Does Perma Death make a game scarier?

[Bridge]

Getting back into Planescape made me realize just now how similar the death system is in both games. The difference is only in how it's tied into the gameplay and story. In Amnesia you are instantly teleported to the place where you died with the monster despawned and no explanation is given at all. In Planescape however the fact that you cannot die is an integral part of the story and usually you wake up in places where you would expect to find a recently deceased corpse. It leaves a little to be desired in most cases but I think it definitely is a clever way to handle the whole death issue. It's written in such a way that it does not feel like a transparent game mechanic at all, which I think is admirable. I know the number of ways you can tie death to the story are somewhat limited but it is definitely possible to do well, and you don't need to resort to the extremes (hand-holding on one hand (pun not intended) and on the other perma-death).

[Zixalf]

I'd like to give my input to this question.
No, I don't think permadeath would be an entertainable way to make the game more scary. It would make the game scarier for sure, but I think I would just get frustrated after dying and eventually stop playing.
I do think there could be some more consequences to dying. Right now you just get a scary message saying 'Do not venture into the darkness' or something like that and you can just continue playing as if nothing happened.
So if they could add more consequences (somehow) to the sequel of Amnesia, I think that would make it a lot 'scarier'.
I'm not sure how this can be achieved though, but I'm not a game designer

[sasaluvsamnesia7]

Knowing that 'A Machine for Pigs' will be about the same as its predecessor lengthwise, no I do not believe that permanent death would be suitable. Short horror games, maybe... I don't really like it, myself, but I get annoyed easily, and most horror games nowadays do not scare me, even a little. Those Slenderman games, for example. They don't scare me. The Dark Descent was the first to really impress with its atmosphere and sense of loneliness, use of the lantern, and having to hide. Yet, when you die in TDD often the monsters will never return, and this didn't seem fitting. But I am a person of gaming who loves to explore rather than rush through, so I really hope AMFP doesn't do perma death since I want to explore every nook cranny, object, painting, corner, etc... when I play it

[cantremember]

Permadeath usually means a short game, so no

But the monsters in Penumbra weren't lethal enough, you could just run around with them after you. They were slower than you and didn't deal much damage, looking freaky was their only thing.

In Amnesia the monsters were better in danger-wise but dying in the game was way too forgiving. You just respawn with the monster gone (most of the time) so you could just let yourself get killed on purpose and continue.

[Plazmater]

Perma Death is not really cool man even though you feel more scared and heart is beating like hell because of stress that you dont want to fail after long gameplay, just like Justine , for me. That´s why i dont save last guy , i dont wanted suitor to get to me i was already shiting my pants in stress that only few seconds and he would get me if i wouldn´t be fast so yea , perma death is making it scarier a bit but it is not cool , result would be rage and it is not worth it.

[HorrorElementFilms]

I think that the idea could be used as a "difficulty" mode, where the player can choose whether or not "permadeath" is in effect. Sure it would be a bad PERMANENT feature, but an optional one could give players the best of both worlds.

But, I think that Frictional Games is so far into being done with AMFP, I wouldn't think they would change the way they usually script just for the option of making the game harder. Maybe somebody could mod it later or something, i dunno.

[Onlinezigeuner]

In my opinion it doesn`t matter, because the atmosphere, well placed jumpscares, soundambience, unknown, cruel story and the helplessness makes it scary for me and not the consequences of loading an earlier savepoint.

I really can't tell what could this game make more scary...maybe some kind of powerglove or oculus rift environment.

[Cuyir]

It's all about the implementation, not the mechanic itself.

I think it's being done well in Routine (from what i've read and seen).

It's basically an ''open world'' horror game where you go wherever you want (assuming you have the right codes and such). So if you die and lose all progress you can just go to another area and decide to hit the area where you died when you feel better prepared.

[linkhead2]

i didnt find it scary so for me only i say no