TOP 15 SCARY HIDDEN THINGS IN VIDEO GAMES

15. Paper Mario
Though nearly all games created in the Mario universe are created for younger players, many adults find fun in the countless games for years to come. Still, some small easter eggs or mishaps seem a bit too dark for the original intended audience of children.

Especially one house from Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door. In the U.S version of the game there's a house in the back alley of Rougeport Main Square, in this house it appears as though someone has broken in and ransacked the place. This alone is enough to be unsettling to an extent, a break-in and robbery attempt is quite an adult concept.

However, the original Japanese version is even worse. There appears to be red stains covering the floor and walls, and there’s a chalk outline apparently in the shape of Toad. Obviously, this implies a heinous crime. Although the scene isn’t focused on, it is really dark for such an innocent game and is considered to be one of the most upsetting easter eggs in video game history, even all these years later.

14. The Infinity Killer
This easter egg is seen as more of a simple fact by some players, as it is so integrated into the game. Still the way everything is presented, makes for a great entry. In the GTA 5 universe in December 1999, 8 male joggers were murdered and buried in San Andreas.

These murders were deemed the Infinity Murders after the killers obsession with the number 8 and his infamous quote “8 is just infinity turned sideways”. Merle Abrahams was the psychopath responsible for this event and though he is never seen in the game, he is mentioned various times and nearly his entire backstory has been pieced together thanks to Easter Eggs and fan theories.

The clues to this character include graffiti on rocks, newspaper clippings, and a message left inside Merle’s own home. The simultaneous absence and strong presence of this killer is what makes his story truly creepy to players and fans.

13. Black & White 2: Whispered Names
The Black & White game series blends real time strategy and God game elements. It was originally released in 2005, though this Easter Egg comes from it’s sequel a few years later. When the game is played after 10:00pm the game will whisper your name in a very ghostly and disheartening voice.

The game uses an algorithm that takes a variety of stored names and then compares it to your screen name or profile name to correctly call out to you. This is certainly scary for first time players that do no expect the feature. Even worse is imagining this happening with headphones in as you play alone in the middle of the night.

12. Assassin’s Creed II, The Kraken
The Assassins Creed game series is best known for being historically accurate when it comes to general details and technology. Of course there are some fantasy features that makes the game far from perfect when it comes to history, but this detail was extremely unrealistic compared to most of the game, which makes it considerably scary to some players.

While solving a puzzle in a specific tomb of the game, a massive Kraken can be seen motioning through the water below. This game is set in Renaissance era Italy, so the mystical beast feels rather out of place. This isn’t the only time that the creature makes an appearance, either. In Assassin’s Creed 4, the Kraken is seen destroying a shark outside an abandoned ship. This location makes much more sense as the game features more pirate-like themes, still the fact that this hard to ignore creature is barely discussed or featured doesn’t help it’s case.

11. Animal Crossing & Harvest Moon
The community game Animal Crossing features villages where the players live with anthropomorphic animals and carry out various tasks like building items and decorating locations. The games have been known to be quite obsessive for players thanks to open-ended game play and the community interaction.

In the game, however, if you watch the TV at 3:33 am a small dark alien appears and suggests that it is watching you. In media, 3:33 am is often associated with evil, the spirit world, extraterrestrial abduction and more. Though the scenes are always short and relatively harmless, it’s still unsettling for what is supposed to be a childrens game.

In Harvest Moon, a game very similar to Animal Crossing, something similar happens with the TV. However, in this case it occurs at 4:44 am and instead of a little alien stalking you, you see the number 4 repeated over and over again in both English and Japanese lettering. In Japanese culture the time 4:44 am holds the same meaning as 3:33 am for American culture. Additionally, the number 4 is meant to symbolize death. A very morbid warning for such a light hearted game.

10. Half Life 2: The Standard Zombie
The Half-Life series began in the late 1990’s and features various mutants or zombie-like creatures. The Standard Zombie is the most common creature or monster in the game series and it involves a standard Headcrab attaching to a victim's brain and taking over their nervous system to essentially control their body.

