For me it was Dead Space 2 when I was 12-ish. For reference, at this point the most gruesome/gorey/violent media I was exposed to was the Halo 3 Flood levels and the original 2 Alien movies.
I had way too much fun playing it to be traumatized by it at the time, although when i was old enough to understand the horror of the whole “your memories and experience becoming food for a god-like being that has absolutely zero respect for your existance”, that did inform my perspective of other media such as Evangelion or Childhood’s end when I watched them for the 1st time.
What was your equivalent to this? I’ve heard the Resident Evil games are quite common for this but I want to hear your perspective.
It was a little later than ‘childhood’ because I didn’t really get into gaming until I was in college, but I would have to say Outlast was my foundation when it came to horror games. I had so much fun playing it over and over, and I still revisit to this day, even through I know it like the back of my hand.
Oddly enough, because I hold Outlast in such high regard, it’s kinda of difficult for me to play walking sim-esque horror games that I truly enjoy because I have yet to find one that give me the same sense of satisfaction while playing it (the only exception being the first two Amnesia games).