Thread 723199148

What makes a horror game actually scary?
Does it depend on jump scares or is a creepy atmosphere and tough combat enough?

>>723199148 (OP)
loud noise
>b-but
loud noise instant cut to a distorted face on the screen
don't have it not horror

It's mainly a mix of creepy visuals and sound design.
Gameplay has very little to do it honestly.

>>723199332
Gameplay should still at least be enjoyable to play

>>723199392
I'm not so sure. I've played some horror games where the gameplay is objectively pretty ass but they made up for it in other ways.
See: Rule of Rose, Cry of Fear

>>723199148 (OP)
Sound is everything. Silent Hill 1 does it very well but I think Darkwood is a prime example of how much sound can elevate your horror game

>>723199548
Darkwood also has great visuals and designs too.

>>723199148 (OP)
Horror GAMES by definition can not be scary. If a game is too easy and you steamroll through it then there isn't any horror to begin with. On the other hand if it's too hard and you end up replaying the same section too many times it eventually becomes annoying rather than scary. It's still my favorite genre by far thanks to the almost endless variety of scenarios and gameplay you can come up with but I definitely see them more as puzzle games at the end of the day. Maybe I'm just desensitized.

>>723199807
On the flip side, they need to be video games. You have to give the player shit to fight and things to unlock, otherwise it's unity walking simulator #69,879 that's the digital equivalent of a Halloween spook house

I just find the dungeon in Fear and Hunger to be the most disturbing. The real threat of mutilation, torture, and rape actually happening to your character is more horrific than a quick death that's common in other horror games. And seeing NPCs losing themselves to things like cannibalism, sexual degeneracy, and torture is very apparent in this game.

>>723199807
This is unironically why jumpscares are a necessary evil for horror games. You can't punish the player by making them Game Over and sending them back to the last save point, you have to give them a visceral reaction that extends beyond the illusion of the game.

>>723199148 (OP)
no amount of grotesque, loud bullshit is scary to me. it's the tense situations that make it scary.

>>723199148 (OP)
It's all about overwhelming paranoia. You need to be so scared of what's going on that even just turning around makes the hairs on your neck stand up. Very few games do this, and it also varies from person to person. For most people, P.T. was on this level, which is why it was so lauded and why people were so pissed it was cancelled.

tension centered around the unknown

The scariest game I've ever played is Alien Isolation and I think 90% of it is just the sound design.

>>723200076
Lots of early horror games had over the top deaths that were almost a reward desu. I honestly prefer it that way

>>723199148 (OP)
Eerie silence.
That's why Visage & Madison are kino horror games. I highly recommend.
Amnesia: The Bunker, is also fucking terrifying, that too relies a lot on silence keeping you in suspense
If I start playing a horror game & there's a jump scare or more of a screamer, I just uninstall. I don't think screamers/ jump scares are horror it's lazy shit devs that cannot create a horror atmosphere so they cheaply add fucking screamers

>>723199148 (OP)
SFX and music be the real horror cheat code, Silent Hill without its scratching, ambient industrial and crooning is way more shit. A horror game with a musical identity is far superior to those without. You see it in action horror too like Resident Evil, in the iconic save room themes.

That shit is 90% of the atmosphere you want. Anyone who wants the sauce on horror should build the feel of their idea around its music first.

>>723201026
I was in a horror game searching a house and when I walked over to the sink the screen suddenly went black and a goul face appeared and screamed at me then the game went back to normal... I've never uninstalled a game that fucking fast, that isn't horror it's just shit.

>>723199148 (OP)
Horror is mostly atmospheric. Really what you want in horror is to excite that 'fight or flight' response part of the brain. So give the player enough combat capability to defend themselves, but also make combat unpredictable and dangerous enough that they'll prefer to avoid it all together.

>>723199148 (OP)
some kind of "hell on earth" where the MC would regret ever leaving their familiar and safe environment behind.

>>723199148 (OP)
Horror is all about the anxiety of not knowing. That's why low fidelity ps1 game still mogs new horror games.

>>723199148 (OP)
Jump scares aren't "scary." Being startled isn't the same thing as being scared.

>>723201890
Being scared AND startled is a great combo, though.