The zombie’s are already a sore sight being grotesque and only partially human. However, to make them even worse they constantly create guttural noises of despair that sound uncomfortably human. Specifically when you set one on fire, their screams almost sound like words. Apparently a lot of players agreed with this notion because it was eventually discovered and shared by many that this dialogue was actual human speech reversed.

When edited to play forward, the zombie’s scream in pain “Help. God help me”, which makes the idea of these poor victims even more tough to get through. Many players obviously see them as mindless enemies but playing this human voice with the action gives a “real life” aspect that many were not prepared for.

9. Ratman Dens
Doug Rattman is a character from the game series Portal. Rattman began as an Aperture Science employee. After some conflict he eventually came to live in the Test Chambers and maintenance rooms of the facilities as his sanity quickly deteriorated. He spent much of his time scribbling on the walls of the chambers and the remains of his presence can be experienced by players as they travel through the long abandoned locations.

In Portal, his scribblings give information about his obsession with Companion Cube, directions and warnings for the player, and of course the popular phrase “the cake is a lie”. In Portal 2, the messages prove Rattmans survival and help guide the general story forward. Despite how useful the Rat Dens are to the player and story, they still provide a creepy aspect simply by demonstrating the insanity of a once brilliant man, as well as the horrible living conditions he was forced to endure.

8. Luigi’s Shadow
This one is also known as “hanging Luigi” and fans have debated for years whether it’s a true creepy easter egg, or just an inconvenient glitch. In the game Luigi's Mansion, this scene can be found just after the Boss Battle of Area 3. Luigi finds his way to the telephone room and answers two phone calls, during the second call a very cinematic lightning flash illuminates the room.

Luigi’s shadow, which is cast upon the wall, is distorted in a way that apparently shows Luigi hanging. Again, it’s still unconfirmed whether this is a true easter egg that comes off a little too dark for a child’s game, or a simple glitch that made for great lore years after the release of the game.

7. Fatal Frame Screensavers
The Fatal Frame game series is all about using film to fight evil spirits. The series has received acclaim over the years and even has various spin-off media related to the concept. One of the most memorable aspects of the series though, is the featured screensavers that double as easter eggs and jumpscares.

Basically, if the player leaves the game idle for more than 5 minutes, a screensaver appears to scare the player. In Fatal Frame 1, the image was bloody handprints. In the second and third versions of the game, effectively disturbing ghost faces are used. Considering the first game was released in 2001, this was new and unique for it’s time and helped create the idea of interactive horror games that step into the real world, even if only for a second.

6. World of Warcraft: Children of Goldshire
The World of Warcraft series is an online interactive gaming community with fantasy characters and endless quests. The WoW platform was initially released in 2004 and has had gamers hooked and interested ever since with expansion packs, updates and more. This Easter Egg has many layers to it which make it not only unsettling but intriguing as well.

The Goldshire Children are a group of 6 school aged children that travel together in a sort of pack. They can be found in and around Goldshire in Elwynn Forest but they never go far from their home in Stormwind City. The children’s names are Cameron, John, Jose, Lisa, Dana and Aaron. When they travel together they appear to not only walk in sync but also never breaking the shape of a pentagram which faces different directions depending on the day.

Theories suggest that the characters are inspired by Children of the Corn, a classic horror film based on Satan  worshipping orphans. If you follow the children to their home, they form their pentagram shape and simply stare forward. Allegedly various sounds can be heard while in this setting. Everything from a banshee scream, and C'Thun saying, "You... Will... Die." to a ghost howling or a woman crying have said to be heard in this location.

5. Timesplitters 2: Mission Failure
Timesplitters is a first person shooter game released in the early 2000’s. Mission Failure is a mysterious easter egg that occurs in the second game of the series. When the player fails a mission either by losing their health points, falling into a bottomless chasm, or failing an objective in Story mode, Challenge mode, or Arcade League.

