Help I'm dying!

Death sucks. Its sucks in real life and it really sucks in video games. However it sucks the most in horror games. In horror games if an enemy kills you once it's a horrifying, pants wetting experience. Then you have 20 seconds to relax, catch your breath then you're dumped back in. Then shit! Your jumped again,, and it still scares you but you're like "OK let's try again.” So after another 3 attempts you're frustrated and most importantly you're not scared any more. That's not a good thing, not being scared shit less. No longer being oppressed by the scenario you're being presented by the developer. The game has basically lost all the terror. The terror that's kind of important in a horror game.

So many games have tried to change that. Games like routine or daylight, use mechanics to avoid losing the scare. Mechanics like randomly generated levels (Daylight) or permadeath (Routine). Both mechanics have their benefits and they both have their disadvantages.

Permadeath: Is a concept made popular by games like UFO: Enemy Unknown, Fire Emblem and basically every game under the rogue-like moniker. The idea behind permadeath is that when your character dies they die permanently. Hence the name permadeath. In horror games It can be really effective, creating more pressure on the player to stay alive cause if they die they they die and have to start again.

So the downside is that if the game is long, and the player dies like near the end. Its becomes frustrating for the player. It makes all their progress they made over the course of the game redundant. it make playing again pointless and loses the all important scare factor.

Randomly generated elements: This is a relatively new idea in horror games. Having elements of the game be random and change each time the player plays. Games like slender: the eight pages and daylight have used randomly generated elements to various degrees of effect. In certain circumstances it can be a very oppressing and evil tool to create horror moments. Changing enemy placements or item locations or even changing the entire level can create a scary and unsettling tone for the player, as well as opening up re-playability to the game.

But like permadeath there's a downside to it. Horror games work if the tone and game systems are in sync with each other. Depending on what you're generating randomly can affect the atmosphere of your game. For example if you're generating the levels randomly, they can become inconsistent breaking the immersion of the game and its tone.

Using these systems effectively a team can create a horror experience that would truly be new and different. How would they use these systems effectively? It all comes down to the narrative. How they would frame the game. Most horror games seem to forget that the game play and the narrative need to refer back to one another. They need to mesh or else the game can fall apart. For instance the game outlast the player character is a journalist and is recording his entire experience in the facility.

So as the player you spend lots of time looking through a camera, do the developer use this idea in a way that's new or different? Nope, the camera acts as an glorified torch. With it helping you see the environment and occasionally let the character write down his thoughts... This being particularly odd, as the game is framed as taking place in the present tense not past tense. The camera mechanic is only really there for effect, the effect being a found footage aesthetic and as a torch.

Weirdly enough this comes back to a trend that's occurring in video games, a trend that came with a word that many bloggers and journalists last year began to use. That word was ludonarrative dissonance. Im not going to go into detail about why this is a problem or what it means to you the gamer. What i will say is that horror games are notorious of this and is usually what breaks the game.

Now what does this have to do with dying in Horror games? well everything. From other texts that we would associate with horror, death is usually the ultimate escape for the main character. Death lets them escape the horror surrounding them, it is presented as a choice for the character, framed as the only “good” way out. I say its the only good way out but in horror any choice you're presented is always another shade of black. The film saw made this most apparent, presenting them a choice, forcing the characters to either die or do something horrible to themselves/others so they can escape. With the true horror being that the character will have to live with the guilt of what they have done to for the rest of their lives.

In horror games death is a punishment, not a choice for the player. When the player dies, they are forced to relive the same situation over and over until they are successful. The player could read this as something that is horrifying, but in actuality its nothing more than frustrating. in a horror game the designer should want you to live so you would always be scared, always facing the terrifying moments they are presenting you. When the designer introduces death as a fail state instead of a choice they are indirectly making the game less scary and increasing the levels of frustration of the player. Because death in video games isn't scare like it is in real life, by the nature of it being a video game the player knows its not over, that they can just start again and continue until they succeed.

I have often found horror games where its harder to die in to be more scary. For example when I was playing last years “Amnesia: A machine for Pigs”. I rarely died during the 3 hours I played. However even without that fear of dying I still dreaded every corner, every time that phone rang, hearing the haunting sounds of the pigs, the children and even the games score, sent chills down my spine. Even though this game has the ability for the player to die, it happens so rarely that you really had to try to get yourself killed.

