Do horror games actually scare you?

[ObsidianJones_v1legacy]

I remember a youtuber, I can't remember the name of him, he was discussing Creepypastas and why things affect us.

'Scare' is a broad idea. If I'm playing Deus Ex Human Revolution (replaying it before I think about the sequel), I'm scared that when the patrol guard will see me way before I drag the body I just knocked out into cover. But that's what being scared is. It's being alarmed. Same with fear. There's a possibility of something that could happen that you don't want.

The youtuber spoke about Dread and Creepiness. Which is vastly different. He mentioned Smile Dog [http://vignette4.wikia.nocookie.net/creepypasta/images/1/1b/Smile.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20111010204357] as a perfect example of what creepiness is. It's not overtly threatening. Sure, it's dark, it's more than that. The dog is wrong. It shouldn't be. And when something plays with your perception of normalcy, it can be very disquieting.

It's the same reason why Zombies way back in the day were creepy in their own right. Dead is dead, and nothing can change that. You do certain things to a human body and it should stop. It obeys the laws of science as everything else. But once something ignores laws that bind everything, it creates dread that you just don't know what's happening any more and you might not be able to do anything about it.

But now, zombies are so common place that people are looking forward to it. Because they 'understood' the beast and can do a multitude of things to solve the problem.

As we've all mentioned, Silent Hill was the master of Creeping Dread. Silent Hill had a certain transformation right before your eyes. Silent Hill 2 (to me) was the pinnacle of this. The biggest intimidating creature we've ever seen in a Silent Hill game would just... watch you. Unflinchingly. It was aware of your presence and it was studying you. That isn't right. It takes a masterful amount of crafting in a game to just give you the idea that binary wrapped in graphics is interested in you.

And we start sparks of the same brilliance in PT. There are other examples to be sure. When I was younger, the hotel scene in Vampire Bloodlines unsettled me. Even something as simple as Left 4 Dead 2 got to me. It was a mutation that saw you as the last survivor on earth. You're so used to blazing through each level trying to one up your teammates in kill count. But you're alone now. No team mates. An eerie silence as your character calls out for anyone. Talking to himself just to keep sane. In the regular game, a Hunter's growl signals for everyone to group up. In the Last Human On Earth Mutation, a growl makes you ask yourself "what are you going to do? It's not like how it is normally? can I survive this?".

I remember the moment where I was unsettled far more than when I was scared. I think we all do.

 

[Zydrate]

To wit; I think I was legit scared in the Museum of Witchcraft in Fallout 4. I knew damn well there was a Deathclaw SOMEWHERE inside but never had any idea where and that was frightening, not to mention all the atmospheric music and creepy mannequins with specific lighting effects all throughout.
I made this experience a bit cheesy since I main sneak/thiefs in most RPG's so I was around a corner when the deathclaw activated its patrol route through the building.
I kind of wish I could experience it again.

 

[Wintermute_v1legacy]

Yea, so much so I don't even play horror games. I get scared pretty easy in games. Maybe it's because I don't play a bunch of different games every year, so when I do, the experience is more "intense" or something. That feeling is doubled or tripled when I try a horror game.

I love horror movies, specially slow burning horror movies, since those have a higher chance of creeping me out, instead of the usual dumb teenagers jump scare garbage. But I'll just skip on any horror games. I guess the most "horror" game I finished was probably Bioshock. The splicers were bizarre in their behavior and just human enough that made me question things. That theater level with the wax statues or whatever they were was pretty unnerving.

I tried to play Amnesia The Dark Descent a few years ago and 15 minutes in I was just... fuck this, nope. Games like FNAF are garbage though, that shit just ins't scary, I'm amazed it's so popular.

SNIP

Especially considering there's no way to avoid the alien once it sees you, so you might as well just load your save then and not bother with the 2mins of gory death that follows.

So you don't actually fight aliens in that game, you just keep running from them?

