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Games => General Gaming => Topic started by: W7RE on Tuesday, February 26, 2013, 10:59:34 PM

Title: Disturbing/horror games
Post by: W7RE on Tuesday, February 26, 2013, 10:59:34 PM
I'm not sure how to describe the type of game I'm thinking of. Not really horror, though some horror games would fit. Not really violence and gore either though. For example, not Soldier of Fortune. It's gory, but nothing else about it fits. Here's some examples:

Manhunt: It's not just the violence, but the way it's handled. You're an escaped convict murdering people so that it can be recorded and sold as snuff films. the guy who has put you up to it all is talking to you over the radio and goading you to kill people. You could censor all the actual gore and it would still be fucked up.

Kane & Lynch: Dog Days: I haven't actually played this, so I'm just going off the little I've seen. The shaky camera and distortion effects seem to give it a weird sense of realism, almost like a found footage movie. The way it censors the some of the gore (shoot someone in the face and it's pixelated, like it's been censored for a television broadcast) makes what you DON'T see have a bigger impact, and the game's story gets pretty fucked up later on, and I probably spoiled myself a bit in looking at some of it, but it has sold me on wanting to play it.

I've got some other games in mind that may be along these lines, but having not played most of them I don't really know. So if some of these don't fit, feel free to let me know. So here's my list so far:

Manhunt
Manhunt 2
Kane & Lynch: Dog Days
Comdemned: Criminal Origins
Comdemned 2: Bloodshot
The Suffering
The Suffering: Ties That Bind
Clive Barker's Undying?
Spec Ops: The Line
Title: Re: Disturbing/horror games
Post by: Quemaqua on Tuesday, February 26, 2013, 11:14:39 PM
Undying isn't so... gritty as the others. Has a more literary flair to it. Fucking awesome game, though, and an outstanding horror game in its own right. It isn't as rawly malicious, but has that kind of deep-seeded family rage thing going for it. I don't know if you ever played Clive Barker's other game, Jericho, but that one seems like it could be in line with some of these. I don't remember all the details, but it had that sense of twistedness and grit some of these others do, though it's certainly a more fantastical horror kind of thing. It's been too long for me to remember specifics. It got panned in reviews but I thought was a solid game and lots of fun. You can see a video I posted ages ago:

[ Invalid YouTube link ]

I enjoyed The Suffering pretty well, and both Condemned games. I believe at the time I played some of these I also played through both Shadow Man games, Dreamcast and PS2, if I recall correctly... and I don't remember enough about them to give much insight. The Darkness and its sequel are a touch less on the twisted side, but do feature some twisted moments, revenge-murder, and the first does a great job of escalation to the point where you really have to question what you're doing at a few key points. The new Splatterhouse is basically a gore-machine, but I seem to remember it going a bit deeper than that despite seeming pretty thin when you first start. It ended up surprising me any number of times.

I'll think on this some more. I feel like I should be coming up with more and better ideas.
Title: Re: Disturbing/horror games
Post by: W7RE on Tuesday, February 26, 2013, 11:38:32 PM
Clive Barker's Undying - I've had this since around the time it was new, but never played much of it
Clive Barker's Jericho - Got this on disc from some sale ages ago but never played it
The Suffering 2 - I asked for the first one for Christmas one year and got the second instead. I played like, the first level only.
Shadow Man - I played a bunch of the first one on Dreamcast. I remember it took place in New Orleans and had a lot of voodoo stuff. I remember a cool mental asylum section in the hell-like dimension, but that place was more of an alternate dimension than hell, really.
Splatterhouse - I got this a couple months after it came out, played maybe halfway through it. I really liked what I played, despite it being a little janky in places.

