5. BioShock–Heralded as a modern classic, BioShock’s horror elements are often overlooked, which is a terrible oversight. The underwater city already has an environment that is both hopeless and eerily desolate, but this is only the beginning. Lights will go pitch black, flickering on again to reveal a disfigured maniac standing completely still right behind you. Blood soaks the walls of medical wards, where genetic experiments went horribly wrong. Even (expletive) ghosts show up to haunt the city. Bioshock succeeds where other games fail because the entire world is crafted with a common theme of a fallen utopia, and oozes with a chilling ambiance and sense of constant dread, like the fragile walls could collapse at any moment.

Furthermore, every character, from the idealistic Andrew Ryan to the mentally deranged artist Sander Cohen, has questionable motivations and dark intentions. BioShock immerses the player fully in its environment and atmosphere, and this is what it allows it to achieve its level of constant fear.

4. Dead Space–Okay, I know Dead Space just copies different horror movies and has very little originality. However, since it manages to emulate all of the best horror conventions and combine them into one package, that’s okay by me. I guess the game isn’t “scary” so much as it is “startling,” but with weird creatures coming out of the woodwork of the infested spaceship and popping up when you think they were already dead, it does “startling” very well. Throw in some gruesome limb detachment and cub stomping violence, and you have a very disconcerting environment. Yes, disconcerting.

Another aspect that ramps up the horror is the fact the protagonist is not a secret Government agent (Resident Evil 4) or some guy hopped up steroids (Resident Evil 5); he is a lowly engineer with no combat training. This makes the game a little more tense, because you don’t have a formidable protagonist to fall back on. Isaac is as insecure an unable to stop these monstrosities as you and I would be in real life. And since I would get my face eaten off almost immediately, it makes the entire game a little uncomfortable.

3. Left 4 Dead—L4D has taught me an important lesson. If the inevitable zombie apocalypse involves stiff, slow-moving, reanimated corpses, I think I could probably survive. You know, stay out of closed off areas. Hoard food and guns. Generally don’t do stupid things. “Oh you got bit? That’s okay, I’m sure. Just sit here with us. We will forget about those teeth marks in your neck so that if you do happen to turn into a zombie, you can bite us, too. Stay comfortable.” It just seems like an easy situation to not die in.

If the zombies are anything like they are in Left 4 Dead, then we have a problem. These are not slow moving, moaning corpses. The zombies–wait, I’m sorry, the “infected”—in Left 4 Dead not only greatly outnumber you, but run faster than you do, too. Worse yet, they have special infected that range from zombies that leap great distances to chew on your throat, or use their unnaturally long tongues to wrap you up and drag you to them. Where they proceed to chew on your throat. In this case, I just don’t think my chances of surviving are high, especially since I would just shoot myself in the face if I heard a Tank barreling towards me. I don’t handle anxiety situations well.

2. Resident Evil 4–While some games are content to play mind games or create a creepy atmosphere, other games instill fear by simply ramping up the intensity.  Cue Resident Evil 4. What the fourth iteration of this iconic series lacks in classic scares, it makes up for with some of the most visceral action sequences in videogames. The game places the main character in the middle of a village where blood thirsty, zombified villagers attack in mobs, flank your character, and break through windows, all for the general purpose of impaling Leon with hatchets or whatever other farm tools are lying around. Then, just when you think you’ve caught a breather, some guy with a bag over his head comes at you with a chainsaw, making Leatherface look like a soccer mom. If you manage to take down the chainsaw guys without getting your head lopped off (which the game shows in gruesome detail), the title then gives you blind lunatics with huge claws that respond to your every sound and charge at you to lop of your head. The protagonist’s struggle to keep his head is so intense that I would actually find myself relieved at times when he would get killed, thankful for the moment of reprieve. I would say that this white knuckled gameplay does not relent until the very ending, but the conclusion of the game finds Leon escaping the village on a jet ski. And doing stunts on said jet ski. Other than this unfortunate mishap, Resident Evil 4 is not only the most intense game on the Gamecube, but one of the most terrifying games of all time.

1. Eternal Darkness: Sanity’s Requiem-ET takes the top spot because it is just plain mean to the player. The game incorporates a sanity meter as its principal gameplay mechanic, and when the meter drops, all hell breaks loose. Flashes of girls screaming in blood-filled bathtubs flash across the screen. Blood slowly begins to drip down the walls. Your protagonist’s head will randomly explode. Okay, that was not meant to sound funny. It’s startling. Don’t judge me!

The mind games are only the beginning. Horrific creatures that kill most of the protagonists in terrible ways frequent each level. That’s right, ET doesn’t settle for trying to scare the player despite the main character staying safe; less than half of the main cast survives until the end of the game. ET does not mess around, and kills off more main characters than 24.

While there is a lot of scary happenings in ET, there is one trick specifically that puts the title at the top spot. When the sanity meter is low and the player tries to save the game, occasionally a message will inform the player that the game is erasing their file. It’s a trick, of course, but it’s still pretty horrific. It was decidedly less amusing when I thought it was real the first time and jumped up to turn off the game, losing all the data in the process…but terrifying nonetheless. For the combination of horrifying monsters and trippy mind tricks, Eternal Darkness is my scariest game of all time. Now go back through, and every time you read ET, pretend it means the friendly alien instead of Eternal Darkness. Alternatively, you could try Entertainment Tonight. That should provide about 15 seconds of enjoyment.