What Games Scare you?
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The games to scare me the most;
Silent Hill 2
Amnesia: The Dark Descent
F.E.A.R.
I love a number of others, including Alien: Isolation & Dead Space, but wouldn't say they truly scared me. Horror is one genre that games can do even better than film, I'd say; it's to do with the interactivity, and the genuine chance of death. The ending isn't assured, and that's terrifying.
Silent Hill 2
Amnesia: The Dark Descent
F.E.A.R.
I love a number of others, including Alien: Isolation & Dead Space, but wouldn't say they truly scared me. Horror is one genre that games can do even better than film, I'd say; it's to do with the interactivity, and the genuine chance of death. The ending isn't assured, and that's terrifying.
Fatal Frame: Excellent atmosphere, a strong link to East Asian cultural ideas of paranormal events and a semi-helpless protagonist made for a rather scary game. Game mechanics that made "ammunition" (film for your camera) scarce as well as mechanics which rewarded you for waiting until the last moment to fight back added to the creepiness.
Siren: Stealth gameplay with characters that tended to get eaten if discovered. Also great art and sound design. Powerlessness is something rarely explored in Western Horror Games but does have a niche in Eastern ones.
Siren: Stealth gameplay with characters that tended to get eaten if discovered. Also great art and sound design. Powerlessness is something rarely explored in Western Horror Games but does have a niche in Eastern ones.
Alien vs. Predator 2 on PC. Playing the Marine campaign gets goddamn nerve wracking: little to no background music, and that fucking motion tracker. What's great about the motion tracker is it gets two ways: when nothing's moving it makes a dull pulse that after a few minutes you find that your heartbeat sort of syncs to it and when shit does start setting it off your heart races.
Excellent sound design.
Excellent sound design.
I've never seen the final boss of Ecco. Jeez. I had no idea it got so H.R. Giger. Would've scared me too!jademunky said:
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I don't know of any games that scared me...Demon's Souls kinda intimidated me when I was first getting into it and there were some sections that really unnerved me. I remember going to the Tower of Latria (I think) soon after beating Flamelurker and thinking I would be fine-just-fine only to have my shit wrecked by Cthulhu-Priests. Other games can kinda startle me but I wouldn't say I've been really scared by any of them.
The clickers from The Last of Us terrify me. I've played and watched my fair share of zombie-related media, but this is the first time that it genuinely creeps me out.
Knowing that the fungus in The Last of Us is a real-life strain terrifies me. Although in reality it doesn't affect humans - it only affects small insects, like ants - the possibility will always scare me.
In-game, it is mostly the way they move, and the noises they make. Prowling around, twitching, trying to find prey. Just scary stuff.
It is also the lack of a power fantasy, too. You play something like Dead Space, Halo or Left 4 Dead, and you'll have enough plasma, bullets, and whatever else you'll need to stop anything in their tracks, but in The Last of Us, resources matter. Bullets and blades will stop a clicker, sure, but the lack of constant resupplies, and the relative ineffectiveness of your weapons makes you want to conserve your resources as much as possible. This incentives stealth, and in turn, it really plays up the threat that the clickers possess. Genius game design.
Knowing that the fungus in The Last of Us is a real-life strain terrifies me. Although in reality it doesn't affect humans - it only affects small insects, like ants - the possibility will always scare me.
In-game, it is mostly the way they move, and the noises they make. Prowling around, twitching, trying to find prey. Just scary stuff.
It is also the lack of a power fantasy, too. You play something like Dead Space, Halo or Left 4 Dead, and you'll have enough plasma, bullets, and whatever else you'll need to stop anything in their tracks, but in The Last of Us, resources matter. Bullets and blades will stop a clicker, sure, but the lack of constant resupplies, and the relative ineffectiveness of your weapons makes you want to conserve your resources as much as possible. This incentives stealth, and in turn, it really plays up the threat that the clickers possess. Genius game design.
FEAR1 scared me. Mostly it was just being tense or nervous about what was around that next dark corner. But there were some moments where I was actually scared.
