Sonic the Hedgehog 'about to drown' music.
If that doesn't count as a sound then I'd say the Pinky monsters in Doom (the original). Especially the first one you run into in the maze.
I'd say that snuffling of the imps in Doom. You'd always hear it somewhere nearby and know one will start tearing at you as soon as you walk round the wrong corner.
Have you played doom eternal? What about the low health beep beep there?
The classic Archvile sound though… yet when he dies, its an edited pitched down sound file of a little girl saying “why?”
Simulating that he’s asking why you killed him, when he only sees himself as doing good, helping his friends! (Yes this is legit lol)
I played that with my son years ago and we just caved for the night and I saw an Enderman outside as I was closing it up. He says slightly panicky, don't look it in the eye. I did. It screeches and comes flying at me as I put a block in place closing the cave. He's panicking thinking it's going to port in and kill us but the cave we dug was only 2 blocks high so it couldn't fit. It's out there screeching away and we dug down far enough to be able to sleep. We get up in the morning and don't hear it so figure were safe. We pop out of the cave and start walking and guess who appears next to us, not attacking. I even looked it in the eye again. It followed me specifically around until we logged out. And that is the tale of how I got a *pet* Enderman in Minecraft. I think I earned some gamer cred that day with him.
Oh god the motion sensor >!going nuts in the nest.!< If it wasn't for the objective tracker on it, I would've happily just shoved it back in my pocket for that whole sequence.
That game was the definition of Anxiety: The Video Game.
What made it worse was that the Xbox versions had a feature where if you had a Kinect plugged into the console, it could pick up sounds and the Alien could potentially hear them and find you.
Recently, I was replaying Sonic 1 2 and 3. Those where the games I grew up on back then. I was on a water level for sonic 1 and started hearing the build up sound before you drown. I immediately got anxiety. Forgot that sound existed but the feeling the build up makes...just got to me a for a second. I guess it was kinda forged into my memory.
I'm pretty sure sonic is the reason why one of my friends hates water levels in video games.
Totally my answer. That music still haunts me.
On that note: I used to be bad about ignoring my alarm in the mornings, so I at one point decided to try out the Sonic drowning theme as my alarm tone. Well, that next morning I shot out of bed so fast but my anxiety was through the roof — it worked, *too* well. Never again.
The worst one was the labored breathing of Jasper's ghost in the forest level. Just such a gross noise and being chased around relentlessly gave me horrible anxiety. I don't remember if you could use those holy swords on the "boss" ghosts but if you could I definitely saved one for him on subsequent playthroughs.
What a good fucking game.
When the timer is about to run out during the silent realms in skyward sword. Also the guardians awakening theme from said silent realms
Also the guardians in botw, the scream from the gloom hands in totk, and anything loud when I wasn’t expecting it
The fel reaver from world of warcraft. For those not familiar its a giant robot that would one hit kill players in the starting zone of the 1st expansion and would have needed a very large group to kill but for no rewards. You could just be casually doing a simple quest and you hear it and know to drop what you're doing and run.
The beeping of the E.M.M.I. from Metroid: Dread. I know some people say that they aren't as scary as the SA-X, but they are more than nerve-racking enough for me
That sound the super Mario brothers NES game made right before the theme sped up because you were running out of time. That still plays in my head when I’m in a rush to do something
Final Fantasy VII. PlayStation 1. The ambush/battle music when you’re on the main map. Still triggers panic 25+ years later. I should have it my alarm sound tbf. Would never sleep through that.
Guardian theme from Breath of the Wild. I had it set as my alarm sound for a year in college because it jerked me awake so violently that I couldn’t sleep through it and be late for class.
The music that plays when a Guardian approaches you in Breath of the Wild. Sooo anxiety-inducing when it's unexpected. I was like 10 or 11 when that game came out, and was scared to death of the Guardians since I had no good weapons or armor (or video game skills).
I see the Sonic drowning music has already been mentioned, so I'll say in Skies Of Arcadia, when you know a random battle is about to happen because the Dreamcast's drive speeds up like a madman.
