Weekend Debate: What makes a game scary?

Sound….
Silance and then a sudden clang is so scarry.
Dead space 1 had times that you only heard the sound of the space ship and then you would hear something, awesome!!!

The original Resident Evil on PS1!

The atmosphere, surroundings & overall claustrophobic feeling was quite tense back then & quite new too! The zombie dogs crashing throught the windows got me everytime!

Fantastic game back in the day & still holds up nicely today but not as scary anymore. Maybe it’s due to the way games have changed within this current GEN? Or maybe it’s because i’m older & have experienced many games & genres like this over the past 12 years?

I still have fond memories of Resident Evil & still go back to it every year or so.

When i’m gaming now with my headset it’s only really the sudden loud noises or music that impact me in any sort of way, much like horror movies.

Scariest game Ive played WITHOUT doubt is either of the Dead Space games. I know alot will say this but what I have to advise is extremely important…..
They HAVE to played in the right way….at night, all alone, lights off, with HEADPHONES (VITAL)on as loud as you can handle.

Whenever I see anyone playing Dead Space 1 or 2 on my friends list I always message them and say “Are you playing it the right way?”
It really is terrifying and the reason is pure and simple – the audio. Visceral are masters at creating that tension of hearing different bumps, clangs and bangs just out of sight but so IN ear shot when using headphones and you dont know if its your impending doom from a Necromorph or just a decoy to really put the JEEBIES up you!

I wont play either game during the day because it just feels wrong, it HAS to played at night when your all alone but again, its headphones that REALLY set those games apart and in my opinion, its the ONLY scary game available at the minute…..

Cant WAIT for Dead Space 3!!!

The sounds, lighting and the right moment for a jump or fright. Dont over use the same thing because people will get used to it.
Take Fear 2 walking around the school and going into an empty cupboard thinking nothing in here then turning around to a little ghost girl just stood behind me i have never jumped so much in my life also heard something i have never heard in my life a high pitched scream coming from my mouth!!

Dead Space is definitely the scariest game i have played.

The reason for this is: Tension.

The feeling of tension really contributes to scares. When you are so on-edge that you are afraid to move an analague stick, the developers know they have done something right!

What makes a game scary is the atmosphere, sound and the situation. When your all alone in a dark room, with your dead comrade on the ground, and all you hear are is the wind coming from the broken window in the middle of the night. And then suddenly the a arm comes through the wall and grabs you. And music makes the moment even more scary. All thoose thing is needed to make a game scary in my opninion. Atmosphere, sound and being alone.

The first game that scared me and I can remember not wanting to play was “Jack in the Dark”. It was a very short promotional game for Alone in the Dark 2. It was a game where you played as a child who gets locked in a toy store at Halloween. It’s after dark so already you’ve got that creepy thing going on with shadows. To make things worse the toys are alive and an evil Jack-in-the-box is holding Santa Claus hostage.

At the time I was only young, around that age where shadows at night and creepy toys are about the most frightening thing you can think of. I played about 2 minutes of it before I took the floppy disk out and hid it. It was perfect nightmare fuel.

Years later I stumbled across it and decided to give it another go (after struggling to find a floppy disk drive to play it on!). Not scary at all. It had no combat either, but just the thought of what could happen was enough to scare a young me.

I suppose that’s what makes a good horror game. It’s not necessarily what a game does, but what it threatens to do.

The scariest game I have played is Siren Blood Curse.
Well what made this game scary was its great ambiance, a ambiance that just by itself provided fear, it also had a great story where you could feel like the characters themselfs, It had scary enemies (japanese zombies), enemies that just by looking at them gave me chicken pumps.
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My scariest moment was in the first Dead Space when nothing happened.
I walked down a corridor and the next door was slow to open suddenly the lights went out, tension built, a cable sparked and then… Nothing. The door opened and there wasn’t even a glimpse of necromorph. I’m not sure the next game will reach that kind of artistry, playing on expectations but I’m looking forward to finding out.

Journey – when those big snaky dragon things first show up. Games don’t usually scare me but that one had me shaking for a bit, really made me scared of them. The final section where you’re on the mountain trying to avoid them… every run had my heart racing!

Scariest thing about these games are the PC requirements to run the game at a decent frame rate!
Consoles FTW.

Scariest gaming experience:

1st: Pre-ordering fifa 13 on vita before any reviews were out.

2nd: playing it.

