Poll: Does a horror game need to be scary?

sextus the crazy

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sethisjimmy said:
Not really. Games can be in the horror genre and not be scary. I think of Catherine, the Castlevania series, Dead Rising, etc. Those sorts of games are rooted in horror elements, but not necessarily jump out of your pants scary.
These games all have influences from horror games, but aren't horror games themselves. Hence why they aren't scary.
 

Nouw

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No. A game doesn't need to be scary to be horrifying. It can be, well, horrifying. Take Spec Ops: The Line for example. Many moments in that game were very horrifying but I wasn't scared by any of it.
 

Chester Rabbit

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I would like them to be, but if there can be 100's of movies that are called horror movies and yet are not scary in the least then I guess games can get away with it as well.
 

someonehairy-ish

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Yes. For a start, saying that games need to be fun is stupid. Games need to be engaging. Silent Hill was not "fun".

Any game claiming to be a horror game that doesn't at least attempt to be scary has been advertised badly. Simple as that.

Nouw said:
No. A game doesn't need to be scary to be horrifying. It can be, well, horrifying. Take Spec Ops: The Line for example. Many moments in that game were very horrifying but I wasn't scared by any of it.
But Spec Ops was marketed as a military game, not a horror game. And I have the feeling that you actually mean disturbing or harrowing when you say horrifying.
 

josemlopes

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Milk said:
ShadowRatchet92 said:
A lot of people say that not all games need to be fun, which made me think.
Who the hell says that? That's ridiculous.
Spec Ops The Line isnt as fun as most games and it is still better then most.


OT: I guess not, Alan Wake while not being exactly horror it does what it does without ever needing scary stuff, but I guess that everyone is kind of tired of an actual scary game just getting released after everyone forgot what year the last scary game came out.

The last one is still Amnesia and how long ago was that?
 

ninjaRiv

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I supose you could argue that films like Evil Dead are horror comedy, despite the fact that they're not scary. But, then again, that's stupid. imo they're just comedies with horror elements.

An action horror like Dead Space needs to have scary stuff in it to justify calling itself a horror.

And saying that horror is subjective is all well and good but when a product markets itself as horror, it needs to be trying to scare its target audience. The makers of Arachnophobia weren't aiming their film at spider lovers.

Plenty of stuff has horror elements. The Thief games, for example. But they're not out to scare you and they don't claim to be horror games. Although, those games did scary better then certain horror franchises I can think of.

Also, it's kind of the point of the genre; to be scary. If it's not at all scary and still calls itself a horror then it's just a crappy horror. Or they have a crap marketing team who should have labeled it properly. Like comedy with horror elements.
 

BathorysGraveland

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I've always considered horror to be based more on atmosphere than any scare factor. Take the old 80's horror classic, The Thing. Is it scary? No, not really. Does it have one hell of a tense and grim atmosphere, a hopeless vibe to it? Damn right it does, and it's all the better for it. Another good example are the first two (but mostly the first) Resident Evil games. Not really scary, but very atmospheric and dark. Struggling against all hope to survive in a very grim world. That's what I consider to be horror.

Cannibal Holocaust is another good example of a horror classic that isn't scary, but relies on atmosphere to ensure tension and hopelessness.

So in my opinion, no, a horror game (or film) does not require any scares, but the right horror atmosphere.
 

Doopliss64

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No. Scary is subjective, but the common "horror tropes" can be used to identify as a horror game regardless. One person might not find Slender scary, but that doesn't make it not a horror game.

As another example, a bad horror game that isn't scary can still be classified as a horror game. I don't think many people find all those reboots of classic slasher films scary, but that's just because they suck, not because they're not horror.

So, one could say that being scary is a common trait in horror games, but it isn't a requirement. Similarly, non-horror games can have "scary" elements.
 

ninjaRiv

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BathorysGraveland said:
I've always considered horror to be based more on atmosphere than any scare factor. Take the old 80's horror classic, The Thing. Is it scary? No, not really. Does it have one hell of a tense and grim atmosphere, a hopeless vibe to it? Damn right it does, and it's all the better for it. Another good example are the first two (but mostly the first) Resident Evil games. Not really scary, but very atmospheric and dark. Struggling against all hope to survive in a very grim world. That's what I consider to be horror.

Cannibal Holocaust is another good example of a horror classic that isn't scary, but relies on atmosphere to ensure tension and hopelessness.

So in my opinion, no, a horror game (or film) does not require any scares, but the right horror atmosphere.
But that horror atmosphere is a big part of horror. It's a scary atmosphere.
 

OpticalJunction

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Uh, yeah? Isn't that the definition of horror? Now if you're asking does a game intended to be of the horror genre, need horror to be FUN, the answer is no. It can fail at being a horror game and still be enjoyable.
 

ninjaRiv

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Doopliss64 said:
No. Scary is subjective, but the common "horror tropes" can be used to identify as a horror game regardless. One person might not find Slender scary, but that doesn't make it not a horror game.

As another example, a bad horror game that isn't scary can still be classified as a horror game. I don't think many people find all those reboots of classic slasher films scary, but that's just because they suck, not because they're not horror.

So, one could say that being scary is a common trait in horror games, but it isn't a requirement. Similarly, non-horror games can have "scary" elements.
But they aimed to be scary. You're right, the crappy reboots aren't scary but they want to be. They're just crappy horror. The attempt to be scary is still there, though.
 