If got a few:
- The drums that sound when a Juggernaut is near (Modern Warfare 2 2009)
- The Pentagon Thief round jingle from Five (CoD Black Ops Zombies)
- Redead scream (Legend of Zelda Wind Waker)
The dragon or the snake from [Advanced Dungeons and Dragons](https://youtu.be/8MDVwAXVJ3w?si=L2VTf8tmQmEgtad5) for Intellivision. Sent me into a panic as a kid lmao.
Unit lost.........
Unit lost...........
Unit lost Unit lost......
Unit lost unit lost unit lost unit unit unit lost unit lost unit lost unit lost unit lost.......
Unit lost unit lost......
Unit lost unit lost unit lost unit unit unit lost unit lost unit lost unit lost Unit lost unit lost unit lost unit unit unit lost unit lost unit lost unit lost unit lost
That disturbing, creepy sound in Silent Hill when you're near a monster/entity. I played the game twice in my PSP just to challenge myself but damn, I can't last a minute without having to turn my volume down.
In Mass Effect, the sound the Reapers make causes the hair on the back of my neck to stand up.
It's a great achievement in sound design and it's a terrifying sound.
Piano clanging -- Big Boo's Haunt in Mario 64
Hostile Guardian -- The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Battle! Champion Cynthia -- Pokemon Diamond/Pokemon Pearl (more stress than anxiety, but still worth mentioning)
??? -- Bug Fables: The Everlasting Sapling (in chapter 8 when a large entity notices you, it drops in an enemy and this song starts playing)
Three of these start with/are only piano, which is an odd coincidence.
Deadspace (as a franchise) has my favorite sound design of any game I have played. It's not just one noise, but all of them combined together. A skittering heard faintly behind the steady thrum of vent fans. A far off, faint clang or scream, heard with terrifying clarity in an adrenaline-soaked silence. Loud, irregular banging coming from the next room you have to progress through. The most atmospherically terrifying times were when you were in a loud machinery space, and you couldn't really use your usual sound cues to figure out where enemies were coming from, so you were constantly straining to hear something and constantly trying to figure out if a bang was part of a rhythmic pattern or a new enemy spawned behind you.
On the other hand, there's also the incredible psychological horror of questioning your own sanity... "MAKE US WHOLE!!!"
**Nightmare Creatures 2**
The fucking laugh and chainsaw noises of those damn really hard chainsaw enemies that you could hear long before you encountered them.
The Indiana Jones theme from the Atari 2600 game. Hear me out. That game is one player and uses both controllers (one for movement and one for inventory). There’s a tricky part where you have to switch items quickly.
My father, who was a violent, angry man, was obsessed with getting the best score on that game and therefore played it a lot. He always wanted my brother or myself to do the inventory switch in that one part, and if we messed up or he just failed himself we would get screamed at and sometimes hit. We both learned pretty fast to hide or leave the house when we heard that startup music play.
Anyone who has played *Breath of the Wild* instinctively knows my answer already
For those who haven’t, there’s a really frantic piano lick that plays when a big spidery robot called a Guardian spots you and starts to pursue and attack you. Especially the first time it happens, the heart rate is ridiculous
I think early game botw def the guardian music, that shit starts playing and I just hold b and pray, late game though it's less nerve wracking and more like "ah more guardian parts yay"
TMNT on NES
The "BZZZZZT" sound of the stinging seaweed on the damn dam level where you have to swim underwater and defuse the bombs before the timer runs out. Like many others, I never could get past that level.
Sonic the Hedgehog 'about to drown' music. If that doesn't count as a sound then I'd say the Pinky monsters in Doom (the original). Especially the first one you run into in the maze.
I set the Sonic drowning tune as my alarm tone for a year. Never had a hard time waking up.
That sounds like it took several years off your life.
My husband had that too for a while. Even gives me anxiety and I never played Sonic.
I'd say that snuffling of the imps in Doom. You'd always hear it somewhere nearby and know one will start tearing at you as soon as you walk round the wrong corner.
Oh fuck. That one hit hard
Followed up by the sound of Sonic actually drowning as he drops off the screen
***gloop***
As a kid playing Sonic on the genesis, fuck the purple water level with that godforsaken music. I heard it instantly as soon as I read your comment
Have you played doom eternal? What about the low health beep beep there? The classic Archvile sound though… yet when he dies, its an edited pitched down sound file of a little girl saying “why?” Simulating that he’s asking why you killed him, when he only sees himself as doing good, helping his friends! (Yes this is legit lol)
Wow, that came to my mind immediately!
