Horror Games Megathread

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Night10194: Feb 13, 2012; We'll start,
like many good things,
with a bear.

Vakal posted:

Silent Hill: The Room gets a lot of crap at times (most of it warranted) but it still is probably my favorite entry in the series since the original.

Most of this is due to the first person exploration of the room itself and finding all the haunting and other creepy poo poo.

2 and the Room are my favorites. I dunno why, but the Room really connected with me and scared the hell out of me. I think it was the whole 'being chased by poo poo you can't kill' element.

# ¿ Jul 11, 2014 07:46

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# ¿ Apr 27, 2024 09:05

Night10194: Feb 13, 2012; We'll start,
like many good things,
with a bear.

You know what did a good job of that, mostly? Gabriel Knight, the old adventure game. Most situations in the game it's impossible to die, and they reserve the possibility of dying for situations that are obviously dangerous and usually the solution is right nearby. It lets them contrast the rest of the puzzles and make the climax of the story stand out.

# ¿ Aug 28, 2015 22:49

Night10194: Feb 13, 2012; We'll start,
like many good things,
with a bear.

The thing I liked about it is that the whole 'who lives and who dies' element is a really good way to add the game element to it. If you want to play them as relatively cowardly, douchey slasher victims they can all die, or you can try to deny the genre conventions and have them look to their survival. It's a nice way to differentiate it as a good horror game of a horror movie instead of just a good horror movie.

# ¿ Sep 2, 2015 21:28

Night10194: Feb 13, 2012; We'll start,
like many good things,
with a bear.

That was a big part of why Eternal Darkness was so good, though. In a lot of cases, too, even though your protagonist suffered and died they completed a little thing necessary to give a future hero a chance to actually win; almost no-one dies pointlessly in ED, but almost everyone dies and it keeps the story tense without being unsatisfying.

# ¿ Oct 5, 2015 18:35

Night10194: Feb 13, 2012; We'll start,
like many good things,
with a bear.

I meant to agree that it was a great part of the storytelling, not to come off as hopping in to defend it.

ED was the game that got me into horror games. So good.

# ¿ Oct 5, 2015 19:49

Night10194: Feb 13, 2012; We'll start,
like many good things,
with a bear.

Accordion Man posted:

Scratches and playing as Alex in Eternal Darkness are the like the best examples of building tension and creepiness without relying on jump scares and the like in a game. (ED did have one jump scare in that segment, but it was an effective one.)

Having one is fine. In fact, having ONE is not a bad idea at all; it's a good way to payoff some of that tension, right when someone starts to relax and is convinced nothing is going to happen.

# ¿ Oct 17, 2015 19:03

Night10194: Feb 13, 2012; We'll start,
like many good things,
with a bear.

Rule of Rose is a terrible game gameplay wise but has a truly fantastic plot and atmosphere. It was definitely worth experiencing.

# ¿ Jan 21, 2016 09:17

Night10194: Feb 13, 2012; We'll start,
like many good things,
with a bear.

Accordion Man posted:

At least its alleviated by the fact that most enemies are really easy to avoid, as long as you keep moving most enemies won't attack you and even move aside if you run past them. The few enemy arenas and boss fights aside from the final one are still janky messes though.

That final boss was really memorable, though.

Also, Brown is a good dog.

# ¿ Jan 22, 2016 08:38

Night10194: Feb 13, 2012; We'll start,
like many good things,
with a bear.

Accordion Man posted:

Downpour is pretty much a poor man's The Suffering really.

Everyone here should play The Suffering 1.

This here is some legit advice. I remember being astonished the story and atmosphere could be as good as they were with how awesome the gameplay was.

# ¿ Feb 17, 2016 01:51

Night10194: Feb 13, 2012; We'll start,
like many good things,
with a bear.

chitoryu12 posted:

The first Condemned only had weapon degradation for guns flipped around to use as melee weapons, so there was really no reason to switch melee unless you had some bizarre urge to try out everything or got saddled with something that doesn't suit your play style. Generally you'd beat everyone up with a 2x4 or conduit until you got a gun, use up the ammo, then grab the next melee weapon you saw and continue on.