So what am i trying to say here? well where most designers see most players frustration and dissatisfaction with horror games coming from them not being “scary enough. so to fix it they try new mechanics like permadeath, randomly generated elements, no combat, ect... when the actual problem is death itself and how they tie the games narrative to its game play. if designers looked at horror movies they would see that death is less scary than the horrors the characters are being presented. In a horror game death shouldn't be a punishment that makes the player retry the “challenge” it should be a choice of the player, they should be presented the choice to end this twisted vision of the games designers.

Somewhat related: I never got the appeal of horror... anything, to be honest. Movies, series, games... I just don't get it. I did enjoy some horror themed stuff like The Walking Dead series and Dead Space, but in neither is horror the core attraction.

Just not my thing I guess. I also noticed I enjoy replayable games a ton more than any other games. I like it when my first time through a game is a lot of fun, but not even the most fun I'm going to have with it.

You should try and watch American Horror Story. I'm not into Horror either, but that show is just too terrific. It's so good, it transcends the genre.

For me at least, it's mainly for the adrenaline rush and cheap thrills. The way a horror game or movie can manipulate my fears and comfort zone is fun. As weird as that sounds. The appeal comes from wanting to break out of your comfort zone. Something like Slender the arrival, Outlast or Amnesia let me put myself in a position I was uncomfortable in. I attribute that same want to conquer our fears to the same people who go skydiving or rock climbing or any other activity where you put yourself in a compromised position to at least some extent.

With a piece of horror fiction, you can still experience a fraction of that same rush and fun without the actual risk. It's basically an incredibly accessible way for people to put themselves in a scenario they'd never actually want to be in, but want to experience still to some capacity. It's certainly not for everyone, given some people just don't find enjoyment in that.

That's fair. I do see that point, but that is why I liked Dead Space. I know a lot of people don't think that game is scary at all, but I thought it was tense. I liked it though, because it kept (or at least tried) getting me out of my comfort zone after which it made me master the situation so that I could deal with it. I like that. To clarify, what doesn't appeal to me about horror is getting out of your comfort zone period. I like it when I'm given the chance to get 'good' at it. Master it.

On a grander scale, I liked The Walking Dead series because those guys get very efficient and good at dealing with the threat. Not to mention, the horror is more like a red line through the drama story than the core attraction. On the other hand, a movie like Saw is just not my thing. It's twisted and gross without any pay off (for me anyway). I just think it's a gore fest. I guess I'm just more of an action kind of guy than a horror kind of guy.

For me, it's all about that rollercoaster feeling. That sinking feeling in your stomach followed by the momentary release of tension when something happens, and then that feeling of dread slowly builds up again. I find it really enjoyable. I totally understand why some people wouldn't though.

Because you're all wusses.

@mariachimacabre: Nah, it's because most of them are just gross. They don't scare, they shock. And I'm not the type of person who is 'turned on' by that stuff.

Most horror games are crap, it's true. But the ones that succeed more than make up for the ones that don't. Amnesia is a recent and well-known example of a game that doesn't rely on jump scares and shocking gore to scare you.

You know, I never really understood horror games until I played one that did everything right. That game for me was Fatal Frame 2: Crimson Butterfly, Legitimately creepy, with a neat mechanic, forcing you to look at whats trying to kill you to defeat it. (Available as a PS2 Classic on PS3 too, IIRC)

I think The Forest, while still very early in the development process, has some pretty clever ideas in terms of the consequences of death. Simply put, you can die twice in the game. The first time you fall to the monsters, you awake in a completely different location. Whereas most horror games would make you repeat the thing you just failed, leading to frustration, The Forest tries to increase the tension by leaving you defenseless, confused and lost. This removes any comfort that might come from doing the same sequence again, and instead I found myself quite nervous not knowing what to expect. As for the second time you die, it's permadeath. That can still lead to frustration (especially in the game's current state) but given the nature of The Forest's activities and how the game has somewhat of a random element, I think it is more excusable in this circumstance.

Alternatively, I still stand by the opinion that Gone Home is one of the best horror games in recent years. It tackles the problem with dying in horror games by removing the possibility all together. I was terrified throughout most of the game, just at the prospect that something could be there. And yet the real monster turns out to be your imagination.