Scariest game of all times is original SILENT HILL (PSX)

Why it was scary?

1- It introduced many new things like: radio responding to ghosts when they are nearby.
2- Mist
3- Music and sounds mixed with silence…
4- Nurses with huge syringes…and twisteed way of walking
5- And of course the scariest thing of all time… haunted school with ghosts of children…

I was 15 when I played it back in 1999, I’m 28 now and I’m still affraid of revising town of Silent Hill…

Got to be a mix sound design and lighting for me. I picked up Doom 3 BFG edition last weekend and it is genuinely unsettling.
Entering a dark area, hearing some sounds in darkness, turning on the torch and then slowly edging forward whilst keeping one eye on the rapidly draining power in the flash-light. Great stuff!!

I, for one, never have been a survival-horror gamer up until recently. No Silent Hill, no Alone in the Dark, or whatever. I have just played the more recent Resident Evil games (4, 5, and 6), which are not considered too scary, and have started Dead Space 2. I believe a good and interesting survival-horror game would be one to be influenced by the first Alien movie. Alien creatures, dark corners, dimmering lights, claustrophobic atmosphere, moments of silence, not too much of weapons, a very good sci-fi script with lots of meaningful characters, and yes, a co-op buddy or more. I really like a co-op game. Hope to see such a game someday

Ps store prices – £59.99 for Medal of honor warfighter < THAT'S SCARY right there.

In my opinion the thing that makes games scary is the atmosphere. Any game developer can throw in some cheap scares, a few messed up looking characters and more bloody graphics than the entire Saw franchise, but it takes much more than that for a game to provide a truly memorable horror experience. Sure, all of those things are great but by themselves they won’t work. The only thing more scary than a horde of the undead reaching towards you is a horde of the undead threateningly close as the soundtrack reaches a tense, ominous crescendo, only for your player to be saved at the last minute and the music cut away as you’re left slightly reeling. Another thing that I think is effective is when the camera control is taken away from you and you only see the directors cut, providing exactly what the makers intended for you to see rather than just leaving it to your imagination.

The scariest game I’ve played is the Walking Dead game. Not necessarily because of the zombies, but more due to the fact I don’t want to disappoint the characters I care about.

When games turn up on the XMB that I don’t want!

Even if it’s not a proper reply to your question, I just couldn’t resist. Considering how much whining it’s been about that this week, I’m shocked no one has posted it before.

A believable story with a character I can identify with is what makes a game scary for me – which is why I got so involved in the Dead Space series as well as Resident Evil 4.
When playing a game, death is a novel punishment. People care about dieing so they don’t lose progress for example, in a good horror game (or game in general for that matter) however, death means more then just losing progress or being setback. Death takes your character away, you fight for survival because surviving means something to you, and that can’t happen if your just stringing along a few cutscenes looking to just go guns blazing. There has to be some substance, a concept of some sort that truely terrified you at the thought of it.
Who doesn’t shake at the thought of entering those woods looking for Ashley ? Who doesn’t quiver at the mere sight of the Marker, remembering what horrors it entails ?
A horror game just isn’t scary if progress matters to me more then dieing. I want to feel my characters pain, relate to him/her, gasp for breath when their knocked to the ground and feel remorse when they don’t make it. I want a horror game that isn’t a game, rather an experience.

For me the sound plays a big part. When you are slowly going down a hallway and there is no music you find yourself listening for any little sound of what’s to come and then when something jumps out at you the music starts with a bang. That’s what gets me going.

Also the feeling of helplessness. Games that give you barely anything to defend yourself with are scary because you don’t want to face anything in case you use up what you have and have nothing left to help you.

The involving story doesn’t help, neither does Headphones (argh)…it gets you into it so much and then bang something happens.

Admittedly i’m a huge baby when it comes to this, although i didn’t used to be, and i really want to like these types of games…i remember once almost playing the First Uncharted with my eyes closed, near the end, i had tingles all over my body, i’m ashamed to say.

Also, i recently started playing Uncharted 2 again (3rd Playthrough), it had been a while. I got to a Stage where i had to Adjust the Arms of this Huge Golden Statue. There i was Climbing, got to a platform started walking and the Platform just collapsed with a huge clatter…to say i jumped would be an understatement, i almost dropped my Pad!

Even Skyrim creeped me out, wandering about then out of nowhere you get attack by something, or you walk into a booby-trap and get given a heart attack in the process.

