Talking Point: Is Tears Of The Kingdom The Scariest Zelda Game Ever?

I would argue that the CDI Zelda are the scariest ones but for all the wrong reasons!

Doesn't really seem as scary as Majora's Mask, even though Majora was mainly sad. There were some creepy undertones, like the moon's grin or Romani being kindapped and brainwashed by the aliens, but it was overwhelmingly sad first and foremost. Nevertheless, Majora had a very unsettling atmosphere, whereas TOTK has... monster trucks with flamethrowers, as the author pointed out

You guys never run out of Link reaction faces 😅

The gloom hands are terrifying. Even now i know i can easily defeat them with spin attacks i still get creeped out by them. My first encounter was in a cave. I basically got stuck on a stone pedestal in the centre of a large room with them circling me.

The only other enemy i found creepy were the crawling gibdos. Those things are too quick and so gross.

Err....it doesn't seem at all scary to me.

I was surprised the first time I saw gloom spawn and the first time I went in one of the towers but that was about it.

The Gloom Hands were definitely the most surprising and slightly scary moment for me, but other than that I haven’t found much to be very scary. Most of it just has a darker theme or atmosphere

Those hands are absolute nightmare fuel, I haven't been that scared in horror games.

I started to get confident in taking on the Gloom hands... then they changed...

I dunno man…the Redead scream from OOT is nightmare fuel!

Those bubble-blowing gecko salamander things, slapping about the place like vaguely malevolent wet ham are fairly disturbing.

First time diving into the depths and that low sax drone played…jeez. Chicken skin all over. I had no idea the depths were even a thing in this game so the first few hours exploring down there were unpleasant. Then once I found that giant bargainer statue and it’s creepy as hell face…I avoided going back for a while.

Of course the gloom hands are awful as well. I’m glad I avoided seeing anything outside of the trailers because for as unpleasant as some of the surprises have been they’ve been way more impactful and creepy than they would have been if I knew they were coming.

Not sure about creepiest Zelda though. Re-deads in OoT and the parts I played of Majora’s Mask were beyond creepy, probably helped in no small part by the weirdness that comes from the lo-fi audio and visuals of their time.

My motto in Zelda games is if you can see it kill it so I’m delighted to have new enemies to obliterate.

Gloom hands take the cake. But does anyone else get genuinely terrified when those trees come to life and start chasing you? In the beginning, only fire based weapons worked. But I've found the master sword makes quick work of them.

Edit: gibdos are off the list too. Strange omission.

There’s some moments that made me jump, but it doesn’t beat Twilight Princess or Majora’s Mask in that category.

And nothing will ever beat the ReDeads in wind Waker.

My surprising encounter came from while i was venturing through the depths with no brightbloom seeds, and suddenly I saw a singular eye and the healthbar of an "Obsidian Frox" appear in front of me which was more than enough to make me reconsider my current path. As for gleeoks, I spent well over an hour battling the one on the bridge until I finally defeated it, my proudest moment in Totk so far

Those gloom hands omg... our soul left the building lol.

And then.. moments later, when link finally has the courage to face them and defeats with 2 hearts left i was like phew its over..... and then i was like... oh its not over yet look who appears..... (dead)

The Gloom Hands are freaky, but so were ReDeads.

Majora's Mask is the most consistently macabre and creepy entry in the series by a mile, so that would get my vote.

The game has a dark atmosphere in places and some of the story beats are a bit harsh for a Zelda game.

That said, I never felt vaguely scared by it, I think because of the art style it is hard to be too alarmed by anything that cartoony...

Anyway, I have literally just finished the game, the ending is spectacular and I'm glad I spent 90+ hours in Hyrule.

