Most videogames give the player a third-person perspective, but a second-person story. "You" is directed at both the player and character. Considering the Heroic Mime status and The Stoic character type, keep examples to sounds that occur while an enemy is offscreen, alerting you to their presence. Or another character mentions their fear. You'll forget you're safe behind your screen when you hear these...
Every enemy in Metro 2033 has a distinctive audio cue, each of which is heard before an encounter. Every single one is terrifying, even if the game doesn't even bother to have the game reveal them immediately, or at all, just to make you paranoid.
Lurkers make a very high-pitched, Nazgul-like scream, which can often be heard near pipes and what have you. Around 50% of the time, one will actually turn up. Even nastier is the wet, squelching sound you can hear where one is nearby... and feasting on a corpse.
Nosalises growl like dogs, and roar like lions. Like the lurker, sometimes done simply to spook you, at other times it's done to herald an impending attack. Particularly unnerving is hearing the roars, hearing a character yell "NOSALISES", then hearing hundreds of roars, getting louder...louder...louder...loud-ahh fuck it's in the air vents!
Watchers make a wolf-like howl. Especially bad because hearing one is always the precursor to an enormous horde of them turning up.
Librarians make a low-pitched growl. Along with Nosalises, they have a disturbing roar, but even more unsettling is their low, heavy breathing, which can be heard all around the Library.
Giant Amoebas make a plopping sound, which is not scary except for the fact it signifies a Giant Amoeba is nearby...
The Dark Ones have hissing, rattling voices which are creepy as hell.
The flapping of wings and shuddering roars of an incoming Demon.
The squelching noise of Spiderbugs emerging from their nests, followed by their clicking mandibles when they move in to attack.
Amphibian Shrimps are usually pretty quiet while crawling around, only letting out their sharp, hissing roar just before they swing their claws to attack. Since they generally just wander around and don't always notice Artyom, it's particularly disconcerting, since they are perfectly capable of walking past without attacking...they'll only roar once they're already up in your face.
The original Atari/C64 Spelunker game blasted a stock spooky theme (similar to Mysterioso Pizzicato) out at the maximum volume whenever a ghost was nearby. Sure it doesn't seem so bad... until you hear the tune when you are about to scroll the screen and one is right there and kills you while the screen is scrolling to the next area. At that point it goes from annoying to downright panic inducing. The infamous NES version has the theme too, but it sounds a LOT less scary, as it's is mixed in with the incredibly bouncy background music that is completely absent in other versions.
Most of the monsters' battle cries. The Cacodemons and the Barons of Hell (and to a lesser extent, the Hell Knights) are the biggest offenders.
The massive, bone-chilling roars of the Cyberdemon and Spider Mastermind are bad enough, but even worse is their footstep noises, getting louder and louder...
The Archvile's "on alert" noise once it knows someone's there. That hollow-throated sinister giggle is enough to give grown players the bug-eyed shivers.
Lots of these in Doom 3. In particular, the creepy wailing sound increasing in pitch that happens near the glowing pentagrams and on the Hell level.
The gurgling baby-talk noise the Cherubs make is terrifying, especially when you can't tell where it's coming from. "Mama. Maama. Maa-ma." Now imagine that coming with a distinct insect-like quality. Yes, it's that disturbing.
In the PSX version of Final Doom, some of the Master Levels are included. The music to one of these (Geryon) has a flute sound that becomes more and more high-pitched until it sounds like it's being tortured. Checking your music volume on this level is definitely advised.
The asylum rats squeaking. It's not that scary at first, but once you get kamikaze'd, confused, and swiftly dispatched several times, you will learn to loathe that noise, as every time you hear it, you are about to get rushed by 5-10 of those things, exploding for several brains of health. Also, sometimes the sound glitches so you hear it when they're not actually there...
In the world "Big Boo's Haunt" if you plummet into a certain pit from inside the mansion the first thing to greet you will be the creepy calliope music from the carousel. Listen to it here.
Topped big-time with the endless staircase at the end of the game, with its chromatic xylophone scales ''of doom''. Guess what else? It was remixed and put into Mario Strikers Charged. Sure, it lessens the creepiness, but it's the theme for Boo, so there you go.
There's also that sound Bowser makes in the background the first time you enter Peach's castle or when you ran into a door when you didn't have enough stars to open it, or if you die: DAH DAH DAAAAAAAH NAH! BWOAR WOAR! HAR! HAR! HAR!
The main background music for the "Big Boos Haunt" level is fairly creepy. And then there's the possessed piano.
The "hurry up!" jingle, which plays when some sort of timer is running out. Except in the Mario Kart series, where it signifies your final lap instead, although the Mario Kart version may very well fall under this if you're trailing behind.
Speaking of Mario Kart: The infamous whizzing sound of a Blue Shell. Especially if you're in first place.
The sound of Gruntilda's evil laughter that you hear when you hit the "Save and Quit" option in Banjo-Kazooie or sometimes when you die.
The first game works an evil laugh into the beginning of the "Grunty's Lair" theme and all its variants, which restarts every time the music loops back to the beginning.
The music in certain areas — especially deep underwater, or inside other living creatures — tend to play a high-pitched string sound reminiscent of Psycho Strings.
Descent 3:
The metal scraping sounds made by the evil robots trying to kill you. Even more fun was the fact that you would often hear the machines before you saw them and much Hilarity Ensues when you try to find the damn things in the maze like surroundings.
Subverted in that those same robots also make noise when idle. If you wear headphones or turn your volume up a bit, you can use this to identify and locate the bots without being detected. Some robots, though, still play the trope straight even then...
One of those sounds is also used in the first two games when a Lifter or Diamond Claw attacks you.
"Ceremony" and "The Oracle" — themes associated with Thanatos, unsurprisingly.
Another in the Thanatos category - the creepy little kcrrrtschk sound Dark Lich's hands make when he clenches his fists. Particularly bad if a character is affected - you find yourself wondering if some part of your anatomy made that noise.
The weird whale-esque moaning uuuwwwwuuuuuooooOOOUUUuuuuooOOoouuUUUUuuuuwwwwhhhhh.... sound the Manabeast makes. This is the first sound you hear when you turn the game on, and you don't learn what the hell it is until it reoccurs seconds before Thanatos beamspams the Mana Tree to death. THEN it becomes apparent.
As a horror RPG, the game has quite a few, both in exploration and combat. In the first game, you walk on blood and corpses quite often, producing a disgusting wet noise with every step. And the music for some areas would include screams, hysterical laughter and strange pants. Then the monsters come along and assault your ears with their weird moaning, nauseating squishy noises or gut-wrenching screams.
In the dungeon called the Dollhouse, there is, in the boss room, a doll sitting on a rocking horse, creaking slowly back and forth as you examine this creepy room. When you try to leave the room, the rocking stops, but you'll swear you hear that sound for a few seconds afterwards.
There's also a scene in this game where an old woman tells the party a horror story, with sound effects. At first, the woman is going "Shloop, shloop, screee!" to describe a man who returned from a death by drowning (the shloop being the sound of him dragging his corpse slowly across the pier, the screee being the noise the seagulls made, drawn to the smell of death), but steadily, in the background, you hear the noises in the background of her telling this story, to the point that it becomes very disturbing. (Scariest description of a zombie walk ever.)
The Battle Aboard the Amerigo cutscene has this, shortly after one of the Marines is stabbed through the face and lifted away by a lurking Hydralisk, the remaining troopers are watching all corners, trying to hear the sound of the Zerg. All they hear is the whirl of the large fan blades...which turns out to be scraping along at a pitch that quickly synchronizes with the screeches of the oncoming Zerg Rush.
"Class 12 psionic waveform pattern detected, the Queen of Blades is inbound"
A legitimate Oh Crap moment in itself, worse if you're familiar with Expanded Universe material - yup, that scale usually caps out at 10.
Also, the Nydus Worms. Not only is their scream freaky by itself, but it heralds the arrival of a potential horde of the Zerg and you have no idea where from.
Neverwinter Nights 2: Mask of the Betrayer: In one area, an insane hag is making loud screeching noises and rambling on about killing and eating people. Other players in your party occasionally comment that they would like to either kill the noisemaker or cast Silence on her.
The motion sensor in the Marine campaign. In the remake, they also use the Scare Chord from the movies whenever xenomorphs appear in the Marine Campaign.
Also the sound of xenomorphs bursting out of air vents; that combination of clattering metal and alien screech, after a few ambushes, can swiftly induce emptying the clip of whatever weapon you're holding while screaming swearwords incoherently at your monitor.
The disturbing sounds heard during the Game Over/"Acta est Fabula" screen for each of the stalkers. The music that plays when a stalker is not currently chasing Fiona is also quite creepy, especially Debilitas' (which is more or less all ambient sounds like a dog panting, a strange swallowing noise, and obscure clicking).
The second half of "White and Red Carousel". Where did that horn come from?!
The failed homunculis' gibberish.
Assassin's Creed: Take any music you hear while stalking your targets in any game. It will be one of the many forms of Hell Is That Noise you'll hear in-game. Best part? You are the noise. Being the creeping death behind your enemies never felt any more awesome than this.
The noise Scissorman's scissors make as he follows you. SNIP SNIP SNIP!
It's even worse in the second game, where the sound of Scissorman's scissors can be heard even if he's in a different room. Not to mention how they changed it from a somewhat loud *SNIP* into a very loud *SHING*. The music that accompanies this is pretty scary on its own.
The Choking Hand's squeaking "I'll swallow your soul!" Once you hear it, the proper response is to leap in panic at the nearest table or run away into a corner while blasting randomly at the floor.
