Horror Games - What do you find scary?

[Toaofgames]

Uncertainty and psychological horror works with me. Gore and disturbing pictures only grose me out, rather than scare.

 

[JAD94]

Seems like uncertainty and psychological horrors are the most common horror factor you guys mentioned . I dont blood and gore scary either, just unnerving. 

 

[demonhead]

I remember the games where you're chased being scary. Like in Resident evil 2, 3 and the Clocktower games. Atmosphere is important for the scariness. The music and scenery. 

 

[JAD94]

I love the original resident evil games for the PS1. I also love resident evil 4 and think that's the actual last scary R.E release. What's your guys take on resident evil 4?

 

[Razelle]

There are two things I find scary.

One where everything seems like a dream come true, with a disturbing undertone that once is unsurfaced, the true horror begins. Like stumbling upon a happy community town and being taken in, shown proper respect, and given plenty of food. Not realizing that your new friends are actually fattening you up to eat.

The other is a bit harder to explain, but it's basically a very hard realization that causes an endless wave of fear causing a different brand of cold chills. One example being you're working on a case with your partner to catch a serial killer, and once you find the killer, your partner invites you over to celebrate. While the two of you are having a good time unwinding, your partner slowly reveals how he/she framed the current suspect, and giving away certain signs that were peppered into the game to prove your partner truly is the killer. Your drink was spiked with something, and you're not sure if you'll wake up after being given a bombshell like that.

Both of these are pretty easy to make fun and interesting, but not so easy to make scary, which is probably why only one or two instances of the above have gotten to me.

 

[JAD94]

There are two things I find scary.

One where everything seems like a dream come true, with a disturbing undertone that once is unsurfaced, the true horror begins. Like stumbling upon a happy community town and being taken in, shown proper respect, and given plenty of food. Not realizing that your new friends are actually fattening you up to eat.

The other is a bit harder to explain, but it's basically a very hard realization that causes an endless wave of fear causing a different brand of cold chills. One example being you're working on a case with your partner to catch a serial killer, and once you find the killer, your partner invites you over to celebrate. While the two of you are having a good time unwinding, your partner slowly reveals how he/she framed the current suspect, and giving away certain signs that were peppered into the game to prove your partner truly is the killer. Your drink was spiked with something, and you're not sure if you'll wake up after being given a bombshell like that.

Both of these are pretty easy to make fun and interesting, but not so easy to make scary, which is probably why only one or two instances of the above have gotten to me.

Why are you not a movie director, or screen writer! That's a brilliant plot right there

Yeah there's movies or shows out there that may have similar plots but I love it!

 

[CrazyCrab]

Before we begin, I'm a coward, so yeah, take everything I say with a little grain of salt. ^^'

Personally as a person that was ''assaulted'' with one of the more gory Tarantino movies at school along pearls like one of the modern interpretations of Frankenstein full of needles (my teachers were very... laissez–faire I suppose), I'm no too vulnerable to video game violence. it's just not that bad to be honest. Heck, sometimes it's even kinda funny, especially in horror games. Yep, I've been involuntarily scarred beyond belief, you have no clue Outlast didn't make me even twitch with it's violence and gore, neither does Mortal Kombat. It's kinda sad though, but eh, I guess there's no going back now.

Now, what else can be scary? Some jumpscares out of nowhere can make me jump, but is that really scary? I consider it more of a reflex, I mean it's only natural. Yeah, some jumpscares are better than others and there is a degree to the creepiness so I wouldn't reject all of them, but eh, most of the time they're the bad ones that you can see coming a mile away.

With those out of the way, what do I find scary? 

It's all in the atmosphere for me. Be it the creepy stillness that feels like a prelude to the storm or even a gory room - yes, while gore is not really that scary, it does add to the atmosphere when done well. A couple of creepy sounds and things that you really don't want to do yet you have to do them anyway are also pretty good at that... I'll never forget that one mission in an underground lab where the game tells you to find the code for the door while there is clearly something very angry bashing it on the other side. And yep, you have to enter the code one character at the time. I can't count the number of the quicksaves I used there. Darkness is also pretty effective, but excessive darkness is just annoying for me... it's like playing with the screen off. 

