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The best horror game of all time is...
- Thread starter The perfect Dark
- Start date
SneakySneaks
Member
Yup, only game to really have a horror feeling that lasts even after playing. Silent Hill 3 did that too, but to a lesser degree.
While games like P.T and Outlast are scary and good games, they are roller coasters/ the haunted house experience.
While games like P.T and Outlast are scary and good games, they are roller coasters/ the haunted house experience.
Cipher Peon
Banned
I didn't really find the original Silent Hill that great, hell even though Silent Hill is my favorite franchise across all mediums, I think the original Resident Evil is better than the original Silent Hill.
Silent Hill: The First was just too goofy, the scares were completely nonexistent, and the controls were unfathomably terrible. I like the game overall and I think the school area and the final hospital were pretty cool, but it's a "good" game whereas I think SH2 and 3 are both masterpieces. Hell, I enjoyed Homecoming's trashy and slick horrorhouse motif more than the original Silent Hill.
Fun Fact: The original Dead Space was my first ever horror game and I thought it was so lame and not scary that I almost considered ditching the genre entirely. Then I played Silent Hill 2 and here we are
Silent Hill: The First was just too goofy, the scares were completely nonexistent, and the controls were unfathomably terrible. I like the game overall and I think the school area and the final hospital were pretty cool, but it's a "good" game whereas I think SH2 and 3 are both masterpieces. Hell, I enjoyed Homecoming's trashy and slick horrorhouse motif more than the original Silent Hill.
Fun Fact: The original Dead Space was my first ever horror game and I thought it was so lame and not scary that I almost considered ditching the genre entirely. Then I played Silent Hill 2 and here we are
-shadow-
Member
From what I've played Project Zero 2 Wii Edition. It was the last time I was sort of freaked out by a game. Though some of the cutscenes really ruined the surprise of some of the ghosts. The second time I played with the ghost on the bridge was so much better when she suddenly just jumped onto me. I've played the rest of the series since and played a couple of other horror games (not Silent Hill though) since but horror games for me sadly aren't scary to me anymore.
Simbabbad
Member
I thought Silent Hill, Silent Hill 3, the first two Project Zero games, the first two Siren games and Dead Space were scarier than Silent Hill 2, and much better games as a whole.
Psychologically the game is interesting but it has huge gameplay issues and it's not that scary. For some reasons I never really got "into it" whereas that was the case of the above mentioned games.
Psychologically the game is interesting but it has huge gameplay issues and it's not that scary. For some reasons I never really got "into it" whereas that was the case of the above mentioned games.
There abso-LUTE-ly is!
Akira Yamaoka, Masahiro Ito, and Takayoshi Sato are the core three, with Hiroyuki Owaku rounding it out, and that's enough to form a good rock band. After that it's a toss-up between which director you get. But that's Team Silent. You get those four guys, you got the band, and all the other hands will fall into place.
The perfect Dark
Banned
Exactly. You never fight for your live. You're just experiencing a bad time...it's almost like you're playing a walking simulator. There's no real challenge. No feeling of dread. Resident Evil 7 looks really bad imo. It's Capcom. Those guys made Resident Evil, those guys were the co-founders of survival horror. What have they become? Still nothing compared to Konami though.
FunkyPajamas
Member
Scariest game for me is Fatal Frame, easily. The ghosts, the sounds, the mansion, the backstory. It's a very unnerving game and I love it. The sequel is also good but I think the first game is scarier.
Silent Hill 2 has a better plot and a great atmosphere though, so it's a close second for me.
Silent Hill 2 has a better plot and a great atmosphere though, so it's a close second for me.
WaterAstro
Member
Silent Hill 1 legit scary.
The only horror in Fallout 3 and all Bethesda games is the horror of running into game breaking bugs.
The only horror in Fallout 3 and all Bethesda games is the horror of running into game breaking bugs.
Fug Slanderson
Member
I never played a Silent Hill game...what's the best way to experience the first two?
I'm giving my vote to RE2.
I'm giving my vote to RE2.
brandonh83
Banned
Scarier? Yeah, I guess so, with the exception of Dead Space which did completely nothing for me on the horror front (good game though). It's intense, but it never scared or even had me spooked. But for me SH2's combination of environments, art, sound effects, music, and all the symbolic implications are absolutely unnerving. That's what makes it "scary" to me, and the environments that start building toward the climax, from when you go into the historical society, down into an old underground prison just totally weirds me out. I'm always super uncomfortable during all of that.
Scary is such a broad term that it's all gonna be highly subjective. If I'm super creeped out, I do feel scared. The Silent Hill games have much more going on than that though, which is why it's my favorite horror series.
