I very much so recommend Eternal Darkness, for the Game Cube/Wii. It's the only game that I can remember ever getting freaked the fuck out in, ever.
Good psychological horror games?
- Thread starter WayOutThere
- Start date
Thank you for the response, it was very well written (despite being late at night), and i think it helped me to understand further.WayOutThere said:
It's fair enough to be skeptical of these horror games that people hold in high regard (as it is with recommended games from any genre), as you might find, for example, Fatal Frame or Eternal Darkness to be completely dissapointing. If you found some of the Silent Hill games disspointing that's completely fine too. I personally like them, but also think they have some flaws. I guess Silent Hill, Fatal Frame and Eternal Darkness are probably (this is a bit of speculation) the three video games most associated games with the term psychological horror, thus it's expected people will mention them.
What i would recommend is that you play; Sanitarium, The Suffering, Condemned: Criminal Origins, Fatal Frame 2, Eternal Darkness, Clock Tower 3, Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth and Haunting Ground (sorry, i know that's quite a few), and if you still feel that FEAR is the best horror game you played, then i think it would be unfair of me to argue against that. But because you said you only really have Silent Hill and FEAR to go on for the psychological horror genre, i'd suggest you play some of the one's people have mentioned so that you do get a chance to experience the genre further. Whether you'll like these games or not i really can't be sure of, and approaching them in a skeptical manner as you have is good, but try not to be turned off them completely in case of missing one you might thoroughly enjoy.
But it does seem to me that you are keen in psychological horror. I apologise if i seem as though earlier i was accusing you of being otherwise, but i just wanted to check.
Indigo Prophecy was really good.
When you start the game you are in a bathroom after killing someone and have mere minutes to find a way to hide the body and evidence and get out before you are caught. The kicker is you have no memory of killing this person or how you came to be in this washroom.
I find it surprising that you seem to value games as an art form, and seek psychological horrors as a potential pinnacle of that, yet find FEAR a good example. Perhaps it is just because you are inexperienced in the genre, or because you seek something you only think is called psychological horror, but the scares FEAR offers come off as incredibly cheap and poorly executed to me. The Creepy Evil Girl of Death concept has existed for quite a while now, and while FEAR attempts a chillingly horrifying back story, it mostly comprises cheap jumpy scares. Not to mention that the ending is perhaps the most "OH PLEASE"-inducing moment in recent memory and completely trashes everything you did in one, painfully cheap frame.WayOutThere said:
Chaosut summarised a lot of good, classic suggestions for you up there, and good suggestions have been made throughout the topic. Many of those games are a kind of obligatory reading if you want to get acquainted with psychological horrors. You may find the Silent Hills disagreeable because of the tedious gameplay, or Fatal Frame's premise silly, but if you don't find them atmospheric and scary I have to wonder what it is you're looking for exactly. Good luck with your search, in any case.
I may be way off base here, and if so, I'm sorry, but I found Bioshock to be quite scary. The horror isn't supernaturally based, but I found the atmosphere to be quite chilling and immersive. There are a couple of cheap "booga booga" scares in the gameplay, but most of the chills are based in exploring a once great city that madness has rotted from the inside out.
Of course, you may be looking for an experience that's based in turning the player's perceptions upside down; if that's the case, Bioshock isn't really what you're looking for.
And judging that no one else has mentioned this game, I'm probably outing myself as being a big time milquetoast for finding it scary. In any event, good luck in your search!
Of course, you may be looking for an experience that's based in turning the player's perceptions upside down; if that's the case, Bioshock isn't really what you're looking for.
And judging that no one else has mentioned this game, I'm probably outing myself as being a big time milquetoast for finding it scary. In any event, good luck in your search!
Eternal Darkness - Sanity's Requiem: Gamecube
Silent Hill 1-4: PC, Playstation 1 and 2
Call of Cthulhu - Dark Corners of the Earth: PC, Xbox
Penumbra series: PC
I'd also recommend the first Condemned game since it's made by the same company as the one that made F.E.A.R. System Shock 2 might give you some scares too.
Silent Hill 1-4: PC, Playstation 1 and 2
Call of Cthulhu - Dark Corners of the Earth: PC, Xbox
Penumbra series: PC
I'd also recommend the first Condemned game since it's made by the same company as the one that made F.E.A.R. System Shock 2 might give you some scares too.
Obviously been said, but the early Silent Hill games are some of my favourites-4 & 5 not so much. Fatal Frame is also good, Some of my friends won't even replay FF2. Haunting Ground gets a special mention because, You have no real weapon and you are put into the characters POV in a really interesting way. I can't think of any other particularly good psychological games for the minute.
EDIT: I almost forgot. Call of Cthulu, definately messed up.
From a non-psychological standpoint, Resident Evil: REmake for the Gamecube did a good job of producing more shocking scares. Ditto some of the earlier names in the RE series too.
EDIT: I almost forgot. Call of Cthulu, definately messed up.
From a non-psychological standpoint, Resident Evil: REmake for the Gamecube did a good job of producing more shocking scares. Ditto some of the earlier names in the RE series too.
I really hope you are kiddingSsilverR said:
Stalker shadow of Chernobyl is the only game that has actually made me sweat with fear. I mean, there is this bit where you spend about three mins walking up a road as you get shot at by clever bastard soldiers, and as you go you slowly become more messed up,
the music starts to throb sickeningly, random ghosts charge you from nowhere and you waste most of your ammo on them before you realise they are not real. And then once you finally escape your enemy's you reach a terrifying underground research facility.
