The general Survival Horror discussion thread.

[corn619]

Gotta love survival horror, no matter what time of year it is. Fear is a strong emotion and a good SH game late at night will most surely bring that out in spades. No other genre of game can keep on the edge of my seat like SH. I'm trying to finish Alan Wake right now, then I'm going through my PS2 horror collection. I gonna start with in no particular order, Haunting Ground, Siren, Kuon, Echo Night Beyond, Rule Of Rose and Fatal Frame 3. I've tried to sit down and play these games multiple times only to get about 3 to 4 hours in and then get distracted by something else.

The first survival horror games that really grabbed me was Silent Hill 3 and Fatal Frame 2. There is just something about these games, I love them. There just so dark, hopeless, dirty, and the puzzles were just awesome. Not to mention the creeptastic sound in these games. they are hands down my favorite SH games to date. I always try new horror games trying to find the same great experience I had with Silent Hill 3 & Fatal Frame 2, only to be let down. I have high hopes for Siren, Iplayed Lost Translation recently and it was great.

Heres a rundown of my Survival Horror collection
Alan Wake 360
Dead Space 360
Condemned 1&2
Fatal Frame 1&2 Xbox
The Suffering 1&2 Xbox
Cold Fear Xbox
Resident Evil Code Veronica DC
Carrier DC
Alone In The Dark The New Nightmare DC
Silent Hill Homecoming PS3
Siren Lost Translation PS3
Clock Tower 3 PS2
Cold Fear PS2
Disaster Report PS2
Echo Night Beyond PS2
Extermination PS2
GhostHunter PS2
Fatal Frame 1, 2 & 3 PS2
Galerians: Ash PS2
Haunting Ground PS2
Kuon PS2
Life Line PS2
Raw Danger PS2
Rule Of Rose PS2
Silent Hill 2, 3, 4 & Origins PS2
Siren PS2
The Thing
Fatal Frame 4 Wii
Fragile Dreams Wii
Cursed Mountain Wii
Resident Evil 4 Wii
Silent Hill Shattered Memories Wii
Eternal Darkness GC
I know I have a few more downstairs but I'm too lazy to go down right now.

[chupon]

I wish I could contribute more as I'm about the same age as Ack and a few others. Started with RE1 and RE2 on PS1. Never really had the balls to play Nightmare on Elm Street or Friday the 13th on NES back when I was younger. Stuff like that kinda disturbs me which I guess is the point. I think it's great that people like me who do get terrified of stuff like that also have a deep fascination for the same thing. I've got quite a few survival horror games in my collection now although they just sit there goading me every time I look at the shelf.

So scariest game I've ever played - System Shock 2. A patch for this game was released on the web to make it less scary so more people would play it.

For me a successful survival horror game has to do one thing: make me not want to play because I get too scared. When a game breaks me down to the point that I can't play it and I shut off the system - that's when I'm really impressed. When I'm so frightened that I hesitate to catch my breath before turning corners and moving to new locations or rooms - that's the emotion I look for in horror games. Games that shut me down and almost paralyze me with fear - I get stuck staring at my character not moving him/her in game. Thats a successful game. So far I've only played through a handful of horror games but by far the best was System Shock 2. It's creates tension beyond comparison. The soundtrack and effects is perfect and petrifying. And through the in game text the game creates an atmosphere on par with silent hill and eternal darkness. (Never played a silent hill - am halfway through eternal darkness.)

I've unfortunately read and know the plot twists in silent hill 1 and 2. I've ruined some of the real experience before even playing. I regret it every day I look at my shelf with the unplayed silent hill 2 on there as I use this knowledge as an excuse to not play another game that would make me crap my pants. I already know what happens. What a lame excuse.

If anyone runs out of other survival horror games, wants more and gives System Shock 2 a try don't spoil it for yourself. Don't even read the WIKI on it.

