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Why scary games are never scary

13 arguments and comparisons that cut the horror genre to shreds

Words: Charlie Barratt, GamesRadar US
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90 Comments
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amorda  - 1 year 24 days ago 
I was genuinely in a state of panic and scared several times while playing Killer 7. There were situations where you could hear a creature approaching quickly and laughing. The fact that they were invisible and needed to be scanned, then shot, and you couldn't move really made for intense, frigthening times, at least for me. And that laugh always gets me.
Jiiik2  - 1 year 23 days ago 
If there is such thing as a shit scary game i sure as hell neva heard about it.
Vince_x  - 1 year 22 days ago 
interesting info.
after reading all these comments I've come to realized i've nevere even died beating the game in bioshock on hard so I popped the game in again and got myself killed...at least now I know what the Vita-chambers do. I guess that would be boring if you always appeared so close like that after a death in a game like bioshock. But in it's defence the game started out with a good scare giving you only a lug wreanch to fight with.
oRaNGhaZe  - 1 year 22 days ago 
as an answer to killdrones qeustion an adams family game back in the days of nes did and you could only get hit once to die
littlesatan  - 1 year 21 days ago 
i agree, you only ever get slightly scared the first time you play a game, for instance, the first time you play Bioshock and encounter the first Big Daddy, then you find out he's pretty easy to kill, depending on the difficulty, it looses the scaryness. also, if youre playing a game for the second time around, you'd pretty much know whats coming.
F4ithy  - 1 year 16 days ago 
I think it is all about surrounding's like a previous comment said if your in a dark room on your own, volume UP and playing Dead Space then you gonna be a bit jumpy!!! to say the least lol
SilverWerewolf  - 1 year 13 days ago 
Maybe it's just me but there's very little that can scare me in electronic entertainment.

I tried Dead Space and got used to it like I did with Doom III. (Games in space just can't cut it with me.) Seeing all those people driven out of their minds in Bioshock, however, still freaks me out, as does Condemned. (There's nothing better than smashing someone's skull with a sledgehammer.)

Movies, aside from SAW and Ginger Snaps, have never been able to scare me.

Urban horror is where horror should remain focused. Nothing is more frightening than something "in your own backyard", in my opinion.
kyu  - 1 year 13 days ago 
video games are scary only if you let them be. of course if your playing re4 and your home alone in a dark creepy creaking basement your going to be a little scared but if its broad daylight and the curtains are open and you see kids playing in the street or wherever the game is mostlikely to be not scary.......it all depends on your surroundings when your playing a game!
slackerinthepub  - 11 months 6 days ago 
RE4 regenerators = creepy as hell
schmeidenkamp  - 9 months 27 days ago 
Some of your points are totally valid. But on the other hand I cant help but disagree. Being scared by games totally depend on the person. If you let yourself get into it, dismiss all of the things you mentioned, turn it up loud and shut off the lights, you will most assuredly have a good time. I'll be honest and tell you right now, the Silent Hill series has continually scared the living shit out of me. With the exception of Homecoming and Origins. That feeling of dread an uncertainty, IMO, is unmatched
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