Condemned 2 added unarmed combat and environmental finishers, so they added weapon degradation to everything to encourage players to use the new mechanics and change up their weapons more.

This was the worst idea in 2, coincidentally. The second worst was adding the weapon holster upgrade so you could carry a gun and a melee weapon at the same time, or two guns.

Condemned was at its best when a gun was a very, very temporary solution to a couple problems, quickly discarded for a convenient paper shredded or locker door as soon as it ran dry.

# ¿ May 18, 2016 17:43

Night10194: Feb 13, 2012; We'll start,
like many good things,
with a bear.

How far along are they on RE7? Because I think like every single RE game has gone through 'This will be about spooky ghosts' at some point in its cycle before returning to rooster keys and complete global saturation.

# ¿ Jun 15, 2016 15:32

Night10194: Feb 13, 2012; We'll start,
like many good things,
with a bear.

I will miss ridiculous action movie RE.

# ¿ Jun 16, 2016 16:56

Night10194: Feb 13, 2012; We'll start,
like many good things,
with a bear.

Alien: Isolation's story is Alien if it had worse pacing and a bunch of unnecessary bulges and unsightly bloating.

# ¿ Jul 5, 2016 16:30

Night10194: Feb 13, 2012; We'll start,
like many good things,
with a bear.

The Suffering is one of those games that had no right being as amazingly good as it was. Good story, great creature designs, good writing and voicework, unique setting, and absolutely badass gameplay. It was a different kind of horror, but it worked.

I also really appreciated actually being able to save/help a few people.

# ¿ Jul 15, 2016 14:26

Night10194: Feb 13, 2012; We'll start,
like many good things,
with a bear.

woodenchicken posted:

I thought we were talking BLOOD CURSE. Never tried the older ones.

Blood Curse is much, much easier than the original.

Original Siren is one of very few games I've played that I genuinely couldn't finish.

# ¿ Aug 26, 2016 22:47

Night10194: Feb 13, 2012; We'll start,
like many good things,
with a bear.

DeathChicken posted:

So is Rule of Rose, but everyone should find a way to play that once just so the story can suitably kick you in the stomach (I don't think watching a Let's Play of it would really have the same effect, unfortunately).

Rule of Rose is one of those games I'm really, really glad I played to the end, despite the terrible gameplay.

That was one of the better stories I've played.

# ¿ Aug 27, 2016 05:08

Night10194: Feb 13, 2012; We'll start,
like many good things,
with a bear.

Fil5000 posted:

Siren's UK voice acting was hilariously bad. A genuinely creepy game that had me in fits of laughter at them seemingly using SCEE office staff to voice the characters.

PROFESSSAH!

If you don't love Tamon and Yoriko you have no soul. :colbert:

# ¿ Aug 27, 2016 15:34

Night10194: Feb 13, 2012; We'll start,
like many good things,
with a bear.

Crabtree posted:

I got a dumb idea so I'm wondering if someone already beat me to it, but has there ever been a horror harvest moon? Either inheriting old family cursed lands that you can cleanse or build upon or I guess a cult leader/necromancer that takes pristine location to grow a nice harvest of souls to feed your unquenchable thirst for power.

Well there's always Darkest Dungeon, where you inherit a ruined hamlet and infested manor and trick idiots into clearing it out for you while you abuse them.

# ¿ Oct 4, 2016 00:22

Night10194: Feb 13, 2012; We'll start,
like many good things,
with a bear.

Turpitude II posted:

Isn't it a Silent Hill 1/2 type deal where the original game and the sequel are set in the same 'universe' but don't share characters or general storylines in common? And the player character is a woman?

Edit: Welp, gotta type quicker and/or refresh more frequently, I guess

In 2 you get a letter announcing the girl from 1 is having a book signing about her experience.

# ¿ Oct 5, 2016 21:13

Night10194: Feb 13, 2012; We'll start,
like many good things,
with a bear.

smuh posted:

I never forgot about shouting so loud that homeless dudes heads exploded

I never forget them adding breakable weapons and making unarmed attacks really good so that you mostly punched dudes until you got to levels where you had enough guns not to need to play the fun kind of combat.

Condemned 2 was fun but kinda disappointing.

