Horror Games Megathread

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Lil Swamp Booger Baby: Aug 1, 1981

What are some horror games with good stories that aren't insanely obvious poo poo that everyone's already played? Something somewhat new with good graphics would be ideal.

# ? Apr 4, 2023 22:55

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# ? Jun 5, 2024 16:43

Basic Chunnel: Sep 21, 2010; Jesus! Jesus Christ! Say his name! Jesus! Jesus! Come down now!

Observation

# ? Apr 4, 2023 22:58

veni veni veni: Jun 5, 2005

Lil Swamp Booger Baby posted:

What are some horror games with good stories that aren't insanely obvious poo poo that everyone's already played? Something somewhat new with good graphics would be ideal.

Soma

that might be too obvious though I dunno.

# ? Apr 4, 2023 23:47

Oxxidation: Jul 22, 2007

Lil Swamp Booger Baby posted:

What are some horror games with good stories that aren't insanely obvious poo poo that everyone's already played? Something somewhat new with good graphics would be ideal.

signalis, if it's not too obvious or too ugly to meet the bar

# ? Apr 4, 2023 23:49

Lil Swamp Booger Baby: Aug 1, 1981

veni veni veni posted:

Soma

that might be too obvious though I dunno.

I've played Soma a lot lol.

What kicked this off was replaying Resident Evil 7 and just being stunned all over again at how much detail and effort is put into the environment. I guess what I'm really looking for is something along those lines.

# ? Apr 5, 2023 00:16

exquisite tea: Apr 21, 2007; Carly shook her glass, willing the ice to melt. "You still haven't told me what the mission is."

She leaned forward. "We are going to assassinate the bad men of Hollywood."

Lil Swamp Booger Baby posted:

What are some horror games with good stories that aren't insanely obvious poo poo that everyone's already played? Something somewhat new with good graphics would be ideal.

Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice

# ? Apr 5, 2023 00:19

Ulio: Feb 17, 2011

Lil Swamp Booger Baby posted:

What are some horror games with good stories that aren't insanely obvious poo poo that everyone's already played? Something somewhat new with good graphics would be ideal.

Until Dawn, could say The Quarry but The Quarry literally has no scare moments for me.

# ? Apr 5, 2023 02:49

veni veni veni: Jun 5, 2005

exquisite tea posted:

Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice

This is a good rec.

Also since you played soma I�d assume you are familiar with amnesia rebirth but in case you haven�t played it check that out too.

Not explicitly horror but the Metro games scratch some of the same itch that resident evil does for me. And they do have spooky parts.

# ? Apr 5, 2023 03:08

Shastahanshah: Sep 12, 2022; by Jeffrey of YOSPOS

Well, I finished Illbleed.

I honestly have absolutely no idea what happened at the end.Absolutely wild, interesting game that people should check out. Unfortunately the pacing is pretty poor in a lot of places, but if you play old horror games it's probably nothing you haven't seen before. It's a tragedy that the director died without getting the chance to expand on the ideas in a sequel like he'd planned.

Lil Swamp Booger Baby posted:

What are some horror games with good stories that aren't insanely obvious poo poo that everyone's already played? Something somewhat new with good graphics would be ideal.

Good as in realistic or good as in fitting?

Milk outside of a big of milk outside of a bag of milk was pretty cool. Yomawari Midnight Shadows had a good story, but it's definitely more atmosphere focused than story focused. I didn't play much of Yuppie Psycho but I liked what I did play.

# ? Apr 9, 2023 01:08

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Shastahanshah posted:

Well, I finished Illbleed.

A wise decision, friend. Your life is unequivocally changed for the better

# ? Apr 9, 2023 02:12

Read After Burning: Feb 19, 2013; "All this, for me? 💃Ah, you didn't have to! 🥰"

Illbleed is so loving good.

The Shadow the Hedgehog boss, :lol:

# ? Apr 9, 2023 04:52

BisbyWorl: Jan 12, 2019; Knowledge is pain plus observation.

Shastahanshah posted:

Well, I finished Illbleed.

I honestly have absolutely no idea what happened at the end.Absolutely wild, interesting game that people should check out. Unfortunately the pacing is pretty poor in a lot of places, but if you play old horror games it's probably nothing you haven't seen before. It's a tragedy that the director died without getting the chance to expand on the ideas in a sequel like he'd planned.

Don't forget that there's a true ending unlocked by getting all of your friends killed.

Have fun stalling for 20 minutes in Home Run of Death to let Kevin die.

# ? Apr 9, 2023 05:12

Coolguye: Jul 6, 2011; Required by his programming!

