7 Scariest Video Game Songs That Will Give You Anxiety | MojoPlays
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VOICE OVER: Dave Thibault
WRITTEN BY: Jarett Burke
Welcome to MojoPlays! Today we're looking at the best video game soundtracks that are so scary they'll send cold shivers of fear down your spine! For the best experience for this video, I'd recommend watching this video with headphones.
Video Game Songs That Will Give You Anxiety
Welcome to MojoPlays! Today we’re looking at a few music tracks from games that are so freaky they’ll send cold shivers of fear down your spine! For the best experience for this video, I’d recommend watching this video with headphones.
“Giygas Melody”
“EarthBound” (1995)
Don’t let the cute little pixel characters fool you… this game has a seriously dark undertone that – while highly sarcastic – was quite unsettling for a 90s’ game. (Break) The music that plays upon encountering “Giygas” the final boss, is about as chilling as they come, because it’s minimalist to the extreme, thus allowing for endless interpretations to the odd sounds on display. In the latter parts of the battle, the song starts to change, and the ever increasing distortion just has us even more on end.
“Soothing Hymn”
“Bloodborne” (2015)
Leave it to the minds at FromSoftware to take a church hymn, and turn it into an unthinkable nightmare. It starts off with an unnerving emptiness, followed by shrieking stringed instruments (like nails on a chalkboard) and a moaning choir that doesn’t let up until its grueling two minutes are over. On its own, this song is terrifying enough, but combined with the heretical imagery of “Bloodborne’s” Upper Cathedral Ward, it’s downright pants soiling. Then again that’s pretty much this whole game in a nutshell.
“Crimson”
“Terraria” (2011)
This tune is slightly more traditional in that it has an actual beat for about 30 seconds or so, but then right around the corner: dread… pure, unrelenting dread in the sound of nothingness, followed by weird carnival noises that were surely meant to make us lose our minds! The transition from song to random sounds that is truly off-putting here, as it catches us off guard. So, it makes a lot of sense that this is the soundtrack heard when gamers make their way into the horrific Crimson area of “Terraria” that’s filled with evil alters, creepy insects and the color “blood red” everywhere.
“Regenerator”
“Resident Evil 4” (2005)
How fitting that this song plays deep in some underground laboratory basement, whenever we encounter this horrific monster! The song itself sounds like we’re listening to a horror movie from another room in that the sound is muffled, the off-putting beats can be interpreted as footsteps, and it goes silent for long stretches before starting up again. What makes this music track even more off-putting … the creepy snarls that come from the Regenerator in the game.
“Surgeon Attack”
“Outlast” (2013)
Like a modern version of some old Hitchcock movie soundtracks, this song had us sweating bullets and feeling like some unknown evildoer was chasing us. This is a track that starts at 100%, and doesn’t let up for a second. Thus, it’s the perfect soundtrack for a game where you’re essentially chased over and over again by an unrelenting series of unimaginable horrors. This track ensured that our adrenaline was high and we were in fight or flight mode, and that’s a good thing, because we needed instinctive movement and lightning-fast reactions to survive the inhabitants of Mount Massive Asylum.
“Prayer”
“Silent Hill 3” (2003)
Like the earlier entry from “Bloodborne,” this one takes a typically soothing religious sound – and turns it into something unexplainably evil. Thus, it works in great effect because it flips convention on its head. The end result is so sinister, and so freaky, that it had us turning on all the lights in the house just listening to it. It’s no wonder then that the song was also used in the film adaptation of “Silent Hill” in 2006. We’re continually amazed at the quality of music from the series that was largely created by one man, Akira Yamaoka. They are consistently some of the best soundtracks in horror gaming, period.
“Drought”
“Pokémon Omega Ruby” (2014)
This theme was already creepy in the original Pokemon Ruby, due to the GBA’s low fidelity speakers, but it just gets worse with better sound quality. Not only is this song scary enough on its own, but we can’t help but feel that there’s something even more disturbing to it knowing that it is in one of the most wholesome, kid-friendly video game franchises of all time. The simple, repetitive melody – repeated over and over again – has all the feelings of great horror theme songs like “Halloween” and “Friday the 13th;” and, that electronica vibe just chips away at our nerves, as it’s at once both familiar yet equally foreign and unknown.
