1999. Back then, just 9 year's old, my (far) older halfbrother came for a visit (t'was the very first day i still remember where i've met him).. and he brought some PS1 games with him, since he was totally into it, and when he heard i was too, we played some hours. good times.

one of the games he brought with him (originally, he wanted my mother to play it since she liked to play sometimes, too - sadly, only RPG's, and those, just together with me) was Resident Evil 1, but since she denied even trying it, i asked him if i could borrow it. He said yes, and so i popped that Sun of a Beach (u see what i did there? ;D) into the console at night when my Parents were asleep. (Since i knew they wouldnt welcome me playing it, leave alone having it at home ^^).. and i was scared as hell. i fact, i only played like 30 minute sessions at a time, otherwise, i sure would have gone insane. even 30 minutes were enough to scare me enough to sleep with the lights in my room left on... dood, that was an experience, holy crap. :D

today, i discussed RE5 with a friend, and we thought about how long it was since a game was scary the last time... no chance to define the date, since it was really long ago, i 'think' it was RE-Zero 6-7 years ago, but thats about it. So yeah, i totally deny to call any of the games released in recent years to be a Survival-Horror / Horror game. and i've played plenty. .. then, suddently, ONE game came across my mind, a game i didnt think about beeing classified as a horror game, since it's officially branded an RPG - to be precise, the game that i've thought about.. was ........Demon's Souls. not because i shit my pants everytime an enemy is after me, but because i was scared of diying. DS was really stressing, i remember trying to reach the next safe area just to be able to relax a little, before the Helltrip starts all over again :D

-----

so yeah, how do you folks think about the so called Horror Games of today? am i simply totally forked up and dont get how RE5 was supposed to be scary, .. or is the term 'Horror' just that much of a subjetive matter, depending on the kind of Gamer, aswell as the game played?

Opinions!

The problem is that we have grown up.

Similar to KylieDog's answer, i ponder whether that ever had an objective definition

If it makes you feel better, I didn't find RE5 to be scary at all either. Meanwhile, I'm playing Deadly Premonition, a low-budget survival horror game, and I'm actually surprised at how tense and scary some of the run-ins with the game's serial killer can be, even though they're mildly annoying QTEs. Muscular cops with big guns mowing down undead? Not scary (to me anyway). Lone FBI agent vs. possibly supernatural serial killer with a big axe? That might get the heart pumping a little. I guess it all depends on what you personally find scary.

I dont play horror games but the most terrifying moments you encounter is with stuff that isn't really there. My point is that your own imagination is what scares you the most.

For example, for those who are scared of spiders or any insect, when you encounter one pretty close you get pretty scared but your become most scared when what is sweat caused by the moment causing irritation in your skin which your own mine tricks you into thinking thats a spider calling on your back right now. So you start moving around bushing your shirt or pants to get the spider which isn't there off.

You can build a true horror game where you never see a creature and it would be a terrifying experience if the creators could feed the imagination of the player to think there is something worst then what there really is.

This is what i believe horror games are not doing and are focusing on combat too much. Really put a monster on the other side of the room and you are equipped with full auto machine gun, the horror is non existence because you are not weak and vulnerable to that monster to be scared of it.

If you want a real survival horror game (as opposed to a shooter) go play Amnesia: The Dark Descent.

I got my PS1 around 2002 or 2003 when I was 12 or 13 years old.
My parents bought it used with some games, it had Gran Turismo 2 (I think... it had many discs) and Resident Evil 2, among others (I don't really remember all the games it came with).
The main reason why I wanted it was because of Megaman X5, lol.... but it didn't come with it....

I played all the games it had but the one I liked the most was Resident Evil 2, the game was in english and my english sucked at the time (I've learnt most of my english playing Final Fantasy games on PS1, lol) so I got stuck many times because I didn't know what to do or what the files I was reading were saying... or what the stuff I was checking said.

I was never scared while playing it, I asked my parents to buy Resident Evil 3 for me later (even though I hadn't finished RE2) and it was the first RE I managed to clear... I ended up clearing it in all modes, unlocking everything, getting the best ranks and stuff.

Then I went back to RE2, found out what I had to do and actually managed to finish it, unlocked infinite rocket launcher, costumes, etc.

One day I saw RE1 in a store and asked my parents to buy it, I got stuck in that one a few times but I managed to finish it like the rest.

Also got RE Survivor, unlocked everything, wasn't hard to clear at all, lol. I remember I thought the graphics sucked... I was a graphics whore I guess xD. I loved fighting the final boss using the pistol... ended up knowing every attack so I could always evade him :P

One day, I saw Silent Hill in a store. The box art really attracted me (I decided most of my purchases by looking at boxarts or looking who made the game (Capcom, Konami, Squaresoft)).

I decided to ask my parents to buy it. When I played it I was like "why does it look so bad?" (anything that didn't have a static cammera like RE, FF or Parasite Eve looked like crap to me) but I played it anyways. Got stuck in a few puzzles like the piano one or the one near the end where Lisa starts bleeding but ended up finishing it in all modes, unlocking all weapons and all endings and stuff.

Also got Alone in The Dark, I didn't like this one very much... only finished it with the dude, got stuck with the girl in the second disc (I don't even remember their names, lol).

Also played Dino Crisis 1 and 2... but I don't think these are survival horror?... well... maybe Dino Crisis 1 is.


To be honest, even when I was that young and was playing my first horror games, I was never afraid of any of them. I would get scared with horror movies back then, but not videogames :S

Why did I tell you all this?



Oh, yeah... even though there never was a definition of what horror games should be like, and even though I never found any videogame to be scary, I think it is true that they have changed a lot from what they used to be like... Look at RE1, 2, 3, Dino Crisis 1, Silent Hill 1, Alone in The Dark, etc (If we only talk about PS1 games) and then look at RE5, Dead Space 1, 2... the PS1 ones focused a lot more on Saving your bullets, saving your health items, looking for items that are probably veeery far away from where you need to use them and maybe even look for many items scattered in places that are far away to combine them and use them later, evading fights as much as you can, solving puzzles, etc.... while the newer ones have the items you need in the same room or the next door, the puzzles are dumber/easier than they used to be and most of the times involve just pressing a button or turning a switch, and you also fight everything you encounter, have a lot of weapons and bullets and kill everything that stands in your way... they focus too much on action and fighting now.

So... yeah, they're different now. I personally prefer the older ones.

 genres should not be expected to have  all the same aspects .

Do we want all shooters to be like Call of Duty?

Do we want all platformers to be like Mario?

Do we want all RPGs to be like Final Fantasy?

Do we want all open world games to be like GTA?

I think variety is the spice of life and not all games that try to be scary will be. We need variety.

remember dead space has been shown to be the scariest 360 game. ;)

Oh, god. This. Scariest game ever.