After the character “dies” if the restart screen is left unattended for a period of time, a slow, deep and unnerving audio track is played over the idle screen. Clearly, it sounds like something from a nightmare. Eventually fans became curious and sped up the audio track to find that it is actually Captain Ash's dialogue from the beginning of the Aztec Ruins level slowed down significantly to create this dreamy and spooky audio. While the backstory for this isn’t that creepy or even mysterious, the general presence of the audio before players were able to edit it caused a lot of debate and even fear.

4. Doom 2: Romero’s Head
This Easter Egg is seen as comical by some, and downright gross by others. The Doom series first began in the early 90’s and includes related novels, comics, board game, and film adaptations. In Doom 2, MAP30: Icon of Sin, the easter egg is planted as a final boss. Usually what is known as “The Icon of Sin” must be hit with a rocket and damaged significantly to finish the level.
In this case, the Icon is an image of John Romero’s head. Romero is a designer and programmer for the game. The only way to see it is to use the idclip cheat code and go behind the face of the final boss. Additionally, it’s not just an image of his head. It is clearly severed, dripping blood and placed upon a spike and features some disturbing audio of Romero’s voice in reverse.

3. Batman: Arkham Knight
When it comes to Batman, be it comics, animated series, movies or video games, the Joker provides creators with a perfect place to make things absolutely horrifying. One of the scariest scenes to feature the Joker comes from Batman: Arkham Knight. The game begins after the Joker has died and his body is being prepared for cremation. An already unsightly scene gets even better (or worse) as the game prompts the player to start the incinerator.

As flames engulf the joker he begins to scream in pain. Shortly after he jumps forward to expose crispy skin and his signature laugh. Prompting the player to interact truly brings them into the game and then serves a classic and detailed jumpscare that remains popular.

2. Undertale: Gaster
Undertale is a role-playing indie game released in 2015 that immediately grew a massive fan base. Created entirely by game developer Toby Fox, the detailed game takes the player on a creative, emotional, and often terrifying journey. This game is basically known for it’s lore, hidden details, alternate endings, changing levels and easter eggs. Gaster is a character discussed in the game that is almost an Easter Egg of his own, because while his existence is confirmed he is never seen and some factors of the game hint his is still alive.

Two of the most popular Gaster related Easter Eggs are known as “Gasters Theme” and “The Encounter”. Undertale has a hidden value in it's code called the 'fun value'. This value ranges from 1 to 100 and is set randomly by the game upon startup. This number determines certain events in the game. If the value is set at 65 while you're in the Snowdin level, you can access a new area which allows you to play “test” versions of songs from the game.

One of these songs is called 'Gaster's Theme'. Once you play it, it continues for the remainder of your presence here and you cannot change it. Of course this is an obvious reference to Gaster and the fact that the player loses control of the game here implies that Gaster has some power over the code of the game. Speaking of the code of the game, another popular aspect of Undertale is the players ability to alter the game by editing the code or save files.

One feature allows you to edit the save file and set the room you spawn into as room 264. When you arrive in room 264, a message is shared in the Wingdings font, which is known exclusively as Gaster’s font. Additionally, some disturbing music and audio is played over the message. When translated the message reads; “Entry 17: Dark, darker, yet darker. The darkness keeps growing. The shadow is cutting deeper. Photon readings negative.

1.Star Fox: Out of this Dimension
The Star Fox series is a classic, with it’s first release in 1993. In the game while flying through open space and shooting at asteroids, a very peculiar looking asteroid will cross your path. If you successfully shoot this, the game appears to glitch in a very trippy way and you are taken to what can only be described as another dimension. Coincidentally this location is known as “Out of this Dimension”.

