How do You Define "Scary"?
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Jump scares are startling but not exactly scary. I don't have knightmares about jump scares.
In horror movies I love the ones that rely on the disparity between what the audience knows and what the characters know to build tension. For instance, if the audience knows that something went into a room and the characters are about to enter said room. Bonus points if the room is not referenced at all between the monster/killer/thing entering the room and the characters entering.
In video games the I love when you see something that you know you can kill but just don't have the requisite skills for such as Deathclaws in Fallout 3 & New Vegas. Attempting to sneak north in New vegas right after starting was honestly the most frightened I have been since Amnesia. I can 'enjoy' something where you have no combat skills but I always like having a chance.
In horror movies I love the ones that rely on the disparity between what the audience knows and what the characters know to build tension. For instance, if the audience knows that something went into a room and the characters are about to enter said room. Bonus points if the room is not referenced at all between the monster/killer/thing entering the room and the characters entering.
In video games the I love when you see something that you know you can kill but just don't have the requisite skills for such as Deathclaws in Fallout 3 & New Vegas. Attempting to sneak north in New vegas right after starting was honestly the most frightened I have been since Amnesia. I can 'enjoy' something where you have no combat skills but I always like having a chance.
Vulnerability is one element. Stick a burly space marine in a situation with hordes of aliens piling at him and you get fun. Stick an ordinary dude with no guns in the same situation and it's brown trousers time.
Another element is the unknown. Horror games work best when they make your imagination fill in the blanks. Want to make a scary monster? Don't let us see it.
You can let us see the aftermath of what happens when that creature is around. Wander into a room of disembowelled corpses and you spend the next portion of the game sat there thinking what in the name of God did that? Ohshitohshitohshit- or you can let us see glimpses or hear noises of breathing or growling or whatever. I think this is why the invisible water demons in Amnesia were the scariest enemy; you don't even realise the bastards are there until you hear the little telltale splashing sounds.
And then, finally, tension. Let the player know that something horrible is around, but never exactly where it is or when it's going to appear. That way they're expecting it around every corner, or behind them and they end up getting all paranoid and creeped out at every single thing that happens.
Stealth sections are a great way to build tension if you have to show off your lovely high poly enemy models. The feeling that making the slightest mistake will cause everything around you to come and munch your legs is scary. Also, sections where you have no choice but to run for your life. You want to turn and look, but if you do, omnomnom, dead.
Oh, and the uncanny valley. Things that look like mutilated or deformed humans are terrifying. As are things that look so utterly alien that you can't relate to them at all- but those are harder to get right.
Another element is the unknown. Horror games work best when they make your imagination fill in the blanks. Want to make a scary monster? Don't let us see it.
You can let us see the aftermath of what happens when that creature is around. Wander into a room of disembowelled corpses and you spend the next portion of the game sat there thinking what in the name of God did that? Ohshitohshitohshit- or you can let us see glimpses or hear noises of breathing or growling or whatever. I think this is why the invisible water demons in Amnesia were the scariest enemy; you don't even realise the bastards are there until you hear the little telltale splashing sounds.
And then, finally, tension. Let the player know that something horrible is around, but never exactly where it is or when it's going to appear. That way they're expecting it around every corner, or behind them and they end up getting all paranoid and creeped out at every single thing that happens.
Stealth sections are a great way to build tension if you have to show off your lovely high poly enemy models. The feeling that making the slightest mistake will cause everything around you to come and munch your legs is scary. Also, sections where you have no choice but to run for your life. You want to turn and look, but if you do, omnomnom, dead.
Oh, and the uncanny valley. Things that look like mutilated or deformed humans are terrifying. As are things that look so utterly alien that you can't relate to them at all- but those are harder to get right.
SLENDER now that is what defines scary seriously go watch playthroughs of it and you will be shitting your pants every minute.
Very unpredictable and powerful enemies combined with limited vision, creepy atmosphere, and a general lack of any sense of control over a situation.
What DayZ does
That's the only game after silent hill that ever really gave some scary moments.
And the fun thing is, DayZ never really aims to be that scary it just happens when you play sometimes (For example sneaking through a city to find food only to find a zombie spawn right behind you(not noticing you ) just when you crawl away safely with your spoils.
