Are horror games a dying breed?

We don't see many true, honestly terrifying horror games these days. And before people bring up Dead Space, that game is amazing and is definitely bringing the horror genre in the right direction. But what else is there? Silent Hill is slowly but surely fading away as a franchise, and Resident Evil isn't even horror anymore. Resident Evil 4 and 5 were good games (4 was amazing) but that series has taken the action route. Fatal Frame is basically dead, and Siren never really became popular as a mainstream franchise. Condemned was very underrated, and Condemned 2 was an abysmal failure(mostly because of the ridiculous plot). The first F.E.A.R was entertaining, but it's sequel wasn't well received. F.E.A.R 3 isn't even being developed by Monolith. Monolith seems to understand what makes horror special, but can't keep it up with the sequels to their own games. Some could bring up Bioshock, but that is more of a dark action adventure than horror. What do you think it will take to bring horror games back into the spotlight?

Have you played Ocean House Hotel level in Vampire The Masquerade Bloodlines? It's terrifying.(Also award winning for design)

Also try playing Fallout 3 without the radio at night... It can get vary creepy...

Singularity has its spooky moments when a monster jumps at you...

I think not just games, but horror movies have become stagnant as well. They've been redoing the same slasher movie since psycho in 1961, and game sare starting to fall into that same trap. Mostly in the way of zombie game after zombie game. The original Silent Hill, and Silent Hill 2, were both like nothing anyone had played before, in terms of narrative and visuals. I think we need to see another such evolution- something no one has seen before (not to be mistaken with simply giving us the same basic story with more gore or action, i.e. Silent Hill Homecoming). Dead Space was good fun, but as much as i love it it was just a variation on the Resident Evil formula. Siren Blood Curse had potential, but was hampered by stealth and escort missions. I think someone needs to find a way to bring multiplayer experiences to horror genre. Not team deathmatch, but a toolset like Little Big Planet has, so that a games' community can create their own narratives and gameplay sequences. Imagine something like Silent Hill 4- the room, if it had an online component where everyone could create their own little haunted apartment, or upload creepy prerendered cutscenes they've made themselves to the rooms television set. Maybe through in some other enviroments too, just to spice things up. That's my opinion anyway

I found horror never work well in games. Most of the times I am dealing wih monsters to feel scared. In other order I am too busy thinking to be scared. The adventure games like how RE1 is are mostly faded but for some like Sam & Max.

After a while in dead space I want not scared. In Dead Space I remember being bored as a creature craw out of a vent and I was yelling at him just to stop the "creepy" movement and stand up so I can shoot it.

-still haven't completed dead space but can't wait for DS2-

I believe so but more in the sense that not much is invested on it as a genre. Though that's what makes them more enjoyable and unique in experience as a whole.

Have you played Ocean House Hotel level in Vampire The Masquerade Bloodlines? It's terrifying.(Also award winning for design)

Also try playing Fallout 3 without the radio at night... It can get vary creepy...

Singularity has its spooky moments when a monster jumps at you...

xxxDirtyJoexxx

Not on PC.

Not on PC.

spookykid143

Agreed. It's hard to imagine that the horror genre is dying when we've got games like Amnesia coming out in less than two weeks.

Although it's true that actual horror games (and games that are actually scary) are pretty rare nowadays.

Have you played siren blood curse on ps3 omg i cant play the game alone its very scary. and to answer youre question horror games can get back to the spotlight if capcom left the action in RE games and make RE6 a horror game. maybe a remake of RE2 ps3/360. or konami should try to make silent hell games more scary because HOMECOMING and SHATERRED MEMORY werent as scary as the first games. and the horror is dying and to prove dead rising 2 capcom needs to make a comeback.johny300

Have you played Ocean House Hotel level in Vampire The Masquerade Bloodlines? It's terrifying.(Also award winning for design)

Also try playing Fallout 3 without the radio at night... It can get vary creepy...

Singularity has its spooky moments when a monster jumps at you...

xxxDirtyJoexxx

Horror games were never really prominent amidst other genres; past and present.

No good ones are just Rare . Doom 4 im lookin For a good scare cause Doom 3 scared the hell out of me .

Horror games in general? no I do not think so, but the Survival Horror genre is, the mainstream audience hate the ability to die in thier games, to such a degree that devs and pubs are almsot afraid to put in any kind of challange.

That means the "survival" horror genre aswell, they exist sure, but it is rare to see one these days, most horror games gives you a big freakin gun within the first 5 minutes of the game, it is kinda pathetic really.

In a way, I do. Survival horror is my favourite genre in the world, but sadly I feel that they aren't as scary as they once were. I think peopleare more interested inpointless war games like Call of Duty and crap like that. I think developers should stop fantasising about stupid shooter games and focus on the survival horror fans. We need to be recognised! :P

I am not even a huge fan of "survival horror", as that just means a shooter with zombies. I like real horror games like Fatal Frame and Silent Hill, where you aren't gunning everything down and are more vulnerable.

never was a big fan of horror games but yeah there are less and less.

