Sound is an integral part ofhorror. Oftentimes, it’s scarier to hear something in the distance than it is to see it in front of you. When one just hears something, that is a confirmation of presence but still leaves what it is largely a mystery. Naturally,horrorvideo games do their best to make the most out of sound.RELATED:Midnight Ghost Hunt: Best Beginner TipsIt’s hard to beat a good wailing when it comes to audible horror. A roar obviously indicates a monster, so there is very little ambiguity there. However, there is something indistinct about what a wailing sound can mean, as it lies somewhere between a roar and a scream. Wails can be downright petrifying, and the good ones stick with you.
10The Brute’s Wail In Amnesia Sounds Disturbingly Human
The Brute ofAmnesia: The Dark Descentis one of the horrific Gatherers likely created by Alexander of Brennenberg. They were once human, and their appearances are clearly human in origin. However, they are horrifically mutilated and evoke a deep queasiness in their observers.
The Brute, in particular, has a mournful wail while it’s patrolling the halls of Castle Brennenberg. It’s in these moments that the Brute sounds the most human, and that makes these monstrosities all the more unsettling.
The Volatiles are a particularly deadly type of infected that only comes out at night inDying LightandDying Light 2. These beasts are inhumanly fast, strong, and resilient. They can be avoided by not going out at night, but that’s not always possible for the player.
Volatiles have a petrifying wail that can be heard from a distance, and it invariably means the player is about to have a bad time. Volatiles are rarely alone, as they often lead a horde of infected in their hunt for the player, wherever they may be.
8Friday The 13th’s Commodore 64 Death Scream Is Grotesque
For a bit of a throwback,there is theFriday the 13thvideo game on the Commodore 64. While the game is overall quite simple in its design, the death screen seemingly comes out of nowhere to petrify the player with a machete through a head and a digital scream.
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Both the suddenness and the distortion of the scream make it particularly unsettling as pointed out by James Stephanie Sterlingin an olderJimquisitionvideo. This death screen makes this oldFriday the 13thgame one of the scariest games of its time and is still worth remembering to this day.
7The Screech Of The Wendigo In Until Dawn Is Horrifying
The Wendigo isthe supernatural element ofDying Light, the decision-based horror game by Supermassive Games. While the game starts off with horrors that are distinctly man-made, the survivors later discover the presence of Wendigo in the mountains around their cabin.
The Wendigo were once human until they were bitten by another Wendigo, and they have a haunting scream that sends chills down the spine. There are many Wendigo throughout the game, and they each hunt their victims while constantly letting out these horrifying screeches.
6Man-Bat’s Ambush In Arkham Knight Comes From Nowhere
TheBatman: Arkhamseries isn’t specifically horror.Batman: Arkham Asylumcertainly had horror elements, but later entries in the cities abandoned the more horror-focused sections while still retaining many of the aesthetics. However, the last entry,Batman: Arkham Knight, has a small handful of distinctly horror-inspired moments.
One of which is the sudden appearance of the Man-Bat. This grotesque mixture of man and bat known as Dr. Kirk Langstrom unexpectedly ambushes Batman while the Dark Knight grapples to the top of a building. There is no warning for this, making it completely unexpected and terrifying. The memory of the Joker that haunts Batman later recreates this by suddenly appearing and cackling in Batman’s face similarly.
5Clicker Screams Are The Scariest Part Of Last Of Us
The Clicker is easily the most frightening and creative element in theLast of Usseries. The heads of these infected humans have been completely overgrown with fungus, rupturing their skulls and blinding them. They navigate through echolocation.
This echolocation often consists of a repeated clicking sound, and their motions are sporadic and twitchy. The Clickers will scream when they have a target, and it’s a sound that makes your heart drop.
The Redeads are a repeating enemy in theLegend of Zeldaseries byNintendo. These undead beasts always scream when attacking Link, and the scream inOcarina of TimeandMajora’s Maskis a high-pitched screech that has the graininess of a stock sound effect.
However, the scream was touched up forWind Waker, and that’s easily the most unsettling Redead sound of the series. It’s a wavering wail that sounds more frightened than aggressive, and it’s surely the sound that Link hears when he sleeps at night.
3The Cleric Beast’s Roar Tells You What Kind Of Game Bloodborne Will Be
The opening scenes ofBloodbornebyFromSoftwaremake it clear that this game will be quite different fromDark Soulsin many ways. It’s an unsettling gore fest from the get-go, but it isn’t long before something else unsettling makes itself known.
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The Cleric Beast is one of the first two boss fights available to the Hunter, and the Cleric Beast lets out a bellowing scream in the opening minutes of the game that is guaranteed to chill the player to the bone. It lets the player know that the horror isn’t just an aesthetic inBloodborne; it’s an intended part of the experience.
Left 4 Deadis a zombie shooter fromValvethat has more interest in bloody gun-toting funthan actually scaring the player. However, there is an enemy type that can still unsettle players with alarming ease.
These enemies are the Witches. While the Hunter and the Spitter have their own unsettling sounds, the Witch beats them both out by far. The crying wail of the Witch lets the player know that carelessness here will result in a swift and brutal death. The fact that the Witch appears to be a teenage girl makes it all that much more upsetting, as this zombie is someone whose life was taken all too soon.
1The Rosemary Nightmare Baby’s Wailing Cry Is Unforgettable
WhileResident Evil 7: Biohazardis easily thescariest game of the series, it doesn’t have the most frightening section in aResident Evilgame.That honor belongs toResident Evil: Village, which exposes the player to a nightmare sequencecaused by Donna Beneviento and her hallucinogenic abilities.
Donna traps Ethan Winters in the basement of her estate, where a giant monstrous version of the infant Rosemary Winters chases Ethan through the dark hallways with distorted cries and screams.This segment is petrifying to its core, and the sounds that the monster baby makes are integral to this visceral reaction.