The zombies' death screams. While their "knock down" groans are very mild and the kind you'd expect from an undead, when they die they emit an incredibly loud and heart-stopping mix of a shriek and a yell. You will jump out of your seat the first time you kill a zombie, even if it's from a good distance (and sometimes, not only for the first time either). At least, when you happen to decapitate them, you have the option of kicking the head around like a ball.
The sound Shial / Mother Spiders make when they become aware of your presence. Since you know it's a huge spider that spawns endless hordes of baby spiders... Oh Crap.
The Phantasms' non-stop screaming and the Fish Beasts' roars (especially the way they tend to take you by surprise.)
Blood II has the various sounds of the Bone Leeches. Whether they're just in idle in a pool of water or jumping to attach to your face, you will not be able to focus until you're absolutely sure every leech in the area is dead. Same goes for the Thieves. Strangely enough, the Hands are mostly silent in this game, and the sound they make is rather funny.
There's something that sounds like a wheezing, whispery voice, or a heart stopping screechy sound whenever Alma is nearby. Then there's Alma's music box, (listen to it here). That horrible, sad, upbeat, painful, tear-inducing, pants-browningly chilling tune. It's like someone scientifically formulated the perfect theme song to emphasize every single aspect of Alma, and then used it in the most disturbing manner imaginable.
Child Alma's trademark deranged little giggle.
In the locker rooms of Wade Elementary you are attacked by ghosts that are hard to see and they make this horrific noise. Plus the horrible rapid-fire slamming sounds of the double doors, making it hard to hear anything coming at you, and they steadily grow louder and louder as you get closer. The noise itself is just plain disturbing....
The game also pulls off a few audio stings when certain scary elements come into the field of vision. It's also used - in slightly less dramatic fashion - to alert the player to a crisp packet on the floor, letting them know that Norton Mapes is still alive.
The Scare Chord played when the automated gun turrets pop out of the ceiling.
Rattling objects. In the first game they can be ignored safely, because it's possibly a malfunction of the collisions engine, and it's only things like soda cans, chemical flasks and other small gadgets. Doesn't detract any from the scary factor, especially if you remember the common aspect of ghost stories that they lightly disturb objects whith their presence alone. And then you go through the Vivendi sequels... Where the rattlers are much larger objects, and it often means a pack of the mostly invisible Shades is out to get you. Don't be surprised if you shoot a steel drum you're walking on top of just because it scraped on the floor, especially after the nuclear explosion in Perseus Mandate.
It doesn't help that near the end of the Perseus Mandate you have to go through an area where all the automatic doors produce a sound similar to the cackle/laugh that was the only hint those near invisible shades gave you before attacking.
The knocking on doors and the footsteps are more effective at causing fear than any other sanity effect, especially since you know the house is empty.
To the point where, when things actually do show up, your initial reaction is "oh, they're not there, I'm just- OH SHIT!"
Not to mention that when your sanity meter is low, you constantly hear agonized wailing, warped laughter, and other eerie noises even when no larger sanity effect is present. Keep it low, and your character will occasionally mutter to him- or herself in a crazed, terrified voice. Keep it low long enough—some people do run-throughs with zero sanity or as little sanity as possible—and the silence when your sanity is normal will come to unnerve you.
In the Maximillian Roivas stage the initial music that plays, "Black Rose", isn't incredibly creepy, just reminiscent of an old house. Then it ends and you're left with the far-off, booming sound of drums typical to when nothing is going on, and then you get creeped out. Especially since by that point in the music you should be to the point where something happens.
The sounds of certain enemies, especially when off screen. In particular the lightning from Horrors and the chittering of Trappers.
The Ravenholm chapter is very good at conditioning players to jump at audio cues. Rattling gutters? Incoming fast zombie (though the bastards don't always show up immediately). Soft little chirping hiss? Cue vitriolic cursing and emptying of clip into anything even vaguely shaped like a poison headcrab.
As has been mentioned in developer interviews, upon hearing the poison headcrab hiss playtesters would often compleatly ignore anything and everything else in order to find the poison headcrab, even going so far as to throw all their grenades and empty entire weapons' worth of ammo.
The sound of the headcrab zombie moans. Or even worse, the poison headcrab zombie moan. And in Episode 1, Alyx thinks it's funny to freak you out by imitating one. Even worse than that, a headcrab zombie on fire's bloodcurdling screaming...
While you are going down a building in Episode 2, you will pass by what appears to be a blocked off, busted elevator shaft. This isn't creepy at all, except there is a poison headcrab zombie a story or two below you, constantly grunting and making you increasingly paranoid as you try to find the source of the noise.
On the opposite end of the spectrum, the mechanical whine of Manhacks - piercing, echo-happy, and harbinger of little tiny flying death machines.
The sound effect is recycled in Portal 2. There are no Manhacks in that game. It's still creepy.
As has been mentioned elsewhere: Nothing that makes a clanging noise in the Half-Life universe is ever any good. Ever.
Tentacles in the original. Not the fact that they could kill you in an instant if you made the slightest sound. Not the bang, bang, bang as it goes after some noise. That constant tapping it does the rest of the time. Just poking around looking for you.
Episode Two gives us the Antlion Guardian, which makes this roaring sound, coupled with a very unique running sound and for a good part of the chapter cannot be harmed. Cue terrified moments of hiding in caches of Antlion Grubs, as you hear the Guardian skitter around outside, all the while making that sound, and not being able to pinpoint just where it is.
Speaking of the grubs, the first time playing Episode Two, it's easy to mistake their chirps for poison headcrabs. Incredibly unnerving. Especially in the spots in the hive where you can also find actual poison headcrabs.
Also, some of the caches you need to hide in are filled waist-high with blood, causing you to squelch with each step.
That loud 'PHFREEH' noise Acid Antlions make. Especially when it's coming from behind.
Not an example (well, YMMV), but related to one from Real Life: Half-Life 2 featured, right after Dog opens the Combine gate for you at the beginning of "Anticitizen One", some really creepy music that seems to be coming from nowhere in particular (it is actually coming from a TV set tucked out of the way). It sounds suspiciously similar to the introductory music from some of the numbers stations mentioned below (particularly "Bugle" and "Swedish Rhapsody" respectively).
The weird digital horn sound that the Striders make.
Anything by the Striders is unnerving. The loud BURKABURKABURKA of their machine guns, the thunp they make when they walk, and the ray-gun sound their lasers make.
The noises made by the Combine hunter-choppers are equally unnerving. The sound of the guns preparing to fire is enough to send any player scurrying for cover.
Then there's the bizarre moaning/wheezing sounds heard in Half-Life, during the chapter "On a Rail". They're only heard in a couple of places, but they're really creepy sounding and never explained.
Speaking of the first Half-Life... The Ichthyousaurs' horrible growling as they charge at you. BMABMABMABMABMABMA
Any sufficiently creepy enemy that's given a distinctive audio cue to warn you when it's around can become subject to this, including the various malefactors from The Suffering, the Necromorphs from Dead Space, or the drones from The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena.
The Creeper from Ties That Bind has a very... distinctive voice. If it doesn't do this to you just from sounding really creepy, it will start getting this reaction once you get to know him. Not what he says, mind you — that's creepy enough all on its own, but not what we're talking about — just the sound of his voice.
The metroids. Most notably Prime 1 in which one part of the game has the lights go out and you're stuck in the dark with their cries and no way to see them until they start charging at you, even with the Thermal Visor equipped.
Just the metroids? How about the Chozo Ghosts? The scariest part isn't just the room going dark, or even the doors locking you in - it's the bone-chilling shriek that signals your impending doom. The insanely creepy music with the weird synth and Psycho Strings that plays in their presence doesn't help matters.
One of the most terrifying sounds in the series is the high pitched "eeee" noise that happens when you shoot the corpse of a metroid victim and it instantly rots away in Metroid Prime 3.
The Game Over Screen from Metroid Prime 2: Echoes. The BGM is already filled with metallic grinding and clunking, and then you get the Game Over screen, complete with heavy static and flatlining EKG pulse. Check it out. Not to mention that when you actually die, you hear a noise over the static that could very well be Samus screaming as whatever she's fighting rips her guts out... Or something to that effect.
When exploring Dark Aether, one of the sounds that plays as part of the BGM is what sounds like a low moan. This sound appears no matter which part of Dark Aether you're in, regardless of whether there are any enemies there are. Switching visors does nothing to reveal the source of the sound; it's just there.
The 'Low Energy'-sound effect of Metroid II: The Return of Samus. Combined with the already sparse Background-music, that sound gets really creepy as you try to find an Energy Battery or kill Enemies like mad JUST to make that sound stop. To make matters worse, the sound speeds up the less energy you have.
The music of the high-Phazon sections of the Phazon Mines.
The Tzimisce's claw-walking head monsters seem to have asthma, what from all the wheezy gasping they make as they lope around before jumping claws-first at your torso.
Holy shit, the barely audible background music used in the abandoned Vaults. Particularly in Vault 92. It's very faint sounds, like dark, eerie music playing underneath a malfunctioning air unit of sorts, noted with a double-bass sounding mechanical sound every so often. Combined with the hissing sound of the sonic things in Vault 92, and it is a memorable horrifying experience. Made even more terrifying by the fact that the Vault (aside from some stupid crabs) was completely and utterly empty, and everyone who had ever been in the Vault had died 200 years earlier.
"Heeeeeey, GARY!"
