There can be only one.
Oh yeah?
Sorry, but splattering crawling baby demon fetuses in the late 80's trumps anything Sega could have possibly done with a live-action Dana Plato in the early 90's...
I was going to go for scary but then again, games like Maniac Mansion might not get a mention. Let's go for best. It's up to everyone to decide why.
For me it's the atmosphere that gets me in horror games. A really good one that comes to my mind is Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth. I played it on the Xbox and had a pretty good time. Condemned was also another good one.
Condemned (the first one). Absolutely nailed everything, everything.
Silent Hill 2
I don't know if I'll ever move past a top 3 games of all time (Super Metroid, Resident Evil 4, and Ninja Gaiden Black), but I know that I ever make it to a top 10, Silent Hill 2 belongs in that 10, if not in the 5. It is fantastic piece of horror. Both fiction and as a game, and it's rare that I get behind a video game story, but Silent Hill unlike some of its contemporaries like say Resident Evil, was actually being subtle. It was sharply written, it didn't jump the shark, and it took itself just serious enough to make it all work. Resident Evil was capcom camp, and I love Capcom camp, but that doesn't scare me. Even the "bad" voice acting of Silent Hill comess uncanny more than LOL WOW THAT IS SHIT!!? that you got from Resident Evil (which again I actually really love the voice acting in RE1, it's perfect).
Silent Hill is psychological horror in all the best ways, and not the pretentious bullshit way. It's tense, it has proper build up, it's moments of actual silence allows for the game to create this unnerving stretch of game where you're uneasy from start to finish. The combat isn't a liability because on top of making all the enemies menacing, because the controls being the way they are make them a threat, but there simply isn't a lot of it. It doesn't suffer the Amnesia (great game) issue where when you're not dealing with the enemies they become less and less interesting the further the game goes. The setting is exceptionally designed using that dated tech to its advantage between the fog and how much the setting is reliant on style more than poly count detail. And that plot? FUCK YES, the descent into madness, Pyramid Head before he sold out, and a strong finish to bring it all home.
Without me shooting rocket launchers at a final boss.
Silent Hill in general was masterful between its initial 3 games, all 3 are excellent horror games, but Silent Hill 2 is that franchises apex. It is the best thing to come from Konami, horror video games, and it's a good thing they never made Silent Hill games ever again after Silent Hill 3. They would struggle to live up to such excellence.
Yeah Silent Hills 2 was so scary I actually returned it after playing the first 30 mins at home alone at night. Back when I was a *insert mysogynist word here*.
phantom_leo said:
There can be only one.
At the time, yes. As a teen I thought, "OMG, the world has gone too far", but these days, it's nothing, and Doom quickly bested it in terms of gore.
Are you guys going to make a top five?
I'm not going to do it, but I'm getting someone else to.
Okay ladies. I've got a list for you. So go sit down and give each other a nice friendly reach-around while attempt to read this and multi-task.
1. Resident Evil 4 - There's no other answers. In fact, this answer completely invalidates the question in the first place. In fact it's so damn good, it really makes you appreciate how stupid the original question was. Its one of the best games ever made, regardless of genre. While it's not the scariest horror game, from a sheer quality standpoint nothing comes close.
2. Parasite Eve - This game was fucking badass. In a world where game remakes are as common as underage Thai hookers with brown eyes, how the fuck has S-E not remade Parasite Eve in one way or another? It was billed as the Cinematic RPG, since it was so damn full of CGI cut-scenes. Today those could all be gameplay without breaking a sweat, and it would make the game that much better. I'd say Square-Enix is run by morons since they still haven't figured this out yet, but then again this is the company that's greatest acheivement last generation was the Final Fantasy 13 Trilogy of Shit, so it goes without saying.
3. Lollipop Chainsaw - Hot chick, boobs, zombies, chainsaws, humor, panty shots, Elvis impersonators, and solid action. It's the god damned Army of Darkness of horror video games. Best thing of all, Lollipop Chainsaw is aware of exacly how good it is, and ends at the perfect time. It's like the fuck buddy you have who knows exactly when you're about to get tired of her shit, and takes off without asking for cab fare.
4. Lone Survivor - It's a 2-D Silent Hill. It's just a completely amazing mindfuck. One of the best indie games of the past couple years. And I've been telling you assholes to play it for over a year now. Everytime it's been on sale I've spoken up to let you know to take advantage of it. And what have you wastes of chromosomes done? Sit home and play Splatoon or Metal Gear 39. I'm ashamed of all of you, and I pay hookers to pee on me. That's how pathetic the rest of you are.
5. Costume Quest - Because sometimes you just want something fun. 
RE4.
robio said:Resident Evil 4. Game over.
That's what I was thinking.
Games don't scare me much unless they are cheap scares like sudden noise from silence.
On comedy and gore though, HOTD Overkill is pretty fucking funny. Satisfying too.
1. RE4 - one of the greatest games ever made, it's horror so it wins. The greatest action game ever made.
2. RE2 - the pinnicle of the survival horror formula that RE invented. I know many like REmake more but RE2 is still the most fun to play.
3. REmake - a masterpiece, probably the best designed old RE game.
4. Silent Hill - the first is still the best, so many great mind fuck moments and not a borefest like SH2.
5. Bioshock - love this game, great FPS with great horror moments.
What is half life, scifi? It's kind of horror.
Let's get a voting thread going for best horror game. What makes a horror game good in your opinion. The scares? The atmosphere? The impossible bosses? Did you finish it? Did you have nightmares for a month? In this thread, list five of your greatest horror games.
I'll tally up the votes giving five points to number one, four to two, three to three, two to number four and one point to number five. The game with the most points is the winner. I'll let the voting go till the end of the month unless it seems everyone has voted. Feel free to use screenshots and write why you found it scary.