You Don't Scare Me

[theultimateend]

Horror is more or less a dying genere. By definition being scared is a negative, uncomfortable feeling, although it can be thrilling after the fact. The problem today is that people who can't enjoy their fear (at least retroactively) wind up getting to have a lot of say in what is made. Thus, it's impossible to be really "freaky" any more or push limits (which horror should do) because in the end someone will complain, and our society takes them too seriously when they do.

As a result you see a lot of people who say "I like horror movies, but nothing with graphic violence in it". Oftentimes followed by a lot of stuff about implied terror, etc.. etc... but it's been my experience that those people are rarely ever truely scared by the movies they watch. They like seeing something vaguely creepy, extremely cheezy, or fairly dark, but do not want something that really scares them or gets under their skin.

I think for example the "SAW" franchise and all of the so called "Torture Porn" movies out there succeed in scaring people, and capturing the imagination. People complain that they are greatly disturbed by the thought that someone could do the things shown in those movies to another person, as well as by the fact that someone could be entertained by seeing it. Those people are of course both missing the point of horror, and at the same time defining it.

When it comes to games it's the same thing. Right now most "horror" games are simply stylized Zombie/Alien shooters because that's horror-like within the accepted boundaries of not actually scaring anyone. Game companies being increasingly unwilling to push the limits of actually scaring someone due to censorship and complaints from people outside the target demographic.

Truthfully, I am reluctant to say there are ANY real horror games out there anymore, including Silent Hill. Silent Hill, like many franchises STARTED as a horror game, but right now pretty much re-cycles what is commonly accepted they can get away with, without much criticism. It's turned into recycling popular Icons like Pyramid head to the point where they really aren't scary anymore, and even most of the surrealism comes within an expected format. Silent Hill 4 (which was not originally developed as a Silent Hill game) being really the only SH game I personally consider "horror" except for maybe the first two. I say MAYBE because I know after the first one they started making concessions to not scare/offend anyone too badly. The removal of the flayed child-bashing as a result of the Silent Hill 2 Demo sticks in my mind.... the truely freaky beginning of Silent Hill 1 where such children "kill" the protaganist being to me one of the defining moments of horror gaming, and pretty much what the genere should be striving for.

That scene bothered a lot of people apparently, they weren't comfortable with it, and that is exactly the point, and why stuff like that has to be in a horror game or movie. If you can just easily forget about something and move on, with it occupying little of your psyche when/right after it happens, then it wasn't doing horror right. When I first saw that scene it stuck with me for a long time. The fact that I can still sit back and say "that was freaky" is what makes it classic horror.

Good stuff. About my only comment is that stuff like Saw doesn't scare me in the least it just grosses me out. If I wanted that sort of experience I could just watch someone poop .

I get REALLY engrossed in films to the point I forget I'm watching something and I feel like I'm in it. Yet any sort of gore porn just turns me off, it is so utterly unbelievable that I just sit there munching on popcorn waiting for the point.

Proper use of music, timing, camera angles, these things that create tension. That's what I get a cognitive boner for.

 

[Lance Icarus]

I really love your articles. They're usually off the beaten path, but still thought-provoking. Anyway, the scariest moment I've ever had in a game was Fatal Frame 2 on the PS2 while my ex-girlfriend was playing it. There's a scene where your sister goes into this palace area and comes up to a woman in a kimono. Then it goes back to your character and you start retracing your sister's steps looking for her.

Once you get into that room your sister stopped in a cutscene plays and shows that the room is covered in dead bodies and the kimono woman ghost shows up, laughing meniacly. This is when my girlfriend literally lateraled the controller to me like a quarterback tosses to a halfback right before he gets sacked. I'm calm and collected and whip out my trusty camera to take pictures of the ghost and start stealing her essence. Unfortunately, my film is not powerful enough and burns up. This is when I start swearing like a sailor and make a beeline for the door at the end of the hall.

I'm at the door and I suddenly realize I don't know how to open doors in this game. The pulse pounding terror I felt as I yelled at my girlfriend things like "WHAT'S THE **bleep**ING DOOR BUTTON" and get responses like "I DON'T KNOW, CHOOSE A SHAPE!" The kimono woman is so close at this point her aura is blurring the game camera as I finally find the right button and step outside where all that pounding music and demonic laughing cuts away to sudden silence and the soft sound of water hitting the leaves of a nearby tree. I immediately saved and stopped playing forever.

 

[Crunchy English]

in 1998 I was 9 years old and my friend brought over what he claimed was the "best" game ever. Now, I would later come to agree with him and go on to beat that game over and over, but at the time, it was the scariest game I'd ever played.

Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time.

The first time a Skulltala dropped from the roof that tree and hit me, I practically screamed. No kidding, I was scared of the giant spider/skeleton nightmare creatures. I didn't go back to OOT for nearly a month. Finally when I hit Hyrule Field I just played the whole game through, no stopping but I was still the last of my friends to finish.

 

[ZeroMachine]

I know this'll sound strange, and I've always gotten weird looks for it, but nothing in any game sends shivers up my spine like the last few "hours" before impact in Zelda: Majora's Mask. The fact that everything seems peaceful except for the random rumblings, and the music... *shiver*

Not to mention the villain isn't some "I want control" guy like Ganondorf or Vaati. He just wants to consume and fuck shit up. So when you see the moon there, you know it isn't some power play. He wants you and everything around you wiped off the face of the planet.

 

[Urgh76]

i just can't handle games that get dark and i have to take a chance

EXAMPLE: that goddamn shadow temple in LoZ OoT scared the shit outta me because it was freakin 11:30 PM!!!

 

[similar.squirrel]

That 'Survival Comedy' thing made me chuckle.

Erm..I've never really played horror games, so I can't really describe any outstanding moments. Eternal Darkness had some creepy parts, I guess. But that was years ago.
It's a genre I should look into anyhow, now that I think of it. Thanks.

 

[McGee]

There's a reason why I still cherish my copy of the Journeyman Project 2: Buried in Time.

Ohmygosh. I thought I was the only human being in the world to have played those games lol. They scared the hell out of me when I was like, 8.

 

[HobbesMkii]

The only time I was ever legitimately scared by a game (and perhaps this is because of the type of games I play) was the demo of Half-Life 2, or "We Don't Go to Ravenholm" which I played in the dark late one night. The fast zombies (and the headcrabs that just leap out in every corner) freak me. Also those similar parts in Episode 1 where they assault you in the dark while you wait for the lift to come down, and you run around throwing flares and propane canisters at them. The HL headcrab zombies really freak me for some reason. Maybe it's the fact that they're all screaming in pain to start with.

 

[The Rogue Wolf]

While I was at GameX I got the chance to ask Yahtzee the question I'd always wanted to ask him ever since he reviewed Thief: Deadly Shadows- what he thought of the Shalebridge Cradle. He's said before that he prefers the parts of Thief where you're stalking through mansions and boncing people on the head to steal their knick-knacks, and he told me that some of the suspense was taken away from the Cradle because he'd been told about much of it (I hope my video [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=srDSPtKZhfk] didn't contribute to that), but he said he enjoyed it.

As for myself, the Cradle stands out as a supreme example of horror gaming. Not survival horror, per se- you're able to load up beforehand if you're careful and have an idea of what's coming up, and the game provides just enough hints if you know where to listen and look, not to mention that with some skill you can get through almost the entire mission without one second of combat- but the fact that you come into this situation half-blind and must look around to find out the depths of the story behind this oppressive, darkened, abandoned place. Having to uncover much of the history of the Cradle yourself, from tattered parchment and musty journals, gives you an investment in the place and what still remains inside.

That's why the Cradle gets one of my top three horror spots, as detailed below (spoilerized for your protection!).

Spoiler: Advance with caution, ye mortals....

#1. System Shock 2, Recreation deck. On my first playthrough I was actually doing fairly well. I was toting a shotgun with a fair collection of ammunition, and I'd been doing my research diligently to raise the amount of damage I did to enemies. The hybrids weren't much of a threat, the cyborg midwives were fairly easy, the assassin droids were a cinch once you managed to corner them, and the monkies... well, you never get used to the monkies, but I could at least get by them without much trouble. Then I got the keycard for the gym and strode through the doorway, confident I'd not have too much trouble. Halfway through the locker room, there is this terrible roar, and something squeezes through a doorway much too small for it. Stepping into the light is this HUMONGOUS ANGRY PILE OF MUSCLE, storming at me like a linebacker from Hell, and my heart immediately leaps into my throat in a bid to escape my body completely. Cue backpedaling like a mofo and emptying every last round from my shotgun into the beast before it finally keeled over, and I waited for a good half-minute before I went to check on it, for fear that it might actually get back up or something. My introduction to the Rumbler had just taken place.

#2: Thief: Deadly Shadows, the Shalebridge Cradle. So much to choose from- The Door, the Cradle's memories, Cell #8- but what sticks most with me was one completely unscripted situation in the Inner Cradle. I was prowling around looking for the evidence linking the Hag to what had happened in the Cradle, and my taffing about had led me to a branching corridor half-lit by one electric globe. In my eagerness to get this task done and get the hell out of the building, I almost blundered into one of the patrolling Puppets; in a panic, I literaly slammed myself into the nearby corner. The Puppet stalked up to me... and stood there, motionless except for the insane twitching of its head and hands, rasping and clicking for almost thirty seconds- close enough for me to see the eyeholes in its mask. Then, finally, the abomination turned and resumed its mindless patrol.

