Big Studios Can't Produce Good Horror Games

Yahtzee Croshaw

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Big Studios Can't Produce Good Horror Games

Yahtzee takes on triple-A horror franchises and what they're doing to horror games.

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Something Amyss

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Dec 3, 2008
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I feel like nothing said in this article hasn't been said before. I think specifically in Zero Punctuation.
 
Jan 27, 2011
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Yeah...Most good horror games are great because of the limitations that get put into them.

...Not to mention that when you have a massive budget for a game, you also usually owe that to someone, so you need to bow to their demands, and make the game appeal widely to recoup the money you put in. All these things work against a horror game.

Also, Yatzee, I don't know if you READ these comments, but if you're looking for an indie survival horror that feels a bit like silent hill, I think Lone Survivor is a good place to start.

http://www.lonesurvivor.co.uk/

It has the psychological bit down pretty good. I'm only about a half hour in, and despite the retro graphics, I'm actually creeped out.
 

Johnnydillinger

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This really makes me ask a question. Does this mean Valve is the only company making AAA games that seems to be capable of making good survival horror games? (Thinking of the employee handbook here.) Because I always thought they should make one (that is not Left 4 Dead, but something more subtle, slow and cruelly nerve-wrecking like basically everything made by Frictional Games). This article also makes me question just how the first four Silent Hill games were made, and how they still remained scary and interesting at the same time. I'll go ahead and believe it was the system's limitation for the first 2 games (maybe even the third too) but the fourth one had the PC on its side too, which was probably not as limiting as a PS2.
 

Kahunaburger

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Yeah, it's weird how thoroughly big developers fail at making horror games. This might just be because Dead Space's audience wouldn't enjoy an actual horror game - my guess is that they play for the blood and guts, not to be frightened. See also: 90% of horror movies.
 

Vkmies

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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
 

Dastardly

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Apr 19, 2010
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Yahtzee Croshaw said:
Big Studios Can't Produce Good Horror Games

Yahtzee takes on triple-A horror franchises and what they're doing to horror games.

Read Full Article
And sound. Sound, sound, sound, sound, sound, sound, sound.

Why are we so unwilling to use the available technology to exploit the humongous world of sound? Why are all the sound effects so stock sounding, and why are all of the sound environments so homogeneous? Nothing in existence is as effective at creating different sizes and shapes of space as sound. Not even your eyes can see 360-degrees at once, but sound completely envelops you.

And it just always feels like an afterthought to the visuals. Biggest. Frickin'. Mistake.
 
Jan 12, 2012
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DVS BSTrD said:
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.
This. We can all probably recite the arguments in our sleep by now:
1. It cost money to make a game.
2. The bigger the studio, the more money they are going to put into the game.
3. The more money the game costs, the more money the studio want to make back.
4. Studios will broaden the game until they feel that enough profit can be made from the game to justify the cost.
Therefore, big studios will make broad games that appeal to the common denominator, while indie developers will make game more focused on a specific vision, because they don't need to make as much money to recoup their expenses.
 
Jan 22, 2011
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Thunderous Cacophony said:
DVS BSTrD said:
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.
This. We can all probably recite the arguments in our sleep by now:
1. It cost money to make a game.
2. The bigger the studio, the more money they are going to put into the game.
3. The more money the game costs, the more money the studio want to make back.
4. Studios will broaden the game until they feel that enough profit can be made from the game to justify the cost.
Therefore, big studios will make broad games that appeal to the common denominator, while indie developers will make game more focused on a specific vision, because they don't need to make as much money to recoup their expenses.
Pretty much the truth but if you want a horror game that's from a low developer from japan I recommend corpse party which of course started off as an indie game then got a psp/ios port with full voice overs. For anyone that cares here watch an example from you-tube below.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9bo7jUMd4yc
 

remnant_phoenix

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Apr 4, 2011
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This reminds me of an article I read a while back about how developers being force to work AROUND limitations actually led to a stronger product, and that having the limitations lifted actually stifled creativity. Basically, working with limitations DEMANDS creativity, while total freedom does not.

Check it: http://www.socksmakepeoplesexy.net/index.php?a=trigger

The URL may look sketchy, but I assure you it's legit and not-NSFW. It's a personal site and the site's name comes from an inside joke from the webmaster.

The article is about the SNES Chrono Trigger, but if you want to skip to the stuff that I'm talking about, scroll/search down to the subtitle "The A/V Department."
 

Xman490

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May 29, 2010
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Even way back in 2007 (the 2007 retrospective thing at GDC), Yatzee mourned the mainstream survival horror genre's lack of subtlety and pacing.

EDIT: It was actually the "Awards for 2008" video. It still shows how big developers can't seem to grasp the actual "horror" ideas.
 

UnSub

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"For example, I have never been in favour of the process introduced in the Silent Hill movie (and repeated in all Silent Hill games since) wherein the real world transitions visibly into the dark, symbolic Otherworld by way of decay spreading out or paint flaking off from a single starting point."

I'm pretty sure in Silent Hill there is one scene where you see it the change from Real World to Otherworld in front of the character, when the sirens sound.

Large gaming studios can do subtle, but in a world where gamers skip cutscenes because they slow down the action and the preferred form of horror title is shock-and-gore over psychological horror, why would you spend time perfecting it? Ignore subtle and go for the gigantic explosion that makes gamers feel good about themselves for blowing the 8 zombies into chunks in HD slomo.
 

jawakiller

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Jan 14, 2011
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Its true, I have yet to play a modern, triple A game that even kind of scared me. I mean, sure I can be startled by the baddie jumping out of nowhere but am I scared? No. I think its because fear is what you can't see, not some nasty looking monster. If you make it so you rarely see the thing that kills you, you wind up scaring people. They imagine it in the scariest way possible.

What scares one man doesn't necessarily scare another. How do you scare everyone that plays the game? Make them use their imagination. Why do you think Dead Space was on the edge of stupid but Amnesia was actually pretty scary?
 

Balkan

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Sep 5, 2011
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To be honest this isnt yahtze style of EP . Well still good to read .
And Yahtze ... work on the jokes . Your review have gotten very serious and this troubles me .
Maybe Star Wars Kinect will help if you know what I mean .
Did you forgot ? ZP- funny joker EP - serious stuff for the fans .
 

Terminate421

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DVS BSTrD said:
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:

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.
 

MC K-Mac

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Oct 23, 2010
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I think an applicable quote here is: "art through adversity". When creators of an artistic property have to overcome or get around challenges and limitations, they often rise above themselves to create something greater than what they are normally capable of. When they have everything they need and more, the creations are often banal, mediocre. This is why musicians often do their best work when they're young, scrappy, and fighting for their lives. Once they get old and comfortable, the music suffers.
 

geizr

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Oct 9, 2008
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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.
 

hermes

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I don't really think limitations shape good horror games... Silent Hill did good with the fog, but its not like all good horror games had to use similar tricks and explanations to justify technical shortcomings.

I do agree that big games can't be good horror games, though. The reason for that is that they are build with focus groups in mind, and many PR people will often say: "needs more guns, more explosions, and monsters with bigger tits..."