Do you like horror games? Why?

[KVELLER]

I'm not talking about survival-horror stuff like System Shock 2 or Resident Evil, but "Proper horror games" like Outlast.

 

Personally, I can't see the appeal on them. I just don't see any fun in constantly run away from everything and hide in fear.

 

I do like survival-horror games though. To me, the limited supplies and dangerous enemies make a more believable setting, and is satisfying to succed despite that all the odds were against you (kind of what happens in Doom), but pure horror games are like "I succesfully escaped  from this haunted house where I shouldn't have entered in the first place! I also had to look for a key to the front door since I don't like going out through the windows."

 

At this point I may sound like I will hate anyone who likes these kind of games, but that's not the case. I'm genuinely curious, I would like to read your opinions.

[leodoom85]

It happens in the Silent Hill franchise for example. I prefer the creepy tension atmosphere in the entire game rather than jumpscares in some games...

[Mr. Freeze]

45 minutes ago, KVELLER said:

I'm not talking about survival-horror stuff like System Shock 2 or Resident Evil, but "Proper horror games" like Outlast.

 

what

 

 

[GarrettChan]

I don't like horror games, so I don't really appreciate games which put some horror things in the middle of the game, such as Thief: Deadly Shadow and Thief (2014). Yeah, I kind of appreciate the atmosphere building, but still... can't really enjoy it.

 

As Mr. Freeze said, it's difficult to fully understand your category here... Actually, I now think the zombies in Resident Evil is kind of cute... and the later games turned into a grass mowing game. BTW, do you count Dead Space (only 1, and maybe some part of 2) a survival horror game?

[ImpMan11203]

I personally like survival horror games. I like Doom 3 as a game, but not as a Doom game. That's the only horror game I can play, my computer is a piece of crap. I'll never forget when I walked into the bathroom in Doom 3 and looked into the mirror (if you haven't done that, then do it). I was playing it at night and alone and it scared the CRAP out of me :-D

Edited June 17, 2017 by ImpMan11203

[MrGlide]

This "proper" Horror Genre you seem to speak of is something quite new to the scene. These games where you've nothing much to defend yourself, if anything at all, like Amnesia, FNAF and outlast right? Games like that don't appeal to me much, if at all. Now silent hill or resident evil on the other hand are great, Deadspace is another great horror game imo.

[Remilia Scarlet]

Yeah, I really like those.  SOMA is one of my favorite games, and is an example of one where the main character didn't go into the situation willfully.  For me, the limitations (eg, no weapons) serve to enhance the fear, and it also feels more like a horror movie.

[KVELLER]

@Mr. Freeze I'm talking about what MrGlide said. Note that I used quotes in "proper horror games" because it's not like I think that games like Doom 3 don't deserve to be called like that, it's just that I was thinking about games where you don't have any means to defend yourself.

 

@GarrettChan I guess Dead Space counts since you have weapons, right? I haven't played them, so I don't know. This genre thing confuses me at times, anyways.

[GarrettChan]

16 minutes ago, MrGlide said:

Deadspace is another great horror game imo.

I only found the first Dead Space creepy. There's a scenario which you go back to the DS1 in DS2, and that's the most "uncomfortable" part for me. I guess another thing for this is weapons in DS1 is not that "universal". When they combined the grenade launcher with the pulse rifle in DS2, I just used one weapon to beat the game...

[GarrettChan]

@KVELLEROh, I get your point now. You meant to say Outlast is the one with only jump scares but you can't fight back, right?

 

Maybe you should try Dead Space after you get your computer back. I guess people like to see other people, who are playing the game, freaking out, crying, shouting, being crazy due to the popularity of streaming ;P

[Battle_Korbi]

NO.

 

I can tolerate survival horror games if they are cool enough. Doom 3 is a perfectly good survival horror game. Not a challenge too great that you cannot overcome by your own skills rather than coincidences. A good survival horror game can be finished without dying once.

 

Everything sans some survival horror games is a big fucking NO for me.

 

During my time serving the creepypasta fandom, I played a fair share of these horror games, or creepypasta games (like "You cannot call yourself a part of the creepypasta fandom if you haven't played a single horror game before!"), and now that I look back, I feel sorry for even trying. Tons of lost time.

 

I think the first horror game I played was Slender. From there I went for the Arrival, then SCP, then Amnesia, then other shitty indie games. I have tons of experience under my belt, so every new horror game is plain shit to me. They all follow the basic formulas, do every same shit over and over, adding nothing new than graphics.

 

Main motif? The protagonist is seriously depressed by something that happened before.

