I find it hard to get into horror games where I cannot defend myself

[Dreamboum]

I love horror games but games that are strictly horror with no means to defend yourself except run and/or hide just doesn't do it for me, which sucks a bit because it's a large swath of horror games

There's something about not having the means to defend myself that takes me out of the experience, which I've chalked up to one main point:

- The lack of decision-making outside of running away and/or hiding conditions my fear

If I cannot strike back or at least have the illusion that I can do it makes the horror in front of me much less impressive because I always end up thinking in pure game mechanics. The monster is in front of me? well fuck, not much I can do about it. I just have to run. I end up gritting my teeth and pressing forward because it's obvious something is going to happen by virtue of being a horror game.

If I can clearly define a horror game by what it can deliver, it makes the whole experience lesser for it. Having to defend yourself brings a whole lot more variables into play that ends up with me being truly scared: should I run or try attacking him? Are my weapons enough? Then several situations happens that compounds the fear: maybe I fucked up attacking him and now I'm in a situation I can't control, maybe another monster appeared and now I have to re-evaluate everything. I do not have the control over the situation.

It doesn't matter if my weapon does fuck-all, I just need something to clutch where there is a hint of courage in my brain that can say : "alright I'm pretty fucked...BUT! Maybe I can take him", and I think horror games are effective when they're tapping in the courage of the player to attempt things they shouldn't do. And then deal with the aftermath.

It doesn't even have to be a weapon, Fatal Frame's use of camera is brilliant and it's not even a conventional weapon. Clock Tower & similar games defines hiding as something that is codified and becomes a weapon in itself, you can even use those mechanics to inflict some hurt to the Nemesis. That's what I like most about Horror games, just thinking that there are things that I can do, even if I probably can't do them. I just want to think that there is a possibility I could defend myself and have this bit of courage that will just make me end up shitting my pants in the long run.

Should I approach them differently?

 

[HK-47]

Having a weapon often makes the horror weaker imo. Like in Alien Isolation, the flamer, especially as you build up ammo, starts to sap the terror out of the alien.

Most hide and seek horror games play out like stealth games, which I like as a genre anyways so that might change how I view having no weapon.

 

[PlanetSmasher]

I agree with you, Dreamboum. I just get so bored by games where the ONLY solution to enemies is "RUN AND HIDE" every single time. A game isn't scary when every single enemy encounter plays out the exact same way.

 

[matrix-cat]

Yeah, I feel the same way. I think this is a really good point:

If I cannot strike back or at least have the illusion that I can do it makes the horror in front of me much less impressive because I always end up thinking in pure game mechanics. The monster is in front of me? well fuck, not much I can do about it. I just have to run. I end up gritting my teeth and pressing forward because it's obvious something is going to happen by virtue of being a horror game.

Click to shrink...

When all you can do is play hide and seek, that's all it'll ever be, and once you've died and respawned a few times the horror starts to lose its edge. "I hide behind this thing, wait for the monster to turn away, move to that thing, etc". See: the Sherry section in the RE2 Remake.

If you have some kind of offensive option, even if you can never actually kill an enemy with it, then it opens up a whole new world of possibilities. It's no longer a binary "hidden = OK, monster sees you = dead" thing, but a situation where any number of things can happen.

 

[My Cow Phelps]

I have a hard time dealing with stalker/invincible enemies, they really stress me out. I played Haunting Ground recently and man, the game is great but playing it was almost painful to me.

And thats exactly why this kind of horror game works for me: I can't feel fear in a video game if i don't feel powerless too. I have absolutely no idea how people call stuff like Dead Space scary. lol

 

[Musubi]

Horror is only Horror because it makes you fear something i.e. usually death or bodily harm. Horror that constantly leaves you in a vulnerable state is inherently more effective to me. I really liked my first run through Outlast there were some really incredibly scary moments. Now eventually yes once you completely wrap your head around the games tricks then it becomes less scary but I think that is simply just a limitation of A.I. programming. If the game can constantly surprise you and make it hard to pin down what its going to do next even if you know all of its tricks that's when we'll truly have arrived.