And there's something truly mind-scrambling about a nice, torchy love song by the Ink Spots playing, as you casually turn around and—shitShitSHIT! Why didn't I save!? Although you may find the soundtrack uplifting and give you the strength not to scream and throw things at your computer when a Glowing One sneaks up on you...
The racing approach of Yao Guai, and later Deathclaws.
The raspy shouts of Feral Ghouls when they detect you. Not too bad, until you start encountering the Reavers...
How can you not mention the baby carriage bombs, oh god the baby carriages.
Click Whirrr WAAAH WAAAH WAAAHBOOOM
And let's not forget the rattling sound of ants down in the metro. That constant sound that seemed to come from every direction and just gave you shivers down the spine.
Huh? What's that clicking sound? It's coming from behind—OHFUCKRUNAGIANTRADSCORPION!
Everything inside the Virulent Chambers section of the Dunwich Building. If you actually go all the way down, and get into a certain passageway, you end up at a weird monolith that seems taken out of H.P. Lovecraft's literature. Then the background sound starts sounding very creepy.
Bacon sizzling. That means there's a Cazador in the area, which is basically a wasp about the size of a lap pet. That flies several times faster than you can run. And stings for around sixty hit points per attack. And poisons you. And usually flies in swarms. Travel too far off the roads before you have a damned good weapon, and you're bug food.
It Gets Worse. First, if those aren't lap-pet sized Young Cazadors, those are bigger than coyote-sized wasps. Then, it goes Up To Eleven with the boss-level unique Legendary Cazador and Specimen 73, which are considerably larger than you are, and faster than a freaking Deathclaw. Plus, they have Lethal poison, and without an sprayed full-auto or a shotgun, you're going to be missing often if the bastard knows where you are.
The quick beeping of a mine about to explode. Especially on Hardcore.
Nightstalkers. Take a perfectly good coyote, splice a rattlesnake head and tail onto it, and then make them highly-damage pack hunters that half of your bullets will just pass through for no reason. Finally, while they aren't as fast as cazadors, they can close the distance fast enough that all you will see in VATS is a mouthful of sharp, horrid teeth. They're also poisonous, and have we mentioned they can cloak themselves? Point is, you now have more reason to fear the sound of a rattlesnake's rattle.
The wheezing sounds of the Ghost People. Similarly, the weird, metallic noise the holograms make when they spot you.
From the same DLC, the beeping of your explosive Slave Collar when speakers threaten to set it off.
The "City of the Dead" ambient track from Fallout 1, with its low buzzing siren and metallic drones, returns when you set foot into the Legion-sacked Nipton. A remixed version also appears, in the form of "Mutant Massacre".
Saya no Uta: The Sound effects and background music when experiencing the world through Fuminori's twisted perspective. Special mention should go to "Scare Shadow" - which, despite being only about 16 seconds long on the OST, is still a guaranteed tipoff that something seriously nasty is about to happen.
The sharp clack... clack of a grenade bouncing on the ground. Scripted sequences often involved fleeing enemies suddenly tossing them through doors or down flights of stairs, and they are often difficult to see. Once you hear that sound, you've got about a second or two to haul ass, or you're toast.
Also, strangely, the sound of someone knocking on a door that repeats throughout the first game's Dream Sequence.
And the scream when you fall during the second Nightmare Sequence. You will never forget that.
The Address Unknown theme park in Max Payne 2, even though there's no one there — it's almost a comfort to meet Mooks on the second trip through the area. Also, quotes from that Show Within a Show that blare randomly from TV sets.
The chirping sound of the Thief Bot is one of the most annoying enemies in a video game. The agile Thief Bots are incredibly hard to kill and will use hit-and-run tactics to steal your weapons and flee, forcing you to hunt them down through enemy-saturated territory to get your hard-earned stuff back. Descent players soon learn to dread and despise the mocking chirp of a nearby Thief Bot.
Worse is the screech of the demonic Drillers in the first game, which sounds like a malfunctioning car starter.
The engine sounds of many of the bosses, especially the Level 8 boss in D2.
The opening EA logo that pops up before you've even started the game. Just the sound of a bright, cheery child's giggle warping into what sounds like monstrous, distorted sobbing really makes you realize what kind of game you're actually in for.
Trauma Center gave us the Triti strain of GUILT. This strain is a Puzzle Boss which has do be disassembled quickly, in a certain manner. If the player attempts to extract Triti without properly disarming it, it multiplies in size. And screams at you, because that's the sound of the patient's organs petrifying.
Any of the calls made by the special infected. Valve's sound designers worked hard to make sure you quickly learn to recognize which one is which. Nothing like knowing there's a Hunter or Smoker out there somewhere, just waiting to instantly incap whoever's brave enough to step outside first. Especially in single player mode, where that someone has to be you.
Worse than those are the sounds an idle Tank does. Huffing with flared nostrils, growling in barely contained rage... and you know you'll have to face the wall of meat that is making those noises, as the Director never spawns one anywhere you can circumvent.
It gets even worse in Left 4 Dead 2, especially since the Charger actually sounds like it's trying to SAY something through its gibberish. And then it lets out an unholy bellow when it runs up to grab you and turn you into pudding. Lampshaded by Nick: "...what the hell is that noise? is someone beating a horse?"
Castle Wolfenstein: The original version had the random chance of an SS officer shouting "SS" in computerized Mockingboard speech and appearing out of nowhere behind you. Back then it would scare the bejeebies out of you.
Heretic: The creepy muttering of the Disciples of D'Sparil. They weren't scary, just the sound was.
Hammer Haunts. First you'd hear rattling chains, followed by creepy, ghostly whispering, and then you'd pray it didn't turn into blood-curdling maniacal laughter, because that meant they saw you.
(ratling of chains, creepy whispers) "Flames around you, flames around you, flames, nothing but flames..." (gets suspicious, starts looking around, chains ratling) "Join usss, join usss, JOIN US NOOOW !!!" (finds you, starts running insanely fast and cackling)
In Thief : Deadly Shadows, the whole damnShalebridgeCradle level, often acknowledged as not only the most horrifying level of the series, but of gaming history as well! The banging sound of a door at the attic.
If you dare, you can listen to the Cradle's ambience here. Don't say we didn't warn you. Prepair lots of Brain Bleach...
The cave music isn't much more than some eerie tones sliding up and down very quietly.
The path up to the Devil's Machine, the conversation before the battle with Pokey, and after the Devil's Machine was turned off, and everything after that. The battle against Giygas was only MORE traumatic because of the music (if that's what you want to call it). Some people have claimed to be able to hear wailing and crying once you defeat Giygas.
Actually, most of these accounts of the wailing and crying after Giygas' defeat also claim you can only hear it if you're playing the actual cartridge, therefore you can't hear it with emulators or by watching videos directly recorded from a SNES.
The hellish shriek of the Flood Combat Forms in 2 and 3. The Scarab in 3 makes a demonic roaring sound. In fact, its core is organic, composed of the same Lekgolo worms as the Hunters.
In Halo Combat Evolved in the level 343 Guilty Spark in the underground complex in certain rooms you can hear flood screeches.
Also, the music and ambient sounds that accompany them.
Probably applies to any game, but the "click ... click ... click click click" of running out of ammo in Halo is so damn scary.
The first time you hear Suicide Grunts charging you, you wont know what it means.
Wraiths have a pretty singularly scary firing noise.
On a significantly sillier note, Grunt Birthday Party.
Nanashi No Game: The main theme starts off as a pretty good but oddly melancholic chiptune, but quickly devolves into this trope when it starts crackling and breaking up and the synthesizer just generally goes to hell. After playing the game, most players will find the normal theme just terrifying enough anyway. Also, watch this trailer to the end,why not?
Persona3: "Be careful! I sense Death!". And then there's the sound of dragging chains... faster... faster... faster...
The piano music that plays during cutscenes connected to and featuring the killer or the Devil social link. This will give you the creeps every time.
And in the last parts of the game, the new town music: an ominous beat that fits the prolonged blanket of fog in Inaba.
*chest opens* *PUNCH!!* Your HP/SP has decreased!
Everyone who's ever played the old Super Solvers games (the original MS-DOS versions, not the Windows remakes) has a hard time forgetting the absolutely freaky sound effects when the robots show up to kick your ass.
Don't forget the sound effect that plays if you run out of time or make a wrong guess. Now that was scary!
"A in C Major", which generally plays before the appearance of A Virus or Hostile AI, but always signifies that the player is drawn too deeply into the world. Experienced fans learn to cringe when they hear it.
It is the pitch (A440) to which musicians in most places tune most instruments, pinged out on a tuning fork. Presumably, this is why Mai Minase is one of the few in-series people who can isolate this in-series Brown Note; she is a talented violinist.
In the Sunken Ship. Look at the cute dollies. Wait... are they giggling? Oh god make them stop. (1:30 in is the best quality.)
Also the music that plays when you enter the spider queen's lair before fighting her. You know shit's about to go down when you hear this.
Albion: Most of the music is either cheery enough to make your ears bleed, or mildly dark by way of cacophonous. However, the music in the second plotline dungeon does something that outdoes almost every purely instrumental tune on this page.
Bioshock Infinite: Songbird's cries, the Siren's ghostly shriek, the sinister clack-clack-clack a Boy of Silence emits just before yelling and summoning its legions of masked mental patients...there's a lot of scary sounds in this game.
The Confusion Gate's BGM, "Wonder of the Wonder", has creeped out at least a few players. The Updated Rerelease compounds the matter when you dispel the Eden illusion. Not only does the tranquil garden get replaced by Chi You's blood-stained stomping grounds, it's preceded by a terrifying shriek. And as you go through the place, you find out that the shriek is actually the sacrifical maidens' death scream!
