Thread 714280054

What makes a horror game good? Jumpscares? Combat? Atmosphere? Clunky movement? Save rooms?

>>714280054 (OP)
Tight resource management is the essence of survival horror. The monsters will eventually stop being scary, jumpscares only startle you, atmosphere is very important. Ideally you want a mix of everything, resource management, spooky atmosphere that builds tension, occasional jumpscare to keep you on the edge, limited movement and combat abilities.

>>714280054 (OP)
The actual answer is anticipation, tension and dread, all of which are very hard to get right, which is why most horror games just stick to le scary loud face

>>714280054 (OP)
all the above

>>714280515
Basically this, combat needs to be "optional", in the sense that you can choose to ignore specific enemies which allows you to save ammo or items for a more difficult section.
>>714280658
Silent Hill 1's locker room jumpscare is a personal favorite of mine for that reason, the bait and switch lulls you into a false sense of security and then it happens.

unironically only jumpscares do it for me

>>714281018
forgot to mention, the baby part in RE8 didn't make me scared but actually made me laugh

Timing, pacing, screenwriting knowledge to know about building tension, careful map design,
a pull/push feeling of calm, atmospheric and madness.

>>714280054 (OP)
Depends on what the person likes. I personally love shit like this https://store.steampowered.com/app/1064460/Murder_House/

>>714280054 (OP)
I'm not much of a horrorfag at all, but games never seem to get horror quite right
the problem is that it quickly becomes too predictable once you're familiar with the game, its mechanics and the limitations of both you and the monster/s. a good example might be RE games and how you know you're free to relax in the safe rooms, which is very gamey and breaks the suspension of disbelief
in films you never quite know what's going to happen, the monster and its working are a mystery
I guess with games because you're tied to having a win and lose condition at all times and the player is expected to brute force their way to the end, it's natural that it mechanically has to fit into a narrow framework
and what's the worst that can happen even if you do die and get ripped apart? you just load a save like it never even happened, so there's never any true tension. in a film if a guy gets ripped apart he's likely not coming back

>>714281265
>DUDE
>hore sous sound design
>no volume of effects limiters
>just fuck my ears up buddy
No. That's not horror, just shitty Puppet sound knowledge.

>can appreciate a spooky atmosphere and all but never really find it scary
>hate jumpscares as scares but it's the only thing that actually makes my heart race with spooky vidya
The only time I ever got scared aside from jumpscares was playing Half-life Alyx. The dark part with the headcrabs scared the shit outta me. I think VR is the future for horror games.

>>714281567
>a good example might be RE games and how you know you're free to relax in the safe rooms, which is very gamey and breaks the suspension of disbelief
But that's the whole point of them. You get respite and restock before voluntarily going back to the meat grinder. You have to pace moments of serenity and spook, spook in itself cannot be sustained and the absence of it highlights the next section more.

>>714280054 (OP)
thats a pretty spooky image. PT was pretty freaky, an it definitely wasnt because of the trappings of the horror genre like the radio sounds, the phone call, the sounds and lighting, none of that has anything to do with why it was scary of course. I am very young and intelligent.

>>714281227
Silent Hill 1 does that and it's my favorite horror game for it. It goes from calm and atmospheric then gradually descends into madness and when the tension becomes suffocating it turns back to calm.

>>714282295
VR is dead but I have to agree RE7 VR is the scariest shit I ever played. That fucking basement man, I froze when I saw morgue on the map. There is also the section in the old house where you have to retrieve an arm from a corpse

Jumpscares are the fucking most misleading shit because startling me isn't the same as scaring me.
Give me fear God damn it!

>>714284471
Scariest game and moment? What does fear look like?

>>714281567
>the problem is that it quickly becomes too predictable once you're familiar with the game, its mechanics and the limitations of both you and the monster/s. a good example might be RE games and how you know you're free to relax in the safe rooms, which is very gamey and breaks the suspension of disbelief
I long for RE games to do away with safe rooms. Alien Isolation perfected saving in horror games. It's a lost tech at this point not because devs are lazy to implement it but because fans are literal cattle that can't go 5 seconds without shooting something or ragequitting because the scary thing got you due to skill issue.

