It's an action game so it will inherently be less scary than say Amnesia. That said I was actually surprised that I was scared during a few parts of the game (mostly earlier in the game). I found the atmosphere to be a little scary and the first time you encountered those super fast mutant dudes I definately remember being oh sh%&!
Dead Space 1 just not scary?
- Thread starter CianHunt
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Dead Space makes most people jump (I rarely jump at points I'm meant to with these kinds of things), but I personally didn't find it scary at all. It's about the same vein of horror as Doom 3. I find myself taunting the enemies and laughing at 'skilled' shots in it, which is not typical of horror.
Amnesia and Silent Hill 3 left me panicked for brief periods though. I think the key problem is that Dead Space is a loud kind of action-horror, while the former are suspense driven where action is rarely a good choice.
My problem is with calling Dead Space an iconic Survival Horror. It's...not Survival Horror. It's as much Survival Horror as Halo after the Flood make an appearance. It's a sci-fi shooter with a Horror theme, that's all. I thought it was a decent game, but it feels so miscategorized to me.
I hear number 2 is less scary from a friend that thought number 1 was scary, so I'd say if you want horror to try another series. Otherwise, if you're enjoying Dead Space regardless, I can't see 2 being a bad investment.
On an unrelated note, I lent my friend Silent Hill 5. Other than getting stuck on the second boss, he's had only positive feedback so far.
EDIT:
Fun story! I had my weapon out and expected to be attacked, so I opened a door and pulled the trigger. Head-shot, dramatic music, monster's dead. Made me laugh.
Amnesia and Silent Hill 3 left me panicked for brief periods though. I think the key problem is that Dead Space is a loud kind of action-horror, while the former are suspense driven where action is rarely a good choice.
My problem is with calling Dead Space an iconic Survival Horror. It's...not Survival Horror. It's as much Survival Horror as Halo after the Flood make an appearance. It's a sci-fi shooter with a Horror theme, that's all. I thought it was a decent game, but it feels so miscategorized to me.
I hear number 2 is less scary from a friend that thought number 1 was scary, so I'd say if you want horror to try another series. Otherwise, if you're enjoying Dead Space regardless, I can't see 2 being a bad investment.
On an unrelated note, I lent my friend Silent Hill 5. Other than getting stuck on the second boss, he's had only positive feedback so far.
EDIT:
Fun story! I had my weapon out and expected to be attacked, so I opened a door and pulled the trigger. Head-shot, dramatic music, monster's dead. Made me laugh.
Dead Space wasn't so much scary as it was exceedingly stressful and startling. I loved the game, loved the atmosphere of the ship. dead space went for more of a HOLYMOTHERFUCKINGSHITGODTHAT THINGHASMYANKLE!?!?! approach, were there are spikes of fear then low points of calm.
pacing needed a lot of work, but can anyone here claim that when the regenerating necromorph first opened a door you didn't shit bricks and panic, or in the engine room level, traversing that huge chasm, I was tensed up the entire time, wondering what the hell was gunna come out of that darkness.
It had its moments....
pacing needed a lot of work, but can anyone here claim that when the regenerating necromorph first opened a door you didn't shit bricks and panic, or in the engine room level, traversing that huge chasm, I was tensed up the entire time, wondering what the hell was gunna come out of that darkness.
It had its moments....
It wasn't really scary after the beginning. There was no real sense of helplessness; you could always trust your pulse rifle to get you out of whatever gory creature you would encounter (well, except that one).
Many times I've been more genuinely scared in Minecraft than I ever were in Dead Space 1
Many times I've been more genuinely scared in Minecraft than I ever were in Dead Space 1
The problem is that Dead Space tries to sell itself as a horror game when it's more of a space-themed third-person-shooter action title with horror elements.
If they simply acknowledged that the game wanted to be action more than horror, I think it would have been more positively received. As it stands, they kept selling it on the "horror" aspect which, in this case boils more down to "the enemies look pretty gross."
The pacing of the game just doesn't fit horror and -again, because it is an action game- if they took too long building up atmosphere and suspense, their target action-based audience would be disappointed.
If they simply acknowledged that the game wanted to be action more than horror, I think it would have been more positively received. As it stands, they kept selling it on the "horror" aspect which, in this case boils more down to "the enemies look pretty gross."
The pacing of the game just doesn't fit horror and -again, because it is an action game- if they took too long building up atmosphere and suspense, their target action-based audience would be disappointed.
Dead Space is not scary. It's gory, bloody and meaty with a lot of dismemberment and disemboweling. And that's where it shines. If you want something scary, try something else. Siren series or Amnesia maybe.