Doom3 did the same for me in the opening sequences. I hadn't played any horror game before that, and while I don't consider the scare factor in that game good any more, I had one or two moments back then where I was afraid to move on.
I think Amnesia: The Dark Descent scared me too at times, but I don't remember too much about the game any more.
And finally subnautica. The first time I played I already went into scared territory during the night in certain places. (Like the grand reef where in the deeper parts everything is very dark and goes silent apart from your own character) But then the update happened where they added an orbiting moon, and thus solar eclipses. The first time it suddenly went dark very quickly scared me quite a bit. I was just outside my base, and I went "NOPE NOPE NOPE SUDDEN DARKNESS SCARY" and rushed inside.
Doom3 did the same for me in the opening sequences. I hadn't played any horror game before that, and while I don't consider the scare factor in that game good any more, I had one or two moments back then where I was afraid to move on.
I think Amnesia: The Dark Descent scared me too at times, but I don't remember too much about the game any more.
And finally subnautica. The first time I played I already went into scared territory during the night in certain places. (Like the grand reef where in the deeper parts everything is very dark and goes silent apart from your own character) But then the update happened where they added an orbiting moon, and thus solar eclipses. The first time it suddenly went dark very quickly scared me quite a bit. I was just outside my base, and I went "NOPE NOPE NOPE SUDDEN DARKNESS SCARY" and rushed inside.
A few years after the game came out, I was watching my cousin play through DOOM (the original, not ZCC), and there came a point where he opened a door, turned around to make sure he'd picked up all the ammo in the room he was in, and turned around to come face-to-face with a cacodemon. At that exact moment, the dog came up and licked his elbow. He nearly jumped out of his chair. That was the closest I've ever seen to someone being scared by DOOM. Jump scares are easy; if you want to genuinely scare people, in a way they remember decades later, you need atmosphere. Maybe it's just me, but I'm not scared by gore; I've seen truly horrifying things in that field and shrugged them off (in video games, that is; I'd probably be a lot more freaked in reality). There's a weird sort of homeopathy in it; a pile of dismembered corpses does less than a single well-placed drop of blood.
Of course, atmosphere is deeply tied to experience, and even in the subjective category of fear, that can be hard to pin down. The time a friend and I were playing Eternal Darkness and the power went out ratcheted the game up several notches; most people don't have that happen. S.T.A.L.K.E.R had excellent atmosphere, but someone watching over your shoulder saying "watch out for the bloodsucker in this next tunnel; keep your shotgun out" is going to spoil a lot of it.
-X-Com scared me, at times: several years ago (long before the hyphenless reboot) I was sitting idly in a pharmacy, staring into space, when the guy sitting a few chairs down from me got a text message. This would be no big deal, save that his text message sound was the Chryssalid hunting cry; the noise that they make when they see one of your troops but can't reach it (given their speed, this rarely happened; most players have probably never heard it; but it was always a stressful thing to hear). I was not consciously aware of hearing the sound, and not at all aware of moving. I just knew that one moment I was sitting calmly, the next I was crouching behind my chair, which had had its back to the wall, desperately grabbing for the heavy plasma cannon that I didn't actually have.
-System Shock 2 is single-handledly responsible for my fear of cryokinetic monkeys. It was a game both atmospheric and immersive enough to give a sense of danger even though it wasn't actually very difficult; you always felt on the edge of defeat. And I've often thought of using the camera alert noise as an alarm clock alarm; I'd never be late for anything again- at least until I panicked and shot my alarm clock.
-I was very surprised to see no one before me mention Undying; then I remembered that it sold, like, twelve copies. That game did scary very well. Atmospheric dread, a looming invincible enemy, constant serious threat, and non-jump-scare jump scares. There's a particular moment, fairly early on, that sticks in my memory: walking down a long hallway, seeing the curtains next to the open windows moving, not sure if it was just the breeze or a charging enemy. If you haven't played it, you should. Wear old underwear.
