Spooky time games for spooky times.

[noiseredux]

I cannot say I like one more than the other. They are very different games. Like, Castlevania III feels like a sequel to I, not II. Right? And SOTN feels like it is a sequel to II in a way. But yeah, I love Castlevania II as well. And the music is amazing.

If you think it's not cheaply difficult, though... you obviously haven't encountered falling through the floor yet.

[J T]

Castlevania II had that part where you couldn't progress until you kneel down in front of a cliff. It took me so long to figure that out as a kid back in the days before the internet. I hated that game for that reason. I did soooo much pointless backtracking and searching trying to figure out where to go and what to do. I do think Castlevania II is a good game, but I prefer I and III because they didn't make me waste my time. I was happy to roam in Symphony of the Night though.

[BoneSnapDeez]

So The Internet tells me that Castlevania II has multiple endings based on how many "days" it takes to complete the game. I've been derpin' around so I think I already have the bad ending guaranteed. Oh well. Happy to be finally getting into this series.

[noiseredux]

Also, I've had F13 pre-ordered for months. But I wish that we'd get a solid release date. The devs have said October for a while, but no actual date. And the Steam page just lists "Fall 2016"... if they would just confirm it was delayed til January or something, I'd probably grab Dead By Daylight to play for now. But I'd hate to grab that and have F13 surprise release next week, as they are kind of similar games.

well... I "got my wish." Friday the 13th has officially announced that it's delayed into 2017 sometime.

So, my revised Spooky game list...

Aliens Versus Pinball
Alone In The Dark
Dead By Daylight
Ghosts N Goblins
Layers Of Fear
Mortal Kombat XL
Nightcry
Resident Evil 0 HD
Umbrella Corps

[BoneSnapDeez]

So I'm about a third of the way through Castlevania II...maybe?

Such a weird game. The enemies provide little challenge, but the jumping controls are shoddy and some pitfalls are tough to clear. I'm playing on the FDS - the load times aren't horrible but it's possible for the enemies to knock you back a screen which causes the previous area to load! So strange.

I enjoy what I've played so far. Looking forward to putting in a marathon session tonight. Which for me means two hours or so.

[casterofdreams]

I just started Metro 2033 Redux. It looked like it's got a lot of things that bump in the night. Monsters and tension and dark tunnels oh my.

Maybe this game is a stretch in the spooky department. I don't know for sure till I go through it.

[PartridgeSenpai]

I just started Metro 2033 Redux. It looked like it's got a lot of things that bump in the night. Monsters and tension and dark tunnels oh my.

Maybe this game is a stretch in the spooky department. I don't know for sure till I go through it.

I'd say the Metro games are spooky enough to count. They're not totally based around horror, but the themes present in the game, the bleak, destroyed landscapes, and how alone you so often feel make for a fairly good spooky experience.

[BoneSnapDeez]

FDS Castlevania II is done! Wow these boss battles were a joke. I'm moving right on to the NES version tonight. Disk and cartridge back-to-back baby, this is how the Bone rolls.

[alienjesus]

So it's taken me a while to get started, but I dived into a few of my spooky games today.

First off was Castlevania.

As usual, I found that the games reputation for being 'ridiculously hard' was somehwat overblown - it was certainly challenging, but besides a few small sections, none of it challenged me too much. It took me about 3 and a half hours to finish the game, an hour of which was on Dracula himself - that was definitely the hardest part of the game for me!

Castlevania is an enjoyable enough game, but I have to say I don't love it as much as most. Some bits felt cheap, and I found half of the levels more irritating than fun. The original entry is enjoyable enough, but I enjoyed it a good deal less than the other entries in the classic series I've played (Super Castlevania IV and Rondo of Blood). Still, as a starting point it's decent. I'll post about this in the Games Beaten thread soon enough.


With Castlevania beaten, I decided to jump into some Splatterhouse 2. It's certainly got a far more morbid horror atmosphere than Castlevania/

Have you ever started a game, and known super quickly 'this game really isn't for me'. I have, and it was this one. The gameplay is stiff and overly simplistic for my tastes - you can punch, you can kick, there's not much difference between them. Weapons are basically the same as punching or kicking. Jumping exists but it feels shitty and the perspective makes it hard to judge when you should jump over obstacles.

If this is representative of the quality of the series, then I won't be trying the rest. I didn't enjoy what I played of this a bit. As far as I can tell, Splatterhouse 2 got by on it's admittedly impressive atmosphere and gory graphics, but there's barely any gameplay worth mentioning here. I hated it so much, I've decided to get rid of it. I know I won't be wanting to play it ever again. The most horrifying thing about this game is just how damn boring it is.


I'm not sure what I'll play next - maybe Grabbed By The Ghoulies. I want to try and finish up Shenmue before I commit to any of the actual horror games on my list - I'll want no distractions to convince myself to push through the horror games, because they're not something I usually enjoy, and I'm a massive wimp.

[BoneSnapDeez]

I've only finished three Castlevania games at this point and I found the original to be the worst by far. Still fun, but stiff and occasionally annoying. I found the bosses to be much harder than the levels themselves. Frankenstein's Monster, Death, and Dracula were all pretty difficult.

And the Splatterhouse games never did much more me. Big, dumb, and slow. Hate the look of that protagonist too.

Anyone here familiar with Ghost House on SMS? I'd like to get to that after I'm done with the spooky NES games. It has some of the greatest box art of all time.

List update:

Haunted House
Gremlins
Ghost Manor
Alien
Xenophobe
Frankenstein's Monster
Ghost House
Dracula II: Noroi no Fūin / Castlevania II: Simon's Quest
Ghosts 'n Goblins
D
Higurashi When They Cry Hou - Ch.1 Onikakushi

(The Count was removed before I finalized the list as I realized I lacked the necessary hardware to really play it)