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Psychological Survial Horror/Thriller Games
berenim
Member UncommonPosts: 162
Hey all!
After finishing Alan Wake last night (Yeah, I know I’m late :P) I noticed I miss those good psychological horror games. Games that don’t rely on occasional jump scares and hordes of monsters with scarce ammo, but deep atmosphere. I remember Silent Hill 2 had me running the first passage in high tension just by the right soundspheres and occasional noises, even without seeing the first monster. Project Zero/ Fatal Frame (depending on where you are) sent shivers down my spine by forcing me to take close look at the ghosts through the camera while the victim moaned “A girl in a white kimono”. The deep and tragic story and characters of Alan Wake with those pages to be found on your way, while the darkness chases you. I love games that move you deep inside and keep you on the edge with deep story and atmosphere. Actually too much action and hectic utterly destroys my immersion. Bad examples are Silent Hill 4. Those “Victims” were meant to scare you, but they only unnerved me. Instead of marveling my surroundings and atmosphere I just ran to get away, rolling my eyes. (Project Zero did a better job with a rare use of an invincible apparition). Silent Hill Homecoming had a way to action oriented combat system. Again not enjoying my inner tension, because I was concentrating timing and button pressing, it totally lost me. I played the demo of Resident Evil 5 which didn’t give me any scares, since it totally felt like an action game.
Sometimes it is the small things that make games memorable, or even hard to bear. I remember once I had to take a break from a game (Can’t remember the title). After a cutscene you killed a guard guy at a desk (you couldn’t do anything about it, it was a cutscene). If you inspected his computer you noticed he was chatting with his girlfriend, which desperately asked where he was and what was happening, worrying about him. It actually made me take a break for half an hour.
Now I wonder if I missed some gems of psychological horror that keep you on the edge with storytelling, characters and atmosphere. What are your considerations of psychological horror games? Which are your recommendations and your favorite scare moments, or passages?
Comments
Amnesia and Penumbra are pretty well-known, but might as well mention them. Both rely mostly on atmosphere, though I also like Amnesia's story and characters. I know what you mean, however, and Amnesia didn't quite scratch that itch for me.
Alien Isolation is a fantastic horror game that's often overlooked. It also relies more on atmosphere than storytelling and isn't occult-themed, but its story is solid nevertheless.
I would also recommend Outlast, seems to cover most OP might be looking for.
http://www.redbarrelsgames.com/games.php < official webpage
Sometimes it is really hard to tell what makes the "it-factor" of some games. Partially I think it is a seemingly seamless design (Silent Hill has levels, like "School", Hospital and so on, but you are not thrown out to a mission briefing screen). That's something that made Metal Gear Solid stick with me and the first incarnation of Splinter Cell go "Mehhh" (sorry for the later incarnations if they were better).
Outlast makes me think of Abe's Odyssey/ Exodus, if I read "parcour style". Everyone who has played those will know what I mean.
So no more memorable horror gaming moments, or deep psychological games? Right now it seems you have to dig in the past to find such games, since right now we are back to the 80s "Everything is action".
What makes a good atmosphere for you? I try to think about what makes me immersed and what totally makes me just feel like a player with a hard wall between the gaming world and me.
Depending on which part it was... If it was Silent Hill 1... We made the same mistake. You actually [b]have to[/b] die once. We didn't know that either und restarted twice, just to be killed by those little bears (I think in the US version those are little kids with knives) again. When we were to slow to reset, while we were upset for being unable to get further the game continued and we could start the acutal gameplay. *lol*
So what creates that atmosfere for you? What is the difference in those games? Haven't played them, but IIRC the reviews were leaning more towards shooter and action.