Monsters? Either have those sacks of meat with six legs all covered in human skin grabbing at the player, or a ghost with no eyes AND BLUUUD! or a demonic animal or some possesed humies.

Main antagonist? Always some demon. If not demon, alien. If not alien, then "basic hooman psyche whech makzus all monstas!", and if not that, a robot, if not a robot, a demon.

Setting? Varies. Frankly, the only original stuff these new games are coming up with.

Strategy? Grab something AND RUN!

Atmosphere? GOOOOREE!!! GUTS, ORGANS, SKIN!!! ALL FLAYED OVER THE PLACE LIKE CHRISTMAS DECORATIONS!!! FLIES BUZZING AROUND, AND BLUUUD ASWELL! AND LIKE 3000000 PEOPLE HANGED BY THE NECK JUMPING OUT OF NOWHERE!!! WAIT, THE PLAYER CANNOT UNDERSTAND WHO DID THIS, HE PROBABLY THINKS A BEAR MADE ALL THOSE GUTS WRITE "HELP US", LETS THROW IN SEVERAL SATANIC SIGNS, UPSIDE DOWN CROSSES, AND UPSIDE DOWN PENTAGRAMS AS WELL!!! BUT HOW WILL THE PLAYER TELL IF THEY ARE THE GOOD GUYS OR BAD GUYS?! QUICKLY, WRITE "YOU'RE NEXT!" ON ALL THOSE WALLS, AND USE BLOOD WHILE AT IT! WE HAVE TO SCARE THE PLAYER! WE HAVE TO... SHOOOOCK... THE PLAYER!

Goal? "HOO I have managed to outrun monsters but I am still a very Saad Maan, I should call the polis and wait for the sequel to come around again"

Worth it? Not.

 

...

 

...

 

...

 

You asked why.

[KVELLER]

Just now, GarrettChan said:

@KVELLEROh, I get your point now. You meant to say Outlast is the one with only jump scares but you can't fight back, right?

 

Maybe you should try Dead Space after you get your computer back. I guess people like to see other people, who are playing the game, freaking out, crying, shouting, being crazy due to the popularity of streaming ;P

I remember that a guy on YouTube actually said something like "I only play horror games because I know people like to watch me getting scared, but I don't understand people who play these on their own."

 

And about DS, I'm not a fan of TPS, but I really shouldn't just ignore a good game because of that, so I'll give it a shot in the future.

[MrGlide]

10 minutes ago, Battle_Kirby said:

GOOOOREE!!! GUTS, ORGANS, SKIN!!! ALL FLAYED OVER THE PLACE LIKE CHRISTMAS DECORATIONS!!! FLIES BUZZING AROUND, AND BLUUUD ASWELL!

I actually enjoy this setting, Evil within had quite a bit of fun stuff like this. 

 

Also anyone looking for good Survival Horror experiences should really take a good look at what the PSX has to offer, The original Silent Hill 1&2, Resident Evil 1-3, Parasite Eve 1&2 are all very stellar games imo.

[Battle_Korbi]

5 minutes ago, MrGlide said:

I actually enjoy this setting, Evil within had quite a bit of fun stuff like this.

Good for you then, there is a entire market of games themed like this.

 

I think these are just copy-pasted design ideas, like "the protagonist is crazy, so instead of imagining penguins talking about how blue grass is, the protagonist actually sees human skin and blood everywhere because 15 years ago someone died/got raped/was tortured and thus the protagonist has to "fight" against monsters which reflect on his psychology and other Freudian stuff so that is why there are tits and dicks and balls in this game as well"

 

Come to think of it, I haven't seen a original horror idea for a while now. It is either the protagonist is crazy or its actually real and they have to run away. What do they run from? Depends on the developer, but it is all basic stuff that cycles from game to game.

[ShoDemo]

When with friends: They are quite fun, because we get to hear each other's screams and see our faces, being scared to death.

Alone: I don't like them that much.

 

First of all, I am not that brave, even though I don't want to say it. Only horror games I remember playing are Amnesia: The Dark Descent (the best of its kind I would say, but I haven't finished it yet), Outlast (only reached the crazy doctor scene and then I stopped playing) and Doom 3, if you let me call it a horror game. These were good games, but I don't find any point in getting scared, when alone, so they don't interest me much and I don't know if I will ever get to replay them.

