What's your ideal Survival Horror?

[Abanic]

I like survival horror, but EXTRA CREDITS hit the nail on the head for me: it's dying out. I'd love to see a new, kick ass, scary-as-hell, survivor horror game.

How about this?
You play a geologist that monitors remote geologic measuring stations on the West Coast of the US. You just checked a monitoring post in the middle of nowhere and you're heading back to civiliztion.
Start the game driving on a road in remote Oregon or Washington (think Harry and the Hendersons) you know, 'Bigfoot territory'. The main character swerves to avoid a cute, fuzzy, forest animal and drives into a ravine. The car catches on fire and the character hurriedly staggers out and makes it about 50 feet before passing out as the gas tank goes up. The character awakes hours later as the sun is going down.(and the mist is rising)

You find your car is a burnt out crisp, your eyeglasses must've fallen off in the car during the crash, and your left knee is purple and swollen. You check your cell phone: no service, you can't call for help. As long as the remote stations are up and running, the lab isn't going to miss you for weeks, because you are a field researcher.

It's night time, it's foggy, you're injured, you can't see clearly, you're in the middle of a temperate rain forest, and you have to get 12 miles back up the mountain to get back to the monitoring station so you can use it's GPS transmitter to send a distress signal.

THAT is a setting! Now all you have to do is drop some scary encounters into that setting and you have a game. I don't care if it's a pack of wolves that's hunting you, mountain lion, grizzly bear, cannibals, cultists, ninjas, hippies, or a horny bigfoot looking for your ass; you can make a brutal survival horror game out of that. Or better yet, give ME 40 million dollars and I'll make it, and then let Yahtzee review it (maybe then he'll get off Silent Hill 2's dick).

 

[MMETEORAGA1994]

Silent Hill 2. I'd go on about why it's the best choice, but that'd be redundant

 

[Hyperactiveman]

The only relatively scary game I got into was F.E.A.R because of the changing environments which made me just want to leg it passed every enemy and pool of blood just to reach the door on the ceiling. Also I just pretty darn frightened and rather strangely amazed by some of the scenes in The Darkness where after you shot yourself and woke up in a warzone fighting nazi zombies that just didn't stay down.

Bioshock was wicked and had a really good horror element to it because I started my first playthrough on hard and was actually challenged to stay alive and be careful where I went and what I got myself into. Playing the original Left 4 Dead using a big projector screen on advanced at like 10pm was very spine tingling especially when I opened a door to find some pills and a Tank was standing right behind it.

So if all of those elements were combined into one experience then that would totally be my ultimate and ideal survival horror situation... And if it were a game I'd totally buy it!

 

[Hristo Petrov]

Seriously how is it that no one has mentioned System Shock 2 that is the only horror game that scared the shit out oh me

 

[SyphonX]

I still need to go through the Penumbra series, and finish Call of Cthulu: Dark Corners of the Earth.

Every time I start a game like this, after settling into the right mood like settling in for a good book, something else always comes up. Like a huge hit of a game being released at the same time, and I'm easily sidetracked.

I need to schedule these things.

Anyway, horror games are not too far off from what I would consider "ideal" survival horror. The only problem is, they focus too much on action, and neglect the subtleties. Or, a lot of time is spent on subtle factors, but it's conflicted with the action theme of the game. It's abrasive to the experience. Dead Space, while a good game, isn't really "survival horror", it's just jump scares and boo moments, subtlety be damned. I wanted to experience more of the Ishimura, and really get a feel for the place, but I was always pulled away by all the action, like an unwarranted slap in the face.

Another factor that is missing, is risk. Nothing says survival like risk and loss. There are too many save points, too many tutorials and reassurances. The enemies are designed to scale with your progression through the game, which also effects your immersion.

Action isn't scary. The unknown is scary. Often, the most unsettling moments in the latest horror games are the points in between all the action, and they are simply neglected and used as checkpoints or used for minor 'boo!' moments.

