P.T. scared me more than any other videogame

Don’t look upstairs

There was a moment in P.T. that terrified me. I mean truly terrified me.

Between the endlessly looping hallway and the haunting cries of a disfigured fetus in a sink, I knew strange things were afoot. It’s a disorienting game, especially early on. You push forward not knowing which of your actions, if any, are going to trigger spooky videogame mechanisms behind the scenes. Some scary shit is definitely going to happen, but when?

Gotta keep moving.

Man, these sound designers did an amazing job.

After looking all over the place, huh, there’s nothing new. It’s just the same old hallway. Better check everything out again, but methodically this time.

Oh god the tension is too much.

By the time I reached the sequence shown in the attached photo and video, I was completely on edge. I creeped forward and checked my surroundings. Phew. No ghost to murder me. It was just a false alarm. I continued searching until I happened to casually glance up at the balcony and oh fuck no there’s something up there!

I simultaneously jumped in my seat and let out a scream and shot my hands up toward my eyes. Holy shit. You got me, P.T. You got me good. The only thing I could do after that ridiculous reaction was laugh hard.

When I heard that Konami wasn’t going to move forward with Hideo Kojima and Guillermo del Toro’s Silent Hills, I took solace knowing we’d always have its free playable teaser, P.T. Except, we won’t — not all of us. The publisher is removing the game from PlayStation Network. Tonight’s the last night to get it, which is a huge disappointment considering it’s one of the best things on PS4 and one of the best things to happen to horror gaming in years.

You might be sick of the PSAs by now, but that’s a risk I’m willing to take. So many people are going to miss P.T. Don’t be one of them — get the game in your account even if you don’t have a PS4.