What scares you in a horror game?

[Guest2]

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)

Combination of the 3

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

The first time the girl walked in front of me and then vanished in FEAR

What scares you in real life? (fears)

Things that would be impossible - paranormal, things like doors moving or waking up with no bed sheets!!

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

Yes, Affected. When that wheelchair slowly started moving

Any feedback would be helpful, thanks!


Its the atmosphere, not the jump out at you scary that is actually scary. Amnesia: the Dark Descent I managed about 10 minutes before I uninstalled it I did try and get it working on the Oculus CV1 but would have only lasted 5 mins even if I got it to work properly so it was playable (which I couldnt)

 

[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?

 

[Vonhelmet]

The audio logs in System Shock 2. The apparency of something awful having happened and just finding the aftermath.

 

[Narj]

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.

 

[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.

 

[Narj]

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.

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.

 

[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.

 

[olivier renault]

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.

 

[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.