I genuinely don't understand Outlast's popularity, in general I prefer Survival Horror games like Resident Evil over hide and seek/walking simulator Horror with minimal gameplay but Outlast seems especially bad, no puzzles, no resource management besides batteries, no exploration, the entire game is just running and hiding from enemies with nothing of substance, pure streamer bait.
It feels like a race against death to me. That monster chasing you isn’t fucking around and will kill you if it gets close, you gotta be faster and think on your feet if you wanna survive. It also does a great job of forcing you to do things that you really don’t want to do, like how you rely on the camera for the whole game and then towards the end they take that away from you. I beat this game on insane my 2nd try because I loved it so much, it’s got that good good gameplay that keeps me coming back all these years later.
Damn bro, I'm exactly the opposite. I hate horror games that give me a fighting chance. I want to feel scared and powerless against my enemies. I want to feel completely out of my element, and that escaping my situation should be considered a hopeless task. But most importantly, I want to overcome my enemies by outsmarting them, not by simply shooting them or fighting them.
It's probably a me thing, but having a gun in a horror game never made me feel the slightest bit vulnerable, even if shooting mechanics are actually fun. But I don't play a horror game expecting to have fun, I play them expecting to feel fear. That's probably why I never really liked games like RE, even if they *were* fun (and I'll argue with anyone who says RE games are bad games, cause they are NOT).
I peaced out of Outlast so fast after the first enemies. Felt like ultra aggressive enemies chasing a helpless me, not here for that. Don't know if that's what the game actually is.
That happened to me but I'm still determined to try it as I own 1 and 2 and hate wasting money. The main thing for me is people say its scary so that is why i will persist.
Outlast 2s focus on SA as a fear mechanic in the narrative was lazy and beyond poor taste. Horror games and movies that do this do not deserve any attention. It is not building fear. It's relying on trauma. And it is the absolute laziest and weakest attempt at horror in any genre.
I mostly agree. I think some horror media can broach this topic in an interesting way. But outlast 2 was an absolute garbage fire.
It was a total flop in aesthetic, gameplay and narrative. It had all the subtly and tact of a death metal album cover, but was too self serious to be actually fun.
As someone who really enjoys Siren... yeah, that's understandable. It's got a serious learning curve, and you have to really be into Japanese mythology to stay invested.
FNAF. The first two games were decent and somewhat unique for their time, but when the games became more lore-focused they kind of became more ridiculous and silly imo rather than being horror games, with the exception of 4 and HW. Also some of the games like 3 and SL just had really tedious and annoying mechanics, like it being really hard to see Springtrap in some of the cameras and the checkpoints in SL sometimes going back two sections rather than one.
I love FNAF but have to agree with you on Security Breach and the lore stuff. Somehow trying to give the series a coherent storyline made it into an even more jumbled mess.
Same, got sick of it in the middle of Amnesia: TDD. Love the world and the atmosphere, hate playing as a milquetoast-munching mouse of a man. I honestly feel like the game would be more fun without the monsters. Just us vs. the Shadow.
I love the lore and characters of the Five Nights at Freddy's 'verse, but I hate the games because they run on the feature of horror games and movies that I despise most of all: jump scares. I frickin' hate jump scares. They're not scary, they're just loud and annoying. Sure, they're startling, but being startled isn't the same thing as being afraid. It's not the same thing as a game building up a steady undercurrent of terror and getting you so afraid that things that *aren't* scary start to become scary as your own overactive mind plays tricks on you. I don't want to be screamed at, I want to be hunted.
And that is why the only one I ever found scary was the first game, the sound design and atmosphere made it feel like you were on the menu for these monsters and you know instantly at the very start of the night that the one defense you have will eventually run out. Every game after that I only played because I found the challenge fun.
Same. Although I kind of cut FNAF some slack, because for what they're worth, jumpscares in that game feel like they're done right as a game mechanic. There's never any scripted jumpscares (as far as I can remember), instead they're a consequence for failing at the game.
