Your Horror level?

[Ninonybox_v1legacy]

hl2: ravenholm...damn black headcrabs

 

[TheYellowCellPhone]

"We Don't Go to Ravenholm..." in Half-Life 2. Ya.

I like this level for three reasons: Father Gregori, you get the shotgun, and it trains you on the Gravity Gun.

I hate the rest, because it's long, dark, creepy, and difficult.

You enter the place after riding an air boat for at least an hour, taking out a chopper, and given the Gravity Gun. All you have are a machine gun, two pistols, some grenades, a crowbar, and the Gravity Gun. Sure, you get the shotgun halfway through, but your given close to no ammo and health, and you're introduced to the fast and posion zombies under these conditions.

For around half an hour to one hour, depending on your skill, you'll be placed in this nightmaric place, and all you have are some weapons, a few well-placed traps, and a insane priest who randomly appears, shoots some zombies, gives you a tip, then vanishes.

I hate it because its so out-of place. Here you are playing an apolcolyptic FPS, ride vehicles, shoot soldiers, pick up new weapons, etc.

Then all the sudden your put in a dark ghost town, infested with zombies... And the weirdest part is you leave Ravenhom around midnight, then when you enter the next place, its suddenly noon...

 

[McKay]

It's strange really, I can watch horror movie after horror movie and not get the least bit scared, but I play games like Silent Hill, RE or even Tomb Raider and I get scared. I once tried playing Silent Hill 4 : The Room during the day with someone else in the room... it didn't work. I think it all comes down to the ambiant sounds and music, the fact that I can hear something somewhere nearby but don't know what or where it is and when it's going to come popping out at me.

Also going into any of the Vaults in Fallout3, or playing that game at night while it's nighttime in game aswell *shudder*.

 

[Keymik]

I don't get scared very much in games.. But the times i have it's mostly in games like Fallout 3 and Oblivion. I hate that when entering a building and you start in the face of a person, it's scary as hell.
Oh and i don't get the big deal about Dead Space.. it's not scary.. It just shocks you.

And the only game where i was truly afraid to go on has to be Penumbra.. The voices! The sound of little legs crawling right next to you! Or under you! OR OVER YOU! And it doesn't help when you can't see anything.. And ofcourse the guy you play as makes comments like ''This steel gate was made to keep things out.. or in'' Thanks alot dumbass! I have to go in there in 2 seconds -_-

 

[whiskey rock n' roller]

Giant spook enemies in games where your just walking around then bam! you get hit from behind and theres a giant thingy-ma-jigy behind you biting the back of your head off.

 

[LiteraryLitany]

My bathroom, with a serial killer knocking at the door. There's horror stylized and then there's stuff that can conceivably happen.

Although I did have one nightmare where I was stuck in an ancient tomb fighting zombies... My marine sidekick was no help whatsoever, as usual.

 

[Keymik]

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[Keymik]

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[Keymik]

The haunted Ocean House Hotel in Vampire Masquerade is good for a scare - the music is brilliantly creepy and though you're told the ghosts can't hurt you that constant threat of malevolence sets you right on edge. I made I worse by using the patch which makes one of the scares appear a lot sooner than I expected D:

The Ocean House Hotel still haunts me! xD I hated every bit of it.. It's ever fun to run around a house following a creepy white girl, with a brutal axe maniac breathing down your neck.

 

[Therumancer]

The Dunwich Building in Fallout 3 scares the shit out of me... and anything similar in any game

One of the better attempts I've seen at Lovecraftian horror in a video game, including Lovecraft based video games.

Truthfully though for me sound FX do more to creep me out than the visuals in most cases. Especially when a sound designer is good at his job and is able to create a backround effect you get used to and then render it disjointed or insert noises at counter-intuitive moments.

 

[A Weary Exile]

Vault 106 scared the shit out of me (When the screen turned purple I thought my console was broken ) and enemies would pop out of thin air and start murdering me!

The Mall [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oogjDdgpYPQ] from Condemned are also terrifying. 0_0

EDIT: and Toluca Prison [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Uuh4-kF9tw] in Silent Hill 2, especially the courtyard where there is this FREAKY ambient noise that grinds away at my sanity.

