Multiplayer horror?

[Setsuri21]

How about you never actually meet the other player? The two of you can communicate, maybe by radio or something, but you never (or very rarely) actually see one another.

To take a setting from Dead Space and some tips from Amnesia: You're trapped on a space ship or station, and it has been attacked by some malevolent force. In order for the two of you to survive you're going to have to work together.

To take the Fatal Frame idea from above, there is some sort of artifact that can help you fight them off, but there is only one, and you have to pass it back and forth for various reasons - A hall infested with corrosive, evil matter, or needed to in order to solve a puzzle - to proceed.

That sound idea also comes into play, as what you say and what your friend says can be heard by monsters on both ends. Maybe a sequence occurs where one person with The Lamp - that is, the Artifact - has to solve a puzzle in a room that is filled with lots of precariously stacked metal bits or something, and has to be really careful not to knock anything over because his teammate is trapped in another room with a blind monster with really good hearing.

Monsters would take the Amnesia approach - They will tear you to bits in seconds if they catch you, so you don't want to see them, so they can't see you.

If one of you dies, then wither A: the match ends - you failed, B: The rest of the match becomes a super difficult one man challenge with an alternate route that one man could complete on his own, but be harder(monsters get more numerous, faster), or C: similar to B, except you can somehow revive the other player at checkpoints, so the alternate route is just a mad dash for the nearest checkpoint.

sorry bout wall o' text. just needed to get that all out there

-EDIT-
Dang, partially ninja'd

 

[ViciousMoon]

Huh. The first thought that popped in my head after reading the title was a big virtual mansion with people running round and jumping out of cupboards scaring one another.

I dunno. I think that making a 2-player horror game might work. In Amnesia you have to be quiet a lot of the time to listen where the danger is. If you made sure to play on this then the people playing together would rather be whispering and shushing (no idea how to spell that) eachother.

If done right, I also think it might work.

Are you saying that chatting, the volume level of talking would lead the monsters to you? Thats a brilliant idea.

This idea is amazing! I could see a lot of annoyances accuring though. You know like people screaming in the mike after they see a monster and attract more monsters.

Didn't they do that in the co-op mode in Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory, except with terrorists instead of monsters.

If you would like a more scary and less action focused co-op game, I would recommend System Shock 2. In my opinion it was far superior to Bioshock in terms of horror and customisation. It features co-op throughout the whole game (although it wasn't that stable at times) and is one of the only good FPS/RPG/Horror multiplayer games I can think of.

 

[Smooth Operator]

I can't see it, because being alone in a scary world ramps up the horror level a thousand fold, and doing the home alone at night with lights out playing a horror game turns up the scare factor to "will probably have a hearth attack".

Now put someone in with you and it's just a party, you can dick around on your own, things aren't really scary when you got someone to keep you grounded and sane, it just like someone switched on the lights and you can see all the monsters.

 

[Jayse]

I felt Resident Evil Outbreak did a pretty decent job of multiplayer. Given the platform and time it was released.

 

[wolfapocalypse]

System shock 2 had a fantastic multiplayer mod. They game is extremely scary and atmospheric and it gets even better when you can see it with a friend.

 

[Slimshad]

Snip

That's a great idea! Game developers take notice!

I've sent Extra credits several emails about such things, but no replies :/

 

[Hyperactiveman]

I've been considering this for a while now, I would LOVE a multiplayer horror game. Not the nazi zombies / LFD style of 'horror', but proper fuck with your head, run for your life horror. Me and my friends love the absolute terror in cod zombies where that doctor or Angry George are chasing you through tight corridors, it's pulse pounding and incredible.

Anyway, so when I saw some gameplay footage of Amnesia, I thought that with a few tweaks it would be perfect for multiplayer, you could use teamwork to solve the puzzles, and would have to split up and hide in separate areas when the monster comes out to snack on you. It could even have a minigame where you have to hide for as long as you can, and each minute adds an extra monster to the map [and if they find you they destroy whatever you're hiding in, so you start running out of places and just need to run run run]

Well I think it would be brilliant. Not sure about anyone else, but this genre is lacking in truly scary games that you can play with friends.

Step 1: Steam
Step 2: KILLING FLOOR
Step 3: Profit

/thread

 

[SammiYin]

I've been considering this for a while now, I would LOVE a multiplayer horror game. Not the nazi zombies / LFD style of 'horror', but proper fuck with your head, run for your life horror. Me and my friends love the absolute terror in cod zombies where that doctor or Angry George are chasing you through tight corridors, it's pulse pounding and incredible.

Anyway, so when I saw some gameplay footage of Amnesia, I thought that with a few tweaks it would be perfect for multiplayer, you could use teamwork to solve the puzzles, and would have to split up and hide in separate areas when the monster comes out to snack on you. It could even have a minigame where you have to hide for as long as you can, and each minute adds an extra monster to the map [and if they find you they destroy whatever you're hiding in, so you start running out of places and just need to run run run]

Well I think it would be brilliant. Not sure about anyone else, but this genre is lacking in truly scary games that you can play with friends.

Step 1: Steam
Step 2: KILLING FLOOR
Step 3: Profit

/thread

I've never played Killing Floor personally, but it doesn't look like good horror, it has guns and slow motion powers, two things that give you stupid amounts of power over your enemies.

 

[Danceofmasks]

There ought to be a game where what each player sees and hears isn't exactly the same.
Where you could accidentally hurt each other due to your senses being messed with.

 

[Pirakahunter788]

A good horror bit was in Star Wars Republic Commando.
In the second Chapter, you and your team must investigate a Republic command ship which has discontinued communications with the Republic. Once you infilitrate the ship via it's rear engines, you find that something else is on the ship. Faulty transmissions, dark corridors, and sneaky enemies plague your attempt to bring the ship back online.

It was very creepy. Problem is, when you restore the power, the horror aspect disappears completely and is replaced with the FPS combat seen in the previous Chapter. Was very fun though.

 

[AtheistAndProud]

I think it'd be cool if there was a group of, say, ten or so, in a zombie game. (One of the realistic ones, without space marines the size of refrigerators)
Here's the twist: One player in the group is secretly assigned the role of an antagonist.
This player would be a mole, having to kill the others, spread confusion and fear, and cast suspicion on others.
While the team would be forced to work together to survive, each person would have their own suspicions and alliances.
There'd be nothing better than a whodunit mystery in the middle of a bleak zombified environment.
Picture it, you'd finally dispatch the last zombie with your trusty crowbar, only to have a nearby ally stab you, then blame the zombies.
You'd be fleeing, cornered, forced to hide, and then have to watch helplessly as your so-called "friend" drew the zombies to your hiding spot using an emergency flare.
You'd be among the last alive, a small group of three, each facing one another. Eyes darting, weapons ready, you can't figure out who to trust.
MAN that'd be tense.
Of course, it wouldn't work. At all. Ever. People wouldn't like dying, or would be terrible at being moles, or wouldn't communicate.