Horror games with aging graphics

[Menegrothx]

To be frank, most people haven't really played those games

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7jbhCOCdHUw&t=1m35s
Yahtzee has played Silent Hill 1 and considers 2 to be one of his favorite games and he pretty much says "this game cant be considered to be scary anymore because of its outdated PS1 graphics" in that part. Just one example of what I mean. I dont see how a game could be any less scary now than it was back when it was released.

I myself was scared by 1 a lot more than by 2, 3 and 4. It might have something to do with the fact that I played 1 first, but I still think that 1 has the scariest look and by far the scariest soundtrack and audio design.

[harper]

To be frank, most people haven't really played those games

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7jbhCOCdHUw&t=1m35s
Yahtzee has played Silent Hill 1 and considers 2 to be one of his favorite games and he pretty much says "this game cant be considered to be scary anymore because of its outdated PS1 graphics" in that part. Just one example of what I mean. I dont see how a game could be any less scary now than it was back when it was released.

I myself was scared by 1 a lot more than by 2, 3 and 4. It might have something to do with the fact that I played 1 first, but I still think that 1 has the scariest look and by far the scariest soundtrack and audio design.

Silent Hill 1 did definitely creep me out at times, and I just played it for the first time in my life a couple of months ago. Actually if anything the "outdated" graphics (and darkness) probably helped with that, because it makes it even harder to know exactly what's around the corner. It makes you look harder and think more about what you're seeing, I think. I know one of the most intense things for me was walking into a new room and instantly hearing that static, and it's like "fuck, something's in here" and it knows where you are and it's coming for you before you even know where/what it is. Honestly going into it I did not expect to be scared at all but I was on the edge of my seat for almost the entire game. I feel like I can't even adequately describe what all makes it such a great horror game, but it really is. I kinda feel sorry for anyone who can't enjoy it for what it is just because it doesn't look realistic by today's standards.

[Gamerforlife]

This generation places so much emphasis on graphics, graphics, graphics. Hell, it's the whole culture. I just saw an article on usatoday about the new ULTRA HD televisions coming out soon

It's not "this generation", emphasis on graphics has been a huge deal pretty much since gaming became a big thing.

Intellevision was supposed to be better than the 2600 becuase the graphics were better. Just take any look at the Genesis Does ads, etc.

Graphics have always been a big deal.

Of course they have, but it's gotten much worse over time. That's what I was getting it at. Now and days it seems like graphics really and truly are everything. Gaming reviews wax poetic for three paragraphs about how pretty a game looks, then throw in a blurb about gameplay

[Key-Glyph]

I think sound is especially important with horror games, probably more so than graphics.

I agree with this, and not only with sound effects, but with music. In fact, I particularly find a lack of music to be inherently unnerving. I mean this in everything from spooky text adventures to decidedly non-horror GUI games. And if you add anything like off-screen footstep noises or zombie groans or unexpected doorbell noises to the silence, I get extra tense.

[Haoie]

Freaking Clock Tower man. That music still scares the crap out of me.

If you've heard the Scissorsman theme from the first game, you'll know.

[Dylan]

I posted this in another thread, I think it'll be good for the discussion here. Talking about how aged graphics affect the experience of horror games:

I've considered posting in that thread before (I might actually just copy this paragraph when I'm done with it). I think something that people are ignoring about dated graphics is that they weren't always dated. Before we had anything to compare PS1 games to, they looked fantastic (at least, in our minds). We praised these games for having good graphics, because at the time they demonstrated the upper limit of what was graphically possible. Going into these games nowadays, the aged graphics have become a distraction which didn't previously exist. Now that we have better graphics to compare them to, we notice to a much greater extent how much they don't exactly resemble real life or realistic looking entities. We've become accustomed to the high level of conveyance that high res graphics can give to us, and as a result it's much harder for us to suspend our disbelief for low res ones. This isn't even entirely our fault, the graphical comparison can happen subconsciously just because low res graphics have become labeled and distinct in our minds, whereas previously they weren't.

I'm not arguing that some of these older games don't have good gameplay mechanics that have stood the test of time, gameplay aging isn't the issue here. I will say that because our perception of graphics as a whole has changed it makes sense that these games would leave different impressions nowadays because of how different our perception is than it was in the past.

[EricL]

Haha...we have very different ideas of aging. When I read this topic I was thinking of Sweet Home and games like that. Frankly the only horror that has aged to me are games like Haunted House, Frankenstein's Monster, etc. Older horror like Castle of Terror and Shadowgate may be more unsettling than frightening, but it doesn't make me like or appreciate it any less as horror. In fact, I often prefer to be unsettled rather than outright frightened, as not only is the last fairly predictable, but it also makes the experience not altogether pleasant when playing at night. Some games like the Silent Hills are so scary at night that I really have to be in the mood to play one. I don't want to spend every night having bad dreams and so forth.