I belatedly remembered that I have in fact created a horror game that is on Steam and I should probably post it in this thread.

https://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=4024932

We just updated today, almost doubling the amount of content in the game from our initial release about 5 weeks ago. As far as what it's like, I'll let some of our reviews (many of the following are from goons) do the talking:

quote:

Still in early access as I write this, Endless Dark is already an excellent and largely novel horror concept executed well with no significant issues. I will be continuing to pursue it as the developers add new playable characters and functions.

Strongly recommended for any fans of truly novel indie horror that does more than chase trends.

quote:

I work a thankless job where the problems I am tasked with solving always seem to outstrip the resources I have to fix them. The stresses cause me to make costly mistakes, or sometimes just shut down completely for a while. The isolation has slowly chipped away at my sanity.

This game makes me feel seen.

quote:

You are a robot tasked with the unsung task of maintaining and repairing a deep space spacecraft, complete with cargo of the highest priority: Humans, frozen in cryo. The ship falls apart around you, and your replicator meant to produce the spare parts to repair it is just as reliable as the other systems you rely on; marching forever towards entropy as everything else does within the universe.
But the ship is not the main focus of this game. Of course it is what you interact with, keeping it running and getting it to your destination (if there ever truly is one) with all of your human cargo alive is your top priority while you carefully manage a few select resources over the course of several cycles. No, the main focus is you, the custodian, a robot that also marches endlessly towards entropy.
If you think your parts or your body are the only things that can break down, think again. You have unfortunately also been given the capability to feel, and to reason, and the terrible results placing both of those in a facsimile of humanity that does not possess the mental fortitude to withstand the constant rigors of its solitary life. Part of the true horror is seeing your custodian as another person, mistaking it for a human character, simply because of how human they act, only for an event to trigger and to find out that one of the options you can select as a response is literally ripping out your eyes, because you didn't need them anyway. As human as your custodian may act, they can suffer far more than one, and the scarce resources indicate that they must.

Endless Dark, at the time of this writing, is in early access, but what's here is very compelling already. There are no jumpscares, there are no enemies to run and hide from. There is you, ten humans in cryo, you, a ship falling apart at the seams, you, the endless abyss surrounding you, and you. Only you. Only you. I highly recommend it.

quote:

How best to describe this game.

It is ultimately a turned based busy work simulator in which you are an artificial intelligence with the directive of keeping a bunch of cryostasis suspended humans alive as they travel from point A to point B, except for some indiscernable reason the humans were cruel enough to program you with numerous latent mental derangements just waiting for the right set of circumstances to turn your existence into living hell, and your cargo's existence into dead hell.

Each turn you are given a number of tasks to perform which range form cleaning up radioactive spills to repairing broken ship systems but your little beep boop gets exhausted fast, spare parts are few, and free reactor power is limited meaning that after a few turns you realize you really can't keep getting away with it forever. The less resources you have the more you have to torment your robot to do stuff with less chance of success, which increasingly drives it crazy which lowers your chance of success for further actions. Of course you could also practice triage. Do you really need shield systems right now? Does it bother anyone that one of the hallways' door is broken when you can just go around the other way? Do you really need absolutely all the humans alive when you could be looting their cryopods for spare parts? Who needs another accountant, really? Who was ever harmed by some radioactive spill anyway? The rats in the vents probably like it and the pleasant ticking of the geiger counter is soothing.

Ultimately runs turn into a race against time, hoping every turn that you can hold entropy at bay and eventually reach your destination, or alternatively hoping that a stray neutron burst will fry your motherboard and end your miserable existence every time you use the observation deck to meditate on the darkness all before you have to face the realization that maybe 19 turns ago you shouldn't have spent that one piece of spare parts repairing a door when now Bob the space accountant's life hangs in the balance.

Its a fun game, controls are simple, learning the core gameplay loop is not difficult and seeing how miserable a robot can get before it decides its creators need to suffer the baptism of the void for the sin of creating it is entertaining on a fundamental level.

We are $8 on Steam, and I'd be honored if you would give my game a shot.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2290890/Endless_Dark/

# ? Apr 9, 2023 05:21

Space Cadet Omoly: Jan 15, 2014; ~Groovy~

Coolguye posted:

I belatedly remembered that I have in fact created a horror game that is on Steam and I should probably post it in this thread.

https://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=4024932

We just updated today, almost doubling the amount of content in the game from our initial release about 5 weeks ago. As far as what it's like, I'll let some of our reviews (many of the following are from goons) do the talking:

We are $8 on Steam, and I'd be honored if you would give my game a shot.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2290890/Endless_Dark/

added to my wishlist, excited to check it out next time I get paid and my "new games" budget is refreshed.