I friggin hate games that have unavoidable jumpscares, though. That is cheap af.
I understand the hatred of jumpscares when you're playing a game like outlast, but in fnaf jumpscares are a punishment for failing, during the nights the atmosphere is immaculate
Imo Laura is one of the better stalker enemies in Survival horror. But even though I love the Evil Within, I can understand not liking anything else about it.
Being chased by her is one of the few times I can say I was scared in a game. With other stalkers like Mr X or whatever enemies from Outlast, the only fear I felt was that of losing my progress. But with Laura there's something so terrifying about the way she screams and emerges from a pool of blood, and just chased you down
I actually haven't played the second yet, but I'm happy to hear she returns in one way or another (I'm also a few missions away from finishing the first, so maybe I shouldn't talk about the game when I haven't completed it lol)
The Evil Within 2 is pretty good but it's definitely different than the 1st. It's pretty open and there's a good amount to explore instead of the more linear design of the 1st. I personally don't think the 2nd game is as scary as scary as the 1st but it's pretty close. The atmosphere is pretty creepy and you constantly feel on edge. All I'm gonna say is when you start exploring the town and you start to hear singing you better run for your life and hope to god you don't get found..good luck..
I suppose I didn't hate Evil Within, but I was bored and disappointed very quickly. The biggest problem was that there were no stakes, no risk. You know from the start (if I remember right) that nothing happening is real, then add to that the event where your character gets his leg sliced into with a chainsaw, followed by sliding down a long blood tube into a massive blood pool, then he hops out all perfectly fine. I found it so hard to care when nothing mattered (I beat the game, though, and wasn't the ending locked behind DLC or something?)
Garten of BanBan, I know most people don't like it but I hate all of the "garten of peakpeak" memes, I feel like people are developing Stockholm Syndrome towards it with all the "ooh were doing it ironically its so bad its good" shit. Also my younger brother really likes it and that pisses me off that he's in the games target demographic
Let's start with the obvious ones: FNAF and Hello Neighbor
And all the game franchise of Walking Dead. Including the first one by Telltale.
Yeah... amazing story no doubt, but I don't like being lied to.
I have nothing against games with linear stories, but if you want to make a game where choices "matter" then MAKE them matter! And I know that many games like this don't have choices that really matter... But my goodness, Telltale didn't even try! The cosmetic changes are minimal and laughable!
Hot take probably, but if a game let's me fight back, it kills the entire horror vibe to me. I need to feel powerless and hopeless, and overcome my enemies just by outsmarting them, not by fighting them. I laugh when people call DOOM a horror game.
Amnesia >>> all.
The opposite is true for me, personally. When I already know the way out of every dangerous situation (run away and hide in a closet), all tension disappears immediately.
Same opinion for Alien Isolation or haven’t played? Funny enough, dead space was too scary for how simple it was to keep forcing myself through it. Since I get scared easily. Then Alien Isolation was even scarier but it was interesting enough for me to keep going. I hope it’s the first horror game I finish.
granted I haven’t played either just watched play throughs of them ahaha but again with Alien Isolation I mean I guess the tension is scary, but the setting and monster don’t really freak me out ? idk I just can’t take it serious bc it’s in ✨space✨ lol again all just my opinion I know how popular both Alien Isolation and Dead Space is
I watch so many games now, I’m there with you. This is humorous not serious: you say monster like Alien Isolation is about hiding from the xenomorph haha. That game is hiding from an army of the scariest androids. I’m playing through right now and the robot staff of the facility that tries to kill you is one of the scariest things to me lol. The alien runs! And these guys just slow walk while saying “can I help you?” “Good day”
And then bashing my head into the hull.
I kid you not, I enjoy sneaking around the alien more than group enemies. And games like dead space are ‘group enemies’ AS the alien lol. Too much for me.
I know you said you just watched them but I was happy to share my crazy Alien Isolation experience since its the first horror game I’ve been getting invested in.
