247: A New Horror

[Lewis Denby]

A New Horror

In their rush to fill the screen with high-definition gore and arm players with arsenals that would make Duke Nukem feel inadequate, horror games have become a lot less horrifying. But one U.K. developer is doing his best to change that trend. Lewis Denby speaks with Dan Pinchbeck, creator of Dear Esther and Korsakovia, about how horror games could truly live up to their name.

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[Omena]

Dear Esther and Korsakovia are amazing! I think Dear Esther is absolutely remarkable and Korsakovia is definitely scary, even though that one puzzle got pretty frustrating relatively quickly. Gotta mention that I absolutely love the narrative in both of the mods, especially in Korsakovia. I'm not a huge fan of horror games in general, but if more games similar to these two exist, I'd be more than interested to play them.

 

[wildpeaks]

Ha, good timing on the article, just when I was listening to the Korsakovia soundtrack

I love the mods of these guys, always great.

 

[Sjakie]

I wouldn't call dead space a horror game either. I also think it's a creepy fps at best. Horror games should be much more then a few good scares and big shootouts. Mr Pinchbeck seems to understand this very well. I recommend checking out his website [http://www.thechineseroom.co.uk/] for more interesting reading about the mods

 

[Sebenko]

Dear Ester was fantastic, Korsakovia... less so.

I was enjoying it for the most part, but the level design was infuriating. Yes, I know it was "meant to be that way", but that didn't stop me quitting because it looked so amateurish.

the Poltergeists' first appearance in S.T.A.L.K.E.R

which is interesting, as STALKER is mostly an action game with horror bits, so when it does go the horror route, it's a strange environment to be in.

Also, no post about horror games would be complete without mentioning the Shalebridge cradle.
I shouldn't need to say anything more.

 

[Eldarion]

Someone gets it! Survival horror might not be dead yet after all.

Its been while since I have played a game I could call that....

 

[Rad Party God]

This week's articles are simply amazing, I love the theme =).
For the Dead Space thing, I simply loved that game, by far, I liked it more than RE5, also for the extended inttroduction, I'm certainly agreed with that, altough the entire game has it's share moments of true horror, but sadly the game only gets really frightening on Hard, because you have much less ammo and the Necromorphs are much harder to kill. S.T.A.L.K.E.R. simply scared me shitless when I first went underground and found a strange enemy (I don't think it's a poltergeist), first the invisible monsters, attacking litterally out of nowhere and hearing them running and grunting when they are close. Also some other enemy that simply messes with your mind and attacks psychically, I couldn't help but feel despair and fear, I wanted to get out of there as fast as I could.

 

[AgentNein]

Wow, this guy knows what's up. In any medium, horror and action are like oil and water. It's because Horror relies so much on expert pacing and building of atmosphere, and while some horror (again, in any of it's mediums) can have some 'action-adventure' elements here and there, those moments tend to take away from the horror vibe, and when action pervades the entirety of the game (or movie or short story), it completely destroys the horror vibe. This is why Action-horror as a genre is basically a logical paradox in my opinion.

 

[Monshroud]

I will need to find these mods and play them... I love horror games. The first Silent Hill games, Fatal Frame, etc are some of my favorites..

Nice article..

 

[Ekonk]

I have a few things to say about this article.

First: HURRAY recognition for Thechineseroom and Pinchbeck!!! YEAHHHH.

Second: Hey, you're the guy who made Post Script and Nestlings! You're awesome!

 

[maninahat]

I've played both games, and though I'd recommend both Dear Esther and Korsakovia, the former is clearly better than the latter. Korsakovia gets extremely repetative and I never finished it. Dear Esther on the other hand is only a fraction as long and does not get dull, even though your character is restricted to walking at a snail pace (which can be worked around with a plentiful amount of jumping).

Both are very thoughtful and very interesting examples of (dare I say it) "interactive fiction". Don't go into it looking for a fun experience, because that is not what this is about. If the prospect of playing a game without a fun factor is off putting, than you are missing out big time. People who do that put a huge restriction on gameplay experience.

 

[Soviet Heavy]

Korsakovia was definitely one of the scariest games I've played.

Spoiler

You find out that your character has eaten his own eyes

 

[Katana314]

Arrrgh, I hate it when people analyze Dear Esther in an attempt to look artsy.

Look, let me be clear; when someone makes a video game that makes me say "Wow." it's because it's a VIDEO GAME; something interactive that I did, which produced a relevant result that impressed me. Dear Esther is about the equivalent of reading a novel; a really good novel, albeit; but a novel for which the pages only turn if you hold the W key on your keyboard.

I actually think even Passage was much more engaging than the whole mod. And even better than that was the Passage parody [http://www.kongregate.com/games/raitendo/passage-in-10-seconds].

It's only an "interesting analysis of games" if it's a game; if the message is in the code; what happens as a result of what you do.

 

[LewisResolution]

Katana314: One of the ideas behind Esther was to see how much you can remove typically game-like elements from an interactive experience and still have that interaction be meaninful. Pinchbeck's mods do attempt to be enjoyable, but they're effectively research projects, and a negative result is perfectly valid too.

I'm not sure who here's analysing Dear Esther in an attempt to look artsy, incidentally.

 

[The Random One]

Arrrgh, I hate it when people analyze Dear Esther in an attempt to look artsy.

Look, let me be clear; when someone makes a video game that makes me say "Wow." it's because it's a VIDEO GAME; something interactive that I did, which produced a relevant result that impressed me. Dear Esther is about the equivalent of reading a novel; a really good novel, albeit; but a novel for which the pages only turn if you hold the W key on your keyboard.

