Horror games

[Henry]

I don't know about you guys, but I thing have gotten stuck in the zombie genre. I mean, how many Resident Evil games are there already? I've always liked Silent Hill a whole lot more, but I consider it another zombie game.I'd really like to see more games like Amnesia, The 7th Quest, Fatal Frame. I just know I want something other than zombies or vampires- it's just been done to death already.

 

[jbeavis100]

Well, I don't believe actual powerful vampire have been done properly yet. I agree with you on the Zombies front however. I would love to see more games in the vane of Fatal Frame, ghosts and the like. I don't particularly like Amnesia..

 

[gamerteabwoi]

I really do not like horror games because to tell you the truth I find that sometimes that they are really just plain and boring and I rather not waste my money on them. I do not really like to play the zombie type games because they just get repetitive to easy and you feel like you are just doing the same thing over and over. I think that I will just stick to playing action games.

 

[don_bidarian]

Come on zombies are fun! specially in left 4 dead style, they are not horror anymore, but they can add thrill to an action game.

Silent hill is creepy, I like survival horror games, with few battles and more running/hiding.

 

[deathbyprayer]

I don't know about you guys, but I thing have gotten stuck in the zombie genre. I mean, how many Resident Evil games are there already? I've always liked Silent Hill a whole lot more, but I consider it another zombie game.I'd really like to see more games like Amnesia, The 7th Quest, Fatal Frame. I just know I want something other than zombies or vampires- it's just been done to death already.

Vampire games aren't really that much killed off as well as the zombie, okay I guess Castlevania overdid the Vampires but still it's not really a horror game. But yeah I think Zombie games should really go, I mean they're everywhere now, I don't mind if the Zombie game is along the lines of The Last of Us or The Walking Dead at least they're really story driven which steers you away from the zombies.

 

[Haymansafc]

Hi, Henry. Horror games is generally something I buy more of than just about any other genre. I can't get enough of them - so there really isn't much out there from this that I've not played at least in part. To me, a good horror title has to create atmosphere, the feeling of being followed or watched, a good storyline that makes you think, a few puzzles, an intense feeling of suspense and the occasional clever jumpscare. Action? Pah... That comes way down on my list of priorities - unless it's to save your life. If I want endless shooting, I'd buy one of the endless amounts of FPS games out there... Sadly, developers seem to be confusing the two these days.

As much as I adore with the early Resident Evil titles, I've generally been disappointed with both 5 and 6. They stray too far away from the game's roots for me and it's been a long time since Resident Evil has been a proper, genuine survival horror title. Instead, it's become another tedious FPS with overly-dramatic and interactive cut scenes - especially 6. A lot may disagree with me, but Capcom really have a lot to answer for with their latest effort in the series. It's certainly not a bad game by any means. It's actually decent as a stand-alone game, but it feels just like yet another mundane FPS (of which the market is vastly over-flooded with) with a few old Resident Evil characters and themes thrown in. It's not the 'Resident Evil' that I played in my teens. I only hope that if they decide to make another game, they listen to those who made it popular to begin with - those who were there playing it from the start. The clock needs to be turned back at least a decade on the series, otherwise I fear it really is 'game over' for it.

Silent Hill is my overall favourite horror series of all time. I got heavily into this and the first four games are still up there with some of the very best I've played. The second game is one I still class as a true 10/10 'masterpiece'. It's not a phrase I throw out for the sake of it. I've ranked only three or four games as a 10/10 in around 25 years of gaming... It then turned stale and eventually hit rock bottom with the truly abysmal 'Shattered Memories'. That one would struggle to scare a six year old and the plot was laughable. The latest, 'Downpour', has fortunately turned the clock back and it was a half decent Silent Hill game with some quality moments. Not brilliant but a solid 7.5, maybe 8/10 for sure. The latest 'PT' demo (that I've only see on YouTube - I don't own a PS4 yet) painfully impresses me. Just watching that creeped me out. I really, desperately, want to see that developed further. My only worry about it is how they can tie that into the already well established story. That'll be it's defining moment...

In recent years, indie titles have provided the best overall horror experiences for me and I must admit I've spent more time away from console gaming over the last two/three years than at any other point - purely because the smaller independent developers seem to care more for the actual game (and gamer) rather than just knocking out mediocre products (usually yet another FPS that's been done before - but with a new name) at predictable sky high prices.