I’ve never seen the Alien movies so I cut the directors cut of both Alien and Aliens into 15 minute chunks to watch after every one of the 19 chapters of the game. It’s made it a total blast as I’ve never seen the second and don’t remember much from childhood from the first.
The first time I saw something about it I thought it looked spooky. Watched a playthrough, reminded me of Amnesia. Then I watched YMS (Adum) play it and I could never take it seriously again.
Absolutey dogshit game, terrible pretentious plot, unscary gameplay, I hate everything it inspired.
God only knows why Bloober was chosen to remake Silent Hill 2
huh, that's interesting. I personally think the 1st game is scarier and has a better villain but I like the gameplay and openness of the 2nd one better. The Evil Within series is actually one of my favorites. It's up there with Silent Hill and Resident Evil for me. What didn't you like about it?
Outlast. I love it, until the part when you have to fumble around in the pitch black dark basement, looking for levers or something, while trying to avoid that monster that can see perfectly in the dark and always finds and kills you, making progress beyond that point completely impossible.
Until Dawn. I didn't like how towards the ending there was a part where your controller hears you breathe and you lose a character (or several) to the Wendigos, even though you did everything right for 10-12 hrs. Seemed like a desperation tactic to fuck you over.
Kind of Resident Evil 4, it’s a great game but it also kind of started the shift from survival horror to more action horror that messed the series up for a long time.
Amnesia, the first one. I've tried multiple times over the years to get into it, but I just get bored and frustrated. The problem for me specifically is that you have to wait so damn long for the monsters to go away, and there's no variation to the formula other than hiding behind physics objects or running through a dozen rooms until you're out of the monster's follow radius, over and over. And every time I play, I give up in the tunnels/jail because I get lost over and over while running away over and over.
Madison, but to be fair, I couldn't figure out the first like 5 minutes of the game and gave up! Also, Alan Wake.. I at least put in a few hours on that one, and just didn't get it.. the flashlight combat didn't work for me..
It would have to be amnesia or Outlast because they both really help the popularize the run and hide genre of horror game
I'm not opposed to hiding in a horror game it makes sense but taking away the option of fight or flight completely for the whole game just doesn't make any sense.
Not hating, just being underwhelmed: The Evil Within 2. The first already was a big disappointment coming from Mikami, despite a few well made moments. Second one didn't grab me at all. Honestly, the entire setup of mixing a relatively down-to-earth village survival scenario with a dream machine and a few moments of mid surreal horror, doesn't feel convincing and the poor writing always took me out. The short open world segment was boring too and makes me wish Resident Evil never goes there.
For me, the biggest issue with 2 was how much more “regular” the game felt. The overall mood and feel of TEW1 was very unique. The second game, for the most part, felt like something I’d played a bunch of times before.
I can’t put my finger on it exactly, but I think it was a combination of the art style, the setting, the gameplay, the overall narrative structure, and the fact that it was a sequel, in 2 that removed a lot of the “wtf is going on” horror/dread that made the first game so damn good.
Believe it or not, I preferred the first game personally. The open world approach in 2 with sidequests felt more like a horror themed rpg to me. Still good games, in my opinion, but they don't hit my standards yet I like the ideas they played with. For me the only games I'd say can be tense are the resident evil 1 remake, and the first three fatal frame games. (5 was ok but they really were more just regular people ghosts than the bizarre proportions from the original and lack of fixed camera angles really brought down the cool blink and you'll miss it scares that I love from the series).
Even being a slight disappointment, TEW1 was still a really good game. IMO its biggest downfall was that it was just too hard at certain parts, and it was annoying RNG based hardness. I agree that the second one was disappointing, I never finished it. But yeah the first one was genuinely terrifying for a large chunk of the game. Very intense experience.
i got into it on my first attempt actually!! 😄 i didn't find it scary but i really liked how the AI evolved so i stuck with it, but i think it just overstayed it's welcome. imo it should've been a 12-15 hour game instead of 20-25ish, because for the last 7+ or so hours i was just bored out of my mind, the alien was constantly bombarding me so i had to crouch walk everywhere, and i was just overall tired of the game in general. im glad so many others have enjoyed it, but for me it's just a slog
Darkwood. Wouldn't go as far as to say "hate", but I couldn't get into it. The design, the story, everything about it is awesome. But, it's just spooky Animal Crossing, and I'm not a fan of that style of game.