 

[historybuff]

I am scared by atmosphere. Like, creepy Silent Hill monsters don't really get to me so much as Fatal Frame got to me. Fatal Frame creeped me out more than Silent Hill did (but SH had better stories and more likable characters ecetera, ecetera).

So if I was going to design a horror level, it would have to be atmospheric like Fatal Frame; with the ability to get into your head like Thief (The Cradle; where you wander around in the dark trying to figure out how to turn the lights on but then when you finally do, you end up trying to retreat into the darkness again).

 

[Pegghead]

It would be a mental asylum where the patients escaped and ran amuck (Yes I know sort of like Arkham, but shut up). Sure it sounds generic, but the newly established head honcho of the place, Vladimire la Nutcase, hooks your mind up to his via a neural implant. So while you're trying to break free of the mental grip by escaping from the joint, the whole asylum becomes like a twisted version of reality, at some points it seems perfectly normal, then you open a door to get out which reveals...a black space of nothingness, or you see bloodsmears on the walls start to shift and change form. I know it sounds very generic but I honestly don't play many horror games (Probably the most Horror type game I own is Bioshock, but its only really shock value and the occasional nutcase whos actions send a shudder down your spine).

 

[Ph33nix]

actually no. I never really liked "horror levels" and in my game that I want to make (that is in my head) I really wouldn't want to put on it. It would also disrupt the flow of the game because the game is squad/company based and to completely remove the other members of your unit for a horror level just wouldn't work. It also would be very difficult to make a horror level with the large force sizes I want you to have with you at all times. I want this game to feel like you really are in an epic futuristic invasion of another planet with chaos all around and other soldiers under your command attacking enemy strong holds and retaking cities and colonies.

 

[NuclearPenguin]

Oh god man. It'd be a room where all the walls have Pararaptors avatar.
And, and, and the floor would be all mushy and gooey like
And then I would dress like the guy from silent hill 2
And in the background Lady Gaga should be playing

Man, I would shit myself.

 

[Tattaglia]

Oblivion Lost's frequent blowouts - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q_LzRrxCnv4&feature=related

The first time you experience one in Shadow of Chernobyl, you freak out.
Why is everyone running to cover? Why the hell is the screen shaking? Is... is that an explosion?!
After the blowout, in which you must be in a house or some kind of sturdy cover to protect yourself from the radiation that would slowly kill you, a bunch of mutant beasties is spawned in your vicinity. Even if you're with fellow STALKERs, it is still incredibly scary. It's always night-time after a blowout, and moments after in which your group, or you alone are chasing the mutants (or fleeing from them) is always frightening.

 

[feather240]

Best horror game in bullet-point form!

Spoiler

- Set in a large but normal house
- Varies from heavily foggy day into night (maybe)
- Often no music
- Musical scores (low key, quiet) do set in but cut off without warning
- Third person view- can switch to first person
- Generally an adventure game with some variations
- The house is the entire setting- but changes are scripted (and random at times)
- Re-entering a room can have minor changes (ie. Unmade beds)
- Voice messages can be found via notes and books (played as audio while moving)
- A large window showing outside- on occasion a creepy white owl will watch you
- Revert-moments such as bodies jolting up in bed- returns to the door without
- Uses a fear (panic) meter? Explore sparingly
- Sounds such as breathing and footsteps from afar. Persistent voice or scratching.
- No inventory, rational use of hand items and pockets for some key items.
- Escape seems near impossible, with windows and doors locked or sealed.
- Shock moments will be present, but few. Such as things running after you.
- Sometimes lights can be off when you enter a room (can be turned on/off )
- Objects such as fans and even televisions are on or off at random.
- Little girl sometimes walks into room and stares. Vanishes when you look away.
- At some point a note about two houses under constant visit by authorities- one where weird things happen, one where the owner is a ?nut case?.
- Reactions can change between first and third person.
- White faces in windows at night- vanish quickly.
- At some point a script based 'something' begins following you, increasing panic the closer it gets. Follows between rooms and through corridors- getting trapped ends game. Something similar to the Tall Man would work.

Who would play this? Aside from me...

Tall Man?

Ravenholm was okay until poison and fast head crabs came into play.