Is the practical purpose of building a robot with the capacity to feel despair and existential dread ever explored in game? Or is that something the player should just roll with and accept without over thinking it? Either one is find, just kind of curious about what to expect in that area.

# ? Apr 9, 2023 06:14

veni veni veni: Jun 5, 2005

It always throws me off that Illbleed is a horror adventure game from 2001 and not a edgelord FPS from 2008 with that title.

# ? Apr 9, 2023 08:39

Pseudohog: Apr 4, 2007

Coolguye posted:

I belatedly remembered that I have in fact created a horror game that is on Steam and I should probably post it in this thread.

https://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=4024932

We just updated today, almost doubling the amount of content in the game from our initial release about 5 weeks ago. As far as what it's like, I'll let some of our reviews (many of the following are from goons) do the talking:

We are $8 on Steam, and I'd be honored if you would give my game a shot.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2290890/Endless_Dark/

Wishlisted, sounds interesting!

I'm wondering if it took some inspiration from an old text adventure which I can't remember the name of, where I think you take the role of some kind of AI and have to manage the safety of a city or planet? The systems are falling apart around you and all you have to work with are a few robots with limited sensors and manipulators. If you do a bad enough job, the humans you're supposed to be looking after will break into your physical location and unplug you - game over.

# ? Apr 9, 2023 14:48

The Vosgian Beast: Aug 13, 2011; Business is slow

Shastahanshah posted:

Well, I finished Illbleed.

I honestly have absolutely no idea what happened at the end.Absolutely wild, interesting game that people should check out. Unfortunately the pacing is pretty poor in a lot of places, but if you play old horror games it's probably nothing you haven't seen before. It's a tragedy that the director died without getting the chance to expand on the ideas in a sequel like he'd planned.

Good as in realistic or good as in fitting?

Milk outside of a big of milk outside of a bag of milk was pretty cool. Yomawari Midnight Shadows had a good story, but it's definitely more atmosphere focused than story focused. I didn't play much of Yuppie Psycho but I liked what I did play.

MAH DEYAHR SEXAH DAWL

# ? Apr 9, 2023 15:41

Coolguye: Jul 6, 2011; Required by his programming!

Space Cadet Omoly posted:

added to my wishlist, excited to check it out next time I get paid and my "new games" budget is refreshed.

Is the practical purpose of building a robot with the capacity to feel despair and existential dread ever explored in game? Or is that something the player should just roll with and accept without over thinking it? Either one is find, just kind of curious about what to expect in that area.

it isn't in the game yet but this is absolutely in the backstory arc we have planned. the backstory doesn't matter thaaaat much to the game so you need to go looking for it (the observation window will have a small chance to reveal an event in the arc, the arc will be 12 events long, and arc progress will be saved between runs).

the primary thing i am willing to reveal about it at this time is that the theme of actual existential horror is going to be maintained. if you are looking for an easy emotional steam valve, prepare to be disappointed. i've read up a lot on both human neurology and the specifics of neural nets to come up with something that reasonably satisfies both camps and it's gonna suck for all involved.

Pseudohog posted:

Wishlisted, sounds interesting!

I'm wondering if it took some inspiration from an old text adventure which I can't remember the name of, where I think you take the role of some kind of AI and have to manage the safety of a city or planet? The systems are falling apart around you and all you have to work with are a few robots with limited sensors and manipulators. If you do a bad enough job, the humans you're supposed to be looking after will break into your physical location and unplug you - game over.

i'm not familiar with this game, i don't think - unless you mean the mobile game Seedship? i barely played Seedship but i became aware of it when we started Endless Dark, there's some themes in common but ultimately they're very different games. the real thrust of Endless Dark is functionally "man working in the 202X economy sucks, doesn't it?" basically after we came up with the idea for the game, i did a bunch of reading on what work and work/life balance looked like historically, and i came away with a pretty clear (or at least sourceable) perspective about how unique a worker's experience is. it's better in a lot of ways, but it's also horrifying and abusive in a way that, as nearly as i can tell, is very unique to the last few hundred years at least. Endless Dark explicitly is about capturing the horror and inhumanity of being a cubicle rat, a construction drone, a retail slave, etc.

the game is very text-heavy because frankly that's the primary skill we have in our team. soulmata and i are the leaders of the project and we are both programmers with decades of experience, and we are both also published writers. we could therefore get as much writing as we were willing to sweat-equity in, but art and music both required hiring out and money, which we don't have a lot of as a fledgling studio on its first game.

soul and i have loved working together so we're hoping to keep making games after 1.0 hits (hopefully sometime in late may or early june), but to some extent that will depend on how much we can sell. many of our game ideas will require more art than Endless Dark so we will need budget.

