Experimental42 on 08 August 2014
| vivster said: No, I don't think so. Shoddy controls just made it easier for developers to invoke suspense. The controls got better but the developers didn't. That's why today's Horror games don't seem as good anymore. But we already had quite decent survival horror games with great controls. They got their suspense by not giving the player options to fight back, which is a very good way to go since helplessness is a big theme in horror. |
I've always felt that there's just less suspense in general the better you can control, and to me helplessness isn't as fun as the thought of rationing encounters. If you can't fight back and are truly helpless you pretty much ignore the enemies and avoid them altogether, which is just as bad as running roughshod over them.
I can't see proper horror being built when players have such high levels of control and camera movement. For example Zombi U. The scariest parts of that game are when you have the least control, going through your inventory.
