Do horror video games scare you?

[crapcat]

And if so, what type of horror game? Something more tense such as amnesia? Or something more in your face, like slender?

 

I personally enjoy SCP containment breach, it's more of a tense game that forces you to face and evade very unnerving situations and entities.

 

However, you may not be scared at all by these things, you may be the kind of person that simply says 'it isn't real.'

 

But in any case, do they manage to scare you? And if so - what kind?

[The Shaper]

The only game that has ever scared me is in fact SCP Containment Breach. The SCP's themselves are not scary (except for that sound 096 makes, I can never listen to it fully), but the feeling of discomfort you get from the games atmosphere, and the thought of knowing the next time you blink will be your last can become unnerving. Also I'll admit; I still have a little freak out whenever I hear metal creaking in the distance.

 

Slender I didn't find scary. Half the time I ran right at Slendy in order to engage him in a fist fight, but unfortunately the game mechanics don't allow for such things and I had to restart the game each time (I still say I would have won, though.)

[Icy]

If it has any kind of spider in it, big or small, it makes me think there are millions of them in the very room with me.

 

Other than that, I have yet to play a "horror" game that really scares me or makes me jump/want to turn on lights/check behind me or whatever.

 

Slender is just plain not scary to me...

Amnesia is eerie and creepy, and alone, in the dark with headphones it can get pretty... intense, I guess is the word.

Maybe I need to play Cry of Fear or something and it'll turn me...

[Snys93]

   You guys are gonna laugh your butts off, but DOOM 3 for Xbox scared the living crap out of me. I didn't know what to expect since I never played any of the preceding games of the DOOM franchise.

 

   I must admit, the game was well set up. Enemy A.I.s were pooping out in the strangest places, underneath the floor, dropping from above just as you looked, through doors you were just closed, etc.

 

   This game seemed to have everything. Spiders, zombies, demons, disembodied heads, creepy cyborgs. If it weren't for the DOOM movie starring the Rock, I'd still be scared. Instead, I laughed til my sides hurt.

[Prince Elite]

The genre of horror has never really horrified me, however games which have dark and unsettling things did the job well when I was a kid. For example, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone for Game Boy, there's one part when you're in the library and you get aught and the game makes these loud obnoxious noises which would always scare me if i was playing at night. But that was a while ago. Things that kind of jump out at you when your not expecting it work well.

 

Although about two years ago i developed a deep fear of open sea, I do not have this fear any more but it definitely prevented me from playing Lylat Wars' Aquas stage. I would get past Sector Z and switch to Solar because I wanted none of that. 

But anyway, when games don't try to be horrifying, just challenging and THEN jump out at you, that might work. otherwise no, I'm expecting it

[Milkyway64]

Depends on game and presentation. This question as worded lets just about anyone go all tough guy and say "they do not" because they can pick any game they like to justify the answer with. I am almost sure that absolutely everyone can be scared by horror games depending on exposure, type of horror, and so on, humans are pretty much hardwired to react to certain sounds and rapid changes. Someone who feels absolutely nothing from horror games are deliberately trying not to, or used to it.

[crapcat]

Depends on game and presentation. This question as worded lets just about anyone go all tough guy and say "they do not" because they can pick any game they like to justify the answer with. I am almost sure that absolutely everyone can be scared by horror games depending on exposure, type of horror, and so on, humans are pretty much hardwired to react to certain sounds and rapid changes. Someone who feels absolutely nothing from horror games are deliberately trying not to, or used to it.

 

It honestly depends on the person and their perception of fear, one of my friends isn't scared by any of these unnerving games. However, he has a certain phobia, and if a specific game takes advantage of his phobia, and then dresses itself in an unnerving theme, that's a whole different story.

 

But again, everyone's different, so It was only right that the question was worded vaguely.

[Xortberg]

Fatal Frame. 

 

I didn't even play them. I just watched Milky do it. It was still scary as shit.

 

Oh, and an interesting example (which, again, I just watched Milky play) wasn't even really a horror game. Parasite Eve 2 has, in my opinion, one of the scariest segments in any PS1 game I've ever seen. All it is is you running around a deserted town in the desert in broad daylight. Very few, if any, enemies. Just a largely silent town and a very, very suspenseful atmosphere.

 

We did have all the lights off in the room when it started, but we ended up having to turn them on because we were so fucking freaked.

 

In general, though, watching scary games doesn't creep me out. If I try to be scared, for fun and all, I can be, but with a few exceptions I have to play a game to be afraid of it. If I AM playing, it doesn't take much to make me scared. Hell, Dead Space had me scared to an extent when I played.

[crapcat]

Dead space for me isn't that scary, if I have a gun, I'm not really scared at all. Because for me, having a firearm takes away the fear of being a helpless human being.

 

The feeling of being helpless is what scares me the most.

[Xortberg]

Like I said, doesn't take much to scare me XD

[crapcat]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x-c4HNiWG1g

 

just, lol.

[The Shaper]

Like I said, doesn't take much to scare me XD

Boo.

