Ideas for a really scary game?

[Shoggoth2588]

So what would you put in a game to make it truly scary?

I'd put something in there that follows you wherever you go. You can't attack it, but it can attack you, and it walks really slowly, but doesn't stop. But it's there. It's always there. Wherever you go.

Slenderman the Game. Market it as a game for Everyone with a subtle, subtle ad campaign and wait for the parents to call, pissed off at their traumatized children.

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I would try breaking the fourth wall. There has to be some way to break the fourth wall in a manner similar to how Eternal Darkness did only...take it to a different extreme. Eternal Darkness could 'delete' your memory card data. A hypothetical horror game (it would have to be on a future-gen console) would insert in-game monsters or, characters onto the dash-board menu or overlay it on whatever you may be watching on netflix or whatever. Something that insists itself upon you but doesn't say 'ooga booga' so much as watch you. People under-estimate the power of a silent stare.

Another idea...

Spoiler: Just put this into a game. Even if you flash it onscreen for one frame every so many minutes. You have been warned

Creepy Pasta the game: Coming to Xbox Live and PSN Halloween 2012.

Edit to add a quote!

Making a horror game is so easy I cannot comprehend why companies cant do it.

-Stealth based, if you mess up you have to run to the next safe zone but the monsters are faster than you.
-No cut scenes, ever.
-The environment/sound messes with you, somebody is running at you from behind! Oh wait no....
-No music change when enemies see you, no indication
-Pictures that devour you
-A monster that steals voices, talks to you in many voices and wants yours
-Lots of silence, only dietetic sound often indicating where hostiles are
-This is all your fault somehow
-Groups of randomly walking blind monsters you have to sneak past

Edit: Oh also the building/world you are in gets smaller as time goes on. You revisit places and the rooms get gradually smaller giving a sense of claustrophobia and insects start crawling everywhere. Places that were once niece are now horrifyingly bleak and small.

I would play that because I have always wanted to live a life without sleeping.

 

[Saltarius]

In Silent Hill, the "other world" aspect always happens at certain points. But what if we took that concept and made it random? Like a modifier that sets when the world shifts and the googly-eyed monsters come out to play. Obviously it can;t occur to frequently or it will stop being scary but still.

 

[AnthonTheSkabot]

An overwhelming feeling of loneliness with a dash of helplessness in the face of danger, a tablespoon of claustrophobic areas and a garnish of darkness, this will help bring out the helplessness. It's a good thing.

 

[Belaam]

The afore mentioned lack of ammo. I'd love to see a survival horror set near a military base or even local police station where it's clear they held out until the ammo was gone. Guns everywhere, but maybe five rounds in the whole place. I think that would be both really creepy and also give a rationale for why you can't just run into the nearest Wal-mart and pick up a thousand rounds.

An extremely cruel health system. Either no regeneration or something like it costs a huge amount of XP for a small return of health. Make it so getting hurt is extremely bad news. Maybe a Fallout mechanic where hurt legs slow you, hurt arms give your weapon wobbly aim, etc.

A variation on Dark Souls, maybe when you die, your corpse, with all equipment you had on you, shows up in another person's game where you died. So your loot from boss fights would be the corpses of other players who died trying to beat them.

Finally, though it would be easily open to abuse, I think it would be awesome if there were an option for multi-platform stuff. I'm imaging a scenario wherein the game IMs or texts you information as you play. Particularly if you couldn't pause the game, it would be awesome to have that choice of looking away from the monitor long enough to read whatever useful info the game is sending you, but knowing that you might get jumped while looking away. My cell ringing at the wrong time in a game has often caused me to jump 10 feet in the air, doing so intentionally would be awesome. Assuming you have a free texting plan.

That said, as a fan of high engagement games, I love games that don't allow you to pause. As a father of two kids under 4, I loathe them.

 

[WhiteFangofWhoa]

I'd put something in there that follows you wherever you go. You can't attack it, but it can attack you, and it walks really slowly, but doesn't stop. But it's there. It's always there. Wherever you go.

Sounds like Scissorman in Clock Tower, one of the only horror games I really enjoyed. All sorts of tension-building sound effects can be used for such an enemy, showing how far away they are and whether or not they've detected you (goes faster when they have, and louder the closer they get to you). It also had a nicely creepy theme that played when you were getting closer to a new threat that wasn't Scissorman.

The new Devil May Cry won't be a horror game, but seeing the Limbo concept in the trailer made me think of a fair number of nightmares I've had involving similar concepts. You're in a city or town that looks totally normal at first, but you gradually notice things aren't quite right, that all the civilians are actually wandering corpses with blank faces, or that the buildings they're wandering into are in fact eating them, or that everyone has tentacles hooked up to their necks that are part of an eldritch abomination taking up the sky... and when this nightmarish city eventually detects that you're not part of the system and have seen through the illusion, it turns nasty. Militarized subconscious from Inception kind of nasty.

 

[Bocaj2000]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biopunk

Biopunk can be one of the scariest things left as far as monsters go. Everything else can be brushed off of the shoulder as something that could never happen, but biopunk feels more ingrained in reality.

