5 times non-horror games scared the crap out of us

With October approaching and Halloween just around the corner, it’s to be expected that video game websites like AUTOMATON WEST will start posting about horror video games (and so will we). But what about those times when a game outside of the genre manages to scare you with unintentional jump scares or a sudden switch to a scary tone? Here are five “non-horror” video games that amazed us.

Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time and the Teleporting Sand Monsters

By Carlos “Zoto” Zotomayor

I love horror video games now, but as a teenager the scariest game I ever played was Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time. After the Prince is tricked by the Vizier into releasing the Sands of Time, most of the Kingdom of Azad turns into grotesque sand monsters. They are neither particularly smart nor fast, but the Sand Monsters’ inability to die (aside from using the Dagger of Time) and their penchant for teleporting to the Prince and Farah made them formidable opponents. It was this teleport ability that made me leave Prince of Persia frightened.

Prince of Persia: Sands of Time features linear corridors and large rooms. As things got more spacious, the feeling of being overrun by sand monsters only increased my fear. Sure enough, as I entered the palace gardens, a group of sand monsters teleported right in front of me. The sheer surprise of the sand monsters’ appearance and the whooshing teleportation sound effects was enough to make me throw my controller in the air and scream. I opened the PlayStation 2 and took out the CD. I never played it again until I was much older. What made this scenario more memorable was the fact that my brother and cousin watched me play during lunch time and never disappointed me.

By Verity Townsend

Whether it’s Naked Snake, Solid Snake or Big Boss, it’s always fun to slip back into the role of the hardened mercenary and experience another round of inventive gameplay, quirky characters and epic cutscenes. That’s why I loaded Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain onto my PlayStation 3 with anticipation, eager to see what Kojima’s MGS swansong had in store for me.

Making a badass character completely helpless can have a very strong impact on the player, and Kojima knows this. Nothing could have prepared me for the hell that is the opening of MGS5.

The game begins with Big Boss in the hospital, hooked up to machines and attended to by staff. But this security is quickly destroyed when the place is violently attacked. Having just woken up from a coma with your legs completely numb, you are forced to weakly crawl under beds, watch soldiers slaughter hospital staff, and then hide in the corpses. A truly horrific opening to the game – and one that filled me with dread (followed by more horrors of war with the House of the Devil later in the game).

Luckily, I had a lot of fun afterward driving through the desert listening to Thomas Dolby and other 80s hits while sending unsuspecting soldiers flying to join my base.

Bioshock: Infinite and the Boys of Silence

By Carlos “Zoto” Zotomayor

Fast forward to the PlayStation 3 era and Bioshock: Infinite, a game more vibrant and lively than its predecessors. Near the end of the game, Booker DeWitt and Elizabeth pass through Comstock House – Zachary Hale Comstock’s base of operations in Colombia. After experiencing various tears and realities, I came across the Boys of Silence – twisted experiments who act as guards for Comstock House. If the Boys of Silence stay in their line of sight for too long, the Boys of Silence will let out an ear-splitting scream, dealing minor damage and alerting nearby enemies. The alarmed Boy of Silence will then teleport away (I’m sensing a trend here) and you’ll have to deal with the mob he just summoned.

Given their eerie appearance and sinister nature, I was careful not to alert all of the Boys of Silence as I walked through Comstock House. I finally reached the principal’s office, where I was able to open the security gate and reach Elizabeth, who had been taken away by Songbird earlier.

Unfortunately, opening the security gate causes a Boy of Silence to appear right behind Booker, which doesn’t scare the protagonist, but scares the hell out of me. The Boy of Silence’s scream broke the silence that permeated the Warden’s office, causing nearby enemies to gather and fire. While the aftermath of the Boy of Silence’s scream wasn’t scary, this cheap jump scare made me praise the developers, knowing they did a good job for me.

Bubsy 3D and the colorful nightmare fuel

By Verity Townsend

Bubsy 3D was loaned to me by a friend in elementary school and has sat in a niche in the back of my mind ever since. Released in 1996, it was the first attempt to put the bright orange bobcat character Bubsy in a 3D world – and it wasn’t a success. When I was seven years old, using awkward tank controls to move through huge, colorful levels with disjointed shapes triggered a feeling of fear. Maybe it was the discordant music, or the fact that everything felt pretty bleak and unfinished – but even now, this game is terrible.

Since then, Bubsy 3D has become infamous for its reputation as one of the worst PlayStation 1 games of all time. If you’re playing it today, it’s probably best to think of it as some kind of abstract nightmare. After playing it for the first time, going back to my Crash Bandicoot save was a huge relief – and I’m sure my TV’s tubes were happier too.

Warning: There are spoilers for Undertale in the next paragraph.

Undertale and Flowey end the game

By Carlos “Zoto” Zotomayor

Luckily, the last scary moment I experienced in a non-horror game wasn’t a jump scare. After defeating Asgore Dreemurr in Undertale, Flowey appears and steals the six human SOULs for himself. After his short monologue, the screen turns white and the game closes without warning.

Since I didn’t save before the Asgore boss fight, I panicked at the thought of losing all my progress. Opening the game didn’t do me any favors, as it restarts with a twisted, macabre version of the Undertale intro sequence. I was about to refund the game on Steam when the protagonist appeared on the screen and gameplay resumed.

There are a lot of fourth wall breaks in Undertale, but this one took me back to the days when autosaves weren’t a thing in video games. Of course, I’ve now made it a habit to save my games as often as possible.

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These were five of the scariest experiences we’ve had in non-horror games. Horror games are fun, but if you know they’re supposed to scare you, the tension of playing them becomes a little less intense. But a good scare in a non-horror game? These can create lasting memories.