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Yeah, the game isn't really about its jump scares, at least it wasn't to me. I haven't played a scarier game in, I don't even know how long. Within about five minutes of the game starting, to the end, a lot of it almost became too much to me. Starting fresh and going in not really knowing what the heck it is other than it perhaps being some horror game could have perhaps helped too. There were moments I quit when I couldn't find where to go, and it wasn't even out of frustration since it hadn't even gotten to that level, it was simply out of the sense of fear that hit me becoming overbearing, and no game has ever really done that.

If you go back and play it again, it's not as scary since you know what's happening obviously, but the sounds and visuals do an incredible job at doing what it's supposed to. It wasn't until the very end I finally found out how to get away from that ghost lady, which while still scary, made it less frightening. Almost the entire experience was less about things actually happening, and more about the feeling that something will either jump out, or be sitting there around a corner or behind you, which often times nothing was actually there.

One thing I can't agree with people on though is how fantastic it looks. I mean, I'm not going to argue it looks bad, because it looks great (even when Kojima says he had to tone it down), but some out there make it sound like they believe it's the best visuals for a game they've ever witnessed. Oh, and I can't say I really 'enjoyed' the experience, more like found it really interesting and wanted to see it through, but enjoy isn't necessarily the correct word for it, though I guess there are aspects of it that I enjoy beyond simply being in that world and experiencing it.

I think the graphics are looking pretty 'next-gen'. I was already amazed by the FOX engine in Ground Zeroes, especially the lighting. They did a real good job studying how light behaves when captured by a camera, how surfaces and their angles to the lens correspond to reflecting light and such. It creates some really believable images. I also like the mostly subtle post-processing stuff they do with the lens distortion, chromatic aberration and light bleeding into the lens.
Although I agree some things were pretty rough looking in the PT, like the bathroom where none of the surfaces seem to reflect anything. I don't know if that's part of the intentional 'cheap look' they described.

It's a technique that can be both overdone and poorly executed but there's nothing inherent that requires it to be so. I think what's happened is horror as a genre has been around long enough that we've come to know rather well what "jump scare" means in the context of horror and so different people come to the term with their own definitions and react as they will. In practice though, there are moments that technically constitute as jumps scares but don't make you feel like "jump scares" in the pejorative sense would, coming back to the fact that I think it's really a matter of execution. There's a world of difference between giving credit to the moment in a game or movie afterwards and being really bitter it pulled a cheap trick. For the latter I always think of those bullshit YouTube videos of a nice and boring scene with a really loud noise and a grotesque face out of nowhere. That's bullshit and cheap because there's no follow through and now you just have to sit there after having been tricked but the sudden turn is absolutely a worthwhile tool to use to reinforce vulnerability and/or panic to the viewer or player in the context of something more meaningful.

It's only when the jump scares become predictable that they are bad.

If a scene is build up properly, then it's not horrible.

I still think jump-scares are the lowest hanging fruit when it comes to the horror genre though. Do it only once or twice per game or movie, anymore than that and I'll start to get annoyed by it.

Its just a push and pullback. There are people talking about P.T like its Second Coming of Christ in horror genere. Its not. Its done pretty well and all. I guess some people see talking about its like its greatest thing ever and they need to say opposite for the balance.

It did not scare me and I believe Silent Hill does not need monster suddenly popping out and running towards you. First time we were seeing Pyramid Head in Sh2 he was just standing behind bars and staring at us. Thats the thing that made Sh different from Resident Evil and all other games.

People seem to be confused about what a jump scare actually is. I see a few people mention the dog scene in Resident Evil and some of the scares in Dead Space as examples of good scares but those aren't jump scares. It's the build up of dread and eeriness and sure you are shocked by the explosive entry of the dog/monster but that isn't what's scary, the scary part is the jolt of panic you get when you realize it's coming right at you and it has claws AND OH GOD ITS FASTER THAN YOU SHIT THE DOOR IS LOCKED WHAT DO I DO WHAT DO I DO....

These moments aren't anymore jump scares than the chest busting scene in Alien is.

@danteveli: Well that's the thing, it's exactly the same in P.T. The first time you see the ghost lady she's standing at the end of the corridor just staring at you.

I find jump scares do, if you as game developer rely on them too much. I often find myself waiting and bracing myself for the next jump scare rather than taking in the scary atmosphere, so I ignore the moment and anticipate the future.

I think jump scares have their place in horror gaming for sure, but it's the oldest trick in the book and sometimes I can't help but shake my head when it happens. Jump scares aren't necessarily even scary, they happen every now and again in real life too, when a co worker walks up to you when you have your head phones on. That's not horror, that's just plain old unexpected shock.

Silent Hill 1 and 2 were great mostly because of the creepy atmosphere and unsettling story. To be honest I recall very few jump scares, but I remember the games being scary and very uncomfortable to play at the time. So to me that shows that a game needs only a few jump scares to work.

@jonny_anonymous said:

I certainly agree that a good build-up with that kinda pay-off works a thousand times better, but I disagree about those RE and Dead Space parts not being jump scares. The dog through window hallway was, by most accounts, an unexpected event. It happens out of nowhere, and makes you jump. What you're describing is the consequent panic that follows that; the panic that hits a person who's unprepared. Which, I agree, can be very scary too.

Even RE's dog through the window has some build up. The window cracks your first time through the hallway.

@dussck: I won't disagree with that. I just don't think it looks like the best game visually I've ever seen, and I wasn't really blown away. I wasn't saying in my comment it looked bad anywhere, only that it wasn't as amazing to me as some people make it seem. I've heard more than a few times people go "Holy shit! This almost looks real! Wow, these are some of the best visuals in a game I've seen." Or something around those lines. Just that reaction I didn't get from it. I think it looks great, as I said, but it didn't blow me away.

I understand the thought you're conveying, but that's a terrible way to describe classical music. Great classical music is equally engaging in the subdued sections, but like good horror it's the relationship of those peaks and troughs that make the entire piece memorable.

PT has an incredibly low ratio of jump scares for the medium, and it's all the more terrifying for it.

@dark_lord_spam: There were a couple I counted, though I'll admit up front I am a coward and I watched my girlfriend play it because I'd have given up very early into the game. At no point did I think they were "cheap", they were very effective and I was tense almost all the way through (we got stuck for a while were nothing was happening).

The ones I remember are, glass breaks, the first time you get attacked by the creature, the hand coming out of the bathroom and slamming it shut and the final one was at the end when we were looking for the spot with the girl a white ghost figure ran by screaming out of the dark corridor. But none of those felt like they were cheap.

I played through the whole demo this morning on my Vita with Remote Play. It's clearly not calibrated for that because the Y axis felt way too sensitive, but it was doable. I did not get all the way to the trailer (couldn't get the phone to ring), but was in the last stage (where the clock goes to 0:00 and the hauntings start).

Still was just as scary on the small screen (although I could feel some of the video compression in the darker parts).