Amnesia is great, but repetitive after a bit unless you find out the best custom stories. Barring a lack of makeshift weapons, I find this pretty realistic. The Slenderman games are decent if you play them once or twice, but again loose their appeal after continuous play as you can predict various aspects. The latest decent one is 'Five Nights At Freddy's'. I recommend placing clean underwear to one side for that one... Outlast is the game today's Resident Evil should be (or should have been, rather). 'Among The Sleep' is reasonably decent but takes a while to get going. Both 'Outlast' titles so far have been excellent. As a horror game, it ticks pretty much everything I listed at the start of this post and can happily claim that it gave me one of the best, genuine jumpscares I've had in years. As things stand, this has to take the 'crown' of the best I've played over the last two/three years or so. I take my hat off to the developer of these.

 

[Henry]

Hi, Henry. Horror games is generally something I buy more of than just about any other genre. I can't get enough of them - so there really isn't much out there from this that I've not played at least in part. To me, a good horror title has to create atmosphere, the feeling of being followed or watched, a good storyline that makes you think, a few puzzles, an intense feeling of suspense and the occasional clever jumpscare. Action? Pah... That comes way down on my list of priorities - unless it's to save your life. If I want endless shooting, I'd buy one of the endless amounts of FPS games out there... Sadly, developers seem to be confusing the two these days.

As much as I adore with the early Resident Evil titles, I've generally been disappointed with both 5 and 6. They stray too far away from the game's roots for me and it's been a long time since Resident Evil has been a proper, genuine survival horror title. Instead, it's become another tedious FPS with overly-dramatic and interactive cut scenes - especially 6. A lot may disagree with me, but Capcom really have a lot to answer for with their latest effort in the series. It's certainly not a bad game by any means. It's actually decent as a stand-alone game, but it feels just like yet another mundane FPS (of which the market is vastly over-flooded with) with a few old Resident Evil characters and themes thrown in. It's not the 'Resident Evil' that I played in my teens. I only hope that if they decide to make another game, they listen to those who made it popular to begin with - those who were there playing it from the start. The clock needs to be turned back at least a decade on the series, otherwise I fear it really is 'game over' for it.

Silent Hill is my overall favourite horror series of all time. I got heavily into this and the first four games are still up there with some of the very best I've played. The second game is one I still class as a true 10/10 'masterpiece'. It's not a phrase I throw out for the sake of it. I've ranked only three or four games as a 10/10 in around 25 years of gaming... It then turned stale and eventually hit rock bottom with the truly abysmal 'Shattered Memories'. That one would struggle to scare a six year old and the plot was laughable. The latest, 'Downpour', has fortunately turned the clock back and it was a half decent Silent Hill game with some quality moments. Not brilliant but a solid 7.5, maybe 8/10 for sure. The latest 'PT' demo (that I've only see on YouTube - I don't own a PS4 yet) painfully impresses me. Just watching that creeped me out. I really, desperately, want to see that developed further. My only worry about it is how they can tie that into the already well established story. That'll be it's defining moment...

In recent years, indie titles have provided the best overall horror experiences for me and I must admit I've spent more time away from console gaming over the last two/three years than at any other point - purely because the smaller independent developers seem to care more for the actual game (and gamer) rather than just knocking out mediocre products (usually yet another FPS that's been done before - but with a new name) at predictable sky high prices.

Amnesia is great, but repetitive after a bit unless you find out the best custom stories. Barring a lack of makeshift weapons, I find this pretty realistic. The Slenderman games are decent if you play them once or twice, but again loose their appeal after continuous play as you can predict various aspects. The latest decent one is 'Five Nights At Freddy's'. I recommend placing clean underwear to one side for that one... Outlast is the game today's Resident Evil should be (or should have been, rather). 'Among The Sleep' is reasonably decent but takes a while to get going. Both 'Outlast' titles so far have been excellent. As a horror game, it ticks pretty much everything I listed at the start of this post and can happily claim that it gave me one of the best, genuine jumpscares I've had in years. As things stand, this has to take the 'crown' of the best I've played over the last two/three years or so. I take my hat off to the developer of these.

Wow, great post- very insightful. I agree 100%. The first Silent Hil, the first Resident Evil and Alone In the Dark were the most scary games I've played. It was something new and fresh. But the now the zombie stuff is already been done to death. Hell, they're even putting zombies in the COD games. I think developers should really take notice of what the creators of that little game called "Limbo" did and start from there.