Treasure sealed off, the Hell Temple theme. If you haven't played Hell Temple, this just sounds like any other song. Play it to someone who has, though, and they're likely to burst into tears.
There's also that wailing/screaming noise when Mother is finally defeated.
When "SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS" is heard and it's not a dynamite set up by a player.
To quote the creeper's entry on the Action Bomb page: "[They are] utterly silent until the 'Sssssssssss...' noise that translates to 'you have about three seconds to live.'"
Ghasts. When you first hear them they sound like a baby cooing or something at least similar to that. Walk into their line of sight and it becomes as one person described it "a baby goat being sodomized".
One of the developers has a really weird cat who makes those same noises when disturbed while sleeping.
Being in cave/outside, waiting for creepers. Then an arrow shot from a skeleton makes players jump.'
The sound portals make from the outside; the creepy ambiance of the portal itself, with the subtle sound of ghasts and zombie pigmen mixed in for taste.
If you're thieving from a particularly malicious and clever player's lair, the sound of a pressure plate you didn't notice until you stepped on it is probably the worst sound you can hear.
The new Endermen sounds. The first time you hear it you turn around expecting to see a zombie pig-man and then it begins ...
In the newest update, a cracking sound can be heard whenever an item breaks. It's just loud enough to ensure that it'll make you jump every time it happens when you're not expecting it.
Worse when it happens to mean you just lost your sword during a siege of spiders.
Blazes. They sound like creaky metal with a subtle hint of Darth Vader, and since, like all the other mobs in the game, they're Demonic Spiders, their sound heralds royal over-screwage.
As of Snapshot 12w36a, the Wither Boss can be summoned and fought. As soon as it appears, it begins making horrible growls and screams as it destroys everything in its path.
The growling of hostile wolves. If you hear a whole swarm of them, you'll probably be seeing the words "You died!" in the next few seconds.
In multiplayer mode, the sound of a dying Ender Dragon is broadcast to the entire server. Imagine you're exploring a random cave system and suddenly hearing, at a volume usually reserved for huge explosions, something like the sound of a lumberjack felling an entire redwood that's also an evil robot. That's also on fire. You may well mistake it for the sound of the world ending.
And then there's Zatsuza's theme in the Black Label version. Let's just say that Cave knows how to make some nightmarishly frantic "You die now"-style True Final Boss themes.
Almost all of the game's soundtrack counts too. Special mention goes to the forest highway subarea, which sounds like a hyperactive cicada that gets increasingly louder until it stops, just as it gets nigh unbearable. One more worth a mention is the candle world theme.
That warped muttering sound. It's used a lot, like when you get hit by red demons. Also used when you enter or TRY to enter a door on a lower floor of the school.
The high-pitched, tinny (and somehow just off) giggling sound. It's used a lot. It plays during a rare random event in Sabitsuki's room (when you turn on the TV and then try to turn it off). Kaibutsu (white-headed people in school clothes) giggle and turn angry when you hit them with the lead pipe. There are also some angry Kaibutsu who giggle while they chase you. The door to their area randomly shows up in the place with the big red eye background.
A good portion of the background music is particularly unsettling as well. Some examples include the Underwater Temple (which consists of beeping and what sounds like loud footsteps and breathing), the hospital hallway (basically the sound of a heart monitor playing in the background), the Flesh Walls area (which uses a Heartbeat Soundtrack) and the Isometric Pathway, which has an extremely dramatic tone complete with bells.
Every Track in the OST of Baroque's remake contains the noise one of the enemies on those floors will make. They make this noise only when you can't see them.
There's a track that only plays on dark floors that starts with a long, drawn out, eery gurgling sound.
The original is even worse in this regard. While the noises don't match enemies, it almost makes them scarier because of the fear there may be a new enemy just around the corner. On top of that, many of the songs are primarily dissonance. Without a doubt, though, the worst of it all is The Little's theme. The remake's was terrifying enough, but it's nothing compared to hearing babies laughing then slowly falling into a faint cry in the original.
And the River Twygz. If the bony hands weren't disturbing enough, the background music is a jumble of distorted noises that will haunt your nightmares.
The various sounds in Forever Forest from the first Paper Mario: The rustling of trees, bat wings, owls, laughter...
...and don't start on the World of Nothing's music in Super Paper Mario.
So you're driving around planetside in Mass Effect 1, picking up resources and investigating the occasional anomaly. Fortunately, there aren't any baddies wandering around or anything, right? Wait, why is the ground shaki - AAAAGHH THAT NOISE MAKE IT STOP! Seriously, the shriek of the Thresher Maw sounds like the wails of the damned and considering that it heralds the arrival a gigantic monstrosity that erupts forth from the earth to eat your face and spew acid, you will very quickly learn to fear its call.
If you've played Mass Effect 2 on Insanity, you will come to loathe three deep-voiced words: "ASSUMING DIRECT CONTROL." (Somewhat diffused by Narm and Memetic Mutation because it occurs so frequently.) Also on high difficulty levels, the groaning of the Husks or the "dak-dak-dak" sound of a Scion's weapon. And dear god, the hellish squeals and squeaks the Praetorians make. If they didn't scare you when you fought them on Horizon and the Collector ship, Joker's mini-mission will make you hear that sound in your nightmares.
In the Overlord DLC mission, Shepard is called upon to deal with a rogue VI controlling an army of Geth. This wouldn't be too bad, if it wasn't for the hideous electronic scream the VI frequently emits. It's one of the most horrifying, ungodly sounds you'll ever hear. Worse still is when you figure out that it's not just random noise, but a phrase: "QUIET PLEASE MAKE IT STOP!"
The mechanical, ear-splitting, spine-chilling BWOOOOOOORRRRRNNNGH that the Reapers make. Either during a mission or in space, hearing that foghorn from hell is never a good sound. It's mentioned in the game as well; supplementary materials reveal the Reaper horns are specifically tuned to produce a panic response in many organics, and indeed there's a good reason for this, in-universe and out. Low-pitched, loud sounds (like the growls and roars of many animals) tell a human brain, "Predator! Run away!" Meanwhile, jarring, irregular sounds (like a scream) incite the same fight-or-flight reaction. The sound of the Reapers combines these two qualities just to make you shit yourself. The audio team deserves a goddamn medal.
And then there's the scream of a Banshee. You will learn to fear this scream.
The sound of a Cerberus turret firing... But then again, you can use this gun (N7 Hurricane, the most damaging SMG in the game) yourself, if you bought the Collector's Edition, and it turns into a Most Wonderful Sound if you're an Infiltrator or otherwise have access to AI Hacking.
The sonar pings of the Slicers in Spectre Supreme and VR.
'Who... Are You?' from Final Fantasy VII. It's a relatively simple chord played on a saloon piano, on an infinite loop. It's known to cause old-school FF7 players to panic if they hear it with the lights off.
Sephiroth's theme, 'Those Chosen By the Planet'. The fact that, under the ominous bell chimes, the drum beat emulates a human heartbeat really does amp up the haunting atmosphere...
The 'Voice of the Planet' when Tifa and Cloud fall into the Lifestream. It sounds like high-pitched static that almost seems like screaming voices, and loud rumbling moans. You can tell that the Planet is very, very unhappy.
Crisis Core has a wonderful roulette-based limit break machine and you'll love hearing Modulating Phase .. but then you come to the end and it's proof that Zack is dying and losing his memories.
In Parasite Eve, the song that plays when the final boss chases you on the ship.
The "DUN DUN DUN" noise increases in speed to match the weakened Ultimate Being's final, futile attempt to catch up to and kill you. DUN DUN DUN DUN DUNDUNDUNDUN DUNDUNDUNDUN...!
The sound Chasers make in Parasite Eve 2. It's like a cow mooing but you'll learn to dread it, since Chasers are both annoying and terrifying at the same time.
Lavos' cry. Even after all these years. Who would have thought the SNES sound chip could emulate the sound of a Real LifeEldritch Abomination being given a microphone?
So you're wandering through an underground tunnel in post-Chernobyl Russia, when you see something in the distance, vaguely humanoid, lit from behind and thus completely in shadow. And a noise begins to fill your mind as you're drawn into it...
Irem's old shmup X-Multiply has a lot of music that falls somewhere in the "eerie" spectrum (makes sense, considering that the entire game takes place in an alien-parasitizedwoman's body), but the first version of the st. 3 theme "The Rolling Worms" really takes the cake. Oscillating synth in the foreground, rapid liquid bass line in the background, all the while with you surrounded by rampaging larvae and eyes studded in the surrounding tissue...Brrr.
The ticking clock in the main hall from the Nancy Drew game Message in a Haunted Mansion. Never play that game at night (or even during the day with the shades pulled down, for that matter).
Starlancer has the impossible-to-describe torpedo launch noise, which generally lead to a mad rush to blow up the launched torpedoes before everything went to hell.
Whenever your copilot screams "THE ION CANNON IS TARGETING US! GET OUT OF ITS RANGE!".
While not a game, behold: The Playstation 2 "Wrong Disk Format" message. It's not so much scary as it is absolutely unnerving. And this is ALL BECAUSE YOU PUT IN A DISK THE PS2 CAN'T READ!...which includes legitimate games if the lens gets too messed up to read the disk as well.
And the original Playstation has a number of creepy things happen when the disc fails.
