I'm looking for a scary non-shooter game. I'm looking at Penumbra and Amnesia -- which are the best from those guys?

Do you know of any others?

Amnesia is kind of like a fully developed Penumbra. That said, Penumbra Black Plague has a lot of good things to be said for it.

Also, when you say non-shooter, are you ruling out all possible forms of combat?

You mean PC-only or other platforms as well?

Play both.

Start with Overture, then Black Plague, and then Requiem. When you're done with Penumbra, play Amnesia.

The Chzo Mythos is worth a shot.

I don't remember right now, but there were some really scary non-combat games made that really took the rocks off. And I don't mean the Project Zero from the PS2. Really can't remember right now...

Darkfall, Scratches - both games on GOG - are pretty damn creepy and some of the best games of that genre I've ever played so you could check them out.

Personally? I still think Overture was my favorite, although I never finished Black Plague or Amnesia. All three are great choices, though. Probably 3 of the most frightening games of all time.

For me there were no games scarier than Penumbra: Black Plague. Not even close to this game.

But i haven't plated Amnesia (demo is not running on my laptop), so maybe Amnesia is even scarier ;)

Dark Fall games are pretty climatic too, but I can't get scared of a game where you cannot die.

From what I played of Black Plague, it still had Frictional Games' trademark mastery of atmosphere, tension, and outright panic...but it seemed a little silly. It was the weird voice in your head that put me off. Seemed like something more at home in Evil Dead than a gritty horror story.

That seems to be the general consensus, which is odd because I like it. I'd even go as far as to say Clarence is one of the coolest villains I've ever encountered in a video game.

Anyway, OP just go with both. You can't go wrong. Black Plague is at times scarier than Amnesia, though as far as atmosphere and tension go, Amnesia wins hands down.

I have PC and Xbox 360.

Damn, I can't think of one horror game that doesn't involve shooting that isn't Penumbra or Amnesia. We need more games like these two, for sure.

By non-shooter, I mean basic shooting is out. For instance, Bioshock made me jump and gave me the creeps a lot. I really liked it. But after seeing some demos of Amnesia, I was opened up to this new-to-me style of game. I thought I'd give the best a shot.

With kids, I have little money and little time for games. But I thought a good scary one would be fun to pick up during a Christmas sale.

Right now, I'm feeling like maybe getting Amnesia first, then going through the Penumbras if I like it pretty good.

I remembered looking at Dark Fall and not liking much about it, but Scratches looked like it might be a bit intense.

The most scary thing in Black Plague is you cannot fight enemies. You may just run like hell from them. Also, your character panics if you LOOK AT THEM (just freaks out)

Yeah. I will definitely play some more Black Plague.

Overture was good too, but you were fighting dogs and spiders and it was very easy to exploit AI.

I am not going to comment on Requiem, because it was horrible.

And for the op: In Amnesia you cannot fight enemies neither. You just run away shitless :D