Scary games are scary

[Bells]

Alternative title: The safe thread where we can admit that a game actually scares you.

like this:

uVZV2wuA3GE

I'm not talking about Doom 3 and Dead Space with their bullshit BOOOGAUGAUGA in your face jump scares, i'm actually talking about games that make you fear going through a door, not cause you just saw 3 packs of ammo next to it, but cause something ELSE made you freaking scared of door early on.

True story 1: When Resident Evil was new i was not capable of playing 1 and 2 alone. At all. ever. Dino crisis and RE3 didn't scare me... at all.

True story 2: anybody here remembers Alone in the dark the new nightmare for the ps1?

Really early on, right on the first screen of the game i think... you are standing in front of a creepy house, by a metal gate. You take two steps and lighting strikes, making the screen blink. here is the catch... for a split second the screen changes to make it look like the shadow of a shrub behind you is a monster ready to kill you.

I turned around as fast as i could and used all my bullets on that shrub in a fit of panic.

The very first fucking screen of the game, before i entered the house... already out of bullets due to a scare. Needless to say, i can't tell ya how the inside of the house looks like.

i'm not abig fan of horror, i just don't like to feel uncomfortable and afraid... it's more like "i can stop this at anytime, so i'll just don't do this to myself like a moron..." and i stop. Horror movies scare me, horror games fucking terrify me, i just can't play them!

That's why i don't like Dead Space... cause it's not horror, it's not scare. a Dirty place and a sense of dread does not equal fear when i'm space iron man with the lightsaber gun... it's more anger like "Would you just STOP jumping at me and screaming!? For fuck's sake!!"

So... scary games are scary, and i keep my distance, cause, quite frankly... i don't do well with them alone!

[Jagos]

Meh, RE was never scary.

But I kid you not, I cannot play ANY Silent Hill game because it bothers me... Those damn baby killers are just too creepy along with the nurses with no faces. I try to play the game and it just freaks me out how my mind tries to make sense of the monsters but can't...

[rpgdemon]

This reminds me that I still need to play Amnesia.

[phil_]

Meh, RE was never scary.Did you know I didn't sleep for three days when I rented the REmake back in high school? It's true! I even referenced it in a cartoon.

[Ryong]

Legend of Grimrock has been the only game able to scare me in several years, that's how atmospheric it is.

It's not even a horror game.

[BahamutFlare]

Resident Evil 3 scared me for a while. Still does to a degree. It's because you don't know what's behind the doors. You open it, wait for a while (loading time was actually a decent suspense.) And poof 20 zombies and lickers. The same with RE2. RE 1 I played on the gamecube and got tired of it really fast. Used nearly all my ammo on zombie number 1 and realized there was no fighting. I want to be able to stand my own.

Silent Hill any of them. Stay away from. I'm never going to get the balls to go through the whole game. First couple areas. Ok I'm fine. Then it's way too much blood, gore, and freak. Done!

[Bells]

i also do avoid silent hill, although i actually had funplaying Shattered Memories... in short bursts.

I guess it's just THAT much watered down

[McTahr]

Lately I had a friend get me on a horror kick. I've been playing any and all of these listed (Most are indie/free):

Slender (http://parsecproductions.com/slender/) (And most of the mods / variations thereof)
SCP-087 (http://www.mediafire.com/?y655d73rffnnm0p)
SCP-087-B (http://www.scpcbgame.com/scp-087-b.html)
SCP Containment Breach (http://www.scpcbgame.com/)
Cry of Fear (http://www.cry-of-fear.com/) (Requires you own the original Half-life)
Which (http://gamejolt.com/games/adventure/which/1523/)
Amnesia (Costs money, obviously)
Condemned: Criminal Origins (Again with the money) (Also not as scary, mostly spent the time making fun of them while they played, so it sticks out)

For the most part, nearly all of those establish an atmosphere where you have to will yourself to even move after a certain point.

For best results: Play in the dark. At night. No lights. No friends. No company. Headphones on full blast. Just you and immersion. Sweet dreams.

Edit - Added links to the free ones. To the best of my knowledge these work / worked when I originally acquired them or are the official pages for the indie games themselves.

