Tropes you're tired of seeing in horror games? Alternatively,

>>267691128
Not so much seeing but as hearing Dead Space and alien isolation have proved sound alone can carry horror games far

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>>267691128
I love it when a horror game has a god tier intro/opening
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L5cIclhEsdg

>>267691128
I like the trope where the game isn't shit. I hate the trope of tank controls

>>267691534
Manhunt is a horror game?

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>>267691812
it sure was

>>267691812
It's definately spooky on a first playthrough. It plays isolation very well.

I played it having no prior knowledge, which made it even better.

It's not a trope, but being armed to the teeth kinda breaks it for me.

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>>267691534
>Craig Conner's work on the OST

Mannequins and children. Never liked any kid in silent hill. That bit in Downpour got a big "meh" from me.

Tropes i'm tired of...

>jump scares/flashing screens for little reason
>orchestral hits accompanying moments

Things i like seeing

>rarely seeing monsters/whatever is tormenting you
>silence/musicless atmospheres

The lack of sensory cues is much better imo

Seeing a jump scare or a monster appear in a hallway for a second is boring.

Thinking something is around you at all times and questioning your own mental sanity when your eyes play tricks on you is better.

Silence adds to the fact, in that every sound becomes a potential factor of fear. Something walking a floor above you, or like, passing by a rocking chair and as you leave the room hearing it creaking is a lot more atmospheric and i barely see that shit.

Fear is primarily driven by perceptions of the unknown, I like games that penalise you for making contact with the enemy.

What I hate is the enemy being something generic like the 'darkness' or the 'unknown'. A good example is Downpour's darkness, which is just black paint chasing you. Or Amnesia's jello enemy the 'Shadow' which is a blemish on an otherwise incredibly polished game.

>>267692798
this

>>267692247
Do you like having just a flashlight, anon?
>>267693265
Are you talking no ambient noises at all, or just no musical cues?
>>267694743
What about a personification of guilt?

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>>267695305
As long as guilt isn't manifested by rust.

>>267695491
How would you like to see it done? Humanoid, maybe, or is that overdone?

>>267695619
I don't claim to be a great writer or conceptual artist, but I know when an idea has been done to death and doesn't pack the same punch any more.
Variety is the spice of life. Sure it's more difficult than sticking to the tried and true, but it yields much better results if executed correctly.

>>267691439
Sound is pretty much everything, whether people realize it or not. Certain low notes put people on edge, and sudden loud sharp noises like violin strings give people jump scares regardless of whats on screen. Hollywood has milked this for decades, and haunted house attractions do the same thing. Sound is our fastest processed sense, and most acute.
You can't see things in the dark at night, so you listen for them, and it puts you on edge of fight or flight.

A good horror game should make it essentially impossible to get a good look at what you're supposed to be afraid of.

I also think that adapting a perma-death system might actually help but that's up in the air.

Isolation is also great.

>>267696981
What would you say are the scariest ways to get a glimpse at the 'monster', anon?

>>267696981
Also, first person. As much as I like 3rd person so I can look at the character, the most important part of horror is immersion first and foremost. If you don't feel immersed in the setting it's never going to be scary.

For pretty much anything else, especially games where you create your character, I prefer 3rd person.

>>267697187
Ways that leave most of it up to your imagination.

>>267691439
I couldn't play Knock-Knock with a headset, only horror game that unnerved me that much, the sound design in that one is crazy

Doesn't ZombiU have perma-death?

>>267697203
Would a lack of a HUD be more immersive?

>>267697187
Looking through a crack in a door and seeing something move by. Having something constantly be just outside of your peripheral vision.
You can know something is there without having it be directly in the center of your screen.

>>267697562
Yes. I consider it a must-have nowadays.

Maybe having it operate like a choose-your-adventure story, in that the game can canonically end in unique ways throughout the game.

>>267691987
>you can see his dick

never realized it

that fight where you keep stabbing him with wooden sticks was nuts

what a great game

>that implication that The Tramp was actually some kind of super homicidal psychotic

I forget his alter ego's name but it was cool as fuck

>>267691128
This is something I'd like to see in the context of a survival horror, no guns, escape the place type game.

A monster with closed eyes, no arms and wrinkly leathery skin. It doesn't do anything and it's completely different from all the other monsters you encounter, it's the only one that doesn't attack you. All it does is follow you and it seems to cherish your attention. You see it every so often in a room full of monsters just sitting in the corner.

You know it's the same monster every time you see it because it smiles (not creepily) when you're near, as if it's genuinely happy to know you're there. During the course of the game, the monster gets less and less responsive to your presence until the point where it doesn't react to you at all, it just sits and "stares" blankly into a mirror with it's eyes closed.