That's the only game after silent hill that ever really gave some scary moments.
And the fun thing is, DayZ never really aims to be that scary it just happens when you play sometimes (For example sneaking through a city to find food only to find a zombie spawn right behind you(not noticing you ) just when you crawl away safely with your spoils.
See, your human argument there is one I'd have to argue with. You list off examples that are CLOSE to human but not quite. It's like how Jason Vorhees and Michael Meyers are scary (in the originals) because they appear human but they never speak or even so much as make a noise. They have a single-minded goal: Make them dead. We don't know why, and that lack of reason and little aspects of what we usually associate with humanity keeps us frightened of them.Aphantas said:
A great example of a game that did scary right was Fatal Frame. You enter a room and the music gives you the impression that something is not right. The rooms are always not well lit and the music dials up the tension. Then you bring your camera up and look through the viewfinder(which is the only way of seeing and combating the baddies)only to not find anything in the room. That's right some times the music just dials the tension up a bit for no reason. Then you walk into the next room and raise the camera peer through the viewfinder only to see a ghoul one foot in front of you face about to do terrible things to you.
Play this game at night when you are alone in your house with the lights off and no other music or background noise and I bet you turn it off before you finish it. That game was frightening.
Play this game at night when you are alone in your house with the lights off and no other music or background noise and I bet you turn it off before you finish it. That game was frightening.
Taking about games (defining scary would take me way too long): Overall, I'd say something like Amnesia works great. But I don't like that. I mean, I don't like horror movies nor horror games. Getting scared is something I don't get much enjoyment nor interesting experiences from. I contemplate such things naturally. It's a personality thing: I do not see nightmares. Scary bits work great when they're well implemented to the whole context; like Shutter Island, Black Swan and so on, in movies that is. I've gotten my most jump-scary experiences from games like Counter-Strike: Source, which I basically have a decade of experience (Counter-Strikes since 1.3 at least) from; when, with a huge bag of experience, I assume spots and places where no-one can be, and suddenly there is.
The best kind of scares come from being pulled into helplessness unknowingly over a long period of time, like it gets gradually more scary but you don't realise until it is too late, Slender does this very well, just looking around nervously seeing if anything is coming until after a while the static creeps in and you start running like hell.
Jump scares suck, they are the worst way of trying to scare people because they have no weight behind them.
Jump scares suck, they are the worst way of trying to scare people because they have no weight behind them.
I would agree that feeling helpless and weak are important in scaring you a lot of the time.
You want to know what non horror game can scare me? Minecraft.
If im some dark cave with no torches or weapons then it can be scary as hell, you can hardly see anything and since the caves are randomly generated you never know if your about to run into a dead end or mor monsters or something. Let's say you have a creeper chasing you and your on low health too so if it catches you then your dead. That can actully scare me more than Dead space 2.
Another game that did this well was FEAR. I wasn't scared most of the time because im this heavily armed soldier badass who just took out like 30 guys with dual pistols, I am awesome. Yet some of those sections with Alma were kinda creey at the start because I know that despite my epic badassness and dual pistols, I can do nothing to her.
I have only recently gotten into the horror genre but im enjoying some aspects of it quite a lot.
You want to know what non horror game can scare me? Minecraft.
If im some dark cave with no torches or weapons then it can be scary as hell, you can hardly see anything and since the caves are randomly generated you never know if your about to run into a dead end or mor monsters or something. Let's say you have a creeper chasing you and your on low health too so if it catches you then your dead. That can actully scare me more than Dead space 2.
Another game that did this well was FEAR. I wasn't scared most of the time because im this heavily armed soldier badass who just took out like 30 guys with dual pistols, I am awesome. Yet some of those sections with Alma were kinda creey at the start because I know that despite my epic badassness and dual pistols, I can do nothing to her.
She never actully does anything to you. Alma never actully does anything to harm you for the most part in the first game, she occasionally spawns these ghost things you need to shoot but other than that she does nothing, yet she scared the hell out of me most of the time.
