What "gets" you in a horror game?

[Doclector]

I was playing silent hill 2 today, and I came to realise one of the things that disturbs me in horror games: the inhabitants of the place affected by some sort of horrifying presence appearing largely ignorant to said occurrences. Some of the inhabitants of silent hill exhibit this trait throughout the games, as do the citizens of bright falls in Alan wake, seemingly largely unaware of the dark presence lurking within the town. The most I ever saw of any widespread recognition of odd occurrences were the "missing" posters around town, presumably looking for those who were "taken". It is also shown in "deadly premonition. I think it disturbs me because it leads you to question the reality of the characters situation and the other characters he/she meets. Is sh2's James Sunderland really combating unspeakable creatures, or does Laura not seem to recognise their prescence because they're not really there? Or maybe Laura is the one who doesn't truly exist?

Anyway, what gets you scared/disturbed in horror games? Mine include the one I just said about, the sheer number of enemies, and of course, spiders.

 

[Skorpyo]

Atmosphere. If I walk around with a big "Kill-o-matic" rifle out in front of me while the lights flicker a little, I don't give two shits.

If I'm wandering around with no ammo, a limited amount of light, and random nonsense keeps happening around me, I feel about as stable as a saltine cracker.

 

[MindBullets]

Tension. The potential for something horrible to happen is far scarier than it actually happening to you out of nowhere.

Case in point: I was far far more scared of a single weird noise I heard in Amnesia than of being ripped in half in Dead Space.

 

[New Troll]

Darkness, swimming underwater, and damn good psychological stories. Also limiting view by making me look through a camera to see those damn baddies also doesn't hurt.

 

[Mauro Carrizales]

Darkness and Atmosphere. Amnesia The Dark Descent is a perfect example.

 

[Super Six One]

The music, and the feeling that if you die, you have failed. In most FPS its annoying to die but you just jump back a wee bit and restart. In a good horror game, when you die, it's because you were foolish and it punishes you massively in the game, forcing you back in the game to struggle thur it again.

What i would like to see in a good horror game is if you die, it puts you back then actually make the game harded every time you die. It would give a proper sence of that "I don't want to die!!!" like in life.....kinda.

 

[Arionis]

Amnesia The Dark Descent and Echo Nights Beyond are the only games that have ever scared me.....so...that style?

 

[Aleate]

Usually... the sense of feeling alone. As I walk through a Corridor early in a game and you hear a noise, you have to decide... Is it a monster, or a person? You walk closer with cautious optimism as the sound gets louder and louder... then you walk upon a monster EATING said person.
...Fuck.

A good example I thought of this would be the beginning of Dead Space 2. Yes its full of Jump scares, but at that point you truly feel alone. Like there is no one else. I mean, everyone else you see ends up as Sashimi 5 seconds later until a certain point, once everyone seems to just be fine around the monsters, which made me just go -________-.

Towards the end of Condemned: Criminal Origins as well.

EDIT: Crap forgot Amnesia. Exactly the same thing.

 

[Njae]

The music/soundscape. So many things just wouldn't be scary if it weren't for the sounds.

I agree, Eternal Darkness and Amnesia are two good examples that use sound brilliantly to heighten the atmosphere.

 

[Brandiferous]

Usually... the sense of feeling alone. As I walk through a Corridor early in a game and you hear a noise, you have to decide... Is it a monster, or a person? You walk closer with cautious optimism as the sound gets louder and louder... then you walk upon a monster EATING said person.
...Fuck.

LOL

As for me it is definitely the sounds. The worst is when I'm playing in the middle of the night with the sound turned up and the rest of the house is silent and suddenly I can't tell if the creak I heard came from the game or the room next to mine. Another thing is shadows. There is so much to do with shadows, and if a game can get shadows right it will scare me shitless. Or reflections. Or shadows in reflections. Hardcore.

 

[Moonlight Butterfly]

Creepy things slowly coming towards me. With eyes.

I can handle a lot of things but I can't handle that.

Also things that are big in water. I even get creeped out by that whark in Riven and that's not even that big.


nooooooooooo. no.

Both together and I don't even know....I would probably die.

Oddly enough I am fine in Vashjiir in WOW...probably becuase it is cartoony and stuff.

 

[Slowpool]

The usual; a good atmosphere, limited lighting, and being alone. I like it when you catch a glimpse of something threatening one second and it vanishes the next. Flashing lights/lightning, showing a shadow outside a window or on the far side of the room; the shadow vanishes when the normal lighting returns. You know shit is going to get wild, you just don't know when.

I also like when you KNOW something is there, via footsteps or consistent shadows, but you can't find it for the life of you. The only way that particular neurosis is going to die is when you'll shit your pants anyway.

 

[SailorShale]

"Boo!"

Puts me on the edge more than anything else. The atmosphere in combination really helps, but the "Boo!" factor keeps me paying attention and on my toes. Although, it doesn't work well when there are monsters all over the place. There has to be a balance.

 

[Katana314]

Going from high hopes to low hops. Some games seem to work out well starting you out with a creepy area and no survivors, but other times I find it interesting to have so many things taken away from me; spend some solid time around relatable people in a normal atmosphere, then slowly have that boiled away, turning a familiar landscape into a hellhole I want to escape.

Amnesia sort of does that by giving you an hour-long puzzle area, then when you finally finish all the tasks, the Shadow starts taking it over, forcing you to leave right away. It's certainly not familiar and safe, but it works.

In Half-Life 2, Ravenholm was a big hit especially coming from Eli's lab, going directly into such a lonely place.

 

[GiglameshSoulEater]

Basically what they did in Amnesia (as suggested by so many others) or Pnumbra. Limit or rem,ove your ability to fight back and use sound and shadows well.

 

[Doclector]

A good example I thought of this would be the beginning of Dead Space 2. Yes its full of Jump scares, but at that point you truly feel alone. Like there is no one else. I mean, everyone else you see ends up as Sashimi 5 seconds later until a certain point, once everyone seems to just be fine around the monsters, which made me just go -________-.

Towards the end of Condemned: Criminal Origins as well.

EDIT: Crap forgot Amnesia. Exactly the same thing.

that reminds me of another thing that gets me in horror games: the aftermath of something that happened before. For example, in said early part of dead space 2, I came across a hospital desk littered with get well soon cards, balloons, and other gifts. Alot if people were there. Were being the crucial word; when I got there, there was just blood, writing on a wall saying "I don't want to die" and most disturbingly, an abandoned baby stroller. Maybe it's my creative mind, but whenever I see scenes like that (another good example being left 4 dead: CEDA checkpoints littered with corpses, alot of them did not look like they were infected when they died) I can't help but imagine the event happening; the screams, the panic, the people who "almost" made it.

Which brings me to another thing; screaming. Not just one scream, but loads. Like the first residential area you come across in dead space 2: fires are burning, people are running, but above all, there's lots and lots of screaming, a sign of a simply unimaginable death toll. The thought that most would come back did not help. There was also a good example in resident evil outbreak. At one point, if you walk out onto a balcony, you can hear screaming in the distance. Like in dead space 2, lots of it. Most disturbingly, if you cone back later, the screams have stopped, replaced by only the faint groaning of the dead.

 

[Hemlet]

What gets me in horror games is a feeling of helplessness and the sounds present in the game. Being fully aware of how vulnerable you are, and then hearing footsteps in the darkness that belong to something that, in all likelihood, could rip out your rectum and force feed it to you by looking at you funny, is always an "I just touched cloth" moment for me.