Is water really THAT scary in our video games?

[DoPo]

And you cannot get it off, so it's a sure death. Well, unless you decide to blow yourself and survive and whatever else is around there (like more bone leeches) doesn't finish you off.]

that sounds.. ahem. please use 'up' when blowing things up with explosives. my mind is infested with innuendos.

But I meant that you had to actually use your dick to remove it. Which, is really uncomfortable, as you can guess.

>.>

<.<

I totally didn't accidental use a really bad wording there.

OK, next time I comment, I should think long and hard before I post it. I don't want to slip into anything sexual like this. That should stop people moaning about it. And if you'll excuse me, my toilet is blocked, so I'll have to go pump the plunger until it flows, then I'll come again.

 

[Syzygy23]

In my case, yeah.

I have a mild phobia of deep water. Basically, if I can't see the bottom, I don't want to be in it. I don't freak out or anything, but it makes me distinctly uncomfortable. After all, there could be anything down there. That sometimes extends to video games (same as how some people don't like playing games with giant spiders in them).

I've said this multiple times before, but I still think that an underwater survival horror game would be fantastic. Drifting through the water to the sound of your own filtered breath, catching glimpses of a great, formless, tentacled mass sliding through the dark water, so large that your feeble light source only illuminates a fraction of its body.

Go on, tell me that wouldn't work.

Preach it, brotha.

This is why I never go innertubing or water skiing. If I can't see the bottom, then how do I know there aren't, like, sharks just waiting to bite my legs off? Or Cthulhu? I don't wanna be dragged under by Cthulhu! Just not worth the risk, man, not worth it!

 

[Gabanuka]

Well this scared me for life as a kid


That fucking Ice level, seriously brah.

But as for water in generally its mainly the whole "Dear God I have no clue whats below me" thing, oceans are so deep that Cthulu could easily be below your boat and you would never know. Yes yours. Specifically.

 

[him over there]

Any game with drowning mechanics isn't so much scary as much as it is panic inducing. There is a huge amount of tension involved and that sort of anxiety leads people to dread water sections. On top of that aspects like being incapable of retaliating against threats, limited vision and of course misdirection are a pain and can create some serious fear.

 

[deathninja]

All but drowned as a kid at the beach, someone tried to drown me at a pool a few years later and T had a pretty traumatic experience IRL whilst playing *that* bit of Endless Ocean, so I'm pretty jittery around water now, games or otherwise.

Weird thing is I can easily do a length of a pool underwater and snorkel like a champ, just as long as I can see 10+ feet.

 

[Adam Jensen_v1legacy]

Depths of the unknown. How is water not scary?

 

[AKDread]

If its done very well, then yeah it can be scary. That's a very hard thing to do though

 

[The Goat Tsar]

Being in murky water is like being in a fog. You can't see enemies coming at you, so you're constantly on edge because anything could jump out at you at any moment.. Except in water, they can come from a lot more directions. Also, in water it's harder to maneuver. In some games you can't use certain weapons underwater either.

Also, underwater enemies tend to move faster. AND they are generally bigger (See: The Kraken)

We've also not fully explored the ocean, so it's easier to imagine a giant evil monster of death living there than on land.

So, in actuality, murky water is much much much worse than fog.

 

[xPixelatedx]

but is water really that off-putting to gamers as a whole? Or am I the only one that cringes in half terror when I see pixelated H2O?

Scariest moment in gaming ever:
Water should be scary to people. Putting aside that the lack of visibility in deep water could be associated with he fog of silent hill, the ocean is full of predators and other dangerous animals. Many of these animals are what we based all our monster designs on, because the things down there are horrifying beyond belief. I would rather be in a regular jungle because you have maneuverability in a jungle, you don't in an ocean. A regular jungle also doesn't have prehistoric horrors from earth's past lurking about. Being at the bottom of the ocean would be like finding yourself in a dark jungle full eldrichian horrors, all while your body was suspended in slow motion. If that's not a nightmare, I don't know what is. This is why so many horror movies took place in an undersea research facility.

 

[SweetLiquidSnake]

Water is terrifying in games, especially 1st person games because you can't see if something is behind you or under you. The crocodiles in RE5 were annoying but not scary since you could see them easily.