The protagonist of The Crystal Key is an extreme AFGNCAAP—you don't even see his / her hand reach out to pick up items, instead seeing the items levitate into your inventory. However, he / she is most definitely not a Heroic Mime if captured and tortured by the villain. Gender neutrality is preserved anyway, because the resultant screaming is barely recognizable as human.
Demon's Souls has the Tower of Latria, which in turn has Illithids, which carry tiny little bells that will haunt your dreams.
Gradius Gaiden's announcers, on you dying in later stages: "Get outta here, forget about it!" "HAHAHAHAHA!"
The penultimate boss of Gaiden doesn't get background music. Instead, you get constant klaxons.
Cave Story brings us "Quiet", the music that plays in the emptied-out Mimiga Village or any Mimiga's home after the Doctor snatches away the Mimigas. It really makes you feel like you're in a ghost town, with not a single living organism around.
And then in AAI2, you have Bansai Ichiyanagi who's somewhow manages to be worse that the two above examples combined.
There's also von Karma's scream, which is so terrifying that it traumatizes Edgeworth for fifteen years.
In Lands of Lore, the Throne of Chaos. The player cannot wander off the paths into the scenery - but apparently the monsters can. Even when you can't see anything around, you can hear them pacing. TEP-TEP. TEP TEP TEP. TEP. The worst part is that when you clear an area out for real, the pacing stops. But if you can't find the monsters...
The nightmare level music in Alundra gives a good impression that "THIS IS A FUCKING NIGHTMARE! SCARY SHIT IS BOUND TO HAPPEN IN SCARY SETTING!".
Hybrids running towards you while they scream things like "Kill me, KILL ME"
The psychic monkeys are also really creepy, their screams echo throughout the halls.
And even with the monkeys and the hybrids the game still ups the ante considerably when it introduces the damn Cyborg Midwives. Not only is their cry of "I worry so much for my little ones" really scary they also make a hellish screeching sound whenever they take damage.
And the spiders. Spiders don't make noise, right? Right??? Then why do they make this unassuming sound of water gently trickling down a small rivulet? OH GOD THEY'RE NEAR!!!
The malfunctioning protocol droids say friendly things as they saunter towards you...
The distant sound of a maintenance/security/military droid.
Back with the broadcasts, the Lake of Rage signal is pretty distressing itself.
The Old Chateau theme from Diamond/Pearl/Platinum. Then you throw in ghosts, glaring statues, a haunted portrait with glowing red eyes and an evil television.
This one at least has a practical use, so you don't just think it's another typical wild encounter to run away from.
Because this theme means you're going to encounter a cool legendary, especially when you're been looking for them for ages, this might also qualify as Most Wonderful Sound.
Arceus' battle theme makes a good job in telling you you are fighting something that ancient cultures thought to be GOD. Giratina's scream also qualifies the first time you hear it, but you get used to it.
Something about the standard Pokemon "error" music just does NOT sit right. Most people hear this because of a printing error. Either way, it's just plain haunting.
Silph Co music takes the cake for creepy music in this game series. The original version starts out kind of cool, and quickly descends into increasing horror. The version of the songs in the remake is something more akin to riding a merry-go-round through a carnival run by the devil himself as the last houldouts of sanity and virtue in a dying universe fall one by one to the madness of their own minds. Made appropriate when you realize that this company has been under siege for quite some time by a terrorist organization who operates throughout the world in a nearly dominating aspect without any sort of organized opposition.
Maybe it's just me, but those creepy bells in Mt. Pyre and Shoal Cave sound like something just died...
If glitches count, boy oh boy could some of the RBY glitches give Uboa one hell of a run for its money. Try Yellow Missingno on for starters!
The Unknown Dungeon and Cinnabar Mansion themes.
Several of the battle cries can also fall under this. Honorable mentions goes to Musharna, and Gothitelle.
On rare occasions in the Gen 3 games, you can sometimes hear a wild pokemon's cry when wandering around in the area. When it happens in Mt. Pyre, well...
Some of the attack sound-effects from R/B/Y can fall under this, most notably Screech.
The Drought theme that plays in Ruby after Groudon is released. It's just a minimalistic series of beep/screech-like sounds, not helped by the fact that, you know, Groudon is about to scorch everything. Fortunately, when Emerald rolled around, they used the only-slightly-less-creepy Flood theme from Sapphire in the equivalent scene.
The 'cry' of the humanoid monsters in the movie The Red Fog from Black/White 2. It sounds like bones grinding and breaking.
From the same game, the Ominous Music Box Tune in N's bedroom from the first game gets a fun update. Have fun visiting the ruins of the castle!
The beep-beep, beep-beep, beep-beep that plays when one of your pokemon is at low health.
Every enemy in Ghoul's Forest (a mod for Doom). Whether it's the high pitched and eardrum breaking screech of the Sjas soaring towards you from behind or the low, choking cackle of the Jitterskull as it strafes towards you with gratuitous Teleport Spam.
Ghoul's World, even when playing with friends, it's still unsettling to hear the sounds of the Soul Harvester wandering around until you turn that corner. BLEHHHHH!!! Then there's the wheezing sound of Misty as it lets out Ominous Fog where ever it goes.
In Ambridge Mansion, you can hear strange noises all around the haunted mansion like scratching, heartbeats, growling, etc.
Also, the thump you hear just before an explosion from an M79 being fired at you.
The whispers heard throughout 5 Days A Stranger and Trilby's Notes. This is only compounded by the fact that they only start when something creepy and freakin' scary is happening, or just about to happen.
The Sound Effects of the Loputousu and Naga Spells in Fire Emblem: Genealogy of the Holy War. Both very similar, both very creepy. Worse on an most Emulators, because the effect can only be done properly with the SNES's Hardware... SNES 9 X's attempt at them is noted for being pure terror... and it should be noted, that the Final Boss fight usually consists of the spells going off against each other repeatedly.
The part in Dragon Age: Origins where Hespith is reciting her kid's song style poem from behind the walls of the passageway - about betrayal, cannibalism and rape.
The Shrieks. They're mostly Goddamned Bats, but the ear-splitting screams can start to make your skin crawl.
The haunted orphanage in the Elven alienage of Denerim. Dimly lit and splatters of blood everywhere, and the ghostly sounds of children crying, women and babies screaming, another creepy kid's rhyme—it's enough to feel like a sudden Genre Shift.
Many ambient noises in Marathon 2: Durandal, eg the electric hums(especially with the volume at max), the "printing press" and other mechanical noises(one sounds just like the Cyberdemon stomping), and the alien ship sounds.
Marathon Infinity went crazy with this. Since the first level the sounds of metal rattling and ominous roaring sort of justified the W'rkncacnter's existence.
X-COM Terror From The Deep. Imagine these two noises happening at the same time.
You're on a Terror Mission with Snakemen. Suddenly you hear the high pitch shriek of a Chryssalid attacking. Hope you brought enough firepower for a mini-Zombie Apocalypse.
The sequel, Apocalypse, also does a fairly good job at making your next night miserable.
The soundtrack is outright terrifying and wouldn't feel out of place in a horror game. It starts off with creepy ambience that freely alternates between alien noises and sounds of machinery to keep you constantly paranoid... and then it'll make you jump at the first sight of an alien. Oh yes, it will.
Assuming you've chosen the real-time mode, you'll hear every alien on the map move. You will literally just sit there, listening to all the stomping and hissing, futilely trying to gauge their numbers. The moment you get used to one sort of aliens, the game gleefully breaks out the next, even more powerful one, with its accompanying sound effects. Makes for one massive Oh Crap moment when it's accompanied by a huge blip the likes of which you've never seen before on the motion scanner.
The NES adaption of Friday the 13th plays a rather unnerving Scare Chord whenever Jason appears, or has killed one of the children. The Commodore 64 version of Friday the 13th turns this Upto Eleven, delivering a blood-curdling scream whenever Jason shows up, or kills someone. Even worse, the deaths are accompanied with unsettling images, like an axe in someone's head.
Two things in Mitadake High. The sound of an axe hitting a door, because it either means that somebody is a bad roleplayer, or sombody's lost it. And Ramiel's Music. 'Nuff said.
The makers of Call Of Cthulhu Dark Corners Of The Earth used a lot of very creepy ambient sounds, some of them very subtle, to back up the "sanity loss" mechanisms. They did their job very well, possibly too well: playing the game at midday through cruddy laptop speakers=unnerving; playing it at 3AM, with a decent 4.1 set of speakers? Pretty soon the player will fancy checking into that hotel with the rubber walls and those dashing jackets with the extra-long sleeves.
Monster Hunter Tri gives us the ear-splitting scream of Diablos, also in previous games, where it was arguably worse since you couldn't dive to avoid it.
Conversely, you can inflict such a noise on some monsters in the form of a Sonic Bomb. Take the aforementioned Diablos for example: if you toss one while it's burrowing/tunneling (and it's not enranged) you can cause it to prematurely surface and get stuck for a while.
In Monster Hunter 2 and Unite, the second Rajang's roar from The Final Invitation, especially if the first one is not dead yet, means That One Boss just turned into Those Two Bosses.
Khezu in Monster Hunter Freedom and it's sequels. First, a horrifying scream. Then... Every other boss-monster has a unique battle theme that starts when it sees you. Khezu is blind. The silence is just as terrible as the cry.
The clink of a grenade in any of the Call of Duty games.
Or the dogs.
Or "TACTICAL NUKE INCOMING!"
"Enemy AC-130 above!" Along with the crescendo zhing of an incoming 105 artillery shell. If you hear the sound of detonation You're Already Dead. Especially when a) you're not loaded for anti-air - and one missile won't be enough; b) you're in the open; and c) you don't have Cold Blooded to hide you from view - though the AOE of the shell means not being visible on IR might not save you either.., although it is pretty funny hearing the Russian announcer completely losing his shit.
