Can you play horror games?

I'd like to play horror games but for most/all of the older ones (PSX era, Parasite Eve 2 for example) I have problems with the controls and end up getting frustrated having to redo large areas of the game because of how spread out the save spots are, especially in... was it RE2 that you only had a limited number of typewriter ink rolls/strips/whatever they were? Parasite Eve 2 I would especially like to play all the way through. Way back when I first played it (a year or so after its release) I played... at least halfway through using Game Shark codes for ammo and health as well as guns I wouldn't normally have access too (Gunblade for example) but I don't want to do that again. So I guess my only choice is to use save states on an emulator heh... still cheating in a way but eh who cares...


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/rant

I do love the STALKER games though. (With a modded inventory space, it's cheating but I can't stand only carrying two guns and a handful of ammo. Exaggerating but still.) Sad to say I haven't beaten any of them, I get so far through them and get burned out because I spend so much time doing all the side quests instead of the main quest.

I also tried System Shock 2 last year, was a pain getting it working right on XP and customizing the controls was even more of a pain but once I got it working I fell in love. Until another game distracted me heh, sometimes I have a really short attention span when it comes to games. I only got to the second deck with all the radiation in the hallways before I switched to a different game and forgot about it.

Yep

Left 4 Dead 1 and 2.

when i hear the two words "horror games" I think fatal frame and silent hill. Others are just action games with zombies, dinosaurs or mutants as enemies- this doesn't mean those games are bad but I just feel that they're not fit in the genre.

For me a horror game is scary and fun to play when you can feel the helplessness which threatens your survival. This aspect is removed when the hero starts punching the lights out of zombies or knife them silly or blow them to bits using a rocket launcher with infinite rounds.

I completely agree! Although I really enjoy "horror fps's", nothing beats games like the Silent Hill, Fatal Frame, and "pre-action" Resident Evil games. I've replayed the GC remake of Resident Evil so many times, I've completely lost count, and surprisingly, I still haven't unlocked all the extras yet! It's the atmosphere that makes it so enjoyable, the feeling of (mostly)complete isolation, it just really sucks you in, and like you said, being helpless or having to use found objects to save yourself is extremely thrilling.

I don't know myself since i'm not a fan of horror game, try Clock tower, fatal frama, or maybe Siren

Fatal Frame, absolutely!

No gore, no blood but really shockingly scary. The atmosphere of the cold chilly silence in Fatal Frame feels more epic than the noisy moaning groans in zombie games and the ghosts are far more formidable than any zombies/mutants. Also the only weapon you're allowed to have is your camera obscura. Psychologically speaking, this is more demoralizing as compared to having a handgun in other games.

Also the stories and sub-stories in Fatal Frame are far more touching than the conspiracy stories of other games. If you're tired of having companies accidentally mess up the world by creating biological weapon then screwing up in epic proportions then you'll like this. Each ghost has a story to tell about their life and their death so it's easy to get immersed while running for your life because your camera obscura usually does minimal damage unless you're brave enough to let the ghosts come close for a close up zero shot.

Horror Films I tend to have troubles with but for some reason I love horror games, I don't know why, perhaps it's because your in control of the character, you feel more involved.

There's nothing more exciting than having a moment of being scared out of your skin, beating away a monster and after finally surviving having that sense of relief and victory, but knowing there's more ahead.

Sadly I've played very few games that have replicated these feelings, anybody wanna recommend some decent horror games?

I normally can creep myself out before I even start watching a horror film or game, thus making it worse. Though for the most part horror films I~ve actually grown to be disappointed with as most don~t scare anymore and I end up laughing in theaters. As for games...nah rather not play them anymore these days. I always tend to start thinking randomly sometimes and then think about the games and monsters and awkward situations and end up scaring myself.

Fatal Frame games scare the living fuck out of me, and I love them for it. I'm one of the weirdos that enjoys being scared though.

The Fatal Frame series never really scared me. I don't know why, maybe it's because ghosts don't do anything for me. The last game that I played that actually got me to put down the controller and walk away was Doom 3. The first half of that game had me seriously paranoid and freaked out (especially that body that falls from a panal in the ceiling), but it kinda got boring in the second half (yes, even the hell missions).

Dead Space didn't scare me so much as it had me jump in surprise and occasionally yell out "OH SHIT!" at some particularly brutal moments. Condemned seemed more like hobo-fightclub than a horror game. And to be honest, I think the games would've been better without the weird looking monsters and just keep the original psycho-killer element. I'll say this, I often find that a regular human can be waaay scarier than most ghosts and monsters. Just compare Jack Nicholson from The Shining to Samara from The Ring. They're both scary in their own ways, but I think I'd rather take on a ghost girl than an axe-wielding nutcase.

I can only handle them to a point so no, for example in the early resident evil, I think it was two when the licker appeared that creeped me out, but I was fine from there, until I played another of the series and met the Tyrant.
Siren I was okay with until the school, that one was a bit much.
Fatal frame was how you took out the ghosts, having a ghost in my face didn't exactly bode well, though I set myself up for like since I don't like playing it in the daytime.
Silent hill until the nurses and Pyarmid head.
I've yet to get through one fully without getting at least a little bit scared.

I noticed a few people mentioned System Shock 2. It's old and shit, but I don't really see what's scary about it (I've read other opinions elsewhere that it's scary as shit). The dark lighting may fit a horror theme, but the music sure as hell doesn't. The only thing scary about this game is that you might run out of ammo and be stuck risking your health beating them with a damn wrench.

I certainly don't find it as scary now, but I think a lot of it is in the tension and intensity of combat. Enemies are strong, they run at you, they pursue you endlessly, they can attack you from range, they can gang up and an alarm going off completely fucks you. Add to this the incredibly limited ammo and health, the fact you have to constantly fix your guns and the isolation/majority of communication via dead crew logs, and you end up running around fearing any combat whatsoever.

I can, and do often, play horror games. I very much like to. Especially Fatal Frame and Clock Tower. Silent Hill is a good one too.

Frankly, I go looking for it. I'm playing SS2 now and if I ever need to run, I just abuse the fact the enemies don't know how to use lifts, ladders, those gravity things, or climb boxes. I admit, I also abuse quick save and quick load. Can't have my hacking/repair/weapon modification attempt fail horribly, now can I?