But way back when I was playing Jedi Knight 2. There are aquatic monsters called Drugons or something which is like a killer sea snake, and I hated these damn things. One time I had a river in front of me and I needed to get by, so I went to jump in halfway and then swim the rest of the distance. But when I jumped I didn't sink into the water, I was still standing like on land. I looked down only to realize I was standing on one of these things, with it looking up at my snapping at my heels. Not only in game but in real life I jumped outta my chair tucking my legs in in fear that it would bite them off. Scary shit lol.

 

[ResonanceSD]

Can I just ask if you've actually played the 'water' level in Amnesia?
I'm sorry but...fucking hell.

It's used as a device to amplify the invisible. It's extremely clever, in my opinion. It's not the water that's scary, it's the entity which expresses itself in it.

...or something like that haha.

But yeah, 'that' bit in Amnesia was an exceptional piece of work in gaming craftmanship, I feel.
I guess terror is subjective though. So mmh.

...if any of that made sense...I'm not sure.

Water levels in Mario64 --> Giant fucking eel, giant fucking fish which will 1 shot you.

Water level in OoT --> Are you fucking insane?

Water level in Hydrophobia --> Awesomesauce


Edit: Also the zero-g underwater bit in Crysis.

It's the fear of the unknown + being out of your depth (HAHA IM SO FUNNY LOL) + the fact that you have to think in 41250 steradians at once.


Yes I had to go look up how many degrees in a sphere there are and what they were called.

 

[Knight Captain Kerr]

Water can be used for horror.

 

[gmaverick019_v1legacy]

but is water really that off-putting to gamers as a whole? Or am I the only one that cringes in half terror when I see pixelated H2O?

Scariest moment in gaming ever:
Water should be scary to people. Putting aside that the lack of visibility in deep water could be associated with he fog of silent hill, the ocean is full of predators and other dangerous animals. Many of these animals are what we based all our monster designs on, because the things down there are horrifying beyond belief. I would rather be in a regular jungle because you have maneuverability in a jungle, you don't in an ocean. A regular jungle also doesn't have prehistoric horrors from earth's past lurking about. Being at the bottom of the ocean would be like finding yourself in a dark jungle full eldrichian horrors, all while your body was suspended in slow motion. If that's not a nightmare, I don't know what is. This is why so many horror movies took place in an undersea research facility.

the fuck!

whoever designed the first part of that level needs to be shot in the face, from what I saw, you were given no hints AND had sharks on your ass that whole time, if I had attempted that part, I probably would've died a dozen times before figuring some of that shit out, while my breath was quickly depleting.

 

[Exius Xavarus]

In my case, yeah.

I have a mild phobia of deep water. Basically, if I can't see the bottom, I don't want to be in it. I don't freak out or anything, but it makes me distinctly uncomfortable. After all, there could be anything down there. That sometimes extends to video games (same as how some people don't like playing games with giant spiders in them).

I've said this multiple times before, but I still think that an underwater survival horror game would be fantastic. Drifting through the water to the sound of your own filtered breath, catching glimpses of a great, formless, tentacled mass sliding through the dark water, so large that your feeble light source only illuminates a fraction of its body.

Go on, tell me that wouldn't work.

I'm quite a bit more aquaphobic than this, because I won't swim in lakes/ponds or go out in the water on the beach(personal experiences, not pleasant).

I get hesitant to enter water in a game. Especially games like Skyrim where even the cleanest water is so murky you can only see 1 foot in front of you. New Vegas was better about this than Skyrim, but I still don't like murky water.

I agree here, though. Despite my phobia of the depths, an underwater survival horror game would be(if the game is done properly, of course) an instant GotY for me. I'm a bit contradicting with my phobia and underwater areas in games, since underwater games and exploration are my favorite parts of games(I don't get why people hate the Water Temple in OoT, it's my favorite one next to the Spirit Temple). I always get excited to go exploring the depths, despite the fact that I'm constantly afraid a fucking angler fish is going to come out and eat my face off.

[sub]Stupid angler fish and their bigass mouth with those bigass teeth. Fuck those things...[/sub]