View Full Version : What makes a survival horror game? Opinions Wanted!
Nocturnal Stillness
19-02-08, 18:33
So as the title suggests what do YOU think a survival horror needs to be good?
Discuss the elements that to you make a survival horror game!
Ill start by saying imo the following things are important;
limited ammo; forces the player to try and conserve bullets.
decent enemies; ones that make it hard for you to survive.
atmosphere; the game needs to be able to un-nerve the player make them actually worry about where the next enemy is, or how soon would it be before they could find a much needed health pick up?
Do you agree? are there more things to a survival horror game? Am I completely wrong? Well post your opinions here!
ManiacFather
19-02-08, 20:37
Elements that make you feel anxious (silent hills Radio, Dr
salvadors chainsaw...).
-Depressive music (SH4 room of angel, SH1 silent hill, RE saveroom(soothing music in a Fd up environment))
-Creepy music (RE2 RPD theme, RE2 The Library)
-Weak characters with low self-confidence.
-Gloomy+Spooky+claustrophobic environment.
-Realistic graphics
billybandit
20-02-08, 09:22
Im not big on survival horrors but when I play a good one, I feel theres part of me that actually almost doesnt want to play - I suppose thats when the game is doing its job. Is there a survival horror game where the player doesnt actually have any attacks? Where the whole idea is to navigate levels without being caught? A stealth horror I suppose.
The only game I can think that fits that bill was Night Breed: Interactive Movie which was awesome but Id like to see that in a modern game
A game like that has to have Silent Hills/Project Zeros atmosphere, i could not lay those games in the dark, when i did the first time i was so scared that i didnt want to play it alone, but i loved it. Very good characters/voice actors. Enemies that you cant kill so early on in the game so you have to escape from them.
Cant think of anything else atm.
Progenitor
20-02-08, 11:53
For me, it has to have the two key elements that are mentioned in the title...Survival and Horror. The survival part takes limited ammo (for me, limited means more enemies than you have bullets), limited healing items, and tense boss battles that place the emphasis on runnin and gunnin.
The Horror part must have plenty of enemies that could genuinely be considered frightening or disturbing (Thanks to a dream I had, thatd definately be zombies at the moment:( ), plenty of jump out of your seat moments, Boss enemies that make you stop and think I should have brought the magnum:cry: , and buckets of atmosphere. For me, four survival horror games have presented me with what I would consider the perfect atmosphere and those games are, Resident Evil Remake, Resident Evil 2, Silent Hill 2, and Dino Crisis.
Survivor Horror?
hm... I never liked the RE series because of the Survivor Horror, in fact.. I dont like Survivor Horror games. I like RE2 and 3 because they are just so god damn fun. also RE Survivor is fun as hell. RE1 is actually one of my most hated RE games because its all about Survivor Horror, never fun or anything. and Remake was terrible because it was made to scare you, not so you could have fun with it.
what makes a real Survivor Horror, is something like when you were walking around the house in Silent Hill 4 and things started to move around and danger ares.. THATs some REAL Survivor Horror, so friggin scary.
whats makes a FUN Survivor Horror, is first of all.. good soundtrack, like RE2, and loud music. loud I mean like bad-ass Boss fighting music.
and time-run-out thingy. like in every Metroid game. I love RE2 and 3, and all of the Metroid games because of the time-run-out <_< like you gotta hurry before everything blows up, thats cool.
and oh, never too much action, and no music like in RE4. what creates a Survivor Horror is knowing that some 1 scary mutated monster/guy is following you around. Nemesis in RE3, Mr.X in RE2. never really knew when they were gonna appear unless youve played the game about 2 times before.
and shocking scenes, when suddenly something breaks and something jumps out. that happened a lot in RE2. I dont think it ever happened in any other RE games.
what i think is Survivor Horror, was in re4 when you go down to the cold camber and a mosnter lay down and when you go around a coner you here a sound and then the mosnter stay behind you that make me. scared in dayes and light on when sleep :P
what i think is Survivor Horror, was in re4 when you go down to the cold camber and a mosnter lay down and when you go around a coner you here a sound and then the mosnter stay behind you that make me. scared in dayes and light on when sleep :P
I cant believe you actually got scared at RE4. Just wondering, have you ever played say... the remake for Gamecube?
what i think is Survivor Horror, was in re4 when you go down to the cold camber and a mosnter lay down and when you go around a coner you here a sound and then the mosnter stay behind you that make me. scared in dayes and light on when sleep :P
I cant believe you actually got scared at RE4. Just wondering, have you ever played say... the remake for Gamecube?
agree with you there, its almost impossible to get scared at RE4.
but, REmake? that game also isnt that scary at all.. the scariest game Ive ever played is Silent Hill 4.. its was a lame ass game, but it did friggin scare me.
like at that train level, that flying Ring girl (www.picasaweb.google.com/midorijo/SilentHill234HighResScreens/photo#4952375571464912914) that follows you all around the train. thats some friggin scary gameplay that I seriously dont wanna go back to play.
what i think is Survivor Horror, was in re4 when you go down to the cold camber and a mosnter lay down and when you go around a coner you here a sound and then the mosnter stay behind you that make me. scared in dayes and light on when sleep :P
I cant believe you actually got scared at RE4. Just wondering, have you ever played say... the remake for Gamecube?
agree with you there, its almost impossible to get scared at RE4.
but, REmake? that game also isnt that scary at all.. the scariest game Ive ever played is Silent Hill 4.. its was a lame ass game, but it did friggin scare me.
like at that train level, flying Ring girl that flies all around inside the train. thats some friggin scary gameplay that I seriously dont wanna go back to play.
EDIT: www.picasaweb.google.com/midorijo/SilentHill234HighResScreens/photo#4952375571464912914 THAT girl.
You have a point. Having played through REmake several times I can anticipate jumpy moments, bosses, what guns to bring with me etc. First time around, it was scary and I did jump on several occasions, but not anymore. On the subject of Silent Hill, it isnt scary, its pretty much freaky and terrorizing. I find that fun, as Im longing for games where I get really freaked out (Cant find the SH games D:)
Is it really necessary to quote the person directly above you if your not directing your post at a specific piece of what they said? Anyway....
I think most of what makes survival horror games has already been said but i would love to see one with fully interactive backgrounds and random NPC survivors
Is there a survival horror game where the player doesnt actually have any attacks? Where the whole idea is to navigate levels without being caught? A stealth horror I suppose.
Theres Clock Tower, I suppose, where main character Alyssas defenseless anyway so relies on hiding and running away to evade enemies. Other than that, a vast majority of characters do use attacks. I think more horror games should be made like Clock Tower, or at least where the characters arent ready-equipped, thus need to find their weapons to ward off the enemies. It would add to the panic factor of it all. Additionally, these weapons should break after over-use … la Koudelka so the players constantly looking for them.
On REmake, when a zombie bursts through a door. The music and the atmosphere of that.
I think average graphics are needed, at the least. Seeing little pixels running around just wouldnt be scary.
I tried doing a run-through on REmake with just a knife. Now THAT was scary. So, a high amount of challenge.
Nocturnal Stillness
23-02-08, 16:44
Thanks for everyone whos replied to this thread. The reason I wanted opinions is simple; me and a few friends (as people who saw the topic in the old forums will know) are working on a FPS survival horror based on a flash game known as the last stand and I wanted to get peoples opinions on what makes a good one.