Stalker is pretty scary.

 

[shadowstriker86]

Silent Hill 4, The Room: Directors Cut/Disney Edition : Stuck in a locked room for 24 hours with nothing but the disney channel on at a medium volume and brightness that keeps you awake but you can still hear and see, and everywhere you turn there it is, tv's in the windows, sinks, everywhere, object: dont go insane.

 

[Killdebeest]

It would have to be something really subtle. I don't scare easily. Most horror games these days seem to go for the "BOO I IS A GHOST LOL" shock treatment that can fuck you right up for a couple of seconds, but once the moment passes you just look back at the thing that shocked you and don't care anymore.

Mine would be the worst kind of fear, where something totally normal and commonplace has been twisted ever so slightly by the corruption of the evil spirit within it. The old haunted house trick, except it's not dark and deserted with lots of cobwebs, that's too generic and you would be expecting it. Say it's just a normal suburban detached house. For whatever reason, you are walking through it, you have no weapons, you have no reason to have any, it's just a house, the lights are on and it's not even very dark outside yet. But then things slowly start to fuck up..you hear the sound of breathing coming from somewhere, and it seems to follow you, but whenever you turn round there's nothing there. A tap on the shoulder, you turn again to see what it was, still nothing there. You walk past a mirror, if you turn to look, you see a shadow behind you suddenly move away from your line of sight. Then, you enter a room, and the door closes quietly behind you. No creak, no slam, just the quiet, final click of a lock being carefully turned. You're trapped. And there's a scratch along the door from the lock, made by something with very, very sharp claws.

You are alone, and trapped, and completely helpless.

With the right story behind it, and a well enough told game for you to be immersed in that situation, that there is real fucked up horror, because it drills straight into the basic terror reactions of the brain and suddenly you feel alone, and defenceless, stuck in the room with something that wants you dead.

That would be my horror level.

I've yet to come across a real game with that kind of scare in it. Dead Space was just shock treatment.

You, sir, are a horror genius. If any game comes out with that premise, I'm going to make sure I get it and never trust any house ever again.

 

[Sosakitty]

Let's talk about Dead Space. Many of you are saying that the game was not scary because it relied mainly upon shock value. There's more to it than that, however, and those subtle elements not used very much could be incorporated into an insanely scary game.

Spoiler: Dead Space's subtleties

-The disembodied whispering heard whenever there is a lull in the action. I listened carefully once, and I realized it was just telling me gameplay hints, but it still left open plenty of questions. Is that Isaac whispering? Is there someone following me? Can the Necromorphs speak?
-The crazies (and occasional sane person) that die just as you reach them. Though it slightly breaks the immersion (you can tell that person screaming for help and banging on the other side of the door is gonna die right when you open it, no matter how long you take), it is still a dreadful feeling to just barely fail to save somebody's life. Maybe a game could incorporate an element where survivors can be saved, but most likely you will fail in the attempt?
-The complete silence broken only by Isaac's deep, labored breathing during the zero-gravity segments. You feel on-top-of-the-world when you first find out that in zero-gravity chambers you can more-or-less fly from one surface to another, but that feeling ends when you suddenly get impaled by that multi-tentacled, scorpion-like monster that is just as acrobatic as you are. On top of that, you also will often be confronted with floating, usually dismembered bodies and debris floating in the nothingness. And one more thing; sometimes you will find yourself making a desperate dash through dangerous terrain to reach a floating air canister/ air refilling station with only seconds of precious oxygen left.
-Riding a slow-moving gondola over the massive black abyss that is the engine room, with pure darkness surrounding you and the roars of a creature that must be simply massive permeating the atmosphere around you. It helps to have low health and very little ammo left in your dinky little plasma cutter.

There's more to it than that, but I'm suddenly very tired. In conclusion, I may appreciate this game more than overs because I like to play on Hard mode on a PS3 hooked up to an HD plasma-screen, mounted television with strategically placed speakers all around the living room (including one behind me). All this in the dead of night with no lights on. Yeah, the game is a lot easier to appreciate then. Anyway, the elements presented here would definitely fit nicely into a standalone videogame that has absolutely nothing to do with Dead Space.