Spooky time games for spooky times.

[marurun]

System Shock 2 was one of the most tense and scary games I've ever played. It may not be Halloween ghost and demon scary, but that sure doesn't matter. Ammo starvation looming at every turn, the dangers of engaging the zombies with a wrench, and the audio atmosphere. The three spookiest enemies I've ever faced are in this game: psionic monkeys, suicidal exploding protocol droids, and cyber-midwives. The sounds they make are so creepy, and especially when you're slowly sneaking around in the cargo hold hearing monkey screeches and suddenly a crate pops open with an exploding droid in it. I loved the heck out of that game, even with the clunky FPS gameplay, mostly because of those horrifying elements and the crazy story.

[Xeogred]

I liked how the monsters continually respawned as well, though it felt totally organic with how massive the ship was and you clearly don't explore every square inch. So there's this constant dread that something is watching you over your shoulder (aside from SHODAN too, lol).

[pierrot]

For my spooky time gaming, so far, I've finished Megami Tensei II, Biohazard 2, and Biohazard 3.

It's still October, so I'll probably keep going, but I'm torn between these games for the next one I tackle:

Code Veronica (Kanzenban)
Dino Crisis
D2 (although I kind of wanted to play Enemy Zero first)
Blue Stinger
Alone in the Dark: The New Nightmare
Killer 7

[Xeogred]

Code Veronica (Kanzenban) - I have a love/hate relationship with this one. It's low tier RE for me and frustrating at points, I raged about it just recently in the big RE thread. But overall, it's not garbage. Just yeah... hit or miss. It's arguably more RE3 than RE3 itself though, even development wise.

Dino Crisis - Awesome stuff, some of the craziest puzzles in the RE genre. I never finished it though, it actually seemed fairly long for this style.

Alone in the Dark: The New Nightmare - Played a tiny bit but didn't make it very far, think I got stuck pretty early on and had no idea what to do haha. Seems cool though.

[BoneSnapDeez]

I think I need to admit to myself that I just don't find Ghosts 'n Goblins to be that fun. Especially on NES. The grainy graphics, the jacked up controls, the constant display of the map screen to remind me of my failure... No. I am done with this. May try to hit up D and Ghost House before the month is over, but Dragon Quest II (which I had started earlier in the year and abandoned) is dragging me back in.

Oh, and I decided to look at prices of some horror games that I don't yet own. Sweet Home looks like a go for me but yikes are Clock Tower and Laplace no Ma expensive!

[Xeogred]

I might agree with you Bone. I absolutely LOVE Super Ghouls, but it plays and feels quite different from the rest. The others are pretty arcadey and weird. Not bad... but I think I'd much rather play Castlevania. On the flip side, I still might prefer Super Ghouls over Castlevania IV a bit.

I guess I should mention, I got possessed again and got the platinum for RE5. Wasn't bad, still love that game. So now on my RE marathon I'm on Zero. Been going at it pretty slow though. Been more in the mood for watching stuff lately again.

[retrosportsgamer]

Dear Esther: Landmark Edition (PS4)

I'm (I think) five chapters into my first walking simulation. The ambiance and music have kept me engaged - I don't blame the game per se for me falling asleep and walking into walls and losing my orientation - I've been playing very late and after about 20 minutes of that setting I'm nodding off. I'm motivated to see what's next and hear the whole story (come on spooky) so a positive here so far.

This was not a spooky game per se, I think one of the preview snippets I read said "ghost story", which I'd disagree with.

[pierrot]

Dear Esther: Landmark Edition (PS4)

This was not a spooky game per se, I think one of the preview snippets I read said "ghost story", which I'd disagree with.

I would also disagree with that. I thought it had a slightly creepy vibe to it at a couple points, though.

Code Veronica (Kanzenban) - I have a love/hate relationship with this one. It's low tier RE for me and frustrating at points, I raged about it just recently in the big RE thread. But overall, it's not garbage. Just yeah... hit or miss. It's arguably more RE3 than RE3 itself though, even development wise.

I took a look at the thread, expecting a manifesto. I didn't find one, but I'm still a little surprised by your opinion of CV. I don't think I've ever heard a bad word about it. I've been looking forward to playing it, but I'm a little worried about burning out on RE in general, while doing so; I was getting pretty salty toward the end of RE 3.

[Xeogred]

I like Claire, Wesker, and Chris in it. But Steve and Alexia practically sabotage it entirely, alongside generally boring level design, ugly too (this one was 3D and doesn't use pre-rendered backdrops), it's probably the longest one of the old style next to REmake and not in a good way. Another good save theme and solid music but nothing memorable. It's just a very drab experience to me. But if it sounds like I'm the only one that dislikes it, maybe you'll love it. lol

[pierrot]

I read a few of the harsher reviews for CV, and had all but decided to start Blue Stinger instead, but then I looked at some of the praise of the game, which changed my mind. So, I've made an executive decision: I'm going in, combat knife in hand. Wish me luck.