>>714284792
Miasmata.
The TL;DR is that it's a survival game about botany and avoiding a big cat predator using stealth. Can't fight it.
Hiding in a bush hoping the cat doesn't notice you or dreading going into shaded areas because that cunt might be hiding there.
No minimap or shit either, gotta pay attention and use landmarks to triangulate your position.

>>714280054 (OP)
Jumpscares are good when you're dealing with silent ever-present enemies like ghosts

>>714280515
Stress is the most important ingredient

You need a little bit of everything.
>atmosphere
>anticipation
>non predictability
>non retarded stalker AI (which is too much to ask for these days)
P.T., Outlast, Visage, Alien Isolation, and the baby scene from RE8. That's how you do real horror. There are problems with each game though in the sense that devs usually over rely on jump scares and make it too easy. Alien Isolation does everything perfectly except it needs some extra gameplay. Imagine an RE game with limited ammo, a stalker like the Xenomorph from Alien Isolation that gets smarter the more you people, no safe rooms, and a huge open world that lets you pick your path to escape. We'd never get that game lol.

>>714280054 (OP)
what makes horror good?

>>714284287
I did play some RE7 VR and it was a blast. Too bad mold monsters aren't scary. I'd rather have zombies.

>>714285796
Almost forgot the most important thing
>sound
When you can hear every crack on the floorboard or distant footsteps or someone screaming in agony, it builds so much suspense. I'll never forget that Half Life 2 zombie scream. So simple yet horrifying. You also need sound to evolve. Can't have constant quiet dullness. Would be nice to have AI teammates that aren't retarded get picked off by something when you split up and you hear their screams through the walls. No game has ever done that.

>>714280054 (OP)
It's not horror nor scary without jumpscares

>>714285046
Am I the only one who loves save rooms? I keep listening to save room bgm daily, some of my best gaming memories are tied to stopping in a save room and soaking the atmosphere.

Everyone is wrong because the best horror is always that one level in an otherwise not massively scary game.

>>714280054 (OP)
Female monsters trying to steal your semen

>>714287196
I have no problem with the actual save room feel and BGM but when zombies or the stalker AI can't get inside of it, it just breaks your suspension to disbelief. The tension is just gone because if you ever get overwhelmed, you can just run back into it and deagro everyone. I believe Nemesis can break into one of the safe rooms in RE3 remake but by the time he can, you're already done with that portion of the map. Shit is dumb.

>>714286380
Zoomer b gone

>>714280054 (OP)
>Jumpscares?
If they become routine they cease being scary. It's not a no no, but you can't spam that shit. Dread is just as important as fear.
>Combat?
You should feel outmatched, easy combat detracts from the horror. There's many ways to do this, "boss is invulnerable until he lets you damage him" is a terrible way to do it.
>Atmosphere?
Atmosphere is key. I barely remember the events of Silent Hill or Dead Space, but I remember how they looked and how they made me feel. Isolated.
>Clunky movement?
This does not spark joy. The days of fighting enemies and controls (especially the camera) at the same time should be long gone.
>Save rooms?
If it helps gameplay, sure.

Pic is a favorite of mine, great atmosphere. Combat eventually devolved into zap rap on cooldown, and we don't talk about 2, but it nailed the atmosphere and dread. You knew Metro City was a violent hellhole on the decline, not because a cutscene or loading screen told you; because you were in it, you could see it, you were killing hobos with rebar and 2x4s in dilapidated shit holes all over the place.
Then the game just ends and you're no closer to the truth then when you started.

>>714280054 (OP)
ur mom is a horror game

>>714280054 (OP)
P.T. stands out for me for the reason it is a playable movie - very cinematic but you are still moving within the scene. That's why it's so effective.

You know what else is like that?
That's right - Half-Life's playable "cutscenes"

So you can go with the route of being scary, but on the other hand, there's horror games that are only a bit scary, or occasionally scary, and instead are really atmospheric and fun to play. Those are my favorite horror games.

>>714285567
I am not fan of hide and seek games. If you don't have weapons and can't fight back it removes a factor of scariness. Fight or flight is more scary than flight only.

>>714291476
There are defences against it; you can distract it with fire or run through densely packed trees
Point is that ending up in a situation which causes dread, hiding from something AND not knowing where safety is, beats having some .png show up suddenly with a spooky music sting.