 

[JohnnyDelRay]

To wit; I think I was legit scared in the Museum of Witchcraft in Fallout 4. I knew damn well there was a Deathclaw SOMEWHERE inside but never had any idea where and that was frightening, not to mention all the atmospheric music and creepy mannequins with specific lighting effects all throughout.
I made this experience a bit cheesy since I main sneak/thiefs in most RPG's so I was around a corner when the deathclaw activated its patrol route through the building.
I kind of wish I could experience it again.

That was a pretty awesome part. I didn't feel scared, I was confident I could handle it because I was stupidly high level by the time I got there. But I did feel tension. Because you know how quick they move and how much damage they can do to you, and the place is pretty tight with obstacles and holes to fall down if you're not on your A-game. It's also kinda dark and you can't see very far. But it got really intense once I actually heard the bugger. Fallout 4's scariness is mostly offset by the VATS though, knowing you can just pause combat and unleash as many rounds as possible straight into their head takes a lot of tension off. Rather than thinking you only have one chance, and if you miss that's it.

For a lower level character though, I'd be legging it out of there with a fuckton of NOPE. Trouble is, by the time you realize a Deathclaw is in there, I'm not sure there's any other way out, heh.

 

[JohnnyDelRay]

snip

Interesting read, this. Definitely have a point, and brought me back to games that actually did scare me. More because of the unknown. In Resident Evil 2, I was scared of getting trapped by zombies, running out of ammo, etc. Sure there are jumpscares as well, the variation is what kept the tension up. But more so when you see a licker for the first time, because you've only seen zombies so far - initial reaction to one crawling quickly over the window is "WTF WAS THAT". I had no idea. I'd do anything to experience that moment again for the first time. Once you realize what they are and how to kill them (acid grenades do wonders), they become far less scary.

What makes L4D scary is it's random nature. Until you are a *really* seasoned player, it feels like you can get rushed at any given moment. For me it's not really being scared, but more tense, especially on higher difficulties or with poor teammates, when you think with your amount of health and ammo that you are definitely screwed in the next encounter. Last Human on Earth sounds pretty fucked up though, I think I'll give it a shot.

 

[Silentpony_v1legacy]

So you don't actually fight aliens in that game, you just keep running from them?

In Isolation? No, its like Amnesia. The Alien is invulnerable, no matter what. You don't fight it at all or out run it once it sees you, and at best you can kinda' scare it with fire or if it grabs you and you have a cattle-prod you can shock it for a get-out-of-jaws-free-card. But other than that, the Xenomorph is just a golden gun on legs, painted black and covered in goo.

 

[Silentpony_v1legacy]

Part of my dislike of jump-scares is I don't feel like it ever adds to the experience. Or at least never adds anything that can't be easily replaced.

I know it can seem like a cop-out answer, but; that is very subjective. Just because they don't do anything for you doesn't mean they're not a valid stylistic choice, or that they can't work effectively for other people.

What isn't subjective is that, clearly, regardless of whatever jump scares 'are', they endure, and audiences do enjoy them.

As for "jump-startle": that'd be fine, as that also relates to what I said about subjective associations with what on earth a scare even is in the first place. But that still doesn't discredit them as a tool in film or game creation; be it some creepy beastie or a scene in Cruel Intentions (I have a friend who jumped in the cinema during that film, and I'm pretty sure it wasn't supposed to be a horror or chiller film... ), it's a provoked reaction. If it works, it works - and so job done for the creator.

I don't think its a cop-out at all. I think its perfectly legitimate to say horror is subjective. Spiders scare the shit out of me, whereas rats and snakes are just cuddly.

However, I think its interesting that your palbert jumped in Cruel Intentions, which also to my knowledge isn't a horror movie. And I think that kinda' underlines why I don't like jump-startles. You can have them even when the movie/game isn't trying to scare you. They're actually not really part of the horror arsenal so much as a natural reaction to a loud/sudden thing. A bunny can startle you as much as the scariest little Japanese ghost girl.

 

[CrimsonBlaze]

Certainly games that include jump scares tend to catch me off-guard for a quick fright, but certainly nothing long term. I always have some knowledge of the degree of gore or disgusting content in a title that lets me know if I can handle its content while simultaneously having fun.

