icemann on 23/10/2016 at 13:11
Double post due to video per post limit.
SH4 - I found the whole mechanic of being stuck in your apartment with no apparent way out quite unique and awesome. The fact that you can look outside from your windows and look through holes in the walls, just adds to the experience. I'm not a claustrophobic, but that concept is very good. The game itself might be half half, but that aspect of the game always stuck out.
Resident Evil 2 - There are many bits in this game that are excellent. Traveling down the zombie infested streets, the entirety of the Police Station section of the game itself. Great stuff.
The Tyrant enemy in that game was scary, in a Terminator kinda way.
[video=youtube;pE2qn-GsXUw]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pE2qn-GsXUw[/video]
And those are the games that immediately spring to mind.
Nameless Voice on 23/10/2016 at 17:29
Since this thread already seems to be a little off-topic, I'll derail it slightly farther by saying that I once spent some time researching horror elements, and came across some interesting articles (though they were more the story and setting side of things than actual mechanics.)
They're long gone from the Internet now (this was probably around 10 years ago), but I did save some of them.
I seem to remember this one being particularly interesting (though I haven't looked at it in a few year now):
(
https://nameless.zanity.net/FearArticles/Good/Horror%20in%20Roleplaying.htm) Horror in Roleplaying
Some others from the folder (again, forgive me if I can't remember which ones were particularly noteworthy):
(
https://nameless.zanity.net/FearArticles/Good/DevMaster_net%20-%20The%20Fear%20Factor%20Horror%20Game%20Design%20101.htm) The Fear Factor: Horror Game Design 101
(
https://nameless.zanity.net/FearArticles/Good/Atmosphere,%20paranoia,%20and%20the%20value%20of%20horror%201-%20Elder%20Scrolls%20Forums.htm) Atmosphere, paranoia, and the value of horror (Elder Scrolls forum thread from 2000, page 1)
(
https://nameless.zanity.net/FearArticles/Good/Atmosphere,%20paranoia,%20and%20the%20value%20of%20horror%202-%20Elder%20Scrolls%20Forums.htm) Atmosphere, paranoia, and the value of horror (Elder Scrolls forum thread from 2000, page 2)
(Still wondering why I had saved that thread in 2000, long before I was ever working on anything horror-related?)
Tony_Tarantula on 24/10/2016 at 21:03
To what Yakoob said:
All of that only works because of how the game is designed. System Shock 2 isn't set in a linear "horror tunnel" the way games like Alan Wake where after awhile you can see where the next "scary thing" is going to happen just by noticing patterns in the level design. It works because the enemies patrol semi-randomly. They aren't set in a particular pattern, but all are pieces of a level operating semi-independently.
A monster having scary noises is good on it's own....but what's great is when you have no idea where they're going to come from, so you have to constantly keep your ears perked for the noises of monsters that are wandering too close for comfort. I had one horrifying moment that wouldn't have happened in most other "horror" games where I was nosing around in a supply closet and ended up trapped inside, without enough ammo, as multiple monkeys wandered around outside screeching.
It also takes away a key level of protection you have. When playing in a "horror tunnel" game you know that the game is set up so that you will run into scripted encounters. Some of them are set up to be challenging, but all are set up by the developers with the intention that you'll survive to see the next exhibit. When you're playing "emergent horror" there is absolutely no protection against taking a wrong turn and coming face to face with a rumbler, or walking into a room just to realize too late that half the spiders on the deck have decided to congregate there.......even if you survive any particular encounter the noise will likely result in a half dozen more monsters bearing down on you. In that sense emergent gameplay can be far more terrifying because you know that recovering to a somewhat safe situation can get exponentially more difficult with every mistake you make.
TannisRoot on 25/10/2016 at 10:57
I really enjoyed the village part of The Evil Within (where the chainsaw boss is). You have a reasonably non-linear open area with a few approaches of varying difficulty and you must complete a few objectives in it then free the boss for a fight. It was scary, but allowed for several playstyles: stealth, full on assault, picking off enemies one by one...
Too bad it's the only level in the game like that. The rest is mostly linear hallways.
catbarf on 25/10/2016 at 16:13
Dead Space got me good a couple of times by lulling me into thinking certain types of areas were safe (mainly the tram hubs, and the optional locked rooms), establishing a gameplay convention that these areas are 'out of play', and then dropping just a single regular monster the next time I visited. The rest of the game was mostly predictable jumpscares and gratuitous mental effects which were more creepy than actually frightening, but unexpectedly violating the player's sense of safety is an effective way to scare.
I think that's where the strength of a game like SS2 comes from. Because the scares are unscripted, it doesn't have any 'rules' for the player to learn, so you can never predict when you're going to run into an unexpected Midwife or get jumped by a hybrid while you hack. Even otherwise well-designed horror games stop being scary when you can follow the patterns and predict when you're going to be in danger, but in SS2 there are very few areas where you can feel safe.
TannisRoot on 25/10/2016 at 17:07
Fatal Frame 2 wonderfully subverts the "safe save room" convention by putting a ghost that crawls out of a kimono box in there two grab you when you try to save.
Yakoob on 26/10/2016 at 23:51
Aye, the inherent unpredictability of SS2 is a big factor in the horror. With things like Dead Space, I can't quite get scared since I know the closet monsters are carefully inserted at just the right points, and will never be too hard nor too easy. With SS2, you literally never know what might be around the corner... or how many.
The moments when you are stealthy around a big secu bot when a few hybrids decide to run straight at your hideout, oh fuu---
Pyrian on 27/10/2016 at 00:03
Hmm. I don't really feel that way about SS2 at all; never did. Many of the spawn locations are like clockwork, to the point where well-traveled sections become rote "yup there's the spawn that's always there", many small raised areas are indefinitely safe, chem rooms generally aren't indefinitely safe but are still mostly safe for rather long periods of time.
froghawk on 27/10/2016 at 05:49
Same, SS2 never got me with the horror elements because it isn't very surreal. I need a lot of surrealism for horror to be effective, which is why the first 4 SH games are the pinnacle of that for me.
Neb on 27/10/2016 at 07:39
Not strictly game mechanics, but make a comparison between the level design in Condemned: Criminal Origins and the asylum level from the new Thief game. The latter fell completely flat as a horror experience, mostly on account of its railroading. If you're following a linear path, there doesn't come a point where you're not sure which direction you're vulnerable from - all you have to do is deal with what is ahead. Condemned, even in its linear sections, had many small branches and T-junctions. The level design forced you to turn your back on many unexplored, dark paths that you quickly lost the thread of safety you'd feel from being able to back off into a corner somewhere, or hide in a locker.
(I guess you could add Alien: Isolation as an example, but I found that to be too stressful to play).
