Topic: October is here! Which horror games will you be playing?

I’m calling Diablo horror too.

@johncalmc Silent Hill's sound design, sense of atmosphere, and crushing sense of dread is simply unrivaled to this day. The demo disc in the official Playstation magazine, which let players explore explore the school (pre-transformation), scared the daylights out of me as a child, and, even to this day, it's a game I struggle to play for more than an hour at a time without getting creeped out enough that I have to turn the PS1 off and go to bed. The scuzzy, low-res textures, eerie compressed old game sounds, and voluminous fog designed to hide the game's draw limit on the PS1 are an amazing example of a developer making lemons out of lemonade by using the PS1's technological limitations to the artistic advantage of the final product.

Silent Hill 2 is very good for what it is. But the vibe is SO different, and I was never fully on-board with the change.

Silent Hill 3 isn't as oppressively scary as the original, but I did love some of the amazing set-pieces in that game (the mirror room, the scary bits with mannequins, the haunted house attraction, etc.) and the way it leans into the more openly nightmarish aspects of the original game.

@Ralizah Silent Hill 1 is definitely scarier, I couldn’t play for more than an hour on the Vita of all things. Just horrifying. 2 is less of a horror game but it’s probably the best game I’ve ever played at least in terms of plot, atmosphere and sound design. The opening hour alone is a masterclass. I really loved the bit in the first game where you’re exploring the streets near the docks towards the end of the game. The wind is crazy (basically just a crunchy wave through the PS1’s sound chip) but there’s a real feeling of dread.

@nessisonett Both games make a great first impression. I really like the bizarre growling noises when you're first running down the path by the lake in the second game, and then the uniquely bizarre performances of the characters you meet.

SH1, meanwhile, has possibly the best opening of any video game as you stumble through a winding alleyway, the sun growing dimmer while increasingly bizarre phenomena crops up and the amazing, winding camera disorients you, culminating in one of the bigger scares I've ever had as Harry is quickly surrounded by enemies who stab him to death. And, of course, the music is building up like nuts during this sequence.

I think the first real "nope" moment I had was when you first go through that house with all the locks on the door. A thick darkness blankets the town, and this really evil sounding music starts playing. I was a kid, and I stepped outside, and this greeted me, and I quickly went back inside, saved my game, calmly turned off the console, and didn't play the game again for a week. 😂

SH2 actually had a moment like that, too, except it was the... lack of any stimuli that freaked me out. It was late in the game, and there was this large, dark, empty space without sound or music of any kind, and it creeped the hell out of me for some reason. The games are particularly good at using silence as a tool for instilling fear as well.

Kitchen on PSVR is the worst experience I've ever had in my life

@Ralizah Yes, I think the first Silent Hill is genuinely scary throughout. There's something dirty, and foul about it, and relentless, too. The soundtrack does a lot of the heavy lifting. It's absurdly unsettling. The transformation into the nightmare version of Silent Hill was terrifying. It used to make me actually uncomfortable. I hated it but I had to see what was next.

Silent Hill was one of the few games where I would read every note, every book, every scrap of information. I just wanted more, and I think they give you just the right amount. They don't spell everything out but they give you just enough to be pretty sure that you know what's going on. Plus I think Lisa is my favourite Silent Hill character. Her story is my favourite in the series.

I might play Silent Hill again actually. I think I have it on PS3 and I just dug my 3 out recently for the Metal Gear Solid series.

2 and 3 felt different to me. They were still spooky but they never reached the heights of the first game. And my preference for 3 over 2 is largely down to 3 being somewhat tied to the original game unlike 2 which is its own thing.

Later games in the series just seemed to think that having an air raid siren and throwing Pyramid Head in would be enough to call it a Silent Hill and it's sad that's where we ended up. But it's been away a long time. And if the rumours (again) are true, I'll be thrilled to see it come back, hopefully with some new life.

The month of Halloween is upon us again and that means lots of horror games to be played. Which ones will you be playing?

I have several titles in mind, such as Resident Evil 5, DOOM 3, Silent Hill and FEAR. Granted, RE5 isn't really a horror experience but it's the next RE game for me as I finished RE4 earlier this year. I also started DOOM 3 a couple of months ago and it's way scarier than I thought it'd be, so that would be fitting for this month. I'm also in the mood for some classic survival horror and since I haven't played any of the Silent Hill games yet, perhaps now would be a good time to start playing through this franchise. Finally, I've been wanting to play more games on Xbox and FEAR is one series I also haven't played yet. Would be nice to experience the first game on Series X with an FPS boost.

Scorn is also coming out in a couple of weeks, so I might check that one out as well!

