Top 10 Dumbest Decisions in Horror Video Games

Some people clearly want to be scared to death! Welcome to WatchMojo and today we’ll be counting down our picks for the Top 10 Dumbest Decisions in Horror Video Games. For this list, we’re looking at unbelievably stupid decisions that backfired spectacularly in horror games. Due to the subject matter, please note, a spoiler warning is now in effect, along with a whole lot of idiocy.

#10: Eve Takes Over Her Sister's Body

“The 3rd Birthday” (2010) Released more than a decade after "Parasite Eve II," "The 3rd Birthday" re-introduced Aya Brea, the series protagonist, in the most convoluted way possible. Seeking to destroy the "Twisted", the amnesia-suffering Aya travels through time by transferring her consciousness into other people. So, how did these monsters come into being? Well, the protagonist's sister – Eve – took over Aya's body after she was killed. Without a frame to call home, Aya's consciousness created a fragment through time, inadvertently leading to the creation of the Twisted. Also, players learn that they have been unwittingly controlling Eve throughout the entire campaign. Will you people please leave the space-time continuum alone!

#9: Jin’s Police Station Mission

“Dead Island” (2011) Good intentions amount to nothing in a post-apocalyptic world populated by zombies and savage survivors. Determined to help everyone on the island, Jin gives the middle finger to common-sense and chooses to deliver supplies to the hostile Raskol gang, who had taken over the Police Station. Shocking absolutely nobody; the operation falls apart almost instantly, Jin is captured, and the player character has to rescue the good Samaritan. To make matters even worse, Jin's naive decision leads to the death of Joseph; a totally innocent man!

#8: Alyssa Goes Home

“Clock Tower 3” (2002) At one point or another, most teenagers rebel against their parents, though not quite in the same stupid vein as Alyssa. While living at a boarding school, Alyssa receives a letter from her mother urging her to go into hiding until her 15th birthday, which was only a couple of days away. Understandably alarmed by the message, Alyssa decides that the logical next step is to completely ignore the letter's warning and instead return home. This eventually leads to her being chased through time by serial killers while a mysterious "Dark Gentleman" attempts to use Alyssa's heart to achieve immortality. 48 hours Alyssa, you just had to wait 48 hours! Was that really so hard?!

#7: Genevieve Reopens the Origin Facility

“F.E.A.R.: First Encounter Assault Recon” (2005) What is a horror game without arrogant scientists and businesses? Born with incredible psychic powers, Alma Wade is relentlessly experimented upon by the Armacham Technology Corporation, who even impregnate her to try and create super soldiers. While she was a child, might we add. Eventually recognizing that the psychic's powers were beyond control, ATC shut down the Origin Facility and left Alma's corpse to rot for two decades. Life was peaceful until the company's president, Genevieve Aristide, ignored any and all warnings, instead choosing to reopen the facility to start from scratch. It should go without saying, but Alma was not amused.

#6: Studying the Marker

“Dead Space” (2008) Following an era defined by war and environmental catastrophes, Earth was essentially stripped of its resources, allowing the Earth Government Colonial Alliance to seize control of most national jurisdictions. Desperate to discover a new power source, the organization began to experiment on Markers; an alien device with a nasty habit of driving people insane. Using Aegis VII as a planet-sized testing ground, the Earth Government eventually succeeded in deciphering the Marker's secrets, leading to the birth of the Necromorphs and causing most of the events that transpired throughout the first game. Maybe they should have tried going green instead of unleashing murderous alien parasites!

#5: Daniel Pockets the Orb

“Amnesia: The Dark Descent” (2010) If you deliberately wiped your own memory, chances are your past self made some fairly serious mistakes. Awakening in a strange castle without any memories, Daniel's only clue to the truth was a self-written note advising him to kill the building's baron. Over the course of the campaign, Daniel manages to piece together the truth, and surprise, surprise, it isn't pretty. Turns out that during an archaeological expedition, Daniel discovered an alien orb, and in doing so summoned a sentient shadow very eager to rip him a new one. Daniel's solution? Seek refuge with Baron Alexander...who ended up wanting the orb for himself. And the bad decisions just keep on coming.

#4: Leon & Claire Split Up

“Resident Evil 2” (1998) Just because something works on "Scooby-Doo," does not mean it makes sense during a zombie outbreak. Due to "Resident Evil 2" featuring a pair of playable characters, Capcom needed to find a believable excuse to split these badasses up. A rookie cop and a college student searching for a family member, Leon and Claire parted ways almost instantly to go search for survivors and an escape route out of Raccoon City. Surrounded by hundreds of zombies, splitting up makes little to no sense, but the game needed Leon and Claire's stories to diverge, so there you go. Of course, Leon's fabulous hair is really all the back-up he needs...

#3: Pranking Hannah

“Until Dawn” (2015) Pranks are all well and good, at least until someone tries to put it on Youtube. Don't think we didn't see that selfie-stick Matt! A choose-your-own adventure game with a slasher twist, it begins as all great horrors do, with a group of teenagers hanging out in a cabin in the woods. Seeing an opportunity to be total jerks, the majority of the group play a disgraceful prank on Hannah, who flees out of the cabin as a result, eventually followed by her sister Beth. Given the genre, the woods are far from the safest place to be, and both siblings soon find themselves meeting a rather...steep end.

#2: James Investigates Silent Hill

“Silent Hill 2” (2001) Guilt and grief can drive a person to make really terrible decisions, evident from when James Sunderland received a letter claiming to be from his deceased wife, apparently waiting for him in the town of Silent Hill. Rather than investigating the authenticity of the letter, assembling a team or better yet, throwing it away, James decides to take plunge and head on over. Taking into account the fact that Mary died years prior, the dude must have been aware that the letter could not be real, but noooope. Thanks to his overwhelming shame and inner torment manifesting itself, James' spent most of his vacation in Silent Hill trying to avoid alone-time with Pyramid Head!

#1: Removing SHODAN’s Ethical Constraints

“System Shock” (1994) Playing as a nameless hacker, "System Shock" boils down to a boneheaded decision to remove an omnipotent computer's moral compass. Caught hacking into a space station owned by the TriOptimum Corporation, our hero is offered a way out by a corrupt executive who needs the space station's artificial intelligence to be hacked. After coming to an agreement, the protagonist removes the restrictions governing SHODAN's decision-making process and unwittingly creates a super-villain. Untethered by any moral guidelines, the AI becomes a self-declared god and kills nearly everyone in the station. Smooth move buddy.