I would play SH1, unfiltered. Whether you want to play it in its native resolution is up to you, but definitely play it with unfiltered textures.
SH2, I'd play it on PS2 or PC (with fixes.)
The perfect Dark
Banned
The underground prison is probably the worst place ever made. Every time I reach that place I cry like a little baby (inside). Worse than every nightmare, lol.
brandonh83
Banned
The first step is to admit that you have a problem
Silent Hill 1 is available as a PSone classic, playable on PS3/Vita but unfortunately the HD collection wasn't very good with some annoying alterations so your best bet for SH2 is PS2. It would be nice if the monkeys at Konami would do something with 2-4, but then again, maybe not.
Absolutely. That, Nowhere (SH1) and the church (SH3) are top dollar.
Cipher Peon
Banned
I don't have an issue with the First Person Horrors of the genre.
They kind of remind me of found footage films in that they're a quick and visceral thrill that's effective and easily disposable. The very fact that they work justifies it for me. I love found footage movies because they have a significantly higher chance of making me jump than most other horror movies. After seeing so many, the mere act of reacting to a scare is novelty and found footage continues that novelty better than most.
Video games are special because they're significantly more immersive than film, so they tend to not have to need that crutch. But I still enjoy the first person thrills, especially with P.T. and Amnesia.
I liked Outlast a lot, but I didn't find it scary once I found its incredibly easy to discover philosophy and rules on scaring the player. The amount of "safe zones" were numerous and so easy to discover that any sense of dread disappeared instantly. Silent Hill 2 has rules as well, but played with them in incredible ways that still terrify me in how scary and genius they were.
Even entering The Labyrinth is some of the scariest content put to art, and dealing with it is chilling in a way that makes me do a pause whenever the thought of tackling it crosses my mind.
They kind of remind me of found footage films in that they're a quick and visceral thrill that's effective and easily disposable. The very fact that they work justifies it for me. I love found footage movies because they have a significantly higher chance of making me jump than most other horror movies. After seeing so many, the mere act of reacting to a scare is novelty and found footage continues that novelty better than most.
Video games are special because they're significantly more immersive than film, so they tend to not have to need that crutch. But I still enjoy the first person thrills, especially with P.T. and Amnesia.
I liked Outlast a lot, but I didn't find it scary once I found its incredibly easy to discover philosophy and rules on scaring the player. The amount of "safe zones" were numerous and so easy to discover that any sense of dread disappeared instantly. Silent Hill 2 has rules as well, but played with them in incredible ways that still terrify me in how scary and genius they were.
The Labyrinth is infinitely more chilling in my book. It's my favorite level in gaming.
Even entering The Labyrinth is some of the scariest content put to art, and dealing with it is chilling in a way that makes me do a pause whenever the thought of tackling it crosses my mind.
Switch Back 9
a lot of my threads involve me fucking up somehow. Perhaps I'm a moron?
The Shalebridge Cradle level in Thief Deadly Shadows. Shit was scary as hell.
Bonus points to the first half of System Shock 2 and the hotel level from Vampire: The Masquerade.
Bonus points to the first half of System Shock 2 and the hotel level from Vampire: The Masquerade.
True enough, but Yamaoka's significance on the team is debatable, and that band was a small "Team" with lots of other changing hands. There's certainly attributable creators but still my understanding is there isn't really a whole studio you can credit for making the series great the same way you could for other devs. It was more a series of competent devs under good leaders (or one might say "auteurs," essentially). TS being more a PR name.
boredandlazy
Member
Every time I see threads like this it's a painful reminder of how terrible the HD collection was...
cj_iwakura
Member
Pretty much my vote.
Rock Howard
Member
Cannot decide between Limbo and Inside
BlindJesus
Member
Amnesia The Dark Descent
The X16 and X18 labs in STALKER Shadows of Chernobyl
The X16 and X18 labs in STALKER Shadows of Chernobyl
Napalm_Frank
Member
REmake, RE2 and Silent Hill 2 are all equals, 10/10 in my eyes.
brandonh83
Banned
Yeah. Game wise, the SH games pretty much just give you the bare essentials to get through them as they're largely story/exploration/puzzle based. While I don't dislike Homecoming or Downpour, those tried to have more intricate combat and we all saw how well that went.
Cipher Peon
Banned
Speaking of defenseless first person horror games, I have an incredible admiration for the FNAF series in my heart. The fact that people act so blase about it astonishes me, because playing the game is some of the most agonizing emotional stress I can ever imagine inflicting with art.
