What makes a videogame scary?

[ghostrider409895]

I was playing F.E.A.R. 2 yesterday, which I consider to be rather scary. I also have been looking into the Alan Wake game, which is supposed to be a psychological action thriller.

Now some horror games, not all but some, really have something about them that just gives them an eerie feel. What is it about them that give us that feeling, which makes us turn around and recheck spots before moving on with the level? What is it that makes a game scary?

Edit: Of all the things you see in a horror videogame, what is it that does it for you? What is the one thing that really makes it a scary game to you?

 

[DaOysterboy]

The DRM.

 

[Cherry Cola]

Atmosphere.

Not jump out scares, not gore, but atmosphere.

That is all you need to make a game scary!

 

[Distorted Stu]

Things you can't see AKA Sound & shadows.
Playing condemned you rarely see any big horrible ghosty, only insane hobos. With children laughing, moving shadows and sounds playing tricks on you, it builds up tention and you expect something to burst out at you at any given moment, when in truth, nothing will. Its just the game building atmosphere.

 

[Hazy]

The DRM.

I lol'd.
Good on ya.

Scares come from a compilation of good atmosphere and frightening/powerful foes.
I also like to think that uncertainty[footnote]You know that department store level in the first Condemned? How you never really knew whether the mannequins were real or fake until you got close enough for one of them to take a swing at you? Point made.[/footnote] adds a fair bit of suspense, as does isolation, but again, it's a group effort.

The reason why Condemned 2 wasn't scary in the slightest was that it had the atmosphere down, but Agent Thomas was a tank when it came to combat, dropping everyone stupid enough to step up in his face like flies. Combat shifts from "I'm afraid for my life because I'm barely capable of handling these guys" to "I will thoroughly enjoy fighting these foes and may or may not let out a battle cry while doing it."

 

[Redingold]

Atmosphere and ordinary objects turning possessed.

Also, personally, caves. I hated going into the Vaults in Fallout 3.

 

[darksolgamer]

Things you can't see AKA Sound & shadows.
Playing condemned you rarely see any big horrible ghosty, only insane hobos. With children laughing, moving shadows and sounds playing tricks on you, it builds up tention and you expect something to burst out at you at any given moment, when in truth, nothing will. Its just the game building atmosphere.

True. Games like Condemned and Silent Hill have this, building up tension by making noises, playing tricks on you, giving them a powerful atmosphere. That's what makes them scary.

 

[Oktanas]

creapy music, sudenly appearing enemys, low ammunition, suroundings, darkness, macabre, gore, music sound (well in this time of games music and sound usually give away what will happens next for example lef4dead).

F.E.A.R. 2 isn't scary attol beat it on hardest dificulty only got annoyed by all my deaths and alma apearences.

 

[Marter]

The atmosphere is definitely the biggest player in making a game scary. The soundtrack also plays a pretty key role as far as I'm concerned.

 

[JoshGod]

atmosphere + difficult enemies.

 

[oreopizza47]

i would say those jump-in-your-face type moments. one good example (though i may just be a wimp); the first ever Resident Evil. walk around a corner expecting to find your partner that wandered off. and find him you do, plus your very first zombie jumping straight at your face.

 

[theSovietConnection]

Atmosphere is the biggest factor in scares. I also find games in which you have no conventional method of killing the enemy to be scarier then games with weapons.

 

[EHKOS]

Big things that the game won't let you kill like the bear in condemned 2. Anything chasing you which you have no ability to subdue. Or when things go away but you never know if they're coming back.

 

[Valkyrie101]

Atmosphere can be scary, but for me it's monsters. Nasty, disgusting, gribbly monsters that make you want to throw up. The Dunwich Building and Vault 106 in Fallout 3 were creepy, but I had to force myself through that Elytra dungeon in the Shivering Isles. It's orse when you can feel them hit you with some horrifying alien appendage, and it makes you shiver.

 

[spectrenihlus]

Atmosphere + Enemies popping out at you + hard enemies + No ammo = crap your pants

 

[silver wolf009]

When you feel that you are your caracter. When you feel your in actual danger of death.

 

[darksolgamer]

Big things that the game won't let you kill like the bear in condemned 2. Anything chasing you which you have no ability to subdue. Or when things go away but you never know if they're coming back.

IMO Resident Evil's Nemesis was the pinnacle of this formula, even though you could temporarily put him out of commission if you were good.

 

[redblinky]

I think alot of it has to do with the person as well.
I knew a girl who would be so scared after watching a "scary movie" she wouldn't sleep for days. Something that an average young adult would just laugh as bad not scary go on with my life.

Yet I had that same person sit down and play the original condemned including the parts I thought were the scariest and she never flinched. It was like being a part of the action controlling whats going on to some extent blocked her fear of the game. In fact she found it laughable that she was beating homeless people with stick of wood (not laughable in the sense of hahaha lets go do this for real, but laughable like WTF i just hit a homeless person with a piece of wood wtf is going on?)

So I would say immersion makes the game scary. Maybe some people just become more immersed then others.

-Red "I wouldn't go in the crypts in Morrowind because they scared me" Blinky