How important is music for you in horror games/movies.

[axillarypuma]

For me it's kind of important, but horror games barely have any soundtrack nowadays, which sucks IMO, because some well done soundtrack can creep me out more than the game itself, for movies on the other hand there was only one particular movie that didn't let me sleep for a week because of the really well done ost.



So how important is it for you?

 

[Darth Rosenberg]

Surely music in horror games is as important as the game needs it to be.

The 'less music, more sound-effects' trend (if it is even a trend?) may just be people realising that literally every thing you hear in a horror experience (game or film) is important to the creation of a specific effect the creator is going for.

I think one of the most disturbing sounds in any horror game is in Amnesia/Dark Descent - the clicking/grinding sound as sanity depletes.

For me, cohesive sound design overall is the secret to a great, oppressive or horrific atmosphere. Music in various forms is just another part of that. S.T.A.L.K.E.R.'s an incredibly atmospheric and unsettling game, from the ambient sound beds, the effects (dog angry... dog running away! dog angry again... ), and even the fellow Stalkers huddled miserably about small fires, picking out melancholic tunes on their battered acoustic guitars. Everything reinforces the tone of a bleak, hopeless, hostile world (Metro 2033 does a similarly effective job. Russian/Ukrainian post-apocalyptica > Western, I reckon!). And when you head down into the nastiest areas of the Zone, the horror soundscape dials it up a notch to suit the increasingly supernatural ambience (and threats).

 

[Keoul]

It's very important, the music sets the atmosphere and it's often times VERY foreboding which adds to the horror.

Can anyone find a game scary with this blasting?

 

[Frission]

It's very important, the music sets the atmosphere and it's often times VERY foreboding which adds to the horror.

Can anyone find a game scary with this blasting?

Yes

It wouldn't only be terrifying it would be confusing

Quite frankly I wouldn't want to die with that song blaring in the background.

OT: Horror thrives on atmosphere more than anything else. Lighting and music can carry a horror game. Music is as important as it's needed to get the proper tone going.

It's a bit of an obvious question.

 

[Epidemiix]

Very important. Well to me.

Not the "Oh here come the shrill violins!" kind of thing, the more lower bass strings that would just be at that point of making you uneasy. And then of course, having nothing. Having the music, and then having a distinct lack of it are both things that I think helps create a wonderful horror game experience.

 

[Artina89]

I find music a very effective way to set the atmosphere, whether it be a horror game or an action game so yes, music is very important in a horror game for me. Listen to the Silent Hill games. The music adds to the tone and the atmosphere. Here are a couple of my favourite tracks across the Silent Hill franchise (At least from the first four games, which are my favourite games in the series)





Silent Hill has the perfect soundtracks in my opinion.

 

[mjharper]

Sound is arguably the most important part of creating effective horror, IMO. That being said, music is only a part of that... In the [/]Dead Space[/i] games, I turn of the music because I think it improves them no end, partly because the sound design of those games is so good.

 

[Thaluikhain]

Not generally essential, but I really appreciate when it's done well.

The soundtrack from "The Thing" is the best I can think of off the top of my head. But then, even Ep1M8 "Sign of Evil" had great music.