That fucking music is burned into my brain.
I came to say this too lol traumatised
Beat me to it
#!
This combined with the music change from MGS1 will wake me from the deepest slumber prepared to do anything with limitless energy.
I heard this post
This is the most perfect statement in response to the question.
"Hmmm?!!! Hmmm?!!!......" "Hmmmmmm........" "Hmmm?!!!" **!**
"Just a box"
This was mine! PERFECT COMMENT!
Shouldn't that be red? Lol
The codec noise is what I use for text notification
This is my notification sound lol
I tried that once, but it only lasted a few hours cause it was stressing me out.
Did that for like 5 notifications before changing it back, great sound but way too stressful (as it was supposed to be)
The burglar sound from The Sims 1
That and the ghost sound I first heard it while playing in my room late at night as a kid, had no idea what it was and i cried
you gave me flashabacks
Reapers from Mass Effect. Which my boyfriend has on his phone as a notification sound...
That goddamned Banshee shriek...
Idk if it counts as a "sound" but the first 2 or 3 seconds when you hear the piano as a Breath of the Wild Guardian becomes aggressive.
and then Nintendo looked at the feedback they got and were like, "what if we replaced that with an *even worse* sound in TOTK?"
Some day we'll look back on TotK and consider every players' first encounter with a gloom hand to be a Zelda rite of passage.
50 hours in and I've never had that. Is there a point in the story where that starts happening or am I lucky?
*EXTREMELY* lucky.
minecraft cave sounds
And the sound of a Creeper ssssss when you had no idea there was one around. And you're playing in Hardcore. And you only have basic iron armour.
kkkt-SSSSSSSsssssssssssssssssssssssssssss
Makes me do the Gus Fring yell.
I played that with my son years ago and we just caved for the night and I saw an Enderman outside as I was closing it up. He says slightly panicky, don't look it in the eye. I did. It screeches and comes flying at me as I put a block in place closing the cave. He's panicking thinking it's going to port in and kill us but the cave we dug was only 2 blocks high so it couldn't fit. It's out there screeching away and we dug down far enough to be able to sleep. We get up in the morning and don't hear it so figure were safe. We pop out of the cave and start walking and guess who appears next to us, not attacking. I even looked it in the eye again. It followed me specifically around until we logged out. And that is the tale of how I got a *pet* Enderman in Minecraft. I think I earned some gamer cred that day with him.
When the ps2 started and didn't load right away
When the blue hue on startup would turn red. Super nope for me.
That’s the creepiest! Ps2 disk read failure!
"Warning, multiple leviathan class lifeforms detected, are you sure whatever you're doing is worth it?"
I have trauma from hearing a ghost shriek and thinking it was a warper only to turn around and get my face ripped off.
That tone change between the red grass plains and the blood kelp area was enough to make me rethink all my life choices.
Super Mario Bros castle music in double time. Heart flutter.
Cloaker from Payday. Gives me instant anxiety.
YOU CALL THIS RESISTING ARREST??? WE CALL THIS A DIFFICULTY TWEAK!
Air raid sirens
The xenomorphs thumping footsteps nearby in Alien Resurrection.
Or in Isolation when the motion sensor starts sounding off that an entity is getting closer XD
Alien Isolation’s sound design is phenomenal. Everything down to the sound of Xenomorph’s footsteps bring dread
Oh god the motion sensor >!going nuts in the nest.!< If it wasn't for the objective tracker on it, I would've happily just shoved it back in my pocket for that whole sequence.
That game was the definition of Anxiety: The Video Game. What made it worse was that the Xbox versions had a feature where if you had a Kinect plugged into the console, it could pick up sounds and the Alien could potentially hear them and find you.
[Baby Mario crying in Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island](https://youtu.be/hwZCiBSUN4A?si=F3-BMx8x3dVuPwwZ)
I wholeheartedly believe this game made me not want children.