[mobiusclimber]

I played my first horror game when I was around 13 years old or so. A rich friend of mine had a Turbo Grafx and the best game on the system: Splatterhouse. I was incredibly blown away considering up to that point most of the games I'd seen had NES or arcade graphics and this featured huge characters with detailed backgrounds. Not to mention the insane amounts of gore. Now I wouldn't call Splatterhouse "survival" horror, any more than I'd call Super Mario Bros survival horror (even tho Mario DOES get chased by a ghost, and you can't kill it! Dun dun dun), but for an early horror game, I still think it's pretty awesome. Not nearly as mindless as Chiller, for instance, and full of great creepy moments.

After that, I tried finding other horror games, but beyond the Splatterhouse sequels (which are good but, imo, just don't succeed at capturing the same magic) there were some slim pickings. A couple fighting games (Mortal Kombat or the MK rip-off that I loved playing Killer Instinct) or a few short sequences in non-horror titles (Phantasy Star II had one enemy that pukes on you and another that flings its guts at you, and D&D Warriors of the Eternal Sun had that dragon that would glide around in the dark and overpower you if you weren't careful), but no real horror games unless you owned a PC. Of course there were games like Ghosts & Goblins (or whatever you want to call it depending on what system you played it on) but that was too cartoony, not scary at all. Zombies Ate My Neighbors, of course, but again not really scary, and I didn't play it at the time. One of my earliest scares in a game tho, wasn't in an actual "horror" game at all. This even pre-dates my exposure to Splatterhouse: Berzerk in the arcades (I played it in my dad's hobby store). From the digitized voices, to the music and sound effects, and especially that fuckin smiley face, this game freaked me the hell out. I was really young when I played it so there's that too.

I didn't have a NES growing up. My first console was the Genesis, and while most of its games were geared more towards teens and adults, there weren't a ton of horror titles beyond the two Splatterhouse sequels. Shadowrun had its creepy moments, of course. And of course there was a Castlevania sequel (but again, this barely counts as horror), and there was Chakan (but again, not horror really). Some games were a bit of a letdown both in terms of not having much horror and in not being very good. Chakan is a horrible horrible game, and it doesn't even live up to the bad ass image it portrayed at the time. Decap Attack I had hoped would at least be a little gory in a cartoon way, but of course it wasn't (and it's not the greatest game either). In fact, probably the game w/ the most horror aspects was one I didn't play until recently and which it would seem wouldn't have much in the way of horror at all: Dragon's Fury. It helps that the game is actually called Devil Crash in Japan to give you an idea of what it's actually like to play it. (It got released on the Turbo Grafx as Devils Crush.) It's a pinball simulation, in the same way that Mutant League Hockey is a hockey simulation. The board is a living creature, with living creatures cavorting all over it, and pulsating holes for you to shoot your ball into. *shudder* While the game isn't scary in the least bit, it is at least horror-themed, and a bit creepy if you start thinking about it. Plus the woman's head that turns into a demon the more you smack it w/ you ball is a bit disturbing. But again, I didn't play this one at the time.

After the Genesis, I got an SNES. This continued the dearth of horror titles. (Yeah, there's Musya, but I didn't play it at the time.) In fact, while I spent a lot of time playing different genres on the Genesis, most of my SNES time was spent with RPGs. (There are only a handful of RPGs on the Genesis, so of course that had something to do with it.) The scariest thing I can remember from playing SNES RPGs was playing Lufia and realizing that some people actually thought those stupid floor puzzles were fun! (*awaits stoning*) Tho actually now that I think about it, the one game that gave me a real sense of dread was Wizardry V. I remember feeling the weight of all that earth over top of me, the darkness, the oppressive atmosphere, death always right around the corner. It's not a horror game, but certain aspects of it are full of dark arcana, the kind of thing that seems almost satanic.

Of course, there was also a port of Doom, but I still have yet to play the SNES version. There are probably other games as well, but I didn't play them.

I'm trying really hard to remember what was next. I think I got a Playstation after that, and eventually a Saturn. I'm sure it was in that order because I remember picking up Alone in the Dark 2: One Eyed Jack's Revenge and thinking it was an incredibly ugly, broken attempt at mimicking Resident Evil. LOL Actually, I probably knew the Alone in the Dark series came first, but still. That game, on the Saturn, was awful. Unplayable even.