BathorysGraveland

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ninjaRiv said:
But that horror atmosphere is a big part of horror. It's a scary atmosphere.
I disagree. I don't find it scary at all, tense would be a much better word, but not scary. In modern horror, when something jumps out and screams at the camera, that can be scary. But that is more of a silly thing, than any kind of atmospheric thing. The atmosphere and vibe is what is important to me, rather than being scared.
 

thejackyl

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Horror: adjective:
1. Inspiring or creating horror, loathing, aversion, etc.: The hostages told horror stories of their year in captivity.
2. Centered upon or depicting terrifying or macabre events: a horror movie.
Short answer: No
Long Answer: NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Depends if you WANT the game to give you a good scare. I personally don't consider a game "Horror" unless it's trying to scare me. Left 4 Dead never felt like it was trying to scare me, but it could loosely be considered horror. I wouldn't say Dead Space 3 won't have it's scary moments. Especially since the friend I intend to play it with is the biggest pussy every when it comes to scary games. He turned Amnesia off long before the first enemy game an appearance and never opened it up again. (This was about 5 minutes into the game, before he saw the shadow in the basement.)

Sure, Dead Space 3's Co-Op will spoil the immersion quite a bit, but I guarantee it'll scare me a few times due to how the earlier games did their jump scares. I'll also probably do a blind run with an IRL friend of mine so we get the best experience possible.
 

ninjaRiv

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BathorysGraveland said:
ninjaRiv said:
But that horror atmosphere is a big part of horror. It's a scary atmosphere.
I disagree. I don't find it scary at all, tense would be a much better word, but not scary. In modern horror, when something jumps out and screams at the camera, that can be scary. But that is more of a silly thing, than any kind of atmospheric thing. The atmosphere and vibe is what is important to me, rather than being scared.
It's good that you love the atmosphere like that. I love it, too! And yeah, it is tense but it's scary. You have a different reaction to it, obviously. But that tension IS a big part of the scary in horror.
 

BathorysGraveland

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ninjaRiv said:
It's good that you love the atmosphere like that. I love it, too! And yeah, it is tense but it's scary. You have a different reaction to it, obviously. But that tension IS a big part of the scary in horror.
Then I suppose it is yet another personal/subjective thing, rather than any kind of concrete set-in-stone fact or objective.
 

BrotherRool

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My reflex answer was, yes, obviously.

But thinking about it, probably not, a lot of the most famous horror films aren't at all scary. No-ones scared of Friday the Thirteenth, Jason is a punchline. The whole slasher genre is now pretty much a funny game you play with friends taking bets on who gets knocked off and how. Even the Evil Dead films, were they really scary? But they were entertaining as

So it's twisting the definition a bit, but if we say something is horror if it has elements that are used in scary films and based around some weird monster, with a threat of death, then yeah I don't see why we have to pin it in one emotional box if it fits others. There's got to be something about it, it has to contain elements that we would have at one point considered scary, and to be honest there should at least be a jump scare or something, but nowadays a lot of the draw of horror is a kind of indulgent man-hunt thing and Dead Space has an opportunity to be in on that market
 

ninjaRiv

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BathorysGraveland said:
ninjaRiv said:
It's good that you love the atmosphere like that. I love it, too! And yeah, it is tense but it's scary. You have a different reaction to it, obviously. But that tension IS a big part of the scary in horror.
Then I suppose it is yet another personal/subjective thing, rather than any kind of concrete set-in-stone fact or objective.
Yeah but it's aiming to scare everyone, or at least its target audience. No product can deliver to everyone. Jackass is labeled a comedy but I can't stand the franchise. It's still trying to make people laugh.

Maybe it's better to say that a person doesn't have to find something scary to agree that it's a horror. Rather than say it doesn't have to be scary to be a horror. like I don't find the Exorcist scary but I agree that it's a horror. It has the codes and conventions of a horror. Maybe I'm being pedantic with the OP's wording, though. Maybe that's what they meant in the first place.
 

AD-Stu

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Milk said:
First you say not all art is for pleasure, than you use the example of art can also be "thought provoking". These two things are not mutually exclusive. As a matter of fact the latter falls under the category of the former. Thoughtprovoking is pleasurable and as such is enjoyable.
I can think of more than a few pieces of "art" that I've come across over the years that were thought provoking, but the process wasn't anything approaching "pleasurable". Reading Nineteen Eight Four or watching films like A Clockwork Orange or Apocalypse Now for example. To a large extent the same goes for a game like Spec Ops: The Line. They all made me think, but I didn't enjoy either the art itself or the thought process.

/derail, back on topic.

No, I think to be a horror game you need to at least make an attempt to be scary. To be a good horror game, you need to be successful in that attempt.

That's not to say a game that doesn't attempt to be scary can't be a good game - obviously that's not the case. That game just won't be a horror game. In the same way that a romantic comedy without any comedy would just be a drama film, or a death metal band with no distorted guitars or gutteral vocals would be some other kind of band.
 

BathorysGraveland

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ninjaRiv said:
I see. But where does this leave gore films? I consider gore undoubtedly horror, regardless of people naming it "torture porn" or whatever other childish term they wish to apply to it. Does anyone really consider gore scary?