The Gloom Hands scared me when I first saw them but didn’t compare to when I defeated them and out popped a Phantom Ganon which I was not ready for 🥶 I wasn’t expecting the trees to get up and start walking either

Great article for a Sunday. ToTK is definitely the “scariest” game of the series to me. First Zelda game to make me just go “nope!” In a very long time. OoT has the redeads and the dead hand (the kakariko well?! 😱). Majoras mask has the Gibdo mask story line and the alien abduction. Skyward Sword has the ancient cistern depths. All great moments we all remember, but ToK has so many scary moments. From the panic you get from the gloom hands, to the first spotting of a Gleeoks or a Frox, there are many times I was just scared to begin a fight. Excellent game and some major nightmare fuel for sure.

Uhh no, just no. Majors Mask was scary due to its time limit BS.

Gloom Hands for sure. But nothing tops TP and especially MM for me when it comes to the creepiness factor.

Having the moon constantly staring you in the face was basically the equivalent of Death breathing down your shoulders. Accompanied by the time limit, it really does show you that it's all over once the final hours of the Final Day hit. Along with many other creepy stuff from the game as well.

One of those goat things charged out of the mist in the tutorial area which was like really scary

gloom hands are scary as hell especially wen they make that scream.

Gloom Hands. Scarier than PG. especially if you are in a field or place where you don’t expect them. Also they don’t have mouths. Where does the scream come from?!

@Ryu_Niiyama lets dont imagine where that screams come from.

The Gloom Hands freaked me out as they spawned almost immediately after leaving a shrine. I think I'd only encountered them once more in 50 hours.

The other surprise enemies mostly made me smile. I loved seeing a Boss Bokoblin for the first time, with its adorable army of minions.

The Aerocudas also spooked me a little when i encountered them for the first time, but fortunately, they only have 1HP.

The living trees caught me by surprise. Cheeky devs. They can be a bit tough to deal with, but my most reliable strategy for them is to just chop 'em down.

It has its surprise moments, and by and large, I think there's a slightly stronger sense of threat, but it's not much "scarier" than BotW.

@Sam_TSM huh? What does that even mean, lol?

@Zeldinion I haven't tried to take that one out yet. Just the one in the BotW coliseum. Maybe I'll take it on tonight...

The gloom hands are worse than redeads in ocarina of time, so I think I would have nightmares for several weeks if I played Tears of the Kingdom as a kid.

I have not played the game I can not answer the second question.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betteridge%27s_law_of_headlines

As a kid, just entering the Deku Tree for the first time was scary to me; I don't think I would want to play past the intro to Tears of the Kingdom.
I can handle the Gloom Hands (I call them Floor Masters, and Nintendo should've done the same), but they still are the scariest enemy bar none, because if they grab you, there's almost no escape. I'd say Gleeocks are the most intimidating enemy, surpassing even Lynels. Gibdo aren't as scary as previous iterations of ReDeads, but I was surprised to see one with wings. I actually shouted out "THEY FLY NOW?!" and my cat meowed, and I took it as "They fly now!"

The horriblins bother me. Something about dark scuttling cave creatures...nope. Also the first time a Gibdo fell down and crawl-sprinted at me.

I know I haven’t played the game, but from what I have seen, in terms of scare factor, majoras mask is still king.

So far the gloom hands are the only terrifying encounter I've experienced. Thr first couple times were truly frightening but now I look forward to eradicating them whenever they appear.

I keep expecting something while exploring the dephs but it's mostly fine aside from the darkness lol.

This Zelda is certainly creepier than Skyward Sword and BOTW, but I don't know how it stacks to OOT, MM, or TP for me.

The hands are more frightening in a exhilarating/danger sense than anything else for me. The Gibdos were a little bit creepy, but less realistic than TP, so not as much. (the Gibdos queen boss should be terrifying as it's a mixture of two things that scare me - moths and zombies, and yet it wasn't super scary for me either).

@LikelySatan The bridge adds a great cinematic feel to the fight

Nothing beats being a kid and being traumatized by OoT's Redeads, or in my case, the Peahats. (not joking, they scared me back then, lol)

didn't twilight princess make you munch on some freaky bug?

thought the gerudo section had some, oh can i curse here? moments

What is it with Nintendo and palm eyeballs, anyway?

