Was this the first of the "patrolling enemy" horror games?

I just recently bought Resident Evil 7 after loving the demo (it was on sale) and was horrified to find that after the moodly and terrifying prologue, the game turns into "one of those". I have been trying to pinpoint when horror turned to this, maybe in some vain wish to go back in time to make sure it never happened.

There's just something about the clunky patrolling AI that you're meant to avoid and not fight that while scary, feels very samey from game to game when put into practice. These guys usually have no peripheral vision and give up chase confusingly quick. Whatever happened to enemies just surprising the shit out of you and being very tough to kill a la Dead Space?

Between RE7 and Alien Isolation, we have two games with worlds i absolutely crave the idea of exploring (especially Alien), but a core gameplay mechanic I find so abrasive that I fear for the future of horror forever. Anyone else hate this shit, or do I need to accept the new standard?

I'm no expert, but I would have said Amnesia was the first game where fighting back wasn't an option.

Like you, I prefer more action in my games and this style has not interested me at all. More Dead Space? Yes, please!

I don't know if the scissor guy in the Clock Tower games was roaming around or scripted to appear at certain points, but it certainly had the flee and hide mechanic.

The Clock Tower games, at the very least the second one from 1996, is the earliest I can think of. I think the 1995 original might do it too, but the 1996 one definitely has Scissorman wander around and randomly run into you while you do normal point and click adventure game stuff, so it's the same kind of pressure as an RE7 or an Alien Isolation. Same kind of confrontation too, hiding in closets and using the environment to delay him while you escape, rarely if ever outright engaging him in combat.

I think Amnesia was the first breakout hit that put emphasis on this style of horror in the modern context (a few people mentioned Clock Tower, but I'm not really familiar with that). It was developed by Frictional Games, which also released SOMA, that also falls in the Amnesia, Outlast, Alien Isolation timeline.

Even if Amnesia didn't inspire those games, people talked about it in the same way as people would say "This is kind of like Hotline Miami / Dark Souls" when describing a new game of that type to someone.

I totally blanked on Amnesia, I'm sure many devs worked very hard on all these games but it feels to me like a replacement for well thought out designed encounters, though I do love the idea of organic enemies I just wish it didn't prevent me from enjoying these environments.

Haunted House on the 2600 /technically/ had patrolling enemies that you avoid.

Well thought out designed encounters = scripted jumpscares. Scripted jump scares is horror games at its simplest. Personally I prefer the roaming AI over the easy horror trope.

I mean wasnt Nemesis that? If not I remember "the gardener" from Castlevania 64 being a real bitch for that reason.

Also RE7 is more classic RE than another "one of those" if that makes you feel any better. (there are killable enemies)

@sasnake: I can totally see the merit in that, I guess I just prefer the tension coming from a balanced lack of ammunition against enemies juuuust slow enough that you can get away and aim a shot at....not invincible deterrents. I would call the roaming AI the "easy horror type" if anything, just plop down the script for walking around aimlessly and call it a day. i want to explore the environment once i kill the bastards damnit!

I dunno is Nemesis would count. He does chase you around once you encounter him but only until you 1. Temporarily kill him or 2. Progress past certain puzzle points, then he just goes away until the next scripted encounter. Also he doesn't really patrol so much as the game just spawns him areas you enter sometimes.

Clock Tower for sure, but the first one in the "modern" style (and, I'd argue, still one of the best, if also the most infuriatingly difficult) was White Day: A Labyrinth Named School in 2001. It's getting a VR sequel, too, which kiiinda sounds like the very thing that'll end up killing me if it's as scary as the original.

@gtb08: To be honest I don't mind jump scare horrors or AI wanderers. I just personally think the being defenseless against, lurking enemy is better than the hit and run jump scare enemy.

The first one i can remember, before Amnesia, was Penumbra, it was a series of 3, the first allowed you to fight back in a weird and clunky way, the second one dropped the combat in service of the hiding games, and it was very effective at what it did! The third was a portal style puzzle game with explosive ketchup...

@gtb08: Out of these, the only games I really played is SOMA, but I stopped because I was more interested in the story and not the monster encounters I was getting into. I have heard of some unique encounter design in these type of games though. For instance, there's one part in Amnesia where a monster would spawn at a certain point. If you failed the encounter a number of times, I believe the monster would not spawn as normal, but would burst out the exit door. SOMA also does things where there are monsters that trigger when they see you, when they hear you, when you look at them, etc.

