Games are miles behind Hollywood in making us laugh or cry, but when it comes to scaring us...

10. Elvira: Mistress Of The Dark
Format: Amiga, PC, Atari ST, Commodore 64
Year: 1990 (PC), 1991 (Others)
Those who aren’t prone to a touch of retro nostalgia may not forgive us for the inclusion of one or two of these entries. This one does after all base itself on an appalling American Goth chick whose single saleable feature was a pair of pale floured chebs spilling perilously over an unyielding black corset like Siamese dough-balls in a clamp. But this game has a perfect right to be here. Rather like FTL’s classic Dungeon Master, Elvira put the player into a pseudo-3D world filled with narrative cul de sacs and which demanded the player do everything ‘just so’ or face any one of dozens of possible fatalities – all of which squirm-inducing.

Silent Hill 2: Pump Up The Volume, Pump Up The Volume, Fog, Fog!

It was totally unforgiving and with no save system, dying was perhaps the most sickening prospect of all, especially in a game making such alarmingly precise demands. But its greatest fault was also a massive strength, providing a lengthy challenge and winning a number of game of the year awards.
Sharp Shocks: 20/50
Grinding Terror: 21/50
Overall Scare: 41

9. Dead Space
Format: Xbox 360, PS3, PC
Year: 2008
Only slightly more scary than Elvira, is Dead Space. That may sound pretty insulting to its developers, but its ability to register only medium current on the frightometer has come about through a misunderstanding of what it is exactly that scares us. And when we say ‘us’ what we’re not referring to the ‘us’ that includes all gamers. Just the ‘us’ that includes everyone sitting within five yards of this desk. Ahhh… subjectivity, we love you so. Donor of disagreeabilty. Igniter of indignation. Despot of dispute.

If gaming’s greatest goal is to reach a standard of theatrical horror on a par with second-rate Hollywood schlock, then Dead Space is unique in its underachievements. The problem with its approach, though – and why it finds itself some way down this list – is that in taking cues from such watch-worn material as Alien, The Thing and Event Horizon, everything that happened was entirely predictable. All of this somehow doesn’t stop it from being utterly brilliant, however.
Sharp Shocks: 31/50
Grinding Terror: 25/50
Overall Scare: 56

Dead Space: It's Alien, no it's Event Horizon, no it's erm... Dead Space

8. System Shock 2
Format: PC
Year: 1999
We’re taking this one on advisement from ‘the others’. Those ghostly apparitions from around the office who only make themselves known when they catch a whiff of a top ten under construction, like a dog acknowledging a distant pie. The reason we’re not arguing the whys and the wherefores of System Shock 2’s appearance here owes itself to the game’s fan-born status as a classic. We have no reason to dispute this assumption, since we played it for an hour, became intensely bored, then deleted it from our hard drives to make room for more porn.

So, we can’t shout down a game we failed to finish, even if we didn’t find it engaging. It’s purely a personal thing. So, we’ll step aside and leave this one to games™’s Luke Albiges. “It’s the things you hear echoing down the corridor; monkeys screaming and guys running at you shouting ‘kill me’.” Okay, well, there you have it.
Sharp Shocks: 24/50
Grinding Terror: 34/50
Overall Scare: 58

… continued