>>723199148 (OP)
fear of losing a lot of progress before reaching the next save point

>>723199148 (OP)
sound and atmosphere are basically everything for a good horror game
even the Fatal Frame games that are supposedly "jumpscare heavy" have like 3 jumpscares in each game max, all of the horror comes from the environment

>>723199148 (OP)
most horror is just a warped version of heroes journey where the unknown has nothing but downsides

>>723199148 (OP)
>Pressure
I need to feel like I need to get the FUCK out of there. I shouldn't be able to just Rambo my way out of the encounter; I'm facing something that chills me to my bones and I need to get the hell out of dodge.
>Anxiety
I need to be nervous of the fact that the horror element could suddenly come at me at any time.
>Atmosphere
The most important aspect. If I can't be immersed in the setting, then it's a bad horror game no matter what else it offers.
>Big titty 9' tall mommy monsters
I want to be dwarfed by a big titty monster girl. No specific reasons. No, I don't mean an ugly granny like Dimetresque from Resident Evil.

>>723201963
Mario bros & sonic the hedgehog had that, I'd hardly call them horrors

>>723199148 (OP)
The feeling of dreading opening the door to the next area because you have no idea what's coming. The fear of lack of supplies dwindling down making you question if you wasted your bullets on the enemies before. Because something else might be coming that's worse.

>>723202083
no but it created tension just not in a horror environment

>>723199332
>Gameplay has very little to do it honestly.
gameplay definitely plays a role to the extent it controls the nature of the enemies you encounter. a predator pursuing the player is generally very intense compared to more aimless automatons you encounter.

>>723199807
>Horror GAMES by definition can not be scary
retarded arrogant statement

>>723199148 (OP)
Resident Evil 7 is the only horror game to scare me in 20 years ago (since Fear 1)

>>723202234
Feeling that you're being pursued is actually way more tense than actually being pursued. It's like 90% in your head.
It's why the first half of Alien Isolation is terrifying despite the alien not even appearing.

>>723202349
no I disagree with your deflection. without an entity realized through gameplay it becomes very quickly apparent that the predator is just vague set dressing and it's declawed.

>>723202530
Sure but once the predator shows up you get acclimated to it pretty quick. Because at the end of the day its a dumb game AI and not a real monster. Mr. X in RE2R was terrifying for about an hour and now he's just a walking obstacle because I know what he's capable of.

>>723202349
I mean that only works once, the next time you play you know when he physically can't show up, although he can technically spawn before his first intended appearance. Even on repeat playthroughs when he's actually active and a threat to you it's still scary, well as scary as an AI can be

>>723199332
>gameplay has very little to do it honestly
don't be silly, of course it does. what makes horror games scary is the feeling of helplessness. Having finite ammo or only a melee weapon makes the experience more stressful i.e., scary

>>723202212
This is a good point, I think it's why people like the classrooms

>>723199148 (OP)
The game being immersive in general. Everything from sound design to fonts and graphics

When I was a kid I got immersed playing "impossible mission" and it was terrifying. Tonight I got scared playing northern journey because I was so immersed.

>>723199548
i was so disappointed by the lack of horror in SHf i loaded up SH1 and the otherworld school alone has more horror than all of SHf.

>>723199148 (OP)
atmosphere
fear of the unknown
darkness
ghosts
shit combat

>>723199807
Games are the only medium capable of being scary

>>723203084
Games aren't really capable of being scary. Entertainment isn't in general once you get older and experience almost dying and stuff like that.

The most I was ever scared by a game was resident evil dogs, release day. That was a real master stroke. To this day I bet it's still getting folks. The only thing to ever compete with that moment was my wife was playing subnautica and went out of bounds....she turned 180 to look at where she had come from and then turned 180 quickly again ...

Nonetheless I really really love horror stuff of all kinds. If you do too I suggest reading the manga "My Name is Shingo"

>>723203317
>plebbit spacing

>>723199148 (OP)
the biggest problem I've had with horror games is that when you lose you have to do all the "scary" stuff again and it just makes it not scary anymore

>>723203390
reddit did not invent double spacing, hope this clears that up for you election tourist

Developers need to realize ghosts and monsters aren't scary if I want to fuck them.

>>723199148 (OP)
lack of control over a situation and the imagination of everything the player doesn't yet understand.

