10 Really Scary PC Games That Will Scare the Pants Off You!

^ A heartstopping moment from Condemned: Criminal Origins

Playing as FBI Agent Ethan Thomas, you start out in Condemned: Criminal Origins at the scene of a crime in which the murder victim is that of a serial killer named The Matchmaker. Suddenly, everyone realizes that the murderer himself is still at the crime scene, hiding away somewhere. You and your colleagues give chase and just as you're about to apprehend him, the worst happens-- they get killed and you are framed for murder. With your reputation at stake, you must race against time to prove your innocence before the authorities catch up with you.

This doesn't sound so scary, does it? Okay, imagine having to do all this in near total darkness down narrow passageways in decrepit buildings while deranged maniacs lie in wait to bash your brains in at every turn! Also imagine running out of ammo or weapons when you most need it! Scared yet? You should be! With its desolate environments filled with shadows and creepy ambient noises of pychopaths coughing or wheezing in the distance as you approach them, Condemned: Criminal Origins will definitely send your heart racing!

^ A heartstopping moment from Penumbra

Many "survival horror" games tend to be FPSes, with players blasting away at a seemingly endless array of monsters. But not all of them are mindless shooters. Take, for example, the Penumbra series. This is a first person adventure series which has players moving around in a dark, creepy environment trying to solve puzzles while avoiding attacks from killer beasts. In the first game, Penumbra Overture, you explore a derelict mineshaft deep in the bowels of the earth, after your character receives a letter from his estranged father that prompts him to go to Greenland to find him. In Penumbra: Black Plague, you continue your adventures in a creepy maze-like facility called The Shelter, while trying to get at the heart of your father's disappearance.

Many people used to FPS horror games may have a hard time understanding how an "adventure" game could be scary. Play one level of Penumbra and it'll all become much clearer. There's nothing scarier than stumbling around in the dark in a ramshackle environment filled with strange ambient noises thinking you're alone, when something tells you that you're not!

^ Alma makes an appearance in the videogame, F.E.A.R.

The title "F.E.A.R." isn't just an acronym, it's an accurate description of what you'll be feeling as you play it! In it, you play the nameless main character who is a member of F.E.A.R. (short for "First Encounter Assault Recon"). F.E.A.R. is a military group created to deal with any activities that are supernatural in nature. As the game opens, you learn that military commander Paxton Fettel (the villain) has gone insane and wreaked havoc in the city with an army of clone soldiers, leaving carnage in his wake. Your mission is simple-- track and take him down. There's just one problem-- for some bizarre reason, you keep having horrible, disturbing hallucinations that pop up out of nowhere. One of them involves a scary little girl named Alma, who wears a red dress and has long, scraggly black hair.

Does the idea of a ghostly female with long black hair seem familliar (a la The Ring)? It's no coincidence. The developers wanted a Japanese horror feel for F.E.A.R., so they borrowed many elements from it. Not only does this make the game scary, it makes it a refreshing change from the vast majority of scary titles out there.

^ A horrifying "trite" goes on the attack in Doom 3.

Although called "Doom 3", this horror sci-fi based FPS isn't a sequel to the first Doom, but a remake. And what a remake it was! Many gamers easily put this game in their top ten of the scariest games ever made, as the screenshots can attest to. Just as in the first Doom, it's the future (2145) and you play a marine who's visiting a research facility on Mars on a routine mission. Just as you're finishing up your orientation, there's a huge explosion, things go haywire and the next thing you know, nearly everyone at the facility has turned into a man-eating zombie!

Making matters worse, all sorts of demonic, horrifying beasts suddenly appear out of the shadows, some looking like something out of your worst nightmare-- especially those that come in the form of flying skulls and monsters called "trites", spider-like creatures with human flesh and upside down heads! Unfortunately, to stay alive you have to battle against these demons traversing narrow, dark corridors-- sometimes in pitch black darkness with little more than a tiny flashlight lighting your path.

Scared? You should be! Not only does much of Doom happen in dimly lit areas, you'll never know where your next demon is coming from or which new frightening shape a new enemy will appear in. Play this game, and you'll definitely end up with a few sleepless nights!

^ Isaac Clarke battles a Necromorph in Dead Space.

Looking at the Dead Space series, it's very easy to blow it off as a Doom 3 clone, since the stories and settings are very similar. In this game, you play Isaac Clarke, an engineer from the future who's sent to repair the Ichimura (a mining vessel), which has suddenly lost contact with the outside world. But no sooner does he disembark when some unknown entity starts tearing people apart and he finds himself fighting against horrifying creatures called Necromorphs. In Dead Space 2, Isaac must face the horrors of the Necromorphs all over again in a new environment, this time starting out with no armor or weapons to speak of.

Although Dead Space is a lot like Doom 3, in some ways it's more terrifying. Imagine the horror of the Aliens franchise put in videogame form, then ramp up the gore and horror quotient 10x and you have Dead Space in a nutshell. Doom 3 had its share of gore and mayhem, but Dead Space brings it to a new level. It's no wonder then that it's earned the reputation of one of the scariest games ever made.

^ Daniel roams a frightening castle in the adventure game, Amnesia

Is fan favorite Amnesia quite possibly the scariest game ever made? Judging from the large number of hilarious You Tube videos of players reacting to it, it just might be! Like Penumbra, Amnesia is a first person puzzle-based adventure in which you wander around a scary environment filled with unspeakable horrors. You play as Daniel, a young man who wakes up one day in a desolate castle not remembering who he is or what he's doing there. As he explores the castle, he finds that he's overcome with bouts of madness if he stays in the dark too long. He also finds evidence of carnage, as body parts and blood is everywhere. Given all the horrors that seem to await him, Daniel may come to wish he had never tried recovering his memory!

Did you play one of these games, as I asked in the opening of this lens? How long did you last? If you find yourself shutting them off within the first 10 minutes, you have joined the ranks of the millions of gamers who have done the exact same thing! But if you played on fearlessly, congratulations! You have balls of titanium steel!