8 Classic Horror Games to Play this Halloween Weekend

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8 Classic Horror Games to Play this Halloween Weekend

Looking for some spooky games to play for Halloween? Try these eight classics on for size.

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Silentpony_v1legacy

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1. Never played it. Looks interesting.
2. Played it, loved it, has no replay value because you know the tricks the game has up its sleeve.
3. Never played it but that just looks silly...I mean that's a skeleton playing the piano! That's Army of Darkness that is!
4. Played it...it didn't age well...
5. Never played it, but it looks kinda' like Hexen and I loved that game!
6. Honestly never heard of it. On Steam?
7. Its Resident Evil man. Its an action game with a violin soundtrack! Any game where you can get a grenade launcher isn't exactly The Exorcist. Still perfectly fine game, just not what I'd consider horror.
8. Sigh I'll never understand why this game is so popular. Oh wait, yes I do. Because Yahtzee said so. Look don't get me wrong, its a fine game for its time. But it bores the shit out of me! The vast majority of the game is spent in a empty town, doing nothing. And to quote our dear leader Yahtzee "there's a fine line between atmosphere and just having fuck all happen." and SH2 has a lot of fuck all not happening.

And seriously, Silent Hill 3 doesn't make the list?! At least shit happens in that one!
 

Fiz_The_Toaster

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Sanitarium!

Best bargain bin game I've ever played. I'm really sad I can't find my version of the game anymore because there are times were I want to play it again. I should see if GOG has it there.

Silentpony said:
8. Sigh I'll never understand why this game is so popular. Oh wait, yes I do. Because Yahtzee said so. Look don't get me wrong, its a fine game for its time. But it bores the shit out of me! The vast majority of the game is spent in a empty town, doing nothing. And to quote our dear leader Yahtzee "there's a fine line between atmosphere and just having fuck all happen." and SH2 has a lot of fuck all not happening.

And seriously, Silent Hill 3 doesn't make the list?! At least shit happens in that one!
Because at the time it was that important of a game, and Yahtzee liking it really has nothing to do with it. The creators of the game created something that really messed with you and it deserves the praise it gets. Don't get me wrong, I love SH3 more, but SH2 is really that good and it does a better job as messing with you than it does in SH3
 

Silentpony_v1legacy

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Fiz_The_Toaster said:
Silentpony said:
SNIP
I guess? But I remember when the game came out. The reaction was good bordering on lukewarm. It was scary and all, but just another game for another console gen. It didn't become a cult-classic until Yahtzee, followed shortly after by Jim Sterling, declared it one.

And as far as its quality...meh? I guess its scary if you're afraid of the dark or spooky noises like
BOO!
As far as a psychological thriller, the characters are so bland, unlikable and react so poorly to what's going on you could replace every line of dialogue with ones from Scooby Doo on Zombie Island and lose almost nothing.
And maybe its just me, but walking around a nearly empty town with some blonde ditz in tow, with a hangun, lead-pipe, rifle and giant Soul Blade, waving kindly to disinterested monsters on their way to the grocery store...it just does nothing for me. With the exception of bosses, every enemy is avoidable and is equally disinterested in fighting you.

Say what you will about modern Western Silent Hills and their shit, at least they made enemies a threat. Silent Hill Downpour actually has enemies that are faster than you. It adds a sense of threat when you can't avoid a fight.
 

Fiz_The_Toaster

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Silentpony said:
Fiz_The_Toaster said:
Silentpony said:
SNIP
I guess? But I remember when the game came out. The reaction was good bordering on lukewarm. It was scary and all, but just another game for another console gen. It didn't become a cult-classic until Yahtzee, followed shortly after by Jim Sterling, declared it one.

And as far as its quality...meh? I guess its scary if you're afraid of the dark or spooky noises like
BOO!
As far as a psychological thriller, the characters are so bland, unlikable and react so poorly to what's going on you could replace every line of dialogue with ones from Scooby Doo on Zombie Island and lose almost nothing.
And maybe its just me, but walking around a nearly empty town with some blonde ditz in tow, with a hangun, lead-pipe, rifle and giant Soul Blade, waving kindly to disinterested monsters on their way to the grocery store...it just does nothing for me. With the exception of bosses, every enemy is avoidable and is equally disinterested in fighting you.

Say what you will about modern Western Silent Hills and their shit, at least they made enemies a threat. Silent Hill Downpour actually has enemies that are faster than you. It adds a sense of threat when you can't avoid a fight.
I'm gonna have to disagree with you.

I thought the Western versions sucked, and I did not care for Downpour at all. They weren't scary as they were more obnoxious, and borderline on being a massive pain in the ass. I didn't finish the game because I thought it was boring.

I also don't agree with you on the atmosphere since there were hardly any jump scares and the game spent most of the time fucking with you, and making you unsettled. As for the characters, they were whatever. They served a purpose and they had a reason for acting the way they did. It's all subjective whether or not you liked them or even if you agreed on the reasons for them to act that way. Walking around with Maria was very short, so I don't understand that complaint. SH4 I will agree with you on that, but not SH2.
 

