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Horror-ble video games
Topic Started: Jun 21 2015, 11:26 PM (824 Views)
Doomguy
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I've been thinking about "horror" games recently, regarding which ones actually induce a feeling of horror in the player, and which ones are actually fun to play.

I'm by no means particularly experienced in this genre, so any suggestions I'd be interested to hear, but the scariest game I've personally played was Amnesia: The Dark Descent. I played the Penumbra games before it, but this one was a large step up. The atmosphere and sound design speak for themselves, but the mechanics of not being able to fight at all are what really gives the player a genuine sense of vulnerability, which is where I think the real horror of it comes from. It certainly has the reputation for it, this game was very popular when it was new and I'm sure many people would still point to it for anybody looking for a scary game...

However, I never finished it. Why? Simply put, it's an absolutely atrocious game. Seriously, it's bad. I don't think I've played a more boring, arduous title in recent memory. You don't do anything in it! It's an A to B simulator, with the damn near the minimum amount of mechanics to achieve this. You hide in the dark and avoid looking at monsters, solve kinda lame puzzles and you use the neat little physics system to open drawers, doors etc. Honestly, for a while after I quit the game it felt like I'd stopped playing it because I was too scared, but I came to realise that it was ultimately boredom that did it. If I could have been that scared and that immersed in an environment like that whilst playing a fun, rewarding game it would probably have been 10/10 shit for me. I personally play games for gameplay first and foremost, and there's just ultimately nothing that's going to keep me in a game that's "Hey, come play our game! You'll be scared shitless! Oh, you wanted to have some "fun" while you're at it? Sorry, never heard of the stuff".

Now to look at the complete opposite end of the spectrum of "horror" games, what I'm playing right now. Dead Space 2. This game is fun. There's combat, good combat as well, in it. There's gear you can unlock and upgrade. There's magical science telekinesis and stasis powers. There's cool zero gravity environment stuff. It's actually fun to play. However, I really couldn't say it was a horror game with a straight face. It's not scary. It's very regularly startling, due to it's total reliance on jump scares, but I'm not actually feeling horror one bit as I play it. I'm not scared to go into the next room, or of the monsters. I'm a bad-ass who's going to blast them away. As hard as it's clearly trying with the 3spooky5me imagery, environments and set pieces, it just doesn't work. But, it's fun, and that's what matters most.

A game between these two that manages to make me feel vulnerable whilst actually having fun gameplay is Resident Evil 4. I think it's an inferior action game to Dead Space, but it's worse controls / combat mechanics really do make me feel scared (to a certain degree) of the things I'm fighting. I think the atmosphere is also a bit more tastefully horror, too. Dead Space feels more like a "Oh, some shit got messed up here I see", whereas resident evil 4 actually feels foreboding to a degree. I feel worried in that game. It's not as scary as Amnesia, but it's infinitely more fun to play than it which makes it the best (action)horror game I've played. All the RE games before 4 look absolutely disgustingly drab and dated, I've yet to play 5 (which I have on Steam), and 6 seems to have been met with a fair amount of negativity so I'm not sure I'll ever get that one. I do ultimately like both Dead Space 1 and 2 more than RE4 though, just because they're more fun action games.

Anyway, the point I'm making / the question I'm asking is do true horror games have to compromise traditional gameplay "fun" in order to actually achieve horror?
Edited by Doomguy, Jun 21 2015, 11:33 PM.
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Moo
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Amnesia sounds like Outlast in that it's a horror game where you don't fight anything, but I was never bored. Evading enemies is pulsating and exploring the asylum is genuinely scary and feels cinematic. If I recall correctly, it has a simple mechanic where you use a camcorder light to see enemies and avoid them when you're in dark areas, and you have to collect batteries to keep it running. It was consistently fun. The story isn't bad either. Might be worth snagging during the Steam sale if it's cheap.

Resident Evil 4 has good gameplay, but I was disheartened that it wasn't as scary as REmake, which is the only Resident Evil that freaked me out. The atmosphere in the mansion is so unsettling. I played it when I was 14 and it scared the hell out of me. There's a set of locked double doors in the mansion's foyer, and if you try to open them you hear a monster scream painfully on the other side and then a chain rattling, and I don't know why, but I was so frightened by this that I dreaded going down there. Though the story is moronic, the monster's distant screams (which reoccur) combine with info gathered from diaries and letters to create a dramatic build of sorts to a scary climax halfway through the game. Unfortunately, the game just isn't scary once the science crap kicks in. I don't know if the spookiness would hold up now that I know what's around the corner and I'm older, but none of the REs I've played come close to REmake's horror atmosphere.

