Dead Space 1 just not scary?

[Lesd3vil]

The game has no sense of tension, any time it starts to build up any kind of atmosphere or suspense it immediately resolves it by making monsters appear and chew on you :/ the intro, where you're being chased to the elevator by an unseen beastie? That was good... After that most of the game just fades into one big blur of shooty bang bang and piles of giblets. Add to that the fact that the character is a complete non-entity - the Gordon Freeman route is much harder to do in third-person - and it kind of kills any personal emotional investment in the game, which is something that is necessary for scares. It's not particularly bad, it just depends on your definition of horror... Mine doesn't happen to be 'weird gory action shooter'. It was a shame too because the idea was fairly interesting... Kind of like Evil Dead in space... But don't even get me started on the weapons, these are supposed to be engineering tools, what engineer uses a plasma wirecutter that can fire over 30 yards? Or another one that can kneecap an entire room? Or a gun that launches saw-blades? Or a bleeding flamethrower? :|

On the other hand, they've given him a voice and something of a personality in the sequel, so maybe they've learned from their mistakes and this game will be better? I hope so, it'd be good to see a new franchise improve instead of churning out the same game every now and then...

That said, at least the fad of making the character a teenage girl so you feel more vulnerable has died out. Though I did like the Project Zero series... Especially the parts in the second where you were chased by the Kusabi... Something about being chased through narrow spaces by an invincible assailant is bloody terrifying. OH WAIT! They did that in Dead Space too with the Regenerator, and that was one of the best parts of the game wasn't it? It also explains why as a kid I had nightmares about the Nemesis from Resident Evil 3, and even Prince of Persia Warrior Within was tense when you were being chased by the Dahaka...

Maybe there's some primal instinct in us that responds to the act of fleeing from something so much more powerful than you they may as well be invulnerable? I guess it'd break down into two things... First, the fact that you either outrun them or you die... Second, the fact that you're usually completely uncertain of which way you're going next, and if you happen to make a bad choice, pow, munching time >>

That was a bit of a rant wasn't it xD

 

[Canadamus Prime]

I'm playing through it right now and I'm finding it pretty freaky, granted it does start to get pretty predictable after a while though. "Oh I just accomplished an objective, I bet some monsters are going to show up to bite my nads off." *Monster jumps out of air vent* "Yep, right on cue."
And as Yahtzee pointed out, the monster's playing dead thing also gets old after a while too.

 

[unacomn]

For me, Dead Space 1 stopped being scary once I realized I was carrying weapons designed to rip a planet apart.
Sort of like Resident Evil isn't scary when you've got the rocket launcher.

 

[Orwellian37]

While Dead Space didn't scare me, it was tense for a while. Then I got the ripper and it was a great game featuring copious amounts of blood and limbs.

I have the sequel, and it isn't scary either. Plus, the hand cannon is THE BEST FUCKING WEAPON EVAR.

 

[Oirish_Martin]

The scares in Dead Space and F.E.A.R are of a different kind. F.E.A.R is about letting the freaking out gradually grow over time - I think playing through the last couple of levels were probably the most terrifying time I've ever had as a gamer.

Dead Space is less subtle, but not ineffective. The "horror" is in grotesquery rather than a steady stream of slightly-off things out of the corner of your eye - it's in your face, and it's constant, and while I can't say the Necromorphs scare me, I do find them unpleasant to think about and look at. The difference between DS and F.E.A.R is that Alma was never something you really could fight, the actual shooting bits were decent FPS fare, and then suddenly having a telekinetic dead girl mess with your head just makes it even worse.

I'm playing through Dead Space 2 right now, and I'd say my experience is that of Dead Space 1 - it keeps me reasonably on edge enough to want to make damn sure I'm watching out for something hopping out of the nearest vent and hoping to god it doesn't get too close to me before I can take it apart (without running out of ammo). If I want that, I'm happy to play Dead Space. If I want utter brain melting heebiejeebies, I'll play F.E.A.R instead.

 

[x434343]

When I define horror as, "Marble Hornets", Dead Space is more like "jump-scare, high tension". While in "Marble Hornets" you have no idea what's happening, in Dead Space, well, you do. You need to go to objective X for purpose Y.

So, sorry, its more Gorn than Horror.

 

[JUMBO PALACE]

I thought it was a relatively scary game. I just got Dead Space 2 and I'm not finding it scary at all. I've decided to only play it when I'm at home, in my room, with my surround sound, because here in my dorm the experience is just ruined.

 

[dududf]

Dead Space isn't scary to me, it's just jump scares. Jump scares=/= horror.

Hell FEAR was even worst in that regard. This is coming from a guy who played amnesia for 20 minutes, and had to stop and put on happy calming music. I never even ran into a damn monster.

 

[Delock]

Recently, I've been playing F.E.A.R. and have found something almost hilarious about the comparison to Dead Space.

Both have a rather chilling atmosphere and are survival horror, but that's where the similarities end.

Now the funny part here is that the situations in the games make it so that one should be scary and the other not, but it turns out reverse. In F.E.A.R. most of the enemies you fight are standard armored soldiers, and most of the scary parts don't actually hurt you, while DS has you fighting undead monstrosities with just about every scare requiring you to act or die.

