• 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.

How is it that walking sims like Outlast, Layers of Fear, etc. replaced psychological horror FPS games like F.E.A.R., The Darkness, and Condemned?

Because it is easier to make hide and seek games, Less gameplay systems that require development and balance. Easier for people to play than FPS and TPS. Win across the board for casual markets and frugal devs.

It's sad and shit reasons but accurate.
 
Last edited:

OmegaSupreme

advanced basic bitch
Fear and the darkness were so damn good. Soma and Amnesia were brilliant as well. I want both. Can't we have both?
 
  • Like
Reactions: RSB

Airola

Member
Sure these games can be scary, but i find dumb how the main characters can't even grab a chair, a stick, whatever, to try to attack the enemy, even just throwing at them would be something.

I think the monsters in these games are supposed to be things that bring certain death if they get in touch with the player. Being able to momentarily stop them by throwing a chair would make them much less dangerous in that sense. It would be like attacking a tsunami with a single piece of grass. I think that's the feeling these games are trying to achieve. That there is this unstoppable tsunami coming at you and there is absolutely nothing you can do except trying to be out of the way.
 

Quezacolt

Member
I think the monsters in these games are supposed to be things that bring certain death if they get in touch with the player. Being able to momentarily stop them by throwing a chair would make them much less dangerous in that sense. It would be like attacking a tsunami with a single piece of grass. I think that's the feeling these games are trying to achieve. That there is this unstoppable tsunami coming at you and there is absolutely nothing you can do except trying to be out of the way.
Except that not all of them have monsters. Outlast for example, it has humans, crazy ones, sure, but just humans.
 
Last edited:

Danjin44

The nicest person on this forum
I think the monsters in these games are supposed to be things that bring certain death if they get in touch with the player. Being able to momentarily stop them by throwing a chair would make them much less dangerous in that sense. It would be like attacking a tsunami with a single piece of grass. I think that's the feeling these games are trying to achieve. That there is this unstoppable tsunami coming at you and there is absolutely nothing you can do except trying to be out of the way.
To me the idea is confronting these monsters is much more intense and base on how resources you have, you are force to make decision to run or stay your ground. If all you have is to run and hide then it becomes less about "surviving" and more about playing hid & seek with the monster.
 

Airola

Member
Except that not all of them have monsters. Outlast for example, it has humans, crazy ones, sure, but just humans.

To me the idea is confronting these monsters is much more intense and base on how resources you have, you are force to make decision to run or stay your ground. If all you have is to run and hide then it becomes less about "surviving" and more about playing hid & seek with the monster.

Fair points.

I don't know much about these games as I'm not too fond of first person games in general.
 

Danjin44

The nicest person on this forum
Fair points.

I don't know much about these games as I'm not too fond of first person games in general.
Same for me, I'm much more in to third person survival horror games like Resident Evil, Silent Hill and Dead Space over first person hunted house games.
 
Last edited:

johntown

Banned
I think the main reason is they are cheap and fairly easy to make. Another reason is horror games are typically not as popular as say shooters. AAA devs and publishers don't want to take the risk so we are only left with small indie devs with low budgets.

I enjoy walking sims to a degree but they get old quick and I prefer being able to fight or have some kind of weapon.
 
They're far simpler to develop and sell well would be my guess.

F. E. A. R. 's AI is still unmatched in complexity, as far as I know.
 
I think they're supposed to make you feel more vulnerable by taking away your ability for combat. Encountering an enemy that you can't actually defeat should in theory make it a more tense and memorable experience. Unfortunately it tends to become a chore and a game or hide and seek. The thing is, it's a great mechanic to use when used sparingly. Amnesia was heavy on puzzle solving and exploring to create a tense atmosphere. The monsters appearance was something to actually fear because of how little it wasn't used; they're was a level of unknown. Your imagination will always create a scarier verison than the actual product.

The darkness and fear weren't really scary games to me, especially the darkness. Condemned did a better job of this because you were on the same level as the enemies (melee weapons, being outnumbered). Also something about melee combat creates a more intimate experience.
 

Maestr0

Member
I prefer those walking FPS horror than those when you have to/can defend yourself, Amnesia was the one to bring the fear back to me, when I played it, RE7 is a good mix because of VR. I want intelligent walking horror game where I really need to use my brain to survive which is made better for fear possible and don't-think-you-can-shoot-that-many-bullet-to-your-ennemy FPS horror game which is suited best for tension. No one need to replace the other.
 
Last edited:

EverydayBeast

thinks Halo Infinite is a new graphical benchmark
I think eventually they're trying to groom walking sims to be like F.E.A.R. and Bioshock.
 
Walking sim horror games didn't start becoming popular until Outlast, PT was 2014 and we've been seeing walking simulator horror games for a while.
 

GHG

Member
So Death Stranding was the final nail in the coffin, then?

Didn't that one sell pretty well?

inb4 "not a walking sim" ... what do you spend 90% of the game doing?

Did you even play it?

You get vehicles pretty early on and then other methods of transport that are not walking get introduced to fabricate as you progress further.

The irony is that you spend the first 10% of the game walking and then 90% not walking.

Delivering packages because Death Stranding is a reskinned Euro Truck Simulator with a dollop of Kojima's brand of nonsense slathered on top and additional gameplay mechanics bolted on?

Yeh it's more like some elaborate crazy cross of euro truck sim and Mudrunner.
 
Last edited:

neoShuyin

Neo Member
I wouldn't call The Darkness psychological thriller. That was an action shooter (with horror elements). Condemned on the other hand is definitely a psychological horror.
Though I enjoyed The Darkness more than both FEAR and Condemned.

Heard bad things about its sequel, but somehow I have it in my steam library. I might give it a try one of these days.
 

GHG

Member
If people want real psychological horror games then this is the game to play:


It's on PC gamepass as well so no excuses. It's not a walking sim either.
 
They're far simpler to develop and sell well would be my guess.

F. E. A. R. 's AI is still unmatched in complexity, as far as I know.

Swat 3s AI is pretty insane. The animations are janky as its an older title, but they function and do what theyre suppose to do unlike other games featuring player controlled ai. These guys will pie corners, clear a room and drop a glow stick in the door way once clear, they pick up enemy weapons, hand cuff suspects/civilians etc all without excessive player intervention/micromanaging.

 

neoShuyin

Neo Member
I must be from the timeline where it came out on PC, because I absolutely have memories of playing it with a keyboard and mouse.
You're probably remembering The Darkness 2. That one was ported to PC; oddly enough the first one is still console exclusive.
 

Heimdall_Xtreme

Jim Ryan Fanclub's #1 Member
Well mostly because Amnesia and Youtube reaction videos, especially Youtube reaction videos. after Amnesia popularity, most of these first person horror games made for Youtubers and streamers can react to them.

Hopefully with RE2Remake and upcoming RE3Remake success, will see more third person survival horror games, but less confident we gonna see that from western developers.
Ding Ding Ding. We have a winner 🧠

In 2 weeks. Im gonna but the bundle of F.E.A.R vĂ­a steam. .. That are awesome. Games
 

raduque

Member
You're probably remembering The Darkness 2. That one was ported to PC; oddly enough the first one is still console exclusive.

I played through both, but I clearly remember going through the graveyard on Jackie's birthday right after getting the Darkness powers, and doing it on my pc. shrug Doesn't mean I'm right, just that that's how I remember it.
 
Last edited:
Top Bottom