The Evil Within is thrilling but not scary

PS4Daily: "If anything, The Evil Within is thrilling which is a good thing. It manages to nail at least a portion of the psychological thriller aspect rather well."

[SpadeX]

I'm pretty sure RE4 wasn't scary either, yet it was the fans' favorite RE for most and earned the 2005 GOTY award. Since this is taking the roots of the previous RE games, I wouldn't doubt that this will also have an awesome storyline.

[Snookies12]

It's harder to scare people with graphics these days. Games were way scarier when they were back on the PS1/PS2 days. Just the pixelated-ness seems to leave a bit up to your imagination in most cases. At least, for me it seems to do the trick better.

[sweetSWAGGER]

I don't agree with that...partly. First of all, it's a misguided belief that graphics by themselves are what scare the player. However, I do agree with leaving it up to the player's imagination, but that's just one of many factors that make a good horror game.

It's a matter of balance. When you make your game scripted, if you make it linear, predictable, and you make the player believe that they are capable, THEN THE GAME WON'T BE SCARY.

Also, death can't just be a slap on the wrist, it needs to actually mean something. Dark Souls and X-com will wreck absolute hell on your nerves because not only do you have something to lose (something you've been building up for hours and even DAYS), but the slightest error might cause that loss. No second chances, no do-overs.

There's a reason why Slender, a game with no budget, completely blows Resident Evil 6 out of the water, it's because it gets everything right.

1.The game is non-linear and random, meaning that there is no way of knowing when Slender man will appear, and the location of items is always different. This makes the game infinitely re-playable and keeps the intended experience fresh.

2.The game's atmosphere plays with the player's ability to sense their environment. The music and fog will build as you play, having you believing that you're seeing and hearing things. You'll scare yourself more than the game will, trust me.

3. Finally, the player is fearful of death, because dying in the game will mean that you'll have to start over completely. It's hell on your nerves, and makes you more susceptible to a jump scare from Slender man... a low-poly model that doesn't even move.

The only reason you don't see legit horror games in the mainstream is not the fault of the genre, but because companies want to play it safe with what sells and appeals to the most people.

I'm really hoping that Routine comes to PS4 and gets some recognition in the mainstream. It's doing EVERYTHING that an effective horror game should do.

In the mean time, I'll be supporting the crap out of Evil Within and Alien: Isolation. Good on them for wanting to be legit horror games in the mainstream (where everything's a bloody shooter!)

[NixonMonoxide]

Wooooah there brah. Poor graphics have little to nothing to do with scaring or creeping people out. Something like DEAD SPACE 2's very very crisp. Even SIREN BC & Silent Hill Homecoming.

Detailed or not detailed, a lot more goes into the actual scariness of a game.

And I don't agree with you on Slender SWAGGER. I can understand why people would find all these walking simulators scary, but they just bore me. A game doesn't HAVE to have random events to be scary. A game with very particular scripted events can be equally effective. It's all about execution.

Something like DEADSPACE for example. The lights go off.....You know what's coming. You know something's jumping out of that vent.. The mere aggression of the AI, makes every encounter unique.

[sweetSWAGGER]

"Something like DEADSPACE for example. The lights go off.....You know what's coming. You know something's jumping out of that vent.."

well that's my point, NixonMonoxide: you know what's coming. It's the same every time you play, which is a shame because these are games, not films; the same thing doesn't have to happen every time. The horror experience gets stale when you try to play it over again

However, I do agree that linear horror games can be good too; they let the developer craft a specific experience. The problem is that they can rely too much on scripted segments that play out the same way every time you play. The only thing that makes up for that is that Dead Space 1 & 2 both do a good enough job of making you feel vulnerable and starved of resources.

"The mere aggression of the AI, makes every encounter unique. "

This does not compute. what does aggressive AI have to do with unique encounters? You want unique encounters? Go play a non-linear horror game. In-fact, Routine is basically Dead Space but with all the elements I'm talking about.

Please, go check out LunarSoftware's website and tell me what you think of Routine! (that was totally not a plug by the way)

In the end, horror is like humor, it can be subjective. What scares you in a game may be boring and dull to someone else, it really varies from player to player. It's clear that we're two different kinds of gamers, so we'll just have to respect each others tastes...

Revolver_X_, I'm look at you...

[Revolver_X_]

Well, RE was never scary, if someone thinks so, I fear for their fragile little mind. It was tense sometimes sure, but just boss fights. Im a big RE fan but even Shinji's REs had meh stories. I think Code Veronica was the brighest moment in the story telling, thats not saying much. Evil Within will be a solid game, but I doubt it will have much replay value.

[TXIDarkAvenger]

I'm fine with that. Alan Wake locked down psychological thriller and I loved it. Still excited for this game

[Sly-Lupin]

Honestly the only games I've ever found scary are RPGs. You know, games where we invest a lot into our player characters and their stories, where the average boss is designed to absolutely annihilate.

Hell, that goes for every form of media. Particularly passive media, which seems capable only of being startling or creepy.

[Tdmd]

I'll settle with thrilling if the game is well polished and have good characters/plot.

[NixonMonoxide]

This article names my fears exactly. From what I've seen, the game doesn't really look scary. It's also retreading too much familiar old ground for my taste unfortunately.

If the game is even halfway creepy or decent, that would be good enough I guess. That's just how desperate I've become with the lack of good survival horror titles nowadays.

Nothing on current gen's beaten SIREN: BLOOD CURSE or DEAD SPACE 2 for me. No...Not even those indie random walking simulators.

[Gezmoyassine]

These games are not really scary but they get you to get jumpy.