Click. Claymore, ohshi-
In one of the Russian missions in World At War, the soundtrack for that particular level contains this horrid chord right smack dab in the middle. Apparently its the kind of chord that penetrates to teh exact center of the brain and shuts everything down.
The music and moaning heard just before fighting Necron in Final Fantasy IX. Even creepier in the Black Mages' remixed version.
The battle music when facing Encroaching Parallel Universe: Kuiper Belt in Wild Arms 2.
In Splinter Cell Conviction, if you hear the distinctive ping of an active sonar and know it isn't from Sam's goggles, prepare for enemy Splinter Cells. The enemy has LOS on Sam and detected sounds are also harbingers of Bad Stuff.
Painkiller has Daniel's grunt when you get hurt, with the blurred screen only making it worse.
Point Blank: The "BZ-BZZZZZ!!" that's played whenever you shoot a target marked "Don't Shoot!", thus costing you a life.
On Pogo.com's Yahtzee Party game, at the end of every game you get a bonus "Free Play" round. If you don't score any points in this round, it makes an awful, jarring wolf-howling sort of noise.
From the same game: The creepy, ominous laugh that plays whenever you're about to face a boss. The music of the room is all nice and peaceful, then you enter the door, which shuts behind you and you hear that evil laugh.
In the opening of Battlefield: Bad Company 2 when you're in WWII, half way through the mission, you hear this odd sound. Once you find the scientist you came to save, you will hear it again. (by this time you've gotten a bit used to the sound, although it is still a bit unnerving...) This time however, the scientist FLIPS at the sound. He begins saying how you're all doomed etc. At the end of the level, the secret weapon that was making that sound completely DESTROYS you, the boat you're on, and sends a huge tidal wave crashing down on you and your squad. Cue time skip to present day Towards the end of the game, you start hearing it again. Your squad is commenting on hell is that noise? you the player of course KNOW what it is, and as far as you're aware, there's nothing you can do about it but watch them die again. granted the weapon goes off and practically LEVELS the city, but your team is Made of Iron so yeah.
In the game as well, buildings can collapse. While you are in it. It's distinctive creaking sound prior to that happening will lead you to attempt to sprint out of the building no matter how many people are firing at you at the moment.
Special mention for Final Fantasy XI in the Gusgen Mines. One of the creepier sections of the game, an old haunted, abandoned mineshaft with a vaguely-defined horrific tragedy in its past. You can occasionally see the ghosts of miners or children walk right through you in places, and it's loaded with a variety of undead. Still, it's a great place to prospect for ore...and then the evacuation/emergency siren goes off, and a random mineshaft will be haunted by one of several similar bosses that can threaten you even if you brush off the regular enemies around here (apparently the vengeful ghosts of various miners killed in cave-ins). They're also remarkably aggressive at seeking you out, and you can't really run or it brings down tons of undead on you.
Limbo has buzzsaws with disturbingly realistic sound effects. And you'll have to dodge some of them really close.
Killing Floor "I'm going to sing, they love it when I sing"
"Everything is black...everything..."
The screams of either the Siren or the Fleshpound. The former implies it's close and will cause general annoyance (plus death to anyone at low health). The later means that if you don't have at least three people aiming their sights directly at it, you're screwed. The chainsaw of the Scrake may also apply.
Horrifically done and well executed in the semi-obscure RPG Live A Live. The true form of Orsted, the final boss of the game uses a move which emits a terrifying, high pitched wail that sounds like a woman in distress...while a sprite of a woman's face melts into an enraged, screaming skull with a mouthful of fangs, with no warning the first time you see it as to what will happen. Thanks Squaresoft.
"WARNING! Go to your goal post!" "DANGEROUS! Defense defense!" and other "enemy has the ball" Announcer Chatter. Worse if you don't know where the enemy is, and even worse if they're within poking distance of your goal.
Because Nothing Is Scarier, a quiet stretch in the middle of a BGM can take a creepy or dissonant song straight into nightmare fuel territory. See "Ruins Dungeon" (1:52) from Skies Of Arcadia and "Voice of the Darkness, from the Abyss" from the first Mana Khemia. You'll be begging for a random encounter just to change the music.
Anyone who has been playing too much Red Alert 2will cringe at the sound of Tesla coils discharging AKA the "You just lost tanya. Game over." Leitmotif. Don't even start me on the Gatling guns from Yuri’s Revenge.
In a similar vein, the little bleeping noise when a sentry gun on Team Fortress 2 as it acquires its target, if you know its target is you.
Or if you are an Engy, the sound of your kit getting sapped.
Hell, hearing the sound of a Spy's cloak. You might only have a second to respond before you get a knife in your spine.
The sound of an enemy Heavy revving up his Minigun, especially coupled with the sound of an Ubercharge being deployed.
Or, if you're the heavy, the *chk-chk-chk* when you're out of ammo.
What about enemy Spies that cloak and abuse their voice commands to frighten the hell out of the other team? The worst one is the Spy's hiss. Especially if you hear it while playing on a Zombie Fortress server.
If you're a medic or spy, the "PEW!" made by a Pomson shot draining your charge/cloak.
With the Mann vs Machine update, you have to fight robotic hoards of the mercenaries we know and love. Most of their voice-work is exactly the same, if a little more auto-tuned. Pyros however, sound like robotic praying mantises clicking at you, as an army of them charge you down with flame-throwers....
If you're an engie: "A SENTRY BUSTER HAS ENTERED THE AREA".
The ticking sound it makes as it chases down your sentries could be considered worse. Especially when it suddenly speeds up.
How about that one Den found in one of the earlier chambers of the game? Get too close to the wall and you begin to hear a man psychotically chanting.
The sound of a Droideka unfurling in Battlefront 2. Click-clik-chunk followed shortly by deedeedeedee followed by death.
In Penumbra, a tone plays whenever monsters are nearby.
You can hear most monsters before you see them. The low, demonic growl of a rabid dog, or the shuffling of a spider getting closer...
The song that plays in Amnesia: The Dark Descent whenever a monster is nearby. And the roars made by said monsters. And their footsteps. And the random screaming/crying/etc. you hear while wandering around. Actually, pretty much every sound in the entire game.
Malo, the third Suitor. Being blind, he can only detect you by noise, and it's highly unnerving when he shambles past your cowering form and says in that unearthly voice "Hide and seek, hide and seek..."
The title theme of Quake has a very freakish distorted screaming noise. Also, the roars/shrieks of Shamblers and Vores.
The sound of a nailgun being fired, when it's not your nailgun. Usually accompanied by a pain sound from the Ranger.
This particular track from the Quake soundtrack serves a lot to set in the freaking eldritch mood of the game. Halfway through the BGM you will hear something that sounds like meat-slurping sounds. All in all, it sounds like a soundtrack for H.P. Lovecraft's stories.
The Avernum series' Vahnatai make unearthly, bloodcurdling shrieks as they die.
For experienced and rookie stalkers alike, that distinctive wheezing coming from nowhere but at the same time closing in on you usually means panic. One night trek through the Zone is all it takes to make you paranoid for life.
The Scare Chord that played in the original The Sims when a burglar (or raccoons) appeared on your lot. You can hear it for yourself, along with some of the other musical cues from unfortunate in-game events, which might qualify in themselves.
The sounds of every single non-human opponent in Blood2. Especially the attack sounds of the Goddamn Bats, because once you hear them, you know the screen is about to be completely obscured by something really ugly and disgusting. And let's not forget the Cabal Stormtroopers, and the threats they scream on the top of their lungs, or their loud battle-cries, used just before they blow themselves up, or the creepy mash of Latin and Sanskrit words uttered by the Cabal's mages... yeah, Blood loves these.
Oregon Trail 2. The Scare Chord. The goddamn scare chord. (For those who hadn't played 2/5: Most negative events come with a loud "Dun-DUN!")
The Dragon Quest series has a Scare Chord that plays when you don a cursed item that can scare the pants off of an unsuspecting player, especially when it's their first time equipping a cursed piece of equipment.
You'll also hear that tune in the NES games if one of your save files gets erased.
The song "Pressure Road" in Ys II, which plays at the very end of the game, sounds a lot more unsettling than most other music in the series (especially in the PSP version), which tends to consist of catchy and upbeat songs.
In the TurboGrafx-16 version, it sounds like "glitch chiptune".
The Taken from Alan Wake are constantly talking. What they're saying isn't scary...but their words are slurred, halting, and often dip alarmingly into an almost incomprehensible growl. And they always talk when you can't see them...
CARL...Stucky. Pleased...to meetcha.
The noise made by Elite Taken when they're running around, almost completely invisible and moving to fast for you to hit them, is quiet, constant, and nerve-wracking.
While not exactly a creepy tune, Mr. Resetti's music in Animal Crossing leaves the player with just the right amount of regret and that they could have just saved the damn game, even after multiple occurrences.
Also from Animal Crossing: that horrible rattlingsound you hear on summer nights... pretty creepy on its own, but combined with the fact that there's one of the two scariest insects in the game out there with you...
Final Fantasy XII has a glorious one in the esper Zalera's laugh...and the subsequent delighted quiet tittering of the shamaness who is allegedly (but may not actually be - this is Ivalice after all) his thrall. The first is bad enough, but the second will make a rat-like chill crawl up your spine.
