Is it impossible to make a legitimately scary horror game? I

>>376969124
its impossible, just like movies because you know you're watching a movie/playing a game. your life will never feel danger thus a feeling of fear can't be invoked upon you
any movie/game that relies on the supernatural loses any and all feeling of horror because you know devils/demons/ghosts don't exist.

it's 100% impossible to make a scary game unless it's directed at children because their minds have yet to mature and develop thus making them unable to differentiate reality and fantasy

>>376969353
>because you know devils/demons/ghosts don't exist.
>implying

>>376969594
C'mon anon, we aren't real.

>>376969594
if demons existed they would have appeared when i was 12 and set candles in a pentagram in the basement hoping I could summon a demon to fuck me in my asshole and fill me with their seed.

To be scary they need monsters that are absolutely vile and repulsive, where looking at them just really unnerves you

>>376969594
I dunno, supernatural games can be cool, maybe not absolutely terrifying, but interesting and a little unnerving. If the appeal of such things makes sense.

>>376969353
this
there was an episode of black mirror that addressed this. was a good one

>>376969694
You're forgetting that you're not very attractive.
Doubly so when you're competing against succubi and incubuses

Horror and tension is all about vulnerability and making sure your ass is covered.

The latest meme games go overboard in having you be practically helpless against the OogaBooga, but real tension comes from you having to manage your resources while trying to not be overwhelmed by a threat you know can fuck you up.

Metro series and Dead Space do this pretty well, also Stalker.

>>376969717
Anon is absolutely correct, hit me up with unnerving monster games. Though I'd add that it doesn't need to be utterly repulsive, uncanny valley appearances or behaviors can achieve the same effect.

>>376969694
Why could they take physical form necessarily? It's not like they're gods.
They do seem to be able to effect quantum level events however and even communicate through highly sensitive and perfectly isolated systems such as SQUID detector arrays.

>>376969837
look, there's got to be some petty demon with little to no standards and self esteem looking for a quick fuck
incubuses only fuck humans, not demons
succubi get go fuck themselves, i aint about that str8 life

>>376969694
>Not wanting to fill demons with superior human seed
Fag

>>376969353
Its possible, but you would need to make it really good where it draws you in. Good sound design without that annoying violin shreek, good art direction, maybe no pause button, minimal HUD, or thats what I assume.

>>376969124

Yes, you need a compitent AI that randomized every playthrough so you arent used to the same old jumpscares.
Look at stalker, look at l4d2 games one could easily shit themselves and only because you arent prepared for every single encounter the game has to offere.

>>376969353
>it's 100% impossible to make a scary game unless it's directed at children because their minds have yet to mature and develop thus making them unable to differentiate reality and fantasy


>tfw too old to experience horror games
>tfw you'll never be a child again

>>376969694
But that DID happen
You're now lying inconcious with your anus turned into a fountain of blood and semen
Wake up

>>376969353
>tfw he's right
Amensia: Dark Descent was only scary because I was a teen.

>>376969124
randomized permadeath games are actually the only games that could be scary.
but no one has really executed that correctly yet.

I believe the main reason games lose their scariness is due to players becoming familiarized. For example, necromorphs in dead space are pretty terrifying and seemingly invincible, but once you learn to shoot off one arm and one leg for an easy kill the game is a walk in the park. Similarly, the enemies became way less threatening in sh2 when I learned I could just stunlock them with a pole. sh3 remained scary all the way through to me though, which I think is partially due to there seemingly being no tricks to combat
So I think the best thing to do is to not let players become familiar to the game, either by constantly defying expectations or by making sure there is never an easy way out of a conflict.
An example of what I'm talking about might be spooky's jumpscare mansion, which has a new monster every 50 rooms, which follows it's own rules. Some go through walls, some have slime on the ground to slow you down, etc.

Games can definitely be scary. They have the the potential to be scarier than every other medium by far. The problem is that people also want you to play their games, if a game is too scary people aren't going to beat them and will refund that shit. So basically it is just pussies that are holding back the horror genre.

>>376971474
not scary, but intense.
d3 is an easy game, but hardcore can make your heart skip a beat when yo uplay

>>376969717
Hit me up with that uncanny valley shit anyday.

I don't find stuff that's overly grotesque scary.

That's why when I took a good look at the monsters in Amnesia I didn't find them scary.

>>376971923
Amnesia wasn't scary because they relied on LOUD NOISES AND SCREEN SHAKING when a monster was next to you.

>>376969124
What scares you in games, is it the setting or the mechanics themselves?

I played a game earlier this year where we lost an election to a racist white supremacist nationalist neo-nazi. Was absolutely scary how real it seemed. But friend told me not to worry and it was just a VR simulation thing.

>>376969124
Hard to do when you know if you die you will just respawn. You cant die because its obviously a video game and the tension will go away so the only way to scare you is jump scares.

>>376969353
I would say true terror comes from a lack of control when it comes to your own mortality. I think if you introduce a game that suddenly goes way off course from what was advertised, you'd bring about true terror.... for like a day until everyone goes onto a forum and realizes that its supposed to be that way

So lets take... Farcry or Sniper Ghost Warrior. You walk into a house and you know what to expect: either some kind of military looking facility or a Caribbean style home. Well, what if you open a door and there's suddenly a western living room or office? The option is there to go in or to never go in, but it randomly happens. You go in, and suddenly you can't get out, all you can do is explore. Then some freaky shit starts to pop up every once in a while that isn't styled graphically with everything else, and maybe it does random shit like mimic your computer or console shutting down. Then it does some freaky shit beyond that.

I think that's the only way you'd simulate it.

siren blood curse is scary till the end and its hard as hell so dying is very stressfull

A video game can never be scary because your character can die and then just come back.

>>376969871
>stalker
Came here to recommend this OP, you'll always be feeling tense even against humans

>>376969871
Oh fuck me I was ALWAYS paranoid in STALKER. Fucking this so hard

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>>376973313
And thats when this comes in. I loved this fucking game.
>perma death
>lose everything
>extremely intense every time I played it

>skeletons from dark souls
>zombies from REmake
>jumpscares that won't instakill you, but requires you to be quick
>levels that have near complete darkness
>most importantly, sound design

Also what game has the scariest vampires? VTMB is fresh in my head and the vampires weren't exactly scary.

>>376973524
>can resurrect character by farming materials
>permadeath
nah

Horror is about being vulnerable.

Play Outlast on that mode where if you die you get game over and have to start all over again - that's pretty scary

>>376969353

I take a different view. I view a lot of horror games like rollercoasters. Yes I'm not shitting my pants in fear but at times they can be thrilling.

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>>376969717

While we're on that subject, there's more to it than just LOOKING extremely unnerving. The way the creature moves and the noises it makes also have to be just right. In select circumstances the use of ambient music whenever a specific creature is in the area can also do wonders.

The Regenerador is still remembered by pretty much everyone today because every single one of those elements was there and utilized near-flawlessly.

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>>376974020

I'm drawing a blank here. No horror game where the main antagonists are vampires and the player isn't some kind of hunter or other supernatural creature readily comes to mind. I'm sure there has to be one though.

>>376969124
People are different, with different fears. Thing, which scares other guy, may not affect you.

So, no, "legitimately scary horror game" isn't possible.

the issue is that most NPC enemies have patterns that can be exploited and strip away any sense of unpredictability.

suspend moar disbelief

>>376969124
Horror games have to be short or the player become desensitized to them

After a while in players will stop being scared and get more frustrated when they die and run low on resources. This is notable with the Outlast and Amnesia games

Of course short games are going to get memed to death, refunded, and then sold at a price way too high for the amount of content. So they're in a predicament