What do you Find More Threatening/Scary?

[TheProfessor234]

So, with the reveal of The Evil Within, after hearing about it a long time back now, I was curious that it was going to incorporate action elements into it. Sure, it's headed by the father of Resident Evil but he said things like, 'Make horror how it's supposed to be,' and, 'Put life back into the genera.' Sorry for the bad paraphrasing but I can't find the article. Though after the reveal, I find it interesting to see that you play as a either a police officer or detective, with gun in hand, of course we don't know how effective it will be.

Now, if you take a look at Amnesia and Penumbra, both great horror games, they have zero action to them last I knew. You can hardly fight anything at all. Or if you can, it's really difficult if not impossible. Some people really enjoy that fact because it really makes you dread any encounter you may face. I would think someone who wants to create a master piece of survival horror would take that to mind.

Now, what I was thinking is, what if there was a horror game where you could fight off some of the ermines but there would be those which are un-killable or they become just enraged when you attack them, thus rendering your normal skills useless. That could be seen as scary, right? So here's my question, what would be more scary / threatening to you? Not being able to defend yourself at all or having some slight methods that might be effective but the occasional part where you can't defend yourself.

An easier way to look at it might be, You can't defend yourself at all or You can fight but you have a slim chance to win.

 

[Tom_green_day]

I prefer having a weapon with barely any use for it. It's like a false shield, and when you have occasion to use it you are suddenly left vunerable. If you have no weapon you know that in any encounter you won't be armed, so you're prepared for it.

 

[sethisjimmy]

I guess I prefer the classic Silent Hill method of horror. Wherein, you can defend yourself, but not very well, and there's huge incentive and sometimes necessity to run away. Typically the game plays with the amount of defense you have at different times. Like how you are unable to damage Pyramid Head whatsoever, and are forced to avoid him for most of Silent Hill 2. And the part of the Lakeview Hotel in which you have to give up your weapons in order to get an elevator to work, and are left defenseless for that portion of the level.

Although I won't put the series on too high a pedestal. I'm not a huge fan of the way the weapons get more and more powerful over time. Like how you start with a plank of wood and pistol and end with shotguns, machine guns, rifles, etc. The protagonist goes somewhat from the "everyman" barely able to handle a weapon to a walking armory.

I personally think developers sometimes focus way too heavily on how the combat system works in horror games. I think if Silent Hill had a lack of combat similar to Amnesia or Penumbra it could easily be just as good, because the focus in that type of game isn't the combat, it's the atmosphere, level design, monster design and story. Combat should be a part of the process, but it shouldn't be the first and main thing to focus on in a horror game. That kind of assumes that the best way to get scares is through monster confrontation, and the bulk of the gameplay should be fighting monsters, whereas scares can often come from other places, like sound design, storytelling, level design, etc.

Disclaimer: This post was all over the place and I really have no idea how horror should be done other than my personal experiences.

 

[krazykidd]

Are we talking horror or survival horror ? There is a difference .

Deadspace is (action?)horror .
Resident evil 1-4 is survival horror .

Horror has scary ( creepy )elements but you have all you need to combat the enemy .
Survival horror has scary/creepy elements , but you have limited resources to keep yourself alive .

I prefer the latter . Give me a gun , and not enough bullets to kill every enemy , not enough healing items to heal after every encounter . Make me have a flashlight and limited batteries . Give me save points ( none of that autosave shit ). Make me dread every encounter , wonder if i should use my items or save them , make me feel like the odds are against me . THAT'S how i like my horror games , with some survival .

 

[thesilentman]

The feeling of fighting implies that I have some control over the situation. The lack of fighting makes me want to shit bricks. It's probably the reason that I never really found anything in fiction scary as I could always find loopholes that make it less scary by way of "hey, I can kill 'em".

In Amnesia though, I truly felt horrified as I can feel my helplessness. I can't get back up and attack the monsters because I cannot. That's the type of horror that I want, and I'll be glad to get it in the near future.

 

[Antishadow68]

I fear the unknown- like things popping out of walls and coming up behind me. Witch is why I hate draudgers in skyrim. Scared the living shit out of me first time I went to get the dragon stone.

 

[Easton Dark]

Penumbra: Overture had that sweet pick-axe which you used to bash wolf skulls in.

Dead Space had the regenerating monster guy who you couldn't kill, and I really hated fighting him. It's also scary to be fighting Mr. Salvador in RE4 when you have no shotgun ammo in the beginning.

Amnesia was just annoying, "run hide"..."run", give me a chance.

 

[PoolCleaningRobot]

I fear the unknown- like things popping out of walls and coming up behind me. Witch is why I hate draudgers in skyrim. Scared the living shit out of me first time I went to get the dragon stone.

I'd say this mainly because sometimes it doesn't really matter what kind of character you are. The first Fear game was pretty scary and nerve racking. What was your character? A super soldier. What was the main scary thing? A little girl. The threat doesn't need to be super realistic to scare you. That's the main point. Walking through a forest in the dark is scary. Having a gun won't change that if you don't even know what you're afraid of

 

[WouldYouKindly]

Make death easy and that's all the fear you need create, regardless of how well the target can defend themselves. Dark Souls is one of the games that caused me the most fear, especially on the first playthough before I knew what happened where and how to handle the enemies. There is nothing that inspires so much tension as being on your last bit of health with no Estus left.

Few games put the player and the mook AI on a similar level where they both can be killed in just a few shots. This strikes a perfect balance between fear and power. You have the power to make it out of almost any situation, but one screw up can take it all away.

