Thread 717560926

Now that the dust has settled, was it scary?

Yeah :(

>>717560926 (OP)
Genuinely yes, the youtuber cringe surrounding it was retarded but the game itself earned the reputation. At the time it released it was probably the scariest game out there.

>>717560926 (OP)
Yes, until you start to notice how the game actually works.

>Enemies often only appear in very specific areas to patrol, or will teleport in when you get specific items/solve puzzles
>If an enemy kills you, it just puts you back at the entrance of the area, but you keep items and puzzle progress. On top of that, it often despawns the monster. This arguably makes it easier to get killed after running around progressing, then come back and continue exploring with zero threat present.
>Checkpoints are constant, so even when you die and do lose some progress (which is rare), you often lose only a minute or two.
>The water monster is just an invisible hitbox essentially even if running from it is tense.

It's scary at first, but I honestly got an hour or two into the game and stopped feeling any and all tension once I figured some of the mechanics out. Death basically has zero consequence and can even make progressing easier.

It's a bummer since the first Penumbra struck a good balance I felt. You could actually fight back, but fighting was really difficult and often wasn't worth it to do. Since you could fight back, checkpoints were less lenient and death was more of an issue. Amnesia dumped that and went full stealth horror, which just means you either bum rush areas in a mad sprint, or wait in a closet for 30 seconds every few minutes. Kinda lost the tension I felt.

>>717562141
It's the definition of a game that only works if you agree to play it the way the game asks you to play. I think this was one of the first games in this genreto have zero combat.

For its time nothing like it came close.
The Bunker is really fucking good. If you haven't played it you might want to. The game is 'short' but on higher difficulty you actually have to plan out your routes and decisions or fucking die to the monster AI.
Unlike ghouls this fucking thing is constantly looking for you and checks places you might be. It KNOWS you're hiding.
And on the highest difficulties you'd be surprised how fucking smart it can be.
Even throwing grenades as a distraction doesn't work anymore.
I'm serious try shell shocked and then do custom to see how fucking hard it can get.
I've only beat hardest custom mode once and that's because I got really lucky with the fucking fuses and lockers.
You don't even 'need' the flash light. In some ways, you're better off without if you can navigate in the dark without setting off traps.
The sound really fucks you in the ass on shell shocked.

>>717562313
>>717562263
This is why I think The Bunker is a breath of fresh air. They still kept the typical Amnesia-style of things, with a huge focus on hiding/avoiding the monster. But having defensive items actually ups the tension immensely since you have to, in a split second, decide if you'll spend your last bullet to try to chase the monster away, or if you'll try to run and hide. Not to mention it means the devs can make it where checkpoints/saves are more limited since it's up to the player rather than iffy stealth mechanics as to whether they get killed.

I'll always argue horror is better when the player has a way to defend themselves since it creates so much more tension in your choices. Amnesia is good for what it was, but once you see through all the little tricks the devs use and how they balance encounters with the player having no defensive options in mind, it loses a lot of the bite.

>Playing shellshocked
>Coming back from an excursion past the wooden saferoom doors
> There's a fucking hole in the other side of the saferoom

I actually really hated penumbra 1 and 2 wasn't much better

>>717562141
>>If an enemy kills you, it just puts you back at the entrance of the area, but you keep items and puzzle progress. On top of that, it often despawns the monster. This arguably makes it easier to get killed after running around progressing, then come back and continue exploring with zero threat present.

Why would you play a horror game like that, ruining the entire experience?

>>717560926 (OP)
like most """good""" horror games, it has a couple of great moments and the other 90% is boredom

No. Penumbra was scary though

I know it by heart yet it still manages to spook me from times to times. The atmosphere, the characters, the story, it was all top notch. Alexander's VA is especially kino. Amnesia only really works the first time you're playing it, but it's such a well crafted little gem.

>>717560926 (OP)
It is. But then again, I find even games like Doom pretty jumpy. I remember when I was little it took me forever to go through Thief Deadly Shadows. I was scared shitless.