Horror Games and You

[Forlorn Drifter]

Since it's that time of the year, I've been playing through some horror games. And I've found that I'm not loving some of the classics, and what is considered a "horror" game varies.

Personally, I think of Resident Evil and Silent Hill when I think of horror, not something like Bloodborne, but some will consider Bloodborne horror. But speaking of those classics, I've played through Silent Hill 2 up until the hospital, and found myself bored to tears. I like Resident Evil, but higher difficulties seem to make it frustrating more than challenging to me. I've also been enticed by hidden gems of horror, but I'm scared to make the leap after SH2. I've also been struck by the issue of horror games not being scary to me, similar to movies of the genre. I'm also not a huge fan of the abysmally slow movement speeds and how often you go with nothing happening or just plain backtracking if you mess up.

So, what about you? Big fan of horror games? Hate them all? Only a select few? Let's hear it, and get down to the why.

[pook99]

I tend to enjoy horror games when I play them but I don't make it a point to play most of them.

I absolutely LOVE the resident evil series (even 6), and the evil within is probably my favorite new franchise released in the last gen or 2, I also loved the last of us.

I never played any silent hill game, I always wanted to and just never got around to it. I loved outlast and hated alien isolation, I feel like horror games when done right are amazing but when executed poorly are either really boring are really annoying so it is a tough genre to do.

I also love horror themed games that are not necessarily horror games, stuff like castlevania, ghosts n goblins, gargoyles, quest, devil may cry and so on.

[PartridgeSenpai]

I don't generally enjoy horror games due to the mechanical design choices that make them horror games. The things that make them good horror games often make them not very fun to play, stiff controls, bad/awkward combat, and limited resources to get through that combat with are the ones that often keep me away. Add on top of that game design that usually revolves around backtracking and/or obtuse puzzle solving and they far more often than not just turn into exercises in frustration for me. They're games I much prefer watching someone else play rather than play myself because then I don't need to deal with all of those frustrating and anxiety-inducing bits XP . That's for the Golden Age survival horror stuff anyhow.

It's not my favorite genre, but I have quite enjoyed some of the RE4-inspired generation of more action-focused horror like RE4, Dead Space, and RE: Revelations. As far as just how it plays, I'd probably say I like Dead Space the best out of those just because the "stop and shoot" way that those RE games play feels a bit arbitrary in practice, even though it works well in the game mechanically.

[BoneSnapDeez]

I don't generally enjoy horror games due to the mechanical design choices that make them horror games. The things that make them good horror games often make them not very fun to play, stiff controls, bad/awkward combat, and limited resources to get through that combat with are the ones that often keep me away. Add on top of that game design that usually revolves around backtracking and/or obtuse puzzle solving and they far more often than not just turn into exercises in frustration for me. They're games I much prefer watching someone else play rather than play myself because then I don't need to deal with all of those frustrating and anxiety-inducing bits XP . That's for the Golden Age survival horror stuff anyhow.

This is close to where I'm at. I love horror as a theme/setting, but I find that most survival horror games have wretched clunky mechanics. Just a chore to play.

I do really enjoy games with spooky settings, Castlevania and the like.

[laurenhiya21]

I haven't really played any horror games cause they seem too spooky for me. I know that's kind of the point, but I remember when I tried a bit of Fatal Frame I was so tense and stressed that I was giving myself a headache. I try and avoid getting headaches so I haven't played many horror games since (I did play Silent Hill but that wasn't too bad). Maybe I need to give another one a go but definitely not when I'm already super stressed from college.

[Ack]

I guess another question to consider is whether you enjoy horror media in general? Do you watch horror movies, read horror books or comics, or find some other way to interact with it? Does this affect how you view horror games?

[Key-Glyph]

Such a great and interesting topic!

I'm the opposite of a lot of the above. I actively dislike a large swatch of the horror aesthetic -- slasher stuff, guts, mutilation -- but I enjoy being creeped out and startled. I'm that person who comes across a jump scare in a game and can't stop laughing after the initial flinch.

