Things you like and hate in Horror Games.

[Froge]

I'm a big Silent Hill fan, and the two horror aspects SH1-3 did right were sound and lighting. The radio static in Silent Hill was innovative because playing the game with it on was scarier than playing without. A dreadful feeling of anxiety and unease creeps up on me every time I hear it, because by classical conditioning I associated the sound with the approach of monsters. The darkness in Silent Hill was also stifling, as you couldn't see anywhere without your flashlight.

Amnesia was successful in my opinion because it replicated SH's formula. It had special music when monsters were nearby, similar to the radio static, and the whole game (or at least from Back Hall and onwards) was so dark you had to turn on the lamp most of the time to be able to see something. AAMFP was not as scary because it didn't follow this guideline at all - no monster music and much better lit areas.

[Red]

@Ghieri

That's what you get when different developers write on wrong genre, if i remember correctly, Chinerooms had never experienced in horror games before, they were more into story telling, for example: Dear Esther. That's why Machine For Pigs focused more on story driven horror, instead to gameplay mechanics and atmosphere.

As a game it was great, but as horror game only mediocre, imo.

[Deep One]

@Ghieri

That's what you get when different developers write on wrong genre, if i remember correctly, Chinerooms had never experienced in horror games before, they were more into story telling, for example: Dear Esther. That's why Machine For Pigs focused more on story driven horror, instead to gameplay mechanics and atmosphere.

As a game it was great, but as horror game only mediocre, imo.

TCR made one horror mod for HL2EP2 before aamfp, it's called Korsakovia. It was pretty scary imo

[Red]

@Ghieri

That's what you get when different developers write on wrong genre, if i remember correctly, Chinerooms had never experienced in horror games before, they were more into story telling, for example: Dear Esther. That's why Machine For Pigs focused more on story driven horror, instead to gameplay mechanics and atmosphere.

As a game it was great, but as horror game only mediocre, imo.

TCR made one horror mod for HL2EP2 before aamfp, it's called Korsakovia. It was pretty scary imo

A mod? That might be the reason i haven't heard about it.

[Macgyverthehero]

Like:
- "When you see/hear it" moments.
- Foreboding environments.
- Notes that enhance the scariness of the environment
- Elements that change (e.g. going through a hallway into a room, then coming back out to see something in the hallway changed.)
- Monsters that act and move unnaturally.
- When monsters call in distress (e.g. a possessed, deformed human calling for "help".)
- Isolation
- Something non-organic being a monster. (e.g. a robot.)

Dislikes:
- Overuse of jumpscares.
- Bloody rooms.
- Basements.
- Attics.
- Creepypasta characters.

[Zatchie]

Well I like that you point out the sounds and atmosphere of the games and not only the gameplay and story. I really like these atmospheric games with good ambience and cool random noises all around. I also think it would've been cooler if amnesia would had more patrolling enemies because you just find yourself in a room waiting for the music to stop and then you know you're safe. However in Outlast where the enemies are patrolling it gives a more sence of reality and passive danger.

The sounds in amnesia is really creepy and makes the enviroment much more intense and alive. What would make a jump scare more scary than someone screaming their lungs out in your ear, if the scare is silent then nobody would flinch. I think that people should spend as much time on the sound as they do on the maps and enviroments since the sounds really make half the game.

[AGP]

The great thing I've found about video games is that they have the visual storytelling capabilities of a film with the intimacy of radio, and this becomes so impactful (spell check is telling me this is not a word, but I beg to differ) for horror games. There needs to be a correct balance between audio and visual, since games are interactive (unlike with films), it's very necessary to have that balance.

That's why games like Silent Hill and Amnesia and Penumbra are so good, because visually and auditorally (again, don't know if that's a word) they meshed so well together.

To make a GOOD or rather, successful, horror game, it's imperative to have a theme. Like with Outlast, I didn't notice it until Markiplier said something in his Whistleblower playthrough, but Outlast does have a very strong visual and sound theme that make the atmosphere alone very terrifying.

With games with AAMFP, while the writing was fantastic (and I was drooling and over-all a little too excited over the writing), there just wasn't a cohesive a theme another than: "let's just use a lot of pig imagery". But the way that was built up wasn't effective because it was talked about WAY TOO MUCH and by the time we saw the enemies, we just think "Oh... A pig, because I was totally expecting an elephant" and we loose the fear factor.

That's not necessarily all in regards to making a story work, but it's part of it.

NEED: visual and sound theme, good sense of balance between all the aspects of the game, an atmosphere and environment that keeps the player engaged and on their toes, a good sense of imagination and creativity

While jumpscares can be effective for building up and releasing tension, the overuse of them can become boring, predictable, and downright unimaginative.

[Alex Ros]

The only one thing I love/hate at the same time is linearity/frustration. I hate too linear horror games but at the same time I hate non-linearity that leads to frustration where to go. For example Silent Hill 2 was a bit too linear while it might have a bit too more non-linear. On the other hand Silent Hill Homecoming non linear town was (in my opinion) way too frustrating. As a result I do not know any horror game that is balanced real great at linearity/frustration. Lots of RPG games are nice with that, but not horror for some unknown reason. (Maybe there're one or two which I do not know). Well, that's why I am waiting for the Forest with a great interest. Seems like it's going to be interesting balance between open world and story driven portions of that open world. Well I hope.

[Froge]

^Amnesia is the best non-linear horror game IMO. At each hub, you could explore the levels in any order you like, giving the environment a sense of vastness and foreboding. For example, upon arriving at the Back Hall, pretty much nobody goes into the Storage first, so the place builds up in the players mind as somewhere they'd have to prepare themselves for.

[Deep One]

For example, upon arriving at the Back Hall, pretty much nobody goes into the Storage first

I did

my anus wasn't ready