I don’t know what’s wrong with me, as a Early Teen i was all for Thrills and Scares, Love Doom, Resident Evil and Silent Hill, it seems as i get older i am getting weaker, hah, God help me when i’m an Old Man…or worse when i eventually get to Dead Space 2 (compliments of PS+).

I need to man up! Hahah

Atmosphere and tension. The original resident evils, silent hills and project zeros are the perfect example. The sense of actual survival.

What makes a game scary?

When it appears on the XMB uninvited, then refuses to leave no matter how much you plead with it, like a knife-wielding stalker at the window.

The music.
And what is NOT shown to the player.

Take Limbo for example. A minimalistic masterpiece with wonderfully eerie music by Martin Stig Andersen.

Only two colours are used for the graphics: black & white

You wake up in the dark forest. You do not know what is your goal and why you have ended up in this unholy place, but you work things out as you go. It’s easy to get killed, and you will perish a lot of times.

You see a dark shape in the right hand corner of the screen. You approach it slowly. The music becomes a sinister drone seasoned with unnerving rattles.

You are trying to work out what that thing is. Is it a plant? Those look like branches.

You move closer. Are those… legs? Is that thing alive.

You move closer. Suddenly you realise… It’s… Oh my god! It’s a huge spide—-

—

You wake up in a dark forest…

SCEE’s pricing and release schedule

The first (possibly only) game that has ever scared me or made me jump out of my skin was Harry Potter and the philosophers stone. I know what you might be thinking but hear me out.

At the time i must have been about 9 or 10 years old. The Harry Potter game had various mission where you have to sneak in a book shop or sneak out your dormitory at night. The challenge was that prefects monitored the castle and if they spotted you, they would run towards you shouting and stop you with a flick of their wand. GAME OVER!

These type of missions scared me half to death more so then any horror games nowadays.

For me, Resident Evil 2. Everything about it scared me, the way it all looked, the noises the zombies made, the loud footsteps and even the loading screen door, I think what did it most was the fact that I couldn’t really tell what they were so my imagination went crazy!

I never got far, was too scared, I used to put the game right at the bottom of the pile as I thought they would jump out of the box if nothing was holding it down.

Gives me bad goosebumps just thinking about it, well that’s my confession .

I think sound is one of the most important parts to make a game scary. If it has scary sound then it makes the game tense and keeps me on edge. Also if there are parts in the game in which something just jumps out at you from no where which is really unexpected, that is also a very scary moment which keeps me wondering when I will next have to change my underwear.

Mine has to be ‘Gregory Horror Show’ for the PS2. Such a simple looking game yet so creepy! Very dark and depressing. I guess the plot was what made it scary. You are trapped in a deranged hotel (Gregory House), run by an old mouse and your goal is to escape. Throughout the game, you must steal the other guest’s souls in a bottle and bring them to Death before midnight, very creepy. You have to do this stealthy though, I remember stealing the hotel’s nurse’s soul, who was a pink lizard. She saw me and chased me around the hotel with a giant SYRINGE! It was literally the size of the character you played as. I was scared to bits, I remember hiding in my hotel room, where no one can enter, basically a safe zone, until the lizard went back to her room. Oh and I can not forget the cat chained up in her room who had her mouth sewed shut! Really disturbing D:

There are three games that i find them scary.

1)Silent Hill 4:The Room.The whole atmosphere of the game was really scary and the ghosts/victims that couldn’t die really made me freak out.

2)Siren Blood Curse:Being able to see what the zombies/shibitoes see when they are looking for you while you are hidding made this game terrifing.These damn zombies couldn’t die either.

3)Fatal Frame/Project Zero series:Probably the least scary between these games but it is the best horror game that has been released by far,the series has its scary momments but the unique storyline is what makes these series so beautiful.Being forced to wait until ghosts attack you so you can do them more damage is a brilliant idea and using the camera obscure is always intense.

The sound,the atmospehere and the feeling of the uknown makes a game scary.If you guys want to play a quallity horror game then look for Fatal Frame series,they are just amazing.The first 3 games are on PS2,althought the last 2 are on Wii and the next one will be on WiiU,because fortunatly or unfortunatly Nitendo bought the series.

silent hill 1 and the sirens inthe dark world. i think they just creep people out anyway as you already know they signify danger and the use in the game just made you want to run.