 

[HK-47]

I have a hard time dealing with stalker/invincible, they really stress me out. I played Haunting Ground recently and man, the game is great but playing it was almost painful to me.

And thats exactly why this kind of horror game works for me: I can't feel fear in a video game if i don't feel powerless too. I have absolutely no idea how people call stuff like Dead Space scary. lol

Click to shrink...

Dead Space isn't scary. It's tense and atmospheric but it quickly comes to the point where you have a massive arsenal of mining tools made to fuck up monsters.

 

[Metalmucil]

I feel you. I just started Alien: Isolation and it's just not jiving with me. I LOVE the world, the plot, the graphics, the sound, the mood, etc. But no matter how hard I try, I just don't enjoy the moment to moment gameplay. I'm not sure why since I loved PT. I think it's the frustration of not being able to just move forward. Like "Oh, there's that thing I need, right there." Gets spotted. "Hold on, let me run and hide for 5 min before I can do anything...again..."

 

[stormfire]

I feel you. I just started Alien: Isolation and it's just not jiving with me. I LOVE the world, the plot, the graphics, the sound, the mood, etc. But no matter how hard I try, I just don't enjoy the moment to moment gameplay. I'm not sure why since I loved PT. I think it's the frustration of not being able to just move forward. Like "Oh, there's that thing I need, right there." Gets spotted. "Hold on, let me run and hide for 5 min before I can do anything...again..."

Click to shrink...

Do you think you will finish the game? It might grow on you as you keep playing.

 

[Vulcano's Assistant]

Games where you are limited to only hide run the risk of becoming trial an error. Like a stealth section that fails the moment you are spotted. So without escalating challenge, I believe these horror games tend to run out of steam faster than the game that gives you a weapon, because a weapon is telling you that you will be expected actually face something with enough complexity that it would be unfair if it ended after one mistake.

 

[LinkStrikesBack]

My opinion is that if you've got any sort of weapon that is even moderately effective, the horror is neutered significantly.

Resident evil 7 is at its scariest in the early parts where you don't really have any way to retaliate against the bakers, Vs the endgame sections and dlc like End of Zoe where all the enemies are much weaker than you, to the point where it might as well just be classified as an action game rather than horror.

So while I agree it's easier to get in to a horror game when you can actually defend yourself realistically, it's because it actually takes away the horror part of the game, at least that is the end result for me.

 

[Metalmucil]

Do you think you will finish the game? It might grow on you as you keep playing.

Click to shrink...

I don't know yet. I might just kick it down to easy so I can enjoy the experience because the "experience" thus far is really cool.

 

[CannonFodder52]

Yeah, I've talked with friends about this a bunch. Having a weapon, especially just a useless one can often make the monster feel more threatening and real. Even just being able to pick up and throw junk that impacts the pursuer, makes it all the more intense. Failing to defend yourself and then trying to run is just more scary than always fleeing.

Stuff that come to mind are games like Penumbra, Haunting Ground or Clock Tower as you mentioned.

That said, I love many games that don't let you fight back. I just prefer the other style a bit more.

 

[lvl 99 Pixel]

Having a weapon usually takes most of the tension away imo
Being defenseless is what makes games like Inside so great, and Amnesia is one of the few games to really get to me.

 

[HStallion]

Having a weapon often makes the horror weaker imo. Like in Alien Isolation, the flamer, especially as you build up ammo, starts to sap the terror out of the alien.

Most hide and seek horror games play out like stealth games, which I like as a genre anyways so that might change how I view having no weapon.

Click to shrink...