Similarly, Zalera's defeated noise. Zalera himself has this strangled yowl, and then...? THEN the shamaness buries her face in Zalera's shoulder and cries a bit. WHAT. AAAAA.
If you're ever in the Undercity in World of Warcraft, go to the throne room, stand in the middle, turn off the music and sound effects, and crank the ambient sound. You'll hear the echoes of the events that led to the city becoming what it is... Don't do this in a dark room, though. And be careful about moving around too much, or you could get creepy whispering right in your ear.
To be specific, it's Arthas's "Succeeding you, father," from that one cutscene in Warcraft III. While THAT LINE ALONE is freaky enough, the fact that you are probably hearing that line delivered exactly where and how King Terenas heard it adds so much more "OH GOD D:" to the whole experience.
Similarly, Ashbringer's whispers. There is, if you listen closely, a second voice layered under the main whisper. What - or rather, WHO this is becomes apparent when you hear "kill...them...all." Congratulations, you done got your eardrums felt up by the Lich King.
Speaking of which, Any time the Lich King starts laughing. A 'you're screwed so very badly' sound if ever there was one.
If you're in Hellfire Peninsula, a buzzing rumble that rises to a mechanical squeal is a very bad sign.
"Bask in his power! Rise as an agent of the master's rage!" This is a sign that Corla has turned either one of your party members or one of her cultists into a drakonid under her command, and you will likely wipe unless you're in a good group and/or on a well-organized attempt at the achievement.
From Xenosaga, we have Albedo's Evil Laugh. Made even more terrifying as he is laughing while decapitating himself in front of a little girl.
The loud WAWAWAWAWAWA noise that heralds a Revenant attacking. Any veteran Runescaper knows the first thing to do is lunge for the run button and the prayer tab the moment you hear that.
Also, if you're in a PVP area, that hideous screeching Ice spells used to make.
The ambient sounds in the Wilderness are terrifying, especially with the music turned off.
Idea no Hi ("Day of the Idea"): The quirky SNES sci-fi RPG, a spiritual sequel to Maka Maka, starts with the protagonist getting tortured in a lab by means of some kind of machine. It's accompanied by a truly awful rending, glitchy noise that really lets you sympathize with him.
Tabula Rasa: The sound of an incoming Bane dropship, especially the part where it came complete with indecipherable whispering.
Silent Hunter Series: Any submarine simulation from the DOS-era games on, has the "ping!" of an inbound active sonar. Means that they know you're in the area and they're trying to localize you (if they haven't already) as you frantically attempt to dive out of depth-charge range. The pings get higher-pitched and louder as your hunter closes in.
A Most Annoying Sound becomes this after you spend about ten minutes trying to beat the level. It involves a part where Mega Man rides a surfboard and has to jump and slide through a Turbo Tunnel-esque obstacle course. This wouldn't be too bad except that for each jump, a little robot enters the screen and says "Jump! Jump!" There are so many jumps, you'll often just hear "JUMP JUMP JUMP JUMP JUMP JUMP JUMP JUMP-"
For some, the "Bwoom, Bwoom, Bwoom..." of the disappearing blocks. Play it for any old school player, and you'll see a look on their face that might remind you of somebody experiencing a 'Nam flashback.
And as if that wasn't bad enough, the robot often comes in too early, so since you're under so much pressure, you jump too early.
Umineko No Naku Koro Ni has plenty of this in the soundtrack, but it really perfected it with EP7's "ridicule," which may not even count as music anymore.
"Psycho Siren." The experienced player knows there are only two proper responses to those dissonant opening chords. An electric cage appears? Death Scissors◊ are attacking, pull out your shotgun. Nothing apparently happening? A Shadow◊ is about to skewer you from offscreen? Jump!
Somehow, the echoing cries during Mental Machine make the fights against the amorphous Nightmare that much more, well... nightmarish.
The THOOM-burrummrummrummmrrrruuum of Shockwave, a powerful anti-building weapon.
The "Sss" of the Rift Creator, which drops a miniature black hole anywhere on the map and is as destructive as it sounds.
Medieval Total War:
The Assassin Confirm jingle. Especially when you're not expecting it...
From the Shogun game, when you try to assassinate a Daimyo using a ninja and he fails, and the noise made one when the Daimyo awakes. Try to ask yourself, "What killed the ninja?"
Racing Lagoon's "Nightmare" music comes up with a very creepy laugh accompanying the already creepy music, and it's in almost every cutscene in the final chapter.
Fatal Frame: All of the games, have a terrifying ambient soundtrack. People whispering, objects moving, music, you name it.
The Fanatic Tower of Persona 3, anyone? You know, the boss that makes the sounds of chains rattling and then a low-pitched yell each and every time it attacks? Courtesy link.
Die in Persona 3 or 4, and the protagonist will let out a...distinctive cry. Often accompanied by your Mission Control crying out for your life...
Nanosaur 1" Tyrannosaurus Rex, Triceratops, and falling boulder sounds. It is safe to say that Nanosaur 1 and this trope were made for each other, take a listen.
You wouldn't think that an infant would ever be able to utter one of these, but this game accomplishes it. The game is game already known for being one of the most horrific experiences ever created (by the few who have heard of it) and it has this gem: if you kill an innocent person, you get treated to the disturbing sound of a baby crying. The fact that this means your Karma Meter just took a hit (in a game where keeping it high is problematic and very, very important) doesn't help matters. The sound that plays if you kill an evil person (a boy laughing maniacally and applauding) is arguably even worse.
There's also the sound effect that plays when you're infected. It sounds like a distorted, drawn-out sound of glass screeching and then shattering, all while freaky whispers that sound like they're played backwards assault your ears. It doesn't help that infection level is one of the hardest meters to manage, so this will quickly evoke feelings of dread from players due to gameplay reasons as well.
The roars of the Hunter. Especially when it wasn't attacking you, because you knew it could sense you, was hunting for you, could at any moment pop out and roar ROOOOOOOAAAAAAGGGGHHHH
Near the end, when Issac reaches the marker he built, the noise generated is terrifying to say the least. MAJOR SPOILER WARNING
Speaking of Dead Space, some of the most frightening noises are not directly related to the Necromorphs, but to the Ishimura itself. One example is the monorail tunnel in the very first map, although not much actually happens there (you get attacked by two Slashers or so, and that's it). But the location and ambience... an enormous, dark tunnel, filled with a constant low hum, eerie echo effects, the occasional sounds of metal scraping or banging against metal, rushes of air from the ventilation system suspiciously sounding like howling wind... And the absolutely worst thing - an infrequent, but loud, abysmally low and ominous sound that seems to be the creaking of the ship's hull ( which might well be related to the Leviathan or even more likely the Slug, as we learn later). Seriously, forget about the Necromorphs, just stand there in the middle of tunnel, put on your headphones and turn the volume up (preferably playing in the dark).
VVVVVV has the unused music, "Phear." It's tough to describe.
Wiseman'svoice is scary, but what little we hear of Seginus' voice is even worse, sounding like if a Sinister Scraping Sound was talking. It doesn't help that you're inside Seginus when it starts talking to you.
More Wiseman goodness; this time, it's his battle...noises. Don't listen to this at night. Ever.
Endless Ocean: Blue World: The DANGER noise, partly because it usually means there's a predatory or territorial creature within a certain range, but also because while it's going on, you can't salvage anything. It's especially bad if you're in an area with tons of aggressive sharks, or even in the Mangrove Maze, where instead of sharks, you have electric eels that move around — including bumping carelessly into you — and can't be made harmless by the Pulsar.
I Wanna Be The Guy: This game has at least two for sure, with one even leading directly to the other: the SHANNNNNNNNNG sound that spike walls make as they bear down (and up, and from either side) on you, and the out-of-nowhere metal riff that plays as the screen surprises you with GIANT letters telling you "GAME OVER - PRESS 'R' TO TRY AGAIN."
Batman causes this for the thugs out to stop him on orders of the Joker. Especially once you buy the upgrade that allows you to drop down from a stone gargoyle to take down enemies and dangle them from it. Though it is turned on Batman by Killer Croc in the sewer level.
The Scary Scarecrows: "Get outta here... get outta here... get outta here..."
Summoner had the noise of howling wind, which always accompanies the worst of the Orenianbosses. Gives you a real scare in a couple places when you think you're about to encounter such a boss, and then it turns out to actually be the wind.
the flapping of wings informs you of any imminent dragon attacks. Brought up in the prologue, where soldiers comment on wondering what that noise was.
Subverted when you don't hear the wings or the roar. Then the awesome dragon fight theme reminds you of it. The first time is brilliant: Oh, I forgot how good their soundtracks are. I like this...what the...AAAAAAAAAAAAGH!
The rattling sound of a chaurus is very distinctive and even scarier, at least the dragons make for an epic fight, while the chauruses are giant poisonous bugs that stalk you in dark underground areas. The scariest and creepiest thing about walking into Frostflow Lighthouse isn't the dead bodies. It isn't the disarray of the house. Nor is it the blood everywhere. It's the fact that you can hear chaurus, but you can't see them.
The chattering of a falmer, made even creepier when you're attempting to sneak past them.
In the third game, Morrowind, when you get too close to a large Ash statue, you'll hear an eerie, cattering, rattling sort of sound. The cloesr you get to the statue, the louder the sound gets and the more "voices" join in on it. You hear the same sound on occasion while travelling through ancestral tombs.
Also from Morrowind, the high-pitched shriek of the Cliff Racer.
Simple sound that inspires terror; a door opening. Why is it terrifying? Because in Daggerfall, you're walking down what you thought was a blank hallway...until you hear that sound behind you. Cue you getting your face eaten off.