I must give a shoutout to Amnesia: The dark descent, It is quite a good horror survival game, you cant fight at all in that game only run and hide from the ghosts, and quite good at making the mind of the Insane protagonist come alive.

I think it is about as good as Fatal Frame (another of the last remaning true survival horror games (the entire series).

To me games like Resident Evil, Silent hill (ok the Wii one was pretty decent) dead space and such are just action games against the supernatural, which does not make them survival horror games, and I feel bad calling them horror games aswell, while they may have some shock value they are not as frightening as the first ones in thier respectible series (Dead space being the only new entry) I consider them games akin to Doom 3 and FEAR which altho often labeled Horror games I find less disturbing then some pure action games.

The two problems I usually have with the modern horror games is 1) weapons: who on earth will be afraid of anything they meet when you can simple pull the trigger and make the monsters drop dead? Is the player not from a logical standpoint the scary one then? (well it reminds me more of something like Army of darkness then anything else).

The other problem is Pacing, in a survival horror game the pacing is really important, slow methodical, sucking in all the surroundings, and creepy noises.

Most of the would be horror games this gen hasseemed more like run and gun action all the time, there is rarely any moments where you sneak down a long abandoned hallway, vulnurable, without a fighting chance, only option to be silent, and listening for anything that might be something horrible. Mostly the only time those games slow down a bit is when a puzzle needs to be solved.

It is a shame really, the first resident evil games, and the first Alone in the dark games, were aswsome, and the first 2 silent hill games were quite good.

Siren took a turn for the worse.

So left we have left is, Fatal Frame, the good oldies, and small time devs trying to carve out a niché for themselves.

Most things these days rely on instant action, which is quite sad.

Edit, Oh dear Just noticed that I had allready posted once in this topic O.o I must be getting old -.-

hell no, go play Amenesia: The Dark Descent

I think when we're talking consoles, definitely. It's not just RE or Silent Hill fading, but it's all those lesser known titles like Rule of Rose, Clock Tower, Galerians, etc not coming out anymore that makes the genre feel barren. But then, I'd just chalk a lot of it up to Japanese game developers having such a small presence this gen. They always were responsible for the majority of horror game on consoles.

There have been some good console horror games this gen, though. I love the Condemned franchise, Alan Wake is pretty exceptional and I'm looking forward to Hydrophobia coming out. And truly, if you play L4D on the hardest setting, there can often be those sort of horror-filled moments while you're climbing over the corpses of your friends, trying to get the safe house door shut. We laugh a lot, sure, but it still gets pretty intense. Honestly, the gut punch for me was Konami pretty much giving up on Silent Hill. But there's still a lot of fun stuff out there.

Have you played Ocean House Hotel level in Vampire The Masquerade Bloodlines? It's terrifying.(Also award winning for design)

xxxDirtyJoexxx

Correct. I must admit that I get scared AT FIRST when playing the Ocean House hotel level, but you'll get used to it THE SECOND TIME.

On topic: Sadly yes, I think the horror games genre is dying. I surely hope some video games developers make REALLY scary/terrifying games.

What about Resident evil 5??

/joke

Sorry I couldn't resist. :D

Yes, they're slowly changing into action,adventure games.

Dead Space is the new king of survival horror. Silent Hill looks to have a nice resurgence with Silent Hill 8 (Silent Hill Shattered Memories is an often overlooked game). If Resident Evil can successfully reboot we'll have a great genre again.

Horror games haven't existed since like 2005. They arn't dying, they are dead.

Games like Resident Evil 4 or Deadspace arn't horror. They're shooters with slightly more grotesque enemies. They have no pacing or scary enviroment, they rely on jump out scares which isn't a scare.

Games that are actually scary, like the original silent hills, the clock tower series, and the fatal frame series, are for the most part completely dead.

When you have a game like Bioshock being called "horror", you know the genre is dead.

Totally in this gen i have yet to play a game that is actually a horror scary game,dakan45

Hopefully Fear 3 will be a good one.

Horror never work in games since you are too bussy thinking to feel scared.

I gotAmenesia: The Dark Descent and Silent Hill: Homecoming didn't install them yet.

Just wondering should i play them at night to get the full horror experience or not?

yeah, they should indeed be playied at night, with the lights turned off, headphones on if you got it.

It will be a fun ride ^^

[QUOTE="xxxDirtyJoexxx"]

Have you played Ocean House Hotel level in Vampire The Masquerade Bloodlines? It's terrifying.(Also award winning for design)

LIONHEART-_-

Correct. I must admit that I get scared AT FIRST when playing the Ocean House hotel level, but you'll get used to it THE SECOND TIME.

