Big Studios Can't Produce Good Horror Games

[Incomer]

Yahtzee they don't lack limitation, they lack appreciation. Mainstream developers feel the need to broaden the appeal to the point where nothing is special about their games anymore.

Thats where they pull different styles and themes.

Dead Space wasn't terrifying but it was creepy enough and has its own style behind it, a futuristic japanese style if you will. Then there are just down right grim moments such as in Dead Space 2:

Spoiler

Someone put a damn baby into a washing machine

Accessbility is only used as the hook, the main part after is what makes the rest of it work.

Dead Space 2 was just plain bad - you had all the weapons and armour of average space marine and everywhere you went there were some candles lit (the amount of candles used in this game was just ridiculous). The only semi-scary part was the return to Ishimura and then they blew it with fight in the most obvious place ever (and it was such a safe to defend long hall ffs >_<}.
Eye surgery didn't creep me out (though I was careful not to miss) and that regenerating thing was more frustrating than scary.

 

[G-Force]

A more cynical question might be, are big studios able to produce ANYTHING good, at all? It seems their entire development process, design philosophy, and design aesthetics just syphons all the life, spirit, and creativity out of anything they try to do. I almost get a sense of a mass exodus of talent away from the big studios, as of late.

Grasshopper Studios and Platnium Games still have a great track record of producing quality products.

 

[Terminate421]

Yahtzee they don't lack limitation, they lack appreciation. Mainstream developers feel the need to broaden the appeal to the point where nothing is special about their games anymore.

Thats where they pull different styles and themes.

Dead Space wasn't terrifying but it was creepy enough and has its own style behind it, a futuristic japanese style if you will. Then there are just down right grim moments such as in Dead Space 2:

Spoiler

Someone put a damn baby into a washing machine

Accessbility is only used as the hook, the main part after is what makes the rest of it work.

Dead Space 2 was just plain bad - you had all the weapons and armour of average space marine and everywhere you went there were some candles lit (the amount of candles used in this game was just ridiculous). The only semi-scary part was the return to Ishimura and then they blew it with fight in the most obvious place ever (and it was such a safe to defend long hall ffs >_<}.
Eye surgery didn't creep me out (though I was careful not to miss) and that regenerating thing was more frustrating than scary.

Oh come on now. Dead Space 2 was not bad at all. There were differences but the best way is to see it as a metaphor:

Dead Space 1 is to Alien as Dead Space 2 is to Aliens

I have no idea how they'll approach the 3rd one but I hope its great. (I still love the first 2)

 

[Covarr]

I'm not sure Goldeneye was really the best example for a good HD remake, since it wasn't really a remake or port at all; it was essentially a new game. They captured the spirit of the original, but the campaign, levels, etc. were all completely new.

That being said, I think Metal Gear Solid: HD Collection is a perfect example of a game that needed it. Not only did the graphics from all three games benefit significantly from the higher resolution (which is more than can be said for some HD ports), but it seriously improved availability of content that, for one reason or another, might not have been easily available to everyone. Metal Gear 1 and 2, for example, were noticeably missing from The Essential Collection. Also of note, this is the first time MGS3 has run at a buttery smooth 60fps, as Kojima had required for MGS2 and wanted for MGS3, and it makes the game a lot more engrossing. And MGS4 controls applied to Peace Walker?

All around, it's a good collection, and exemplary for how HD remasters should be done. In other words, the exact opposite of what Capcom did with Resident Evil 4.

P.S. Thanks

 

[Kanatatsu]

you liked Silent Hill 2 already, yeah we get it. jeeeeezus.

 

[Steve the Pocket]

I'm pretty sure this is the worst simile you could have used:

Taking the fog out of Silent Hill is like taking the shark out of Jaws.

Except they already did, mostly, and that's what made it so good. It was putting the shark back into the series in the sequels that utterly wrecked the creepy, uncertain atmosphere. The same exact atmosphere that made Silent Hill so good.

 

[Vkmies]

I want Yahtzee to talk about Lone Survivor!

I would imagine him being very much into a 2D psychological survival horror!

Some linking for people that read the last 4 words of my last sentence and went "HOOOOOWWW?"
http://lonesurvivor.co.uk/
http://www.destructoid.com/review-lone-survivor-224872.phtml
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xtt0ZezljHk

He does not read comments. You pretty much need to buy it to him in order for him to even care.

1. He does casually read comments to see general feedback for his arguments. He makes mention of it every now and then.

2. I know the chance of him not reading that is prety high, thus I spoke in third person. Saw how I used "he" and not "you"

3. The whole comment was mostly for EVERYONE, not just Yahtzee. Lone Survivor is a pretty small title with no advertising behind it. So I wanted to bring it up. Stir up some conversation in a thread about horror, especially the difference between indie and commercial horror. About a blog that's about the differences between indie and commercial horror.

Makes sense, no? Whole point of a forum, no? That's what I was driving for.

 

[Squidbulb]

I bought the Silent Hill Hd collection (haven't played it yet though).
Why? Because it's cheaper than buying both the games and a new PS2. I admit I wouldn't bother if the PS3 had backwards compatibility though, as long as the games are easy to pick up.

