Honorary mention for the Shalebridge Cradle level of Thief: Deadly Shadows. First thing I think I ever played where I actually had to take breaks from the game to let my nerves settle.
A friend of mine who has great taste in horror but doesnât play that many videogames loves this French indie horror RPG called Off: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Off_(video_game)
I havenât played it, but she says itâs really cool.
4 Likes
Yume Nikki!
i think is probably my favorite horror game
5 Likes
that game has badass battle music
I had not put it together but thatâs definitely a horror game, at least what i played of it. Itâs pretty trippy.
3 Likes
OFF is really cool!
RPG maker horror games are neat.
Hylics is pretty freaky in an unnerving way
Undertale is not really horror for the most part but i will give it an honorable mention for the parts that are. the normal ending Flowey fight is REALLY goddamn scary looking to me
3 Likes
There is one door in Fatal Frame that is boarded up on one side and then tied shut with hair on the other. This is like that can of lightbulbs from Silent Hill 2 that makes me really wonder, who, why?
1 Like
how else are you supposed to keep light bulbs from going stale?
2 Likes
played yume nikki because @sleepysmiles reminded me how much i love it and i saw some @Mokushkaâs
oh god i remember this hell maze
6 Likes
World Of Horror has turn-based battles but theyâre more in the abstruse WRPG tradition than the Dragon Quest kind, alas.
Iâm interested in horror games but feel like I bounce off them for the same reason I do from a lot of horror writing, in that the relentless focus on atmosphere can feel a bit stifling and repetitive if youâre not in the exact right mood for it. The ones that interest me most are those that try to go in the other direction and play with the ways tonal uncertainty can itself feel uncanny - Illbleed, Gregory Horror Show, I guess Monster Party in a way? The camp horror pastiche of Zombies Ate My Neighbours always felt more upsetting to me on some level than ârealâ horror games in that it doesnât even acknowledge the nightmare universe that itâs depicting.
This is also something the original Five Nights At Freddies was good at, in that those voice messages your co-worker left you were all really funny!! Like, kind of acknowledging and circling around the basic absurdity of the situation at the same time, in a way I found much more effective than if it had been played in a more conventionally scary way (static, screaming, having a smug daddy dom type dude trying to psyche you out - heh heh heh, welcome to my twisted gameâŚ). Itâs really funny to me that thereâs now a whole subgenre of indie horror games which are just about working menial jobs while trying to avoid being murdered. And everyone sort of acknowledges it, but well, what can ya doâŚ?
Favourite horror game is Halloween Night II which is a really condensed example of something cute and goofy that still carries some kind of weird charge just because it doesnât give you emotional prompts to respond to whatâs going on https://youtu.be/gy6XUYRKLMc?t=20
Scariest game to me is The Tickle People which is just a goofy FPS but has such a deeply unpleasant vibe to it, itâs what videogames turn into in your dreams https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2qRr1lsCs3Y
7 Likes
Have you played Bad Day on the Midway? Itâs an official The Residents video game and it certainly nails âhorror through tonal uncertaintyâ that youâre talking about.
2 Likes
Yeah! Puppet Motel and Gadget: Past as Future give me the same feeling as well honestly.
Itâs funny how many artgames resemble horror ones, at a point when horror games are kind of carrying the torch on all the things I originally enjoyed about artgames - noise, abstraction, uncertainty, overgrown UIs, foregrounding the material, hyperspecific and unglamorous settings, etc. The Haunted PS1 Demo collection was a mixed bag but I did get a kick out of how many âexperimental gameâ type signifiers could turn up without comment in this new context.
1 Like
I have not forgotten you!
I just need some time to think about the game (itâs been one year and half ago) and write something proper.
In the meantime, this article is quite nice:
http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/nanashi-no-game/
Although I would like to add some lines regarding my personal experience.
1 Like
Both interesting advices, and off the beaten path. Isnât the first one, Silent Debuggers, playing like a sort of Dungeon Master or Ultima Underworld?
This thread rules! Is gone sweet home good enough to play even today? I acquired the english patched ROM.
1 Like
do you mean sweet home? if so then yes, though a guide may be useful
2 Likes
I have no patience for horror games where you arenât able to defeat the darkness. Guns, cameras, at least a Brita filter jug full of holy water. Can not stand the Hide/Run genre at all. Wish theyâd make a version of Alien Isolation with some other opponent, because I love the art design outside of the gameplay.
The one game I can think of that is exactly on one side of the line, but with its toes touching the paint, is System Shock 2. In that game fighting is a Very Bad Idea, but it still works.
1 Like
What are some of your favorite enemies/rooms/cutscenes/sounds from a scary game? I just launched Fatal Frame 2 to compare to the first game and, boy, is this cutscene good and scary or what!
2 Likes
10 Likes
There is That One Moment in Silent Hill 3.
I want to be cagey about the details because, described simply, there isnât really anything all that scary about the event that occurs. Taken in the abstract, itâs a little weird, a little creepy, but simply reading a description of the moment or watching it in a YouTube video completely undercuts the momentâs effectiveness upon the player.
If I could describe the experience of it: youâre already in an unpleasant, uncomfortable situation, but you find your way into a new room, and though it immediately presents you with a problem, it seems to at least be a break from the horror. You are instead faced with uncertainty, and with distraction. There is nothing you can do: you are trapped. Are you? You are trapped. The uncertainty and the distraction build, and tension is rising, and you are trapped, but at least there is no danger, there is only uncertainty, and distraction, and tension, and ALARM, and uncertainty, and ALARM, AND PANIC, AND DANGERâ
It is a very effective moment. It is very well-paced.
6 Likes