 

[PinkiePyro]

I fear a lot of stuff

but what I want to bring up is you can cram your game full of scary but if its not set up well it wont take

lets look at a few games that are scary or "horror" gene

dead space although a good game stumbles quite a lot on the atmosphere part at times it gets it right but at other times it eather wreaks the pace by throwing too much at once not to mention ammo is pretty easy to come by you dont really feel like you are in danger enough

amnesia is a example of good pacing and atmosphere it has scary momants but it breaks them up as well you are made to feel helpless..

 

[Dirty Hipsters]

I prefer having the option to fight rather than not having the option.

See, the most frightening parts of horror games are when you choose to confront an enemy that you don't actually have the resources to fight. Running out of bullets, or having your weapon break, or not having enough health for the fight is the most tense thing in horror games. Starting the fight and then having to run away to find more ammo and health, and being pursued is scarier than knowing you can't fight any enemies and just waiting them out like you normally try to in Amnesia or Penumbra.

So allow the player a way to defend themselves, and make it a decent way, but make sure to also make defending yourself difficult.

 

[CriticalMiss]

I think it is scarier to give someone a weapon, which they find 'comforting', but have it turn out to be totally useless against a real threat. It's like giving them hope that they will survive then laughing maniacally when it doesn't phase your demon-zombie-crab-ghost-robots the slightest bit. It's also better to have a small number of difficult enemies that you don't want to face rather than having countless disposable mobs thrown at you, they seem like more of an inconvenience after a while rather than something to be afraid of. It's sort of what makes The Terminator a bit scary, it's one cyborg and you can fight back. But it's better than you. It will keep coming for you. If there were hundreds of them coming after you but you could defeat them with a toaster then it's not really that bad.

In conclusion, toasters are good weapons against terminators. Skynet says so and I trust Skynet. So should you.

 

[Soundwave]

Games like silent hill were especially frightening to me, because regardless of what you did, the problem was still there, and the best you could hope for was to get out or save someone you cared about. It was still scary even after I got the hang of the combat, and even with the best weapons in the game because of that. Immediate physical danger is an easy scare, but real fear comes from impotence.

 

[Dirty Hipsters]

I think it is scarier to give someone a weapon, which they find 'comforting', but have it turn out to be totally useless against a real threat. It's like giving them hope that they will survive then laughing maniacally when it doesn't phase your demon-zombie-crab-ghost-robots the slightest bit. It's also better to have a small number of difficult enemies that you don't want to face rather than having countless disposable mobs thrown at you, they seem like more of an inconvenience after a while rather than something to be afraid of. It's sort of what makes The Terminator a bit scary, it's one cyborg and you can fight back. But it's better than you. It will keep coming for you. If there were hundreds of them coming after you but you could defeat them with a toaster then it's not really that bad.

In conclusion, toasters are good weapons against terminators. Skynet says so and I trust Skynet. So should you.

You're right, toasters probably are pretty good weapons against terminators.

Spoiler

Toaster:

 

[cdemares]

I wanna see a horror game that lets you shoot through a level of enemies, and then ammo pick-ups. Just. Don't. Exist.
You can shove and use a knife or something, and hold your guns uselessly. But ammo? It has to be in the next room, you say, it just has to be. But it isn't. And save-points? Same thing. You get a few at first, then they stop happening. The game autosaves if you quit, but otherwise it's perma-death. You'll be terrified, alright.

Also, CriticalMiss is right, Terminator is pure terror. One unstoppable enemy that you can only slow down. Nobody believes you. It can mimic voices. Maybe it's the T-1000 and can look like allies. Oh, man. Now you can have action AND horror.

 

[The_Blue_Rider]

Im a huge pussy so a lot of things in horror games scare me, but I think having a lack of enemies with a real build up to any encounter would be scariest. Also I would like controls that dont suck ass.

Seriously, I tried Siren Blood Curse at a friends house and I was appalled by the shitty controls

 

[LAGG]

Real in-game threat! Scripted events and fake threat that goes out of it's way to not kill the player (looking at you Amnesia) makes everything boring for me. Scripted events, monster closets, auto-locking doors (Dead Space) are all boring and "gamey".

Having guns and having low ammo or the guns not being as good as expected against the foes (or just making noise and bringing so many more enemies) is perfect. Lack of guns at all just make the situation simple to get used to. When you have the guns but don't have ammo everything is scarier than just not having a gun at all, it makes you feel as if you were supposed to have ammo.

You also need constrast, that's something firearms provide. Having guns and not having ammo makes you feel the difference of when you have ammo. But games that takes your weapons away are just forecasting that everything will be balanced for not having guns for a while. Things must feel natural and real. Less scripted sequences and more actual game.

Horror games based on melee only make yopu lose respect for the enemies. If you can kill it with anything less than a firearm, there's nothing to be afraid of.

Some of my general thoughts on the subject can be found here:
http://www.gamasutra.com/blogs/LuisGuimaraes/20121030/180414/Survival_Horror_Then_and_Now.php

 

[SlaveNumber23]

Penumbra: Overture had that sweet pick-axe which you used to bash wolf skulls in.

Yeah but when you tried to use it against those spiders.... god those spiders were terrifying. I don't even have arachnophobia either.

 

[Freddy]

The thing I fear most in video games is being chased by something. That really gives me the creeps, I HATED Nemesis in RE3 and Pyramide Head in Silent Hill 2. Sometimes I just couldn't take it and even had to switch off the console...