FEAR turns out to be scarier though because of its unpredictableness and its atmosphere. It's unknown if that thing you just saw out the corner of your eye is going to kill you or walk off, and often an incident will occur practically out of nowhere, with only the possibility of inflicting harm. And then you have the setting. FEAR puts you in a place that seems vaguely familiar, so there's always this feeling that something is off, and makes it so often the only sound you hear is your own footsteps (which will feel too loud, and you'll want them to stop, but they won't!), unlike DS which has you in a space station with various small sounds and slight soundtrack. FEAR also introduces you to darkness that it is impossible to see through without a flashlight, but you don't want to give away your position to the soldiers in black only for the battery to run out (which is offset gameplay wise by its quick recharge, but given that you'll be in darkness for at least a second you won't recognize that fact). Dead Space on the other hand has a constant flashlight and much better lighting.

In other words, FEAR seemed scarier because it stuck to the basics (unknown, darkness, and paranoia itself) rather than trying to use more complex stuff (creepy music, tight passages, unnatural enemies).

 

[Au Naturel.]

F.E.A.R didn't scare me at all. My friend was too scared to play it so he invited me up to try it. I ran through everything and destroyed everything, and then I got bored and left.

As for DS. I was afraid of dying in Dead Space. I can't remember any genuine fear that has stayed with me like most horror does with me, but I do remember not wanting to die. Issac seemed like too much of a tank to be killed. I did jump when the NecroBOOS! popped up. But that isn't fear in my books.

 

[The_Fezz]

Needs LESS enemies in my opinion, the atmosphere's brilliant and I can project onto Isaac, usually with much screaming and off-beat reactions to blood.

 

[theonlyblaze2]

Yeah, it was kinda tame. The moster designs are pretty awesome, but they don't really inspire terror.
I will give it this-it was shocking. Jump scares don't really count as scares to me though. To be scared in a game I have to be thinking, "Alright, I need to go through this door, but I KNOW something is on the other side. I haven't seen it, heard it or have any reason to think it is their, but I KNOW it is. Maybe I will go look for another way." And as you turn, the door opens. That is scary to me and it is also why Silent Hill 2 was far scarier than Dead Space.

 

[biGBum333]

yep. didnt get scared once, just startled. however i loved dead space and cant wait to get my hands on number two

 

[Senaro]

I don't find Dead Space scary as much as just plain disturbing. The whole Needle in the Eye thing was freaky.

 

[Vibhor]

Dead space 1 is as scary as resident evil 4 which is not a bit.
I liked dead space because of its action, not for its atmosphere.

 

[OliverTwist72]

It's an action game so it will inherently be less scary than say Amnesia. That said I was actually surprised that I was scared during a few parts of the game (mostly earlier in the game). I found the atmosphere to be a little scary and the first time you encountered those super fast mutant dudes I definately remember being oh sh%&!

 

[LawlessSquirrel]

Dead Space makes most people jump (I rarely jump at points I'm meant to with these kinds of things), but I personally didn't find it scary at all. It's about the same vein of horror as Doom 3. I find myself taunting the enemies and laughing at 'skilled' shots in it, which is not typical of horror.

Amnesia and Silent Hill 3 left me panicked for brief periods though. I think the key problem is that Dead Space is a loud kind of action-horror, while the former are suspense driven where action is rarely a good choice.

My problem is with calling Dead Space an iconic Survival Horror. It's...not Survival Horror. It's as much Survival Horror as Halo after the Flood make an appearance. It's a sci-fi shooter with a Horror theme, that's all. I thought it was a decent game, but it feels so miscategorized to me.

I hear number 2 is less scary from a friend that thought number 1 was scary, so I'd say if you want horror to try another series. Otherwise, if you're enjoying Dead Space regardless, I can't see 2 being a bad investment.

On an unrelated note, I lent my friend Silent Hill 5. Other than getting stuck on the second boss, he's had only positive feedback so far.

EDIT:
Fun story! I had my weapon out and expected to be attacked, so I opened a door and pulled the trigger. Head-shot, dramatic music, monster's dead. Made me laugh.

 

[Wintermute_]

Dead Space wasn't so much scary as it was exceedingly stressful and startling. I loved the game, loved the atmosphere of the ship. dead space went for more of a HOLYMOTHERFUCKINGSHITGODTHAT THINGHASMYANKLE!?!?! approach, were there are spikes of fear then low points of calm.

pacing needed a lot of work, but can anyone here claim that when the regenerating necromorph first opened a door you didn't shit bricks and panic, or in the engine room level, traversing that huge chasm, I was tensed up the entire time, wondering what the hell was gunna come out of that darkness.

It had its moments....

 

[Sacman]

Hell my tolerances for anything scary is equal to that of a 1st grader and I didn't find Dead Space or Fear scary... they just fumble everything that makes something scary and they don't even have the courtesy to put in some good gameplay...<.<

 

[SaunaKalja]

It wasn't really scary after the beginning. There was no real sense of helplessness; you could always trust your pulse rifle to get you out of whatever gory creature you would encounter (well, except that one).

Many times I've been more genuinely scared in Minecraft than I ever were in Dead Space 1