Welcome back to another Halloween post for GBHorror2017! This time we will be looking at not horror games but rather horror themed moments in particularly non-horror genre games. There are a lot of messed up and psychotic moments that happen in the most unlikely corners of the gaming world. In this list, we will be picking ones that truly get us either the first time or every time we play and replay. Hope you wall enjoy! But also WARNING! Spoilers come in many shapes and sizes so there will be some for particular games here, you have been warned!

• Joker’s Nightmare Sequence – Batman Arkham Knight

The Batman Arkham Trilogy has been welcomed, and highly appraised, in the gaming community for its successful breaking of the bad superhero game trope as well as its unique combat fighting gameplay. Being as the character is Batman, one of the darkest and most brooding heroines of both the DC comics and comics in general, there are many creepy and disturbing moments throughout almost any incarnation. It was difficult to not place the most obvious scary moments. The titular Scarecrow nightmare scenes from the first Arkham game are among the most iconic in gaming history. However the one we went with here is technically a nightmare sequence presented through Scarecrow’s fear toxins, but is the horrific realization from Joker, one of the most beloved villains in comic history. Joker fears of being forgotten by society, and fears the idea that he is nothing without Batman. This is something that has been teased at towards Batman himself, the idea of being nothing without his greatest enemy, but it has never been flipped around to show the other character’s dilemma to such an extent as this. Aside from the awesome story perspective, the entire gameplay changes from the usual third person to a first person shooter (fps) style game, not unlike that of Doom. The sequence created quite an impact that it just had to be included!

• The Inferi Redivivus (Flood) And The Reapers – Halo And Mass Effect
  

  There is something about the concept of infestation that fears us more than anything. This is mainly why zombies have become so popular in modern media, no matter how overdone or redundant they get. Not everything is simple undead humans from the grave, gaming has proven other ways to fear infestation. How about the flood from the Halo series? For a hugely popular franchise that focuses on alien fps action, they sure know how to make you hate the risk and possibility of oncoming flood attacks. It is said that a single flood spore can completely annihilate an entire alien civilization after all. The only way ancient beings were able to stop the infestation was to activate the halo rings, and destroying themselves in the process, in order to starve out the growing infection for good. And what about the Reapers from Mass Effect? These terrifying blue-glowing synthetic-organic creatures always return to the galaxy every fifty thousand years to wreck your world when civilizations threaten the galaxies existence. Unlike the more grotesque spreading mindset of the flood creatures, the Reapers cleverly schemed complete control over the many races and civilizations, by way of allowing them to reflect their technology and societies around their ancient constructs, in order to help them with the harvest. If these two things don’t sound creepy to you, then perhaps you’re a nasty plague to fun ideas.

• Mr And Mrs Cutter And Their Creepy House – Okami

  Okami is very much the opposite of a horror game, it is a colorful and beautiful artistic world fully realized by way of Japanese-style mediums, as well as many different Japanese mythos to frolic the painted lands. But even this game has its resounding moments of creepiness. Mr and Mrs Cutter as a married old pair that live within a rather creepy old home within Taka Pass. They’re both considered evil and both do not take kindly to strangers. Whenever your character, Amaterasu, walks near their ransacked home, either of them will chase you with a weapon of sorts (her knife and his cane) and claim their desire to turn you into a tasty meal. After progression through the game by finding the canine warriors, both will reside within their home until you drag the misses out into the moonlight to reveal her true form as a “Crow Tengu”. From then you are able to defeat them and progress onwards, but still these are pretty peculiar characters. From Mrs Cutter’s sharp knife to Mr Cutter’s shear-like mustache, these two are rather scary people in the world of Okami.

• The First Hour Of Gameplay – Bioshock

  Bioshock is certainly a creepy, intense, and sometimes disturbing world but can it really be considered a horror game? Well if not the whole game then at least the first hour of the story is. For those who were there the first time starting this game, not entirely realizing what they were in for, know exactly what emotions and feeling s were brought about. From starting the game with a crashed plane, to swimming towards a mysterious lighthouse in the middle of the ocean, you can already feel the uncertainty of what might be next. Then later you are presented in a clever way to the idealism and dream of what Andrew Ryan desired his world of Rapture to be before entering the city yourself. You very quickly realize the dire consequences of this arrival upon seeing a man get murdered in front of your bathysphere by an enemy in the game known as a spider splicer. After this there is nothing but terror and suspense that introduces you to many monsters and splicer types throughout the game in many unlikely occurrences, which in each occurrence it is done expertly. And while the feeling from that first hour eventually subsides for a still fun and intense gaming experiences, those twisted feelings felt by the very first time playing the beginning portion will forever be a scary, but cherished, memory.

• Behind The Scenes And The Ratman – Portal
  

  Let’s be honest here, Portal is an excellent game series that truly succeeds in puzzle design. It also just so happens to succeed in messing with you, this is usually in the form of discovering what is “truly” happening behind the scenes of every science room. It is apparent and to no surprise that people were held against their will in this overly large facility by the villainous GLaDOS, who successfully flooded the enrichment center of the Aperture Science Foundation with neurotoxin. However among the few survivors of this attack was Doug Rattmann (or “Ratman” as he’ referred to) who was an employee and programmer at the Aperture Foundation. He also had schizophrenia, which GLaDOS used as a means to taunt him. He survived with others by hiding within test chambers and maintenance areas until his schizophrenia completely took over, which resulted in him scribbling and writing all sorts of drawings and readings within the hidden gaps of the foundation. He also collected many companion cubes, which he believed were talking to him at the time. Sadly he eventually died, but many of his hideouts, or Ratman dens, are found through the first and second games.

• Getting Caught Off Guard – Almost Any Game
  

  There are a lot of moments when we are caught off guard and attacked in most or all of gaming, whether it’s by a multiplayer match, a co-op experience or simply the story campaign. This does happen almost frequently within horror games but it can also happen in traditionally non horrific settings. A first person game can have you turn around to see an enemy at your face unexpectedly, another player could be within your perimeter or field of view without you noticing until it’s too late, and even a third person game can have unexpected attacks from any angle that is just barely away from your screen or peripheral. This is kind of a bonus on this list but it is worth noting.

Hope this was enjoyable, check back tomorrow at 1:00 pm for another Halloween post…