 

[default]

Surreality always freaks me the fuck out. Like pure surreality. Go download and play All Of Our Friends Are Dead (it's free) and you will know what gives me chills.

 

[Cavan]

I don't know what happened to the other thread like this :/

anyway i'l just post what I posted there:

A game where you're completely insane from the outset, and friendlies talk to you in soothing tones as if you're in a mental hospital. Unfortunately monsters are also able to talk to you in soothing tones to lure you off track, they can also appear as friendlies but with minor distortions you can't recognise until you're close. They can also make friendly npcs appear briefly as monsters.

Basically one big mindfuck where you have no idea what is what until it's just about too late most of the time and you end up making mistakes like running from npcs you're convinced are enemies or helping monsters through gates that then cause chaos or force you to run for your life.
There would be very few ways to be sure of one thing or another, and they are very limited (thinking anti psychotic medication for example as one way, or clues within speech where monsters are unaware of certain things or deliberately lie and if you're able to catch it you can see that they're wrong and then make the first move). Or you find that the character you've been trusting up to this point is actually just a vivid hallucination and that they were only telling you what you wanted to hear. That sort of insanity beats the crap out of blurry lenses and wonky cameras.

I also don't think horror games play up just how disturbing things with psychopathic grinning mouths full of sharp teeth that laugh hysterically at your pathetic attempts to survive really are. Imagine if the joker and venom had a child..

 

[sephyboy]

A Rebecca Black BGM. You'd shit your pants.

 

[Davroth]

You have to convince me that every moment there might be a jump scare, but the secret is, there actually never is one.

Then guide me through some kind of creepy environment, like a hospital with corpses scattered around. Make me search for keys or something. A good sound scape would help, too.

As long as I believe that there might be a jump scare at every corner, I'll be at the edge of my seat, even when nothing ever happens.

 

[Ix Rebound]

Still waiting for that underwater horror game.

Drifting through the water, hearing the sound of you own breath in the scuba mask, catching glimpses of huge somethings sliding through the murky depths.

fuck, i would shit myself in that kind of game
enemies that in the the water that a have to go through always scares the shit out of me.

Captcha :Wing it
exactly what i do

 

[Boggelz]

Listening to Hotel California had kinda made me imagine this idea.

You break down at a hotel in the middle of nowhere, and need help. They are all so very helpful but never lead you to what you want, and pressure you to stay. But as you wish to leave they all very slowly seem hostile. Think the one scene from Call of Cthulhu. And the hotel slowly deteriorates but still showing that it once had charm. Throw in a subtle story showing how its punishing the main character. Bam

Just realized that sounds very silent hill-esque

 

[Kuranesno7]

People seem to be rather preoccupied with getting stalked by something as a major factor of gameplay.

I'll always choose this: Lovecraftian horror, because that weird racist fuck got it so right they named a subgenre of horror after him.

but specifically to ideas: Have an aging private investigater come upon a cosmic conspiracy involving cults, weird creatures in the night, bizarre ritual killings and the like.
The kicker?
This is after he's diagnosed with terminal lung cancer that is so advanced it has metasticized to his brain. are all of the homeless people really staring at him? Did that businessman's head just explode and out came this thing of teeth and claws to devour a rat in an alleyway? Is he hearing some eldrich singing that's just around the corner?

Paranoia and uncertainty in an apparently normal yet inherently hostile world would be what makes this scary.

So to begin with, you get health, but each level your health bar gets incrementaly shorter. Eventually you'll need different remedies for different things, like cough-suppressants to let you aim without hacking every ten seconds, or anti-psychotics to deal with possible hallucinations.
You'll be working in a city, gathering clues, copying them and putting them in various places for others to find.

 

[Skoldpadda]

I've got an idea. You're a little boy who wants to play outside, but it's sunday and you have to run away from your mother who relentlessly stalks you to make you put on your little sailor costume.

 

[A Raging Emo]

STALKER

I am prepared to pay an ungodly amount of money for another STALKER game.

On Topic: My horror game would be really subtle. It would be something relatively mundane initially, or on the surface, but there would be a level of uncertainty in the game; monsters in crowds, but when you look again, they're gone. Shadows of things that aren't there. Movement that isn't your own while you're alone in the dark. That sort of thing. Something that, on the surface, is relatively typical, but once you get to, say, a second or third playthrough, and begin to scratch the surface, you notice how truly horrifying the game-world is.

I'm not entirely sure who'd pull it off, though. And it'd be a risky development.

(Thanks, Cracked.com!)

Edit:

I've got an idea. You're a little boy who wants to play outside, but it's sunday and you have to run away from your mother who relentlessly stalks you to make you put on your little sailor costume.

You. Are. A Genius!

Edit Edit: I had this idea while watching Stargate SG1 yesterday. It would be an Indie Game, and nothing to big budget. You have no weapons or way of defending yourself whatsoever. You are placed in a randomly generated maze, at the centre, and have to find your way out. However, a Minotaur (or some other Monster) is dropped in the maze with you, but you aren't told when or where. There could be, say, three difficulty modes. Easy gives you a small maze and one monster, normal gives you a medium-sized maze and two monsters, while hard gives you a very large maze and three monsters to run from.

