I like horror games a lot and I'm specially a fan of the Silent Hill series, but why do I find these more appealing than other 'jumpy' games? Story, atmosphere, the type of enemies? I believe a good part of it would be what can and can't you do to protect yourself in these games. If you have lots of guns, ammo, and can run like hell you feel less vulnerable than if you have only a golf club that can break at any moment or a short range camera. In the Clock Tower series, you're just a girl with nothing but your weak legs: you can run, hide, struggle a little and that's about it. It was really stressful!

What you think? What makes a horror game a good game for you?

Lots of gore, lots of bodies, lots of blood, ugly enemies, very scary, and the game should have moments where they suddenly scare the crap out of you when you open a door (like Doom, I remember playing that game when I was little and got so scared of it). There should be a good, somewhat believable storyline. If you can, add some mystery to it to make it feel creepier (like Higurashi no Naku Koro ni series). I would say if a game makes you soil your pants everytime you play it it's a good horror game.

I can't say I've always been an advent fan of survival horror, or just horror in general, games. Over the years though, I've become more and more captivated with them. To me, it's not about the violence. It's about mood. It's gonna be about sound effects, subtle things that happen. It's about being in a place that you KNOW your character shouldn't be, it's about being defenseless with no real means to protect yourself. It's about the lighting too. I don't disapprove of what makes a horror game for you, Longbow, but I personally don't think gore really makes a good horror game. Too much personally turns me away from a game. I do agree though that a certain amount can add to a game, depending on the game of course.

Atmosphere is the most important thing to a game, in my opinion. So long as the game has that, and a good one too, it could have horrible voice acting and a mediocre plot and it'd still scare the pants off of me (Ex. Fatal Frame). I've been startled by many games before, but there has been only two games that have freaked me out enough to where I had to actually stop playing.

The music helps a lot, well not only the music, the sounds because they represent something you know is there, but you can't see. We are afraid of the what we don't know and what we can't see, and that's why every horror game has a dark atmosphere (except Silent Hill, where the darkness was replaced by white fog and when the real darkness comes you are more frightened that you would be if the whole game would be at night time). Personally I prefer suspense games like SH than horror/action games like Resident Evil.

I agree that there's no need for a lot of gore, the main thing needed is creepy sound effects and music, well drawn enemies, not a lot of enemies, but a few with good concept. And it can be very horrifying without any contact with the monster. When you hear them crawling in the room next to you or in the airshaft. And only a little amount of weapon and ammo, that's important too.

I say that it's always having that vulnerable spot that you know can end in your death at any given time; you'll never be completely assured of safety, and it's all the more scary when you die very suddenly. For example, in Resident Evil 4, you always have a huge blind zone around you and a severely limited arc of view, so you have to constantly be on your toes and keep an eye and an ear out for something that may suddenly attack you from behind or the side, and potentially one-hit-kill you (like those chainsaw-wielding enemies that lop off your head if you let them get too close).

Except that in Resident Evil 4 you can buy a bazooka that can kill any enemy with one shot. In Silent Hill 4 there are enemies that are simply inmortal and can hurt you without even touching you and the biggest weapon I have until now is a revolver. Resident Evil 4 was easy for me in normal mode. But, yeah, the guy with the chain-saw was annoying, and the blind ones with claws too.

I honestly don't consider RE 4 to be a horror game, simply because they opted for a more action route. If anything, I'd consider it more of an action game with some horror elements more than anything else. That was one of the big issues to me as well, was it was really easy to become quite powerful and mow down stuff in RE 4. Which was fine at times, because it made me feel like a bad-ass, but that's why I usually play action games.

iroveashe : Actually, I didn't like SH 4 because it did have enemies that were immortal. The ghosts actually frustrated me and I felt rather hindered in my gaming experience. I really loved the story and the music, but I wasn't fond with the over-reliance on melee weapons, mainly because Silent Hill has NEVER had a good melee system. Ghosts weren't a bad idea..but after awhile it seemed to grow old to me. It didn't help that they felt tacked on too, since the series has never delt with ghosts before.

I forgot to mention before, but a subtle balance needs to be created for a game as well. RE 4 has a great balance, but the game leans far too much over to an action game, despite the massive improvements to both the visuals and the gameplay. Horror games can mix up a bit of action, but too much tips the scale. I also agree with Sousuke90 in that enemies really make the game great as well. You don't have to have a massive amount, just a few well done enemies placed in at the right time will do more than to suffice.

What makes a Horror Game really scary is limited means to defend yourself,scary and strong enemy and mostly the element of surprise where the enemy can suddenly comes out of nowhere behind you,I like the Obscure series most amongst all horror games.In it you were just some youngsters with mostly melee weapons and very limited ammo for guns while you have to fight enemies that are powerful and can appear anywhere.Also,you can play Obscure together on two player mode,so at least you won't be playing alone at night.Trust me,you don't want to play it alone at night,it almost give me a heart attack!^^

This is a bit off-topic but has anyone noticed the usual places in horror games like Silent Hill and Resident Evil (mostly in SH)? You're always in places like a police station (Resident Evil 2 & 3) a hospital (every Silent Hill) a mansion (RE 1 and 4) a subway station (SH 3) school (SH 1 2 and 3) and an amusement park. I don't know if it's just me or anyone else thinks so, but I feel like the only place missing is a zoo.

Yeah, Silent Hill 4 has the Subway station too. Clock Tower and Haunting Ground are both in mansions, F.E.A.R. has a research area and a hospital (I think, just seen videos), so yes, same locations again and again. In Silent Hill and Resident Evil there are dogs and other animals (the ape-like creatures in SH 4) so why can't be a zoo a horror location? I guess we find human places more frightening because animals are less scary somehow? The folklore has a lot to do with the choose in locations. In Japan a simple staircase and a bathroom can be scary spots so they go for spacious buildings. There's a game for the Super Famicom named Majotachi no Nemuri, supposedly a horror game where one of the locations is a woods area. So the place you're in must create a good chilling atmosphere to go well with the game.

Lately I can't find a game that scares me, Silent Hill (1) used to scare me a lot and RE3 too, but once you get familiar with the games and they become easy it's not the same. Silent Hill 3 was the latest game that scared me a little, I've got a friend who's playing SH4 and I watch him play and it doesn't scare me. Maybe is because I've changed or maybe cause he plays it at daytime =P but still, I think that if I play it alone at night with headphones really loud it will scare me at the beginning but later I'll get used to it.

To be true, i don't really like horror game.. But horror game has a nice gameplay and picture.. And it got a nice storyline.. That's the point of horror game..

Actually, they have done a zoo before =3. Parasite Eve had a zoo in it .

I've noticed that as well. I guess it's because certain places, like hospitals, just really freak people out as is and I suppose if you dement them, then their even scarier. Though, I personally think they should expand a bit beyond, which is why I'm glad more places have been switching to more outside locals now. I don't mind the inside locations when they do use them, but companies have a bad habit of reusing the same old same old. Granted, when they usually are, they are done differently, but there are only so many times you can go through a haunted/deformed hospital.

iroveashe : I hear where you are coming from. Horror games use to really freak me out, and that has been slowly decreasing the more I play them and the more I expand my variety. Heck, I still can expand my horror experience by playing at night and since I've got surround sound, it freaks me out all the more. Hopefully you can find something to renew you're fear in horror games =D.

I've always wanted to play Parasite Eve but I couldn't find it. I've only played Parasite Eve ii and I wish they kept going cause it was really good.
Has anyone played Galerians?