Nothing is as scary as Ikana Canyon in Majora's Mask. The theme still haunts me to this day.

The scariest thing was easily the Gloom Hands, I remember seeing them in a cave and getting killed almost instantly. A second would be the evil trees that silently come out the ground and follow you. Third… spoiler for the mid to endgame Phantom Ganon’s second phase where Gloom envelops the throne room… and the five copies floating around. Wasn’t scary as much as it was stressful.

imagine they brought back dead hands from ocarina of time and they can fly and uses gloom hands to grab you.

I call them dread hands because I HATE them...

Exploring the depths has me on edge the whole time, very suspenseful. And running from gloom hands the first time is very much a ‘what the hell is THAT?!?’ moment.

So yeah, TOTK probably the scariest

Gloom Spawn are scary but I tolerate them after a couple encounters. I find the Gibdo unsettling and i don't know why... Especially the other fast variant you'll find later in the game

And the depths darkness isa really cool mechanic!

Man I remember my first encounter with Gloom Hands, I saw this moving pool of gloom as literally said out loud to myself, "what is happening right now??" And then they jumped on me and that was it. My next encounter was in a cave. I thought I was so clever, I climbed up to a ledge and sniped them all with my bow, eager to see the delicious reward. Then, well, the next part came and I immediately teleported out of there.

I'm at the endgame now so I can deal with them fine, but they still weird me out. Whenever I see them as I'm exploring, I know there's no outrunning them so I say to myself, "all right, I guess we're doing this," then I sit upright and ready my bow. I love how engaging this game is!

Can't say this game holds a candle to most of the older zelda titles in the fear factor gauge.
Really can't say i was afraid of anything in this.

Majora's Mask. End of debate.

Also OoT traumatized me with Gohmas so when the one in TotK was forming immediately said “is that a gohma?! $&!%” and no less legs doesn’t make them less creepy. Also little things like me trying to take a picture of a tablet and the platform drops into a chasm that is full of large enemies AND it’s still dark. F that. This is not Dark Souls Nintendo!

Also I found out Lynels teleport in both games. F that.

Everything is scary until I use a Muddle Bud and then it’s all comedy!

Nintendo has used some great horror direction with TOTK without being too scary. It's fun scary.

the game overall...not scary. somethings in it are definitely freaky. first incountered the gloom hands trying to do the tower near Kakariko. when the music and sound efx kicked up was trying to figure out where it was and then what was that?! first time riding a sand seal past some gibdos in the sandstorm took me by surprise. still have yet to try taking on a gleeok. the depths is more atmosphere(and a joy when you run out of seeds, at least there's some alternatives) although coming across the overworld bosses, the frok, and the story bosses in the dark I mostly don't stop to fight them.

It's far muted compared to gory games. It has its jump moment's with the gloom hands.

I would say the price is the scariest

no Zelda game where Tingle is absent can be considered the scariest.

I ran from the gloom hands until I realized they give some of the best rewards. If you haven't stuck around to fight then yet, do it. Trust me.

My early exploration of the Depths was the creepiest part of the game. Finding the giant Cliffside Bargainer near the lightroot filled me with a sense of megalophobia.

This game delivers on exactly what I wanted from the sequel. A darker tone for the world building while still having brighter highlights. The gloom hands and The Depths do genuinely make me a little on edge because I am still relatively early on in the game. It brings me a sigh of relief and joy when I get past the gloom hands though.

The image below though represents my disappointment when I run into another wall going in the ceiling while in The Depths and trying to get to a hidden objective.

Must be a daily meeting about creating new TOTK articles.

Majora's Mask is hands-down the scariest/creepiest Zelda game. Tear of the Kingdom isn't even in the same league.

