Poll: Are Old Horror Games More Scary Than New Horror Games?

[The Great JT]

This really is like trying to compare old horror movies (1920s to 1978) to new ones (1979 to now). Don't get me wrong, there have been some great new ones, but let's face it, the old ones are always going to be better. While there are some great horror villains in today's medium like Jason Voorhees, Freddy Creuger and Michael Meyers, you really can't compare them to horror icons like Dracula, Frankenstein, the Wolf-Man and the like. Oh, and let's not beat around the bush, Night of the Living Dead's zombies > 28 Days Later's zombies.

But that's not the topic at hand. Old horror games (I.E. not on this current generation) are worlds better than new ones. New ones try to startle, old ones fuck with your brain. Silent Hill 2, Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem (oh god, don't make me play it alone in the dark!) and the like won't just send shivers down your spine, they'll case said spine in a block of ice.

 

[Kurokami]

I know I know... Half-life wasn't really supposed to be scary. But I found that I was always scared to turn a corner because I knew a little head-crab would be there. Waiting.

But enough about my tendancy to be easily scared due to being attacked by chipmunks as a child,
the old graphics of old horror games like silent hill 1 always made me feel more alone than todays version of blood splattered walls you prejudice young hipsters run into in today's current scary game. But I never feel as alone with the games today. Even with improved game play(Sometimes), environment, and graphics.

Anyone else feel the same way?

Depends, Japanese games have never been scarier, but that's cause they know how to fuck with your mind and toy with peoples morals. Newer games in general seem to be more gameplay focused though and as such developers focus on making your character feel kickass and often end up repeating the 'scary' bits taking away from them. Resident evil itself has become an action genre, I've never played the previous ones of which i've heard alot about (in terms of horror, and they seemed so from videos i've seen too) but I think the main thing that made them scary were the Camera angles. Also horrible graphics left you to fill in the blanks I suppose, so so long as you could recognize that the thing jumping at you was quickly gaining size you could imagine it wasn't there to play nice. (mind you slow things are also pretty damn scary if persistent and have you cornered, I remember (you may laugh at me for this) in FF8 those mo****ing Tonberrys quickly gaining distance as I frantically (without comprehension of the junctioning system at the time) attack them to no avail.

The scariest thing possible in a game is uncertainty and a sense of isolation, I don't believe it to be so impossible to continue developing the genre when taking that in mind. (I doubt anyone can give a better combination for horror then that, if you feel you can though quote me so I know to respond)

Also excuse me for this thought but when discussing this topic I couldn't help but imagine a system where in they replace all headcrab similarities with random creatures from spore.

 

[MrSnugglesworth]

Fatal Frame is ashamed of this thread.

 

[CastIronWin]

the thing is in most modern horror games your never really alone, you always have someone either physically there with you or some irrtating support character barking at you through a phone or something.

that coupled with the fact that everyone is desensitised to horror nowerdays makes the older titles seem more terrifying (probably helped that we were all about 5 when we first played doom or resident evil)

 

[TheProfessor134]

The older games are better; by far!

 

[Jonci]

I don't think we are really seeing survival horror as a genre in the newest "scary" games. FEAR is not survival horror, because you aren't struggling to survive. It is creepy, good atmosphere, good action. Problem, it is an action game. Lots of bullets and explosions, mostly cause by you to kill the bad guys.

Now the early DOOM was something. Never found it outfight scary, but I would get paranoid hearing a door opening in the distance. And really, a game that gets you paranoid is that makes it become scary.

Fatal Frame had me terrified of every little thing because it make me so paranoid.
Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth had some great fear elements to it, especially the hotel scene.

Sadly there aren't many interesting in making real scary games. Even Fatal Frame 4 was denied an US release because Nintendo didn't think there was a market for in with all the action games being released.

 

[Lord Mountbatten Reborn]

A lot of new games go over the top and miss the point entirly.

I think this basically explains it. They try too hard. In order to be scared you need a minimum of scary things. Once the room is filled with the undead you know they're there and cannot really be scared by a threat you understand and know how to kill.

Atmosphere > Scary creatures.

However, the nostalgia factor can still play a part in this.

 

[Jon Etheridge]

I love the new Resident Evils but God I miss the atmosphere of the first 2 games. My personal Favorite RE game was the remake of RE1 for Gamecube. The newer ones don't have as spooky of an atmosphere IMO. Still good games though.

 

[Hikikomori Ookami]

I know I know... Half-life wasn't really supposed to be scary. But I found that I was always scared to turn a corner because I knew a little head-crab would be there. Waiting.

But enough about my tendancy to be easily scared due to being attacked by chipmunks as a child,
the old graphics of old horror games like silent hill 1 always made me feel more alone than todays version of blood splattered walls you prejudice young hipsters run into in today's current scary game. But I never feel as alone with the games today. Even with improved game play(Sometimes), environment, and graphics.

Anyone else feel the same way?

Chipmunks? They still exist? I don't remember seeing one of those for a long, long time.

Anyway, it seems like the older games were scarier. I don't hear people talking about games they same way as the did the original Resident Evil's. Lights off, sound up, end up having nightmare's after playing.

 

[Spineyguy]

New horror games only use American style horror, with ridiculous amounts of gore and virtually no suspense.That's not saying anything against Americans, it just happens to be that that sort of horror started in America.

Old Horror games take a much more Hitchcockian approach. They focussed on suspense and building tension. That scares me more than just 'HURR DURR, this guy's head exploded and it made me shit myself!'

 

[Joa_Belgium]

The "older" ones were scarier, that's a fact. If you don't believe me, try Alien Vs. Predator 2. The only game ever that forced me to pause in a mission because I got such a scare.

 

[Slayah85]

Older games for sure! Silent hill FTW!

 

[Mykonos]

HAha! Oh lord. Dino Crisis 3. Dinosaurs in space!

 

[ae86gamer]

I'd have to go with older games. Fatal Frame games still scare me silly.

 

[Slayah85]

Oh i allmost forgot!!! Clive barkers: UNDYING! SCARED THE CRAP OUT OF ME!

 

[Sun Flash]

my reckoning is that old games had to create a better atmosphere to compensate for graphic limitations. Games today don't have to bother with that and can rely on big noises and shock tactics. Resident Evil series, for example, the first ones were genuinely horror titles, wheras Resi 4 & 5 were more SMASHOPENTHEDOORWTFISGOINGQUICKTIMEEVENTSZOMG!!!!11! (not saying thier bad games, just not scary)

saying that, Project Zero still scares me shitless.

 

[grell]

older one's, the first resident evil scared the shit outta me...

 

[Akai Shizuku]

I would say old games are scarier than new titles. Resident Evil 1 quite literally has me shaking as I play.

 

[David_G]

Older games. I mean, I was playing RE4, which, by the way is a great game, but it felt more like I was playing an action-adventure game, like Legend of Zelda, or something, than horror. So, yeah, there are some scary games still coming out now and then, but the older games, were focusing more on the horror, than on the action.