Imagine, for a moment, a game where nothing is explained to you, where the monster element is invalid and unknown, nor hyped. Where you venture with a team of characters into a foreboding place. Like an underwater complex, or underground complex. After considerable time, you start losing contact with everyone. The complex is losing power, and screams are heard echoing throughout various corridors. Up until now, you have no idea what you're facing, because the company was strict on not revealing any details, as to remain mysterious. You venture into the dark, into the unknown, in search for answers and afraid for your life. "What now. What was that? Oh that was my shadow... or not? .. Wh..wh..whaat was that noise? ..Where is everyone?" You explore, frightened, knowing not what you face, nor how to confront it. All you know, is that it's watching you.. from anywhere.. and everywhere.

 

[WrcklessIntent]

Most important of all, it must be in first person. No peripheral vision and more relation with the player character equals more effective scares for me. Secondly, the actual scares must be intermittent and contrasted with moments of safety and security. I suppose it is why I find levels such as Ravenholm (Half-Life 2), City 17 Underground (Episode One), The Cradle (Thief) and Ocean House (Vampire: The Masquerade) so terrifying, because they are drastically different to the rest of the game. Thirdly, don't go overboard; it's no good to have things popping at me the entire time, as I will become desensitised. Maintaining an atmosphere is more important than scaring me directly, as my imagination will do the rest. Finally, fuck with my head in every way possible. This includes standard scares such as noises caused my things that aren't there and glimpses of things that dissappear soon after, as well as scares unique to the genre like messing with the controls and field of vision.

For an example of all of these, watch this short video:

Ok
1. Holy shit i think i just pissed myself that video is so scary
2. Your an ass hole because i can't sleep now (jk)
3. Is this an actual game cause now i want!

 

[ANImaniac89]

well for me the last true survival horror was the first Condemned
horror games now are action horror games not survival

 

[Tanis]

It would be 'Silent Hill 2' with current-gen graphics/sound/ect and better voice acting.

 

[Snake Plissken]

I would love to see a take on the 40's and 50's B-movies, the cheesy horror/sci-fi stuff. But, rather than it being totally goofy, I want it to come across as sincere and make me genuinely terrified of giants ants and gila monsters and other stupid shit like that.

 

[SyphonX]

I like survival horror, but EXTRA CREDITS hit the nail on the head for me: it's dying out. I'd love to see a new, kick ass, scary-as-hell, survivor horror game.

How about this?
You play a geologist that monitors remote geologic measuring stations on the West Coast of the US. You just checked a monitoring post in the middle of nowhere and you're heading back to civiliztion.
Start the game driving on a road in remote Oregon or Washington (think Harry and the Hendersons) you know, 'Bigfoot territory'. The main character swerves to avoid a cute, fuzzy, forest animal and drives into a ravine. The car catches on fire and the character hurriedly staggers out and makes it about 50 feet before passing out as the gas tank goes up. The character awakes hours later as the sun is going down.(and the mist is rising)

You find your car is a burnt out crisp, your eyeglasses must've fallen off in the car during the crash, and your left knee is purple and swollen. You check your cell phone: no service, you can't call for help. As long as the remote stations are up and running, the lab isn't going to miss you for weeks, because you are a field researcher.

It's night time, it's foggy, you're injured, you can't see clearly, you're in the middle of a temperate rain forest, and you have to get 12 miles back up the mountain to get back to the monitoring station so you can use it's GPS transmitter to send a distress signal.

THAT is a setting! Now all you have to do is drop some scary encounters into that setting and you have a game. I don't care if it's a pack of wolves that's hunting you, mountain lion, grizzly bear, cannibals, cultists, ninjas, hippies, or a horny bigfoot looking for your ass; you can make a brutal survival horror game out of that. Or better yet, give ME 40 million dollars and I'll make it, and then let Yahtzee review it (maybe then he'll get off Silent Hill 2's dick).

Yeah, you pretty much nailed it.

It matters not, what the monsters are and it certainly doesn't matter if they are a supernatural creature at all. You see, it's ruined during "the reveal", unless the reveal of your fateful enemy is truly terrifying you will instinctively strategize. There is my threat. It is large, I am small. It is slow, I am fast. I now know everything that it is capable of.

You don't have instincts on dealing with irrational fear, and the unknown. The most classic of horrors is the depths of the mind. This is best characterized by the labyrinth, an endless snaking dark corridor of unknown. With nothing but your mind's dirty tricks, your inability to apply logic to the situation, and the true unknown of what can be around every single corner, or just out of your field of vision, in the shades of darkness. Coinciding with the answers just out of reach in your mind, shrouded also in shades of darkness.