Personally I dont find the hide and seek games all that scary. I don't even bother running and hiding if I'm found out in most of these games because it's often easier and efficent to just die and reload, or skip even dying and just reload outright. Even more I'll just run through the levels a few times to learn the layouts and such even if it gets me killed quick just to move on faster. I removed the enemies from Soma because the repetitive hide and seek stuff is rarely rewarding let alone scary, especially if I have to keep repeating stuff over and over with little option to do things differently.

 

[Richter1887]

Yeah I understand you.

I find the fact you have to engage with the enemies and try to fight them to be much more scary. Nemesis in RE3 is scary for this reason, you can't escape and you will be forced to fight him no matter how much you try running away.

I feel you. I just started Alien: Isolation and it's just not jiving with me. I LOVE the world, the plot, the graphics, the sound, the mood, etc. But no matter how hard I try, I just don't enjoy the moment to moment gameplay. I'm not sure why since I loved PT. I think it's the frustration of not being able to just move forward. Like "Oh, there's that thing I need, right there." Gets spotted. "Hold on, let me run and hide for 5 min before I can do anything...again..."

Click to shrink...

Alien does have weapons later on so if you push on it will become better.

 

[Dr. Ludwig]

The hide and seek first person horror almost always boil down to being crappy, shallow stealth games which is why they lose me so fast.

I love stealth games but I can't stand most of these "horror" games especially when they take out your means of defense.

 

[Not Spaceghost]

I loved Alien Isolations approach to this, yeah you couldn't kill the alien but as you progressed you had better ways of dealing with it.

Also I liked that there were enemies you could kill but were really really tough so you were encouraged to find alternative ways of dealing with them.

 

[LebGuns]

Completely agree. I find "running away" games incredibly boring.

 

[LebGuns]

Having a weapon usually takes most of the tension away imo
Being defenseless is what makes games like Inside so great, and Amnesia is one of the few games to really get to me.

Click to shrink...

I think "Prey" handled this issue really well. There was a ton of tension and foreboding in that game, and the enemies were scary and hard to kill in the beginning. You could Keep it that way and not upgraded your weapons and gained alien super powers (which make the combat really easy).

 

[Buff Beefbroth]

Should I approach them differently?

Click to shrink...

Do you like Halloween haunted houses? Think of them like that.

 

[Karlinel]

Having a weapon usually takes most of the tension away imo
Being defenseless is what makes games like Inside so great, and Amnesia is one of the few games to really get to me.

Click to shrink...

To me, having a weapon, even if it's just an environmental trap, is a must. If you have only ONE way to deal with something, it feels like a movie. And movies are watched (and cheaper).

 

[ThreepQuest64]

I'm in the same boat. After Outlast, I only finished it for the story, I was done with those kind of games, although I was really interested in Outlast 2 due to its setting. It might work from a horror perspective to leave you vulnerable, but it doesn't work for me from an immersion and gameplay perspective: It's just plain stupid of any character not to grab at least a heavy stone, stick, or anything at least to try to defend myself when shit's coming down. Also I don't understand why it has to be all or nothing. Instead of giving you no weapons in every situation or a huge arsenal, why not create sequences that do the one or the other thing?

Let me start the game with a pistol I can use so I feel powerful and think this might going to work out well. Then let me loose it to remove that power, make a sequence where I have to run and hide. Then let me find, maybe even optional through exploration, some sort of cheap weapon that might make a following sequence easier. Then let me find a gun with exactly one or two magazines. And so on and so forth.

There are so many ways designers could play with that in an interesting and less boring way but instead they deliberately decide for the 100% no weapon route which sucks. Don't like it and I will skip those horror games in 99% of cases.

 

[Glio]

I think the best is when there is a mixture. Enemies from which you must flee, enemies of which you can defend yourself and never know the first time which is which. That literally activates fight or flight in your brain.

 

[Beje]

I think the best is when there is a mixture. Enemies from which you must flee, enemies of which you can defend yourself and never know the first time which is which. That literally activates fight or flight in your brain.

Click to shrink...