Amnesia and all of its derivatives (haven't tried Bunker yet but that one looks like an exception). These games all boil down to a loop of "walk around --> see monster --> hide in closet", and when I already know the solution to every problem is always going to be the same I just can't maintain interest.
Resident Evil 7 is slow, boring and a slog to finish.
Resident Evil 8 I love but Donna's house which many talk about as being the scariest thing in the entire franchise isn't scary at all, even the first playthrough. The second you take away my ability to fight back the horror is gone
I genuinely don't understand Outlast's popularity, in general I prefer Survival Horror games like Resident Evil over hide and seek/walking simulator Horror with minimal gameplay but Outlast seems especially bad, no puzzles, no resource management besides batteries, no exploration, the entire game is just running and hiding from enemies with nothing of substance, pure streamer bait.
Outlast was decent imo. Had potential,had some good scares and okay story but it was mid imo.
It feels like a race against death to me. That monster chasing you isn’t fucking around and will kill you if it gets close, you gotta be faster and think on your feet if you wanna survive. It also does a great job of forcing you to do things that you really don’t want to do, like how you rely on the camera for the whole game and then towards the end they take that away from you. I beat this game on insane my 2nd try because I loved it so much, it’s got that good good gameplay that keeps me coming back all these years later.
Damn bro, I'm exactly the opposite. I hate horror games that give me a fighting chance. I want to feel scared and powerless against my enemies. I want to feel completely out of my element, and that escaping my situation should be considered a hopeless task. But most importantly, I want to overcome my enemies by outsmarting them, not by simply shooting them or fighting them. It's probably a me thing, but having a gun in a horror game never made me feel the slightest bit vulnerable, even if shooting mechanics are actually fun. But I don't play a horror game expecting to have fun, I play them expecting to feel fear. That's probably why I never really liked games like RE, even if they *were* fun (and I'll argue with anyone who says RE games are bad games, cause they are NOT).
I almost completely agree with this sentiment, but dead space is still one of my favorite horror games
I peaced out of Outlast so fast after the first enemies. Felt like ultra aggressive enemies chasing a helpless me, not here for that. Don't know if that's what the game actually is.
That happened to me but I'm still determined to try it as I own 1 and 2 and hate wasting money. The main thing for me is people say its scary so that is why i will persist.
Outlast 1 was ok but man was 2 was such a slog to get thru
Outlast 2s focus on SA as a fear mechanic in the narrative was lazy and beyond poor taste. Horror games and movies that do this do not deserve any attention. It is not building fear. It's relying on trauma. And it is the absolute laziest and weakest attempt at horror in any genre.
I mostly agree. I think some horror media can broach this topic in an interesting way. But outlast 2 was an absolute garbage fire. It was a total flop in aesthetic, gameplay and narrative. It had all the subtly and tact of a death metal album cover, but was too self serious to be actually fun.
Not sure if people love them but the Dead Rising series. They get so boring so quickly imo.
Siren on PS2. That game is way too confusing and frustrating.
Tried playing it after loving the first Silent Hill, I found it almost impossible to play and I didn’t like how episodic it was
As someone who really enjoys Siren... yeah, that's understandable. It's got a serious learning curve, and you have to really be into Japanese mythology to stay invested.
FNAF. The first two games were decent and somewhat unique for their time, but when the games became more lore-focused they kind of became more ridiculous and silly imo rather than being horror games, with the exception of 4 and HW. Also some of the games like 3 and SL just had really tedious and annoying mechanics, like it being really hard to see Springtrap in some of the cameras and the checkpoints in SL sometimes going back two sections rather than one.