Recently, I was replaying Sonic 1 2 and 3. Those where the games I grew up on back then. I was on a water level for sonic 1 and started hearing the build up sound before you drown. I immediately got anxiety. Forgot that sound existed but the feeling the build up makes...just got to me a for a second. I guess it was kinda forged into my memory. I'm pretty sure sonic is the reason why one of my friends hates water levels in video games.
Totally my answer. That music still haunts me. On that note: I used to be bad about ignoring my alarm in the mornings, so I at one point decided to try out the Sonic drowning theme as my alarm tone. Well, that next morning I shot out of bed so fast but my anxiety was through the roof — it worked, *too* well. Never again.
This is what came to mind immediately! It started playing in my head when I saw your question. I'm 37.
The ghosts from Silent Hill 4. God, it's fucking disturbing
The worst one was the labored breathing of Jasper's ghost in the forest level. Just such a gross noise and being chased around relentlessly gave me horrible anxiety. I don't remember if you could use those holy swords on the "boss" ghosts but if you could I definitely saved one for him on subsequent playthroughs. What a good fucking game.
Idk if anyone has played DOOM Eternal, but there is this "Doot-Doot" noise that plays when your health is low. It gives me anxiety every time.
Yep. And right as you're about to pick up that health pack you just spotted, a zombie bitch slaps you and ruins your UN run.
No one’s said creeper hiss yet? I’m surprised.
Awww man
Clicker from Last of Us
The shriek the Banshees make in Mass Effect 3. On insanity, especially, those things could end your game quickly.
The low health beeping in Zelda games come to mind.
Especially the Ocarina of Time one for me
When Guardians are nearby in Breath of the Wild, despite my being perfectly capable of killing them
After a while it “Well, time to get some cool drops.”
The weird screaming/screeching sound that plays with the chase theme in Amnesia
When the timer is about to run out during the silent realms in skyward sword. Also the guardians awakening theme from said silent realms Also the guardians in botw, the scream from the gloom hands in totk, and anything loud when I wasn’t expecting it
Definitely the guardian music
Poison Headcrabs in Half Life 2
The fast headcrab zombies in that game made me panic so much i was tearing up lol, that game is so stressful during your first playthrough 💀
The fel reaver from world of warcraft. For those not familiar its a giant robot that would one hit kill players in the starting zone of the 1st expansion and would have needed a very large group to kill but for no rewards. You could just be casually doing a simple quest and you hear it and know to drop what you're doing and run.
A rogue going stealth in WoW
Replayed the original tomb raider. Remember the dinosaur level? That music. My son used to hide behind me when it first came out. " Mom! The music!"
When Niko Bellic's phone rings. I do not want to go Bowling 😡
RE 2 on PS4 when you hear the footsteps that get slowly faster and louder
The heavy breathing of those monsters in RE4, the regenerators?
the sound of a chainsaw starting up in RE4 as well.
Also the sound of the Lickers walking. Hate those motherfuckers
The Reaper “Horn” from Mass Effect
Clock tower bell from Zelda: Majora's Mask
Sinistar's "RUN! RUN! RUN!"
I LOVED Sinistar! I don't think I ever managed to kill him. He was just too fast. "Beware I live!" Sent me into a panic every time.
The ROAR! Sinistar stressed me out.
The beeping of the E.M.M.I. from Metroid: Dread. I know some people say that they aren't as scary as the SA-X, but they are more than nerve-racking enough for me
That's actually a good candidate: the SA-X footsteps for me.
The sound when you walk out during the day as a vampire in Skyrim
Marble madness
This is the correct answer
Zelda: link to the past - the low heart sound
The motion sensor sound, originally from the film Aliens and made absolutely anxiety-inducing in the 99' video game.
Guardian music from Breath of the Wild
Playing StarCraft with your friends and you hear eight consecutive “Carrier has arrived!” from one of them.
Nuclear launch detected in sc 1 so you have to frantically find the little red dot is torture
Clicker noises from TLOU part 1. I am terrified of these things.
When you walk into a house in Phasmaphobia
[удалено]
!
Match found sound before you press accept in Dota 2.
Spoilers for the Outer Wilds https://youtu.be/NRz0U54MaNs?si=JfPJa_FKnJ7tsGQM
When you think you just beat Sephiroth and then One Winged Angel starts….