Only briefly mentioned, but the heights/risk of falling can often be terrifying

I've had a few fleeting moments of fear, like encountering a Gloomhand underground just before a major objective. But mostly, no. I kind of envy people who can get scared by a game like this, because it's a feeling I wish I could experience more. Most games are too systemic, predictable, and exploitable to be scary for me, even horror games. 95% of the time, the worst thing that can happen is that you die, load an autosave, and lose a few minutes of progress. For a game to really get under my skin, it needs to create uncertainty and a fear of the unknown, and it needs to feel like there are genuine stakes compelling me to survive. It's really hard to find AAA games that can pull this off.

TotK has enough varied atmospheres and approaches to combat that it can successfully pull off just about any genre you want it to be.

No Zelda game has yet to match Twilight Princess for that feeling of sheer uneasiness. And lots of wtf moments in that game too. Lanayru’s vision, Arbiter’s Grounds, the skulltula designs, the Oocca. That game makes me feel like I need to take a shower.

All you need to do with gloom hands is climb on any surface, just out of their reach, and wait a few seconds as they try and reach for you, then they die. If you don't want to fight them that is.
But totk being scary? I don't think so, Ocarina, TP & majoras have creepier moments in them

People are finding TotK scary? Can't say i've felt any sense of horror in the game. MM is pretty uneasy but overall i've never been scared by a Zelda game.

@kadams8670 Being honest the only times i'm outright scared by a horror games is when they're 1st person as its way more personal for me in that view, Alien Isolation and the 1st act of RE7 really got me at times. I feel tension in 3rd person games and jump scares get me but not in the way i have to take a break because its too much.

I will say the game that gave me a sense of real dread and unease was Dark Souls 2, there's a real feeling of not quite right about its world and characters and i felt a real sense of horror because of that even more then Bloodborne.

Gloom hands are of course the most terrifying thing in this game and I still blindly panic every time I encounter one, madly dashing for higher ground until they die. The way they pop up out of nowhere, the instant change in the lighting and music is absolutely horrifying. Besides the first couple of times I encountered them and not knowing how to escape, the worst time was in the Korok forest when you are forced into facing them and the fight that comes after if you want to progress and save the forest. That was mean!

Speaking of the forest, that gets an honourable mention too for being creepy with the Koroks frozen and not speaking.

Other moments that made me jump were the moving trees (absolutely jumped out of my skin the first time) but the novelty of these wear off eventually. The gibdos in the desert are also creepy and I found those crawling ones to be pure nightmare fuel. Just look at the way they move! The horn that blares as you enter the depths also scares me but I have been strangely calm about my experience down there. I must have grown up a lot since OoT which gave me nightmares for months! Other than that I don't really find the game scary at all and it's nothing like the pure unease I would feel playing the bottom of the well or shadow temple in OoT or Ikana Canyon in MM. Even Hyrule Castle feels less threatening this time around. The opening section of the game did have that sense of dread but since it was told through cutscenes you didn't get any jump scares.

In terms of story, not really - but, it's the definitely the first game since the NES titles that had enemies that I find legitimately scary (and in those NES games, it was probably more because I was a little kid when I first played them).

The Gloom Hands are things that I avoid at all costs and will flee from as fast as humanly possible, and the gigantic, three headed Gleeoks just exude an aura of menace and dread in a way that literally makes my heart rate jump a bit, even from half a mile away. I haven't felt so threatened by an enemy in a Zelda game - or any game for that matter - in at least 20+ years.

And that's not even touching upon the Depths, where the darkness and alien looking vistas make me feel constantly vulnerable and like I'm 3 steps from getting blindsided by something terrible that I never saw coming.

The Gibdo enemies also straddle the edge between unsettling and nightmare fuel.

But, yeah - for me, it's perhaps the scariest in terms of some of its monsters and atmospheres of certain areas - but, narratively speaking, there are most certainly darker and scarier games in the series than this one.

What’s truly scary is how many articles this site will continue to milk out of this game.