@zevvion: I'm kind of in the same boat as you. I don't enjoy horror fiction because it doesn't scare me, it annoys me. I enjoyed Dead Space because it puts you in tense situations but equips you to deal with them. Most horror just comes off as silly to me. Dead space was at least tense enough that it got me to jump that one time one of the aliens jumped up right in front of you when you saw girl(forget her name) across a gap.

@sunbrozak I have to agree with you on Gone Home but for a slightly different reason. Coming home to an empty house in a storm at night is something that could easily happen and is inherently unsettling. How grounded the game was convinced me early on that nothing was going to happen, but it was still mildly uncomfortable the way it would be in real life to the point where I jumped when the bulb popped. The scariest thing about that game though was the thought that you are going to find your sister had committed suicide. The very end needed a sprint button so bad.

The horror genre lost its appeal to me when it went the whole amnesia way. I don't enjoy being hunted through the whole game. If a game can scare me and be fun to play, then that's the horror game I want. Resident Evil 2 and Dead Space 2 are my ideal horror games because they have the right balance of scares and action. One long game of hide and seek isn't my idea of a good time.

Either that or a game like Gone Home where the atmosphere is what is scary not continually being hunted. That's what makes the best horror movies so good, it's that the running for your life is only happening in 20mins of the hour and a half film. There's a big difference between fear and stressed.

That show is incredible!

@sunbrozak: I haven't played the Forrest mainly because of its early accessness, but the Idea that if you fail your taken to another place sort of like a priison system is pretty intresting. Repubique also does the same sort of thing with the way they handle being caught by gards, but it's more of an inconvenience then punishment. So I guess it has the same dort of flaws like dieing does.

@amazingafroman: I'm currently working on putting together a survival/horror type game and your issues are the same things I'm trying to figure out a way to tackle >,< Pretty interesting conversation goin on in here =] Good stuff duder!

@fobwashed: Thanks :) i have some ideas as to how you can work around most of these issues, which would of taken way too long to explain. But it really all comes back to how your games narrative is being presented, who your characters are, what's your plot and how does your world work. by using that as your basis you should be able to think as to how you use death.

I feel like most horror games use the horror aspect as a background for more generic gameplay (read: shooting), instead of really trying to scare or frighten the player. I feel like death in games these days are way too generous to the player, make me care about staying alive. The big risk there is that when you have a punishing death system combined with some flawed or bugged gameplay you frustrate the player enormously (for instance; Silent Hill: Homecoming, that game had few savepoints and a really bad combat system, even for SH standards).

I like the idea above; making death just another stage in the game instead of throwing you back to a checkpoint.

Not for all games. Not even for most. But I found the ones that made me enjoy it more the second time (or on par) are my favorite games ever. Dark Souls is a good example. I really like playing it for the first time to discover the base of it, but that game gets so much more interesting on a blank new game when you have an idea of what type of character you want to build, or on a NG+ when it throws you off your expectations.

Borderlands somewhat more interesting on a second run. The True Vault Hunter mode made me realize that even though I finished that game before, I was playing 'wrong' for the entire playthrough. I wasn't effective or efficient at all and it made me realize it on that mode. It's also why I enjoy playing games on a harder setting usually. I like it when I'm forced to learn the game. I don't like it when a game offers great systems but just lets me pass because they want every player to see it through.

Mass Effect, played the entire trilogy after playing all three games already. It was my best time with it without a doubt. Not even sure why. It was familiar, yet I learned new stuff about it.

XCOM, gets better with each subsequent playthrough. I truly suck at strategy or tactics. I really do. Action/hack & slash is where I excel. I am sort of okay with shooters; I suck at strategy and tactics. Truly. I failed the game on the Normal setting. Nowadays I can finish it on Impossible. Learning to play was the best part of that game.

I can name more examples. I guess I'm just a child at heart still: I enjoy repetition.

Death sucks. Its sucks in real life and it really sucks in video games

You lost me there. Comparing a video game death to real life death? Seriously????????????????????

I find horror games fascinating, and really entertaining to watch someone else play. Personally? I have a lot of trouble. I've had anxiety issues for years and a very active imagination, so the down time in horror games where the tension is building and the atmosphere is oppressing you are particularly crushing to me. I've managed to soldier my way through a few horror games, but I usually can't bring myself to play them long. It doesn't help that I insist on playing them in the dark at night.