What Makes a Horror Game Truly Scary?

[modeps]

Gamasutra (http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=22388) has an opinion piece running today regarding horror games and their actual scare factor.

Horror games have had an interesting, if not bumpy, past. The last 20 years has seen the genre develop, die suddenly, return to life like a zombie, and escalate to mainstream proportions, surpassing even horror movies as the hair raising entertainment medium of choice.

My first experience with the horror genre was on the PC, with Hugo’s House of Horrors: an adventure game that had its tendrils primarily wrapped around the pillar of horror, no matter the snippets of humor that managed to rear its ugly head.

Since Biohazard’s success in almost every territory (and its revival of a genre that died unceremoniously in the West after the release of the original Alone in the Dark), numerous competitors have tried to copy, emulate and outrun it.

Be sure to read the whole article (http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=22388).

What makes your skin crawl?

[rpgedgar]

Bad controls! Resident Evil 1 was incredibly scary not just because of it's atmosphere, but because the controls were so bad it made it that much more likely those brain-hungry zombies could actually get ahold of you.

[revelation]

Lack of supplies and sound.

Condemned and BioShock did this effectively well and are the only two games I can think of that really have unnerved me.

[JazGalaxy]

Bad controls! Resident Evil 1 was incredibly scary not just because of it's atmosphere, but because the controls were so bad it made it that much more likely those brain-hungry zombies could actually get ahold of you.

The Occult.

I can't stress enough how sorry I feel for people who enjoy horror games but have played Resident Evil and never Alone In The Dark 1, 2 or 3.

While Resident Evil stresses chemical zombies and monsters, Alone in the Dark took place in a very haunted house. Literally nothing felt safe, ever. The developers did an amazing job of making everything in the game dangerous at one point or another. Early on, for example, the monsers come TO YOU, which removed the safety of exploring the house at your own pace. Similarly, at one point, unless you read a book properly it will kill you. Even the act of reading a book was potentially lethal.

No game has made me so scared while playing it and while NOT playing it.

Reading Jeremy Hartwoods writings of a strange man who comes to get him in his dreams and shows him horrible visions every single night was terrifyingly great.

[modeps]

I've got to say, the soundtrack in Dead Space really adds to the mood. Its semi-dynamic, very atmospheric, and in general, rocks my socks. Sure you've got the jump scares, but sometimes the audio leading up to attacks is more unnerving than the attacks themselves.

[ldi222]

The first myst gave me the creeps and had me looking over my shoulder. I think the haunting soundtrack and mysterious atmosphere were key to the feeling that as you pieced together the story and solved the puzzles left behind, the undertones were just subtly unsettling. I also got a pretty good chill from Undying when I would hear the whisper "look around" and turn on that other type of vision to see the alternative paintings and scribbled warnings. Phantasmagoria was also pretty scary at times.

Ironically these are all old games, I wonder if its the same as film where some of the more scary stuff was done before everything got up close and super graphic. Dead Space didnt scare me a bit and neither does Fear (although the first demo did spook me once but it wore off fast). That haunted house level in Vampire Bloodlines was also very well done.

Id love to see more games actually get scary right, it definitely adds to the immersion when you want to turn the lights on at night because you wonder if something is waiting around the corner irl because of what's on your virtual screen.

[Roc Ingersol]

I start writing down my thoughts before I read the article.
Then I read it and realized my whole post was a glorified summary.

So: I agree with TFA.

[Kunihiko00]

I own every Fatal Frame, but I still have yet to beat any of them, they scare the poop out of me.

[AversionFX]

Atmosphere is what makes games scary - not "BOO! HAHA, GO GET SOME NEW UNDERWEAR, DOUCHE."

Aside from Silent Hill, Thief: Deadly Shadows is probably the most intensely creepy game I can remember. Shalebridge Cradle is a masterpiece of atmosphere.

[ResistanceAddict]

The only two games that ever truky scared the shit out of me at times were Condemned 2 and Dead Space. F.E.A.R. came pretty close, too; it made me jump a few too many times.

[zipR]

Aside from Silent Hill, Thief: Deadly Shadows is probably the most intensely creepy game I can remember. Shalebridge Cradle is a masterpiece of atmosphere.

Agreed. Too bad Thief:DS got such a bum rap -- I really enjoyed that game.

[Phread]

Atmosphere makes the game scary, not a bunch of cheap jump scares. Creepy set pieces like the apartment building in Silent Hill 2 when you got your first look at pyramid head go a lot farther to scare me than any battle scene.
Recently, I really liked the start of the "End of Days" mission in Dead Space. No monsters or jump scares, just a room full of bodies lit by candlelight with a really creepy music/soundtrack playing.