Do horror fans really want survival horror to make a comeback?

[I_Am_Nemesis]

I absolutely agree on the Dead Space point, DS2 is by far the scariest game of this generation is the best example of survival horror from present. The section where you returned to the Ishimura was the scariest for me, it was deadly silent and there were no enemies around, I was absolutely crapping my pants because I had no idea what was coming next, all I knew was that I was shitting bricks. Truely amazing game, real horror.

I have to agree that dead space is probably my faveourite horror game of this generation, Infact I thought dead space two was scarier, mainly because of the brief spell upon thew ishimura. The problem I had with the first dead space game was that i found that after a while the game ceases to be scary since you pretty much know what to expect (i dont mean from a story stand point) because the scares and tension get repetitive.
While Dead Space two had the same issue, I felt the time you spend on the ishimura helped to revive the fear and tension of the game. It was like reliving an old nightmare, and the atmosphere aboard the ship was brilliant, I felt tense every step of the way, the halls were dark and dead, almost unrecogniseable, almost like a nightmare set in a distorted version of somewhere you have been in reality. It was like revisiting old ghosts.

[Branden_Lucero]

Survival horror can and can't at the same time. it can if it can affect "younger" newcomers. but it won't have any affect on veterans.

[News Bot]

There's nothing wrong with the current control schemes, the problem is the level of actual horror content.

This right here. Sound design alone is more important than the control scheme. What the horror genre needs is people who actually have a grasp of how to convey horror. There's more to it than the "magic formula" people who complain about Biohazard keep throwing around. Suddenly bringing back fixed camera angles and tank controls won't suddenly make a game horror-orientated. You try doing that with BH4 and BH5 right now and see where that gets you. Not a single bump up in terms of horror quality.

Lost In Nightmares is superior to the entire main game of BH5 because it realized this. Attention was focused on exploration and atmosphere rather than action and large-scale, epic Hollywood presentation. Enemy design and behavior was sufficiently creepy and ammunition was fairly limited. There was an actual threat. A horror game needs adequate threats in order to deteriorate the player's sense of security. Putting a machine gun in a game isn't a problem. There was a machine gun in BH2, it didn't become an action fest. That's because there was a very set limit to how much you could use it, and there was absolutely no more ammunition, and the game went so far as to penalize you for taking it (no side-pack) or taking both of them (other character was left with nothing). Enemies had varying strength and were all threats in their own right. Every game in the series inevitably gives you an overabundance of ammunition throughout the entire game. The only way you come out with very little is if you shot everything in sight, and that sounds very much like an action game to me. The player doesn't need a very heavy ammo restriction, what they really need is to have that ammo spread out, and for good variety in enemies which will make them want to conserve ammo regardless just in-case a bigger threat is in the next room.

What I would prefer is:

1) Enemies do not drop ammo, or healing items. They must be found.
2) Weapons cannot be upgraded.
3) Less fucking cartoon-level enemy designs.
4) Better level design, and more interaction with the environment (and more general "jump scares" out of it)
5) Better music. No more grand heroic orchestra tracks or fast-paced action tracks. The composers have shown they can make good music which amplifies horror. Let them. Otherwise the likes of Masami Ueda and Makoto Tomozawa need to be brought back, as they knew exactly how to match up the music to the game and enhance the horror.

Fix those and you can at least consider the "survival" aspect back in the game. Actual horror direction is still required, and that needs a team that can co-operate and agree on the direction between sound, level design and "scares".

[Zombie_X]

x1000

Horror music does not need to be complex. Something simple like music from The Thing (1982) would fit perfectly. Simplistic tones that help build suspense, like that supposedly leaked "Corridor" track from RE6. That track is probably fake but it sounds perfect!

Also LIN was far better than RE5 and I do agree. No more ammo/health drops and even a lesser amount of ammo.

This right here. Sound design alone is more important than the control scheme. What the horror genre needs is people who actually have a grasp of how to convey horror. There's more to it than the "magic formula" people who complain about Biohazard keep throwing around. Suddenly bringing back fixed camera angles and tank controls won't suddenly make a game horror-orientated. You try doing that with BH4 and BH5 right now and see where that gets you. Not a single bump up in terms of horror quality.

Lost In Nightmares is superior to the entire main game of BH5 because it realized this. Attention was focused on exploration and atmosphere rather than action and large-scale, epic Hollywood presentation. Enemy design and behavior was sufficiently creepy and ammunition was fairly limited. There was an actual threat. A horror game needs adequate threats in order to deteriorate the player's sense of security. Putting a machine gun in a game isn't a problem. There was a machine gun in BH2, it didn't become an action fest. That's because there was a very set limit to how much you could use it, and there was absolutely no more ammunition, and the game went so far as to penalize you for taking it (no side-pack) or taking both of them (other character was left with nothing). Enemies had varying strength and were all threats in their own right. Every game in the series inevitably gives you an overabundance of ammunition throughout the entire game. The only way you come out with very little is if you shot everything in sight, and that sounds very much like an action game to me. The player doesn't need a very heavy ammo restriction, what they really need is to have that ammo spread out, and for good variety in enemies which will make them want to conserve ammo regardless just in-case a bigger threat is in the next room.

