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[Biag]

-snip about story-

I agree with this 100%, and it's true of every genre, not only horror. A game has to work on a core, fundamental level for it to accomplish what it's setting out to accomplish. Amnesia is filled with little tidbits and details, but the basic premise of the game is "It's dark and there are monsters trying to kill you and you can't fight back" and that's scary on its own independent of any text or voiceover.

Something I'd like to see explored more in horror games is human horror. As an example, I just saw Children of the Corn for the first time, and the opening scene where

Spoiler: very minor spoiler (click to show/hide)

some kids massacre an entire diner with farming implements

was positively terrifying to me. It was average people hurting average people in a way that was primal and brutal and fundamentally disturbing to me. One of my biggest fears is how much power any given person has over me- some random stranger I've never seen before could grab me on the street at night and cut my throat for no reason.

I want to play a game that explores that. A big procedurally-generated city, and the player's objective is just to run some errands- go here and here and here and then return to the start. And somewhere along the shopping trip you get attacked; not by anyone special, just another faceless NPC in the street. Like one big fucked-up game of Assassin.

[Neonivek]

It is a careful line there Biag. Most games that start to go in that dirrection become "artistic games" and I dislike the vast majority of games where the art is the main focus of the game (as in Gameplay sacrificed for expression) though I can't exactly explain why... the first word that pops into my mind is that they are douchy but I don't think that really describes it.

Mind you, there are a few I do like. I am very drawn into "The Void" and though I have yet to see the ending I have a thousand theories about how it works. I also saw one letsplay of it and I was surprised when the insightful letsplayer didn't get the significance of trees (as he treated them, story wise, as sustainable color)

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

The trees are not sustainable color. What you are in fact doing is bringing them back to life so they can draw nutriance/color dirrectly from the void which is in fact killing it faster.

[Virtz]

Something I'd like to see explored more in horror games is human horror. As an example, I just saw Children of the Corn for the first time, and the opening scene where

Spoiler: very minor spoiler (click to show/hide)

some kids massacre an entire diner with farming implements

was positively terrifying to me. It was average people hurting average people in a way that was primal and brutal and fundamentally disturbing to me. One of my biggest fears is how much power any given person has over me- some random stranger I've never seen before could grab me on the street at night and cut my throat for no reason.

I want to play a game that explores that. A big procedurally-generated city, and the player's objective is just to run some errands- go here and here and here and then return to the start. And somewhere along the shopping trip you get attacked; not by anyone special, just another faceless NPC in the street. Like one big fucked-up game of Assassin.

Well, Pathologic kinda sorta does that. I mean, you can identify the muggers and looters by their different models, but they're way beyond your focus, and you can randomly encounter them as you're running through the streets or entering certain houses. Not to mention how combat against them can be very deadly for you and your resources are really limited. You constantly have to choose between spending money on weapons/ammo, food and medicine.

And speaking of Pathologic, it's sort of like a very subtle form of horror. It's not so much horrifying as it is disturbing, as a lot of the things in the town range from "Huh, that's creepy but possible" to "That's totally surreal". And that's before the plague starts, which is also pretty surreal in how it works.

One thing I thought was brilliant about the first Silent Hill was the radio. It warned you when there were monsters nearby without giving away where. It made you pause and look around, maybe even turn off your flashlight to avoid being seen. Of course, it probably wouldn't have worked without the clunky combat, and it often failed because of how you could just dodge and run away from most monsters. But still, it worked very well at first, and it sort of kept working in interiors (where you had to explore and not just run away).

Not to mention how it was a God-send compared to all the jump-scares in horror games. Which is something that annoys me more than anything. Of course you're going to react to a jump-scare. Any living being reacts that way to sudden quick movements. That ain't actually scary, that's just testing whether you're alive or not. Or possibly whether you're too bored and expecting them to react anymore.

[GreenScape]

Undying anyone? That was a pretty horror-y game.

[fenrif]

I can't really remember undying, but wasn't that a shooter game with a horror theme?

Not to mention how it was a God-send compared to all the jump-scares in horror games. Which is something that annoys me more than anything. Of course you're going to react to a jump-scare. Any living being reacts that way to sudden quick movements. That ain't actually scary, that's just testing whether you're alive or not. Or possibly whether you're too bored and expecting them to react anymore.

Jump scares get a bad rap becuase they're really easy to do and many movies/games just pack loads of them in and call it horror. But they aren't inherantly bad anymore than any other horror genre convention. Jump scares used inexpertly are just quick and cheap ways of getting a specific reaction from the audience, whereas if they're used well they can punctuate a pervading tension and apprehension.

[alexandertnt]

Jump scares have their place. But first the designers/writers/whoever have to build up the tension. Do that well and jump scares can be very effective.

But yeah, they tend to be overused.

[Dutchling]

I'm never a hero in horror games. My character might be one, but even Dead space, which most of my friends claim is just a shooter, scares the fuck out of me.

Multiple times I just loaded my save, walked around for ~10 minutes without encountering enemies, and than I quit because I'm too scared >.>.