Random Gaming Thoughts

[Stark]

I've been on a Resident Evil marathon. Outside of a couple of jump scares the games aren't really scary. And the jump scares are mostly in the context of "oh shit, a monster that will attack me" and then you can shoot it for immediate catharsis.

IMO, the only truly frightening game is Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth. I have not played s lot of horror games, however.

Have you played any of the Silent Hill games? There are certainly some very scary moments therein. I agree with Popo, RE games aren't scary. They might get you with a few jump scares, but that doesn't qualify as a scary game in my book.

[Ack]

I've been on a Resident Evil marathon. Outside of a couple of jump scares the games aren't really scary. And the jump scares are mostly in the context of "oh shit, a monster that will attack me" and then you can shoot it for immediate catharsis.

IMO, the only truly frightening game is Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth. I have not played s lot of horror games, however.

I really liked Dark Corners of the Earth, but I wouldn't really call it frightening. I'd say there are a mix of games that really nail different aspects of horror though. Harvester really captures creeping discomfort and revulsion, the kind of thing that will make your skin crawl as if a roach just ran across the top of your hand. Fatal Frame is probably the best at forcing the player to flat out confront fear, since your only means of attack is to force yourself to go into first person view and look at the thing coming after you, particularly if you want to get a critical hit in. The short downloadable game Imscared does one of the best jobs messing with the player in the context of a "game," since it will generate cryptic Notepad files, shut itself off at key points, and completely changes where it starts up several times through the experience.

But my personal favorite for just providing a sense of ongoing dread and decay with punctuated moments of intensity and violence is the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. series. Just walking forward can be a terrifying prospect in those games, and you may find yourself standing still on the side of a road contemplating your next step simply because the grass doesn't look quite right.

[MrPopo]

I'll agree that STALKER ends up being the most horrifying of any game I've played. There's a general level of unease that you have to deal with in that game thanks to some amazing environmental design.

[Exhuminator]

Scariest game I've ever played:

I agree though that S.T.A.L.K.E.R. can be pretty damn intense at times.

[Snatch1414]

Wouldn't call RE that scary anymore, but the atmosphere is still top notch IMO. The old chunky polygons might take away from that, but REmake is great in large part because of the look/sound/feel of the game.

At the time RE first came out though it was definitely a sharp change from the typical stuff. We had a fishing cabin and a kid brought his PS1 and played RE the whole weekend. My dad/uncle/everyone were really surprised that such a video game existed at the time. Getting mauled by dogs with the screen fading to "You Died" was a big departure from most of what was out there I think.

[noiseredux]

This looks legit...



1993 Space Machine

This is a shmup that was being developed for Amiga 20 years ago but was never completed. The demo and original assets were found in a box in a basement, and the game was finally finished this year and published on Steam.

[Sarge]

Gettin' a big Tyrian vibe from that.

[TSTR]

ewwwwwww euroshmup

[noiseredux]

ewwwwwww euroshmup

I just have a soft spot for Amiga stuff.

Though I'm kind of on this kick of researching Atari ST stuff now too.

[TSTR]

i feel like those computers were better for graphic design and sound than games...am i wrong?