How do you write horror into a medium as premature as vidya?

something which doesnt rely on jumpscare but relies more on defying player expectations and creeping them with the most mundane shit possible? I recently played Darkwood and I am not gonna lie, it fucking nailed the horror aspect like the silent hill games

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she looks fine to me

i honestly think horror snobs are ppl who have to make up excuses for disliking things that are too scary for them like games with jumpscares

the thing is, its not very hard to scare people with jumpscares hence it doesnt involve any sort of creativity whatsoever, and I am not even being a horror snob about it but for a medium as young as video games there are so many potential to make the most out of its medium.

Idk I think if you look at something like Dead Space 1 it's harder than you think and that's why Dead Space isn't scary when something like Outlast is.

Horror is one of the most primitive and basic genres. It's so fucking easy to make someone scared. The fact that we think that a piece that doesn't do anything other than scare and audience is laughable. No other genre gets away with that kind of garbage other than perhaps action. Which is the lesser sludge would be difficult to determine.

Horror in vidya is the same in anything. It depends entirely on how capable of being immersed the person absorbing it is.

singleplayer horror never really does it. its not very scary when youre aware of the fact that the thing trying to kill you is just a microprocessor inside your console so getting killed by has no emotional weight.

>if i don't suspend my disbelief i will never be scared by anything because im epic

How is that any different than movies or books though? If the fact that it's not real ruins it for you, how can you enjoy ANY piece of fiction?

The fear of losing progress, but not portrayed to the wanton manner some """"roguelikes"""" present it
DS2 Hardcore playthrough with a limited number of saves, was one of the most tense things I've played, specially with all the unsafe shit that can one shot your ass.

>no jumpscares
so, in other words, not scary

Kek

SOMA does a pretty good job at existential horror, even though it still has spooky wandering monsters. Can't really remember any notable jump scares though. And yes, I know, there are other pieces of media out there that deal with consciousness before someone shows up trying to sound smart.

First thing I would do is assemble a list of everything gamers do. We are pretty predictable. Just watch someone play Resident Evil as a baseline and you can predict the movements a typical player will perform. If you put something sparkly in the room, they will beeline to it, for example.

So, you know what they are going to do. Now, from there, you can subvert their expectations. Maybe the first time they pick up the key. just leave a note next to it saying that they knew you were going to do that. Then, three keys later( you have to let their guard go up temporarily, then slide back down before you strike), that's when it strikes and something scary occurs.

Video games are not a medium, they're a format.

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weebs, and other meme sluts would just think this chick is hot

>bait

The problem with horror is something you will never realize as a player. What makes horror get people is the inevitability of whatever event is going on. If you are watching a horror movie you are stuck on whatever path the filmmaker sets for you. You can close your eyes but the movie goes on. You can stop the movie but that is just choosing not to engage with it and the second you decide the film picks right back where you were.

It's not so in games though. There are two elements that make games a tough medium for horror that few have figured out the solution to. The first problem games have is the ability for the player to choose what happens removes an important part of what makes horror. No matter what kind of game it is the whole game will not advance until the player gives the okay. At every step in the process the player is decided when and where to expose themselves to the next potential scary moment. They are in complete control of the situation and that will always remove a lot of what makes horror. Game makers try to get around this with stuff like qte's and whatnot but no matter how hard they try there is always that pause for interaction.

The second issue games have is the simple nature of games itself. People who make games want their games to be played. They want people to see the big twist, the shock ending, the gasp horror moment that is the talking piece. You can chop the player's head off and rape their body but it doesn't actually effect anything. The player can always hit a button and reset everything to how it was before any horrific moment. There isn't much you can threaten a player with and that takes a lot of the bite out of any potential horror elements.

Now I'm not saying no one can overcome these problems but they are a very different set that has to be dealt with compared to movies, comics, or books.

>she

That's a man, man

You can almost smell the virginity coming off this post.

the resident evil 5 elevator is a better example.

>approach elevator
>it rises slowly and ominously and you stare at the dial, guns ready
>realize something isn't right
>hear clattering
>the monster is coming from behind you, not the elevator!
>fight horde of lickers
>....but haven't you forgotten about something?

dead space was strongest when it wasn't jump-scaring you with the same xeno setup.. it was strongest when it pitted you in a corner like a dog.

...unlike outlast which was exclusively jump-scares and running like a bitch.

i would say neither of those fit in the genre. IF one even had a sliver of being true horror it was dead-space during the "exploration" phases of the levels when you witnessed the fucked up mutation/genetic rape humanity suffered before you got there.

Dead space was never scary tho

As much of a meme as it is and as much as I am against all things weeb, I think Doki Doki Literature Club does this sort of psychological, less atmospheric-based and more existentially-rooted horror best. You play the game for like 2 to 3 hours before anything spooky happens, and when it does it plays around with the viewer more than it does with the characters in the game.

The issue is people don't know the difference between horror and something being scary or shocking. Anything can be scary, war is scary, job interviews are scary, but horror is the unknown, the uncanny, the grotesque. Horror is something you can't humanly relate to and the feeling of dread that takes your mind as you try to comprehend it. Jumpscares act as nothing more than a shock, the same can happen in a military FPS when you turn the corner and get a surprise shotgun to the face.

Doki Doki has some of the corniest creepy pasta tier 'spooky' shit in it. There's literally eye bleeding and 'hyperrealistic' eyes in the game. After no one remembering who a;sgh3oqth is there's a gigantic drop in quality.

it still is the most toughest genre to get right, because everything's got to be perfect harmony be it the score, the colors the tone and the acting...

but of course video games has something else to offer compared to other mediums, this why I called it pre-mature, because there isnt any defined set of rules you have to follow, thats the point of this post: how do you utilise the medium to its fullest