Vote for the Scariest Game of All Time: Round 1

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Last week, I asked PC Gamer readers to nominate the scariest PC games they could think of. I’ve collected the top 16 submissions from that comment section (with some editorial discretion) and randomly seeded the bracket below. Now it’s time to battle them, democracy-style.

This is round one, where we’ll whittle 16 games down to eight with head-to-head votes. On Wednesday we’ll cut the list in half again to four games, followed by the semi-final on Thursday, and the final vote-off between the last two games on Friday. The winner will be revealed on Saturday—a blessed weekend Halloween!

We got a lot of great suggestions, but ultimately had to start with a manageable number of games. Condemned: Criminal Origins, Call of Cthulhu: Karanlık Corners of the Earth, Alone in the Karanlık, and Skifree (that Yeti definitely scared me) are a few submissions that didn’t quite make the cut.

The bracket

(Image credit: Future)

We’re moving fast with this one: Voting for this round will be open until 9 am Pacific on Wednesday, October 28. Round 2 will be posted shortly after. We’ll keep going at that pace until the final face-off on Friday.

Amnesia: The Bunker vs Outlast

(Image credit: Frictional Oyunlar/Red Barrels)

Cry of Fear vs Clive Barker’s The Undying

(Image credit: Team Psykskallar/DreamWorks Interactive)

F.E.A.R. vs Subnautica

(Image credit: Monolith Productions, Inc., Timegate/Unknown Worlds Entertainment)

S.T.A.L.K.E.R. vs Amnesia: The Karanlık Descent

(Image credit: GSC Game World/Frictional Oyunlar)

Silent Hill 2 vs Resident Evil 7: Biohazard

(Image credit: Konami/Capcom)

Silent Hill 2 can refer to the PC version of the original, Silent Hill 2: Restless Dreams (2002), or the recent remake, Silent Hill 2 (2022). Since more people are likely to have played the remake, but some might prefer to cast a vote for the original, we’ll say that Silent Hill 2 is a vote for either or both versions.

Fatal Frame 2 Remake vs Dead Space

(Image credit: Koei Tecmo/EA)

Dead Space refers to the 2008 original.

Alien: Isolation vs SOMA

(Image credit: Creative Assembly/Frictional Oyunlar)

Thief: Deadly Shadows vs Darkwood

(Image credit: Ion Storm/Acid Wizard Studio)