Do you find older horror games still scary?

I was wondering if PC gamers out there find older horror games still scary, especially the younger crowd?

I remember how scared crapless I was in Doom 3. What made that game scary, besides the "jump out of the dark" shock was the audio. The sound was top notch actually and having a quality set of headphones made for a really immersive game. I remember turning off the sound and the game just didn't have the intensity at all. Doom 3 was released 10 years ago, in August 2004.

Also, the old Aliens vs Predator 1 and 2. That sound the motion detector makes to this day just gives me chills. The whole creepiness factor of the game seems to still hold its own even today. AvP 1 was released in 1999 and AvP 2 was released in 2001.

Just curious what other users thought if they've played a "horror classic" recently? I mean Halloween is coming up. Good of time as any.

And what is the scariest game you've played?

 

I'm not young anymore but I still enjoy horror games on occasion though not all, for example I don't like Alan Wake and also there was that new horror game(I can't remember the name) where you don't have anything but flashlight and you can only run and hide - ughh no.
The scariest game I've played would be Condemned: Criminal Origins, followed by Clive Barker's Undying, F.E.A.R(the very first one) probably gets third place.

 

Lol, I couldn't stomach Doom III. Dunno, found that game kinda dull.
I do get a bit uncomfortable when I play Ravenholm level in HL2, even though I've done it countless of times by now. But it isn't scary uncomfortable, it's more annoyed uncomfortable. You only have a pistol and a crappy SMG at that point in the game. Zero Point Energy Field Manipulator and shotgun help a bit, but those damn fast zombies and those zombies with fast headcrabs annoy me like hell, I usually just unload half of my ammo into those pluckers!
Same goes for Bioschock. At first it was kinda creepy, you alone with all those creeps. Lol I remember my very first battle with Big Daddy, bad times, but then the difficulty level dropped exponentially and I was picking fights with BDs. I didn't even have to use a full charge on my pimped up chemical weapon whatchamajigger. And final boss fight, it took me like 30 seconds to complete it. Same for BS2. I did play on normal, maybe that's why it was that easy.

To be honest I don't find the whole horror genre to be interesting, hence the lack of horror games I've played. I like when games have horror elements (i.e. Dishonored), but standalone horror games not so much.
Take Alan Wake for example. Good story, great narrative, great music, gameplay sucks. I did like the concept, the whole light thing, but the way it was implemented wasn't to my liking. Moreover, the dude couldn't run for crap. If I would be chased by a bunch of monster I would run like hell.

As for newer horror games, this guy did some reviews:
<iframe width='560' height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/tw7Os-_BJMo" frameborder='0' allowfullscreen></iframe>

 

Hands down to Amnesia! Scariest i have ever played!

edit: Just got chills down my back from remebering certain parts

 

I still play AVP2, you don't even see a Xeno for the first 15-20mins of the game, the build up and tension in the game was spot on. It is such a shame that it's the last good Aliens game to come out. I usually play it after I've watched Aliens for the 200th time. I also go through the older RE games.

As for as this gen or last gen really, Dead Space is the winner for me, mostly Dead Space 1 as 2 and certainly part3 take things further into the action area. I actually even enjoyed the game on the Wii, felt more like Dead Space 1, rather than the others.

 

Xcom was the scariest game I ever played. But AvsP (the first game) and Dead Space 1 were well made. Story segment in the Wii port/Dead Space: Extraction was well written as well, imo.

By the way, have you played WiiFit? That's the creepiest game I've ever played. Look at this:

So, you're told to waltz down the tightrope across a bottomless pit between two huge buildings, for no apparent reason. At the end of the level, you have the other Miis registered on the system staring at you expectantly. And suddenly there's a freaking bear-trap jumping - jumping - towards you on the tightrope. And the Mii you're controlling just doesn't have any acrobatic skills whatsoever, so you try to jump and the bear-trap cuts your legs off and you fall into the abyss. And the Miis on the wall cheer as you fall.

This is pure evil.

 

The problem is that storytelling and ambience have given way to "look at how pretty I can make this".
Often when we can see something, it becomes less frightening.

In video games we all know that there is no real danger... the "scary" comes from the unknown in a game... not the known.
When your character faces a mysterious force that all you can see is a shadowy or perhaps ghostly figure that causes things to fall on you or perhaps attacks you without revealing itself, or attacks in a darkened room that is a lot scarier than some perfectly rendered demon that stands right in front of you. (you just look for the shotgun or rocket launcher button)

In the past, the rendering wasn't nearly as good... so game designers relied on the unknown and storytelling more.

I remember early in original Unreal, you were attacked in the dark by a very weak creature after finding a corpse... if it attacked where you could see it, it would be very easy and really not much of a battle even against a very weak player. However, since the battle is scripted in the dark with only the glaring emergency lights, the battle is much more frantic. (you are scripted to win unless you are decidedly awful) The thing is... due to the storytelling people still jump even when told its going to happen. Even when you know the thing probably won't kill you unless you go afk for 5 minutes during the sequence... they still jump!