>>723203390
Brown hands typing and black irises like

Some

Kind

Of

Subhuman

Animal

>>723199148 (OP)
>What makes a horror game actually scary?
First and foremost, sound design. Those barely audible but still noticeable background noises as you traverse through dark areas, those growls that you might think mean an enemy is nearby so you're always on guard, tense music that fits with enemy encounters. After that, the setting has to be engaging enough to make you want to keep learning more doesn't matter how scary the game can get. That's why Silent Hill is so memorable, the only sound you hear is your footsteps as you run through haze-filled streets, with the radio static alerting you of enemies so you can get ready, or the nightmarish other world from the school and the hospital where you're constantly on your guard as you try to find a way out.

>>723199148 (OP)
Atmosphere

>>723199148 (OP)
Horror always lies in the unknown.
When I was a kid, I couldn't play SH2 because in first area when you go down the hill, there are scary noises. Nothing ever appears. The noises are never explained. But my imagination went wild, and little 11 year old me couldn't handle it.
The whole game is filled with shit that just has no explanation. Why are these stairs so long? Why are we going so deep in the prison? What are these weird noises in the apartment building that sound like someone violently plucking a violin? Why do the Laying Figures sound like some kind of rusty clockwork robot?

If you want horror, make something surreal, and never explain it.

Limited resources, clunky controls, limited saves, at least 30+ minutes between saves on average. The scare of losing progress is the only way for a video game to be scary.

>>723212417
-t. the pajeet that coded security breach

>>723212324
This. I replayed Silent Hill 1 and even though I had mastered the combat already and had spare ammo to blast anything, every time I got into a room and there was that fade to black only to fade in quickly and hear the radio and moans and tense sound effects, but the enemy was off screen. Absolutely kino.

>>723214038
the monsters are there to add tension but usually the scariest stuff in that game comes from the music or weird shit just put in there to fuck with you. the sounds after you activate any heavy machinery are some of the scariest shit in that game. the boiler, the drawbridge, the generator.

>>723199148 (OP)
it just needs to make the player feel like they're in danger
Amnesia TDD aces this initially because the first few levels just have spooky noises that make the player feel like there's something in there with them, which is scary, and the first couple times the player gets chased are scary because of the fucking siren basically being a BAD SHIT alarm
but once they get used to the game, the horror disappears because they realize death barely sets you back at all and the enemy AI is insanely simple and easy to manipulate/avoid

>>723213795
no, I played Tormented Souls. The only good horror game since the PS2.

>>723199148 (OP)
When the player starts getting immersed.
But players can only get immersed when the plot, sound design, framing, tension, etc. are well coordinated enough.
What horror games haven't figured out yet is how to make death scenarios keep the player immersed and not be taken out because a menu asks if the player wants to reload a save or quit.

Eileen shaving

>>723199148 (OP)
At this point I'd just copy Dead Space 1 and 2's gameplay for the overall template on gameplay. Maybe change a minor thing or two is all. Most likely would get rid of any qte's and also monsters being bullet pinatas kek. I think Dead Space had the most solid foundation for action in modern horror games. Not sure why most don't seem to see it on here. Always felt like they pretty much took what RE 4 and 5 set up and perfected it.

>>723199260
Fear achieved.

What's that one 3D indie horror game where a dev has his wife voice the protagonist and the death scenes are extremely detailed guro animations? That shit disturbed me more than any other horror game.

>>723199148 (OP)
knowing when to be quiet
im a bit of a horrorfag and im honestly sickened by how every modern (2012+) horror game or movie HAS to have music telling you how to feel literally all the fucking time.
Rising strings, groans, jumpscare BADUMPS, its all so fucking lazy.
Music can work, of course, and some times it does accentuate the experience.

But you know whats scarier? nothing. The sound of emptiness. The ambience of an empty room that you arent quite sure is empty.
one of the best scares ive had with a relatively modern game was resident evil 1's remake, honestly.

its a game im familiar with, having played the OG a million times, so im not really scared at all anyway. then, out of nowhere, I hear not a typical zombie shuffle but some incredibly fast footsteps increasing in volume. A crimsonhead on its way. What the fuck am I hearning? this isnt in the OG, this isnt normal... do I have a creepypasta game or what
Then before I can even finish thinking, this hyper aggressive nigger zombie is on my face.
Imagine how much less effective this shit is, if everytime there was a CH in the room a particular bit of music played. Telling you OH NO! PANIC TIME!

silent hill is at its peak in scarey atmosphere when it shuts the fuck up and just plays either nothing or ambiance. The OST is great, but once 'combat' starts I feel a lot of the psychological horror evaporates, leaving you only with tension horror.

