Does anyone else find Shock 2 scarier than anything since?

Absynthe on 1/9/2010 at 20:25

I've been thinking this over. I played Shock2 the day it came it. What looks kinda cheesy now was very effective back then. I think I was in my early 20s and never had a game that frightened me so deeply. I played at night with the lights out between 9pm-2am in my apartment. I think I took about 2 weeks to beat the game with every night having at least one "jump out of my seat" moment. Towards the end I had trouble sleeping as I started hearing faint monkey noises coming from the darkness when I turned my lights out. (true, I did)

Since then I can think of bits and pieces of games that scared me and have been mentioned but nothing that truly terrified me from start to finish. That is, until F.E.A.R. came out. Though some of the scares we're cheap they worked very well. Music and sound we're also solid. Much like Shock2, the entire game felt like it was designed to scare the crap out of you.

Now that I'm passing 40 and don't play as many games I have doubts I'll ever find a scary game again. Most of what passes for scary feels like retread of stuff I played before.

Client on 1/9/2010 at 21:21

When I had finished SS2 for the first time, I sold the disk because I was very overstrung by it and wanted to get rid of it. I didn't hear monkeys in the night )) however I really felt like being on the Von Braun myself dealing with all those horrors. But after the first impression of tension passed I felt the need to play it again and started to look the disk with the game again by any means ))
It's always like that: games are remembered not for their graphics or effects but atmosphere and emotions that they bring to you. That's why SS2 will stay one of my favourites forever, even 100 years later...

inselaffe on 1/9/2010 at 21:22

Hang on, so you age at double speed?

fetgalningen on 3/9/2010 at 15:26

System Shock 2 is scary at times, then, and now. Of course the horror effect has worn off to a degree when playing it so many times but there are times when you jump high due to something sneaking up behind you and screaming in fury while bashing your skull :o

Last time playing it was with reskinned monsters and an overhaul patch making it more difficult but also adding lots of things. For example, when first meeting a protocol droid and shooting it, then seeing it going for me 10x faster than before, sent a chill up my spine and i jumped out of my chair almost.

But i think this game has had the most impact on me, since i still to this day, jump high (bit exagerated) when someone is making a high noise when i dont expect it. Thats why its called System Shock

blacbraun on 8/9/2010 at 00:43

Quote Posted by Absynthe

Suppose it's the detective in me but you couldn't have been in your early 20's when you played ss2 if you're over 40 now. The game is only 11 years old.

Absynthe on 8/9/2010 at 13:01

Quote Posted by blacbraun

Suppose it's the detective in me but you couldn't have been in your early 20's when you played ss2 if you're over 40 now. The game is only 11 years old.

You're right. Make that late 20s. I tend to mush that period together. Its confusing sometimes. :cheeky:

Matthew on 8/9/2010 at 15:07

Too much shroom tea will do that.

Crion on 21/9/2010 at 02:23

Has anyone tried any games from Frictional Games?

Try the (http://www.amnesiagame.com/#demo) Amnesia demo. I won't explain much about it other than it's in first person, has puzzles, and is terrifying. The demo does a good job explaining gameplay and it's pretty intuitive on its own.

catbarf on 21/9/2010 at 21:02

There's a thread about it in GenGaming and another in ThiefGen.

SPG900NY on 23/9/2010 at 17:40

I'd say the only other game that recently I had to stop playing because I got too freaked out was STALKER (the original). There's an area where you head through a swamp (where you get the first radiation suit I think) and then to the labs. It's the first area where the environment gets sepia-toned from the radiation. Going down those stairs for the first time into the darkness of the labs just really really freaked me out. You start hearing the screaming from the monsters or whatnot, and that's also where you start seeing ghosts coming at you and things in the corner of your vision. I actually think it was a month or two until I went back and tried it again. Still gives me the creeps. Call me chicken.

Until then, SS2 was the scariest, environment wise.

Any game can make a player "jumpy." I stopped playing Doom3 because I got sick of, "OK, if I grab this ammo, something's going to come out of the darkness and try to kill me, repeat, repeat, repeat."

STALKER and SS2 had the horror environments down. That takes a lot more work.