This is aninspired segment.Troika put more care into this one quest than most devs put into their entire horror game.

[QUOTE="dakan45"]Totally in this gen i have yet to play a game that is actually a horror scary game,anthonycg

Hopefully Fear 3 will be a good one.

As in the shooter series?

No way on earth, far as I'm concerned. Theres no way I can feel scared and vulnerable when I am a bullet time controlling super commando with unlimited ammo.

The best survival horror games were ones with oppressive enviroments or where you really had no chance to fight back. A shooter is the complete opposite, the goal is to kill everything. This is why I liked clock tower so much. You couldn't kill the enemy in the game. You could run and hide.

[QUOTE="LIONHEART-_-"]

[QUOTE="xxxDirtyJoexxx"]

Have you played Ocean House Hotel level in Vampire The Masquerade Bloodlines? It's terrifying.(Also award winning for design)

Ish_basic

Correct. I must admit that I get scared AT FIRST when playing the Ocean House hotel level, but you'll get used to it THE SECOND TIME.

This is aninspired segment.Troika put more care into this one quest than most devs put into their entire horror game.

Interestingly enough, Bloodlines is one of my favorite games but I tend to just skip the ocean house level when I replay.

It's a good level, and actual horror elements in it as oppossed to generic shock horror, but after the 20th time it got old for me :P

Horror seems to have found very comfortable niche in adventure genre on PC. On consoles though there barely are any adventure games, so I can see how console-centric players might think it's a dying breed.

I don't think so. Horror games usually appeal to a specific gamer, I think that's why there isn't more. I love them.

I really enjoyed codemned 2

Truly an interesting question... In my eyes all signs point to yes they are. But I personally sleep and breath Horror games so im having a hard time admitting that things are going downhill, i really dont want to believe that the genre is slowly collapsing... I must agree that Dead Space (my personal all time favorite) is pulling the genre in the right direction. Bioshock (My other favorite) is an amazing game but i dont think much of it as a horror. A couple games that I think are often overlooked are Deadly Premonition, and Alone in the Dark. Now before you flame me for these two let me explain why. Deadly Premonition in my opinion is very very odd infact its hard to take it seriously at times, but despite its oddness it is also very dark and contains an element of fear throughout gameplay. Alone in the Dark can be creepy to play when your, well, alone in the dark... However i will say that alot of the dialogue in it is very hoaky and truly takes away from the overall horror. Now in my opinion you cant bring up the horror topic without mentioning Silent Hill... Silent Hiill: Homecoming was a let down and Shattered Memories was in my opinion very well done however far from a horror (more like a mystery/suspense). However I wouldnt give up on the Silent Hill franchise just yet as the trailer for Silent Hill 8 looks VERY promising. Ive got my fingers crossed :)

In some way horror is like stealth. That is it going into part of many games.

The older RE games are horror, and point and click adventure. The point and click adventure are rare today.

Would bringing horror games back from the dead be considered ironic? ;)Nooberman2k

Theyre my favorite games. But Horror is dying, unfortunately. SH: Homecoming only sold 300k copies worldwide. Thats a bad sign.

[QUOTE="Nooberman2k"]Would bringing horror games back from the dead be considered ironic? ;)reason58

There are still some great horror games coming out, such as Amnesia. The problem that I see is the "survival horror" genre is destroying real horror games. They added combat to the games and it went downhill from there. First of all, being able to fight back takes a lot of the sense of dread out of the game. Secondly, and this is the worst part in my opinion, every single "survival horror" game evolves (devolves?) into more and more combat and less and less horror with each new sequel. Silent Hill is a sad joke now. Resident Evil 5 contains almost no horror and almost all combat. Would love to see RE and SH get back to their roots, but with games like Gears of War and Call of Duty dominating the sales and play time charts it is no wonder the creators try and make every single genre into a shooter clone.

The point and click adventure are rare today.

wiouds

I think one of the biggest elements lacking in most horror games (in general), is the idea that the monsters/enemies should not only be scary, but I should believe, that they can actually kill me in the game, and are not just there to jump out and say "boo!", then run and hide.

It's not just about trying to fill the game with lots of footstep noises and bloody walls, but to actually fill it with creatures that make me scared to fight them- because they will rip my face off. Games like System Shock 2 get a lot of praise for being scary, but I think it's lousy in terms of scare factor, and that's mainly because the enemies can be killed easily.

If you don't have lethal enemies, then in most cases, you're just making one of those little haunted house attractions that you might find at Universal Studios or some theme park. One of the few games to scare me on the other hand, is Stalker, which is a masterpiece in BOTH atmosphere, and it's dangerous monsters (which are often unpredictable in terms of location).

dunno about that after playing Amnesia,

but i cant wait for the new EA/Shinji Mikami game at this years TGS, should be amazing