I certainly can't imagine having a good time with the Condemned or Postal series.

 

[Kyrian007]

Yes, I like that feeling and there are a number of games that work. But its different for everyone. I liked RE 4... but wasn't ever scared by it. There was never a feeling of helplessness, just "hey, more Spaniards to gun down... I still have bullets... keep shooting." But never that isolation or dread that I got from Silent Hill games. Or the chill the atmosphere of Alan Wake provided. Or Amnesia. Even the original Alone in the Dark games.

However my friend who doesn't like survival horror games, doesn't like to be scared was playing it after seeing me playing what is actually an action game. And he likes over the shoulder shooters like Mass Effect, so he gave it a shot. He got to the long tunnel under the village. Its a long cave with nothing in it, it is a tense moment. Basically he's inching down this tunnel, barely moving and constantly swiveling around trying to see "where the monster is coming from." I'm on the couch reading, trying not to laugh out loud." He gets near the end of the tunnel (it takes forever) and just as he's letting his guard down just a little...

"Got some good things on sale strang...BAMBAMBAMBAMBAM!"

Saw it coming a mile away, and it still made me laugh. He panic fires down the merchant, puts down the controller... and never plays RE 4 again.

 

[Silvanus]

Plenty of games made me jump (Dead Space, Alien: Isolation, early Resident Evils (sometimes), F.E.A.R.), but only one or two have genuinely scared me. Those would be Silent Hill 2, which made my heart race and my face sweat during the prison area, and Amnesia: The Dark Descent.

 

[Elel]

Pretty much ALL horror games scare me. For the only ones I've managed to play through I've kept a flashlight nearby, so that I could turn on the light any time. (Naturally, I play horror games in darkness at night)

I've never had nightmares from horror games, but I had a continuous feeling that somebody would jump at me from darkness in the real world. Slender, Silent Hills, etc.

The only horror games that didn't scare me were Resident Evils. There's just something too Hollywood about zombies to take them seriously.

 

[Elel]

EDIT: No idea why this was posted twice.

 

[KoudelkaMorgan]

To the person whose only Silent Hill experience was with Homecoming, I legit feel sorry you had to start and finish with that one. It ranks just above Shattered Memories, which for me ranks absolute bottom of the main series.

Downpour is pretty good if you can't go all the way back to the original though. As much as I like 2, the original will always be my favorite, and the sewers are quite scary.

As for the horror game that scared me the most it would have to be the original Fatal Frame. Also, Koudelka was pretty creepy throughout.

 

[SlumlordThanatos]

Yes.

Case in point: I never finished Dead Space. I got most of the way through the game before I ran almost completely out of ammo and had to fight one of those creatures that spawn the hordes of tiny creepy-crawlies when you shoot it in the wrong spot.

I never liked horror games, because I don't like feeling scared. I prefer challenging games in order to get that adrenaline rush.

 

[Imperioratorex Caprae]

I'll have to add, I wasn't necessarily scared by Alan Wake but rather I definitely was highly unnerved by the setting and thematic elements. It actually is a semi-nightmare of mine where I'm trapped in my own horror stories I used to write. Back in my high school days I went through a phase of writing some Stephen King inspired material, which I've got to say with almost no ego were actually some of my best work (not just my own opinion, but something my father keeps nagging at me to start back up). Anyway, Alan Wake forced me to have a similar perspective of my own works rise up again from my past and invade my dreams again.
Really creepy.

 

[Beffudled Sheep_v1legacy]

Fatal Frame 2 filled me with every different kind of fear that exists.

I always felt alone, always felt vulnerable. Even with the camera and the strongest film types I never felt strong. Everything about that damn town just felt wrong, like it shouldn't exist. The backstory, the ghosts, the final recorded moments of the boss ghosts on those stones they drop, everything worked together flawlessly to make me want to put the controller down and just walk away to somewhere full of light and people.

One of my favorite games of all time, and one that I'll probably never play again,