The reflection in the mirror shows a beautiful creature with glorious wings, colourful and happy looking. As you get closer to the mirror the beautiful creature in the mirror looks more and more depressed. You hear crying behind you. As you turn around the monsters eyes are wide open, staring at the mirror. The monster doesn't do anything. It just stands there and cries. It moves close up to the mirror and it cries, and it cries, and it cries, and there isn't a single thing you can do about it.

>>267697742
That's a pretty good idea, but I also feel like it'd be a really big undertaking depending on how many endings there'd be.

>>267698218
I really like this idea a lot, to be honest. You seem to have a very good sense for the type of horror I'm thinking about.

>>267698218

sounds weird, which is cool, but also kind of boring and a little gay

>>267698515
How does this grab you?

One type of enemy that has two huge claws and a mouth FULL of pointy inward facing teeth. Think: My Neighbour Totoro if Totoro was 90% mouth.

All they do is advance extremely slowly towards you softly crying single phrases like "Please... just leave me alone" "Don't come any closer" "Please... don't hurt me" With humanlike voices, each of these monsters has their own uniquie phrase. If they reache you, you die almost instantly..

Later on in the game you'll see the first human you've seen the entire game through a window. You talk through the intercom and all of a sudden the door flies open. In stumbles one of those creatures. As it makes its way towards your new friend he backs into a corner going "Oh GODDD NOOOO I don't want to DIEEEE" it reaches him, and eats him whole. The creature then turns towards the window, looks at you and goes "Oh GODDD NOOOO I don't want to DIEEEE".

one anon a while back in one of these threads thought up a monster that would follow you around, sort of like the alien in isolation

instead of making noises you'd hear like, "Please, God! No! NO!" as it came closer

eventually you stumble across another survivor and witness the monster attacking him

as the survivor cowers he's screaming "Jesus Christ no! Get away from me!"

when the monster kills him, the sound it makes changes to "Jesus Christ no! Get away from me!"

I always thought that was clever

>>267699096
Dude... I literally wrote this back in 2009. and rewrote it again right here >>267699078 a few seconds before you posted. What are the fucking chances that 5 years later we're in the exact same fucking thread. Holy shit.

>>267699078
>>267699096
well this is awkward
I do like the idea, but the concept of isolation and a more singular enemy is more what I'm thinking about.
Although I may use a bit of this idea to be honest

>enemy lying near an entrance that you can't kill until it grabs you for a jump scare

>>267691128
While overdone, hallucinations that occur for a frame or two as part of a larger motif gets my shit scared.

>>267699540
In my opinion, in a horror game, you should never be able to kill the enemy.

Another thing I want to add that is good but I can't think of many games that utilize it would be the feeling of loss of control.

>>267699893
And how would you define that? Are we talking being strapped down into a chair? Having the environment change around you?

>>267691128

Gimmicks not tropes, jumpscares and first person.

>>267700062
Just about anything that makes you feel no longer in control of the situation.

>>267699353
>back in 2009

that's hilarious, yeah that sounds about right

always liked that monster design since it circumvents the silent monster trope but doesn't make the monster have corny one-liners or whatever

>>267699721
Best example of this would be the symbols and pictures that reappear when you are exploring the attic in The Suffering.

>>267691128
What I hate about survival horror games is the power creep. You constantly get better equipment through the game.

>>267700385
>power creep

yeah this gets to be a problem sometimes, although it does get fun shitting on enemies that gave you hard time before

having the game up the ante makes things more interesting, too

Alien Isolation did this kinda well, you get all the weapons and toys and crud but you had to balance stuff because attacking the Joes would attract the alien

>>267700704
This reminds me, what is the general consensus on games with non-traditional enemies? Ones where you don't, or can't, fight back? Did Amnesia kill the chase sequence?

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>>267700153
I even saved the thread to my hard drive because the archive wasn't around back then. Are you one of the replies?

>>267691128
>>267691696
I like the trope of being scared. I hate the trope of save points.

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I'm not really tired of any tropes, per se. I think they can all be used effectively in certain cases.

What bugs me is action filled, endless jump scare pseudo-horror.

>>267699771
You should be able to but with great effort

>>267701431
Are you posting that image ironically? SH4 is a legitimately scary game.

>>267701563
this whole thread is ironic. also,

trope
trōp/Submit
noun
1.
a figurative or metaphorical use of a word or expression.
"he used the two-Americas trope to explain how a nation free and democratic at home could act wantonly abroad"

>>267700951
>general consensus

I doubt you'll get one

haven't played amnesia, but Alien did it really, really well I think

being pursued by an unstoppable enemy is great, although I like being able to try fighting back even though it's futile

Nemesis had a similar feel as an early version of this, improved upon by the Hunter from dead space

>inb4 dead space, resident evil, etc. aren't horror, survival horror, etc.

