Top 10 Lists: The Top 10 Terrifying Video Game Covers

Fine, this is based in a horror movie, so we could expect nothing less. But let's be honest here: cover picture for this game is scarier than the game, probably. You can almost feel what that poor little dude is feeling. It's like he's being inflicted several cuts in his body, where the picture does not show. Having that small cage around his head does not help either. Brings nothing but claustrophobic feels. His face makes it clear, he feels so much pain that he would rather die right now than keep going one more minute. Kind of cliche, coming straight from a horror movie, but still... Good entry for out #10 spot in this list.

This one really shows the face of a demented person, but no only that. It's the face of someone disturbed and in suffering, like someone who has been through constant torture and pain. It gives you a "bad" impression about the game before you even start. And that's a good thing, when talking about horror games, which are supposed to be scary. Even though this may look not so impressive at first glance, looking at this cover art for a few minutes makes you feel how much that person is desperate. This cover is disturbing enough to secure spot #9 in this list, that's for sure.

This is one of my favorite game covers ever. Almost a piece of art. Discreet and subtle. I had to look at it a number of times before realizing. At first glance, didn't notice anything out of ordinary. We've seem the hand thing before in game covers several times. Then it hit me. The hand is SEVERED from it's body, I consider very few things worse than death itself and dismemberment is surely one of them. Also, this picture shows a severed hand floating around in space among debris. It does not even need the words Dead Space at the top, really. The picture itself says Dead Space, literally. We get it. Whoever designed this is an artist, a genius. It also fits PERFECTLY with tense atmosphere you find out in-game. This is one of the best game covers ever, it just not higher in this list because it's not scary enough compared to others after all.

This is your regular horror game cover. I mean, that's your regular scary material, nothing unusual. But that big face upside down, looks like someone head has just been chopped off and is still falling to the ground. You can feel all sadness and hopelessness in those eyes. Put that along with those red "ghoulish" things at right and that's it. You've got yourself something to haunt your dreams at night. Nightmare 100% guaranteed if you look much long at all ugly things present in this cover art. This is not higher at this list because as scary as it can get, still looks like pretty much a B horror movie poster (but a VERY good one).

This one is way worse than first Manhunt game cover and that says something. Looking at this game cover gives me the impression a person is burning alive. But not burning to death for a few minutes and that's it, but the impression of someone burning forever, feeling their whole body burning eternally. An eternal torture in hell (or something like that). That big eye is all about pain, misery, suffering and despair. No good feels at all comes from looking into that big eye (or this cover art as a whole). And that is a good thing, at least, in this list. Or when trying to sell a horror game...

This game cover was ahead of it's time. It's probably much more interesting than the game on it's own. It didn't need to be explicit to be scary, but looking at it for a few minutes makes us wonder how scary and terrible that game should be. Those eyes express true fear, those are the eyes of someone who has lost all hope in life and is terrified to death. The colors and pictures of animals all put together to form some weird but yet familiar picture. Like something is out there watching you. Really a "joy" to look at this one.

It's the hand thing again, pretty much like Dead Space. But this time, a little more explicit. Remember, there's only a few things worse than death and dismemberment is one of them. Looks like that thumb was abruptly torn off, not cut. I can't help but think of the amount of pain inflicted to that hand's owner. One may think "well, that is not enough to make it this high on that list" and that is right. The reason this game cover is here and ranked as #5 is not the cover art shown here, but instead the original one. Original cover art intended to be used by Valve in Left 4 Dead 2 managed to be CENSORED by ESRB. Not only the thumb was torn off in original cover art, but little and ring fingers too (yes, triple all that pain and suffering to poor hand owner). Also, lesions resulted from all torn off fingers were shown clearly, not shaded as in final censored cover version. Now that's something worthy of #4 in here, isn't it?

This one portrays someone about to be buried alive in a shallow grave, under a bright starry sky. This picture shows the whole situation: whenever the person inside the grave tries to get up and resist, that shady individual just hits he/she with that shovel, not hard enough to pass out but just enough to show how powerless you are over your own life at that moment. Worse: who is that shady individual with the shovel? Is that a manica with a coat and mask? Is that Death itself? Who knows... Also, art style in this game cover helps in creating the tense atmosphere. This cover is about someone helplessly and hopelessly trying to fight for his/her own life and losing the fight badly. Could easily be mistaken for a "heavy-brutal-black-death-metal" album art.

I was not going to repeat covers from same franchise, but I had to. Looking at this cover, it's hard to imagine it's from a game endorsed by Nintendo. A giant hand coming out of your own mouth and grabbing your face, while you suffocate. Can you imagine that happening? Not even in the creepiest horror movie or our worst nightmares we are able to see something like this. A disturbing image for anyone. And the longer you look at it, the creepier it gets. I can feel suffocated by even looking at it. It is probably much more scarier than the game itself. That was a close call for our #1 spot in this list.

This should be in a museum. Really, this is actually disturbing to the point it could be considered some eccentric piece of art. A genderless human head with a very sick and old appearance is trapped inside a bobble, with those very uncomfortable sticks stuck in it's face. Looking at the sticks placement, they probably do not prevent our bubble-head friends (pun not intended) from closing/winking their eyes, but surely cause a lot of pain when doing that. Those sticks are there literally with a single purpose: inflict pain and suffering whenever the poor little head feels tired and tries to fall asleep or even tries to blink. To make things worse, that poor little head will never be able to remove the sticks, ever. Hell seems like a very nice place to be, after looking at this cover picture for a few minutes. And what's worse about this cover art: This cover is for a game where you simply link colored bubbles to make them disappear. Makes you feel good in the end, after all, you are putting those helpless little heads to rest, ending their eternal pain and suffering inflicting by those hellish sticks of pain.