Eeeeeh. Do you think, then, that complete freedom of choice is the only way a game really is a game? That complete freedom thing is a child of the first GTAs, a direct storyline in which you do the thing in the order you are supposed had always been a perfectly acceptable way to structure a game and remains so. The fact that you are controlling the character, and not just reading/watching/whatever some fella doing whatever he's doing, adds a new level to the way the story is experienced. I guess you argue that linear games make this interaction an illusion, but I put forth that all fiction is an illusion by definition anyway.

Then again, I haven't actually played the game. I suppose that if you were to finding yourself hitting the next plot coupon despite it being obviously stupid/pointless from the character's point of view it would be an equivalent of the ridiculously stupid fodder for the machete-wielding supernatural murderer of movies, and no better.

I really need to get the Source engine somehow to play these games.

 

[Katana314]

Eeeeeh. Do you think, then, that complete freedom of choice is the only way a game really is a game? That complete freedom thing is a child of the first GTAs, a direct storyline in which you do the thing in the order you are supposed had always been a perfectly acceptable way to structure a game and remains so. The fact that you are controlling the character, and not just reading/watching/whatever some fella doing whatever he's doing, adds a new level to the way the story is experienced. I guess you argue that linear games make this interaction an illusion, but I put forth that all fiction is an illusion by definition anyway.

Then again, I haven't actually played the game. I suppose that if you were to finding yourself hitting the next plot coupon despite it being obviously stupid/pointless from the character's point of view it would be an equivalent of the ridiculously stupid fodder for the machete-wielding supernatural murderer of movies, and no better.

I really need to get the Source engine somehow to play these games.

My favorite game series is Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney, a direct-path storyline game with almost no branches whatsoever, so I think you're misinterpretting.

To try to give you a better idea of why I'm criticizing it, I will summarize Dear Esther. You begin on a dock of a large island (no, not Myst, bigger). You walk forward and explore the island (though in the end only certain paths will progress forward). As you reach certain map triggers, a narrator begins talking; he appears to be writing a letter to Esther about his stay on the island. It's very poetic and well-read, though I can't quite draw a clear connection to what I'm seeing on the island. You keep moving forward, no puzzles or anything, occasionally piano music will accompany the narrator. The environments are very vast (sometimes meaning you lose your way) but all you ever do is walk through them. No enemies, nothing to press the Use key on, no decisions, nothing. As you progress up these rock cliffs toward the end you see some really extensive chalk carvings on the rock, kilometers across, like it all makes sense in someone's head. Eventually you reach the top of the island after lots of dialog, and you beat the game.

My main criticism is that while a "cinematic" game, like say God of War's simon says cutscenes, has at least SOME interactivity, there is literally no cognitive difference between playing through Dear Esther and watching a video of someone playing through it.

 

[Joshic Shin]

Eeeeeh. Do you think, then, that complete freedom of choice is the only way a game really is a game? That complete freedom thing is a child of the first GTAs, a direct storyline in which you do the thing in the order you are supposed had always been a perfectly acceptable way to structure a game and remains so. The fact that you are controlling the character, and not just reading/watching/whatever some fella doing whatever he's doing, adds a new level to the way the story is experienced. I guess you argue that linear games make this interaction an illusion, but I put forth that all fiction is an illusion by definition anyway.

Then again, I haven't actually played the game. I suppose that if you were to finding yourself hitting the next plot coupon despite it being obviously stupid/pointless from the character's point of view it would be an equivalent of the ridiculously stupid fodder for the machete-wielding supernatural murderer of movies, and no better.

I really need to get the Source engine somehow to play these games.

My favorite game series is Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney, a direct-path storyline game with almost no branches whatsoever, so I think you're misinterpretting.

To try to give you a better idea of why I'm criticizing it, I will summarize Dear Esther. You begin on a dock of a large island (no, not Myst, bigger). You walk forward and explore the island (though in the end only certain paths will progress forward). As you reach certain map triggers, a narrator begins talking; he appears to be writing a letter to Esther about his stay on the island. It's very poetic and well-read, though I can't quite draw a clear connection to what I'm seeing on the island. You keep moving forward, no puzzles or anything, occasionally piano music will accompany the narrator. The environments are very vast (sometimes meaning you lose your way) but all you ever do is walk through them. No enemies, nothing to press the Use key on, no decisions, nothing. As you progress up these rock cliffs toward the end you see some really extensive chalk carvings on the rock, kilometers across, like it all makes sense in someone's head. Eventually you reach the top of the island after lots of dialog, and you beat the game.

My main criticism is that while a "cinematic" game, like say God of War's simon says cutscenes, has at least SOME interactivity, there is literally no cognitive difference between playing through Dear Esther and watching a video of someone playing through it.

Except for the part where you choose how you move across the game. There is another difference, it's like reading a book and having someone read it for you. You lose something in the transition.

 

[copycatalyst]

This reminds me of my first reaction to Penumbra, before it was a retail product. I bought the full series, but I stopped playing due to the shoddy combat... maybe I should give it another try.

 

[The Rogue Wolf]

The things that Dear Esther and Korsakovia did right made me more upset about what they did wrong, really. Dear Esther would've benefitted greatly from allowing me to sprint (I ended up jumping around, as the Source engine lets you a limited bunnyhop), and there were times where music and dialogue ran over each other; Korsakovia really ran into some bland level construction and unfair combat later on.

That doesn't take too much away from their effort, though. I found both Mods to be engrossing and nontypical, and some of the signs in Korsakovia actually made me shudder. I'm hoping that thechineseroom takes what they've learned from their first two outings and does something truly unique on their first independent outing. I think they've got it in them.