@LtSarge I've got "Alien Isolation" and "SOMA" lined up alongside a playthrough of one of the "Resident Evil" games - this year I might go for the new third person mode in "Village" or the "Director's Cut" of the original game (I've never played that version) if I can find a CIB copy for a reasonable price.

Yeah I had the same thought when I'd finished whatever I was playing last week - didn't want too get into something too big as October should be mainly for horror games. So checked through the backlog and found more than a couple (though some are more horror-ish than outright horror).

Coincidently I was also thinking of starting RE5 on PS4, as well as maybe Darkwood, Lone Survivor, Dread Nautical and Death Road to Canada.
On PS5 I currently have RE Village, Back 4 Blood and The Persistence.

So I'll probably play some, more or all of those...

I'm a bit of a coward myself but I love the idea of horror games, and recently I was able to play Silent Hill. It wasn't particularly scary, but I didn't play much of it. I was going to get Project Zero and Corpse Party soon, as it's October. Has anyone here played either of these, and if so, would they recommend them?

@LN78 SOMA is a phenomenal horror game. It was pretty much my first horror experience and it scared me a lot lol. Need to replay it one of these days!

I played through RE Director's Cut on PS1 last year and it actually holds up really well despite what people will say about it. In fact, I enjoyed it more than the more stressful REmake as the additions in that version kinda detracts from the experience for me. The PS1 version is much simpler and therefore more enjoyable in my opinion.

@sorteddan That's interesting that you're thinking about playing RE5 as well. After playing through RE4, I've found the series to be more fun than scary in all honesty. RE5 seems to work like RE4 in terms of the mechanics and I want to play more games like RE4.

The question is though when I want to start it up as it's a fairly lengthy game, like RE4. On top of that, there are two DLCs as well. So I don't know if I want to play multiple horror titles concurrently, especially if they are long games.

man i always do want to play the RE games , but then i’m reminded why i don’t - the inventory and inventory management/crafting or whatever kills it for me . i’m not smart enough for that ***** but it’s such a cool series

@Kairu I’d definitely count Bloodborne and Little Nightmares as horror. But I’m a chicken when it comes to these things. I consider Astro’s Playroom horror. 😜
I’m joking about that last one, but I do honestly count games like BioShock, Death Stranding, and The Last of Us as mild horror games. Anything that has more than one or two scary or creepy moments counts in my book! 😄

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As for me, I’m going to try to play RE4 this month, which the Game Club was going to do but I’ll do it regardless. I’ve never played it and I’ve really enjoyed RE1-3.

Although I probably won’t get time for all of these, other horror games in my backlog that might make it this month are: The Walking Dead final season, the first two episodes of The Dark Pictures Anthology (Man of Medan and Little Hope), and Days Gone. I’ll have to see what bubbles to the top when the time comes. I’ll probably save Days Gone for later since I think it’s quite long.

Because I also want to start Dark Souls Remastered soon. I might even count that as a horror, I don’t know. Bloodborne definitely is, but Dark Souls that’s a bit more of a stretch. But when those enemies jump out and ambush you it’s quite scary! 😅

@nomither6 The only game in the series that I've played so far where inventory management absolutely ruins the experience is Resident Evil 0 and that game is a prequel to the series so you don't even need to play it. Resident Evil 1 Remake is also borderline annoying when it comes to its inventory management since you can't pick up everything you initially come across as you don't have access to a storage box that early in the game. Resident Evil 2, 3 and 4 are fine though.

But yeah, Resident Evil is an absolutely phenomenal franchise. Before a few years ago, I hadn't played a single game in the series and I completely regret that. Don't miss out on these awesome games! They're so much fun to play.

I’ve been on at the missus for the last couple of halloweens that we should play a horror game together over the halloween weekend. She seems up for it this year so I’m gonna have a think on what we should play (well… I’ll play and she backseat driver me). Atm I’m thinking Resi 7… but I have a few of those Dark Picture anthology games too, so maybe one of those.

My next horror game will probably The Callisto Protocol, which looks phenomenal. Still undecided on whether to get it near launch, as I've got a feeling it might drop in price quite quickly.

@JohnnyShoulder From the trailers it looks really good so far but will have to wait for the reviews I think. Hoping that it's going to play well as it looks like the combat could be quite good.

I’ll probably be playing Alan Wake Remastered. I think it’s the perfect blend for scary, but not too scary. I consider it a Stephen King-esque B horror game.

@BlackMayge lol your avatar, is that the guy from All Hallows’ Eve? I watched 2/3rds of that yesterday before I went to bed. Going to finish it off shortly.

@BlackMayge some Googling told me that, actually, your avatar may be from Terrifier? Is it any good?

“If you're a hard-core horror fiend, then you know Terrifier was actually a spin-off from an earlier film, also written and directed by Terrifier's Damien Leone, called All Hallows' Eve.”