# Penny Arcade neatly encapsulate in 3 panels why it is so hard to make a scary game



## kabbes (Feb 2, 2011)

This is the problem, isn't it?  Games _ought_ to be the ideal media for horror and general scariness.  You're not just passively watching the protagonist walk into danger -- you _are_ the protagonist walking into danger.  And yet always there is the fact that if it goes wrong, you just do it again.

And when you do it again, the same nasties pop up in the same place like some kind of ghost train.

Silent Hill 2 genuinely scared me.  Somehow it got round that.  I'm still not sure how.

Other than that, Resident Evil IV was the game that came closest.  I found the first 15 minutes very scary.  Then I powered up the weaponry, got used to the save points and just enjoyed it as a rollercoaster instead.

Can it be done?  Has a game scared you?  Would you want it to?


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## tarannau (Feb 2, 2011)

Aliens on the ZX Spectrum. Rubbish, jerky graphics, but strangely involving despite the primitive surroundings. You used to hear beeping noises on the motion detector, frantically pressed the keys to rotate and try and find something amongst the monochrome muddle, the beeping got louder, more urgent .... and generally the screen then fuzzed over in static as you failed to shoot the alien in time. Another one of your precious marines had gone down.

Not sure if scared is the wrong word really, and undoubtedly my young age back then played its part, but it had a simple tension missing in many games.


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## kabbes (Feb 2, 2011)

You're right, actually.  I also had that game and I couldn't play it for very long at a time because it scared me too much.  Which is a right fucker when the game takes five minutes to load.


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## Santino (Feb 2, 2011)

Ico made me panic sometimes, but only when nothing was happening. The spider vampires in Soul Reaver 2 also moved in a menacing way.


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## kabbes (Feb 2, 2011)

Nothing is scarier than a big empty room that contains a lot of healthpacks and ammo.


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## rover07 (Feb 2, 2011)

Arrgh, SPIDERS!!!!


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## tommers (Feb 2, 2011)

Limbo is genuinely quite.. well.. unnerving I suppose.

The licker in Resi Evil 2.


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## Citizen66 (Feb 2, 2011)

I don't agree that being the protagonist makes it more scary.

One of the things about being an observer to a horror film is your innability to communicate the danger the protagonist is in as they go outside to investigate the noise they predictably hear.


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## kyser_soze (Feb 2, 2011)

rover07 said:


> Arrgh, SPIDERS!!!!




Another Draybrook/Graftgold game featuring a spider:






I did find FEAR & FEAR2 to be consistently scary, even on some replay bits. The use of strobing and jump-cuts in-game does rack up the tension a bit.

Also, any game where there are long periods of inactivity. Gets me tense.


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## grit (Feb 2, 2011)

I think Amnesia on steam is the latest stab at this, has gotten mixed reviews as far as I can tell.


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## ohmyliver (Feb 2, 2011)

grit said:


> I think Amnesia on steam is the latest stab at this, has gotten mixed reviews as far as I can tell.


 
well, it gets 85% on metacritic
http://www.metacritic.com/game/pc/amnesia-the-dark-descent
and Zero Punctuation gives it the scary thumbs up http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/zero-punctuation/2092-Amnesia-The-Dark-Descent


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## Stigmata (Feb 2, 2011)

The XCOM games scared me because they were sufficiently randomised.


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## Dandred (Feb 2, 2011)

F.E.A.R. made my jump up out of my chair a few times......


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## TitanSound (Feb 2, 2011)

Alien Vs Predator on the PC. Playing in the dark and jumping out of my skin a fair few times.


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## kabbes (Feb 2, 2011)

In each of these games, though, did the game continue to scare you to the very end?  Or did it just scare you at first and then you got used to the game mechanic and pattern of play?


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## TitanSound (Feb 2, 2011)

kabbes said:


> In each of these games, though, did the game continue to scare you to the very end?  Or did it just scare you at first and then you got used to the game mechanic and pattern of play?


 
Well with AvP, playing as the Marine was the only scary bit. Playing as the Alien or Predator was fine for some reason.


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## Psychonaut (Feb 2, 2011)

the thief series had their moments.


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## kyser_soze (Feb 2, 2011)

kabbes said:


> In each of these games, though, did the game continue to scare you to the very end?  Or did it just scare you at first and then you got used to the game mechanic and pattern of play?


 
F.E.A.R. consistently made me jump & tense&nervous when playing - it's one of the reasons I love/hate the game so much. I'd come out of a F.E.A.R. session all over the shop, as opposed to feeling like I'd taken some decent speed, which is how I normally exist a 2hr+ session on a single game.


