It’s the time of year when it become socially acceptable to scare the living daylights out of your friends and loved ones, but gory costumes are so cliche.

Why not really get into their heads (or yours) with some titles from this list of the top 5 scariest video games. After all, if watching a monster stalk some hapless character is thrilling, playing that character yourself is positively bonechilling!

5: Doom 3 (PC, Xbox)

In this 2004 reboot of the definitive first-person shooter, Doom, id Software once again placed players in the role of an unnamed space marine assigned to a Martian research station.

Before long, the station’s experiments with teleportation turn catastrophic as the scientists working on it unwittingly tear a hole into Hell itself, and its infernal denizens begin to make themselves at home in the station and in the bodies of its denizens.

“I played ‘Doom 3’ in the dark, and that was bad timing,” Grand Rapids sophomore Janet Price said.

Price said she would have to spend a few seconds calming down if anyone came to knock on her door.

While the game didn’t make any great strides in gameplay innovation, the atmosphere conjured in the increasingly hellish and terrifying research station were the star of the show. Broken pipes, flickering lights, and malfunctioning control panels all served to distract the eye just long enough for one of the game’s many zombies or other frighteningly rendered creatures to get the drop on the lone marine.

4: Resident Evil (PS1, GC)

While zombies are common enough in today’s horror world to warrant their own parody movies, when “Resident Evil” was released in 1996, it made shockwaves throughout the gaming world.

The game’s effective use of George Romero inspired flesh eating undead inspired a kind of terror in its players previously unheard of in gaming.

Players took on the role of one of two special forces officers who are stranded at the remote Spencer Estate, which they quickly discover is home to more than cobwebs and questionable art pieces.

The scene which begins with a man crouching with his back turned to you, as you see the severed and partially devoured head of a fellow officer drop to the ground and the ghoul slowly turns to face you is etched into the minds of many players. The game’s rule breaking element of rooms changing after you’d cleared them made each door opening into a heart pounding experience.

“(The scariest part was) you could be in an area and new stuff would happen that you wouldn’t be expecting,” Ionia freshman Nick Hayes said.

3: Dead Space (PC, PS3, X360)

The most recently developed game on this list, “Dead Space” was released in 2008. But it still delivered a cinematic experience which had player’s jumping out of their seats just like the old days.

The main character is an engineer assigned to assist a nearby ship which has begun emitting a distress call. But when he and his crew manage to board the ship, they find not distressed spacefarers but hordes of necromorphs- hideous organisms that inhabit the bodies of the dead and remake them into killing machines to spread their dominance.

The game’s stellar use of atmosphere and lack of user interface made the player feel alone in his or her plight, and the combat which required “strategic dismemberment” of the alien beings with various engineering tools made for a sickening and innovative play style.

2: Fatal Frame 2: Crimson Butterfly (PS2, Xbox)

While the previous games on this list relied mostly on shock and gore to disturb the player, 2003’s “Fatal Frame 2” is a pillar of the kind of Japanese horror seen in films like “The Ring” or “The Grudge.”

The game stars a pair of twins who wander into a desolate village inhabited by the ghostly remains of its residents. But instead of an assault rifle or a proton pack, the main playable character Mio Amakura only has a camera to fight off the hostile spirits bearing down on her.

The “Camera Obscura” can be used to take pictures and exorcise these spirits, but only if Mio stands still and takes the time to line up her viewfinder. This makes for several suspenseful moments as the character struggles to find the ghost, only to have something approach from behind.

“I’m still off with cameras,” Price said.

1: Silent Hill 2 (PS2, Xbox)

The most frightening video game of all time is still 2001 classic “Silent Hill 2.” People who haven’t played the game may be familiar with the movie which drew elements from all four games out at the time.

The game explores the psyche of a lonely, guilty man as he chases a letter from his deceased wife to the titular town of Silent Hill. He then must make his way through the twisted village as he attempts to separate illusion from reality while his surroundings’ decrepit nature reveals itself.

“Silent Hill 2” is particularly memorable for the horrifying creatures which are influenced by the main character’s subconscious, in particular the infamous Pyramid Head, a nightmarish figure wearing a butcher’s smock and a gigantic triangular helmet who carries a massive knife.

“God, (Pyramid Head) was so messed up. I didn’t want to go anywhere near it,” Hayes said.

E-mail the author: Connor Sheridan