 

[default]

STALKER

I am prepared to pay an ungodly amount of money for another STALKER game.

On Topic: My horror game would be really subtle. It would be something relatively mundane initially, or on the surface, but there would be a level of uncertainty in the game; monsters in crowds, but when you look again, they're gone. Shadows of things that aren't there. Movement that isn't your own while you're alone in the dark. That sort of thing. Something that, on the surface, is relatively typical, but once you get to, say, a second or third playthrough, and begin to scratch the surface, you notice how truly horrifying the game-world is.

I'm not entirely sure who'd pull it off, though. And it'd be a risky development.

(Thanks, Cracked.com!)

Edit:

I've got an idea. You're a little boy who wants to play outside, but it's sunday and you have to run away from your mother who relentlessly stalks you to make you put on your little sailor costume.

You. Are. A Genius!

Edit Edit: I had this idea while watching Stargate SG1 yesterday. It would be an Indie Game, and nothing to big budget. You have no weapons or way of defending yourself whatsoever. You are placed in a randomly generated maze, at the centre, and have to find your way out. However, a Minotaur (or some other Monster) is dropped in the maze with you, but you aren't told when or where. There could be, say, three difficulty modes. Easy gives you a small maze and one monster, normal gives you a medium-sized maze and two monsters, while hard gives you a very large maze and three monsters to run from.

Also, powerups that can be found around the maze such as a guiding compass that points in the direction of the exit, a shield or weapon that has a one time use that stuns the monsters, boots that give you quicker movement speed, a kind of pendant that lets you sense when danger is near... so many things you could do with such a simple concept.

 

[A Raging Emo]

Snippity Snip Snip

That's a really good idea; I hadn't thought of that. Maybe there could also be a stealth mechanic? So the Monster can't see you, only smell/hear/feel you, so you can hide in cupboards and so on, kind of like in Amnesia and Penumbra.

 

[IBlackKiteI]

A first person shooter set in modern or near future times. Except unlike the COD or Battlefield model, make it more akin to STALKER or Metro 2033. Actually make combat feel threatening. Homefront hoped to make you "feel" each kill, and failed miserably. But if someone could actually perfect that, make you actually feel how terrifying combat is, that would be an intensely frightening game.

There was a planned game a few years back called Six Days in Fallujah which was apparently aiming to be akin to something like this, but it got cancelled or something due to it being based on a real, fairly recent battle, so to some it was too insensitive and controversal.
But yeah, have a game where the weapons feel like actual weapons and screw up from time to time and ruthlessly intelligent enemies who constantly try to pin you down and flank you and that'd be a start.
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I think horror games need to be less direct in how they attempt to frighten or unsettle the player, moving away from jump scares and the immediate physical dangers posed by monsters and become a bit more surreal and less immediately obvious. We need more games which kind of affect the player beyond jumping out and scaring them every now and then, instead making us think about stuff a bit more. Horror is a brilliant way to get someone sucked into a setting and thinking about something, but a lot of horror games don't often seem to provide something more for them to think about beyond scary monsters, dark corridors and creepy music.

Give us more games which explore themes and things normally considered abhorrent or might make us naturally feel uneasy and do it on a deep, intellectual level. Stuff like genetic manipulation, primal fears, torture, whatever, but do it without screaming 'uh oh the scary music's kicked in and an evil monster's jumping out at you!' all the time.

 

[Drop_D-Bombshell]

A day and night scenario where the location is normal and deserted during the day, but at night it's twisted and horrible. Monsters come out at night but instead of it being a slow process, turning day to night is instant while night to day takes a while, plus have puzzles that can only be solved at either day or night with scarce items. That'd be awesome.

 

[Slayer_2]

DON'T overuse predictable "shock" tactics to create a "HAH! Made you jump" moment. Those aren't original, creative, or truly scary. I find true fear is based in immersion, a sense of connection with the player, and NOT being a demi-god (no need to eat, sleep, drink, can walk off gunshots, etc). What's more scary: a one-time second of surprise, or potentially hours, even days of fear stemming from a scary environment? If you feel vulnerable and connected to the game, it's much easier to be scared. When you can hide behind some cover for 5 seconds and be fine after losing a limb or getting shot, the immersion is ruined, and there is no real sense of risk. Also, I find the urge to use the supernatural to scare people as not only an immersion-breaker, but also unnecessary. Are humans really so good that there are no cases in which actions of some of our species could set the mood for a horror game?

Currently I'm working on a giant "mod", more of a new game, really, that focuses on free-roaming survival/horror, in a new aspect. It's focused on immersing the player in the environment, and connecting them to the game so that they are wary, scared even, of the antagonists (North Koreans). Where as usually these enemies would be cannon fodder, they now outgun and outnumber you. Since one round either kills or incapacitates 90% of the time, you play much more cautiously, and the need to keep your player fed, hydrated, and rested adds to the challenge and tension, by forcing the player out into the game world to seek necessary supplies. Since the enemies, location, and story are very believable, and could easily happen (or have happened), the player is even more connected to the character and environment.