Topic: Horror Games: Is there such thing as too scary?

Holy crap, The Escapist has more than two worthwhile shows?!

@hulklol123456789
How far did your sister get before she stopped playing?

@BleachFan Great links, I've actually seen the symbolism 101 video but never saw the other one. I gotta check it out.

I let my friend play Amnesia last night and sure enough just as I predicted, he quit playing before he even encountered the first enemy. He was too frightened to continue.

It's a shame a lot of people don't get far in Amnesia, so again it makes me wonder if making a game too scary for people to finish worth it.

You sacrifice plenty of gamers missing out on the storyline when the game is too scary to finish. Is it worth it??

@Caiko, im not sure 20 minutes?

I think amnesia a a great game, but I think alot of people will finish it, not in a round of course hehe

Eternal Darkness begs to differ.
_{WaltzElf said that, not me D: -- TBD}

Fatal Frame/Project Zero pushed the scary levels to the point I couldn't play. Not so much the attack ghosts but the the ones that flit on the edge of perception, the ones that you aren't actually sure are ghosts or a figment of the imagination.

When I first played the original Silent Hill it really freaked me out. So much so I went out and bought the game but wouldn't play it for weeks after. The experience of watching the protagonist getting slaughtered in the first few minutes was a turning point in horror gaming. This was the good stuff. The horror that didn't just splash gore on you but got under your skin and changed the way you view things (thanks Clive Barker!).

The soundscapes oft the Silent Hills is unmatched. Case in point being the opening sequence of Silent Hill 2. Running through the fog with the hint of something watching you and the faint unsettling grinding sound. The SH series rarely went for the BOO! shocks but worked best with the atmosphere. That for me is the key to a scary game. The ability to create an immersive and sustained sense of threat. Also the sense that the worst enemy is actually you rather than any supernatural antagonist.

Another very effective use of horror in gaming was the Majora's Mask ghost story of the haunted cart. Essentially it was a classic ghost story with a modern lick of paint with an effective ROM hack. One of the scariest moments was the glitch sequences where everything would tell you "You shouldn't have done that". The sense of things not being as they should be within the parameters of the game was surprisingly effective.

You can defend yourself quite easily in that game. In fact, I wouldn't even call ED horror, it's just disturbing, but never truly terrifying. I think "D" may be the closest thing we'd ever get to what Waltz is talking about, otherwise I'd agree with him. Even if they tried their very hardest, I doubt the end result could even be called a game.

@y0ss4ri4n
i think the best point made in the escapist video (a few posts above), was that an essential element of horror games is balancing story with a feeling of terror in order to create the will to press on. maybe the problem you're having with Amnesia isn't that it's "too scary," but just that the story of Daniel, his lost memory, and the mysterious man he has set out to kill just isn't enough to keep you pressing through all the terror. if the game had truly done its job, you would press on no matter how scary it was, just to find out what would happen once you reached the bottom.

As I have said, the unkown is the thing that most scares the homo sapiens-sapiens , In Amnesia you at first have alot of fear because you don't know what can happend, but after idk, 45 minutes? You see that there is not gonna appear any monsters in a long time, there is no more unknow things, and you don't have to be scared of anything, at that point the game is lost. The first time I played Amnesia I was pretty scared, now I just see it like a puzzle game, of course that can change when the first monsters appears...

Eternal Darkness is Lovecraftian?

HP is rolling in his grave is people think that game (not that it's a bad game by any means) is true to his works. It's an action adventure game with some Lovecraftian quirks. It's not an accurate translation of Lovecraft's horror philosophy at all.

Mind you, Silicon Knights and the games press called it Lovecraftian, so I guess it must be true...

It's clearly inspired by Lovecraft.

Considering the poverty and lack of recognition he wrote under while living I doubt he would be too upset by the comparison.

More Lovecraft fun can be had with Hellnight on the PS 1. That game gave me nightmares from the sound of breathing. First person maze adventure with limited/no weapons and a tireless enemy that you can only track by the sound of its breathing and can only escape by running away. Terrifying experience despite its clunky mechanics.

Eternal Darkness is very, very Lovecrafty. Nameless dread of cosmic forces beyond human comprehension? Check. Unmentionable terror at angles (Witch House, Mouth of Madness etc)? Check. Madness clouding the mind and leading to unintentional horrific events? Check.

"maybe the problem you're having with Amnesia isn't that it's "too scary," but just that the story of Daniel, his lost memory, and the mysterious man he has set out to kill just isn't enough to keep you pressing through all the terror. if the game had truly done its job, you would press on no matter how scary it was, just to find out what would happen once you reached the bottom."

I have no problem with Amnesia as I have never played it so could not comment!

Apologies to WaltzElf, that's what I get for trying to post when drunk.

lol. my bad, my post should have been @caiko

I wil die playing amnesia, the game is so f*cking horrible, I just saw the first monster, it was really really scary, I hear monsters following me, all that organic red thing that is like blood that hurts you and omg. After like 45 minutes of playing you really need to stop playing, the game give me headache. Wow the game is really f*cking scary, but sometimes a little bit boring.

"lol. my bad, my post should have been @caiko"

You were drunk too?

But seriously, I found out a problem with the Amnesia DEMO. Which is what I was playing this whole time. It did scare me to the point where I would turn the game on and just stare at the screen. I didn't wanna move in fear of future events. The story IS great, but the Demo cuts down on the story and skips parts to go straight to the more action oriented events. By the time I got to the water part, I was no longer scared, why?? Interestingly enough, lack of story.