It think it’s fear that you could die at any time.it keeps you on edge,heart pounding, eyes glued to the screen, fingers on triggers just waiting for something to happen. Trying to remember the last time you saved and where the nearest save point is, can you make it there in your current state, the answer is no. Not so much a problem these days with auto saves and checkpoints but playing the likes Resident Evil 1,getting killed and loading your game only to discover your at least an hour back. Heart breaking.

Amnesia: the dark descent is the scariest game I have played. It’s so scary because it screws with your sanity. You get so paranoid that you get reluctant to progress in the game. You dont know if the sounds you hear are just in your head, or if you’re about to get killed. You don’t have a way to fight back, all you can do is hide and hope you hid well enough.

What makes a game scary is definitley if it lets you forget that you’re playing a game. It needs to create immersion. Games like Doom 3 for example only gives you quick jump scares. Games like Amnesia gives you nightmares.

the feeling of hopelessness is what make game scary for me

short on ammo & first aid, alone with no support character, the deadly silence in corridor, strange camera angles .. something like that

Project Zero 2.

Games involving zombies or other undead creatures don’t frighten me too much. However ghosts are a different matter. (You can’t get rid of ghosts with bullets).

The core mechanic of the game is fiendish. You have to dispatch the ghosts by taking photos of them. However the amount of damage they take depends on the quality of the photo. Which means you’re forced to get as close as possible to them.

The game also does a great job of always making you think that something nasty is just out of your view, yet it still remains unpredictable. I think it’s the only game where i’ve been relieved to enter a new room without confrontation.

The use of the dual shock also got my heart racing. Having the controller vibrate when a ghost was nearby, yet not being able to see it. I think that was the main reason i could never force myself to finish the game.

My favourite is a pc game called Clive Barkers Undying. Graphically it isn’t impressive today but it is one of the best horror games ever made. Playing the game in the dark & using headphones helped as it significantly heightened the paranoia. I was genuinely on edge throughout the game. The visuals, atmosphere, music and background noises all added to make this such a scary game to play.

Second is Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth. Being a fan of H.P. Lovecraft I thought I was prepared, but no in the village, in the bedroom, in your bed when you know they are coming for you & you have no weapons & the character is panicking & you start panicking because you already know what they are up to Innsmouth

I guess for me – a good horror game is one that has you question your own sanity while forcing you into actions and situations that can only be described as insane. Survivors in horror films or games never come through unscathed they are forever changed & its those encounters that fuel our primal fears & nightmares, those that have us confront our own psyche – that above all else is what makes a really good horror game

now make some good horror games & scare the hell out of me please

Fred, I’m having trouble adding funds to my psn wallet. I wanted to pre order AC3+Liberation pack and take advantage of some of the Halloween sale titles, but it gives me an error. I know I have money in my bank account, and I managed to purchase Ac3 and Liberation from a different retailer, so I imagine it’s something to do with the new PS store. It would be really cool if it could be sorted out before the Halloween sale ends though, as I would really like to buy Dead Island GOTY and AC: Revelations!

Thanks!

The error message is: “An error has occurred. (2)” and previously it was something like “the funds could not be added to your wallet. (56)”

Dead Space!I’ve not made it past the first couple of levels,I tried a few times,so it’s not even like I got to the good stuff.It’s my Moby Dick.
The sound is SO intense if you’re wearing headphones.You hear every clank/metallic scrape.Then there’s the music,an Albert Halls worth of string instruments playing the kind of stuff that would set even Krzysztof Penderecki on edge.
Worst thing is the susurrus at the edge of your hearing.What was it saying?The last thing you want to hear in a dark toilet is someone start to whisper.I had to leave.
I have a ps3 hooked up to a projector so non scary games that have stuff popup from nowhere will usually give you a bit of start.Bloody-mutated necromorphs jumping out at you 4ft high made me fling the controller a number of times.Dying due to skill level or bad reaction time is one thing, dying because your scrabbling on the floor in the half-light trying to find the dual-shock is just plain humiliating.Although judging from the laughter,a great spectator sport.I eventually gave up.
I can only watch horror on my phone or Vita,must be the smaller screen.So how about asking those guys at EA to enable remote play for Dead Space on the Vita.Maybe I could finally finish it.