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## Captain Hurrah (Feb 2, 2011)

TitanSound said:


> Alien Vs Predator on the PC. Playing in the dark and jumping out of my skin a fair few times.



Not scary for me, but impressive with the detail.   Stuff like catching little glimpses of the xenomorphs tailing you, crawling over roofs, through windows etc.


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## Captain Hurrah (Feb 2, 2011)

The Aliens: Colonial Marines game might be worth getting hold of.  When, if, it gets released.


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## DotCommunist (Feb 2, 2011)

TitanSound said:


> Alien Vs Predator on the PC. Playing in the dark and jumping out of my skin a fair few times.


 
when playing as the alien one couild take out the lights one by one and enjoy the screams of fear from the puny humans.


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## Captain Hurrah (Feb 2, 2011)

Pulling their heads off as a Predator got a bit tedious though.


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## no-no (Feb 2, 2011)

I can only think of a handfull of game that have scared me and thinking back I think it's more the soundtrack than anythnig that gets me on edge.

Doom had the wailing babies, SWAT 4 has a level where you raid a serial killers basement, that's pretty creepy, makes you feel like agent starling.

Definitely agree about lack of activity building tension too.

Shooters like cod and battlefield have made me jump a few times, but that's not the same kind of thing.


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## ChrisFilter (Feb 2, 2011)

Alien vs Predator, the original, and Dead Space shit me up.


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## Stigmata (Feb 2, 2011)

kabbes said:


> In each of these games, though, did the game continue to scare you to the very end?  Or did it just scare you at first and then you got used to the game mechanic and pattern of play?


 
Every time you think you're getting used to XCOM Apocalypse, the aliens start packing Entropy Guns and you start shitting bricks again.


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## dylanredefined (Feb 2, 2011)

kabbes said:


> In each of these games, though, did the game continue to scare you to the very end?  Or did it just scare you at first and then you got used to the game mechanic and pattern of play?


 
  But that's just like real life people adapt to stuff.


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## Kid_Eternity (Feb 2, 2011)

I think it's as much about the control of the camera angles than just knowing a certain event is about to happen. In a game the maker finds it hard to control how it's presented due to the player moving the character about in the environment. In horror films, certainly the ones that rely on tension etc rely in part on the angle of which the scene is being shown in to build the fear factor. How creepy is the ring if you can swing the TV around or run about it while she crawls out of it?


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## Sunray (Feb 3, 2011)

To be scary you have to be miles from a save point and next to no ammo nearly dead and its taken you 20 attempts to get there and your praying for a save point round the next corner.


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## jannerboyuk (Feb 3, 2011)

dylanredefined said:


> But that's just like real life people adapt to stuff.


 Which is the basis of any good zombie stuff - people adapt, get complacent, get bitten. Munch.


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## fen_boy (Feb 3, 2011)

I'm playing Dead Space 2 at the moment and even though I keep dying and know what's coming it's still terrifying.


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## Shippou-Sensei (Feb 3, 2011)

well there are jump scares (buses) which  startle you, but  sudden reactions are  key to FPSs so rather than feel in real danger your instinct is to shoot

really scary shit happens  when  the game  disturbs you  over time. silent hill is a good example  

actually check out this video it's by a group of games developers  it's part of a really good thoughtful series 
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/extra-credits/1933-Where-Did-Survival-Horror-Go


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## bhamgeezer (Feb 4, 2011)

As a kid the original doom scared the shit out of me, just because of the tension of not knowing what set pixels was around the next corner. Dead space as an adult though was just like meh.


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## Cid (Feb 4, 2011)

Shippou-Sensei said:


> well there are jump scares (buses) which  startle you, but  sudden reactions are  key to FPSs so rather than feel in real danger your instinct is to shoot
> 
> really scary shit happens  when  the game  disturbs you  over time. silent hill is a good example
> 
> ...


 
Yep, silent hill was the first thing I thought of too... The horrible sense of inevitability when you realise you're about to go into a hospital or something.


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## ymu (Feb 4, 2011)

Making death count for something.

Not a console game, but MUDS - highly repetitive, go over the same ground over and over sort of game - are genuinely scary any time you get into a difficult fight because the consequences of death are losing a lot of hard-won power in your character. Exploring new areas is scarier, but only because you don't know what death-traps you might stumble on.

So, I think it could be done if there really was a penalty for getting it wrong. Unpredictable appearances/positioning of nasties helps too, as does increasing the rate of appearance of nasties so that you're in danger of being overwhelmed if you don't kill them fast enough.