The Last of Us is incredibly good at building suspense, and the cool thing is how much restraint it has. I don't think it even has a jump scare: the suspense mostly just gives way to calm as you enter a well-lit area or there's some development. When the tension starts building the next time you're dreading that they're finally going to go for it, but it never happens.

P.T. was so scary I dreaded turning corners, which is basically all you do. Unfortunately I got really annoyed by how obscure the puzzles were and some of the sound effects (like the thing screaming in the fridge) started to piss me off. But I'm so bummed out regardless that Silent Hills isn't happening. There really isn't a game out there that's genuinely terrifying while not being bogged down in other areas like story and gameplay. I would love a true horror game built in the mold of The Last of Us.
Edited by Moo, Jun 22 2015, 02:00 AM.
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nuttz
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Alien Isolation is pretty damn scary. It loses a lot of its tension in areas where you fight humans or anroids but the vast majority of the game is against the alien and it works incredibly well. Even later on in the game when you think you would get used to it it just ups the stakes perfectly and the use of save points keeps the tension high all the time.
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Twisted
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I played half of RE4 on the Wii and it constantly had my heart rate going as I just didn't know what would be around the corner. Got it on PC now and have to get around to playing it soon.

I tried to watch a giant bomb guy play PT, but just couldn't get more than halfway through. I wasn't even playing the damn game and it creeped me the fuck out.
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Doomguy
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Outlast from what I'd seen of it does look considerably more fun than Amnesia, I might give it a try some time.

And yeah, bought Alien Isolation in the sale I will probably play it after I'm done with black flag.
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Derpstrom
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It's toucgh to find games that are great horror games as well as great games but the first F.E.A.R. game springs to mine (come at me) and the Fatal Frame titles. Admittedly those are slower paced and not necessarily the types of games people will enjoy if they're after an action title but I found them to progress and play well. Condemned was another that had good atmosphere btu was, I felt, let down by avg. gameplay.

Asied from those already mentioned I can't really think of any others.
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jamesh
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I think the first Dead Space was a better horror game than the second, even if the second had improved game mechanics. It had the benefit of everything being fresh, and had the feeling of isolation that was missing in the second.

I agree that a lot of it was just jump scares, but there were some parts that felt new. Like the first time you're out in a vacuum and realise that you can no longer hear the monsters creeping up behind you. I think I also preferred the zero gravity sections over the second game. By not giving you full "jet pack" manoeuvrability you had to commit to leaping towards another wall, sometimes no knowing what you'd find there. And the leaps took enough time for you to tell that the landing spot wasn't quite so safe, but not letting you do anything about it.
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Twisted
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@Chickan: Come at you for what? FEAR was a great game. I don't think I've seen many people say otherwise.
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Doomguy
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Well providing it manages to not shit the bed Indigo Prophecy style, Alien Isolation is my favourite horror game by a country mile. It's legitimately scary due to actual constant vulnerability and it's actually fun to play.
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I hated Fear but then again I came to it later on and found the controls really tedious.

Dead Space and Dead Space 2 are great horror games in my opinion. Also, Amnesia. That's pretty darn superb.

I haven't played Alien Isolation yet. I will do though soon.

Also, Project Zero/Fatal Frame. Loved those games. Really scared the crap out of me. I remember really liking the Forbidden Siren series way back when.

One of the games I'm dying to eventually play when I do get around to it is Corpse Party. Apparently it's supposed to be one heck of a great horror series.
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Patto
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jamesh
Jun 22 2015, 04:19 PM
I think the first Dead Space was a better horror game than the second, even if the second had improved game mechanics. It had the benefit of everything being fresh, and had the feeling of isolation that was missing in the second.

I agree that a lot of it was just jump scares, but there were some parts that felt new. Like the first time you're out in a vacuum and realise that you can no longer hear the monsters creeping up behind you. I think I also preferred the zero gravity sections over the second game. By not giving you full "jet pack" manoeuvrability you had to commit to leaping towards another wall, sometimes no knowing what you'd find there. And the leaps took enough time for you to tell that the landing spot wasn't quite so safe, but not letting you do anything about it.
One thing I liked about Dead Space 2 was they did away with every single vent in the game being used. By the halfway point of Dead Space you knew that if nothing bursts out of a vent when you walk past then something is sure to burst out when you revisit the room.
From what I recall 2 sort of did away with that, bringing some suspense back to the game. Let's not talk about 3....
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Doomguy
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driverformac
Jul 24 2015, 06:32 PM
Download the Mac software and Mac drivers to keep your Printers, Scanners, Digital Camera.Kodak mac driver
Absolutely horrifying.
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