 

[FeralByNature]

Silent Hill scared the hell out of my, but I agree with jbeavis100. I don't think there are many games that have done vampires well. There's a lot of good material out there that they could base a game off, and not just Stoker's Dracula or Anne Rice or the Southern Vampire Mysteries or Twilight etc. If they did a vampire horror, it has to be bloody, gory and scary as hell and not just some slasher game. I think the basis of a good horror game is the plot, and Silent Hill had a pretty decent plot. Same as the first four Resident Evil games, there was a storyline that you followed while playing the game.
I agree with Jeffrey Matulef from Eurogamer's comparison that the animatronic animals in Five Night's are like the Weeping Angels from Doctor Who, the damn things are scary in the sense you don't ever really know where they are. The idea of a sequel is even better, but the game needs more freedom. If you could actually move around and have the animatronics come from behind you (or above, like the gorillas in Matthew Reilly's Hell Island), that would be even better. I think a true horror game needs suspense more than just relying on blood and gore. You need to have your heart race, knowing that something is around the next corner waiting to rip your head off.
Just a pity that the ultimate horror game is only a dream and not reality.

 

[edogn12]

If I had a choice between a bland adventure game and a horror game, I would choose horror every time. I just enjoy the adrenalin.

 

[The Unlosing Ranger]

You know... I think that Bloodborne might be a better horror game than most modern horror games. Check it out, horror enthusiasts. Demon's Souls' Tower of Latria shows FROM is totally capable of making a dark horrific atmosphere work in an action RPG.

 

[wonderings]

Give The Forest a try. It is on steam and it is a development game. Stranded on an island with mutant cannibal people. The object of the game is to survive. You chop down trees, make traps, kill animals for food, etc etc etc. I find it to be a pretty freaky game and I love the survival aspect of it.

 

[Arran]

Amnesia was fantastic for a bit of horror, we need more like that.

 

[maicam]

Hey, 7 Days to Die is a very interesting horror game. It is an open world, voxel-based, sandbox game that is a unique mix of First Person Shooter, Survival Horror, Tower Defense and Role Playing Games combining combat, crafting, looting, mining, exploration, and character growth. I played it on JXD S7800B Android game console.

 

[Haymansafc]

I do enjoy The Forest. I like the concept, I like the way it looks and it plays reasonably well in it's latest guise. It's starting to get a few updates to it now which is beginning to sort out it's numerous bugs (which to be honest are/were annoying) which has lead me to ignoring it for a while. I know it's very much an Alpha game and of course there's going to be bugs, but it's earliest incarnation was almost unplayable due to a save system that basically didn't work - at all. It doesn't really have a huge fear factor for me though. Venturing out from your camp at night is unnerving and yes, it's fairly creepy having the local cannibal/inbred types of people coming after you. However, they become more of a challenging irritant after a while. Without doubt it's already a good and enjoyable survival game. With further development and tweaks, it could be a great one. It's not really a 'horror' though in my opinion. Barring the very start, there's no cut scenes or real plot as things stand. It's more of a 'survival with occasional unnerving moments'. Of course if you were to be placed in that position in real life, it would be a different matter!

7 Days To Die is an incredible game. It's one of my current favourites and hugely addictive. I adore it. I've mentioned it a couple of times in the past on other threads. It's one game that I highly recommend to anyone who enjoys sandbox and survival titles. Even in Alpha stages, it's right up there with the best of them and it's updated on a reasonably regular basis. It's a near-perfect cross between Minecraft and DayZ. Prettier than the former and considerably easier to play than the latter. Again though like The Forest, I wouldn't really class it as an outright horror though. Once you learn all the different zombie types, you kind-of know what to expect from them and how easy/difficult they'll be to kill. The only ones who I generally don't like coming across are the Hornets (a nightmare to target), the big 'Ace Ventura' guy (check out his shirt and you'll know what I mean! These take a lot to bring down) and the Spitters (cops who projectile vomit). Again, it's more of a 'survival with occasional unnerving moments'. It does have a huge future ahead of it, if the developments continue. If there's one current PC game which I hope makes it to console - this is very much at the top of my list at the moment.

Going back to Amnesia, you'll be pleased to know another 'official' one (not another custom story) is very much on the cards and due out next year. It's called 'SOMA'. The basic outline of it you'll find here: http://www.somagame.com/index.html Rest assured, as someone heavily into the horror genre, this is very much on my radar.