[Clearwater]

The Legend Of Zelda:Majora's Mask had some pretty effective scares.seeing Link scream when he puts

on a mask makes me shiver.

[crapcat]

Well I'm going to revive my old yt channel by making some commentaries.

 

So.

 

Yes.

 

Candles.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvwOgsElbl8

 

I also recommend this horror game, it's not totally shit your pants scary, it has quite a bit of charm.

[Snys93]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x-c4HNiWG1g

 

just, lol.

 oh my god hahahahahahahahahaha!!!

[Snys93]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ci_lKkZrv8

[Vy'drach]

Traditional horror games don't scare me usually. Most of them rely on jump scares from monsters that aren't dangerous and/or gimmick mechanics to create fear such as resource starvation. Games such as Silent Hill, Dino Crisis, Resident Evil and all that used this system.

 

However, Dino Crisis was the one which was actually scary, to me, since rather than slow moving and idiotic zombies, you had fast and intelligent raptors that had a tendency to appear in new locations since they were able to use the ventilation system as well as you to maneuver around. Plus, they tended to play dead from time to time, and unlike the zombies doing that in Resident Evil, they didn't groan and then slowly start to stand up when you got near. No, they knocked you flat on your ass with their tail then quickly got up and tended to be on their way towards you quickly when you're still struggling to regain your footing. But that's nothing compared to this:

 

Head to 2:20 in the video:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dp-59rTKNi4

 

Yes, it's a bit of a jump scare, but it's not some piss-ant zombie or a cat caught in a locker. No, this is a g'damned Tyrannosaurus Rex, and the distance between its mouth and your character is a matter of feet. And while it may look easy to defeat in the video, I'm pretty sure you're not supposed to have the shotgun (and definitely not the grenade launcher, which he had), that soon into the game. Plus, while there was build-up to it, there was no warning. Solve puzzle, receive Tyrannosaurus Rex.

 

 

Oddly enough, another game that can get rather scary is SOCOM: Confrontation. Now if you go look at the game you'll wonder why I'd say it's scary. It's just an online only,  military third-person shooter that's pretty realistic, so why would that be considered scary? The answer, the night maps. These aren't your standard shooter "night" maps where what they mean is brightness is turned down a notch and things are tinted blue. Holy fuckballs, what they mean is, "You can't see more than fifteen feet clearly on the brightest of our night maps." Plus, the game doesn't have a hit indicator really. Bullets hit you and you lose health, that's it. What the game does have is a sound indicator that if an enemy is firing close to you, it puts a red arrow indicating the direction they are from you, and louder guns of course put the arrow up from farther away. This makes it so that suppressors are one of the most common attachments people use in the game (every gun can have two attachements provided they don't occupy the same slot). Suppressors also reduce muzzle flash. A lot. So it's a night map, you're playing ranked (where you die and you're out for that round, no respawning), and it's come down to 1v1 against the enemy. You're creeping along at night unsure if the guy has a thermal scope and is lining you up for a headshot (headshots are 1 hit kills regardless of the gun or range in this game, btw), when you hear a clack clack, and think "Oh shit, grenade!" You then hold still since you have no idea where exactly the thing landed (There are no grenade indicators outside the sound indicator, which those require the grenade to land or bounce off a wall really close to you to set off) only to realize it was the sound of rubble breaking off the building you're near. Then you go on a bit, checking out in the distance even though all it really is out there is black, and suddenly bullets start landing around you and you have no idea where from, just that you're being shot at.

 

This is SOCOM: Confrontation at night. And just to show you what I mean, here's two videos of the map Crossroads, one at night with respawns (killing a lot of the tension), and one during the day that's a clan match (so it's spr srs cautious playing). I actually don't recommend watching all of either of them, but just so you can see what I mean by the "night and day" difference. But I do recommend watching 8:00 - 8:25 in the second one so you can see what I mean about the sounds. Oh, and in the night video with his nightvision goggles, that was real early in Confrontation's game life, and the goggles were made much less effective (to the point you shouldn't even bother turning them on because all it does is kill peripheral vision, green tint everything that's lit up but doesn't touch darkness, and adds static snow onto objects you can see). Also, Crossroads is one of the brighter maps at night.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_O-SM6vEZYM

 

So yeah, 8:00 - 8:25 in this video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=84zAgQQfsv0

 

Oh yeah, also, no health regen, so any damage you take stays with you that round.