I find the voice acting to be quite frightening

@Sisilly_G I forgot about the Treants! They gave a legitimate jump scare the first time I encountered one. Even now, 90 hours in, I still feel somewhat apprehensive walking around unfamiliar apple trees...🤣

The trees give me a jump scare every time I’m concentrating trying to stealth catch a bug or hunt an animal or tame a horse and they come out the ground. I keep one of the strong goron smasher weapons to bash them in one hit

There wasn't anything "scary" about this game. But it can be ridiculously difficult, especially for someone that didn't come straight from BoTW. ToTK doesn't do a super good job letting you know all your abilities, which is part of the fun but amps up the difficulty if you didn't know pulling your bow while jumping put you in bullet time

There's definitely a great interplay between the themes of darkness and light. And yeah, I think it can be pretty scary at times, much more so than prior entries IMO. It's no surprise that Gloom is at the core of this game.

The combination of intense combat situations and unpleasant surprises can make the world of Hyrule a pretty uncomfortable background when you're not situated at one of the game's safe havens.

The depths in particular were exceptionally well-made.

I find the depths anxiety-inducing. I have taken to flying around turning on lights just to make it less scary. Almost done.

Gleeoks are scary until you figure out how to fight them, plus they are rare. TotK had nothing as frightening as all the guardians of BotW

It’s definitely not the scariest, but it has it’s moments.

I'm in a weird camp where Majora's Mask was not as scary as people make it out to be. Like someone previously said it was more sad that made it creepy. Amazing classic though by all means.

Honestly every Zelda game had their creepy moments. Skyward Sword had that skeleton part underneath that one temple, OOT had ReDead, Windwaker had Tingle and the Ghost Ship, etc.

I will say TotK really hit hard with its dark moments. For example, Lost Woods was so chilling the first time I entered. I really hope this game is a blueprint for a future entry planning to have a dark atmosphere throughout its entire setting. Twilight Princess related sequel maybe?

Gloom hands were pretty scary, but I can’t really think of anything else. I don’t really think any Zelda games are scary, more that some are just…grotesque? Twilight Princess and Majoras Mask come to mind.

@Joeynator3000 peahats got me too. I don’t think I was old enough to play OoT when I did and I was 12.

Gloom Hands are creepy, but what comes after you defeat them is a lot more scary. (Phantom Ganon)

The Gloom is extremely fun to explore while also managing to be oppressive. It can be overbearing to spend a lot of time there and it genuinely feels like you're coming up for air when you finally leave, the first time the Gloom Hands came for me down there was genuinely terrifying, more so than many actual horror games I have played but, for my money Majora's Mask is still the king.

Majora's Mask might be a little overplayed these days (though that's earned when it was ignored and swept under the carpet for so long) but there's still very few games like it, even within its own series. It has its fair share of silly moments, light-hearted fun and touching scenes, but that moon was always hanging there, almost always in view, it remains chilling just to think about.

@Ryu_Niiyama Yeah, they just looked like normal big plants, then they popped out of the ground and I was like "Nope, I'm done." xD

Redeads just gave me nightmares...and in my nightmares they were fast. lol

My favourite while not too scary was Shadow Ganon suddenly appearing after defeating the gloom hands-how can this not be on the list?!!!!

For me the saddes thing is that the horiblins are thrying to kill you 😭😭 in skyward sword they were cute and nice to you and gave you things what is wrong with this world

I sure spent less time with it than BotW. Maybe reusing the originalbhyrule map was a mistake. Was still fun but didn't feel ground breaking like the previous game.

Somehow Evermeans have been the thing to scare me the most. Even when I'm expecting one I tend to lower my guard too early. "I'm this close and nothing's happening. Must be a normal... GAAAH!!!"

@Zeldinion My moment with "Obsidian Frox" was similar. I'd just dived down my second ever chasm; as I plunged into the darkness, that low horn drone rang out and it was then slowly and slightly ambiguously revealed to me that I was diving straight into a giant frog's mouth. One of my few "fast travel. NOW." moments.