Then the cherry on the already thoroughly mind fucked and distressed cake becomes apparent: There Are only THREE enemy's in this dungeon, and they are all INVISIBLE MONSTERS.
In comparison in a demo of the new fear me and my friend found ourselves playing a game where we must guess when a mind fuckkery sequence is going to happen:
"Ahh a long uninhabited corridor, I think it is time for- Ah yes there she is. Walking towards us then bursting into particals. Woo hoo."
"Oh look a series of once again uninhabited rooms. I wonder if what's her face is going to- Ah yep there she is right outside the window. How surprising."
How you didn't like Silent Hill 2 is beyond me, but I'd say Fatal Frame is probably the scariest game I've ever played along side Dead Space and SH2
Kenjitsuka said:
Flying-Emu said:
Timewave Zero said:
FallenJellyDoughnut said:
Chaosut said:
Alright, I'm rather feeling the need to defend my calling FEAR psychological horror.Aw-kward said:
I said earlier the psychological horror is >about< what I want most out of gaming. I can think of one thing I like more and that is something FEAR delivers. What this is actually feeds into the games psychological horror. The two fit together very well.
FEAR was beyond reality. Something that I call "beyond reality" is deep, profound, and mysterious; it leaves you in awe. It?s the same thing the first Matrix film did. FEAR is a solid example of this.
It has been pointed out that you are well defended in FEAR where as in other games such as Silent Hill you are a normal hapless person. While you are quite well defended against the super soldiers after Alma effortlessly and brutally wipes out your squad in the beginning of the game you always feel vulnerable to her. The psychological part comes from how the game plays off this combined with its profound feel.
If you?ve played Project Origin you can contrast the two to see what I?m talking about as Project Origin is basically FEAR minus everything I loved about it.
Good plot in the most crucial prerequisite of psychological horror and FEAR had that and also told the story without cut-scenes.
Another thing, yes the creepy little girl angle has been taking before but FEAR is the only time I've experienced it.
Here is my singular biggest complaint against Silent Hill. It was atmospheric and scary at times but I found myself running around from room to room with certainty that nothing was going to happen. The entire environment is one big empty threat. Some boo scares can do the psychological parts well; let's not completely devaluate them.
Take Half Life 2 as an example. They say the game is immersive (it is a least designed to be). I scoff at that. The shooty action is nice but it?s far too familiar to keep you immersed. Run up shoot a lot of guys, its almost second nature. No, to really be immersive something unique has to be happening.
In FEAR all the scares are unique. Well, some repeat themselves. I got really bored of corpses falling from the ceiling. I can understand the "OH PLEASE" reaction as I a bit felt that way myself. FEAR wasn't even that scary so much as it was immersive.
I believe that FEAR is a step in the right direction for psychological horror though I don't believe it hit as hard as it could have scary-wise. Have other games been a better step in that direction: how would I know? I created this thread so I could find out about them.
Bottom line, psychological horror if the scares never change.
Edit: Let me change this last line: Psychological horror can't work if the game can't immerse you in the experience. I found FEAR to be immersive but I can't really say the same for SH.
Let's take another look at SH:
For stuff about SH3
The fun house
The boss fight where heather fights her original self
The room you walk into where the quickening (think its called that) starts happening all around you
The monster thats trapped in the locker and can't escape
The very creepy organic looking walls
Edit: I'll also add in the Leviathan you have destroy with a spell
The boss fight where heather fights her original self
The room you walk into where the quickening (think its called that) starts happening all around you
The monster thats trapped in the locker and can't escape
The very creepy organic looking walls
Edit: I'll also add in the Leviathan you have destroy with a spell
All of these are great, unique examples of psychological horror. There just weren't neary enough of them in the game.
Here's some stuff about SH2
The manniquine monsters and the nurses are designed with sexual overtones to represent Jame's libido
Maria only existed so she could get killed over and over again- mostly by Pyrimid Head as James needed someone to punish himself.
Maria only existed so she could get killed over and over again- mostly by Pyrimid Head as James needed someone to punish himself.
I like this about SH2 but I never noticed them during the actualy game and have to read up on the game to realize what is was about. SH2 is an incredible concept and I hope games explore it again in the future.
Hell, this would do well as the definition of psychological horror.
psychological horror- a game that throws a guy alone into a possessed town who's soul purpose is to fuck with his head
It just needs to be subtly apparent during the game, requiring and compelling you to do a little bit of reading between the lines.
One more thing, if my arguments don't seem very strong understand that I'm developing my thoughts as I go. Let it also be noted that this post is written just as choppy as my thoughts are.
I gotta agree with him on that--I played the original FEAR (some might argue the ONLY FEAR) before Silent Hill, so that set a bar of mind-buggery that SH's subtlety couldn't quite match. There were scenes of genuine terror in Silent Hill 2 for sure, but I never went in dreading anything quite like the feeling of horrified apprehension that FEAR is so good at creating.Kenjitsuka said:
Dead Space had a pretty decent psychological horror aspect as you uncover the story of the artifact and the reason everyone is butchered and stuff and there is the twists towards the end. Me and my housemate talked about the story to that for a while, it was pretty compelling.
I played a Japanese horror on my friends PS2 once, cant remember it's title but I hated it, normally horror doesn't fuss me but the fear that game put into you was terrifying. It was the grainy, dark atmosphere and the fact you were a young girl and the 'scary' things weren't 'there'...but were.
I played a Japanese horror on my friends PS2 once, cant remember it's title but I hated it, normally horror doesn't fuss me but the fear that game put into you was terrifying. It was the grainy, dark atmosphere and the fact you were a young girl and the 'scary' things weren't 'there'...but were.