[A Zarkin' Frood]

Silent Hill 2 and 3 and Amnesia were the only three Horror games that actually managed to scare me.

Most others were just "Oh, I guess it has some kind of atmosphere. Oh hey, look, a jump scare that startled me for a second. Ooooh creepy, blood everywhere, I'm soooooo going to shit my pants. Red is my favorite color, by the way."

That is absolutely nothing, against the constantly building up tension of the games that actually managed to scare me, the fantastic sound design that pulled me in and developers that actually know how to make a game scary.

[Aerozord]

Alternative title: The safe thread where we can admit that a game actually scares you.

like this:

uVZV2wuA3GE

I'm not talking about Doom 3 and Dead Space with their bullshit BOOOGAUGAUGA in your face jump scares, i'm actually talking about games that make you fear going through a door, not cause you just saw 3 packs of ammo next to it, but cause something ELSE made you freaking scared of door early on.

I dont know about Cry of Fear. basically it sets up a cheap and obvious jump scare and just rides on it for the rest of the game. To be more exact the fear is the anxiety of anticipating the next jump scare not from atmosphere. In the video they even say how obvious of a setup it is and how predictable the scare.

To contrast another video of theirs
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While not intense it still has an effective scare without needing to resort to pitch black or sudden screaming faces. Hell it doesn't even need to use monsters or enemies that can hurt you.

[Aldurin]

I dont know about Cry of Fear. basically it sets up a cheap and obvious jump scare and just rides on it for the rest of the game. To be more exact the fear is the anxiety of anticipating the next jump scare not from atmosphere. In the video they even say how obvious of a setup it is and how predictable the scare.

To contrast another video of theirs
VIDEO

While not intense it still has an effective scare without needing to resort to pitch black or sudden screaming faces. Hell it doesn't even need to use monsters or enemies that can hurt you.

Good horror games should keep you tense and paranoid, only to make you feel safe and mindfuck you, and should stay versatile in its scares, which is what makes Cry of Fear a horror game that is effectively scary since there are jump scares and then there are scares of having to look at things you don't want to look at as they jitter toward you with knives, just so you can shit yourself with every shot that doesn't kill it.

I don't even know why you're using the Call of Cthulu episode as an example of a good horror game, the only true scare in that was the unintentional jump scare from the guard. All it really had going for it was a creepy environment, which does NOT make a horror game by itself. It is a key component, but that game only had that with some stealth to try to simulate the tension of proper horror games.

[walkertexasdruid]

Silent Hill is the only game so far that has given me nightmares, at the same time I am looking forward to the next movie.

[The Artist Formerly Known as Hawk]

The only scary part of RE was when the dogs jump through the window. The only part of RE2 that was scary was when Mr.X smashed through a wall, then did it again after you left the room and thus thought you were safe. The only part of RE3 that was scary was whenever Nemesis turned up without a cutscene happening first. Dino Crisis would induce mild panic on occasion. No other parts of those francises were ever scary.

Honestly, the scariest games I ever played were probably Silent Hill 1 (that damn possessed school level, holy shit) and, strangely, the original Tomb Raider, because that game had a really unsettling atmosphere and those mummies, man, fuck those mummies!

Although I admittedly don't play scary games too often and I haven't played SCP Containment yet, so that might scare the living shit out of me, who knows.

[Ryong]

SCP Containment Breach (http://www.scpcbgame.com/)

For the most part, nearly all of those establish an atmosphere where you have to will yourself to even move after a certain point.

For best results: Play in the dark. At night. No lights. No friends. No company. Headphones on full blast. Just you and immersion. Sweet dreams.

OR

you can try the /v/ version!

bGB94Y9DLrw

[Revising Ocelot]

Obligatory mention of THAT FUCKING WELL.


Hey, it was a big deal back when I was 11 years old. I didn't play the game for a whole year or two after that. Even Amnesia: TDD would only put me off for a day.

Edit: If you don't know what game I'm talking about, you didn't go down THAT FUCKING WELL.

[Locke cole]

Myst and Riven used to scare the crap out of me as a kid. I think it's the sheer isolation you have is part of it. And in Riven, while you're alone, you know that Gehn is out there somewhere. In Myst itself, it was an unfortunate encounter with one of the bad endings that really put me off the game for a while.