Coolguye fucked around with this message at 16:08 on Apr 9, 2023

# ? Apr 9, 2023 15:58

Pseudohog: Apr 4, 2007

After some googling, turns out the game I was thinking of is Suspended - https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suspended_(video_game)

So maybe some similarities around the limited resouces theme, but that's about it.

# ? Apr 9, 2023 16:08

Coolguye: Jul 6, 2011; Required by his programming!

oh, wow, yeah i cannot say i'm familiar with that game at all.

i might need to pick it up, the premise sounds interesting as hell.

# ? Apr 9, 2023 16:09

Hogama: Sep 3, 2011

Shastahanshah posted:

Milk outside of a big of milk outside of a bag of milk was pretty cool.

Was interesting to see this series come up again in a different context shortly after seeing this post.
https://twitter.com/yacobg42/status/1644705868414418946

# ? Apr 9, 2023 19:47

Pseudohog: Apr 4, 2007

Coolguye posted:

oh, wow, yeah i cannot say i'm familiar with that game at all.

i might need to pick it up, the premise sounds interesting as hell.

I think I may have been introduced to it by a let's play from these very own forums, but a forum search and a look through the Let's Play archive hasn't brought anything up I'm afraid!

# ? Apr 10, 2023 01:13

SkeletonHero: Sep 7, 2010

I've been playing Lunacid, and it's a strong recommend. It's not really horror but it has a definite horror-adjacent chill vibe. And one particular area gave me more anxiety than any horror game in the past year or so.

I skipped over Lost in Vivo but now I feel like I should check it out.

# ? Apr 10, 2023 16:33

BisbyWorl: Jan 12, 2019; Knowledge is pain plus observation.

SkeletonHero posted:

I've been playing Lunacid, and it's a strong recommend. It's not really horror but it has a definite horror-adjacent chill vibe. And one particular area gave me more anxiety than any horror game in the past year or so.

I skipped over Lost in Vivo but now I feel like I should check it out.

Iron Pineapple did a bit on it for his latest Steam Dumpster Diving, if anyone wants more info on it.

# ? Apr 10, 2023 17:04

al-azad: May 28, 2009

SkeletonHero posted:

I've been playing Lunacid, and it's a strong recommend. It's not really horror but it has a definite horror-adjacent chill vibe. And one particular area gave me more anxiety than any horror game in the past year or so.

I skipped over Lost in Vivo but now I feel like I should check it out.

Lost in Vivo is the best Silent Hill that doesn't have Silent Hill name. It's like all the boss floors in Spooky's rolled into a tight little 2-ish hour package.

# ? Apr 10, 2023 17:08

Shastahanshah: Sep 12, 2022; by Jeffrey of YOSPOS

Hogama posted:

Was interesting to see this series come up again in a different context shortly after seeing this post.
https://twitter.com/yacobg42/status/1644705868414418946

Hell yeah! I love that game, it's so unique. I have a special place in my heart for games about sad girls in general, though.

Has anyone played Dredge? It's a weird fishing horror game that seemed pretty cool.

# ? Apr 11, 2023 04:29

TheJadedOne: Aug 13, 2004

Shastahanshah posted:

Has anyone played Dredge? It's a weird fishing horror game that seemed pretty cool.

It is a fun little fishing horror game. Unfortunately I found the horror parts of it a bit shallow and wish the fishing parts were a bit deeper. I did enjoy it though and sailed through it in a weekend.

# ? Apr 11, 2023 05:04

Shastahanshah: Sep 12, 2022; by Jeffrey of YOSPOS

I was thinking of playing through some of the old "classic" RPG maker horror games I haven't. There's the Crooked Man, Witch's House, Mad Father, Ib, Mogeko Castle, Corpse Party, Ao Oni and Misao that I've heard about.

Anyone have thoughts on those? I bet a bunch of them haven't aged well or anything, but Yume Nikki and Off were both straight fire.

TheJadedOne posted:

It is a fun little fishing horror game. Unfortunately I found the horror parts of it a bit shallow and wish the fishing parts were a bit deeper. I did enjoy it though and sailed through it in a weekend.

Sounds like a 'wait for a sale' kinda game then, thanks!

# ? Apr 13, 2023 07:10

The Saddest Rhino: Apr 29, 2009; Put it all together.
Solve the world.
One conversation at a time.

