Do you prefer horror games that are atmospheric (System Shock 2, Silent Hill 2, Amnesia, etc), or horror games that has jump scares(Freddy's, Slender man, etc)
Poll: Horror games: Atmospheric vs jump scare?
- Thread starter FakeSympathy
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I see them as catering to two different audiences really.
You have typical overdone jump scares that can make anyone's adrenalin start gushing (voluntarily or not).
Not that different from getting your adrenaline from running or racing games or time-based challenges.
Not my cup of tea.
Then there is the atmosphere one. True dread, with lots of feeling.
I don't really play either type, but I can never forget the haunted house in VtMB for example.
I prefer the long lasting and memorable one, if I had to chose.
You have typical overdone jump scares that can make anyone's adrenalin start gushing (voluntarily or not).
Not that different from getting your adrenaline from running or racing games or time-based challenges.
Not my cup of tea.
Then there is the atmosphere one. True dread, with lots of feeling.
I don't really play either type, but I can never forget the haunted house in VtMB for example.
I prefer the long lasting and memorable one, if I had to chose.
A game with a creepy, lonely, and uneasy atmosphere is infinitely more memorable than a game which makes you jump from time to time.
Jump scares cannot work without an effective atmosphere behind them. Slender: The Eight Pages and Five Nights at Freddy's both craft a simplistic but utterly brilliant atmosphere so as to make the jump scare just an add-on. In fact, both of them only use them for your deaths with the exceptions of when you glimpse the enemy but haven't died yet.
Otherwise jump scares are just a bit of a startle, but immediately forgotten.
Otherwise jump scares are just a bit of a startle, but immediately forgotten.
Well, neither if I have to choose one or the other. Jumpscares become a dime a dozen, and pure atmosphere just stops being you wandering around an unsettling house and becomes just you wandering around a house that apparently hasn't been updated to use electricity despite it being built in the ten years before the modern day.
Both. Atmosphere works to build tension. Jump scares work to release it. If the atmosphere never builds tension or tension is released too often, then the jump scare isn't effective. If the jump scares don't release it, then the atmosphere's tension becomes tiring. So I'm not really sure there is an either/or situation with these two. Both are effective, and when played off of each other, they are both better for the other.
For me, atmosphere is the true master piece. Getting inside your head, making you freak yourself out without doing anything besides adding radio static, or a little girl's laugh, or the flicker of lights. That is hard to do, but when done correctly, then the jump scare is just icing on a beautiful cake.
Jump scares are good. They have their place. The problem is though, they can be predicted, and they don't change in games that much. Once you know a monster pops out of a certain closet, it's always going to pop out of that closet. Which is why you need to suck the player in with atmosphere. Make them forget that they're playing a game. Make them panic from just the sound of their home creaking, and then that predictable jump scare takes on a whole new level of controller-flinging-panic.
Jump scares are good. They have their place. The problem is though, they can be predicted, and they don't change in games that much. Once you know a monster pops out of a certain closet, it's always going to pop out of that closet. Which is why you need to suck the player in with atmosphere. Make them forget that they're playing a game. Make them panic from just the sound of their home creaking, and then that predictable jump scare takes on a whole new level of controller-flinging-panic.
Both? Mostly rely on atmosphere with the occasional jump-scare so you don't get too use to them. Too many jump scares and it just gets predictable. "Oh it's a vent, something going to pop out of that when I walk past". On the flips side, with atmosphere if nothing ever actually happens that stops working as well.
For me atmosphere is a bit more effective, not that jump scare don't work but they only work for a second. Visuals tend not to get to me much but sound dose. Being able to hear but not see something is terrifying to me.
For me atmosphere is a bit more effective, not that jump scare don't work but they only work for a second. Visuals tend not to get to me much but sound dose. Being able to hear but not see something is terrifying to me.
That thing creeps me out already and I'm just looking at a picture. Can it please stop pointing at me.Remus said:Why not a bit of both? take Silent Hill 4. While not the best in the series, it still oozed atmosphere and I will fully admit to peeing a little every time one of these came stomping around the corner -
Atmosphere.
Jump scares are not frightening, not truly, just elicit a forced response. I can't remember any real good jump scares from anything, but I remember a scary fucking thing in Silent Hill 2 slithering out from under a car and taking off in the creepiest fucking town in my life.
Was that a jump scare? Sure, it could have been. But the setting is what makes it really effective, as well as the pained unnatural aesthetic of most enemies.
Jump scares are not frightening, not truly, just elicit a forced response. I can't remember any real good jump scares from anything, but I remember a scary fucking thing in Silent Hill 2 slithering out from under a car and taking off in the creepiest fucking town in my life.
Was that a jump scare? Sure, it could have been. But the setting is what makes it really effective, as well as the pained unnatural aesthetic of most enemies.
You need both to achieve the most effective horror.
You need a properly creepy atmosphere to build tension and suspense, to set a tone of unease, and you need a follow-up jump scare to release that tension.
Not sure why you'd want one over the other. The best horror utilizes both.
:/
You need a properly creepy atmosphere to build tension and suspense, to set a tone of unease, and you need a follow-up jump scare to release that tension.
Not sure why you'd want one over the other. The best horror utilizes both.
:/
I like my horror like I like my fetishes: completely unexpected, really getting underneath my skin, and making me beg for more of it to come all over my mouth... Okay, maybe that last one doesn't always happen, but if the first two do their job effectively, I'm satisfied until the next pending round in the horror game genre...
Other than that, I'm fine with the atmosphere setting up the jump scares and not the other way around...