A 5.1 surround sound headset with vibration drivers can make almost anything scary with the right volume. Here I am trundling round a game and then RAAAGGHHH a horrifying enemy jumps out at me *Headset shakes on my face, I panic, game camera flails around the screen and I fail to hit any button successfully for the next 5 seconds due to surprise and fear* ha ha, I laugh it off but I am still shaking afterwards…

For sheer sweat and panic inducing gameplay I’d say Ico. When your in the middle of doing something and you hear Yorda shout, your heart begins to race, your palms star to sweat your dualshock slipping slightly from your grip. You climb over obstacles hitting the wrong button as the panic kicks in, you reach her as she slowly disappears grabbing her hand pulling her back from the abyss your pulse finally settling back down. You want to hate her for scaring you like that but you hold her hand and the fear goes away, at least till next time.

It’s price…

More if is even more expensive digitaly in the PSN than retail in online shops.

Scariest game I’ve every played? Easy – Dead Space.

It had everything – atmospheric/ claustrophobic locations, incredible sound design, horrible enemies, tense set pieces, evil to the core NPC’s, an excellent yet creepy score & most of all a cracking story that really sucks you into being Isacc Clarke in the midst of this horror!.

Without a doubt one of the best games of this or any other console generation!

What do I want from Dead Space 3? Much, much more of the same please!!

Marty

The general Atmosphere definitely, shady lighting, dark areas and noise. Dark Space is a fine example, the jumps were jumpy, but the game didn’t do them every single second, so it didn’t always feel repetitive, but then again, i loved the game so i could be lying a bit there!

So as long as the atmosphere is dark, sounds are sinister/creepy/eerie and the jumps are not so casual you just get bored and expect them, should never expect true scaryness, its suppose to get you by surprise!

I have to say the scariest games I played would have been Amnesia: The Dark Descent and/or Call of Cthulu.

The biggest scare moment I had was in Resident Evil 1, when you walk down the dimly lit corridor and a zombie dog jumps through the glass window right at you, out of nowhere.

Dead Space disgusts me more than it does scare me, because of all that gore flying around and the constant action. It induces fear but also a lot of stress which makes playing that game really uncomfortable to me. I just don’t have fun.
But it’s still a great game.

The bottomline is that at least to me the atmosphere, the feeling of walking into the unknown, not knowing what awaits you or lurks behind the corners creates the best kind of fear.

Anything that even remotely reminds me of Event Horizon scares the hell out of me!

Case in point, decided to catch up on trying some PS Plus games today and having tried Resident Evil 5, thought it was ok but nothing special, certainly not scary and mainly that it can stay in my rainy day pile of games i need to play one day. Never played Dead Space so when I tried Dead Space 2 I played the “Previously On Dead Space” movie after which I immediately deleted the game!

DEAD SPACE !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

IT WAS SO SCARY!! VERRY DARK AND THE CREATURES MADE ME JUMP EVERYTIME!!!!! INFACT THEY STILL SCARE ME SINCE 2008!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! NO JOKE!

Humanity fears the unknown. When you’re playing a horror game, you know something is there. Something will scare you. It’s inevitably going to happen. But you don’t know what will scare you and when it will happen. And this is what builds up the tension.

PS1 games like the Resident Evils and Silent Hills were masters at doing this. I’m very excited at being able to play them again on PS Vita.

The thing that makes a game ‘scary’ for me is one i Have to play, at All times, ie i sometimes need to make a early morning start, But come 1am(ish) i just carry on playing, and playing and, well you get the picture, so, considering i sometimes find myself on someones roof, after having no sleep because of not being able to quit outa a game, well that is kinda scary, as for a scary game, well i must admit i can’t remember the last time i jumped because of a games content, maybe Dead Space came close, But, unfortunately, they just don’t seem to make them like that anymore. I Am really looking forward to the Dead Space3 interview, Day1 for me, scary or not, epic games, imo.

for me i was really scared by the original clock tower game on the ps1 that i got a usa import of back in the day.

im talking about the original point and click version here btw.

the fear of the Scissorman suddenly appearing and coming after you without you having any way of fighting him was really scary to me at the time and i found the music to be really jarring.

this game was also one of my first experiences of people actually dying in the game and also the first game that had Bad endings where you could escape but end up dead because you made the wrong choice.

there was also some pretty freaky stuff in the game some proper Japanese horror type stuff that set your nerves on end and with scissorman lurking around any corner you had this constant feeling of being stalked.

i will never attempt to play this game again simply because the way i remember it is fantastic and i would not want to spoil that with another play through now that i am older and less sensitive to these things now