The Unintentional Horror Game: Genre Changing Glitches

Glitches that made our non-scary games scary
Glitches that made our non-scary games scary

Ah, the video game glitch.

Every gamer's worst nightmare at least, when it messes up the progress of your game. Other than, it is usually just a few seconds of creepy. And boy do I mean creepy. 

Who knew the sudden distortion of 3D polygons could be so scary? It is even scarier when it is in a game not meant to have you covering your eyes.

Despite what we may think, game developers aren't perfect and neither are the games they create which means every once in a while there will be a hiccup in the system. Unfortunately, sometimes those little hiccups turn into a 'kill it with fire' moment.

There are happy accidents and then there are 'what did I just witness accidents.' Check out these glitches that unintentionally turned our games over to the dark side. 

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Skyrim's Headless Heroes

We've heard of the Headless Horseman but Skyrim isn't bothering to save face with a pumpkin replacement. This glitch, thanks to a previous in game beheading, isn't as scary as it is disturbing but is quick to make a fantasy into a nightmare. 


From Cradle to the Glitch

If you ever wondered what having a kid would be like Sim's 3 is not the place to get that idea. A number of players have reported their babies hitting some seriously freaky growth spurts but luckily the glitch can be avoided.

According to forums, the glitch is the result of users using a nude skin mod which corrupts the game. 


Laying The Smackdown in WWE2K15

WWE games are the absolute worst when it comes to glitches but to be fair, they're the most creative. I don't know what's going on in the glitch above but for WWE games that's the norm. 

 


The Witcher Goes Edvard Munch

I've always said that video games should be looked at as art but I never thought it would be taken so literally. Thanks to an unexplained glitch, The Witcher's otherwise fairly decent looking Geralt channels Munch's popular The Scream painting. It is both hilarious and disturbing. 


Fallout 3 Floating Heads

No, Floating Heads isn't some kind of Talking Heads cover band, it is just an eerie glitch that happens in Fallout 3. There's no real reason for this, it kind of just happens. 


Fallout 3 Reanimated NPC's

If you thought the Fallout 3 head glitches were terrifying than you're going to absolutely get a scare out of these reanimated NPC's. The glitch occurs when you've killed an NPC, save your game, and reload it. The system grabs bits and pieces trying to put the previously killed NPC back together but instead of getting the full picture, we literally end up getting blood and guts. Gross. I'll take the floating heads. 


Black Flag Does The Rapture

I'm not talking about the Bioshock Rapture, I'm talking about the biblical one that has people flying up to the sky all willy-nilly. This Assassin's Creed doesn't give a sinking ship about physics or stealing your entire crew while it is at it. Not sure if we should blame a bad patch, Moses or global warming. 


Assassin's Creed Not So Unity

If you were to look up the latest gaming glitches, without a doubt this glitch from Assassin's Creed Unity would show up. In fact, it shows up anytime the game doesn't properly load textures and while it provides a good laugh it also makes things kind of weird.


Leather Face Glitch

We're afraid of what we don't understand which makes this Mafia II glitch scary at first glance. One minute you're talking to a sweet old Italian lady and the next thing you know you're talking to what looks like a mannequin. 

It really isn't that bad if you realize what you're looking at though. The glitch is a simple texture swap which causes the leather jacket to overlap the skin of the old woman's face for a few seconds. Unlike other glitches, this one fixes pretty quickly.  


 Legs for Miles

We all know that Saint's Row is a crazy game. funny even but not well....whatever is going on in this image. The glitch isn't entirely scary game wise but just imagine standing on the street late at night and suddenly a spider lady six legs short is coming up behind you. Yeah, no thanks. 


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What are some of the creepiest glitches you've witnessed in a non-scary game?

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Cloud Jr on Cloud's shoulder
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James on a foggy street
Read Article Is Galar the Next Destination for Pokemon Legends?
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Author
Dani Gosha
Designer, gamer and geek culture writer.