I’m not a fan of heights. My knees get shaky and my palms sweat. Sometimes my hands get sweaty if I’m watching a video on my phone that shows people in really high and dangerous situations.

For most of TotK, the height situation was fine, but the sequence surrounding a particularly stormy area with trampolines had me hoping that the controller would not slip out of my hands.

First time I ran into a Gloom Hands, I was fumbling like a baby with the controls. The music and sky changing did not help my case.

Considering what I've done to all those Koroks with rockets and the like? Yeah, it's pretty horrific.

I'm 3 temples down and the Ghidorah/hyrda's still mess me up. Buy I'm clearly playing it wrong, I have barely any arrows or money to buy arrows.

Okay, I am person who doesn't play/watch horror (zombies, aliens, any other similar creeps - no thank you. Plants vs. Zombies is exception) so yes, some parts are awful. I wouldn't call scary but.. gives anxiety. Gloom Hands pretty much so far only tenemy doing so, even Depths in general has heavy athmosphere.

For other Zeldas, the reason why I never replayed TP was the dark atmosphere (and that's why I love WW! It's so bright and cute), to play it was wonderful.

Like others have mentioned before, ReDead screaming in OoT is the horror. But for OoT, the biggest nightmare for me is Forest Temple. I just... can't.... the music....

And Floor Master. I hate, I hate, I hate Floor Master. Probably something to do watching the movie called The Hand in my teens.
And that's why Gloom Hands give me the same creeps when they grab you and squeeze you and you try to run and they are so fast.

I haven't exactly "seen" Frox. Jumped one hole, didn't see anything else except Boss text appearing and then I was dead.
Horriblins, first one was like ugh what just hit me but not a problem after that. But the Trees were much more frightning in the start XD

I also still hate the Blood Moon.

Like everyone says, it's not Majora's Mask. Or Kakariko Village in Ocarina. But it's worth noting that both games get a lot of mileage out of the inherent weirdness of N64-era graphics, with its polygonal character models and unrealistic lighting. I can't imagine the Cursed Rich Man in the House of Skultulla or Dead Hand being quite so horrible with a "smoother," more modern art style.

That being said, Tears is definitely creepy. It's much creepier than Breath, for sure. Breath had the Guardians, but Tears is more consistent, not only because of the enemies mentioned in this article but also because the Depths and the Gloom are always there, below you. And the Depths themselves are also beautifully realized and strangely alien.

I'm still very disturbed by the Depths, though exploration has been improving quite a lot. Everything else I've seen has becoming almost like an ant under my foot.

The only thing thats scary is when u scan the Wolf Link amiibo and you get a bunch of meat instead of Wolf Link 😳😰. Now thats scary (and sad 🥺🥀🪦)

Gibdo's are bad enough since they hide in plain sight but FLYING ones? Hmm n o thanks.

The like likes are gross and I didn't miss them but I kick their asses.

The gloom hands give me anxiety. I've played 82 hours and I havent killed them yet since they turned into Ganon like total jackwipes. So unfair.

Geeloks are no nos. I run.

Horriblins are uggo and creepy but I'm very handy with a spear so aside from the first few encounters I've had no issues.

Frox are dirty cheaters but I've killed like five. I've been in the depths a LOT.

@ComfyAko yes unsettling is the word i would use to describe majora's mask... still love it tough n.n

I'd say TotK is in the running for the least scary Zelda game. It's waaaaaay too empowering for the player ever really feel threatened for more than that initial moment. The only thing that really shifts that dynamic is the darkness in the depths, but that goes away as soon as you light it up, and then it's just another open world map, only much more boring.

It wasn't scary at all to be honest, the setting with the silly contraptions does not lend itself to any amount of horror. It has some small spooky moments here and there, particularly underground with gloom hands but it has nothing on Majora's Mask or even Ocarina of Time.

The plum tree lady with the cuccos in Kakariko...