I also finished dredge, the horror part are very much like just window dressing to lend a lot of (not bad) atmosphere to an otherwise tiny open world fishing and dredging game. I enjoyed it for what it was worth as a steam deck game where I could play while i sit through meetings and podcasts. It's worth a weekend plqythrough for how short it is, but I do also agree you can wait for a sale

# ? Apr 13, 2023 07:49

Read After Burning: Feb 19, 2013; "All this, for me? 💃Ah, you didn't have to! 🥰"

Not sure where else to put this: last night I was trying to Google what "Buddy Simulator 1984" was, and accidentally searched "Bussy Simulator 1984". :yikes:

# ? Apr 13, 2023 22:55

Captain Hygiene: Sep 17, 2007; You mess with the crabbo...

Read After Burning posted:

Not sure where else to put this: last night I was trying to Google what "Buddy Simulator 1984" was, and accidentally searched "Bussy Simulator 1984".

So....not a recommend?

# ? Apr 13, 2023 22:58

TheWorldsaStage: Sep 10, 2020

Okay just got through Paranormasight!

It ended up being a lot more hopeful and optimistic all around than I expected. Great story! If you like visual novels and want something spooky but not depressing I'd recommend it!

# ? Apr 15, 2023 02:36

tensai: May 8, 2007; Just trying to keep my boyfriend away from that redheaded harlot.

TheWorldsaStage posted:

Okay just got through Paranormasight!

It ended up being a lot more hopeful and optimistic all around than I expected. Great story! If you like visual novels and want something spooky but not depressing I'd recommend it!

I also appreciate that it was on the shorter side of VNs. Told an interesting story and moved on. Also has some interesting puzzles.

# ? Apr 15, 2023 03:03

Meowywitch: Jan 14, 2010; Fight for all that is beautiful in the world

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yruQlZBeZyw

Man the 00's era of dog-pal survival horror games ruled???

I've never played Haunting Ground here but this character acts so bizarre and inhuman that it manages to unnerve me even tho this game is like 20 years old now?

Maybe I should play it.

# ? Apr 16, 2023 03:32

Read After Burning: Feb 19, 2013; "All this, for me? 💃Ah, you didn't have to! 🥰"

I was obsessed with Daniella when I was a kid, she was one of my favorite survival horror characters. :allears:

Games where someone/something is constantly on the hunt for you and chasing you are the absolute scariest! :stare:

Captain Hygiene posted:

So....not a recommend?

I'm genuinely surprised it took until 2022 or whatever to make Tamagotchi but horror

# ? Apr 16, 2023 04:26

Ineffiable: Feb 16, 2008; Some say that his politics are terrifying, and that he once punched a horse to the ground...

Read After Burning posted:

Not sure where else to put this: last night I was trying to Google what "Buddy Simulator 1984" was, and accidentally searched "Bussy Simulator 1984".

This might say something about you if your autocorrect got you like this.

# ? Apr 17, 2023 21:42

Read After Burning: Feb 19, 2013; "All this, for me? 💃Ah, you didn't have to! 🥰"

My partner just discovered Dredge and I think I'm going to have to force him off the PC so we can watch Succession tonight... :kiddo:

Ineffiable posted:

This might say something about you if your autocorrect got you like this.

Ha, it definitely wasn't autocorrect, my fingers actually typed it out. :doh:

S key and D key are right next to each other.

# ? Apr 17, 2023 21:46

dogstile: May 1, 2012; fucking clocks
how do they work?

It's ok, we know you're just embracing total warhammers blunderbussy meme. You're safe here.

# ? Apr 18, 2023 11:28

Vookatos: May 2, 2013

SkeletonHero posted:

I've been playing Lunacid, and it's a strong recommend. It's not really horror but it has a definite horror-adjacent chill vibe. And one particular area gave me more anxiety than any horror game in the past year or so.

I skipped over Lost in Vivo but now I feel like I should check it out.

I've been playing through it too, and while I recommend it, I'm a bit bummed by its difficulty.
The game is too easy, which is weird considering it's inspired by King's Field which is just Dark Souls 0.5. It's pretty spooky, but the tension goes rigth out the window since the game showers you with EXP and even my build (which has ludicrous speed stat and high jumps, with barely any protection) needs to get hit like 30 times to die.

# ? Apr 18, 2023 15:27

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# ? Jun 5, 2024 16:43

Wanderer: Nov 5, 2006; our every move is the new tradition

My review of Dead Island 2 just went live:

https://www.gameskinny.com/6513d/dead-island-2-review-to-live-and-die-in-la

In short: play it co-op or keep your expectations low. There's also a nicely creepy bit about halfway through that's worth a look, and I'd say the whole thing is an improvement on the original, but it really does feel like a 4K remaster of a 360 game.

# ? Apr 18, 2023 19:24

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Video Games > Horror Games Megathread

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