And I did something I hadn't been doing the entire time it had had me trapped. I breathed.

#3: Doom 3, Delta Labs 1. The game had been almost a disappointment up until then; there were so many demons coming out of closets that I was half-expecting a Gay Pride parade along the dusty Martian soil at some point. Then the airlock to Delta Labs 1 opens up, and a legitimate attempt at REAL suspense begins. Sadly, once you get the Datalock in place things go right back to the sad jump-out-and-boo formula, but for a few shining moments I was more dreading what lay in wait in the shadows than what lay in wait behind a closet door.

There's a thread in the forums [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/9.152563?page=1] currently that has a fair list of scary PC games. I do endorse the Penumbra series, although I've had problems with it glitching and locking up on me, preventing me from getting very far in. Its particular methodology relies less on "tight resource management" and more on "you have no gun and absolutely suck at melee combat", so avoidance is key. Also, STALKER: Shadow of Chernobyl gets an honorary mention- you could be armed and armored to the teeth, and there were STILL things lurking around that could eat your face.

 

[McGee]

top 3

Bioschok - the tape that documents the doctor' session with a nice woman. she is asked to break the neck of a puppy, she does so, but only because she is being forced by the use of a pavlovian response mechanism, and only because she is sobbing uncontrollably, probably due to the fact that she desperately does not want to kill the puppy. that part jacked me up.

Actually, I think the person in that tape is Jack as a young child.

 

[Dogstile]

I guarantee i have one of the most unique scary game experiences ever.

I was playing through conker: live and reloaded. you know the zombie part in the castle? i was about 11-12. it scared the hell out of me!

still does a little

 

[Lvl 64 Klutz]

My scariest gaming moment was walking through the cell blocks in the prison in Silent Hill 2. It wasn't scary at all, but the noises were just so unsettling. Which, incidentally, is how I feel about most of the game.

 

[Ravek]

There was this X-Files point and click adventure game that I played when I was between ten and twelve I think. Eventually there was this scene in which you're in some dark mysterious place looking for clues and suddenly there is some sort of monster or alien chasing you. I don't think the monster was actually ever even visible (which only added to the fear, of course) but you could hear it coming and had to frantically run away while somehow thinking of a way to keep it from chasing you. I was absolutely too terrified to attempt it more than once.

 

[Turbowombat]

My scariest game moment was in Resident Evil 4 in the castle dungeon with the invisible ettercaps with the Sam Fisher eyes. This wasn't scary because the game is scary, but because I had purchased an old TV from The Goodwill for $8 and it was about this time that a colony of baby spiders started crawling out of the screen (no joke).

I yelped, dropped the controller and stopped playing for a while while I reassured myself that these two things were entirely unrelated.

 

[vxicepickxv]

Dog plus window. Enough said.

 

[Turbowombat]

top 3

Bioschok - the tape that documents the doctor' session with a nice woman. she is asked to break the neck of a puppy, she does so, but only because she is being forced by the use of a pavlovian response mechanism, and only because she is sobbing uncontrollably, probably due to the fact that she desperately does not want to kill the puppy. that part jacked me up.

Actually, I think the person in that tape is Jack as a young child.

And yeah dude, that's totally you, the character you are playing, as a child. Did you not catch the entire plot of Biochock and the "would you kindly" thing?

 

[rokkolpo]

The dementor lvl of harry potter 3 azkaban or something.(pc version)

i was young and cloaked guys trying to suck on me from all directions scared me shitless.

 

[Warhobo]

The only time I was ever legitimately scared by a game (and perhaps this is because of the type of games I play) was the demo of Half-Life 2, or "We Don't Go to Ravenholm" which I played in the dark late one night. The fast zombies (and the headcrabs that just leap out in every corner) freak me. Also those similar parts in Episode 1 where they assault you in the dark while you wait for the lift to come down, and you run around throwing flares and propane canisters at them. The HL headcrab zombies really freak me for some reason. Maybe it's the fact that they're all screaming in pain to start with.

Want to be extra freaked out by them? When they are on fire and screaming, it is actually "help me! Oh god, help me!" backwards. Adds a whole new level of discomfort...

 

[esperandote]

Survival horror is my favorite genre <3

my most frighening moments are anytime you cant see the enemy, runing for your life and you cant find the exit.