I'm very sensitive to gore and extended non-fantastical suffering in visual media, so my struggle is about finding stuff that is suspenseful and frightening without being disgusting or exploitive. Oftentimes where things fall on this continuum is hard to predict. I've played the first three Resident Evils and loved them without being seriously squicked by anything, but there is a scene in Code Veronica that actually makes me nauseated, and it's probably not what you'd expect. (It's about an insect.) I keep feeling like I'd love the Fatal Frame series, but I came across a cutscene of bloodless torture in one of the games on YouTube that seemed so lingering that it soured my interest. I love White Day, Clock Tower, and Five Nights at Freddy's, yet I literally ran from the living room during my husband's encounter with the first boss in Bioshock.

I also feel that as time has gone on I've been blindsided more often by sudden veerings into dramatically gross territory in media than I used to be, so I usually won't even play a horror-ish game unless someone I trust has pre-approved it for me. And in case it's not clear, this issue of mine is not a simple matter of "I don't like seeing this stuff." It's a phobia-level problem.

What I've discovered, though, is that I like eldritch creepiness a lot, and what I'd call more sanitized horror (graveyards, ghosts, skeletons), as well as the "it looks creepy but has a heart of gold" trope. I guess I'd say I like "spooky" stuff more than horror, but also that horror done with a spooky sensibility is good. If that makes any sense.

And I'm definitely in it for the wonky controls, because those are a huge part of what plays on my sense of suspense. Nothing put me on edge in Clock Tower more than having to walk down a windowed hallway at a snail's pace to conserve stamina, and I truly enjoy how the camera angles in Resident Evil will psych you out of rounding a corner for a few beats. If you take those controls away, sometimes you end up with a splatterfest.

[ElkinFencer10]

I love horror shit. Horror is my favorite film genre. Stephen King is my favorite author. Horror is my second favorite game genre. I don't personally think of Bloodborne as horror, but I can sort of see why some might. When I think of horror, I think of a game that has an atmosphere, theme, and setting intended to evoke feelings of anxiety, suspense, and discomfort in the player. Dead Space, for example, never knowing when a necromorph will burst from a vent as you walk by. Alien: Isolation, never knowing when you'll walk into a room just to see a killer android or xenomorph. Resident Evil (minus 5 and 6 because fuck that shit), having to be extra conservative with your ammo lest you find yourself face to face with a crimson head and only a knife with which to defend yourself. Amnesia, leaving you in a veritable house of horrors with no means of protection other than running away and hiding.

Horror is one of the easiest genres to fuck up in my opinion, but it when a dev gets it right, it's SO damn right.

[Forlorn Drifter]

See, Elkin, I loooove horror in 99% of cases, but games seem to be where I feel it fails the most. Maybe I'm the stumper for Ack's question. I feel like so many horror games miss the scary part because they are games. Tank controls don't add tention to me- they are just a mechanic. I think part of my problem is that psych horror (which some of the big name horror games pull on) only work for me if they hit one of my psych "triggers" (excuse the use there if you don't like it- I don't know a better term).

@Key I totally understand where you are coming from. I generally lean the other way though. Working in the livestock industry makes me want to see gore that actually can scare me. (I need help)

[Gunstar Green]

I kind of agree. Survival horror games never worked for me. I find them clunky and boring and not effectively scary. It's funny you should mention Bloodborne because my first time through it I was way more tense than I would be playing a "traditional" horror game. Classics like Resident Evil and Silent Hill rank among other "groundbreaking games I just don't like at all" along with most of the Metal Gear Solid franchise and 3D Zeldas. There are just certain gameplay styles and mechanics I just can't make myself enjoy and there's nothing wrong with that since I tend to like things other people just don't get as well.

I've had Dead Space sitting around for a long time and just haven't gotten to it. It looks more up my alley than most survival horror games though.