Ultimately though its about immersion, playing the game in a well lit room or with an eceleb on isnt going to work, watching an eceleb play isnt going to work, an eceleb chatting to a camera isnt going to work. You need to shut the fuck up and let yourself be immersed in it. Period. But overuse of music and jumpscares breaks my immersion, it needs to be diagetic, not eceleb bait.
Horror is dead because its all about reaction bait now.

>>723199148 (OP)
If the game is third person, then the camera must be fixed or otherwise controlled by the game, not the player.
If the game is first person, then the player must be forced to fuck with stupid handheld gadgets to reduce field of view.

There is no way to achieve consistent cinematography or horror with third person, over-the-shoulder cameras that the player is constantly controlling, the FoV is too high, the movement is completely disjointed from the player, the disconnect is too large, the information gained is too significant, etc. The most you can achieve with that perspective is canned jumpscare QTEs.

>>723199148 (OP)
the feeling of being out of my element, uneasy, no control, uncomfortable, helpless, the anticipation that may or may not come and unpredictable fear. example, dark souls

>>723218871
>Horror is dead because its all about reaction bait now.
nailed it. Jumpscares can be fine if theyre used infrequently. Its a meme game but I think amnesia used them well since 90% of encounters are real, and they jumpscare you only when you are thinking you are safe.
Now most games just want to create reactions clips

One random indie game I played was really fucking good, forgot the name, but it was about being in an old house with ~something~ in the basement. You know somethings up, the door is barricaded up and the protag refuses to change that. Throughout the game it slowly has this unsettling quiet, off angles, shadows, all to make you feel wrong. but... its safe, right? the door remains blocked so... its safe.
Several ingame days goes by and while creepy shit happens each night, until one night you see that whatever it was, was absolutely able to leave, its just been closing the door behind it.
Theres this tense, weird feeling about that. You have proof it was in your room at night, watching.

The game forces you down to the basement at one point, and for once in years I actually felt genuine fear at the prospect because it did such a good job building this up. No music, no strings, just creepy bumps in the night and an increasingly violent... thing.
The best part? theres nothing in the basement. Leaves you thinking if there ever was or if it got out already.
The game would be boring for an eceleb because nothing fucking happens, theres no jumpscare, theres no toy to play with. it relies on sound and immersion.

>>723212324
>>723203078
>>723200531
>>723200363
It's so easy to make horror out of the unknown.
If you reveal the scare too early, you're rolling the dice on the player finding your specific spook scary.
But if you tease it for as long as you can, they'll tend to imagine the scariest thing possible around every corner.

>>723219469
damn i wish u could remember the name of it

>>723199807
Go away Joseph. You're a retard.

Jump scares can be more annoying than scary if overused. SH1 is probably the best horror game and it had less that 5. SH1 had:
>A feeling of powerlessness with limited ammo.
>Fast enemies did little damage to put pressure on you, slow enemies did more to make you fear them. Alternating between them didn't get you emotionally exhausted.
>The visuals triggered gloom (foogy over world) and oppression (nightmare world)
>The sound amplified the visuals, and the radio static reminds you you're disconnected.

What it didn't do:
>Extreme gore which comes off a childish
>Loads of bullets which makes you feel powerful/in control
>Loads of jump scares for you more afraid of the pending jumps are than anything else.

>>723199148 (OP)
Limited visibility. It's not a real horror game unless you can only see five feet in front of you.

>>723199148 (OP)
Jumpscares are the most boring way to scare the player because they just rely on your instincts, like any human would react to something that appeared out of nowhere.
Actually good horror games scare you in a different way, in fact the less enemies you fight the better because if you fight lots and lots of them you stop caring cause lol I can just kill anyone.

>>723199260
You have to be 18 to post here

>>723199332
Permadeath can create a tension in even happy games. There is an inherent fear of losing progress. Autosaves are anti-scary.