie face in the Maze Game- the ones that make you jump.

I can change this to General Game Scares though, if you like.

[Seven Rain]

I can change this to General Game Scares though, if you like.

Nah, stick to your guns. We already had a thread about general game scares. (Then again that was a long time ago, all we have relatively recently is a thread about things in games that were unintentionally scary, but whatev.)

[Wander Tones]

If anyone's played the Vechs Super Hostile maps, you'd know how unexpected some things can be in Minecraft.

Now, this is from one of his most popular maps: Legendary. At the time, on SMP, TNT did not give a noise when lit, which makes it all the more surprising.

Oh, and unrelated to Vechs, there are also the moments when you go to take a breather in the middle of caving, and a Creeper blows up right behind you. What makes it worse is if you live, look around rapidly, then get jumped by a skeleton that deals the final blow.

[ApaFox]

Going exploring in an abandoned building in Fallout 3 always gave me the willies, even worse the vaults. I hate getting jumped out of nowhere by a silent ghoul.

[RainbowAurora]

In Silent Hill 3, you're in some random storeroom in the mall. For some reason, the game emphasizes the fact that there is a pristine mannequin in the room. When you try to leave, you hear a HORRIBLE noise, and, being the gamer that you are, you go to check where the noise came from.

Spoiler! :

The mannequin was decapitated, leaving blood everywhere.

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Silent Hill isn't usually big on this jump scare crap, though. Thankfully.