[Bells]

i think the most common thing people cite as a fear inducing element is Atmosphere, but that`s kinda hard to pin down...

Specially since Atmosphere can allow for any game to have an "horror atmosphere", but still, i don`t think it`s fair to put DOOM3 and Silent Hill in the same category of "survival Horror"

...then again, let`s face it.... there hasn`t been really a survival horror game in a LONG time. At least not a mainstream big one... let that for the indie scene.

[EVILNess]

Fatal Frame. I never thought a game would freak me out as much as that game did.

Then I played Fatal Frame 2.

Fatal Frame 3 wasn't so bad though.

[Overcast]

Human nature derives fear from an overwhelming threat, imagined or otherwise. A good horror movie or game thus should make you feel vulnerable, weak, tense, and anticipatory as if something is coming for you. Something you know is entirely capable of doing terrible things to you. In practice though it should never inspire hopelessness, hopelessness turns horror into mere torture. In your heart there must be a small chance for your escape, so you are driven by your desperate shakes to hopeful get the small victory of your life.

Power is thus something I feel has no place in horror games unless they plan to steal it from you in your moment of triumph. This is what makes making a horror videogame hard. Creating fear that is not hopeless without inviting power.

[Amake]

http://www.gameranx.com/features/id/10295/article/5-myths-and-legends-in-videogames/#p6
Morrowind scares me now. I suspect this entire story is made up, but I really don't know enough about how Morrowind or its community works to be sure. Also it's way too late at night to go looking for this Jvk1166z.esp mod. So let me just ask, does anyone know anything about it?

[Arcanum]

I like how the jvk story was just ripped straight from the creepypasta wiki (http://creepypasta.wikia.com/wiki/Jvk1166z.esp) without giving credit as far as I can tell.

[Grandmaster_Skweeb]

There's one part of Dead Island that gets to me after a while. The second act where you have to navigate the city full of zambies. The ambient noises become very unsettling after a chunk of time. I have surround sound headphones and mixed in the ambient noises of zambie howls and moans is a subtle but ever present breathing and wheezing behind the player's position. Gives the impression of always being stalked.

Is very unnerving after a while.

[Amake]

Oh yeah, since it's the scary season and all, let me share with you the two creepiest things that ever happened in playing DOOM.

One I'm pretty sure I have posted about before, I scared the shit out of my friend while he was playing all alone in his parents' house out in the country one late winter night and I went to visit him. He had no idea I was coming, and I saw him through the window playing on the edge of his seat and hatched my evil plan.

I went around back and crawled in through the dog door and sneaked up behind him and waited for a monster door to open behind him in the game (you could always count on Id's penchant for rudimentary jump scare tactics), and then I put my arms on his shoulders.

Good times.

This other time I'm pretty sure was much earlier, me, my friend and his little brother all being snot-nosed kids who had no idea how to play Doom or how any of the most basic levels were laid out. We were taking turns playing on the PS1 and dying a lot.

I was in a tough spot, had like ten health left and I think just one shotgun shell, and I stalked around and around looking for something to save me, or at least the monster I could hear grunting to show itself so I could relieve the tension. Or I should say so we could relieve the tension; the three of us were basically holding our collective breath.

And I walked on and on and nothing happened. I got this paranoid feeling the map was folding in on itself cause I started seeing the same things over and over. (If anyone of us had had an intact sense of direction he might have noticed I was walking in a circle.)

Eventually I lost my cool and started spinning aimlessly around in frustration. I say started but just then I saw the monster that must have followed me right behind my fucking back for the last thirty minutes.

Now, it was just a Demon - those pink shaved gorilla-pigs with 14 hit points and no ranged attack that you usually just laugh at and unsheathe your chainsaw.You'd never think on of those could cause so much fevered fantasies and creeping terrors and then top it off with making you jump.

And then there was the really disturbing occasion when my friend played through a map, I think it was Dead Simple, with the "grunt in pain" sound bugged out and replaced with the "death scream" sound. Did you ever notice Doomguy gives a pretty hearty scream when he dies? I guarantee you'll notice it when he starts doing it every other second. We were all relieved when he died and the bug went away.