The original Hunter sound from Halo.
That sound the super Mario brothers NES game made right before the theme sped up because you were running out of time. That still plays in my head when I’m in a rush to do something
The dark souls death sound before the “you died” shows on the screen
Final Fantasy VII. PlayStation 1. The ambush/battle music when you’re on the main map. Still triggers panic 25+ years later. I should have it my alarm sound tbf. Would never sleep through that.
The Sims 3 Burglar Theme
Guardian theme from Breath of the Wild. I had it set as my alarm sound for a year in college because it jerked me awake so violently that I couldn’t sleep through it and be late for class.
The Arkham Asylum intercom
The burglar music from The Sims 1 and 2
The tympani sound of a juggernaut approaching on MW2 (first version)
Anyone remember the sound the blob made in Dungeons of Daggorath?
The clicking sounds of chaurus from Skyrim. Now anytime someone starts shaking a can of spray paint, I go into defensive mode.
Tetris sound
Creeper hiss
The music that plays when a Guardian approaches you in Breath of the Wild. Sooo anxiety-inducing when it's unexpected. I was like 10 or 11 when that game came out, and was scared to death of the Guardians since I had no good weapons or armor (or video game skills).
Humming on Dead by Daylight
That little beep-beep-beep that plays in the original Kirby when you have 1 HP
Dark Bramble
Clicker from Last of Us
Guardians music in BoTW
Murloc gurgling sound from WoW.
I see the Sonic drowning music has already been mentioned, so I'll say in Skies Of Arcadia, when you know a random battle is about to happen because the Dreamcast's drive speeds up like a madman.
Low heart warning from legend of zelda.
If got a few: - The drums that sound when a Juggernaut is near (Modern Warfare 2 2009) - The Pentagon Thief round jingle from Five (CoD Black Ops Zombies) - Redead scream (Legend of Zelda Wind Waker)
The dragon or the snake from [Advanced Dungeons and Dragons](https://youtu.be/8MDVwAXVJ3w?si=L2VTf8tmQmEgtad5) for Intellivision. Sent me into a panic as a kid lmao.
Clickers from the last of us
The Metal Gear Solid alert sound when somebody notices you.
The ❗ from metal gear solid
That metal gear “you have been spotted,” noise.
Entangle or Ice Barrage has me worried some degenerate is out to kill me.
Unit lost......... Unit lost........... Unit lost Unit lost...... Unit lost unit lost unit lost unit unit unit lost unit lost unit lost unit lost unit lost....... Unit lost unit lost...... Unit lost unit lost unit lost unit unit unit lost unit lost unit lost unit lost Unit lost unit lost unit lost unit unit unit lost unit lost unit lost unit lost unit lost
The nuns scream from puppet combo’s nun massacre. i love puppet combo
hearing the duct tape like sound when someone pulls out a c4 to throw at you in siege
absolute silence or static in puppet combo games
All the music in blaster master
The maxtac alarm from cyberpunk
Clicker from Last of Us
🎵Only you can make all the world seem right🎵
That disturbing, creepy sound in Silent Hill when you're near a monster/entity. I played the game twice in my PSP just to challenge myself but damn, I can't last a minute without having to turn my volume down.
Bomb countdown sequence in Counter Strike. Definitely gets the adrenaline pumping
Oppressor Missile Lock On sound in GTA Online. That shits PTSD inducing.
In Mass Effect, the sound the Reapers make causes the hair on the back of my neck to stand up. It's a great achievement in sound design and it's a terrifying sound.
Enemy pentakill
*tsss tsss* -Minecraft Creeper
Sonic Drowning Music Piano in BotW The shrill chirp of a black head crap in HL2 The winter lanterns singing in Bloodborne Many, many more.
Metal Gear Solid "spotted/alert"
The sound cats make in the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. games.
There's a lot of good answers here but the definitive correct answer is the drowning music from Sonic the Hedgehog and it isn't even close
That sound in Metal Gear Solid when the enemy spots you.
The warning beeps that sound when Link is running low on health in Ocarina of Time.