In general I'm not super into the idea of these games. I think stuff like Five Nights at Freddy's soured my taste of the genre. Nowadays, especially first person, jump scare-y games, I don't want to engage with them at all.

Doesn't Soma have an enemy-less mode now?

I'd just like the author of this thread to know that the the patrolling enemy mechanic in RE7 is used only in the first 2 or so hours of the game and is never used again afterwards.

There was a game on the C64 which had a patrolling T-Rex.

@thunderslash: maybe im progressing slowly but i took care of Daddy now im hiding from the mom, and dealing with insane amounts of bugs which is not great....

@shivermetimbers: I came in to point out Haunted House. Horror, no fighting back, patrolling enemies.

I played a TON of that game as a child.

I would also say Clock Tower, but I only played the PlayStation game. There were scripted scenes, but they would also wander around the area. I say they, because the game had multiple endings, with different people being the killer, if I remember correctly.

The older Alone in the Dark games had some "avoid the noid" enemies too.

Reality Check:

Alien: Isolation was pretty damned cool. I dug the Alien mechanics, but maybe I wasn’t good enough to figure it out, leaving a solid illusion intact.

I recall Siren having patrolling enemies similar to more modern games.

absolutely not

It's probably not just you, but I, however, do like the patrolling enemies in horror just fine. It's both a plus and minus. It's a plus because it's the part that makes it a horror in a sense since that's what you're fearing will come if it hasn't already, but it's a minus because you're more or less restricted to hide or run rather than feeling totally free to explore. Obviously, it just depends on how it's done. RE7 did it well and is also only a very small portion of the overall game. RE7 does several different things. I also love Alien Isolation (RE7 was my favorite game last year, and Alien Isolation was my favorite of 2014), but Isolation feels predictable in a sense. It's not predictable, but it's easy to figure out how to get around for the most part. In RE7, it felt unpredictable as to where he'd be and where he could go at first so it was tense. Outlast 2 is even tenser with Marta.

@gtb08: I believe the game stops doing the stalking thing soon after that section.

Haunting Ground is another older game that comes to mind with this kind of mechanic.

I think Amnesia is THE game that made this a big thing. It's definitely been done before that, but so had the Dark Souls formula. Amnesia is just the big breakout of this style

Like others, I came in here to say Clock Tower. Not sure if there were other games before this that followed this formula ('m sure there are plenty from before my time), but it's the first one I remember.

well I thank anyone that urged me to continue on with RE7 because there is a lot to like, just tired of this mechanic. I'm not saying its a bad one, just not for me. Alien Isolation was for sure a good game I just couldn't get into it, i do hope future games slowly start to shy away from this stuff though. I miss the joy of getting that final kill after a horrifying encounter and then looting everything. Maybe I just need to do a Dead Space playthrough...

@gtb08: How far are you into RE7 now? The feeling of being hunted is really a very small portion (on a second playthrough the feeling of being hunted through the entirety of the game can be over in about an hour), and I don't want to spoil anything in detail, but the feeling of having a final kill is there and it feels good. The loot thing, however, not necessarily other than an item that's necessary for the story. Dead Space does have a similar thing going for it with the Ubermorph. RE7 actually diverted my expectations as to how it was going to play out. Even when you think yet another patrolling enemy pops up, it really doesn't happen, but it does, however, make you think it does so it stays tense.

@ntm: took out Daddy now im in this bug fuckery being chased by the mom and thousands of bees and spiders....not fun. ill try to get through it this weekend though at everyones recommendations here. love the core game

@gtb08: That's what I'm talking about though. You're not really being chased by her like the dad. Flame her with a flamethrower and she's gone (and even if you don't, I think after the first or second encounter, she's gone), then all you have to do is take care of the bees that are more of an easy to take care of nuisance. Sorry if that's a spoiler, but just saying. After that, there's no more hunting. There aren't any spiders that you have to fight though... Although you might be talking about the bugs on the doors in which you can knife off.

If I remember correctly you can bring down the patrolling enemies in RE7, it just takes a lot of ammo. I appreciated that because I do not like invincible mobs in games. I much prefer games like silent hill where you *could* kill practically everything, it's just not.....practical. Make me want to run, don't force me to run.

ok, i wont talk further about RE7 until im done with this phase of the game, though if the 2nd phase is nothing but those fucking goopy bastards then i'll solidify my 5/10 rating