Fear of The Dark

[andrewducker]

It takes balls to do a horror game right. There's a reason that out of all the recent high-profile horror games of late, Dead Space and F.E.A.R. 2 gave you enough weaponry to level whole buildings, Resident Evil 5 and Siren: Blood Curse traded some of their series' spookiness for more gung-ho action, Alone In The Dark featured ludicrously overblown stunt sequences and Alan Wake gave its monsters enough of a weakness that they'd probably qualify for disabled parking stickers. Scaring players is about more than inserting jumpy moments and a quivering string soundtrack into a level lit like a seedy club. It's about a lack of empowerment and control, which is enough of an acquired taste that none of the big publishers will fund it.

Amnesia isn't just a game where you can't fight the monsters. It's a game where you can't look at the monsters. Doing so drains your sanity and increases the chance they'll spot you. Sometimes this not-looking isn't a problem because the monsters are invisible, but in places it's the most horrible thing in the world. Imagine it. You're hiding from a monster in the sole pocket of shadow in a room, and all you can do is stare at the floor.

more
via johnbobshaun

Comments

[bracknellexile.livejournal.com]

And the demo's on Steam. That's tomorrow night (with the lights off and the headphones in) taken care of then. Even just watching the trailer on Steam made me feel slightly uneasy.... :D

[kurosau.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure that a) it's a lack of balls that keeps publishers from doing that and b) that it's always about a lack of empowerment and control. It does sound like Amnesia is interesting, but let's examine the gameplay for a moment.

1) You can't look at the monsters.
2) You need to hide from them.
3) From your description, you need to stand still, somewhere dark, to hide from them.

I can't say as I'm sold. Sounds like Amnesia might be a really cool little game to check out, but at first glance that gameplay doesn't sell me on anything. And since gameplay is king, I'm guessing I'd be able to deal with it for one indie game. Maybe two.

I think what a lot of modern games have to survive on for horror elements is atmosphere, jump scares, and visceral...ity, both in the user interface and the art design. And I think they usually have to do that because a game where you treat a video game like a good horror film is usually going to be horrible, gameplay-wise.