Other than that, I'm fine with the atmosphere setting up the jump scares and not the other way around...
I'd say both have their advantages and disadvantages.
Atmospheric is more fun when your playing by yourself in a dark room. No distractions, no outside noise, no nothing. Just you and the game. Honestly I prefer these as they usually have better stories/characters and gameplay than jump scares.
Jump scares are good with groups of people or if you're a YouTuber. They are a good way to get a quick scare, but usually the gameplay sucks and the story is shite. Not to mention they can be downright deafening at times[footnote]Go watch Markiplier's Power Drill Massacre. Its idea of a jump scare is flashing lights and a downright ear-shattering noise.[/footnote].
Atmospheric is more fun when your playing by yourself in a dark room. No distractions, no outside noise, no nothing. Just you and the game. Honestly I prefer these as they usually have better stories/characters and gameplay than jump scares.
Jump scares are good with groups of people or if you're a YouTuber. They are a good way to get a quick scare, but usually the gameplay sucks and the story is shite. Not to mention they can be downright deafening at times[footnote]Go watch Markiplier's Power Drill Massacre. Its idea of a jump scare is flashing lights and a downright ear-shattering noise.[/footnote].
Much like comedy, the essence of the jump scare is timing. You can do it easy or you can do it right.
Jump scares have a place in horror. The problem is not with jump scares themselves, but their over-use. Good horror follows a basic formula in the emotions it tries to induce in the player/viewer/reader: Tension, Dread, Terror, and Catharsis.
First, you want your audience to feel tense and uneasy... not outright afraid, but a little on edge. Then you want to ratchet the sensation up to Dread. You want them to know that something bad is about to happen, but you don't want it to happen right away. You want to keep them on the edge of their seats, wondering when it will happen and what exactly it will be. Then when the bad thing happens, you move to Terror, the visceral feeling of total panic. This is where jump scares can come in handy. After the peak of Terror, however, you need a trough - Catharsis - to let the audience calm down and get their bearings again. Then, you just repeat the cycle: build tension back up, give the audience something to dread, terrify them by making it happen, and then allow them to cool off with catharsis.
A game that relies too much on jump scares is trying too hard to stay at the peak of Terror, without understanding why the peak is important. Further, while jump scares are a quick and simple way to induce Terror in your audience, their are other, arguably more effective ways to do so as well (being chased by or hiding from the monster/bad guy comes to mind).
Then at the other end of the spectrum, you have games that rely TOO much on atmosphere, where it's all tension and creepiness, but never any payoff... and that atmosphere will be completely destroyed the moment the player realizes nothing bad is ever actually going to happen.
So, in short, the humble Jump Scare shouldn't be written off entirely, but it should be used sparingly and only when appropriate.
First, you want your audience to feel tense and uneasy... not outright afraid, but a little on edge. Then you want to ratchet the sensation up to Dread. You want them to know that something bad is about to happen, but you don't want it to happen right away. You want to keep them on the edge of their seats, wondering when it will happen and what exactly it will be. Then when the bad thing happens, you move to Terror, the visceral feeling of total panic. This is where jump scares can come in handy. After the peak of Terror, however, you need a trough - Catharsis - to let the audience calm down and get their bearings again. Then, you just repeat the cycle: build tension back up, give the audience something to dread, terrify them by making it happen, and then allow them to cool off with catharsis.
A game that relies too much on jump scares is trying too hard to stay at the peak of Terror, without understanding why the peak is important. Further, while jump scares are a quick and simple way to induce Terror in your audience, their are other, arguably more effective ways to do so as well (being chased by or hiding from the monster/bad guy comes to mind).
Then at the other end of the spectrum, you have games that rely TOO much on atmosphere, where it's all tension and creepiness, but never any payoff... and that atmosphere will be completely destroyed the moment the player realizes nothing bad is ever actually going to happen.
So, in short, the humble Jump Scare shouldn't be written off entirely, but it should be used sparingly and only when appropriate.
Those games cater to two different audiences, but for the record, I prefer games that are thick with atmosphere. The occasional jumpscare is okay as long as the game is not over reliant on them as jumpscares don't actually scare, they only startle (and that can be used to great effect within an atmospheric game).
The thing is, I love both, but only jumpscares when combined with atmosphere. That's why Five Nights was so good, is that despite the fact it was literally a few frame pic combined with a scream, the whole mystery of "WTF IS GOING ON, WHAT IS HAPPEN, HOW DO I STOP THIS?!" makes everything more tense.
But atmosphere is where it is at. To put it in perspective, a good atmosphere can make any game great, and even scare your pants off if it's not a horror game. Sir, You are Being Hunted, for example, is great at this. You watch the wildlife, the land, the houses, everything, waiting, tense to know that those robots hunting you could be anywhere.
When the first shot fires off, you will shit yourself in panic. And that game isn't even a horror game. A+ for atmosphere, but jumpscares are fine in moderation.
Conclusion? Jumpscares are hard drugs.
Now back to playing Sir, You are Being Hunted.
But atmosphere is where it is at. To put it in perspective, a good atmosphere can make any game great, and even scare your pants off if it's not a horror game. Sir, You are Being Hunted, for example, is great at this. You watch the wildlife, the land, the houses, everything, waiting, tense to know that those robots hunting you could be anywhere.
When the first shot fires off, you will shit yourself in panic. And that game isn't even a horror game. A+ for atmosphere, but jumpscares are fine in moderation.
Conclusion? Jumpscares are hard drugs.
Now back to playing Sir, You are Being Hunted.