That's what I love so much from the original Silent Hill trilogy. Couple that with characters that are obviously not adept at firing guns (goofy stances, not aiming properly, LOTS of missed shots) and you get the perfect mix.

 

[dirtyjane]

I think games tend better to suspense than horror.
Atleast my brain reacts much more strongly to a tight corridor in let's say STALKER than Outlast for example.

Different Genre I know but they both trigger the Fight or Flight part of my brain but STALKER does this sooo much better and part of it is the ability/knowledge that I can but don't need to defend myself it adds an additional layer of fear on top of it. (having made the wrong decisions etc.)

 

[Patitoloco]

I actually love this kind of games, the tension is really big. The thing it needs is fair AI, no bullshit and I'm 100% inmersed.

Alien Isolation has pop up many times in this thread, and it's a misconception, because the game gives you more than enough tools to defend yourself from enemies or, at the very least, distract them. Like, it has a weapon wheel of more than 10 objects I believe.

 

[Deleted member 8861]

I play horror games not to simply get scared out of my wits but to feel immersed in a world and a story, and horror games are conductive to more immersive, serious experiences.

It seems to me that many games like this put stealth gameplay first and story second. That might be very off, but it's the vibe I get.

 

[TheMrPliskin]

Agreed. I tend to find them to be frustrating more than anything else, which then leads to me basically brute forcing my way through them which entirely removes any possible sense of atmosphere or tension that the game might be trying to create.

 

[The Crystal Exarch]

Same, but because I feel overwhelmed and get very flustered. I need to have a way to defend myself or I freeze.

 

[Gun Dog]

I agree OP. Just don't find much enjoyment in those types of games, and not many do it well either. The are the ones where you can defend yourself, but said defense is a resource (ammo, weapon durability, etc.), so you really feel it when it's misused/lost.

Basically, Survival Horror is the best subgenre.

 

[StreamedHams]

As I get older, and my reflexes get worse, this is how I feel about solo battle royale.

 

[cyklisten]

Yeah, I sort of feel similiar. The FPS horror hide-and-seek games feel, by the nature of their gameplay, incredible gamey to me. The first 5 minutes are often effective and tense, but then this feeling kicks in and all tension evaporates. Like others has mentioned, the leaner gameplay with fewer options just accentuates how smokes-and-mirrors the whole thing is. It quickly turns into me playing pacman, running from the ghosts, rather than an atmospheric horror experience. Other horror titles also has the gamey feel, but the gameplay and possibilities makes it easier to divert from in my opinion.

 

[HK-47]

I think "Prey" handled this issue really well. There was a ton of tension and foreboding in that game, and the enemies were scary and hard to kill in the beginning. You could Keep it that way and not upgraded your weapons and gained alien super powers (which make the combat really easy).

Click to shrink...

I did that for a challenge. Made fights more tedious than scary

 

[Astral Lovelace]

If a horror game doesn't have some sort of offensive mechanic, it takes a lot of the tension out of it for me. Games where I'm expected *only* to hide, well, okay, I just have to hide, and that's pretty much it. If the game expects me to shoot at the enemy? Well now I have decisions, and making the right decisions or living with the wrong decisions is what gives it tension.

 

[GamerJM]

Most hide and seek horror games play out like stealth games, which I like as a genre anyways so that might change how I view having no weapon.

Click to shrink...

Conversely I don't like the genre so I don't really bother with these sorts of games.

 

[hey it's that dog]

Any game mechanic based on passivity, avoidance, and patience is not for me. I like horror games, but I can't be bothered to play any of the hide-and-seek style ones. I also hated the hide-and-seek elements in The Evil Within. I even liked RE2 a lot less than I would have otherwise because of the limited combat options.

 

[Noogy]

I think this is why Fatal Frame is my favorite horror series. You have a means to fight back, but they also do a great job making you feel helpless. Ghosts can go through anything, travel between rooms, even appear in supposedly safe rooms. You never really have any sort of melee ability, and are forced to engage enemies in first person.

Man I miss that series.