Even though Need for Speed is a racing game franchise that involves illegal street racing and doesn't have much creepy content, it still manages to have a bunch of unsettling stuff down there.
The 2014 film adaptation has its own page.
III: Hot Pursuit
- The secret tracks in for the PSX; they are never unlocked normally and are only accessible through cheat codes. There are five in total; Autocross (a track that takes place in a small groove of a forest), Caverns (which takes place in dark caverns with overhanging rocks), Scorpio-7 (a track that takes place in an underwater city), Space Race (a space station) and The Room (where the player is shrunk down to miniature size and races on a slot car track). While these tracks are very cool and provide a lot of amusement, there are several features about them that can unnerve imaginative players. Firstly there is no music playing whatsoever. From start to finish and even at the results screen you do not hear music at all. Secondly these tracks are only playable with no cops, opponents or traffic in single player. That means you are racing all alone on these deserted tracks which can give off a very post-apocalyptic feel. Bonus points for the alien mosaic that appears in the large square room in Space Race. It's all so very creepy but YMMV.
- The player on their way to the party gets ambushed and deliberately rammed by an unknown man with a scythe tattoo in a Hummer H2.
We don't get to see the crash, but the sound of it as well as Samantha worriedly trying to contact the player is unnerving enough. Yet it is later revealed that the perpetrator responsible for wrecking the player's car is no other than Caleb Reece.
- Its overall atmosphere being a Darker and Edgier incarnate, featuring an Always Night but with an even darker setting, a troubled backstory and very dramatic and ominous soundtrack.
- Canyon races is what welcomes you to one of the most challenging races you will experience. Intense and dramatic soundtrack plays as you plow through the twists and turns of the Dangerous Clifftop Road while you chase the lead opponent or try to escape from your pursuer. Falling off the cliff is horrific enough complete with a Scare Chord indicating a signal that you're dead meat.
- Own the City takes the Darker and Edgier tone of the console versions, and cranks it to the max. The intro deserves a very special mention: the Player Character is racing with their brother Mick, until a car crash suddenly happens. The player survives the crash, but Mick does not.
- The game overall has a Darker and Edgier atmosphere. It's pretty much established with the intro that it would have a much different vibe than the original Shift. The cutscene contains a still scene of a nighttime GT1 race at Circuit De Spa-Francorchamps in the middle of a multi-car pileup, complete with flying cars and debris. In the style of stereotypical horror films, the camera slowly pans around the scene of the accident, and into closeups of the hapless victims of the crash gazing and screaming in horror at the inevitable impact. To seasoned circuit racing fanatics, this scene came off as rather hammy, but to those more familiar with the lighter side of the series, this scene was rather disturbing.
- Hell, even outright skipping the intro for the first time or even watching the crash in the driver's point of view could induce a Jump Scare due to rapid, flashing lights and loud static playing in the background before an image of Vaughn Gittin, Jr. wearing a racing helmet glaring at you pops out in the middle of nowhere.
- Nighttime racing is more realistic than in the street racing incarnations. That being said, the only source of illumination is from your headlights, meaning that you have a VERY narrow amount of visibility. Once again, those familiar with "Simcade" or full-blown racing simulators were underwhelmed, but on the other hand, the casual gamer may end up with a Jump Scare or two. Don't think of it from a gameplay perspective; imagine real night driving in your car at 50 MPH along an unlit highway. If that's terrifying to you, imagine what real endurance racers deal with at nearly 170 MPH in that same kind of darkness.
- The opening cutscene shows Jack Rourke bound to a steering wheel, trapped in his Porsche 911 Carrera S, which has been dumped in a car crusher and is about to be squashed. The OST playing in the background is creepy enough to chill your spine.
- The scripted events are all white-knuckle affairs as well. Being chased by police, subway trains, helicopters, gangsters in heavily armored Porsche Cayennes, and let's just say the race at the Summit at the end of Stage 5... speaks for itself.
- Marcus Blackwell is all nothing but pure Hate Sink, as his primary goal it to take down and kill Jack. Sounds scary doesn't it? Just wait until he draws out his pistol and attempt to shoot Jack down.
- Its Wii/3DS counterpart of the opening cutscene is more downplayed than its original version, but still counts as a chill to watch. It introduces Matt being Trapped in a Sinking Car, all thanks to the goons pushing and submerging his car down into the seas of the San Francisco Bay.
- The Blacklist intros from Most Wanted (2012) are this to some. The Lamborghini Aventador LP 700-4's intro takes the cake for obvious reasons: First, it starts with a dark, futuristic-looking garage turning it's lights on. Each light gets turned on, you'll hear a loud flashing noise as they get closer and closer to the gate. Once the gate opens, it simply shows the Aventador closing it's scissor doors and turning it's engine on. Think the cutscene is over, right? Well... you're wrong.
- The Koenigsegg Agera R's intro also deserves a special mention as it depicts a liquid metal blob growing and shifting. *Shudders*
- The infamous House Fire scene speaks for itself.
- The raid of Rydell's Rydes is something worth noting for, as numerous Cool Cars get stolen and driven away. And your Player Character does nothing but haplessly witness the horror.
Others
- Remember the pursuit soundtrack from Most Wanted (2005)? The said score in Undercover and World by Paul Haslinger manages to be more intense and spine-chilling than the former. Here's an example.
- Also in World, if the timer during a Team Escape event reaches one minute, you might end up getting jumpscared by a loud, screeching noise while you get caught off guard by the message that says 60 SECONDS LEFT TO ESCAPE! Once you hear it, you'll better hurry up before the time runs out.
- Also in World, if the timer during a Team Escape event reaches one minute, you might end up getting jumpscared by a
- Speaking of "creepy music", the original score by Photek in the 2015 reboot takes a step further while featuring a handful of tracks that wouldn't feel out of place for a horror/thriller movie, with "Metro" being a good example due to its Drone of Dread.
- If the word "panic" had a theme song, then "Pursuit Max" is essentially this, which sounds like that the ENTIRE police department are kicking into full gear, out for your blood! Not creepy enough? Try using a Game Mod like "Improved Police Pursuits" in which buffs their AI by making them far more aggressive to the point where you won't be able to easily evade them at all.
- To elaborate, Police chases in the franchise are usually presented as thrill-seeking, with the music often being fast paced and action packed. Pursuits in 2015 meanwhile are presented almost as if the player had a deathwish. You don't have a police radio or scanner like in previous games, so you'll never hear any radio chatter between them, only their brief dialogue via loudspeakers. This, coupled with their entire fleet being composed of Crown Victorias (as funny as it is) somehow makes them seem less human and more of a force of nature.
- If the word "panic" had a theme song, then "Pursuit Max
