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Question: Are there any truely scary games out there?

 

I've finally gotten around to playing one of the all time classic games - Resident Evil. I picked up the Gamecube remake cheap and while I'm enjoying it quite a bit (except the stupid inventory system) I have to say its not even remotely scary.

 

The fact that the game that pretty much started it the Horror game genre isn't scary got me thinking. I've played a couple of horror games over they years, and I can't really think of a single one that was scary.

 

Res Evil = Good but not scary. Eternal Darkness = excellent, but not really scary. Undying = Good but not really scary. Etc.. The closest I can think of in terms of scary games was Doom3 (or maybe AvP) which for the first few levels at least succeeded in making you cautious, and making you jump when things leapt out at you.

But even that soon lost it's scare factor and became repetetive.

 

So, are there scary games out there I have just missed? Or is it impossible to make scary games because the repetetive nature of games means that any initial scare factor wears off after the first time you encounter something?

 

Even those few "scary" bits in Doom3 or whatever as "jump scares" when something jumps out at you and makes you jump.. I can't think of any games at all that have managed to pull off proper psycological scares that make you nervous or unsettled. Is that even possible with games, or is it beyond their scope?

 

Thoughts?

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I wouldn't call it scary, but Vampire:The Masquarade:Bloodlines had a haunted Hotel. There were a few "jump moments."

 

When you are entering the hotel, one of the lights by the door explodes. Theres a ghost that runs across your path in the basement.

 

 

The atmosphere of the area is awsome.

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I wouldn't call it scary, but Vampire:The Masquarade:Bloodlines had a haunted Hotel. There were a few "jump moments."

 

When you are entering the hotel, one of the lights by the door explodes. Theres a ghost that runs across your path in the basement.

 

 

The atmosphere of the area is awsome.

 

I remember that...that area was tough.

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The game "D" for Playstation. Holy **** batman!

 

BTW - I didn't get scared from Doom 3. :( We tried playing with the TV super loud, and with the lights out, but it.... just wasn't that scary. :(

 

Can't find any info on D. Searching for D doesn't bring back particularly focused results. What kind of game was it?

 

I found doom3 a bit scary the first few levels, when i was sneaking around, running form corner to corner, using tactics etc.. And the first one or two times something jumped out at me. Then I realised te best tactic was just to run-and-gun it, and the jumping out enemies got predictable and tiresome.

 

---

 

It seems to me that there are several problems with making scary games:

 

1 - Games last much longer than movies, so any scary enemies, events, atmosphere is likely to become repetetive, predictable and loose its scariness.

 

2 - Horror films tend to rely on the fear that you can die unpredictably at any time... but games where you can die unpredictably at any time are really annoying.. so they have to give you predictable enemies. So once you have them figured out they aren't scary.

 

hmm..

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I just got System Shock 2 and it's supposed to be scary. Unfortunately, I haven't had the opportunity to play it much yet, so I can't tell you firsthand if it really is or not. :(

 

Scariest game I've ever played. Its the sounds that do it, the way you can hear things moving around but you're not sure where, and also the way that you've got pretty limited ammo the whole way through and can't really rely on firepower alone to win the day. Amazing game!

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I get scared by everything. I'm really jumpy and easily frightened...

 

Same here. :( The hotel on Vampire:The Masquarade: Bloodlines scared me to death. Everyone else I knew played it no problem. Doom 3 scared the heck out of me, I never even got quarter way through it. Cold Fear (Which isn't that scary) Still scares me to death.

 

It's only happened after that "Whats wrong with this picture" link that I found on a thread here. When the face popped up I fell out of my chair and ran downstairs. Since then I've had a fear of things jumping out at me. :(

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Thief 3 was had some pretty intense moments. I really like that series. :D

 

I was gonna say Theif II, It's the knowing that you can't get away, you a traped in the corner with nowhere to go and the guards are comming...

 

Also the bit in Half-Life with the giant green banging things, when you meet them for the first time in the blast pit.

 

The opening few levels of AvP2 as a marine were quite scary aswell, it lost it a bit after that. I hear the first one is much better.

 

Oh and finaly "They Hunger" for Half-Life, If you have never played it download all three parts now. it is brilliant.

 

EDIT: You may notice that all of the games in my list are old, the newest being AvP2, It's not that I don't think new games are scary, I just havn't played them. I am saving up for a shiny new PC though...

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I wouldn't call it scary, but Vampire:The Masquarade:Bloodlines had a haunted Hotel. There were a few "jump moments."

 

When you are entering the hotel, one of the lights by the door explodes. Theres a ghost that runs across your path in the basement.

 

 

The atmosphere of the area is awsome.

 

 

i agree. that was pretty damn creepy.

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