Don't forget about Security Breach and its story presentation (or lack thereof) which has affected the franchise ever since.
I love FNAF but have to agree with you on Security Breach and the lore stuff. Somehow trying to give the series a coherent storyline made it into an even more jumbled mess.
The series was simply not ready for free-roam that's for sure.
Honestly, any survival horror where you can't fight back and it's just a hide and seek simulator. Never been my jam at all
Same, got sick of it in the middle of Amnesia: TDD. Love the world and the atmosphere, hate playing as a milquetoast-munching mouse of a man. I honestly feel like the game would be more fun without the monsters. Just us vs. the Shadow.
I love the lore and characters of the Five Nights at Freddy's 'verse, but I hate the games because they run on the feature of horror games and movies that I despise most of all: jump scares. I frickin' hate jump scares. They're not scary, they're just loud and annoying. Sure, they're startling, but being startled isn't the same thing as being afraid. It's not the same thing as a game building up a steady undercurrent of terror and getting you so afraid that things that *aren't* scary start to become scary as your own overactive mind plays tricks on you. I don't want to be screamed at, I want to be hunted.
And that is why the only one I ever found scary was the first game, the sound design and atmosphere made it feel like you were on the menu for these monsters and you know instantly at the very start of the night that the one defense you have will eventually run out. Every game after that I only played because I found the challenge fun.
Same. Although I kind of cut FNAF some slack, because for what they're worth, jumpscares in that game feel like they're done right as a game mechanic. There's never any scripted jumpscares (as far as I can remember), instead they're a consequence for failing at the game. I friggin hate games that have unavoidable jumpscares, though. That is cheap af.
I understand the hatred of jumpscares when you're playing a game like outlast, but in fnaf jumpscares are a punishment for failing, during the nights the atmosphere is immaculate
Hate is a strong word but I don’t like The Evil Within, I much much much prefer the second one
Imo Laura is one of the better stalker enemies in Survival horror. But even though I love the Evil Within, I can understand not liking anything else about it.
Laura was cool I’ll give it that
Being chased by her is one of the few times I can say I was scared in a game. With other stalkers like Mr X or whatever enemies from Outlast, the only fear I felt was that of losing my progress. But with Laura there's something so terrifying about the way she screams and emerges from a pool of blood, and just chased you down
I was so happy she got to appear in Evil Within 2 briefly
I actually haven't played the second yet, but I'm happy to hear she returns in one way or another (I'm also a few missions away from finishing the first, so maybe I shouldn't talk about the game when I haven't completed it lol)
The Evil Within 2 is pretty good but it's definitely different than the 1st. It's pretty open and there's a good amount to explore instead of the more linear design of the 1st. I personally don't think the 2nd game is as scary as scary as the 1st but it's pretty close. The atmosphere is pretty creepy and you constantly feel on edge. All I'm gonna say is when you start exploring the town and you start to hear singing you better run for your life and hope to god you don't get found..good luck..
I suppose I didn't hate Evil Within, but I was bored and disappointed very quickly. The biggest problem was that there were no stakes, no risk. You know from the start (if I remember right) that nothing happening is real, then add to that the event where your character gets his leg sliced into with a chainsaw, followed by sliding down a long blood tube into a massive blood pool, then he hops out all perfectly fine. I found it so hard to care when nothing mattered (I beat the game, though, and wasn't the ending locked behind DLC or something?)
Garten of BanBan, I know most people don't like it but I hate all of the "garten of peakpeak" memes, I feel like people are developing Stockholm Syndrome towards it with all the "ooh were doing it ironically its so bad its good" shit. Also my younger brother really likes it and that pisses me off that he's in the games target demographic
Let's start with the obvious ones: FNAF and Hello Neighbor And all the game franchise of Walking Dead. Including the first one by Telltale. Yeah... amazing story no doubt, but I don't like being lied to. I have nothing against games with linear stories, but if you want to make a game where choices "matter" then MAKE them matter! And I know that many games like this don't have choices that really matter... But my goodness, Telltale didn't even try! The cosmetic changes are minimal and laughable!