I have only recently gotten into the horror genre but im enjoying some aspects of it quite a lot.
im a big chicken with games. huge monsters are scary as hell to me, but its the shadow's and feeling that there somthing in the room with you, watching. thats the most terrifying thing. also being chased, i feel uncomfortably scared when im being chased in a game.
Condemned 1/2 and Amnesia are impossible for me to play XD
Condemned 1/2 and Amnesia are impossible for me to play XD
I don't play a lot of survival horror games. there was one on the Sega Saturn that hit all the right notes. I cannot remember it's name but it was set on a spaceship with aliens that could not be seen only heard with a special device that gave clues on which direction and distance. You were not helpless but killing the things was hard as you were relying on sound clues alone to help you. Creepy as fuck. When you died you were given a fairly visceral death scene.
More recently this [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pt871DyKQbQ]. No combat, little real risk, still it's considered by some to be the creepiest and scary moments in gaming simply because of the threat of violence and no way to fight back.
More recently this [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pt871DyKQbQ]. No combat, little real risk, still it's considered by some to be the creepiest and scary moments in gaming simply because of the threat of violence and no way to fight back.
Most probably masturbating the first time and getting aids...
J/k
Serious:
I think a lot of games these days fail in doing that, kinda like movies. A bit like 'the Grudge' which tries far too hard to scare people, and should've been put down YEARS ago before it was a whole new racial-series "Black ghost" & "White Ghost".
Though, (game-wise) I believe there's a game series that basically is 'The Grudge', which is called FEAR. But unless you have a phobia of the dark or shit-scared of quick time events (To which, if you are scared of Quick-time events, play Battle Field 3. That has so many, I actually put the game down before completing it) you have no real problem.
Though, I played the game Amnesia and that wasn't so bad... Apart from I felt like I was in some kind of childish-nightmare where I was hiding from the boogy-man in the cupboard, until it went away. NOT that I played the game for too long. Five minutes later I was on my way to Starbucks to sit in a Cafe and pretend to be deep, just to see if anyone really did care.
Most games, I've found, aren't really that scary. It's a damn-shame that they're not; just very jumpy. At least games like Silent Hill (No, I've had a fan-boy-ism for SH before I found Yahtzee, so PEE OFF o.e) were actually disturbing and creepy enough to scare you. Or more so, while tucked up in my own empty-bedroom, in the dark, whilst playing the game. Then again, I'm not hard to scare. I just look again and go "Oh... It was just... A fucking snail... Right."
I mean, in the reality we live in, I'm surprised anything is scary...
Back onto movies, the only real movie that's scared me recently was Woman in Black. Whom my partner was shit scared and kept hugging me and holding my arm, which made me more terrified because I thought my arm was around to be pull from the rest of my limbs!
J/k
Serious:
I think a lot of games these days fail in doing that, kinda like movies. A bit like 'the Grudge' which tries far too hard to scare people, and should've been put down YEARS ago before it was a whole new racial-series "Black ghost" & "White Ghost".
Though, (game-wise) I believe there's a game series that basically is 'The Grudge', which is called FEAR. But unless you have a phobia of the dark or shit-scared of quick time events (To which, if you are scared of Quick-time events, play Battle Field 3. That has so many, I actually put the game down before completing it) you have no real problem.
Though, I played the game Amnesia and that wasn't so bad... Apart from I felt like I was in some kind of childish-nightmare where I was hiding from the boogy-man in the cupboard, until it went away. NOT that I played the game for too long. Five minutes later I was on my way to Starbucks to sit in a Cafe and pretend to be deep, just to see if anyone really did care.
Most games, I've found, aren't really that scary. It's a damn-shame that they're not; just very jumpy. At least games like Silent Hill (No, I've had a fan-boy-ism for SH before I found Yahtzee, so PEE OFF o.e) were actually disturbing and creepy enough to scare you. Or more so, while tucked up in my own empty-bedroom, in the dark, whilst playing the game. Then again, I'm not hard to scare. I just look again and go "Oh... It was just... A fucking snail... Right."
I mean, in the reality we live in, I'm surprised anything is scary...
Back onto movies, the only real movie that's scared me recently was Woman in Black. Whom my partner was shit scared and kept hugging me and holding my arm, which made me more terrified because I thought my arm was around to be pull from the rest of my limbs!