When you're dealing with "necromorphs" and tactically tearing off limbs, or when dealing with zombies and strategically outpacing them, then you become an exterminator of creatures. You're not afraid, just tense, and possibly startled. You have all your answers in front of you, beyond the barrel of a gun or at the tip of your sword. The narrative would have to be quite mind-blowing to inject any sort of original terror back into the mix, at that point.

 

[Athinira]

Being a complete pussy, i get easily scared by games like Doom 3 and Dead Space.

While those games have received a lot of flak for getting repetitious, the combination of dark realistic looking graphics with flickering lights and monsters just scares the crap out of me.

 

[starocean13]

I personally would like a game that makes use of how much the main character is actually human. I don't know about any of you guys but in real life I would have no clue what to do if I was being attacked by supernatural forces. The original Resident Evil games were alright but most of the main characters were S.T.A.R.S members so they were trained how to fight. I feel the original Silent Hill games hit the idea way better though. The characters were just normal people. They had never fought the undead or creatures from another world and the combat shows. I think you should have a fighting chance but not feel like as soon as you get a gun that you get to just blow thru the game. Most horror games give you a gun, which is fine, but they make the character seem like they've always known how to instead of giving them shitty aim adn very limited ammo. I know it doesnt sound like the best idea but to me combat in horror games should suck. If you always feel like you will live through the fight it takes a the fear and tention out of it. Horror should be backed up by fear and there's no fear when you can instantly put a bullet between and enemeys eyes on a quick draw.

 

[M-JN]

It's just hard because the truly, truly scary things are things you can never kill. And a game with bad guys you can't kill would be pretty unfun and certainly wouldn't sell well, even if it was pants-piss horrifying.

Games haven't quite come up with another way to be interactive yet. Needs violence. I suppose someone could try turning it around and allowing you to be the unfathomable monster, and making you fear the character you are playing... still be a hard sell though.

 

[Abanic]

I like survival horror, but EXTRA CREDITS hit the nail on the head for me: it's dying out. I'd love to see a new, kick ass, scary-as-hell, survivor horror game.

How about this?
You play a geologist that monitors remote geologic measuring stations on the West Coast of the US. You just checked a monitoring post in the middle of nowhere and you're heading back to civiliztion.
Start the game driving on a road in remote Oregon or Washington (think Harry and the Hendersons) you know, 'Bigfoot territory'. The main character swerves to avoid a cute, fuzzy, forest animal and drives into a ravine. The car catches on fire and the character hurriedly staggers out and makes it about 50 feet before passing out as the gas tank goes up. The character awakes hours later as the sun is going down.(and the mist is rising)

You find your car is a burnt out crisp, your eyeglasses must've fallen off in the car during the crash, and your left knee is purple and swollen. You check your cell phone: no service, you can't call for help. As long as the remote stations are up and running, the lab isn't going to miss you for weeks, because you are a field researcher.

It's night time, it's foggy, you're injured, you can't see clearly, you're in the middle of a temperate rain forest, and you have to get 12 miles back up the mountain to get back to the monitoring station so you can use it's GPS transmitter to send a distress signal.

THAT is a setting! Now all you have to do is drop some scary encounters into that setting and you have a game. I don't care if it's a pack of wolves that's hunting you, mountain lion, grizzly bear, cannibals, cultists, ninjas, hippies, or a horny bigfoot looking for your ass; you can make a brutal survival horror game out of that. Or better yet, give ME 40 million dollars and I'll make it, and then let Yahtzee review it (maybe then he'll get off Silent Hill 2's dick).

Yeah, you pretty much nailed it.

It matters not, what the monsters are and it certainly doesn't matter if they are a supernatural creature at all. You see, it's ruined during "the reveal", unless the reveal of your fateful enemy is truly terrifying you will instinctively strategize. There is my threat. It is large, I am small. It is slow, I am fast. I now know everything that it is capable of.

You don't have instincts on dealing with irrational fear, and the unknown. The most classic of horrors is the depths of the mind. This is best characterized by the labyrinth, an endless snaking dark corridor of unknown. With nothing but your mind's dirty tricks, your inability to apply logic to the situation, and the true unknown of what can be around every single corner, or just out of your field of vision, in the shades of darkness. Coinciding with the answers just out of reach in your mind, shrouded also in shades of darkness.