>>267701678
Yeah I misspoke, gimmick was the word I was going for.

>>267701431
I remember getting the chainsaw in SH2. James scared the shit out of me when his idle animation is him screaming bloody murder

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>>267701563

I believe you, but this is obligatory

>>267701978
And the fact the nurses produce belches that would put Barney Gumbe to shame

>>267701678
>directly under that definition
>a significant or recurrent theme; a motif.
>"she uses the Eucharist as a pictorial trope"

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"That thing is dead on the ground"
"Oh no, it wasnt actually dead, it jumped up and grabbed me as I walked past!"
"Looks like I should stomp every corpse from here on out!"

>>267702102
>nurses produce belches

do they? that's hilarious

Have been writing a light-horror game, with the option to go full hardcore horror whenever the player wants to.

Basically a "safezone" building phase and an exploration phase. If you go to the exploration mode you can end it only by getting back to the safezone, or dying.
Each playthrough has a bunch of different characters and it's game over if too many die.

Not really sure yet how I would build the world but it is pretty much a colony-ship stranded on an ancient alien-city, on a melted ice planet. So pretty much everything underwater. And big fish and possibly other things.

So, either build up the base, go explore the sunken city(story and shit), or just... go swimming (which would be the most rewarding and scary part)

>>267702127
>still not what OP is talking about
tropes in horror games = cults

Op clearly said he meant gimmicks.
gimmicks in horror game = spooky diary getting spookier each page.

You felt dumb and tried to get revenge and failed and you should feel dumb the wounds will never heal.

whatever written here then marketed as something else entirely

>>267702232
When you hit them? Yeah. SH4's sound design was fucking weird. It did have the best OST of the series though.

>>267698218
Doesn't really seem creepy, just a bit unsettling and depressing that the only creature intelligent enough not to attack you realizes that its a terrifying abomination. Would be cool and really add to the game as long as it wasn't a key point of the story or an important character, just something that adds to the overall game.

>>267702537

your mom is dumb and her wound will never heal

you are her wound

that is a trope

>>267702653
Yeah I never wrote it intending it to be a key plot point or anything, it would just be something that you'd notice and something that would happen.

>>267702713
called me dumb but i only said you feel dumb. you are now officially mad. congratulations.

>>267702606

I really liked the ghost premise, those seemed spooky as fuck

plus walking around in first-person and having one bust through a wall or something would make me shit myself

>>267703053

you are the one who is mad and also the gay and should have the congratulations

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>>267701563
I like SH4. It gets some well deserved scorn, but it got me into the series, so it had to do something right. I just like the image.

>>267701978
Hilarious.

>>267702232
Sadly, yes. It's especially funny when you knock them down a set of stairs and they do it several times.

>>267702606
Great OST. Ambivalent between that and 2.

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What do you guys think about Corpse Party?
I thought the atmosphere was very unsettling. It wasn't the ghosts mostly, it was knowing that some driving force in the story is out to kill you. And if you die there, your pain that you died with is forever.

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>>267702158
>even if the game doesn't do it every game in the past has made you worry about it

>>267703081
I feel like the hauntings are how you do jump scares RIGHT.

>>267703349
one of the games that made me glad i had a hacked psp

couldn't believe a jap rpg styled game could actually be scary

I don't really need to be scared in a horror game. Creating a good, creepy and unsettling atmosphere is enough for me.
It's enough for me because most "horror" games now is nothing but shitty jump scares, monsters you mow down by the dozens and well lit areas.

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bad tropes:
>jump scares with orchestra hits
jump scares are fine, and are necessary (for me at least) to make a game truly scary. but the scare shouldn't be the sudden startling musical effect. jump scares would be better without sound. just the thing that actually jumps out.
>bad AI vision cones/peripherals
not really a trope, but a consistent problem that even Alien Isolation has. if you stand around the corner from a door, anyone who walks through won't see you, even if they're within 2 feet of you.

good tropes:
>good sound design
>being chased
like the vents in Amnesia: Justine, when something is obviously behind you and after you, but you don't want to turn around, and rush to a safe place. Running to lockers in A:I bestills this feeling in me REALLY well. genuine fear.
>scary monster design
We need more of this. the spoopy androids in A:I, Walrider and the twins in Outlast, Ao Oni, and the Amnesia: Justine monsters. Shit like Slender man, zombies, and the normal Amnesia monster aren't really scary. We need more uncanny valley. take inspiration from things like Jeff the Killer, that bitch from the Exorcist, and other designs that genuine make people uncomfortable on an instinctual level. this is VITALLY important.
>no pausing the game for
Dead Space and A:I done good with the inventory system being an in-game interface that doesn't pause the action. also, I don't know of any games like this other than Dark Souls, but not being able to pause AT ALL would highly ramp up the spoop factor