 

 

But none of that is as bad as the first Aliens vs. Predator game for PC (Aliens vs. Predator: Classic 2000 on Steam). It's not scary because it's dark, or things pop out at you, or there's not enough ammo or health. No, it is usually dark, but that's not the problem, since you get flares (though you have to be careful how you place them since they can also blind you and obstruct your vision). No, things don't usually pop out at you, there's only a handful of times they will in the entire game, and you have a motion tracker as the Marine. No, the game gives you more than enough ammo (usually ending the level with more M41A Pulse Rifle ammo than you started with), and health is spread out enough that this shouldn't be an issue. No, it's scary because what your most common enemy is, is the perfect killing machine. It is fast, durable (able to lose both legs, an arm, and its tail and keep coming after you), even in death it is deadly (that acid blood can deal a lot of damage), they never stop coming (they constantly respawn the entire game, no "clear room, catch breath, prepare for next room" here, and if you enter a room they can't get through the door into, they can usually find another way in, and if not, they'll be waiting since you have to come out some time). Your best friend and lover in the game, the M41A Pulse Rifle, is a bitch. She loves to jam at inopportune times, and even though clearing the jam is as easy as letting off the M1 button, you can't just hold down the trigger and make the bad things go away. You need to be accurate on a creature that's low to the ground, fast as hell, and can climb on every surface in the game, and usually travels with friends. And you can't have a lead finger, either, or you get jams and don't clear them in time, and shooting the wrong place on the creature or continuing to shoot the creature can cause its acid blood to not remain in a relatively small pool around its body that can be avoided, but instead to be sprayed everywhere, mostly onto you, eating through your health and armour like a fat guy through cake. All this while having to keep aware of any others around you, which trust me, there are others, and where you are in the level so you don't end up backpedaling off a drop or down the wrong tunnel.

 

This game isn't scary for things jumping out or because you don't get much needed supplies. No, it's much simpler than that, it's scary because they put you against an unending supply of creatures that won't stop coming until either they die, or you do, and every aspect of them is deadly. And keep in mind this is just against normal Alien Drones. This does not cover Yautja, facehuggers, Predaliens, Praetorians (Oh Gods the Praetorians, they're the same thing as Drones just amplified ten fold), or the Queen. It is scary because, unless you're playing on your A game and are able to proceed both cautiously and quickly, you will not reach the end of the level. Now Demon's and Dark Souls also have this, but it's not scary there because you are not constantly being assaulted by the enemies, and the deaths there are very trial and error type things that are beatable once you learn the pattern. With AvP, however, there is no pattern to learn, no trial and error. It's just a matter of these things are going to murder you. A lot. And there's dick you can do about it.

 

This albeit small screenshot I took shows you a standard gameplay session, albeit a little light on the Alien side.

 

http://cloud.steampowered.com/ugc/522655891375337002/6765D68643233CFF36CA84A90553A5E47CC5F24D/

 

As you can see, the graphics aren't amazing, there isn't a lot of visual BS going on, they aren't the most terrifying looking enemies ever created. But still, these things are responsible for the most fear in my gaming career than everything else combined.

[RomulanNinja]

No games really scare me. Amnesia didnt. I don't make long replies.

[aFoxNamedMorris]

No. I am unafraid of a screen depicting horrific images and situations. I do however enjoy kicking serious tail at them. n.n

[Arashikage]

I love games like Aliens vs Predator, the new one, not the old one.  I always play as the Marines in the MP matches, because there's something about the thrill of being completely in the dark with no indication of anything except your little motion sensor going off when something gets close, and the only light you see is your muzzle flash when you start shooting.  For those of you who say you don't get scared by video games, I pity you, because that's pretty much all of the fun of these games.

[Vy'drach]

Except for the Marine not needing to fear anything since the motion tracker will pick up about 10 meters behind him, and being able to kill everything effortlessly as the Marine. You want true AvP multiplayer fear, Aliens vs. Predator 2, Survivor mode, Marines mutate into Aliens on death. Hide and seek on crack cocaine.

[Xortberg]

For those of you who say you don't get scared by video games, I pity you, because that's pretty much all of the fun of these games.

 

THIS. A thousand times, this. I know so many people who try to act all macho about not being scared by any games ever no matter what, and I'm like... You're missing the point. Even if a game isn't scary, like Dead Space, I have so much more fun being scared than if I'm viewing it as just another video game with enemies to shoot.

[tupelocase]

Of the few games that have legitimately scared me, not just me allowing myself to be scared by Dead Space or some such title, Eternal Darkness on the Gamecube is the only that one that chilled me to the core.  The game isn't all BLUBBITY BLUBBITY BOO!!  No, it's subtle.  You walk in a new room and suddenly your controls are reversed.  The room keeps going but then you get killed out of confusion.  After allowing ample time for you to get super angry and confused, the screen flashes.  You're placed at the entrance of the room as if nothing ever happened.

 

And it doesn't stop there.  On rare occasion if you look at the walls too close you may notice your attacks are making it bleed.  You might cast a spell and your head flat out pops off but you aren't dead.  But worst of all, the screen might go black and a screen appears saying your save file has been corrupted.  None of this ever hinders your game play or makes you scream, it just screws with your head so you no longer know what's "real" in the game or not.  It's profoundly unnerving, and I would even say *inhales* bone chilling.

[Milkyway64]

Eternal Darkness didn't do much for me. Perhaps it was simply that I came in already knowing what I was getting into. Maybe it was also that the basic derpy zombies lost all threat if they even had any at all. Whatever the case, I found myself wanting to see a 'hallucination' every time I entered a room, and they never scared me because I knew that they were just that.

[Thu'um]

To be honest I don't play many horror games. But I don't associate that feeling you get as fear. It's excitement.