I think the real problem here are the expectations placed upon the game by the gamers. People see Dead Space labeled as Survival Horror, and they think 'oh I'm supposed to be scared.' That's not really what the full definition of 'Horror' is, tho: Horror is "an overwhelming and painful feeling caused by something frightfully shocking, terrifying, or revolting" Can fear play a role? Sure- hence 'terrifying', but to me, Horror is more about being disturbed, unsettled, and even revolted. Sure, you can get startled by the 'Jack-in-the-Box' scares, but the atmosphere is what sold me on the game. They put an insane level of detail into it, but most people don't pay any attention, sadly. Seriously: the audio is freaking amazing (particularly the vacuum scenes). Yes they could've had more moments like when the doctor slit her own throat (which actually made me yell "JESUS FUCK!" the first time I saw that), or the guy was bashing his own head in, but I think they maybe didn't want to overdo that.
Plus to give you an idea of the immense amount of detail they went into that probably few people noticed:
...and if you stop to think about it, the story, while not original, is very well-told. Now, with all the mythology (books, graphic novels, animated movie, other games) they've put out surrounding the Dead Space universe, it's even better...
And in Dead Space 2? It's like the team listened to exactly what most people complained about with the first one: Issac Clarke is no longer a mute protagonist. The 'Jack-In-The-Box' scares are fewer and much further between, the atmosphere is ratcheted up another few notches, and it totally hangs together. I've already played it through twice, and I'm going to go for Hardcore Mode once I can put together about 10 hours and make a serious run at it.
Plus to give you an idea of the immense amount of detail they went into that probably few people noticed:
you can actually decode all the glyphs on the wall if you want to; and bonus-tip: if you save one game from each chapter and list them sequentially, the first letters of the chapter names spell out N-I-C-O-L-E I-S D-E-A-D
...and if you stop to think about it, the story, while not original, is very well-told. Now, with all the mythology (books, graphic novels, animated movie, other games) they've put out surrounding the Dead Space universe, it's even better...
And in Dead Space 2? It's like the team listened to exactly what most people complained about with the first one: Issac Clarke is no longer a mute protagonist. The 'Jack-In-The-Box' scares are fewer and much further between, the atmosphere is ratcheted up another few notches, and it totally hangs together. I've already played it through twice, and I'm going to go for Hardcore Mode once I can put together about 10 hours and make a serious run at it.
On the same exact boat. Never had the fear in me simply because i always had the means to dispatch my enemies (how can i be fearful if i never once felt helpless?). Supposed that the higher difficulty gave you less ammo overall which mean surviving actually becomes more tense and "scary" but i didn't get that on the default normal difficulty. So the game just felt like an action adventure game with a creepy setting. Not to mention i never had the sense i was completely alone when i knew there were at least 2 other survivors from my ship for the vast majority of the game.
Kudos on the games interface tho. Most immersive game i've played in a long while.
Kudos on the games interface tho. Most immersive game i've played in a long while.
I played it at night, with headphones on, and the lights off....
and was only "scared" once because the wall exploded as I was walking past. I was only scared because it was quiet then made a very loud sound. Pretty cheap scare.
The atmosphere was kind of creepy, but after awhile it was like,"Okay there is a vent here I bet a necro- yeah there it is."
and was only "scared" once because the wall exploded as I was walking past. I was only scared because it was quiet then made a very loud sound. Pretty cheap scare.
The atmosphere was kind of creepy, but after awhile it was like,"Okay there is a vent here I bet a necro- yeah there it is."
Dead Space was more of an action game to me than a horror. It had some good jump out moments but it's more shock/surprise than scary. There was one part though that had me panic and that was
Also am I the only person who did not find any of the F.E.A.R games to be scary at all?
With the regenerator necromorph (Hunter I think it was called) and you had to escape from it using your kinisis to open and close doors. If you don't close the door fast enough BLARRG! If the door doesn't open quick enough BLARRG! Oh God! dead end BLARRG!
Dead Space as a series I've never found scary. I still love the series though, there's something about it I find very entertaining, mainly the combat. I can overlook the cliches and the messy storyline.
I played about an hour of it, and I was scared, But that was mainly because the controls sucked. I hate console controls. Plus I'm scared of the dark.
There was seriously no damn pacing at all though. Monster. Boom,Boom. Monster. Boom,Boom. Monster. Boom,Boom.
There was seriously no damn pacing at all though. Monster. Boom,Boom. Monster. Boom,Boom. Monster. Boom,Boom.
That's how I feel about it as well.Lord_Gremlin said:
I wasn't expecting no Silent Hill nor Amnesia in this game because, from what I've seen before playing, it seemed much more action-oriented. No problem there, I was entertained playing it.
But some people seemed to be confusing "scared" with "being startled". Dead Space relies quite a lot on the second. Again, there's nothing inheretly wrong with that, it was their design choice and it didn't detract from the core experience.
Interestingly, Dead Space and Amnesia seem to be on opposite sides of spectrum as far as self-defense ability goes. Even on hard difficulty, Dead Space's protagonist is more than equipped to defend himself. But the Amnesia's one... poor guy.