As you can see, I have a bad habit of buying games and either not finishing them, or just not playing them at all. Playing a ton of MMOs doesn't help much, and I play with people who only play multiplayer games so there's few times when they're off playing single player and I can do the same, and lots of times when they saying, "hey, let's log on and play!"
Title: Re: Disturbing/horror games
Post by: Xessive on Wednesday, February 27, 2013, 01:01:24 AM
Dude, add Amnesia: The Dark Descent to that list!
Title: Re: Disturbing/horror games
Post by: W7RE on Wednesday, February 27, 2013, 01:23:03 AM
Amnesia is on my to do list too lol. I didn't mention it because I thought it was more straight up horror. I haven't played it yet at all.
Title: Re: Disturbing/horror games
Post by: K-man on Wednesday, February 27, 2013, 06:03:28 AM
Not sure how well it holds up, but Eternal Darkness for the Gamecube was a bit of a mindfuck back in the day.
Title: Re: Disturbing/horror games
Post by: Cools! on Wednesday, February 27, 2013, 02:08:12 PM
I agree with Que about Undying. It's an amazing game. Unfortunately I couldn't finish it due to school but I definitely want to play it again at some point in the future.

System Shock 2 is not particularly disturbing (and the graphics aren't going to scare you much anymore), but it has an amazing atmosphere and a setting/plot that keeps you going. I'm replaying it now. :P
Title: Re: Disturbing/horror games
Post by: W7RE on Wednesday, February 27, 2013, 02:26:46 PM
Yea, I need to pick up system Shock 2 now that it's on GOG. Eternal Darkness is another one of those games I never played lol. I got an hour or two in I think, and got distracted by something else. I still have it, though hooking up my Gamecube will be a problem since I have no TV with A/V inputs.
Title: Re: Disturbing/horror games
Post by: MysterD on Wednesday, February 27, 2013, 04:46:00 PM
Silent Hill 2.
Title: Re: Disturbing/horror games
Post by: W7RE on Wednesday, February 27, 2013, 05:12:17 PM
Yea Silent Hill 2 is great. I was disappointed that they ditched the bloody metal environments from SH1, but Pyramid Head raping faceless things was fucked up enough to make up for it. Bloody vagina walls and shit. I don't know, it's been a while so I don't remember all the details, but Silent Hill 1 and 2 were so good. They're also the first 2 games that have come up in this discussion that I actually played through and beat, lol.
Title: Re: Disturbing/horror games
Post by: MysterD on Wednesday, February 27, 2013, 05:17:04 PM
Absolutely - both SH1 and 2 were great at the horror thing.
SH3 was a pretty damn good horror game, as well - but I don't know if it was a disturbing as SH1 and 2.

SH2 was not only filled w/ horror, but...a lot of things that happened....were either disturbing, screwed-up, or depressing as hell...
Stuff that just psychologically messed with your head and got to you...
(click to show/hide)
Title: Re: Disturbing/horror games
Post by: Quemaqua on Wednesday, February 27, 2013, 06:53:23 PM
SH3 is pretty phenomenal too if you've never played it. I sort of assumed SH was a given so didn't mention them, though it remains a favorite series of mine. I even like Downpour where some didn't as much. I enjoyed Origins/Zero pretty well too, played it one PSP. Never finished Homecoming, but I dug what I played. Never finished 4 either... found that one a touch awkward.
Title: Re: Disturbing/horror games
Post by: W7RE on Wednesday, February 27, 2013, 07:19:15 PM
I bought Silent Hill 3 for PS2 and barely played it. Now I don't have access to a PS2 anymore. No idea if I'll ever play it, unless I get it somewhere else (the HD collection maybe, or PC if it's available there).
Title: Re: Disturbing/horror games
Post by: Quemaqua on Wednesday, February 27, 2013, 09:12:44 PM
It had a PC version. I've heard the HD collection was a terrible release... but I think they patched it up a lot and so it ended up okay after that.
Title: Re: Disturbing/horror games
Post by: W7RE on Wednesday, February 27, 2013, 09:18:09 PM
Wasn't that the one where Konami said it was too hard to fix on Xbox and only patched it up on PS3?
Title: Re: Disturbing/horror games
Post by: Quemaqua on Wednesday, February 27, 2013, 11:04:02 PM
That I don't know. I just heard that Konami delivered like... early and incomplete versions of SH2 to the developer of the collection so everything was fucked and they had to do a bunch of work to get it right.
Title: Re: Disturbing/horror games
Post by: MysterD on Tuesday, March 19, 2013, 02:55:18 PM
Look what has now joined GOG...
Clive Barker's Undying = $6 on GOG (and is DRM-FREE) currently. (http://www.gog.com/news/release_clive_barkers_undying)

I wonder how cheap it'll get (for some of y'all), once some %-off GOG sales ride around, sometime down the line... ;)