# ¿ Oct 11, 2016 05:53

Night10194: Feb 13, 2012; We'll start,
like many good things,
with a bear.

Nohman posted:

Don't forget you get in a fist fight with alcoholism.

I actually did forget that part because it was buried in with the head-explosion screaming.

# ¿ Oct 11, 2016 06:04

Night10194: Feb 13, 2012; We'll start,
like many good things,
with a bear.

Too Shy Guy posted:

I didn't spend much time analyzing Fran Bow's story, but from just a surface reading I didn't think it was ambiguous at all that she's not crazy and these things are really happening. That's one thing I really appreciated about it, that it wasn't the same "it's all in your heaaaaaaaad" crutch that so many indie horror games lean on.

I think one of the only horror games to really, really do 'it's all in your heeeeeead' well was Rule of Rose. Good god, Rule of Rose.

# ¿ Oct 13, 2016 23:38

Night10194: Feb 13, 2012; We'll start,
like many good things,
with a bear.

Lifeglug posted:

The original Mosley was voiced by Mark Hamill, also Michael Dorn as Dr John.

It's a shame that they recast, really.

Michael Dorn was really good as Dr. John.

# ¿ Oct 19, 2016 15:58

Night10194: Feb 13, 2012; We'll start,
like many good things,
with a bear.

STALKER was an incredible game.

# ¿ Oct 26, 2016 16:48

Night10194: Feb 13, 2012; We'll start,
like many good things,
with a bear.

Relin posted:

https://twitter.com/Swery65/status/792937819064762368 RIP D4 season 2

I'm really glad his health is improving, at least. Swery deserves good things and happiness in life.

Deadly Premonition was a masterpiece.

# ¿ Oct 31, 2016 12:05

Night10194: Feb 13, 2012; We'll start,
like many good things,
with a bear.

Crabtree posted:

Those theory videos have got to be pissed every time Scott just takes all of their ideas and stomps on them with vague plot elements until he finally releases a good chunk and NOPE, you were all wrong every time!

That's probably the entire point.

# ¿ Dec 10, 2016 03:27

Night10194: Feb 13, 2012; We'll start,
like many good things,
with a bear.

oldpainless posted:

Did Jesus do it or is just somewhere in the Bible? Cuz there's lots of people who follow Jesus but don't like much of the bible

The apocryphal stories about Jesus as a kid have him doing poo poo like smiting another kid dead for talking poo poo and then later resurrecting him because oh poo poo mom might yell at me.

# ¿ Dec 11, 2016 03:45

Night10194: Feb 13, 2012; We'll start,
like many good things,
with a bear.

al-azad posted:

It would be fun if someone did a horror story in biblical times. You don't even need to reference Christ, there are plenty of moments where men do horrible things and then come face to face with something otherworldly.

The reason they refer to angels as 'one like X' is because they're actually saying 'This thing was so loving crazy I can't describe it in human terms but this is the closest I can get.'

# ¿ Dec 11, 2016 04:30

Night10194: Feb 13, 2012; We'll start,
like many good things,
with a bear.

Tired Moritz posted:

Are nephilim canon because I want to believe angels wanted to bone us

Totally canon in Ethiopian Christianity!

# ¿ Dec 11, 2016 04:53

Night10194: Feb 13, 2012; We'll start,
like many good things,
with a bear.

Kokoro Wish posted:

There's a reason that the first thing Angels say to people is "Be not afraid", because they're all monstrosities of Lovecraftian proportions.

Partly, but also partly because even when they're passing for human they are sacred while humans are profane (being of this earth) and so the very presence of a higher being inspires pants-making GBS threads terror and awe.

# ¿ Dec 11, 2016 04:54

Night10194: Feb 13, 2012; We'll start,
like many good things,
with a bear.

MysteriousStranger posted:

True, but go back over how they are described. Because that poo poo is some sort of insanity that can only be explained by "and this random goat herder ate tons and tons of mushrooms" and even then it's a bit crazy.

