• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

Is it just me or are Horror games just not that scary anymore?

Keep in mind I've not seen much of The Medium and not touched the RE Village "Maiden" Demo yet (I plan on checking that out tonight) but I'm not sure fully what it is, but I just don't find horror games that scary anymore. I remember RE1 and 2 being scary as a kid but as I've gotten older, the effects just not that aside from maybe one example: Alien Isolation, and even that was because of VR. Dead Space was kinda close, but then 2 went more action and 3 being co op ruined that (I'll maintain that Co Op or AI partners in Horror makes games less scary as part of good horror is lonliness/isolation).

Browsing YT I came accross Joseph Andersons views on it:



Now, I will say I am a fan of his work and I think he has a great point in this video where, "you lose nothing and just come back" and he's right, once a scare had happened, it then fails to scare you a second time and becomes more an annoyance than a scare. I don't know what it is, maybe I've not found a decent scary game for awhile and I've played most of the best ones (for what its worth, I found SH to be more freaky and offputting than scary)

Anyone else have any thought on this?

You've just gotten braver
 
I think the issue with horror games is you get desensitized to the tricks. I realised this with Alien Isolation over its long play through. There was like a gradient where at the very start of the game I panicked when the Alien was near and didn't know what to do. However towards the end of the game, if it spotted me and I heard it hiss or the music changed I would just instinctively pause the game and reload the latest check point. The game was fun but I was no longer fearful and just played through with trial and error.

I think the best that these games can do for me is to try and create a strong atmosphere that is not scary but mysterious and thick enough that I want to keep coming back.

Games like the Silent Hill franchise, Resident Evil 1 and 4, Dead Space 1, Alien Isolation have such a strong atmosphere that I love to come back for another play through even if they are not scary.
 
Best horror franchise for me is Fatal Frame. But fucking Nintendo doesn't do anything with it now...


FFS NINTENDO GIVE ME SOME FATAL FRAME YOOOOOOOOOOOO
 
Top Bottom