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## Shippou-Sensei (Feb 4, 2011)

that can really damage the game  repetition  will kill a game 

it's much better  to have scariness come from atmosphere and story telling  rather than frustration


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## rich! (Feb 4, 2011)

almost any time in Nethack I get into the mines. I'm shit in the mines, and I know it. And there's none of this woosy save game shite. Some gnome with a wand of death hits you - that's it.

Oh, and any time in Dwarf Fortress when the miners are working along the purple metal vein. Because you know it's going to go wrong, but all you can do is just try and take a tiny bit more and hope it doesn't...


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## kyser_soze (Feb 7, 2011)

ymu said:


> Making death count for something.
> 
> Not a console game, but MUDS - highly repetitive, go over the same ground over and over sort of game - are genuinely scary any time you get into a difficult fight because the consequences of death are losing a lot of hard-won power in your character. Exploring new areas is scarier, but only because you don't know what death-traps you might stumble on.
> 
> So, I think it could be done if there really was a penalty for getting it wrong. Unpredictable appearances/positioning of nasties helps too, as does increasing the rate of appearance of nasties so that you're in danger of being overwhelmed if you don't kill them fast enough.


 
That leads to frustration instead of fear IME, as shippy has said, especially if the game absolutely punishes you for dying and either a. doesn't respawn you or b. respawns you with nothing left of your character attributs, thus making the next section of the game impossible.

Plus it touches on Dara O'Briain's point about videogaming being the only medium where you might never get to experiece the whole product if you're a bit shit.


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## Stigmata (Feb 7, 2011)

I think some games are quite good at making you panic. One that really shits me up is Vampire: Bloodlines on the PC. There's a bit where you're in a big observatory or something and you're being chased by a werewolf, and you've basically got to lead it on a merry chase for 2-3 minutes until rescue comes. You can't stop running, or it gets you. You can't even look behind you to see how close it is, because then it gets you. You've just got the sound it makes chasing you down and you can hear the mayhem it causes behind you smashing through walls and stuff.


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## joustmaster (Feb 7, 2011)

the creepers in minecraft often scare me to fuckery. then ruin all my work.


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## Shippou-Sensei (Feb 7, 2011)

joustmaster said:


> the creepers in minecraft often scare me to fuckery. then ruin all my work.


 
and the nice think about minecraft is  with just a tweek of a slider bar   they can be removed from the equation ....   

i think truly adaptive difficulty is required for a game  to be universally successful  

a game is more than just  a  series of  execution challenges


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## The Groke (Feb 7, 2011)

grit said:


> I think Amnesia on steam is the latest stab at this, has gotten mixed reviews as far as I can tell.


 
It is well worth your time and cash.

Play in a darkened room with headphones on and a cloth on hand to mop up the wee.


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## army_of_one (Feb 21, 2011)

Resident Evil I scared the hell out of me back in the day. And recently Doom 3 had me for a while.

Games can have a cramped environment, limited resources for the characters and surprising, grotesque enemies, but what they don't have over the course of the game is the tension produced from the unknown. Sure, there are new areas, weapons and enemies, but like the panel in the OP illustrates, it's too repetitive. Strip that away and create something that evolves as you play and is completely unpredictable moment to moment(no matter how many times you start over) and you'll have your scare fest. 

Just my two cents.


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## fen_boy (Feb 21, 2011)

Super Monkey Ball


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## cybershot (Feb 21, 2011)

Resi Evil IV in a few places, first Dead Space had me jumping a few times, spesh when playing in the dark.

Looking forward to playing the 2nd.


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## kabbes (Feb 22, 2011)

Resi IV is actually the textbook example of the exact problem that the cartoon describes.  It's scary the first time a shock happens, but when you're repeating it for the fifth time?


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## fen_boy (Feb 22, 2011)

Super Monkey Ball is terrifying all the time. Obviously it's vertigo and fear of failure rather than horror, but it's still buttock clenching stuff.


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## kabbes (Feb 22, 2011)

I gotta admit that I never found SMB scary.  Fun, yes.  Frustrating, definitely.  Controller-throwing annoying, most certainly.  But not scary.


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## bouncer_the_dog (Feb 22, 2011)

In vanilla company of heroes on the PC it was designed that once tanks were in play it was pretty much game over.

I was genuinely terrified to hear the rumble of a panzer, just like in saving Private Ryan.

They changed it in subsequent patches, (chances are you'd have an array of bazookas and anti tank guns or 10 of your own tanks rumbling in from the other direction) but it was a great scare moment because it was a game changing moment...


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