Casual Shinji

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Silentpony said:
Sigh I'll never understand why this game is so popular. Oh wait, yes I do. Because Yahtzee said so.
How about 'because a lot of people simply like it'. Just because you don't like it doesn't mean everyone else who does only does so because they're told to. Cult classics did exist before Yahtzee was a thing, you know. And Silent Hill 2 was one of them. Heck, Silent Hill 1 was one of them.
Say what you will about modern Western Silent Hills and their shit, at least they made enemies a threat. Silent Hill Downpour actually has enemies that are faster than you. It adds a sense of threat when you can't avoid a fight.
And there you have it... The fear in the (good) Silent Hill games was never about "physical" threat. It was about psychological threat. As in strange noises, weird shapes in the mist, the sound of someone following you or something growling in the bushes. Stepping through a door with the camera facing you, not knowing what you're going to walk into. Being surrounded by darkness with only a small lantern to illuminate 6 feet a head of you, without a map, and hearing something stepping awkwardly in the shadows accompanied by radio static.
 

Silentpony_v1legacy

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Casual Shinji said:
So you're saying its scary if you're five years old? What adult is scared of a closing door?! Or is still scared of the dark?! Or an indistinct formless shape in the mist? You know, the one you've seen a thousand times and has never turned out to be anything. Especially since you have more weapons than Master Chief!

And camera angle? Come on, that was annoying and a failed way to add fake tension. Worked about as well in Resident Evil until you realized the zombies were slow and shambling, easily avoided and there was a perfectly fine camera shift two feet in front of you when the nearest zombie is on the other side of the room!

Take Outlast for example. In your opinion is the scariness from the dark hallways and dripping faucets or the crazed lunatics with razor blades and blood fetishes?

Here's the thing: Psychological horror only really works on people who are basically already afraid of a lot. Its like the ink-blot test and you always see a spider and a ghost. Says more about you than the shape of the ink. If you're not afraid of the dark or don't believe in ghosts, a long dark 'haunted' hallway isn't much.
And I stopped being afraid of the dark around the time I learned Santa wasn't real.

I get that Silent Hill 2 was once scary. Hell, I was afraid of Eternal Darkness when I first played it like 15 years ago. Five Night's at Freddys likewise! The first three or four times I really was scared by the jumpscare. After that...
My question always comes back to: Is Silent Hill 2 still scary for you now? Currently? In 2015 as a full grown adult with knowledge, responsibilities, friends and family, is the idea of a poor camera angle and darkness still scaring you?
 

Casual Shinji

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Silentpony said:
Casual Shinji said:
So you're saying its scary if you're five years old?
No, that's what you're saying.

What adult is scared of a closing door?! Or is still scared of the dark?! Or an indistinct formless shape in the mist? You know, the one you've seen a thousand times and has never turned out to be anything. Especially since you have more weapons than Master Chief!
Uhm, plenty of people? You're trying to rationalize fear, which is something irrational in and of itself. Spiders aren't dangerous (most of the time), but that doesn't stop thousands of (adult) people from fearing them. You know the phrase 'There's nothing to fear, but fear itself'..?

Take Outlast for example. In your opinion is the scariness from the dark hallways and dripping faucets or the crazed lunatics with razor blades and blood fetishes?
Both, but then I didn't find Outlast scary at all. It's the combination of knowing something's out there, but not clearly seeing it. This is why some people can experience a sense of fear when they're swimming in the lake. Because there's all this darkness below them and for all they know there's something down there that could grab them, eventhough they reasonably know there isn't.

Outlast wasn't scary to me at all since the game was constantly failing you for not properly hiding from baddies, which made whatever fear there was get replaced quickly by frustration.

Here's the thing: Psychological horror only really works on people who are basically already afraid of a lot. Its like the ink-blot test and you always see a spider and a ghost. Says more about you than the shape of the ink. If you're not afraid of the dark or don't believe in ghosts, a long dark 'haunted' hallway isn't much.
And I stopped being afraid of the dark around the time I learned Santa wasn't real.
Yes, and we're all afraid of a lot. We all have fears, and whether or not a movie or a game touches upon those fears determines if it'll scare us or not. Just as comedy is subjective so too is fear.

I get that Silent Hill 2 was once scary. Hell, I was afraid of Eternal Darkness when I first played it like 15 years ago. Five Night's at Freddys likewise! The first three or four times I really was scared by the jumpscare. After that...
My question always comes back to: Is Silent Hill 2 still scary for you now? Currently? In 2015 as a full grown adult with knowledge, responsibilities, friends and family, is the idea of a poor camera angle and darkness still scaring you?
Yes, it is still scary to me. Why? Because in that moment of playing I'm in a weird, creepy, nightmarish world. That's what generally happens when we play games; We immerse ourselves in whatever world and let it take us for a ride. People also get emotional over games or game characters dying. Are they 5-years old too who still believe in Santa Claus?

Again, dislike the game as much as you want, but stop acting like everyone who finds it scary is some gullible idiot who needs to grow up.