White Day: A Labyrinth Named School has not only gained a cult following among horror fans, it also earned a reputation for being one of the scariest horror games ever made long before the likes of Amnesia: The Dark Descent and here are some reasons why.
WARNING: As per Nightmare Fuel guidelines, all spoilers are UNMARKED! You Have Been Warned!
- The fact that the game developers actually had to make patches people could download in order to make the game less scary because people were complaining that the game was too terrifying should probably tell you something. One particular example would be the face of the ghost that emerges from the walls early on. It can be very terrifying if you manage to get a glimpse of it in dim light.
- Many of the ghosts are this, especially the ones that can hurt Hui-Min. There's the floating head that makes the screen shake and giggles madly when it reaches you (linked above), an undead mermaid who tries to drown the protagonist should he fall in her pool, a murderous headmistress wielding scissors, and a woman wearing a white shirt hanging from the ceiling, just to name a few.
- Though Na-Yeong (said woman in white) is revealed to be good all along, guiding Hui-Min throughout the game even after her death.
- The janitors are possessed, causing them to become murderous and stalk the halls of the school at night, weilding baseball bats that are used upon unsuspecting intruders, mainly students.
- It says a lot that the scariest enemies in a video game full of murderous spirits are the living, "normal" ones. They arguably could be viewed as the main threat, being the foes you encounter the most and actively trying to kill Hui-Min. Bong-Gu (the first encountered janitor) has a limp but Dal-Su doesn't, meaning he's easily able to catch up to Hui-Min and beat him to death.
- During the cutscene where you first encounter Bong-Gu, he appears out of nowhere and gives Hui-Min a murderous look while going after him. The latter runs, visibly terrified until Ji-Hyeon pulls him into a room and teaches him how to avoid the janitors. If she hadn't coincidentally been hiding there to begin with, he would have likely died early on, like the boy who gets caught by Dal-Su during the tutorial stage.
- The general atmosphere of the game as a whole. When nothing is happening, the soft ambience and sound effects that play will likely leave the player in a state of paranoia, especially if they haven't saved yet and are just waiting for something to pop out and scare them. Apart from encountering three (very much alive) female students in cutscenes that are bound to serve as a reprieve, there's nothing to expect except for enemies, and complete silence... just silence.
- In the original version of White Day that came out in the early 2000s, the limited graphics actually heightened this, being relatively primitive and blocky in nature. There weren't too many ghosts, the bosses were much harder due to not really being explained in the story, and the characters looked a lot different than they do today. All of these factors would have added to the feeling of helplessness and confusion when experiencing White Day for the first time.