Sometimes, but sometimes it's just 'I saw one like a son of man.' And even then they're terrified

Angels are cool and the idea of demons from the old Enochian sect are also cool because they're the immortal part of the Nephilim that couldn't die with the mortal part during the flood (because it was a higher being and so water wouldn't kill it) wandering the universe as disjointed and hateful spirits that fundamentally disorder creation by their existence, to the point that eventually God is gonna need to hit the reset button. That was their explanation for breaches of theodicy (the justice of god) and bad things happening to good people; it shouldn't happen but it does because loving immortal turbo-demons that are half the existence of the spawn of humans and angels are running around loving everything up and even God is powerless to wipe them clean without rebooting the universe.

Basically 2nd temple Judaism came up with cosmic horror (or at least a relatively disenfranchised sect that was pissed off about the current priestly sect controlling all of the kingdom's governance did) after they ran into Zoroastrianism when the Persians beat Babylon and released the captive noble classes.

Night10194 fucked around with this message at 07:50 on Dec 11, 2016

# ¿ Dec 11, 2016 07:46

Night10194: Feb 13, 2012; We'll start,
like many good things,
with a bear.

Jukebox Hero posted:

The Viking translation of the bible, about Jesus, God Chieftain of all Jews, traveling around with his warrior apostles loving poo poo up, is my personal favorite version of my religion.

I'm gonna need to see this.

# ¿ Dec 11, 2016 14:41

Night10194: Feb 13, 2012; We'll start,
like many good things,
with a bear.

Ineffiable posted:

El shaddi is seriously kind of a trippy game. At one point a boss fight was me beating up mooks in the background while the boss was doing his singing solo in the foreground. Take up 50% of your screen.

Oh and there's a motorcycle scene in a futuristic city. In a game about the book of Enoch.

I really, highly recommend playing or watching El Shaddai.

# ¿ Dec 15, 2016 14:37

Night10194: Feb 13, 2012; We'll start,
like many good things,
with a bear.

Twerkteam Pizza posted:

I'm playing through System Shock One because I've had it sitting on my computer

I installed the mouse look mod and holy poo poo 10/10

Both System Shocks are so goddamn good.

System Shock 2 was the first 'scary' game I ever played and I couldn't handle more than 20 minutes at a time, at first.

# ¿ Jan 13, 2017 03:24

Night10194: Feb 13, 2012; We'll start,
like many good things,
with a bear.

Yardbomb posted:

Swery is the coolest+kindest guy and this makes me real happy.

Swery is a genuine artist and I love his stuff and wish him the best.

# ¿ Jan 16, 2017 21:32

Night10194: Feb 13, 2012; We'll start,
like many good things,
with a bear.

Outbreak was a really cool idea that would've been great if it had come out later, when multiplayer gaming was easier.

# ¿ Jan 18, 2017 17:32

Night10194: Feb 13, 2012; We'll start,
like many good things,
with a bear.

unpacked robinhood posted:

I remember doing a thing in a plant and it was a complete slog, otherwise great atmosphere.
Gave up at the part where you're underwater I think ?

Dark Corners of the Earth is a good way to remind yourself that J. Edgar Hoover was a massive dick.

# ¿ Jan 20, 2017 00:06

Night10194: Feb 13, 2012; We'll start,
like many good things,
with a bear.

Tribladeofchaos posted:

That's pretty cool if that's true. RE4 did the same thing, the more you die the easier it gets and vice versa.

RE4 was basically a series of triumphs of incredibly good design.

And then a Spanish midget sasses you.

# ¿ Jan 24, 2017 07:09

Night10194: Feb 13, 2012; We'll start,
like many good things,
with a bear.

Bogart posted:

Yeah. Like you said, a triumph of design.

I meant what I said.

Everything about RE4 was perfect.

# ¿ Jan 24, 2017 07:13

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# ¿ Apr 27, 2024 09:05

Night10194: Feb 13, 2012; We'll start,
like many good things,
with a bear.

Meta-Mollusk posted:

It's been ages since I last read any of these, but I still remember how badly Pickman's Model managed to freak me out at the time.

Pickman's Model is legit. It's an art sponsor meeting with a brilliant young artist he's been paying for, seeing the man's work about weird cannibal hounds that live underground and being very impressed Until he realizes the man has been drawing from photographs and that the beasts are real, and flees in terror.

# ¿ Jan 25, 2017 00:22

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