What I would prefer is:

1) Enemies do not drop ammo, or healing items. They must be found.
2) Weapons cannot be upgraded.
3) Less fucking cartoon-level enemy designs.
4) Better level design, and more interaction with the environment (and more general "jump scares" out of it)
5) Better music. No more grand heroic orchestra tracks or fast-paced action tracks. The composers have shown they can make good music which amplifies horror. Let them. Otherwise the likes of Masami Ueda and Makoto Tomozawa need to be brought back, as they knew exactly how to match up the music to the game and enhance the horror.

Fix those and you can at least consider the "survival" aspect back in the game. Actual horror direction is still required, and that needs a team that can co-operate and agree on the direction between sound, level design and "scares".

[Code_R]

1) Enemies do not drop ammo, or healing items. They must be found.

I guess so, and they should be found in logical places not wooden barrels that appear from NO reason.

2) Weapons cannot be upgraded.

I don't mind this part. It doesn't really detract from anything.

3) Less fucking cartoon-level enemy designs.

Sure. It's sad when the best enemy in RE5 is the Licker from 1998. Tentacles are lame, so are endless villagers. I liked how the Urorobos test subject was before he sprouted into another boring mass or worms, it was more sinister.

4) Better level design, and more interaction with the environment (and more general "jump scares" out of it)

Jump scares, files, little descriptions of parts of the scenery. That inner monologue of text.

5) Better music. No more grand heroic orchestra tracks or fast-paced action tracks. The composers have shown they can make good music which amplifies horror. Let them. Otherwise the likes of Masami Ueda and Makoto Tomozawa need to be brought back, as they knew exactly how to match up the music to the game and enhance the horror.

There's a part in Silent Hill 2 near the start, where you go into some apartments. There's this track playing, it's not even music and it's so creepy and nothing really happens in that building but it's so unsettling the first time when you see something through the corridor blocked off by some metal bars. This kind of stuff and the old RE2 / RE3 type music is what I like.

[Dracarys]

^^ Reaper.

[Code_R]

^^ Reaper.

Explain

[Dracarys]

"3) Less fucking cartoon-level enemy designs.

Sure. It's sad when the best enemy in RE5 is the Licker from 1998. Tentacles are lame, so are endless villagers. I liked how the Urorobos test subject was before he sprouted into another boring mass or worms, it was more sinister. "


Reaper was seemingly forgot about. RE5 added some decent enemy designs, the small spiders were decent as well, thoug could of done with greater numbers.

[News Bot]

"3) Less fucking cartoon-level enemy designs.

Sure. It's sad when the best enemy in RE5 is the Licker from 1998. Tentacles are lame, so are endless villagers. I liked how the Urorobos test subject was before he sprouted into another boring mass or worms, it was more sinister. "


Reaper was seemingly forgot about. RE5 added some decent enemy designs, the small spiders were decent as well, thoug could of done with greater numbers.

One enemy =/= majority of enemies.

I like the Regenerador, U-3 and Verdugo, and found Krauser's mutation to be pretty good. I still think most of the rest of the enemy designs in BH4 were trash. Same deal with BH5's designs and the Reapers.

[Darkmoon]

See, I'm not a big fan of the Reapers. They look good, but there instant kill ability doesn't make them scarier - it just makes me sigh and try to remember where the last check point was. It felt like a cheap kill rather than a terrifying monster.

[Dracarys]

Surely a Reaper standing a few feet from you instills more panic than a majini doing the same? A big problem throughout the entire series to me was enemies just do not do enough damage to be threatening. In RE5 unless you wanna crank the difficulty up to Pro where evrything does extreme damage most enemies provide no real threat, can run through crowds of majini all day long without much fear of dying. In older games even things like Lickers you end up just running past and if they claw you as you do it isn't a big deal, you'll be to safety long before it becomes a threat.

I wish the series had more enemies that were like the Reapers, or even the chainsaw guys (in threat level, not humanish).

[Darkmoon]

Honestly? No, a Reaper a few feet away just made me do the above - sigh and try to remember where the check point was. The Majini not being a threat is what makes them a crappy enemy - the problem with the Reaper is he feels cheap, rather than a challenge. The Chainsaw enemies from RE4 worked because you had a chance - they'd instakill if they could, but they usually spawned far enough away and with enough warning (chainsaw reving) that you had a chance to kill them. It created panic because you knew you could beat them, but if you screwed up you would die.

At least with me the first time I ran into Reapers each time I died because I didn't spot them fast enough to switch to a a decent weapon to kill them. It didn't feel like I was being punished for not playing well, but for not knowing there was a Reaper there.

[Dracarys]

They make a lot of noise, and in the campaign they drop down from huge sacks when approached, how do you not see them?

[Darkmoon]

No idea. I've only played the game twice, when it was released, but I distinctly remember just seeing the cloud approaching and going, 'Well, shit' trying to switch from my handgun to a magnum and being shanked.

[Dracarys]

Yeah, they spit some form of nasty into the air to blind you, but they need get close first to even do this.