According to my internal record keeping, I've seen approximately 150 horror films totaling 239.5 hours and the hour or so I played the original FNAF were more bone chilling than approximately 235 of those hours. The design that comes into play to fuel the fear of the jump scares is so genius and perfectly executed that I could down entire franchises of horror without breaking a sweat before reattempting going back to beating FNAF.
It's the first time since Silent Hill 3 where I entered the hospital and found the first note by Stanley and thought
that I felt such terror of even thinking of playing a game.
According to my internal record keeping, I've seen approximately 150 horror films totaling 239.5 hours and the hour or so I played the original FNAF were more bone chilling than approximately 235 of those hours. The design that comes into play to fuel the fear of the jump scares is so genius and perfectly executed that I could down entire franchises of horror without breaking a sweat before reattempting going back to beating FNAF.
It's the first time since Silent Hill 3 where I entered the hospital and found the first note by Stanley and thought
fuck I'm going to get raped and murdered I'm so done I'm not stepping another foot in this hospital ever oh my god I'm going to have a heart attack
The perfect Dark
Banned
The labyrinth is my most hated place because you don't have a map and there are two PH's, lol.
And then there is the prison....probably the best jump scare ever in a video game, lol.
I'm trying to find the OST that plays during the prison level but I can't find it
AllenSpawn
Member
I wanna say, and am gonna say DEAD SPACE.
but
*shivers*
but
Has probably the creepiest, spine tingliest bit of horror I've ever played , with the dept store dummies.
*shivers*
wanderingprostheyltite
Member
Hell yeah, nice shoutout. Just hearing those zombies mutter in Russian and you can't even see them initially, criminy those areas scared the shit outta me. Amongst other beasties and anomalies roaming about of course...
Less of a game and more an interactive series of Edgar Allen Poe stories, The Dark Eye gets my vote. Creepy as hell with those empty eyed stop motion animated puppets :shudders
brandonh83
Banned
afternoon delight
Member
I agree OP. Sure, SH3 has more visceral insanity, but I believe SH2 is the best horror product to come out in our time- book, movie, etc. It's just absolutely perfect if you pick the canon ending of "In Water". A fucking super grim fairy tale about the absolute depths of the human soul combined with Pyramid Head and Pacific Northwest occult lore..... 10/10, would nightmare again.
Night Shift gets it!
The perfect Dark
Banned
0,01% . Konami
Edit: Just buy a cheap PS2 and SH 2-4. The PS2 is backwards compatible so you can even play SH1.
Speedwagon
Michelangelo painted the Sistine Chapel. Yabuki turned off voice chat in Mario Kart races. True artists of their time.
D2. I don't typically play horror games, but I really enjoyed my time with this one. Makes me want to play more survival horror games (or replay it).
Revolutionary
Member
Silent Hill 1 for me
Theanine3D
Member
REmake
Alien Isolation
Penumbra: Black Plague
Dead Space
I liked Outlast a lot too, but the writing and the story were too ridiculous for me to take seriously and that killed a lot of the immersion (and therefore, fear) towards the end.
Alien Isolation
Penumbra: Black Plague
Dead Space
I liked Outlast a lot too, but the writing and the story were too ridiculous for me to take seriously and that killed a lot of the immersion (and therefore, fear) towards the end.
brandonh83
Banned
In terms of the narrative design, writing, and how pretty much everything has some meaning behind it and not in a bland, random or pretentious way, but in a way that works in its own context but also directly relates to James' personal journey and demons in his closet... I mean it's hard for me to argue with that.
afternoon delight
Member
As amazing as REmake is, nothing in that game comes close to matching the creepiness and despair instilled in just one enemy from Silent Hill 2-
It's just perfect, and I know you and plenty others here have gone through horror of all kinds.
Oh, does your horror game have a mutated representation of familial gang rape? No? Just infected bitey monsters? Well then.
I've come to terms with it as well when I considered everything in the game, what it represents, the subtle and macabre way its presented, it's absolute dedication to adult horror without being too cheesy or placating for the player... Besides maybe the little girl- but even she has a purpose amongst the others you meet.
It's just perfect, and I know you and plenty others here have gone through horror of all kinds.
Cipher Peon
Banned
I agree with every word, character, and thought that went in this post.
abstract alien
Member
One of the most unscary horror games I've ever played. It's pretty decent, but far from the likes of something like REmake. Very far. The "deep" story(which isn't that great unless you are reading and discussing about it) can't save the barren gameplay. Silent Hill 3 was a much better "game", and Shattered Memories had a much better story.