I probably experienced Resident Evil first, tho I think the dogs scare was ruined for me (maybe even by my sister). I thought it was a great game, tho not very scary. there were moments tho. The zombie in the bathtub, for instance. I think we rented Clock Tower and were seriously disappointed in it. I played it again later and just laughed my ass off at how awful a game it is. Everyone in it is stupid, and I mean that literally. Characters behave in ways that no sane adult ever would and the dialogue is just plain bad. I'm sure a lot of that has to do with the translation, but dear lord do they do some really dumb stuff. (Let's invite the little kid along with us when we go look for that serial killer in Europe!)

Of course, it wasn't that long until I got a copy of Silent Hill and found out how far the medium could go. Oh that game scared the ever-loving bejeezus out of me. It just keeps ratcheting up the dread and horror so that even the smallest things just freak you the fuck out. I still consider the first two games to be the pinnacle of the series, tho SH3 certainly has its moments. Lots and lots of moments, actually. My big problem with it is that a) nothing is really added by revisiting the story of the first game... it's really just the same sort of story with the cult wanted to do the same thing they were prevented from doing before; and b) most of the action doesn't even take place in Silent Hill. I guess you can go either way on that last point and either be freaked out that the cult can influence people anywhere they want, or you can think it fucks up the mythos of the town. I'm of the later mind.

This is long enough for now I think...

[Pulsar_t]

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2010- ... ry-article

[silverback]

The PS1 was my gateway into the world of survival horror and FPS etc etc

before the PS1 I had the usual we had here, SNES, Amiga 500, Spectrum etc (seemed in the uk you were a console game or a computer gamer most were computer gamers where I was from).

getting my PS1, well when I say my, my sister and myself saved for months and bought it together. I was about 12 or so.

The first horror type game happened to be Doom. I had heard of this never played it until I got it on the PS1. I was amazed, sure it was pretty poor by modern standards or by pc standards at the time but this was amazing. I was a guy fighting to survive playing through his eyes. Playing levels and hearing noises and things jumping out was great.

I then got Alien trilogy again on the PS1. This was even darker and better looking than Doom (not as good a game though) again playing this enough to have you nervous for something jumping out especially if the radar thing didn't work.

A while later I had heard of this resident Evil game, and it now had a sequel. Strangely it was cheaper to buy Resident Evil 2 on release than the first game second hand!

I got it for my birthday I'm sure. it was awesome. I played it through, admittedly with the assistance of a guide, but to be fair I only checked on it when I was really stuck which thanks to resi 2's set up wasn't to often.

I eventually got resi 1 directors cut. I never completed it, even today i haven't completed it. I played it a bit but it just wasn't that great I thought. I felt the 2nd game was better, less back tracking and I just never wanted to play it (much like half life and HL2, I LOVE HL2 play it through at least twice a year and both episodes, got hl1 never played it more than half an hour).

First time I played silent hill was a demo, yeah all very creepy etc but I just didn't get on with it. I then completed Silent Hill 3 and thought it was again not my thing. I didn't enjoy it, the stupid puzzles were ridiculous. you had to cheat to beat it.

I then got more consoles and more games, I have quite a lot of survival horrors over various platforms. All the resident evils on home consoles even the gun ones.

Dead Space, fantastic, not completed it yet but thats due to time constraints more than anything else. What a game.

Some other games have actually made me jump more than survival horrors. Chronicles of Riddick escape from butcher bay where you have to get the battery or whatever it is (I can't remember) for pope joe and the little dweller men that scurry out of the darkness.

HL2 has some parts that still make you jump. First time playing ravenholm, then going into the mines etc.

I think a really good game in general especially survival horror game is one where you don't have to play it to enjoy it, you can watch either video of it or be there whilst someone else plays it and find it great. Like a good movie.

[BurningDoom]

The original Resident Evil Trilogy is the essential survival-horror games, IMO. When I first played Resident Evil 2 (I played 2 before I played 1), it completely changed the way I thought of games. It was one of the first handful of games I got with my PSX. I had never played a game so cinematic, so story-driven, and so atmospheric before it. It was awesome.