Of course, atmosphere is deeply tied to experience, and even in the subjective category of fear, that can be hard to pin down. The time a friend and I were playing Eternal Darkness and the power went out ratcheted the game up several notches; most people don't have that happen. S.T.A.L.K.E.R had excellent atmosphere, but someone watching over your shoulder saying "watch out for the bloodsucker in this next tunnel; keep your shotgun out" is going to spoil a lot of it.
-X-Com scared me, at times: several years ago (long before the hyphenless reboot) I was sitting idly in a pharmacy, staring into space, when the guy sitting a few chairs down from me got a text message. This would be no big deal, save that his text message sound was the Chryssalid hunting cry; the noise that they make when they see one of your troops but can't reach it (given their speed, this rarely happened; most players have probably never heard it; but it was always a stressful thing to hear). I was not consciously aware of hearing the sound, and not at all aware of moving. I just knew that one moment I was sitting calmly, the next I was crouching behind my chair, which had had its back to the wall, desperately grabbing for the heavy plasma cannon that I didn't actually have.
-System Shock 2 is single-handledly responsible for my fear of cryokinetic monkeys. It was a game both atmospheric and immersive enough to give a sense of danger even though it wasn't actually very difficult; you always felt on the edge of defeat. And I've often thought of using the camera alert noise as an alarm clock alarm; I'd never be late for anything again- at least until I panicked and shot my alarm clock.
-I was very surprised to see no one before me mention Undying; then I remembered that it sold, like, twelve copies. That game did scary very well. Atmospheric dread, a looming invincible enemy, constant serious threat, and non-jump-scare jump scares. There's a particular moment, fairly early on, that sticks in my memory: walking down a long hallway, seeing the curtains next to the open windows moving, not sure if it was just the breeze or a charging enemy. If you haven't played it, you should. Wear old underwear.
Frictional Games in general seems to consistently hit the right spot for me in terms of scares. Amnesia TDD is top of the list, but both Penumbra and SOMA are not very far behind. I know there's no penalty for dying, but that makes no difference to me. The utter feeling of isolation in all three games is overwhelming and the fact that your own reliability of perception is questionable (less so in SOMA, but at least it's a theme for the NPCs) adds a significant tension factor. What puts Amnesia at the top is my inability to handle what the Grunts look like. I have a genuine phobia of facial deformities involving the mouth, so I actually can't look at a Grunt for more than a few seconds before noping the hell out (much like the protagonist, in fact!).
Tensest moment in Penumbra: the kennels in Black Plague.
Tensest moments in SOMA: the chase sequence on the Curie, the monster in Tau Station.
Other than that, I'll put another vote in for Fatal Frame. The haunted house trope perfectly executed, some genuinely disturbing ghosts coupled with the fact that you're actually forced to get a good close look at them due to the weapon being a camera. The second game is probably my favourite, due to the larger scope and the truly horrific ending. Also the Kiryu house, geez. The third game was a bit of a disappointment, and I can't say I like where the series has gone with n?5, but 1, 2 and 4 were great.
Tensest moment in Penumbra: the kennels in Black Plague.
Tensest moments in SOMA: the chase sequence on the Curie, the monster in Tau Station.
Other than that, I'll put another vote in for Fatal Frame. The haunted house trope perfectly executed, some genuinely disturbing ghosts coupled with the fact that you're actually forced to get a good close look at them due to the weapon being a camera. The second game is probably my favourite, due to the larger scope and the truly horrific ending. Also the Kiryu house, geez. The third game was a bit of a disappointment, and I can't say I like where the series has gone with n?5, but 1, 2 and 4 were great.
Fatal Frame here as well. The sound, presentation, and gameplay are all pretty solid. The series as a whole quickly switches between jump scares, catching stuff out of the corner of your eye, and moments of slow build-up. There's a consistent inconsistency about it that makes for pretty great tension. Hell, the scariest, tension filled moment in the game comes right in the beginning for me; a dead woman slowly pops the lid off of a box, crawls out of it, aligns herself, and comes at you. Did I mention that this happens in a save room? It was jarring and oppressive in all the right ways and freaked me right the hell out.