While here, things move in a strange and fluid manner, the asteroids have faces on them, and the sound is distorted. The mysterious location is known to be infinite, though no other facts are clear. It is apparently outside of the games universe and “outside of existence as we know it”. Players have described the level as inescapable and many deem it the alternate ending of the game.
The dimension does not appear in any other Star Fox games, though it is similar to the later introduced “Warp Zones”. Aside from the general confusing vibe of the location, it is said to be unsettling because it focuses on the unknown and dangerous expanse of space and even reality.

10 CREEPY VIDEO GAME URBAN LEGENDS

10 Lovender Town syndrome
In February 1996 Pokemon Red and Green for the Nintendo Gameboy was released in japan to wide acclaim, however not everything about its release was so positive. Allegedly around the same time as the game’ s release, there was a noticeable rise in children committing suicide or falling ill. The legend states that this was caused by the music played in the game when the protagonist reaches Lavender Town. The Lavender Town theme is believed to have featured extremely high frequencies which were only detectable by younger gamers. These frequencies caused headaches, self harm and mental illness in those who played the game, ultimately leading to an estimated 200 children killing themselves. The story concludes by saying that due to the scandal the Lavender Town theme was later changed by developers Nintendo to a lower tone, and in the Western version, the music was changed completely.

9. Squall is dead
Final Fantasy 8 is considered a classic in the long running Japanese franchise, however the plotline is not without rumor. At the end of the first disc, protagonist Squall squared up to the evil Sorceress Edea on a parade float. So far, so Final Fantasy. However during this battle Edea sends a shard of ice flying through the air and into Sqall’s chest, causing him to stumble and fall off the float, ending the duel. Yet when disc two starts up, Squall appears alive and unharmed. The legend goes that everything that happens in the game after this is Squall’s dying brain attempting to process information before it runs cut of oxygen. To add to this theory, the finale features a series of scenes that flash before the player’s eyes. These include blurred out details, the battle with Edea itself and, for a brief moment, an image of Squall with his face missing. The legend states that his brain is close to death and therefore forgetting his own image.

8. Polybius
In 1998 a post on the website coinop.org stated that in 1981 a new, addictive video game was installed in a Portland, Oregon arcade called Polybius. Polybius proved popular, however players soon began complaining of nausea, headaches, and nightmares after spending time playing the game. Soon after the Polybius cabinet was visited by strange men in black who allegedly unknown and unauthorized data gathered from the players. In 2013 the website Skeptoid conducted an investigation into whether Polybius actually existed. They found that while there was no record of any game called Polybius in or around Portland in 1981… …there were two cases of gamers collapsing with headaches and stomach pains on the same day. Ten days later federal agents raided video arcades throughout the Portland area in an attempt to break up a gambling racket operated by arcade owners. To prepare for this operation, undercover agents had indeed investigated arcade machines to try and collect evidence. While Polybius may not be true, the seeds of the legend were based in reality.

7. Morrowind’s mod
Morrowind is the highly popular and critically acclaimed third instalment in the Elder Scrolls franchise, yet that hasn’t stopped people making their own mods for the game. One mod, called Juk1166z.esp, at first appeared to do nothing except corrupt the game. However when run through an MS-DOS emulator the game takes a sinister tone, Major NPCs immediately died, their corpses littering the game. The remaining characters would appear briefly and only say “Watch the sky”. The player’s health would be draining constantly and dungeons would start displaying images from your computer. The mod didn’t just affect the game, it took control of your computer. Finally a long-limbed character called the Assassin would appear, who would hunt the player and shriek in piercing tone. The game screen would slowly become darker and darker until nothing could be seen at all. According to one player who allegedly played the mod he began to dream, and then hallucinate, about the Assassin.

