What makes a horror game good? Like genuinely good?
I have the feeling making a great horror game that doesn't rely on cheap and shallow tactics (e.g. jump scares) might just be one of the hardest thing to get right in the gaming industry.
But what makes a horror game good and what are some horror games that got it right?
I would say
>limited power to defend yourself BUT you aren't completely defenseless
>uncanny enemy where you don't know what they are fully capable off
>spot on use of sound effects and music
>Le jumpscares is bad meme
Every time
Every person I've met who calls jump scares cheap or bad horror end up being pussies who almost never watch or play horror-related things.
They basically want RE4: a game that isn't horror but has horror aesthetics and only tries to scare you maybe twice.
>>342752861
Are you saying they are good? Cause they can be used in way that is somewhat good but most of the time they are terrible and really out of place
>>342752861
Jump scares are great if they are rare. Take alien isolation, it doesn't happen often but getting a spike shoved through your back is sudden and scary the rare time it happens, but most of the fear comes from hiding from the alien, not having it jump out at you.
Less enemies, barely being able to survive a fight with an enemy (or no defense but hiding) and atmosphere are the keys to creating a good horror game. Think of jump scares like a decal on the side of a car, with good level and sound design being the paint.
>>342753285
Honest to go, what are these fabled games that use jump scares poorly? I don't mean bottom tier indie shit.
>>342752861
>>342753113
>I don't know the difference between being scared and startled
>>342752663
It's a bad question. Horror games aren't special: all that makes a horror game good is the same stuff that makes any other game good.
Talking about how many jumpscares, can you defend yourself or not, etc., is like asking what setting makes the best FPS, or how many powerups you need in a platformer. It's just details.
>>342753113
Only that I play those games and still realize they are overused and cheap.
>>342753113
>Every person I've met who calls jump scares cheap or bad horror end up being pussies who almost never watch or play horror-related things.
Maybe because it is filled with jumpscares? Why in the fuck would they play those? It's is filled with the very stuff they don't like.
I also fucking hate jumpscares.
>>342753493
>>342753448
>>342753285
Will any of you fuckers give me one game that actually has some extreme overuse of jump scares?
>>342753542
Five Nights at Freddies
Jumpscares are only good if you manage to induce a terrifying sense of dread in the player. If that's not present (or the player is a jaded fuck), then they're executed poorly.That's why I think FNAF1, despite having boring gameplay, has great balance between terror and horror.
>>342753542
Five Nights at Freddy's, Slender and it's clones, Outlast(if you don't count it a slender clone)
Good horror game makes you feel uncomfortable because of the atmosphere, music and all the other stuff.
Bad horror game makes you uncomfortable because you know that you'll get jumpscared in a couple of seconds.
>>342753717
>>342753673
So overrated, overpriced indie shit. OK. I can't even pretend Slender has jump scares because the last time I played that shit, the model was so bad for Slender I burst out laughing.
>>342752663
Everything about Outlast with less Puzzles and more Jump Scares
>>342752663
Depends.
Jump scares can be fine if used conservatively.
If you're using them like crumbling terrain in Uncharted then you've fucked up big time.
Horror to me is more about atmosphere. Something like Resident Evil 4 isn't necessarily "true horror" as it's more action for a large amount of it, but there are sections like the Island when you're in the research facility dealing with Regeneradors which do feel like horror.
This whole
>can't defend yourself
>emphasis on stealth
Isn't necessarily good. If you want something like outlast, fine, but I think you can make interesting horror games without a lot of those elements.
PT was successful because it was a Haunted House simulator, and it had zero real "threats".
>>342753542
The FNAF series was built on people circle jerking to jump scare reactions. Every single "scare" in Outlast depends on jump scares. Essentially every "survival" "horror" game released since 2002. Horror games are supposed to make you scared because you never know what is going to happen to you, not annoyed because you have to turn down your headphones every time you turn a corner.
>>342753409
No, it isn't like you FPS example. At all.
OP is basically asking what game design makes horror games good.
>>342752663
I would love a horror game with a bunch of lore
>>342753854
wow u so cool and edgy bruh
There is literally no good reason to dismiss any horror game just because it's indie. Those are still valid examples.
>>342752663
There is no good horror game because people will always find a way to shit on one.
>>342752663
Is the game still good even if you're not scared?
That's really the only thing I consider when playing horror games.
I like old resident evil games and the amount of jumpscares they have.
>>342752663
Tension. Smart use of tension. And aesthetic, and narrative themes. Not sure how to get into specifics.
>>342752663
Being forced to run/survive, feeling helpless, continuous betrayal of player expectations about when they are safe.
>>342753113
should stop talking about yourself then, retard. any idiot can crank the volume on a scream up to 1000% and call it horror
>>342754250
Did I dismiss it? No. I said it was overpriced, overrated indie shit. I said it's a bad fucking game. But they're a minority of horror games. The vast majority of horror games do not abuse jump scars, which is the common "critique" of horror, which is usually just covering up for the person's inability to deal with jump scares period.
Jump scares obviously need to be in any horror game. Even the best horror movies of all time have them.
Dead Space, Alien: Isolation, Insomnia.. many of these games have jump scares but they are imperative to the atmosphere.
>>342752663
The perfect horror game is the one that has you waiting on the edge of your seat, biting your lip, for a jumpscare that never actually comes.
The Moon Sliver is a pretty good horror game (it's a shitty GAME, but it's unsettling as fuck). Yume Nikki is a pretty good horror game (Uboa notwithstanding). I could name others but most are in the free-$3 indie range, it's all sort of the same shit.
These are games that never actually startle you. They stick you in a world where you can do little in the way of interaction save wandering around, design a very unsettling atmosphere, and then leave you to round corners CERTAIN that some bullshit screamer is coming even though it never does. You're constantly anticipating something that out and out SCARES you but since it never happens, there's no catharsis, and you stay at the same guarded emotional 9.5 you've been at from the beginning.
Every piece of a game's world is more terrifying when you're on the adrenaline rush of anticipating a startling moment.
>>342754009
Dead Space also comes to mind. the first 2 games had a lot of action at certain parts but the necromorphs were a constant threat,, the game had jumpscares but they were few and far between.
