Elite: Dangerous is the most terrifying game ever created.

CmdrDaymian

CmdrDaymian
Throughout my 24-year gaming career (I started when I was 3 with a Commodore 64, believe it or not) I have played many scary games. One of the first was Resident Evil on the Playstation 1. It made me jump a few times, when zombies would lunge at you and dogs would smash through windows. Silent Hill messed with my head when I was but 10-years old. Silent Hill 2 did the same a few years later. In more recent times there have been games like DOOM 3, which I played in the dead of night with headphones on in complete darkness. Whispers behind me but when I turn around there is nothing to be seen. A few weeks ago I bought a game called Outlast, that's pretty scary. You're a reporter and you go to a psychiatric hospital to investigate claims of cruelty and experiments and find that the crazy people have taken over and are in charge, and they're all completely bonkers. Murderously bonkers! And you can't kill them, you have to run and hide in lockers and wardrobes and whatnot. That's scary too. Especially when the lights go out.

None of them could have prepared me for Elite: Dangerous though. If I wasn't so young and healthy (I'm only 27) I'd probably quit this game for fear of having a heart attack. Today I flew in to a system with an enormous star. There are bigger stars I'm sure, but this one filled my entire screen at 100ls or so away. I pointed the nose of my ship directly away from the star and gently accelerated. I say gently because there were about 40 separate asteroid clusters in my vicinity, in front and behind me. After 30 seconds of gentle acceleration, space was still complete darkness because the light from the star was so immense that it was flooding my screen, I increased my throttle, thinking I must have passed all the little rocks, time to floor it. Then... SLOW DOWN - PROX - IMPACT.

Jesus, my heart. I just aged 10 years.

Later, on my way home from a 2,000 or so lightyear exploration adventure (I know it's not that far but it was still a few days' work), I'm 5 jumps away from civilization and sweet sweet space cash when I begin hyper jumping. I'm going through the hyper tunnel for ages, at least 30 seconds. I had written it off as a disconnect, which is no big deal because whenever this has happened in the past I log back in and am safely 200ls away from the star. So I take my hands off the joysticks and reach for my delicious mint-flavour e-cigarette when PZZZZZZZZZZZZOOPH - RIGHT IN THE MIDDLE OF TWO STARS.

Jesus, my heart. I am now 47 years old.

Yesterday I was refueling at a star, ever so gently going closer and closer seeing if I could break my fuel scoop record of 100/s. It got to 106/s and I thought "110 and that's as far as I'm pushing it" when BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP. Naturally I browned my trousers and almost ripped my joystick off pulling back on it.

It was the smoke alarm in my house. Someone left toast under the grill too long. This game is seriously the most terrifying game I have ever played.
 

Kayweg

Kayweg
I'd be more worried about my toaster, or the family members operating it. ;)

But hey, at least now you know the smoke alarms work, that should be reassuring.
 
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Scimiter

Scimiter
lol
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Greyhawk

Greyhawk
Wait till you ride that couple of hundred LS back to a station after a very long exploration trip. That's enough to turn your hair grey.
 

777Driver

777Driver
Cpt.America said:
meh... try dreadhalls in the oculus rift.
Click to expand...

Am wondering what five nights at freddy's would be like in the rift :/

I don't think you can really call ED scary, it can be unnerving at times, you only have to listen to the amazing sound design. Blackholes sound creepy, and I listened to that UA on headphones for 10 mins, not something you want on repeat while sleeping!
 
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Varrag

Varrag
Dunno... Amnesia still sends chills down my spine. Limbo was also... uncomfortable. ED can be eerie sometimes, though, with all those strange sounds in space.
 
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Erik Marcaigh

Erik Marcaigh
Quake 3. Doom was a child's show compared to Quake 3 for me. Jumped out of my seat a few times.

Then Left 4 Dead. I'm in a building and I hear the boomer with his gurgling, vomiting sound. He's around one of the corners. It's night time at my house and my lights are off and surround sound is on. There's the sound again... bur-bluurp... just to my left. I peek around the corner with the shotgun ready and don't see him.

Then suddenly there's a very real buurp on my right, just behind me. I jump out of my chair, ready to attack whatever's behind me.

It's my German Shepherd, who likes to tell me she liked her dinner by coming up and burping to me.

The next day, I moved my desk so I wouldn't sit with my back to the door anymore!
 

William J Smith

William J Smith
Binary stars are the worst..... when you drop out of hyperspace and seem to go through one of them, then the heat alarms start going off and you're flailing at the controls..

Bill

<<passes the OP an oculus rift, some surround sound headphones and a copy of Alien:Isolation......
 

Ziljan

Ziljan
Lol. Yes the Galaxy is far too safe in this game. It does set you up for possible nail biters with all of the dramatic frameshift breaking sounds and warning lights when ever your piloting skills result in a snafu, but really it's all just a big puff of air. You would have to ram a Star 50 times to actually destroy your ship, or refuel at dangerous temps for several minutes. A black hole? No problem, it comes with safety rails, lane bumpers on the event horizon, and exhibits no discernible gravity. T Tauri stars? No problem. The radiation is light tan, and absent youthful solar winds won't even fuzz your instrument panel.


Great post OP, it needed to be said very much.
 

Webferret

Webferret
Agreed, FD should change the game name to Elite: Hand Holding, cause its way to simple and basic to be scary in any way in its current form.
 

CmdrDaymian

CmdrDaymian
I'm not joking at all... I am serious!

And Alien Isolation is on my STEAM wishlist, I'm just waiting for a sale. And I don't have an Occulus rift because I'm poor. Do have headphones though.
 
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