6. Killswitch
A company called Karvina Corp is believed to have released a game called Killswitch in 1989. The game followed the story of Porto, a human woman, and Ghast, an invisible demon, as they attempt to unravel the mystery of the mine they find themselves trapped in. There was a twist however. Once played, the game wiped itself completely, preventing the game from being played ever again. As only 5,000 copies were produced, so the legend goes, this has led to brand new cartridges being extremely valuable. In 2005 Yamamoto Ryuichi bought a copy of the game for $733,000, with the intention of broadcasting the playthrough on YouTube. Yet to date Ryuichi has only posted one two minute long video of himself crying before the character selection screen. The legend suggests that the game sends people mad. However it is most likely false, as the earliest mention of any game from that period called Killswitch… …comes from a now abandoned website called Invisible Games which deals in creepypasta about fictional games.

5. Pokemon block
Pokemon Black was released as a companion to Pokemon White in 2010. However before that there was another Pokemon Black – a far more sinister and twisted version. The legend states that an unnamed man was digging around a flea market in 2005 when he came across a version of Pokemon Red which was pure black. The game played as normal to begin with, with Professor Oak giving you the usual choice of three starter pokemon and a fourth one called Ghost. Ghost was level one and capable of only one attack: Curse. Every battle played the same. The opponent was too scared to move, allowing Ghost to cast “curse”. Once cast the screen would go black and the distorted scream of the defeated pokemon would play. This could even be cast on the trainer themselves, ultimately killing them. If you survived, Ghost would appear at the end and battle you. The screen faded to black and rebooting the Gameboy, the save file would be wiped clean.

4. Sonic.exe
Everyone knows Sonic the Hedgehog as the bright and colorful Sega mascot but Creepypasta author JC the Hyena had other ideas. The legend went that a man known only as Tom received in the mail a CD from his missing friend Kyle, accompanied by a note telling him to destroy it. Tom played the CD to find a heavily modded version of Sonic the Hedgehog. The blue sea was now an ocean of red blood, the sky was overcast and Sonic himself had glowing red and bleeding eyes. As he played the game further it appeared that Sonic was violently torturing and murdering the inhabitants of the game. Eventually the game began communicating with Tom, asking whether he wanted to play a game of hide and seek and addressing him by name. The more Tome played, the more it became clear that Kyle had been sucked into the game by Sonic… …another victim to be toyed with, tortured and murdered by hedgehog with the demon eyes.

3. Herobrine
First released in 2011, Minecraft has become a global sensation. It has sold over 106 million copies and cost Microsoft $2.5 billion when it was bought in 2014. Yet if a post on 4cham is to be believed, the simple block building game hides a dark and sinister secret. In 2011 a post on the popular online bulletin board mentioned a blank eyed character walking around his single player world and deforesting the map. After his post was deleted from the messageboard a few times, he received a message from a fellow user called Herobrine with one word, “Stop”. It turns out ‘Herobrine’ was the gamertag of the brother of Minecraft’s lead developer Markus Person aka ‘Notch’. When pressed on the issue, he allegedly said he did have a brother, but he had died. Since then people have built and expanded on the legend, insisting there is a character called Herobrine haunting the game.

2. Ben drowned
In 2010 anther 4chan user called Jadusable claimed to own a haunted copy of the classic N64 game Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask. Jadusable bought what he thought was a brand new game from an elderly gentleman, but when installed into his console he found only a saved game called ‘Ben’. When Jadusable attempted to start a new game, the NPCs continued to call his character Ben. When the saved game was deleted, the NPCs just ignored him altogether. A later post by his alleged former roommate stated that Jadusable was slowly sent mad by this game.

1. Pole luno
Pale Luma is a text based adventure game which required gamers to input commands in order to progress through the story. Yet unlike other text based games, Pale Luma appeared to crash if anything other than the correct command is entered leading many people to dismiss the game as a broken and buggy product. One player however, Michael Nevins, wasn’t going to be put off. After six hours of trial and error, Nevins reportedly go through to a congratulations screen and a set of coordinates. Being nearby Nevins allegedly set off to the park where the coordinates were to investigate. When he dug at the point indicated, he uncovered the decomposing head of Koren Pauisen an eleven year old gril who had gone missing a year and a half before. The developer of Pale Luna was never traced, and the rest of Karen’s body was never found.