Recently details have surfaced over the latest entry in the Resident Evil series, Resident Evil Revelations 2, a lot of the details where very promising minus 1 thing that stood out the most. The fact that it has co-op, now as soon as a lot of people read that their hope for a good old school RE game was dashed and replaced with a strong dislike that it is now co-op and feel it is now ruined.
I'm not a fan of the inclusion of co-op and maybe I'm just trying to find some sort of reasoning to think that this game might still be the RE we've wanted, I don't know but i think it's wort talking about.
The more recent RE games with co-op have not been scary at all and have failed to be good RE games, now I can't help but wonder is it because they are co-op games or is it something else? It's very easy to say the recent misgivings of the series could be the cause of the co-op since none of the good horror games are co-op not even the older RE games but thing is I don't think co-op is the cause of the problem.
When I played RE5 & 6 recently I wasn't thinking that these games aren't scary because I have a partner with me since having them there didn't make the horror elements go away or ineffective. Honestly the moments that were horror were good like walking through the Licker cages in 5 and most of the Leon section of 6 and having a co-op partner there didn't take away from those moments. It was all the action that made it not scary, those 2 were way too quick to turns things into some high octane action movie scene like running from an exploding bridge.
Another RE game I am quick to look back at is RE Revelations, that game was a great RE game and a return to form for the series now true that game didn't have co-op but here's the thing though you were never alone. Through the whole thing you always had a partner with you aiding you and talking to you yet it still retained that horror atmosphere that the series is known for.
Resident Evil 0 Zero also did the same thing by having the player character be joined by a secondary character who would help out the player, a second pair of guns to fight the horror yet it was still scary. So this leads me to ask does having another person there really make something less scary?
Even RE4 which was one of the last good survival horror games had Leon be accompanied by Ashley, say what you will about her but rarely where you alone and it didn't take away from the fear.
Let's say you invite a friend or your girlfriend/boyfriend to watch a really scary movie are you less scared by it sure you might feel more relaxed with someone nearby but scary is still scary. You're still going to be scared if the movie does a good job at setting the mood and so isn't it possible that a game can as well?
Maybe Revelations 2 can be that game, even from a co-op standpoint you aren't any better off playing with someone than being alone since the second character is not a fighter. When you read the details they state how only Clair will be the one fighting the afflicted while Moira will be shinning the flash light on them and keeping Clair alive.
So your odds of survival isn't any higher nor will it devolve into shoot outs with you and the other player and not only that but from some of the stills you can see it has a very rich horror atmosphere to it. All this leads me to wonder if the reason why co-op and horror haven't mixed well till now isn't because co-op inherently ruins the experience but maybe because no one has done it right till now.
Maybe if the focus was less on fighting like in RE5 & 6 and more towards keeping each other alive like Revelations 2 & Zero maybe co-op isn't the death sentence it's seen as. That even horror games can be co-operative if done right.
Well that's what I have to say and like I said maybe I'm just trying to trick myself in believing the co-on in Revelations 2 won't be a big deal and the game will still be the return to from we all want from the series
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Of course it makes something less scary. Playing a horror game or watching a horror movie with someone else just spectating is less scary too. But i do believe co-op could possibly work.
One concept i found very interesting in Dead Space 3 was that one character could be hallucinating while the other wasn't. If they took that to a more subtle level with one player crying "did you SEE that?!" when there's nothing there, that would be a first step.
Also separating the players at points to accomplish separate objectives of an ultimate goal, and limiting their contact would be a good way to retain the feel of isolation.
Horror games lately try to be cinematic by imitating action movies, but they never really consider the horror of cinema. Imagine if you were talking to a player and his communication was cut off because he died, it's a common scene in horror movies but games don't usually retain that level of realism.
No, Horror games can't co-operate. As soon as you throw in another player, or a forced AI companion throughout the game, the feeling is gone. If it's designed with co-op in mind, you immediately lose the tension, and the atmosphere will have little to no effect either.
Revelations was just another run and gun game as well, so i disagree that it was a good return. RE4 was a good game, but it was a bad Resident Evil game. The babysitting with Ashley wasn't until later in the game, but it's not like the Horror was there anyways.
Action has taken over RE ever since 4, and i very much doubt that'll change. Revelations 2 will just be more of the same.
PS: Dead Space 2 wasn't really horror either, except one single section in the game, assuming that you played the first one. Dead Space 3 completely threw out the concept of Horror. I have to admit that they overused Ventilations in the game, so enemies were very predictable.
No it don't really work in horror genre, as single player horror games have totally a different feeling in my opinion. Like Dead Space 1, old RE or SH games for example. If you bring in a co-op friend it takes the special survival feeling and scary tension away from you. Like when enemies appear they could attack your friend instead of you and then you just blast them off with some shotgun. That is not scary.
Also imagine walking down some dark hallway with suddenly monsters appearing and killing you, but if you got a friend besides you so he can perhaps resurrect you etc. What I'm getting at is that, if you play alone horror games, you need to be much more careful. But with two players, it's a much more easier and run n' gun experience, twice the firepower etc. Also if co-op, there perhaps is also mic communication available, which could ruin the horror experience.
I will always prefer playing a survival/psychological horror game alone. Why? Because it makes you feel like YOU are in the middle of all the scary darkness and monsters ALONE. This is the feeling I love in horror games. P.T. brought back the same feeling of scariness and horrifying atmosphere, that I maybe last time experienced in my childhood days with RE and SH games, and well Dead Space 1 came close to that too few years ago.
But who knows, I might be wrong but this is what I feel or believe at the moment. Because of the past experiences. It could maybe work in future games or in REV2 depending on how it is done, but I'm not sure until I try/see. It also depends somewhat on the player, as someone might think a co-op horror game is scary, while others don't.