 

Second, I prefer atmosphere over jumpscares. A game or movie with great atmosphere, can be scary for every second that passes by, but it needs for the game-movie designer to be a genius in that stuff, if you want the product to be successful. On the other hand, jumpscares are easier to make, but I absolutely hate jumpscares and when they happen every once in a minute, they become way boring. And today's horror is mostly based on jumpscares, if I am not mistaken, whether it would be a game or a movie. I mean, seriosuly FNAF? I tried to play for a minute and it was more boring than even writing exams. Or you could say exams are way more fun and scary than that shit, which they try to sell to me a horror masterpiece. Seriously though, nothing was going on and don't tell me it would be fun to wait for the jumpscare to appear, while I am like, tied with rope on a chair or something, for the whole game. That is the crappiest concept I could ever have thought and even if it is executed well (I highly doubt it), I still don't like it. If I was in that situation, I would just run away and pray not to come face to face with the robots there, but I still wouldn't surrender to a lifeless bucket of rusty bolts, even if it appeared on my way out (I must have been brain dead to do that).

[june gloom]

What the hell is this "proper horror game" nonsense? As much as I hate the "I have no hands and I must wank" subgenre, it's still an indisputable part of the survival horror genre. You'd have an easier time arguing that the likes of Dead Space isn't survival horror (I'd say it is, but Dead Space 2 isn't due to its greater emphasis on action. Now how's that for semantics?)

Now, to actually answer your question... hell to the no. This recent trend of Amnesia clones is super fucking irritating because I really can't stand the contrived total lack of player agency. What kind of idiot wouldn't at least get a fire poker or something to hit the monsters with? Outlast is one of the worst ones because maybe the guy would be able to defend himself if he would PUT THE FUCKING CAMERA DOWN. The only game of this genre that I even enjoy is SOMA, and that's almost entirely due to the story and themes.

[KVELLER]

Just now, dethtoll said:

What the hell is this "proper horror game" nonsense? As much as I hate the "I have no hands and I must wank" subgenre, it's still an indisputable part of the survival horror genre. You'd have an easier time arguing that the likes of Dead Space isn't survival horror (I'd say it is, but Dead Space 2 isn't due to its greater emphasis on action. Now how's that for semantics?)

Well, I'm sorry. I'm just having a hard time knowing how this genre, subgenre or whatever it is, is actually called. Maybe I should've given a description of it instead of just creating a name for it off the top of my head.

[Voros]

Horror games can be fun without jumpscares. Sometimes the atmosphere alone creates tension. 

 

if the object of interest rarely appears in game, or you know where the object is, the setting can be frightening. The less you see, the more scarier it gets.

 

Horror games should take more advantage of camera movement, such as by using tilts to simulate head tilting. The more realistic the movement feels, the more immersed it can be.

 

Horror games shouldn't be afraid to use objects that are actually creepy. For example, In that gameplay reveal of Agony, you can find a demon/thing, which takes this baby like creature on a small table and smashes it's head with a big, right there. I was freaked out upon seeing this. I think that's the problem with horror. The world is mostly static, with blood graffiti on walls most of the time. No, minor moving stuff doesn't count, like some random squishy thing which has some kind of breathing movement.

 

IMO, I thought FNAF was a nice game, because I found myself really immersed into it. You have to give it all if you want to survive each day, meaning no outside distraction. You can't move from your room. You find yourself anxiously checking at everything. Sometimes you can get glimpses of the robots outside your door. It's a game of patience, where you're only weapon is a small room and sometimes, a flashlight. But sheesh, that fanbase. The only thing that might have made it more interesting would probably making the world and animatronics not static, cause then I'm just fighting off a bunch of SCP-173s.

 

Horror games can be better if the world was more interactive (and I mean betond the necessary interactions), and consisted of actual freaky things.

[KVELLER]

Just now, Voros said:

if the object of interest rarely appears in game, or you know where the object is, the setting can be frightening. The less you see, the more scarier it gets.

That concept was used a lot in the first Alien film, and it ended up being the best one in the franchise IMO.

[HorrorMovieRei]

I'm not sure why you're making the distinction between survival-horror and "proper horror"(?), but I think the former are the best type of Horror games.

Resident Evil, Silent Hill, Call of Cthulhu, those are all great. The type of horror game I don't really like is stuff like Amnesia, or Slender, where you're basically just running from a monster, and once it catches you it just goes "BOO" and you lose. That's not to say that this type of horror game can't be done well(Clock Tower was great for example), but I feel generally it's a type of approach that doesn't work well on video games.

[ImpMan11203]

@HorrorMovieGuy this is way off-topic, but your name completely fits in with this thread ;-)

[june gloom]

55 minutes ago, KVELLER said:

Well, I'm sorry. I'm just having a hard time knowing how this genre, subgenre or whatever it is, is actually called. Maybe I should've given a description of it instead of just creating a name for it off the top of my head.