There's a few other horror games that startle me, but what always got me about the Fatal Frame series is how it also does a pretty good job with the world-building and putting the protagonist in the position of any of the in-game victims, so there's an extra psychological factor behind everything.
There's a few other horror games that startle me, but what always got me about the Fatal Frame series is how it also does a pretty good job with the world-building and putting the protagonist in the position of any of the in-game victims, so there's an extra psychological factor behind everything.
I'm not a fan of scare-jump games like Five Nights at Freddy's. I prefer tense atmosphere, dark imagery, disturbing premise/story and pursuit. Amnesia: The Dark Descent and Alien: Isolation are two good examples. There are games that I didn't expect to scare me that much, Doom 3 first encounter with a lost soul has been the horror scene that has disturbed me the most in a game (a possessed person's head detaching itself from the body... yikes!). Probably supernatural body alterations are what creeps me the most (even if they are just narrated by the victim like in SOMA or Song of Saya).
I'm also a sucker for horror moments in non-horror games. Chapter 13 in Final Fantasy XV is bad, but I liked the creepy atmosphere and some of the reveals (I haven't played it with the patch though). Similar goes to the last part of 2064: Read Only Memories (the killer android and Big Blue got me more tense than it should have). I know these aren't the best examples, but they are the most recent ones that I remember.
I'm also a sucker for horror moments in non-horror games. Chapter 13 in Final Fantasy XV is bad, but I liked the creepy atmosphere and some of the reveals (I haven't played it with the patch though). Similar goes to the last part of 2064: Read Only Memories (the killer android and Big Blue got me more tense than it should have). I know these aren't the best examples, but they are the most recent ones that I remember.
Anything that makes me go underwater or swim across large bodies of water. Severe irrational phobias rock.
I know this is not a horror game but ME3 scares me every time i think about what's out there. Knowing someday, Reapers will go to Earth for total destruction of human population and the shepard we know is just a game character out of fiction.
Not really a horror game...but-
Subnautica.
Deep-seated fear of the ocean, the dark abyss, etc. certainly makes the experience all the more terrifying for me.
That whole "alone in the ocean, unable to see the toothy monstrosity closing in from the deep" thing is the stuff of nightmares.
Speaking of nightmares, I have a lovely recurring one where I'm in first-person perspective, traveling through dark water with only enough illumination to see a foot ahead of me...and it's just this slow, dreadful build-up until rows of teeth encircling a gaping blackish maw lunge at me.
Annnd wake up shuddering.
Ugh.
Subnautica.
Deep-seated fear of the ocean, the dark abyss, etc. certainly makes the experience all the more terrifying for me.
That whole "alone in the ocean, unable to see the toothy monstrosity closing in from the deep" thing is the stuff of nightmares.
Speaking of nightmares, I have a lovely recurring one where I'm in first-person perspective, traveling through dark water with only enough illumination to see a foot ahead of me...and it's just this slow, dreadful build-up until rows of teeth encircling a gaping blackish maw lunge at me.
Annnd wake up shuddering.
Ugh.
I tend to avoid horror games, as I'm generally not that good with them, although I do dabble a bit in them from time to time. I played Eternal Darkness recently and while I was definitely creeped out most of the time, I never felt severe dread, as I played a Red playthrough, which generally means that you won't run low on Sanity in the opening parts, and once you have the Green rune you'll rarely ever suffer low sanity again. :s
I DO want to get back to Alien Isolation at some point though. I remember it being absolutely terrifying in a fun way, although I Remember spending a solid 5-6 minutes in a locker staring at the tracker, never feeling safe to come out.
The key to horror, as I understand it, is building the right kind of atmosphere, where the player starts to suspect something will happen, and keeps priming themselves for something to jump out...Only for it not to jump out, and they keep ratcheting up their fear again and again on their own until that cathartic moment when the threat actually does come out. Which makes moments when you feel safe all the more relieving...Until the game decides to be an asshole and hits you with something terrifying when your guard is down.
