Does Perma Death make a game scarier?

[skyhawk02]

There has been a rise of permanent death in games lately. A new horror game, Routine, is going to have perma death.

My question is does perma death make a game scarier? I am not sure on the answer, my feeling is this: perma death makes the players more scared of losing but less scared of the gameworld and monsters if that makes sense.

Obviously length of the game plays a factor here as well. i don't know, I'm having trouble figuring out my thoughts on it, thats why I'm turning to you guys. Should horror games use perma death? Just for fun I'll put a poll up as well if I can figure out how to do it.

[PutraenusAlivius]

For me, it's no because if you died a lot, it's a bit frustrating that you have to restart the game. When I played Justine, I was killed so many times I was frustrated.

[Wapez]

Permanent death, meaning that the player has to restart the game when dying, makes a horror game scary in another way than it would have been without it, and changes the way that game will be played.


First of all, it makes the player care for his life more, especially when the game is of the horror genre. The player might hold back his feelings of wanting to explore and discover, because dying would be too much of a pushback for the risk to be worth it.
Secondly, it changes what the player is scared of. Instead of being scared of (using Amnesia as an example) the guardians, the shadow or torture events etc. (whatever you find scary), he will be scared, or maybe even more so, worried of his actual death. Not because the horrific atmosphere chills him to the bone, but because he has to start all over. And while this for some people might be scarier the first time, it certainly won't be during the third, fourth or even fifth time you play it.

And that's probably the worst thing about perma death. You have to play the same thing again. Horror games really aren't very fun to play multiple times, since you know what's going to happen and how everything works. The player will just rush through the maps he completed, unfrightened and fully aware of how to complete the puzzles, and then start to play normally again when he reaches the point of where he died the last time. But during the time it took to get back there, the mood pretty much got killed. He's been facing the monster without being scared, completing puzzles without thinking, and walked through scary events without being affected. That kills the feeling for the rest of the game too. Not to mention the frustration when he dies once again.

I think perma death turns a horror game into too much of a "survival-stay away" game, instead of actually putting the player in the core of the horror itself and scaring him to death when he's exploring the beautiful yet disturbing maps. In a good horror game the player will be caring enough for his life even if he can continue playing after death.

Now that's just me.

[Googolplex]

No, it's just frustrating. You have more fear to lose all your advance, instead of the monster itself.
In a short experimental "hardcore" game like Justine, this probably works. But it also prevents me to finish the game yet. It would be better, when restarting the current area, but not the whole game from the beginning. This also would only work in small areas! Remember Penumbra, where you have very big areas with puzzles - it wouldn't make the game scarier when you have to do all advantage again!!!
To prevent immersion breaks after a death, monsters should not kill the player completely. They should just quell the player to the ground and then walking away. The player should stay immobile and weakened (can't see clear, be slow and uncontrollable) for 4-5 minutes!!!
When a player don't want to be weakened, he could just load a previous savegame. But the point is, that the game itself does not break or automatically reset the player. The game continues.
So, it's really a good idea to make the player immortal? No! When you jump down a floor or sth, you should die, but this should only happen when making a controlling failure.
The consequence of death by a monster is, that you are almost uncontrollable and weakened for some time. And I mean for 5 minutes. This is a long time when the protagonist is "unplayable" for this time.

[Gunslingerjh]

It increases the realism for me! In TDD you can just run into a monster and respawn to remove the monster from that specific level. Biggest mistake ever :/. Permadeath kind of increases the intensity in how emersed you are in the game. Just like real life, i like that! Though it is definitely not recommended for larger story driven games. In Routine, they expect you to choose your own path in the complex and try to figure out the story the way you want to. Amnesia is a whole different case..

[Macgyverthehero]

It increases the realism for me! In TDD you can just run into a monster and respawn to remove the monster from that specific level. Biggest mistake ever :/. Permadeath kind of increases the intensity in how emersed you are in the game. Just like real life, i like that! Though it is definitely not recommended for larger story driven games. In Routine, they expect you to choose your own path in the complex and try to figure out the story the way you want to. Amnesia is a whole different case..

It does not seem that realistic when you die and you end up in another body in the same place you start off with that shares the same name as you.

[felixmole]

It increases the realism for me! In TDD you can just run into a monster and respawn to remove the monster from that specific level.

On the other hand, sometimes a few things get different after getting killed by a monster, like in the morgue or in the prison.

[Potato]

No. Not really.

[LordGubGub]

It's a good idea because it makes the player very scared of dying. In Amnesia, I'm not that afraid of dying because I don't really have anything to lose. But it's a bad idea because it can be frustrating and can break immersion.

[Bridge]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suspension_of_disbelief