Welcome to MojoPlays! Today we’re looking at a few music tracks from games that are so freaky they’ll send cold shivers of fear down your spine! For the best experience for this video, I’d recommend watching this video with headphones.
“Giygas Melody”
“EarthBound” (1995)
Don’t let the cute little pixel characters fool you… this game has a seriously dark undertone that – while highly sarcastic – was quite unsettling for a 90s’ game. (Break) The music that plays upon encountering “Giygas” the final boss, is about as chilling as they come, because it’s minimalist to the extreme, thus allowing for endless interpretations to the odd sounds on display. In the latter parts of the battle, the song starts to change, and the ever increasing distortion just has us even more on end.
“Soothing Hymn”
“Bloodborne” (2015)
Leave it to the minds at FromSoftware to take a church hymn, and turn it into an unthinkable nightmare. It starts off with an unnerving emptiness, followed by shrieking stringed instruments (like nails on a chalkboard) and a moaning choir that doesn’t let up until its grueling two minutes are over. On its own, this song is terrifying enough, but combined with the heretical imagery of “Bloodborne’s” Upper Cathedral Ward, it’s downright pants soiling. Then again that’s pretty much this whole game in a nutshell.
“Crimson”
“Terraria” (2011)
This tune is slightly more traditional in that it has an actual beat for about 30 seconds or so, but then right around the corner: dread… pure, unrelenting dread in the sound of nothingness, followed by weird carnival noises that were surely meant to make us lose our minds! The transition from song to random sounds that is truly off-putting here, as it catches us off guard. So, it makes a lot of sense that this is the soundtrack heard when gamers make their way into the horrific Crimson area of “Terraria” that’s filled with evil alters, creepy insects and the color “blood red” everywhere.
“Regenerator”
“Resident Evil 4” (2005)
How fitting that this song plays deep in some underground laboratory basement, whenever we encounter this horrific monster! The song itself sounds like we’re listening to a horror movie from another room in that the sound is muffled, the off-putting beats can be interpreted as footsteps, and it goes silent for long stretches before starting up again. What makes this music track even more off-putting … the creepy snarls that come from the Regenerator in the game.
“Surgeon Attack”
“Outlast” (2013)
Like a modern version of some old Hitchcock movie soundtracks, this song had us sweating bullets and feeling like some unknown evildoer was chasing us. This is a track that starts at 100%, and doesn’t let up for a second. Thus, it’s the perfect soundtrack for a game where you’re essentially chased over and over again by an unrelenting series of unimaginable horrors. This track ensured that our adrenaline was high and we were in fight or flight mode, and that’s a good thing, because we needed instinctive movement and lightning-fast reactions to survive the inhabitants of Mount Massive Asylum.
“Prayer”
“Silent Hill 3” (2003)
Like the earlier entry from “Bloodborne,” this one takes a typically soothing religious sound – and turns it into something unexplainably evil. Thus, it works in great effect because it flips convention on its head. The end result is so sinister, and so freaky, that it had us turning on all the lights in the house just listening to it. It’s no wonder then that the song was also used in the film adaptation of “Silent Hill” in 2006. We’re continually amazed at the quality of music from the series that was largely created by one man, Akira Yamaoka. They are consistently some of the best soundtracks in horror gaming, period.
“Drought”
“Pokémon Omega Ruby” (2014)
This theme was already creepy in the original Pokemon Ruby, due to the GBA’s low fidelity speakers, but it just gets worse with better sound quality. Not only is this song scary enough on its own, but we can’t help but feel that there’s something even more disturbing to it knowing that it is in one of the most wholesome, kid-friendly video game franchises of all time. The simple, repetitive melody – repeated over and over again – has all the feelings of great horror theme songs like “Halloween” and “Friday the 13th;” and, that electronica vibe just chips away at our nerves, as it’s at once both familiar yet equally foreign and unknown.