Now take a look at Diablo 1 and 2... and compare to Diablo 3.
You have a dark, gothic world in the first 2... the third one gives way to demons who cannot have demonic symbols and happy rainbows, unicorns, and a color palette that reminds you of those things even when you aren't in rainbow-land. The world is brightly lit... even in deep caves or dungeons. Even the demons are softened and are less scary and more funny-looking. (the demoness of lust is a prime example)
The whole game is designed for the console crowd and trying desperately to not scare the single-digit mentalities the game is aimed at.
(Frankly, I don't think the game designers remember being that age... reality was a lot scarier than anything Diablo ever had.)

In my opinion, there are two forces here hurting these games.

One is simply "look what I can do"... it just needs to be tempered with storytelling.
The other is a systematic dumbing-down for games which not even the console crowd needs.
(the new consoles are lower-budget PCs... elevate the console gamers, don't molly-coddle them)

 

Doom3 is still very scary and it`s now 10 year old.

John.

 

@KernalPanic: haha, yeah - I still remember the Butcher on the third level in Diablo 1. That was scary. The setup, the level-design, music, etc. Not much story - but a very well set up sequence where you control the pacing towards the boss-fight. And that allowed you to immerse yourself and get scared in a completely different way than any book or film would. While newer games rely on on-rails segments instead.

By the way - anyone played Spec Ops: The Line? This is kind of a commentary on how modern games fail. And it has a few player controlled sequences that are exactly like the setups in Diablo. And then they force you to start wondering if the main character really is as reliable as it seems from halfway through the game and onwards. It's not a jump-scare, but it's a pretty good "horror" game in the same sense as.. I don't know.. in the way that Hellraiser was a good horror movie.

 

Loved that game. Crappy gameplay, but the story was was great. Oh, and that phosphorous scene...

 

I enjoyed Doom 3, but he horror games started to play the same (me running around in the dark). I played Silent Hill (snooze), skipped F.E.A.R. Found Resident Evil (horror) and fell in love with all things zombie. Hence, the reason I'm playing Dead Rising 3 (Scary No! Just fun). Tried Alan Wake, BUT had to stop after second chapter (BORING-again me running around in the dark).

 

I have to say the first game that i remember as scary is F.E.A.R.
I stopped playing after the part where u went down a ladder and as the camera turns you see the feet of the girl

 

Penumbra is still one of my favourite series. In particular, Penumbra Black Plague.

As for older games, I think despite being old, games like doom still have that atmosphere that can be unsettling. Some of the old games lack punch now because of how old they look and how stiff they play though, but remakes like Resident Evil Remake are pretty good

 

Waiting impatiently for Resident Evil 4 Remastered. D:

 

FEAR only had a couple parts that were remotely scary, and they were more in the beginning of the game. Near the end it just became a grind.

 

Hm, this one?

There's a scene further along on another crashed spaceship where the lights go out, except there's a dozen Skaarj dropping from the ceiling. That was pretty ... especially on hardest difficulty. And the music score ... epic. Lacking the long overdue remake, time for an upgraded rerun.

 

Ah Unreal, one of my all-time favorites. That soundtrack sent shivers down my spine. I definitely need to go back and revisit it one of these days now that I'm back on Windows 7 and can run it without crashing. It's actually pretty demanding with Kentie D3D10 renderer, Extreme textures, and POM. Both my GPU's are pegged at 99%.

 

I'll say Thief: The Dark Project will probably scare anyone to this day. It was just so creepy in the zombie levels... there was no warning, little music. Just you and these unkillable things with almost no regenerating health and limited arrows even with that holy water fountain nearby...

As for HL2's ravenholm, I still do find it a bit scary, but it's more of a very very tense experience than a full on scary.

 

Yeah Ravenholm was scary at first until I got a bit stuck to get past and after the fast zombies killed me a few times, it was like, meh, whatev's.

 

Yeah, after you die a few times it just loses the scare. But the reason why I find games like thief would always be scary is because they have a certain formula that I find new games lack.

New games like to go for the jump scares and the like; it isn't as scary as people think. Hell, I have a highlight on twitch of me playing Outlast from start to finish without a single jump. I did laugh a few times though.

But see old games like thief are more scary because you know what you're up against, and you KNOW you're screwed. You have reviving enemies that are dangerous all the time and you have very limited ways to kill them, and they're going to keep coming. End of story, they're gonna keep coming. And that's the scary part there. You know what it is and you can't kill it, and you must avoid and move slowly and get around and away from it. You can't hero-style tank it and find some HP on the floor, it doesn't work that way. XD.

I think that's what some real fear is. It's that enemies are there and dangerous, and you know they're there, but you don't always know WHERE, but you can bet they're going to pop out and you're going to believe-ably fight for your life... and music can really help with that immersion too, if done well.