I actually got this on disc, somewhere...
Title: Re: Disturbing/horror games
Post by: Cools! on Tuesday, March 19, 2013, 02:57:54 PM
Sweet. I still have the CD. Meant to come back to it for a few years now. :)
Title: Re: Disturbing/horror games
Post by: W7RE on Tuesday, March 19, 2013, 05:33:58 PM
I have Undying on CD, but it would probably be worth owning digitally.
Title: Re: Disturbing/horror games
Post by: Xessive on Tuesday, September 03, 2013, 10:23:44 AM
Here's one to ad to the list, it should be out on Steam any day now: Outlast (http://www.ign.com/articles/2013/03/26/is-outlast-the-scariest-game-ever)
Title: Re: Disturbing/horror games
Post by: Quemaqua on Tuesday, September 03, 2013, 03:01:05 PM
On one hand that looks awesome, on the other it looks kind of lame. OMG SCARIEST GAME EVER, except all they showed was jump scares that don't work that have been done 10,000 times before and a very not at all scary monster, which is basically just a dude with big teeth and bad skin. I don't buy it. But the engine looks sexy and I love exploring abandoned asylums (uh... virtually). Maybe there's cooler stuff later on. As of now, it looks like a lot of hyperbolic bullshit as far as the scare factor. But I'll reserve judgment until I read something more substantial.
Title: Re: Disturbing/horror games
Post by: Xessive on Wednesday, September 04, 2013, 12:22:20 AM
Haha yeah, IGN oversensationalizes stuff frequently :P I'm still curious about it though ;)
Title: Re: Disturbing/horror games
Post by: W7RE on Wednesday, September 04, 2013, 01:36:15 AM
I love that indie devs are making all these horror games, but I hate that none of them have combat. I'm not a big fan of "run and hide" as a gameplay mechanic, and the lack of ammo/health related tension, I might as well not be playing a horror game.
Title: Re: Disturbing/horror games
Post by: Xessive on Wednesday, September 04, 2013, 03:29:09 AM
Quote from: W7RE on Wednesday, September 04, 2013, 01:36:15 AM
I love that indie devs are making all these horror games, but I hate that none of them have combat. I'm not a big fan of "run and hide" as a gameplay mechanic, and the lack of ammo/health related tension, I might as well not be playing a horror game.
Yeah, the frustration gets me too but I think that's also the appeal of the genre. It's about not being able to fight whatever horror is pursuing you.

I agree though that I hate feeling helpless in a game (actually in anything) but I won't hold that against a game mechanic.

Btw, I never finished Amnesia because it was too stressful for me to continue. I enjoyed the thrill but I just can't take the blood-curdling stress!
Title: Re: Disturbing/horror games
Post by: Quemaqua on Wednesday, September 04, 2013, 04:07:26 AM
I think it's great as long as the mechanics are fleshed out enough to make it scary. A lot of times it's too much just a roller coaster ride of hiding spots and little moments without being a really fully realized "hide and seek" scenario with true dynamic twists. It needs to have an adequate system to surprise and threaten in interesting and unexpected ways, and to let you think creatively while at the same time being thwarted a good portion of the time. Most games have thus far failed miserably. HIDE UNDER THE BED. HIDE IN A LOCKER. YAY. These people need to get a lot more creative if they're going to forgo combat entirely.
Title: Re: Disturbing/horror games
Post by: W7RE on Monday, October 14, 2013, 04:43:30 PM
Undying is on sale for $2.39 on GOG right now! (http://www.gog.com/game/clive_barkers_undying) (And you get The Witcher: Enhanced Edition free with it? That's what it's telling me.)
Title: Re: Disturbing/horror games
Post by: MysterD on Monday, October 14, 2013, 04:46:42 PM
Quote from: W7RE on Monday, October 14, 2013, 04:43:30 PM
Undying is on sale for $2.39 on GOG right now! (http://www.gog.com/game/clive_barkers_undying) (And you get The Witcher: Enhanced Edition free with it? That's what it's telling me.)

Buy ANY game on GOG, you'll get The Witcher 1: EE for free deal is valid until Oct 17th:
http://www.gog.com/news/special_promo_get_the_witcher_free_with_any_purchase