Rule Of Rose: The incessent, wordless whispering of the Imps definately qualifies. As it turns out, it's inverted speech, and in one cutscene you can hear what they're really saying:
Imps: A bright red crayon just for you. Lots and lots and lots for you.
Terraria has the noise burrowing enemies make when nearby. Not too bad when it's a giant worm, terrifying if it's the Eaterof Worlds. The worst part? As they get closer, it gets faster.
Also, the menacing growl that plays when any of the game's bosses are spawned.
The library, especially once you hit the children section. The disembodied sounds of children laughing, playing, crying... pleading. Goodbye!
The whispers coming from the Dark Slime. Some are everyday conversations, as if you are listening to past conversations. Then some are warnings... some are welcoming you in. Some... don't like you very much. In combination with the previous entry, so... so disturbing.
The... noise you hear once you are seperated from the rest of the team on the risen island. Going through the basement of the slime producing facility and finally ending up in some kind of underground reservoir. That wailing, screaming noise in the background. The hell is that noise, you wonder? You get a possible answer at the end when you face the boss creature. Then again, it might be the agonized screams of trapped souls for all you know.
The noise the Demonic Spiders make? Yes, those laughing little cherubs. On higher difficulties you certainly won't be laughing very much.
Touhou is not immune. In the eleventh game, after you've fought your way to the Hell of Blazing Fires, you are greeted by a cute little crow girl, her Badass Boast, and her sweet battle music... periodically interrupted by freaking air-raid sirens whenever she pulls a spellcard. What the hell is that noise? It's the sound of YOU'RE ABOUT TO GET NUKED.
DEFCON: The alarm that sounds whenever a nuke is launched.
The distorted growling noise of the Hound. Even the player character acknowledges how dreadful it is. Same goes for the Deerclops.
Stand in complete darkness for too long at night and you'll hear a deep, frightening inhalation noise followed by a loud swipe which takes off a lot of your health. Woe to the unprepared who don't have any logs to build a fire at night...
Serious Sam: The Kamikazes. The minute you hear one of them screaming, you know This Is Gonna Suck. Especially if you hear multiple screams at once. While a million other things are on the screen trying to kill you. And then there's the times they spawn from behind, or around corners you can't see past. The minute you hear them coming, you know you have to find and kill them fast, or your health's going to drop like a rock.
Cry Of Fear is a game with a great soundtrack, but the track Fucked is one of the more horrifying songs that play. It triggers when the world around Simon swiftly changes to a nightmare, and the song is downright psychotic.
Mega Man X Command Mission has the final battle themes for Colonel Redips. Phase I sounds dark, foreboding, and sinister. Phase II averts this with by sounding less fiendish with a vocal chorus and forceful trumpets. Phase III... takes the Phase I music and puts it on steroids.
Dark Fall: Lost Souls: The creepiest things are its sound effects, particularly the hissing grub-creatures and the scenes where it's too dark to tell what the hell is creeping up to you.
Heavy Rain: Ethan Mars's scream during his third trial.
The Path: The soundtrack has some very disturbing songs:
"Woodsman Wolf" is sounds of chopping and sawing combined with moaning, which implies Carmen being raped by the Woodsman.
"Werewolf" starts as church bells combined with the sound of wind, and after two minutes it turns into a chaotic mess of static (which sounds a lot like screaming) combined with growling sounds.
Survival Crisis Z: Due to the rather simplistic graphics, the game has to scare the player with sounds, and boy does it succeed. There's the the unhinged laughter of the newly infected, the low growls and moans of the rotted ones, the sirens that sound in the night, the screech of the ghost children...
All the background music. It starts out with these slow, rhythmic drumbeats that sound akin to either a heartbeat or the footsteps of something on the prowl. And as you acquire more pages, increasingly more disturbing layers of sound begin to play, signifying that the Humanoid Abomination stalking you is probably getting more persistent. And pissed.
The sound of a Critical Hit animation starting up is normally a Most Wonderful Sound in the series, but when it's not you who's doing it, you'll feel a sense of utter dread as you know you're most likely about to watch one of your beloved characters die. Especially in Radiant Dawn, where a critical hit is signaled by a loud CHING!, a subtitle proclaiming 'CRITICAL' and a split second freezeframe on the attacker, which feals almost like a Jump Scare when it inevitably comes from that one generic enemy with a mere 1% crit chance you thought couldn't possibly pose a threat to you. The 'kill' sound effect is also pretty terrifying when one of your units is on the recieving end.
The noise the 'Hel' spell makes in Fire Emblem Jugdral is creepy as, well, hell, made worse by the fact it's an HP To One attack that, unlike Eclipse in the GBA games, can actually hit you!
Path of Radiance has a few music tracks that qualify. Firt is "Abominable Memory", the theme that plays when anyone talks about the Serenes Massacre. It's a downright chilling piece, especially those flutes. Not to mention, it mostly plays while you're in the dark, burnt, lifeless remains of the once-beautiful Serenes Forest, while Reyson explains what happened to it and his people and vows to Kill All Humans. Simply put, it's incredibly fitting at being the Leitmotif for a genocide, and it gets even more creepy if you've played the sequal and know this event essentially caused the Big Bad's Start of Darkness.
Then there's "Final Farewell", which plays if you have a main character like Ike die. It's practically pure Tear Jerker in musical form, and you will want to avoid letting Ike die not so you don't have to restart the chapter, but so you never have to hear this theme again. Worse still, immidiately following is the Game Over theme, which is easily one of the creepiest in the series and begins on a sudden very heavy note.
DEMACIA! (The Sound of Garen using Courage, which is often followed by Justice)
Terminator: One of the several lackluster games based on the first film has this bizarre moan repeatedly occur throughout the first level. Listen to it yourself here.
This game has several sounds that could qualify, but probably the most universal ones are the "Hull Damage/Shields Critical/Engines Critical/Intruders Detected" siren, the heartbeat alarm when someone has low HP, crew member deaths, the Hull Breached sound (especially with a Boarding Drone), solar flares, and, perhaps worst of all, "Warning: Power Surge Detected".
Halberd/Glaive Beams also sound terrifying, when the computer is smart enough to use them when your shield is down.
Every time a missile is fired. Especially the "thunk-thunk-thunk" of the final boss's triple missile launcher.
The 'dee-deep' sound your distress beacon makes when you run out of fuel. It just sounds so hopeless and lonely, and really hammers in that feeling of 'you are screwed' you get as you watch the Rebel Fleet crawl towards you.
The Ether Mines in Xenoblade. The music is a very low, droning and repetitive sound. This is pretty scary considering the Mechon are hiding around every corner and WILL butcher you if you aren't careful.
Since none us us could find a Hell Is That Noise page for Vanity Plates, we had to put this here. Ladies and gentlemen, the reason why you should NEVER put PC disks in a PS1, PERSONIFIED FEAR!
Gears Of War: Anything that isn't human anymore. The first time you encounter Wretches, the sounds of a Beserker charging at you and Lambent Humans.
Stalker: It has many scary sounds, but the one that takes the cake is the breathing of the bloodsucker. It is preceded by a weird shriek when the beast spots a prey and grows louder and louder as it closes in on you. Veteran players immediately start looking around for distortions in the landscape, as the bloodsucker becomes invisible while hunting and is one of the most dangerous creatures in the zone.
'Alert: Missile Closing'. Sometimes, it'll just be a dumbfire missile that'll streak off into space, but what if that bomber you haven't gotten around to destroying just fired a Tomahawk? And if they launch a swarm missile, it gets even worse. Aler-Aler-Aler-Aler-Aler-Aler-Alert: Missile Closing.
'Shields Critical'. That's how you know a fight has gone south.
'Jumpdrive Destroyed' is even worse. The fight's gone completely pear-shaped, and your last hope of escaping just got blasted off your ship. Hope you docked at a station recently!
'You have lost recognition'. Those last few missions you've done to make a faction respect you? Gone.
The sound of about two dozen Kyon Emitters going off, which is how you know that a Kha'ak Cluster has taken an unhealthy interest in you. Cue Death of a Thousand Cuts.
If you hear what sounds like an atomic bomb going off, that was a Baneblade's main gun firing. The other ten guns should be heard shortly after.
If you hear a high-pitched whine, you have just walked into an Space Marine orbital bombardment.
Electric zapping sounds are either a Farseer's lightning storm or Necrons.
Tomb Raider 2013: You first hear the guttural roar of the Oni about halfway through the game although you don't have to deal with them until the game's final act.
And in the original Tomb Raider, the Atlantean mutants make an incredibly creepy groaning noise. You'll often hear them before you see them, and it's terrifying.
In Sector Z, ROB 64 alerts you as missiles approach the Great Fox. Consider that a single missile hitting the Great Fox results in mission failure, which, while not a Game Over, will lock out one of two available next stages.
The Elsen's wheezing gasp when they're about to turn Burnt. It's just high pitched enough to not be human, but still give the idea.
There's also the deep-pitched gasp of sugar-addicted Elsens, which is just as bad.
Riding a pedalo over the meat fountains. It sounds exactly like you'd think pedaling through a pool of liquid flesh would sound like.
Everything about Not Safe. Someone banging on a door yelling for help, whispers, and that music box...
Endless Hallway. Sounds like something straight out of Silent Hill, with added industrial machinery occasionally working behind closed doors. And then you get to the battle theme, which is the usual theme, Pepper Steak, rendered entirely with percussive instruments. Doesn't sound so bad on paper, but it's outright painful.
