What scares you in a horror game?

[Willir]

I am a Computer Games Dev student at uni going into my final year and would like to just do some research and get feedback from budding gamers like yourselves. The feedback is going to help me get an idea of what works and what does'nt work for gamers in horror games.

What is it that scares you in a horror game?(sound/atmosphere/lighting)

Give an example of a game or a particular moment in gaming that scared you the most and why.

What scares you in real life? (fears)

Have you played a VR horror game? If so which game and how was the experience?

Any feedback would be helpful, thanks!

 

[Willir]

Some great feedback here already, thanks to all members so far!

I agree with the F.E.A.R answers, scary game back in the day, I'm guessing it still holds up, not played it in years.

From personal experience, I found playing Alien Isolation really topped it for me in regards to the atmosphere and sound.

Keep the answers coming.

 

[Willir]

Another spin on that is the unexpectedness of something.

For me it was the spiders in Minecraft. They're blocky so they don't appear visually scary, the sounds aren't particularly scary either. It was more of the way spiders could jump at you sent shivers down my spine.

FWIW i'm not an arachnophobe either.

Whereas i've found other games with more realistically visual looking zombies etc, haven't done anything.

I know what you mean with the spiders, I also think the EnderMen are creepy as hell too.

Does anybody find enemies chasing you scary or suspenseful?

 

[Willir]

yep, that fear started when that ghost chased me to the ship in treasure island on the commodore

Haha still haunts you then?

I've recently been playing Little Nightmares, the suspensful chase sequences are somewhat terrifying.

 

[Willir]

This! I think this is the only game that made me feel that way even with me having a machine gun to hand and a little girl being my arch enemy lol

The atmosphere as you move through the structure not really knowing what is going on but enough pretence to know you shouldn't really be there.

And I think this says in what really makes fear whilst playing a game

Thanks for the info about the inspiration for F.E.A.R, will probably use it as a case study. The "get under the player's skin" is something I want to aim for, rather than blood/gore and cheap jump scares.

 

[Willir]

More great feedback, thanks guys.

Seems by reading through the comments that a lot of you like the atmospheric settings in horror games, being defenseless and not having weapons to kill the enemy and the unexpected jump scares.

As horror games are becoming more popular this generation, do they lack anything in particular? What would you like to see in a horror game?

With sound playing a big part in horror games in general, do you tend to play with or without a headset? How does the experience differ?

Or lickers through interrogation room glass.

How about the numerous unexpected moments in Resident Evil 3 when the Nemesis just busts out of a window or door and that music kicks in an he is chasing you shouting "Starssssss".

 

[Willir]

The Controllers in STALKER....that high pitched noise.....

STALKER was a great game.

Has anybody played Resident Evil 7 in VR? If so, how was the experience compared to the standard version of the game?

 

[Willir]

I really enjoyed the Survival mode in Alien Isolation. Tense stuff.

 

[Willir]

I would say a "lack" of scares... Where you know there's something there but you never quite see "it" properly, so every time you go round a corner you expect it to jump out on you but it never does... IMO once you've seen "it" it loses some of the fear, whereas when all you have is a shadow in the dark, a glimpse of movement etc. your imagination makes it much worse

Right okay, I see where your coming from, almost like the anticipation and tension as you are waiting for something to scare you? I think I know the feeling, certain horror games do this and certainly gets your heart racing sometimes. Resident Evil 7 done this for me.

 

[Willir]

Yeah, that's it, while you're waiting for the jump, the tension builds and builds - once you've been "jumped", it releases some of that

Some horror games really do know how to keep you on the razers edge. Little Nightmares is a good example of this, your waiting for a hand or something to pop out and grab you, but it doesn't happen, sometimes the design of the game makes you think something is about to happen, maybe its the sound that gives off that sense of fear or the paranoia of knowing anything can happen in a horror game.

I remember as a kid, playing Resident Evil, if I was getting chased by a dog/zombie/lickers I would turn straight back around again and find the Typewriter Save room and stay in there until I was ready to continue, I think the sense of relief and safety works in a safe zone but most modern horror games put you in the centre of the 'nightmare'.

 

[Willir]

Seems like a lot of you where scared of F.E.A.R then, I remember not wanting to play much of it myself when I was younger, don't think I managed to complete it tbh. It is a really well made horror game that ticked all the boxes.

Do you think horror games have replay value? If so what do you think makes a horror game replayable, and could you give an example?

 

[Willir]

I just can't deal with really scary games. Doom 3 almost game me a heart attack and I had to stop playing.

Silent Hill was plain nasty as well.

Doom 3 had that scary atmosphere, dark game which played a lot with shadows and lighting. I think games that use torches or nightvision adds a level of suspense and suprise for the player, Outlast 1 & 2 for example.

 

[Willir]

Yeah I think what Doom 3 did well was creating a lot of movement with lighting and hence shadows which really puts you on edge. Things moving in your peripheral vision tend to trigger your fight or flight mechanism.

Like when you hear the witch crying in Left 4 Dead, walk around a corner see her in the darkness on the floor, then you trigger her and she comes running at you at that music kicks in.

 

[Willir]

A few parts in Alien Isolation were pretty effective for me.
- early on when you need to get onto a train, Lots of build up of tension, you can hear the alien approaching (although it doesn't). And all you can do is cower in a corner waiting for the slowest train in the world to arrive. Doesn't really hold up after a repeat, but damn, the first time was similar to the end of Alien when Ripley tries to get on to the escape pod.
- Similar event, when you try to recover the Nostromo's logs. Lots of good build up of tension, with no actual threats.
- The part where you are trapped in the Aliens' nest and try to do stuff with xenomorphs roaming around. That's really tense.
- The part where your scottish sidekick gets taken didn't work so well. Was some sort of homage to the Brett scene, but far less effective than the movie version. Shame

Soma had a couple of great moments too, even though I would hardly consider it horror.
- The part where you are at the bottom of the sea, caught in some sort of underwater storm, and where you can barely see ahead. Very well done.
- A lot of stuff in there don't hold up after repeated viewing (playing).

I've seen some resident evil 7 stuff. Like the Alan Wake game, didn't really do it for me. It's a lot of jump scares mixed with gore or 'paranormal' stuff. I think it's because it's kind of 4th wall breaking in a way. With paranormal things, you can make ANYTHING happen, which makes it less grounded in reality, and is therefore less physically threatening. Resident Evil 7 is a classic example. It's not so much the scares, but discovering what messed up things they gonna come up with next, hence why it breaks immersion and the sense of dread for me. RE7 is almost panto-horror for me

Kinda liking it to the Superman effect, where a character becomes so powerful it removes any sense of interest. I see this a lot in Anime too, where the antagonist is basically hyped up to ridiculous levels, I always get the sense that it turns the whole thing into a joke.

So yeah, the more the stuff grounded in physical reality, the scarier and more interesting it gets for me.

Its a shame when tension and suspense gets built up so much that it doesn't deliver, it shows that the developers either failed in executing the approach or they did it intentionally. Most of the time its the developers failing to scare the player. Same thing applies to film, there is plenty of horror films that fail to execute the horror and suspense, don't make horror films like they used too anymore.