I know that many will disagree with me on that one, but I find unbeatable / untouchable enemies just plain annoying, usually barely spooky. Like that big fat guy in Outlast, it takes him so many hits to kill you most of the time it's kinda hilarious, it's barely a threat. I just always find myself thinking... ''pick up this rock and throw it at him, just out of pure frustration you idiot!'', and that's why I find enemies that can be killed far more terrifying.  Enemies that stalk you, try to flank and outmaneuver you are far scarier for me, even if I'm carrying a gun that kill them in one shot. It's barely a good thing when they're so close to you that you can't even aim.

Well, those are the things that work for me in general... now, onto minor stuff.

-Long black haired little girls that just stand in hallways or crawl towards you. Yeah, I'm not having any of that, ever. I'd rather watch a marathon of the worst telenovellas ever made instead of getting anywhere near that stuff.

-Paranormal stuff, like poltergeists and things like visions of the dead. Those flashbacks of shadows of dead people in Metro were extremely creepy for me. Found a video, but, as people on the internet put it, 2spooky4me. Watch at your own expense ^^




Heh, my posts have been getting longer and longer lately.

Anyway, this is all from the perspective of a pc gamer who's not played those classic resident evil and silent hill games, I'm a bit ''young'' to horror games I suppose. The only games that I stopped playing / watching because I was too scared to carry on and needed a break were ''Stalker: Shadow of Chernobyl'', ''Metro (in general)'' and ''Dead Space (in general)''. I'm sure that there were some other ones but that's all I can remember for now.

 

[Quigon]

Best example of horror done to almost complete perfection (sans vague and silly endgame solutions):

Seriously, for looking on how horror should be done 'right', prescribed games should be PT, Silent Hill 2 and Amnesia. Atmosphere is absolutely everything for a horror game, without it everything else is so moot it's unreal. You won't get jump scares done right if the atmosphere isn't already set. Tension should be linked to that, with an almost random seeming rise and fall.

 

[JAD94]

@crazycrab

Ah yes I just love your post ^_^

I think unbeatable enemies are perfect for horror games so long as it is done effectively. In outlast's case, where it takes the fat monster numerous hits to kill you it really diminishes the horror factor. The dead space trilogy had a regenerative monster that could never really beat killed, it would continue to stalk for a good portion of the chapter and it did a fair amount of damage to you, like 1/3 of your hp. You also had to avoid other regular creatures who spawned, while trying to complete your mission. Love those scenes <3, so much tension and uncertainty 

 

[LooseLeaf]

For me, the scariest part of any game is a mix of helplessness and uncertainty. The best horror games, like Amnesia and FNaF, gives you this feeling like you're restricted. With both games you can't fight the thing coming after you. You just have to try and keep it from coming at you by hiding or closing doors at the right time. The uncertainty comes from never quite knowing where the monster is. Both games have enemies that ALWAYS show up when you don't expect them to. The let's plays of Amnesia always get me because every single time I put my guard down, the monsters show up.

The only other thing I can add, which may be for me specifically, is music. Hell, even in things that aren't meant to be scary, I get freaked out if the music is creepy enough (When I played the sims as a kid, I'd always freak out every time my house was getting robbed because of that music). Maybe not simply music, but any good ambiance will freak people out. Breathing or heartbeat noises, something sharp scraping on the wall, footsteps coming closer and closer, screams in the distance. Anything that unsettles people will make them vulnerable to a good scare.

 

[sock]

I like murder in the dark... But that's just me.

 

[EternalShadow]

Ugh that Sims house robbing music xD

Sound effects get me the most, like when being chased by an Amnesia monster ~_~

 

[Tornado Samurai]

Ugh that Sims house robbing music xD

Sound effects get me the most, like when being chased by an Amnesia monster ~_~

I sometimes play the Sims 1 on an old computer. I hated that burglar sound too. The absolute, undeniably scariest thing in Sims 1 were the sounds. There's even moaning or something inhuman making small noises in the background. ;-; And most of the time, you didn't even know when it was going to happen. The other SE's that play when death and fire are on par as well.

First time I heard it, it was a burglar invasion (was years ago) while playing at night. Let's just say it wasn't just the sim that almost ran terrified out of his own house...

 

[Oddball]

Just curious. If you use atmosphere and good writing before a jumpscare, and other horror mechanics after, coukd the jump scare be scary?

 

[Prizmik]

@Oddball

Just curious. If you use atmosphere and good writing before a jumpscare, and other horror mechanics after, coukd the jump scare be scary?