When you're dealing with "necromorphs" and tactically tearing off limbs, or when dealing with zombies and strategically outpacing them, then you become an exterminator of creatures. You're not afraid, just tense, and possibly startled. You have all your answers in front of you, beyond the barrel of a gun or at the tip of your sword. The narrative would have to be quite mind-blowing to inject any sort of original terror back into the mix, at that point.

So, how would you 'strategize' against a horny bigfoot?

 

[SyphonX]

I just lost everything I typed.

Long story short...

No comment on bigfoot.

Check out:
Amnesia: The Dark Descent
(It comes out in 9 days, a serious contender for survival horror. At an $18 preorder steal..)

Spoiler: Scary Gameplay Trailer

Spoiler: The Water Horror Trailer

 

[clipped crow]

For horror to work for me, I have to understand that I am in control of the situation at all times or else my "I'm playing a game" alarms start going off. Scary to me is being put into a hard situation and knowing that if I slip up I'm going to die a horrible death, but I can still beat my situation no matter what it is. not total control, but not an animation. Which is an odd thing because it causes me to never blink in games like F.E.A.R., dead space, silent hill, or resident evil. While just the mention of torvus bog sends shivers down my spine.

With invincible enemies like Alma, I know this is a game and she isn't an enemy, because if she was I would either die before I got a shot out or she would be just another boss battle. Also, with things like dead space, all I had to do is get a slightly better gun then my starting one and it was easy.

 

[Extraintrovert]

Ok
1. Holy shit i think i just pissed myself that video is so scary
2. Your an ass hole because i can't sleep now (jk)
3. Is this an actual game cause now i want!

It is a game by the name of Amnesia: The Dark Descent by a Swedish company called Friction Games, the same group that made the Penumbra series. I wont play it myself because I'm a dirty rotten coward, but from what I've seen it is an absolutely perfect example of what is discussed in this topic and those like it, so I decided to share.

 

[ReckzB]

I've never really played survival horror to any extent. I've had a few experiences with certain games, but they always cast me in the role of a character proficient with weaponry and that really removes any feeling of fear, as has been said before.

Alan Wake had me a bit jumpy at times, and the story helped that along quite a bit. Dead Space felt too much like a slightly scarier Resident Evil 4. Speaking of which, Resident Evil 4 had no scare factor whatsoever, to me anyway. I had a demo of Silent Hill 4: The Room a while ago. That bored me...

Thanks to this thread, that Amnesia: The Dark Descent game now looks like something I may be interested in purchasing.

The idea of a weaponless everyman trapped in a situation he can't get out of, knows nothing about, and where the lines are blurred between reality and a schizophrenic world of hallucination appeals to me. That's basically it, actually. Give us a dark adventure game where a man - or woman - previously sane, begins to slide off into insanity, and is realistically afraid of what's happening to them. Of course, if it's explained to the player that they are going insane, then we have an issue.

And you just know that such a factor would be revealed. Ugh.

 

[Exocet]

Dead Space was a great contender for me,until it gave me the line gun.After that,even the regenerating necromorph was just an obstacle.When I finally ran out of ammo for my line gun,I had collected so much ammo for my souped up pistol the game a shoot'em up until the next store-terminal where I could stock up on more line gun ammo.
Giving early access to a weapon that renders an enemy almost dead and seriously movement impaired doesn't make me scared as much as laugh maniacaly.

For me,the scariest passages in game are those little moments where you just despair at the seemingly impossible task at hand.An exemple off the top of my head is the Defence chapter of Metro 2033.You have to defend a station from a horde of monster whose strategy is to zerg rush you.To make things worse,you are only 4 people total to defend and behind the walls are women and children evacuating.

Spoiler

You fail miserably at defending the station and the only thing that saves you is an illusive friend/foe creature,leaving you to trod through the remains of the station covered in dead bodies,monster and man alike(absence of children probably only to keep esrb and pegi from getting a censorship hard-on).

My ideal survival horror game wouldn't be a game which doesn't always try to make you helpless and scared,but only at some key moments where they can truly devastate you with fear during the action,and hopefully grief afterwards.