I was shocked to find out that the actual game has tons more story that the demo skipped, unfortunately I think Frictional Games made the demo more action based because of the possibility that today's gamer would get bored. In the actual game you get an even more creepy vibe because of the story bits. It builds up anxiety and suspicion. For example early in the game(removed from demo) a loading screen tells you:

"The other children cheered him on. His name voiced in a steadily rising pace, urging him to do it. "Am I really doing this", the young boy thought and struck his victim with a rock"

It's more Lovecraftian than Eternal Darkness. In eternal darkness you can defend yourself pretty well, and the worse gameplay aspect I thought Eternal Darkness had was the ability to recover your sanity by a simple spell. After you get the spell it's no longer as scary, so when I used to play it I would limit my spell use on purpose, just to retain some fear factor. In amnesia recovering your sanity is pure Horror. It's a non stop chain reaction. You will go insane if you stay in the darkness too long so you have to find matches to light various 19th century fixtures. BUT in order to find matches you also have to look in the creepiest nooks and crannies, in small pitch black hallways that lead to who knows what, in creaky old closets. Also you can go insane by not progressing, which means if you're too scared to go on, it will just get scarier. This is the genius behind Amnesia. There's never a moment of tranquility, even without the use of "jump" scares.

I could've swore Nintendo held the patent for video game insanity, but this game does it, and I think does it better than Eternal Darkness. Although your monitor won't shut off, or you won't get a random game error(I think this is what Nintendo actually patented), Daniel loses stability and you hear some pretty nutty sounds all around you. To me sound is more important than graphics and I haven't heard such believable and clear sound in quite some time. It's so good that oftentimes I found myself scaring....myself. I would throw a crate away from view and it would ricochet off something metal and I would hear a big "clunk" behind me, causing me to turn around in fear....but it was just me. O_0

Back on topic, obviously this game has taught us a lot. I think I should work on story more, and add just enough mystery so that you're always shrouded in enough darkness to want to a learn a little more.

@hulklol123456789
Hey I thought you were beating the game with ease?? What happened? I was about to praise you for your courage.

@Caliko, I don't know what to say, the game wasn't scaring me, but after I see the first monster, I don't stop hearing steps behind me, that game makes me really nervous, alot more than F.E.A.R 2, as I said to you, I need to stop playing because the game was giving me headache (or maybe it was the sun). Anyways the game really makes you nervous, is totally different from the trailer, you really need to rest while playing amnesia. Anyways, sometimes the game gets a little repetitive, that bores me, the game is really freak.

You know, im not a person that can be scared easyli, but the game make me nervous all time, like F.E.A.R do in the most creepy moments. But it is rare to feel a BOO! from the F.E.A.R game, I only feel it when I saw that monster, the rest is just a really creepy place, hearing sounds , horrible sound and all that, you know, playing Amnesia without sound is like hearing music without sound.

The game is good, but dude, it goes to a extreme. Im gonna finish the game... if I can.

So you have the full version?? The demo cuts corners in the story line, but you might find it even more boring as it takes its time to build up suspense.

I have to agree that the sound effects really make most of the game, without such great sound the game wouldn't be half as nerve racking. I've always thought great sound was vital to a great game. It's good to see current gen console developers take advantage of the extra space on disk.

@Caiko, yes I have the full version, as I have said the demo was very short, a little boring, and not sooo scary, but the full version is different, is the dark places wit great sound efects is very scary, anyways some puzzles may get a bit repetitive and boring. When I saw the first monster at the first time I was like , but the monster disapears, and after 10 minutes of hearing steps behind me and a big suspence, I noticed that the monster is not gonna appear again in that room, so now why would I care, I continue playing like nothing. The games sometimes manage to put alot of suspence, and make the player scary and nervous, but sometime it lost it, making the game boring and repetitive. The game is good, but I still find better F.E.A.R 2, not a a fear factor, but as a game. Im also mising the BOOS of F.E.A.R, in F.E.A.R I was scared about those BOOS, I will never know what will happend next, in Amnesia they sometime make things a little bit longer, and the unknown is then know.

Amnesia gives me a totally different feeling that F.E.A.R 2, in F.E.A.R 2 in the suspence moments I was like "oh god, what is gonna happend next, what the hell is gonna happend" and in Amnesia im more like "what was that sound, oh god, it is a monster, ok no it isn't, calm down, lets look for more oil"

You get the difference? Amnesia manage to take longer suspence, the one aftera time lost its scary thing, F.E.A.R 2 manage to make big but short steps of suspence, and you egt alot of shcoking BOOS!

Well I advance more in Amnesia, when I saw the 1st and 2nd monster I was scared, whan I saw the 3rd and 4th it was nothing new, so the unknow become known and I c=have no fear of anyhting else. In the very dark places is more creepy, but I get bored, trying to find a key, so I looked everywhere, and when I look again there is no more unkown thing, so the unkown became known and is no longer scary, so the games gets bored. There was a part in the water where you just need to run, the one I found completly stupid, so the game is good but idk, I like alot more F.E.A.R 2, Amnesia can be really creepy and sometime scary, but F.E.A.R 2 make those Boos!! these one scare you alot. There wqas only 1 part in Amnesia in the one I was as scared as sometimes in F.E.A.R 2, when I saw for first time the monster, and I was worst than F.E.A.R 2 because it was longer... but then it was no more scary at all.

For me, the most important things in a horror game are the sound, the lights and the sense of real danger when confronting an enemy.

Gore, violence, etc...don't add, usually they sustract the horror.

Good luck with your games.

A Zombie is pretty frightening if you have only a knife.
As soon as you have a pistol you go on a Zombie hunt.
The game turns from horror into standard action.

The scariest game I've played this year? Silent Hill: Shattered Memories.
Why? Your weapon: None! ... Flashlight your way, you better run!!!