Note bad list, but I'd have to go with...


System Shock 2 - pretty much all of it...

F.E.A.R - some of Alma's appearance's really were the stuff of nightmares...

Silent Hill 2 - again pretty much all of it but Pyramid Head rape scene in particular...

Cradle levels from Thief 3 - not just scary, but set off one of the wandering 'puppets' and fill your pants as they lurch into rapid motion after you...

S.T.A.L.K.E.R - the abandoned (but not really of course) underground labs, second most creepy setting after Cradle...


Ravenholm I have to admit had great atmosphere... but its hard to maintain a sense of true dread when you leave around handy machines to cut zombies in half... still, those zombies with the black headcrabs were really disgusting...

It's obscure, but memorable.

Intro movie to Descent: Freespace.

Set the mood nicely for a story driven space flight sim.

That's what the numerous sawblades, flame barrels, and pressure tanks were for. If there wasn't a gravity gun then you could complain.

EDIT: I'd say Bioshock was pretty damn disturbing  especially in the begining when you round one of the first corners and confront the lady talking to the baby carriage. just plain creepy.

Excellent list, the rape scene in Silent Hill 2 is truly unforgettable, and Albedo's speech is very fitting, one of the most disturbing scenes ever from one of the most disturbed characters ever. It's masterful, how he tortures MOMO for not being human, how he plays with the Kirschwassers to torture her. In fact, memorable. It's a pity they had to censor a bit the scene, here's the uncut version, you can see how he breaks the arm of the Kirschwasser, in the cut version the breaking sound still plays, but no arm-breaking is shown

I don't know if it would still be distrubing, but Phantasmagoria had some amazingly disturbing scenes back in 1995 ...

A lot of good scenes mentioned but I'll throw in one from a rather underrated game:

The execution scene in The Darkness. That was a great immersive point of the game and pissed off almost every gamer on behalf of the character. You wanted Joey's (I think that was his name) head on a fucking stick after that.

I know two disturbing scenes in Prey.
The first where your grandfather was killed by that weird machine and the 2nd where the aliens turned your girlfriend into a half-alien-half-human being

The ending of Braid is seriously freaking me out. I need interpretation!

Yup - that was one nasty little scene and while it had some flaws in flow I agree The Darkness was a pretty good game.

Thinking about it Silent Hill 4, while often maligned, had some pretty full on creepy moments when you were in FPS mode in your room and the manifestations had started.  Looking out your front door peephole to see your own mutilated body was a good one, as was the odd sensation of your formerly safe haven slowly being invaded and corrupted.  I wish that instead of making it a Silent Hill game they'd just stuck to the core premise and crafted a slow burner of a horror game around it as I felt it worked very well.  Peeking out windows to see the world going on outside yet being trapped yourself was a really unsettling feeling well conveyed by the game.

I also can't believe I forgot pretty much all of the Marine campaign in AvP2 at the harder levels of difficulty.  Oh the panic when a face hugger was scuttling around and you knew if it managed to pounce on your face it was an immediate game over... not to mention the thrill when your motion tracking would start to ping in a cavernous, dark room...

I can honestly say the only game to truley disturb me (and I've played a lot of disturbing one) was Max Payne when you have to follow the path of blood and see nothing but darkness, blood, and the cries of his baby and wife in the background. That one got me. That's pretty much it. And a few parts in Silent Hill 4.