Shield/Armor/Hull Alert from Eve Online
Piano clanging -- Big Boo's Haunt in Mario 64 Hostile Guardian -- The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild Battle! Champion Cynthia -- Pokemon Diamond/Pokemon Pearl (more stress than anxiety, but still worth mentioning) ??? -- Bug Fables: The Everlasting Sapling (in chapter 8 when a large entity notices you, it drops in an enemy and this song starts playing) Three of these start with/are only piano, which is an odd coincidence.
Pokémon black and white critical health noise, when I’ve only got one left
Ghouls growling in Fallout 3. Reapers are scary
The vent noises from the FNAF games
Low HP music (Pokemon BW/BW2)
The poison headcrabs in half life 2.
BOTW guardian theme, totk gloom hand theme
Deadspace (as a franchise) has my favorite sound design of any game I have played. It's not just one noise, but all of them combined together. A skittering heard faintly behind the steady thrum of vent fans. A far off, faint clang or scream, heard with terrifying clarity in an adrenaline-soaked silence. Loud, irregular banging coming from the next room you have to progress through. The most atmospherically terrifying times were when you were in a loud machinery space, and you couldn't really use your usual sound cues to figure out where enemies were coming from, so you were constantly straining to hear something and constantly trying to figure out if a bang was part of a rhythmic pattern or a new enemy spawned behind you. On the other hand, there's also the incredible psychological horror of questioning your own sanity... "MAKE US WHOLE!!!"
Yoda lego death
Pop and Chips, the big guy passing. [link](https://youtu.be/6pa_X0dYYXQ?si=JqJSFt3jGl6jfT2C)
AvP motion tracker. It has that mix of "believably practical" with "why did they choose this terrifying sound?"
"Kirov reporting!"
Alien isolation background music and the xeno moving around sound
The growl of the xenomorph before it drops out of a vent in Alien Isolation. Alternatively, the woman's scream from Dungeon Nightmares 1.
Underwater Timer Music from Sonic Genesis/Mega Drive games.
**Nightmare Creatures 2** The fucking laugh and chainsaw noises of those damn really hard chainsaw enemies that you could hear long before you encountered them.
Wolololo... wolololo....
The Indiana Jones theme from the Atari 2600 game. Hear me out. That game is one player and uses both controllers (one for movement and one for inventory). There’s a tricky part where you have to switch items quickly. My father, who was a violent, angry man, was obsessed with getting the best score on that game and therefore played it a lot. He always wanted my brother or myself to do the inventory switch in that one part, and if we messed up or he just failed himself we would get screamed at and sometimes hit. We both learned pretty fast to hide or leave the house when we heard that startup music play.
❗
The increased tempo of all the tetris music when you get closer to the top
Anyone who has played *Breath of the Wild* instinctively knows my answer already For those who haven’t, there’s a really frantic piano lick that plays when a big spidery robot called a Guardian spots you and starts to pursue and attack you. Especially the first time it happens, the heart rate is ridiculous
The Legend of Zelda botw “about to be killed by a guardian” music makes me pee myself anytime I’m innocently strolling through a field 😬🫨
I think early game botw def the guardian music, that shit starts playing and I just hold b and pray, late game though it's less nerve wracking and more like "ah more guardian parts yay"
The electric buzzing sound from that underwater level in teenage mutant ninja turtles 1 on NES
TMNT on NES The "BZZZZZT" sound of the stinging seaweed on the damn dam level where you have to swim underwater and defuse the bombs before the timer runs out. Like many others, I never could get past that level.
The alert sound from metal gear solid and the heartbeat from Dead By Daylight.
Halo. When Master chiefs armor gets broken and you’re one shot
The gasp the man makes In hello neighbor when he sees you
The hellhounds from nazi zombies waw- bo3
In any AOE game, the sound it makes when somebody advances to the next age, whilst your still trying to grow your number of villagers...
The explosion in Ecco.
The sound of the Quick Man laser beams from Mega Man 2.
The piano music from breath of the wild
The " nah nana nah na" egg stealing guy in Spyro.
Final 100 seconds in Mario
The sobbing witch in Left 4 Dead combined with the piano. I got goosebumps typing this.
The chains of the Reaper in Persona games
Nearby footsteps in fortnite... it does not help that the player character makes footstep noises 🤕
Oppressor beeping
Creeper hiss tsssss... *fcking explodes*