What's the best horror game that doesn't rely on jumpscares?

What's the best horror game that doesn't rely on jumpscares?

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silent hill series

Bane?

Aye.

Sup Forums really has ruined me.

Put them on board, i'll call it in!

Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth

P.T
;_;

Seconded, even with the weaker last third the game is still solid.

>horror game
>no jump scares
Those are called sci-fi games. Prove me wrong. Tell me what truly makes a scary game.

Spooky atmosphere retard

Atmosphere, grotesque imagery and enemies, unsettling but not outwardly startling sounds and images.

...

STALKER. Pretty spooky atmosphere. You only get jump-scared if you're not alert of your surrounding.

Monster Hunter 3

Slender: The Arrival.

Plenty of sci-fi games have spooky atmosphere. They aren't horror though. Same goes for imagery. Same for sounds. None of them make a game scary. They certainly do help though. You don't need a jump scare every moment in a game, but they are there to remind you that you don't know what's coming next. The unknown is the scariest thing out there. That is why darkness is one of the leading causes of fear.

I assume you're trollin' but I can't say why. MH3 had a cozy af atmosphere. It was.. So Tasty.

>Those are called sci-fi games.
Bait is so good it really does feel like there are hooks digging into my brain right now.
Now that's horror.

>doom doesn't have those elements
>doom is a horror game

could they not find better fitting pants for this scene?

youtube.com/watch?v=sZdp4QDJ65w

>Things have to be a single genre
>A genre can't be incredibly broad
I'm sure Doom spooked plenty of kids back in the day. Plus there are wads out there now that would scare older people, ie Unloved.
Why would a single element that causes fear, like a jump scare, cause a game to be horror anyway? Is Ocarina of Time horror because someone didn't pay enough attention to Redeads?
You're digging into very complex and vague territory here. I mean, just with the sci-fi/horror example, is Event Horizon one or the other or both? Is it a matter of one element overriding the other? What makes jump scares more of a necessity to the horror genre than tension that doesn't get resolved in a moment?
Basically, fuck you.

>Why would a single element that causes fear, like a jump scare, cause a game to be horror anyway?
It doesn't. It just happens to cause fear, which is a necessity for horror games. Almost every other factor that people like to bring up only intensifies fear, not cause it. They are all dependent on a trigger. Having a jump scare every now and then in a horror game is not a bad thing, and people need to get over that shit.

I still find it hard to believe that this whole scene was in a great and successful Batman movie.

When dad comes home drunk.

>Almost every other factor that people like to bring up only intensifies fear, not cause it. They are all dependent on a trigger.
Yes, but the trigger can be a subtle thing. It's what makes people regard movies like The Shining as great horror, because there are a lot of little things that add up to make you afraid. The same is true for videogames: I'm not necessarily spooked out of my gourd wandering around Silent Hill, but as the situation deteriorates there's that sense of creeping dread, and the slow burn of fear not knowing.
>Having a jump scare every now and then in a horror game is not a bad thing, and people need to get over that shit.
True, but the two problems with relying on the jump scare alone are:
1. It's easy, which isn't necessarily bad, but because it's easy it can be useless when handled incorrectly.
2. It releases tension. There's a pretty definite catharsis effect involved, since now the threat is now known and you're being kicked forcefully into fight-or-flight mode. Why this is a problem is that if you over do it, you end up with a viewer who is fucked off (too much tension breaking can be a bad thing) or desensitised, which is also pretty terrible.
You made a good point about the unknown being the scariest thing out there, but ask yourself, should the jump scare make you afraid of the game, or should the game make you afraid of jump scares that may never even come?

On that note I want to say Afraid of Monsters: Director's Cut is pretty good, OP.
It has jump scares but they're far and few between, and they're most effective because they're so infrequent and because everything else is fucking spooky as hell.

Why does he wear the mask?

Maybe it's just me, but any game with vast stretches of underwater space.
Fuck. That. Shit.

>The Shining
Pretty sure it uses jump scares.

>should the jump scare make you afraid of the game, or should the game make you afraid of jump scares that may never even come
Second one is technically better, but it is Utopia. Even if it wasn't pure fiction, you realize that you are aiming for fear caused by jump scares, even if they aren't used. It kinda proves the point that jump scares are practically a necessity for the horror genre. It's too easy to grow comfortable without them, no matter how bad the setting, how many creepy sounds there are, how "terrifying" enemies look, and so on.

Lord Stark.

>OR horror game
>'White Boy in the Hood'
>you play as a 20 year old college student named Brad
>on your way to a house party you take a wrong exit and end up in a bad neighborhood
>when you try to find your way out, your car suddenly stalls
>no phone signal
>it's 1 am and you have to get out and walk
>Brad must navigate at least 10 blocks worth of hood before he can find an open area with a payphone and call for a taxi
>maps are randomized so each experience is always different
>deep dialogue system that allows Brad to persuade his way past danger, or make allies
>maps have random items that can be equipped and used as weapons(tire iron, bat, 2x4, empty jelly jar, etc)
>enemies include: low level thugs, crackheads, dealers, angry black woman, teens looking to roast a nigga over his chef currys, thug boss debo, crooked cops, homeless, real ass niggas, that one white guy that's hard as fuck and many more
>powerups can also be located(blunt, 40, candy bar, black n mild, soda, etc)
kickstart when

>Pretty sure it uses jump scares.
OP asks for something that doesn't rely on them. Reliance =/= Usage
>but it is Utopia.
I've played quite a few games where the fear set in long before anything jumped out at me, and although I haven't played very many horror games I doubt that assertion applies to every one of them.
>It's too easy to grow comfortable without them, no matter how bad the setting, how many creepy sounds there are, how "terrifying" enemies look, and so on.
I disagree, but that would also be just my personal experience, I can't speak for others when it comes to immersion.
Although I would think that the absence of jump scares in good horror would be a testament to the creator's ability to refrain from going, "and then the skeleton popped out"

Just for an example that I do know, though, reminds me of the Abyss section of SOMA. Sure, the angler fish is fucking terrifying when it shows up unexpectantly, but I was very much afraid of the dark long before I knew something really was down there.
Fear doesn't have to be a momentary state, and I honestly think it works much better if you drag it out like nails on a chalkboard. And yeah, there still has to be catharsis (one would hope anyway), but it doesn't necessarily have to be a jump scare either.
A very ghetto We Happy Few/Condemned? Sign me up.

No jump scares allowed.
Being jumped is a jump scare.

shieeeeeeeeeet

Gotta love how nothing on his outfit matches

Anything from frictional games

Uwaaaaaa

he's not a big enough guy.