The crucial distinction to make here is, between something being startling, and something being scary. The so called jumpscare is not and can not be scary, because it happens so fast you are startled, but can not process what is going on to be in fear.

I would like you to consider screamer videos (videos that pretend to be normal with no hint of horror, but then are very quickly interrupted by a jumpscare). These videos have no buildup, however if you do not know it is a screamer video, you will be startled very successfully. This should reveal to us clearly, how jumpscares work wholly independently of any horror setup.

in fact good scary atmosphere might even reduce the shock of the jumpscare as you might be expecting it. If you are scared, you are scared not by the jumpscare but exactly because of the already scary atmosphere, that the jumpscare does nothing for, it only startles you, with diminishing returns every time it is repeated.

At best it will have no impact on the horror itself, if used as a very seldom spice, but in most cases it is a detriment.

 

[Caitlin]

o_o I find that when I am highly focused on something, or the area is uncertain, I am a little bit more likely to be cautious... but let's be honest, I jump opening up a can of biscuits, even when I know it's coming... but not blink an eye to a zombie....go figure.

 

[JosephSeraph]

I tried to think of something specific but yeah my answer's pretty vague: psychological. But I do like horror that plays its tricks on existentalism and making you actually think, not horror that makes you believe your house is hounted.

Now curiously though, I like horror titles more for the beauty and poetry in them than the actual horror content. Most horror stories, especially ghost ones, tend to have a poetic aspect to them, and it is that that I thoroughly enjoy. The antagonists are more human than the majority of human antagonists in movies/games.

You can't really dislike any of the Fatal Frame main antagonists, for example. You feel sorry for them, and appreciate the beauty of their story.

 

[Scythuz]

For scary horror it seems like the indirect path is the most effective one.  Jumpscares might get me once but I'll soon lose interest in them and if that's all your game has going for it I'm probably not going to play it for very long.

I think games like Amnesia, Penumbra and Thief pull this off well.  As you play each of these games you will find notes that tell the story of an area, notes that hint at what you might encounter.  

I think Thief 3's cradle level pulled this off extremely well.  In fact (spoilers ahead) the entire first section had no enemies at all, the enemy was the sound design and recognition of areas mentioned within the various notes and from objects of note that have been abandoned.  When you make it to the second area it starts to show a surprising amount of character development, development you need to understand in order to deal with the monsters, after all, the only hint you are given that there are monsters nearby are the lights flickering.

Basically, a game needs to lead players on more by fear of what they might see rather than what they actually see.  Most fears are in the imagination or exaggerated by it so it's best to feed as much as possible.  Playing tricks on the player using the sound design and clever placement of objects is far more effective than relying on a cheap jumpscare with loud music.  

 

[Aleks]

It really depends for me. I like a wide range of horror, the problem is if it can be done right. Psychological horrors, when done right, tend to be my favorite horrors because it gets inside my head (in a positive way of course! haha) not because of random things falling down or making noises, no not that. By "psychological horror" I really do mean "gets inside your head", like for example bringing you as the player into hell or your mind where you're tortured or shown something traumatising to your character. Stuff like that (I probably sound like a nutjob by now).

So games like Penumbra really got to me and Fatal Frame, which have been some of the greatest horror games I have ever played. Also, I might be the only one, but Maniac Mansion got to me a lot too.

 

[Vox Novus]

I don't play a lot of these types of games but the best one I can think of is probably 999.

This game succeeds in being scary because you don't know what is coming in the next part of the game. The game will describe your characters seemingly reaching freedom as you discover others of the group murdered out of the blue until finally you as the main character falls. Most know right off the bat that the game has multiple endings and thus there is only one good scenario but despite that it never seems to cease being surprising or creepy/scary as you explore different parts of the game and the group is slain in new and different ways.

The game also makes sure to have the main character travel with different members of the cast at different points so that you learn about their history and grow closer to them. The first time I played I followed around my favorite character whenever possible. This works in the games favor when a character you trust seems to betray you or dies.

The part of this game though that makes it scary is the writing. Sure the game has blood and gore but what adds an extra layer on top of that is the writing where you have to read the characters describing the stench of the smell of a room after a character is blown to bits by a bomb or the emotions of the character as they examine an electric chair and know that they have to use it in some way to try and reach freedom. The game even interlaces horrifying sub-stories into the main plot masterfully, giving you extra scary things to consider.

I made the decision (mistake?) to play this game late at night usually right before I went to sleep lol.