Suggestions for Future Horror Games

[Zaffre]

Hi. I've been coming up with some ideas that would make horror games scarier and more immersive, and I was wondering what the Frictional Games community could come up with. My idea is an enemy that always stays in your peripheral vision, in the darkness. When you turn to look at it, it would seemingly vanish because it moves incredibly fast. The farther you get into the game, the more frequently it would appear. It would make no noise, and would never harm you. This is similar to a fictional creature dubbed SCP-372 which always stays in your blind spots.

So, what do you all think? What would make horror games scarier?

[Froge]

I would like a horror game that is mentally disturbing.

One problem I had with Amnesia was that the monsters were too normal. Sure, Brutes with their facelessness look horrifying, but it has a rather traditional way of killing you: a stab. That's too normal. I would like a video game with an enemy that's so strange and bizarre it will chill the player to the bone. I'm thinking a shadow that subtly changes its size and / or shape every moment you look at it, and for no reason other than to fuck with your mind. As the creature closes in on you, it specifically develops very eerie humanoid features, but with just something odd about it, like having legs on top of its face. When you look at the shadow, you will only see a face smiling at you through the darkness, and nothing else. The face bears an impossibly wide grin, a smile stretching across the entire screen. As the shadow attacks, its limbs and neck suddenly curls into giant bizarre spirals that slowly wrap around your body, inflicting no visible pain, but enshrouding you into deeper and deeper darkness. When you die, all you see is that face smiling at you through the darkness. Game over.

The environment should be an enemy too. In outdoor places there is no monster; the very area wants to destroy you. As you get closer to the heart of the environment, your vision distorts, you start seeing strange laughing faces hanging in the air, jeering and taunting you. If you get caught by the environment - i.e. falling into one of its traps - your vision will become completely distorted until you see a landscape that horrifies you to the bone. Game over.

Spoiler below!

[Zaffre]

I would like a horror game that is mentally disturbing.

One problem I had with Amnesia was that the monsters were too normal. Sure, Brutes with their facelessness look horrifying, but it has a rather traditional way of killing you: a stab. That's too normal. I would like a video game with an enemy that's so strange and bizarre it will chill the player to the bone. I'm thinking a shadow that subtly changes its size and / or shape every moment you look at it, and for no reason other than to fuck with your mind. As the creature closes in on you, it specifically develops very eerie humanoid features, but with just something odd about it, like having legs on top of its face. When you look at the shadow, you will only see a face smiling at you through the darkness, and nothing else. The face bears an impossibly wide grin, a smile stretching across the entire screen. As the shadow attacks, its limbs and neck suddenly curls into giant bizarre spirals that slowly wrap around your body, inflicting no visible pain, but enshrouding you into deeper and deeper darkness. When you die, all you see is that face smiling at you through the darkness. Game over.

The environment should be an enemy too. In outdoor places there is no monster; the very area wants to destroy you. As you get closer to the heart of the environment, your vision distorts, you start seeing strange laughing faces hanging in the air, jeering and taunting you. If you get caught by the environment - i.e. falling into one of its traps - your vision will become completely distorted until you see a landscape that horrifies you to the bone. Game over.

Spoiler below!

I think the whole "faces in the dark" idea is overdone, but a bizarre enemy is a good idea. Consider the opposite of this. You'd better hope you have enough battery to keep that light on, because when it goes out the only safety measure between that monster and you is gone. It hides in the shadows and you're impervious to it in the light because the light will keep it at bay. When you enter the darkness, there's nothing keeping at bay.

Even worse, it's invisible in the darkness. You literally have no idea where it is so you could be walking straight into it with no idea. The Lurker is different because the splashes show you where it is and it makes enough noise that you can safely see where it is when it's standing still or chasing you. But the monster here? Nope. Not a single trace of it until it swallows you.

There should be some kind of early warning system, though, otherwise it would enrage a lot of players. Maybe a deep inhale/exhale sound from time to time or a slight distortion in the ambience or music to signify that you are not alone.

[Froge]

Aside from scaring the player, I also think a good horror game needs a very refined "horror" plot. Silent Hill 2 came close to achieving this, although the characters in that game were just a bit too bizarre. Plot analysis is good - it shows depth in a game's story - but Silent Hill is simply too mysterious. Amnesia was a stunning example of a good "horror" plot due to the scary torture to back up the game's already psychologically terrifying gameplay.

From my personal experience, I believe that being "chased" by something unknown and mysterious is always a good premise for the start of a game. It's overdone, I know; but it can still be done well if you put in the right settings and characters. One thing that immediately got me interested in Amnesia was when I read the note about the Shadow hunting Daniel down.

[Zaffre]

Aside from scaring the player, I also think a good horror game needs a very refined "horror" plot. Silent Hill 2 came close to achieving this, although the characters in that game were just a bit too bizarre. Plot analysis is good - it shows depth in a game's story - but Silent Hill is simply too mysterious. Amnesia was a stunning example of a good "horror" plot due to the scary torture to back up the game's already psychologically terrifying gameplay.

From my personal experience, I believe that being "chased" by something unknown and mysterious is always a good premise for the start of a game. It's overdone, I know; but it can still be done well if you put in the right settings and characters. One thing that immediately got me interested in Amnesia was when I read the note about the Shadow hunting Daniel down.

Exactly. When you read about the Shadow, not only does it add more of an eerie feel to the atmosphere, it makes you curious as to what it is, which spurs you onward.

[failedALIAS]

I want to say right now that both of those ideas sound pretty terrible. Chrono's is impossible and lacking substance. And Zaffre's idea works ineffectively as a video game. That, and people won't really think of it s something in the dark coming to get you, rather the darkness hurts, which in a video game just isn't scary. It can't be pure darkness, since light is necessary for many key elements of terror.

[Damascus Rose]

Basically monsters which act abnormally and you can't figure out any distinguishable patterns in their behaviour. A monster that seems to act differently all the time (randomized is an option), for an example a monster, such as a grunt entering the room where you are hiding. It walks up besides you, and seemingly doesn't see you. You then see it start walking away slowly and forgetting about you, when suddenly it turns around immediately and runs straight at you, ready to tear your face off.

Of course, it doesn't have to be all randomized behaviour, just behaviour that is very confusing to figure out.

[Kreekakon]

That, and people won't really think of it s something in the dark coming to get you, rather the darkness hurts, which in a video game just isn't scary.

Something I think is important in these type of games is to keep the gameplay simple to keep the player from needing to strategize too deeply. In my opinion, the more you have to strategize in terms of gameplay, the more it will take away from the game's setting, and atmosphere.

[Kazakarumariou]

Visiting a fast food place.
You flush yourself down the toilet by accident.
You're in a hidden underwater factory run by starving monsters!
You have to find a piece of glass so you can unflush yourself!

100% genius

[Kreekakon]

Visiting a fast food place.
You flush yourself down the toilet by accident.
You're in a hidden underwater factory run by starving monsters!
You have to find a piece of glass so you can unflush yourself!

100% genius

I blame restroom maintenance.