We're far better at scaring ourselves than games. All the game has to do is create that ambiance in which you start to generate that fear yourself, and you're set.
If you want a free lesson in building horror with a minimalistic toolset, just play the first few minutes of The Witch's House. It's a free RPGmaker game that came out a few years ago. It has a beautifully paced buildup to the first real threat to you that was so good that I just had to put it down and watch markiplier play the rest of the game instead because I just couldn't take it. XD
2) Yeah System Shock 2 is great. The opening segments are very stressful, even if the near-end of the game loses most of its edge because by then you have a stable supply of weapons and ammo. :s
The part of the game that ALWAYS gets to me is that stupid supply section early in the game.
I DO want to get back to Alien Isolation at some point though. I remember it being absolutely terrifying in a fun way, although I Remember spending a solid 5-6 minutes in a locker staring at the tracker, never feeling safe to come out.
The key to horror, as I understand it, is building the right kind of atmosphere, where the player starts to suspect something will happen, and keeps priming themselves for something to jump out...Only for it not to jump out, and they keep ratcheting up their fear again and again on their own until that cathartic moment when the threat actually does come out. Which makes moments when you feel safe all the more relieving...Until the game decides to be an asshole and hits you with something terrifying when your guard is down.
We're far better at scaring ourselves than games. All the game has to do is create that ambiance in which you start to generate that fear yourself, and you're set.
If you want a free lesson in building horror with a minimalistic toolset, just play the first few minutes of The Witch's House. It's a free RPGmaker game that came out a few years ago. It has a beautifully paced buildup to the first real threat to you that was so good that I just had to put it down and watch markiplier play the rest of the game instead because I just couldn't take it. XD
1) Oh man, that oldschool X-COM story, that's amazing. XD It's especially hilarious to me because it's a tactical game. You yourself wouldn't HAVE A plasma cannon on you, you'd be ordering another guy to do it.Recusant said:
2) Yeah System Shock 2 is great. The opening segments are very stressful, even if the near-end of the game loses most of its edge because by then you have a stable supply of weapons and ammo. :s
The part of the game that ALWAYS gets to me is that stupid supply section early in the game.
First of all, it's where those fucking protocol droids and their suicidal explosions happens.
Second, you have next to no supplies to your name. Just a wrench, a shitty pistol that has maybe 12 ammo for it, and a shotgun with 5 bullets that's probably going to jam up and BREAK on you if you dare to fire it even once.
And the music is actually pretty creepy, instead of the previous area's upbeat cyberpunk theme.
So you're creeping around getting startled by shouting chimpanzees, trying to find the part you need, and cowering in fear from polite humanoid robots and their clanking footsteps for fear of death, when suddenly you see it.
A supply chest up on a ledge!
You rush over to it, and crack it open and let out a slight sigh of relief as you find some well-needed supplies.
And then *CRASH, CRASH- CRASH, CRASH, CRASH!*, 5 of the little storage pods in the little nook you just rushed through to get to the chest break open, unleashing a small army of those goddamn protocol droids, making you scream internally.
It's an amazing moment that got me both times I played the game.
Second, you have next to no supplies to your name. Just a wrench, a shitty pistol that has maybe 12 ammo for it, and a shotgun with 5 bullets that's probably going to jam up and BREAK on you if you dare to fire it even once.
And the music is actually pretty creepy, instead of the previous area's upbeat cyberpunk theme.
So you're creeping around getting startled by shouting chimpanzees, trying to find the part you need, and cowering in fear from polite humanoid robots and their clanking footsteps for fear of death, when suddenly you see it.
A supply chest up on a ledge!
You rush over to it, and crack it open and let out a slight sigh of relief as you find some well-needed supplies.
And then *CRASH, CRASH- CRASH, CRASH, CRASH!*, 5 of the little storage pods in the little nook you just rushed through to get to the chest break open, unleashing a small army of those goddamn protocol droids, making you scream internally.
It's an amazing moment that got me both times I played the game.