 

[BehattedWanderer]

It's things like this that make me glad I'm not really a survival horror fan. The first time encountering Endermen, or the first night of an unprepared Minecraft player, is scarier than some of the recent survival horror games. The idea of being alone and abandoned, on your own without many resources, only to have that isolation interrupted by something cast from molten nightmare is what gives the most terror, but the concept is hard to do without overdoing it. Shame, really. Kinda makes me wish I was into it more, so that I can be ashamed with you guys.

 

[Creatural]

Yahtzee they don't lack limitation, they lack appreciation. Mainstream developers feel the need to broaden the appeal to the point where nothing is special about their games anymore.

Thats where they pull different styles and themes.

Dead Space wasn't terrifying but it was creepy enough and has its own style behind it, a futuristic japanese style if you will. Then there are just down right grim moments such as in Dead Space 2:

Spoiler

Someone put a damn baby into a washing machine

Accessbility is only used as the hook, the main part after is what makes the rest of it work.

Dead Space 2 was just plain bad - you had all the weapons and armour of average space marine and everywhere you went there were some candles lit (the amount of candles used in this game was just ridiculous). The only semi-scary part was the return to Ishimura and then they blew it with fight in the most obvious place ever (and it was such a safe to defend long hall ffs >_<}.
Eye surgery didn't creep me out (though I was careful not to miss) and that regenerating thing was more frustrating than scary.

Oh come on now. Dead Space 2 was not bad at all. There were differences but the best way is to see it as a metaphor:

Dead Space 1 is to Alien as Dead Space 2 is to Aliens

I have no idea how they'll approach the 3rd one but I hope its great. (I still love the first 2)

Dead Space 2 may not be a bad game to you, but to me and a lot of others it unfortunately just isn't that great of a game for what it's supposed to be. It has jump scares, but to someone like me it's not scary in the long term (it gives me no nightmares or horrors to contemplate later) and I usually can't even remember that the game exists until someone else brings it up again. The problem with making horror games that are supposed to be marketed to everyone is that they usually don't appeal to people like me. It relies on gore a little too much which to others is just boring if you don't do it right. Most gore in media can't scare me because it's not realistic. Another problem with Dead Space as a series is that it just lets you still feel empowered enough against your enemies which gives a sense of security, that's not exactly good to have in horror.

If you like the game the way it is that's fine, but you can't claim that the rest of us have to see it as good when it can't scare us like it promises to.

And I'm not sure how either Dead Space is supposed to be like those movies as both of those had a lot more tension than the games did (and I think would have done better with).

 

[Amaror]

"Press x to not die!"
Oh my god, indie developers start working, or we are all doomed, doooomed i say!

 

[Nigh Invulnerable]

I think big studios/development teams and horro games tend to do poorly together because too many cooks ruin the soup (the chunky, reddish tinged soup). Scare by committee basically never works unless there's an awfully influential leader with a vision and team members who know their roles. Hitchcock, Carpenter, Fulci, Romero, etc. were all directors with teams, but their vision and direction was the final word. Too many films and games are ruined when everybody gets a say in how something should be done.

 

[CardinalPiggles]

You know what annoys me more than that, when someone types 'an HD...' you don't pronounce it like that do you? Why type it like that!

Anyway, this is stuff we all know, triple games = explosions.

 

[Gregg Lonsdale]

I want Yahtzee to talk about Lone Survivor!

I would imagine him being very much into a 2D psychological survival horror!

Some linking for people that read the last 4 words of my last sentence and went "HOOOOOWWW?"
http://lonesurvivor.co.uk/
http://www.destructoid.com/review-lone-survivor-224872.phtml
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xtt0ZezljHk

That game didn't really creep me out that much. I can tell it's trying to, but it just really doesn't pull off the subtle atmospheric horror the same way silent hill or amnesia does. Sure I'll nearly cack myself if i walk into a room and there's a monster right at the door, but I mean even dead space could pull that off. And the whole psychological thing seems to fall flat when it gets established from the word go that your guy is probably insane.

I'm not saying it's a bad game, it really is quite entertaining and the main character has just enough human moments (like when you find the ham) to make me invested in his survival, I just don't think it's scary.

 

[Clive Howlitzer]

The worst part about the HD remakes is newer generations are going to play them and assume that is how the game was. I can imagine younger players picking up the SH2 HD Remake and being like "This game sucks" and that makes me very sad.
It is like people not realizing awful movie remakes are butchering classics, or that Greedo never shot first!

 

[weirdee]

I can imagine that while he's on that murdering spree he'll explain to his victims the reasons why they're scared as they're getting sliced up. "Okay, here I waited until you turned around again to start stabbing you. If I just appear in the doorway to begin with, there's no SUBTLETY, see? You'll also notice that the lighting has been arranged to make our shadows look enormous. Are you paying attention? I know you have like two minutes worth of blood left so stop pretending to be dead and listen to me."

 

[Tupolev]

You know what annoys me more than that, when someone types 'an HD...' you don't pronounce it like that do you? Why type it like that!

What? The word "an" is used precisely because "HD" is pronounced the way it is.

 

[CardinalPiggles]

You know what annoys me more than that, when someone types 'an HD...' you don't pronounce it like that do you? Why type it like that!

What? The word "an" is used precisely because "HD" is pronounced the way it is.

So you say, 'an HD TV' in regular conversation do you?

 

[RoyalSorceress]

I read somewhere that the reason there's fog in the first Silent Hill is because of the PS1's graphic limitation, they put it there so they wouldn't have to animate far away things. Of course that's what made it creepy.