[Ack]

In case my fellow survival horror fans haven't heard yet, there's an article concerning the next Silent Hill game up over at 1Up. Here's a link:

http://www.1up.com/do/previewPage?cId=3183070

I suggest you read the whole thing, there's some good info on the next game, but if you just want a few highlights into the developer's thoughts, here's a couple of quotes:

"If you look at the whole series, and the way that we chose to look at the series -- Silent Hill as an entity, a genius loci -- is the character."

"Murphy's story is Murphy's story. It has nothing to do with Alessa, or James, or anybody."

"You get a different result whenever you plug in a different person with a different psychology, a different load of guilt or remorse that they're carrying around with them."

"If you look at the previous games, we took the southeast corner of the map that was never explored."

"We wanted to go back to the classic style of Silent Hill, with the fixed camera as well as the player-controlled camera." Yet conscious of players' expectation of fixed cameras' tendency for the scary, he adds, "That's not to say that every time it goes into fixed camera you can expect a scary moment. We like to introduce the fixed camera quite often in the game so that you never really know what to expect."

"Horror is about making the player feel vulnerable. You can't feel vulnerable if you've got a giant gun or the unbreakable fire axe."

Hey, I'm excited. If nothing else, it sounds like these guys have their heads in the right place.

[brainofjtd]

I love Survival Horror and Action Horror.

My first SurvHor game, since everyone is counting it, was Friday the 13th on the NES> It was a hard game, ha. I really couldn't figure a lot of the things out at that age but I love Jason so hey! Rent it. My first legitimate attempt at a SurvHor game was Resident Evil 3: Nemesis on the PS1. I wasn't really allowed to play anything very intense on the advanced consoles, so I had to skip on 1 and 2 until I just happened to be at an agreeable age when 3 came out.

I loved it. I loved the feeling of panic. I loved that you had to actually think about what to do with your stuff. I was already pretty conservative when playing RPGs and such before, but to this day I am pretty OCD about my inventory thanks to games like RE3 and later REmake.

I think that is what really drew me in: resource management. You can't waste bullets. You can't waste healing items. And I love that the game pushes you and challenges you to use those sparingly and create solutions with them. This kind of thing went away after RE4, but I love 4, 5 and Dead Space anyway so I don't miss it too much! I'll gladly play either Survival or Action in my horror.

I've never really played Silent Hill, but I plan on it. I have the original on PSN. I also have Alan Wake for the 360. It's fun if repetitive.

[J T]

Though I played some 80s horror games like Friday the 13th on the NES, Haunted House on the Atari, etc. The first game that I ever found to be consistently scary was Alone In The Dark for the PC back in 1992. Looking at it now, it almost seems funny that I was so frightened by it. The graphics have not aged well, though the nostalgia makes it so I don't mind.

This was my first introduction into H.P. Lovecraft. I had never heard of him before. What I love about Alone In The Dark and much of Lovecraft's work is that the story pulls you in and then runs you through the ringer. It starts off normal enough- you've inherited a mansion from your Uncle, and it just so happens that something seems a little bit strange about the place and about the nature of his passing away. You begin with your feet firmly planted in reality, but there is something curious. And as you follow your curiosity you get pulled deeper and deeper into the hellish underworld. You want to know what the house is about, so you explore. You want to understand your Uncle's strange journal ramblings, so you read more. But each new room you enter gets scarier and more dangerous. Each new journal entry you read plunges deeper into madness and evil. By the time you are near the end, you are knee deep in the bowels of hell and wondering how you ended up there when you were only just a little curious. It plays on our basic fear of the unknown. It tempts you to take another step into the darkness, and another, and another until you have sort of forgotten about the real world, and all you know around you is madness and blood, and there is no way out. You are in way over your head. It is why Lovecraft was a great writer and it is why games based on Lovecraft are so entertaining.

For other games based on H.P. Lovecraft, try Amnesia: The Dark Descent, Call of Cthulu, Penumbra, Darkness Within, Quake, and Eternal Darkness.

[J T]

I am pretty OCD about my inventory thanks to games like RE3 and later REmake.

Hahaha. I have this problem too. My survival horror mentality often transfers to other games and I don't shoot unless I have to and I don't heal unless I'm really about to die and there hasn't been a save spot forever. It doesn't matter if I have ample supplies.