Honestly I'd argue it doesn't deserve a name other than "Amnesia clone" or possibly "Youtube bait." It's a terribly uninspired subgenre built on cheap scares and stupid gimmicks that has not changed in any real way since Amnesia (though the core of Amnesia's structure can be found in the likes of Penumbra and Clock Tower, it was Amnesia that popularized the subgenre.) It's completely stagnant thanks to a rigid definition, which demands a total or near-total lack of player agency. Any attempt to give the player agency completely changes the game. Alien: Isolation is not just Amnesia in space; the difference between "wuss" and "wuss with a gun" is a yawning gap.

 

I'd argue there's nothing inherently wrong with leaving a player unarmed and defenseless for a portion of a game, forcing them to improvise and adopt new strategies; the problem lies in stretching an entire game to suit that style. The problem lies in the way the market works -- Amnesia was admittedly something relatively new and Pewdiepie's LP greatly increased the game's profile and popularity. All of a sudden developers and publishers smelled money and the next thing you know Amnesia clones are everywhere. So here we are, seven years later, and the subgenre has gone just about nowhere. The market cycle seems to be coming to an end, however, as major titles like SOMA have dried up leaving smaller indie studios to attempt to recapture lightning in a bottle.

[KVELLER]

To anyone wondering why I said "proper horror games" (stupid term, I know) it was just because those games where you're unarmed are supposed to be scarier.

 

I'm also sick, so what I say may not be as coherent as it would be if I was ok. I even considered staying away from any social media for a couple days.

[june gloom]

I hope you feel better!

 

Also, horror is pretty subjective unfortunately, so games that are theoretically SUPPOSED to be scary aren't necessarily so.

[Merry Widow]

There weren't any horror games when I was a kid.No home computers either.Always liked horror movies and books, and now that I'm way older, it has extended to video games, if that makes any sense.

[Memfis]

Personally, I'm still trying to figure out the whole phenomenon of people watching movies or playing games with the intention of getting scared. I guess I kinda understand wanting to experience something thrilling, to test yourself and so on, but part of me is still like "WTF, these people are intentionally exposing themselves to something unpleasant and disturbing?!". I wonder how much it is a cultural thing. Like, I can't really think of any Russian horror films right now. Maybe it's because we have enough horror in our lives already. :D

[torekk]

Back when I was younger I used to watch my older brother play Resident Evil or Silent Hill on the PS1. I'm still not sure if that was good for me, seeing I must've been at the age of 8 or so. I mean I'm still afraid of darkness, but I learned to handle it.

 

But it still took a while until I started to play any horror games on my own, I was even scared of Saw with the age of 13 the first time I saw it, but I still hate puppets in horror movies.

Then Penumbra was recommended by an online friend of mine back when the demo came out and I really liked the gameplay, well besides running from the enemies and hiding in the dark. But I still forced myself through it just because of the story. The second one was obviously much more scarier than the first, since the first basically only confronts you with animals and gives you weapons at some later point, while the second is just running away from some masochistic creatures. But I found once you really face the enemy and take a look at him, I wasn't feared any longer. That's propably because you're more afraid of the unknown and by running away you mostly just can make out a slight hint of what they look like.

 

However then came Amnesia, and the developers basically said "Why only have one creature per level running around, when you can put there SEVERAL, and to spice it up, some are just fake ones"... yeah fuck that. I haven't played that further than the demo.

 

Actually I think of all the horror games I played, I only finished Penumbra.

 

I'm not sure if the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. series count as a horror game, I mean the laboratories in those games are usually scary, with all those mutants, ghosts and controllers dicking around. Also the whole atmosphere in them.

[Job]

Yes. They make me feel tingly. 

[MFG38]

I haven't been properly scared by a horror game since Amnesia: The Dark Descent. That was the last game I recall scaring me shitless - and even then, that was way back in 2011 or some shit. When I tried replaying it a year or two later, it didn't have the same effect on me. Then again, I suppose it'd make sense that it didn't, since it wasn't my first experience with the game.

 

I've played a couple of "horror" games since then, including Slender. I use the word "horror" in quotes because quite frankly, those games failed to accomplish what they set out to do in the first place - make me feel scared. In fact, I didn't feel scared at all, but rather bored. And when what's supposed to be a horror game makes me more bored than scared, that's when I know they done fucked up. That and most horror games follow the same old tedious formula lately: throw the player into a dark place, make them look for shit or solve puzzles, throw in some jumpscares/chase sequences/shit turning into other shit.

 

And that's why I don't like "horror" games much.

[Voros]

Why is Slender even being mentioned? It's not even that good.