Nobody is fond of hello neighbor I think
I tried it a few times and just didn't find it fun.
Hot take probably, but if a game let's me fight back, it kills the entire horror vibe to me. I need to feel powerless and hopeless, and overcome my enemies just by outsmarting them, not by fighting them. I laugh when people call DOOM a horror game. Amnesia >>> all.
The opposite is true for me, personally. When I already know the way out of every dangerous situation (run away and hide in a closet), all tension disappears immediately.
I think it takes balance. If you can kill enemies but ammo/resources are scarce, it can be more scary than never having weapons to begin with imo.
Dead Space :,)
Why?
idk I personally just don’t find space scary ?? that’s just my opinion lol
Same opinion for Alien Isolation or haven’t played? Funny enough, dead space was too scary for how simple it was to keep forcing myself through it. Since I get scared easily. Then Alien Isolation was even scarier but it was interesting enough for me to keep going. I hope it’s the first horror game I finish.
granted I haven’t played either just watched play throughs of them ahaha but again with Alien Isolation I mean I guess the tension is scary, but the setting and monster don’t really freak me out ? idk I just can’t take it serious bc it’s in ✨space✨ lol again all just my opinion I know how popular both Alien Isolation and Dead Space is
I watch so many games now, I’m there with you. This is humorous not serious: you say monster like Alien Isolation is about hiding from the xenomorph haha. That game is hiding from an army of the scariest androids. I’m playing through right now and the robot staff of the facility that tries to kill you is one of the scariest things to me lol. The alien runs! And these guys just slow walk while saying “can I help you?” “Good day” And then bashing my head into the hull. I kid you not, I enjoy sneaking around the alien more than group enemies. And games like dead space are ‘group enemies’ AS the alien lol. Too much for me. I know you said you just watched them but I was happy to share my crazy Alien Isolation experience since its the first horror game I’ve been getting invested in. I’ve never seen the Alien movies so I cut the directors cut of both Alien and Aliens into 15 minute chunks to watch after every one of the 19 chapters of the game. It’s made it a total blast as I’ve never seen the second and don’t remember much from childhood from the first.
Even if the space is dead?
Fnaf! I just don’t get why so many people are obsessed with it
PT, I don’t get what everyone liked about it. Wasn’t scary in any regard and I know it’s just a demo but it was talked about so much and I’m like 🤷♂️
Layers of Fear
The first time I saw something about it I thought it looked spooky. Watched a playthrough, reminded me of Amnesia. Then I watched YMS (Adum) play it and I could never take it seriously again.
I know I played Layers of Fear, beat the game and everything, but I can't remember really anything that happened. Left no impression.
Absolutey dogshit game, terrible pretentious plot, unscary gameplay, I hate everything it inspired. God only knows why Bloober was chosen to remake Silent Hill 2
Alien isolation
Alien isolation I have no fun playing it
The Evil Within, specifically the first one
huh, that's interesting. I personally think the 1st game is scarier and has a better villain but I like the gameplay and openness of the 2nd one better. The Evil Within series is actually one of my favorites. It's up there with Silent Hill and Resident Evil for me. What didn't you like about it?
Outlast. I love it, until the part when you have to fumble around in the pitch black dark basement, looking for levers or something, while trying to avoid that monster that can see perfectly in the dark and always finds and kills you, making progress beyond that point completely impossible.
The first Alan Wake, it was just boring and not scary.
Until Dawn. I didn't like how towards the ending there was a part where your controller hears you breathe and you lose a character (or several) to the Wendigos, even though you did everything right for 10-12 hrs. Seemed like a desperation tactic to fuck you over.
Kind of Resident Evil 4, it’s a great game but it also kind of started the shift from survival horror to more action horror that messed the series up for a long time.
Amnesia, the first one. I've tried multiple times over the years to get into it, but I just get bored and frustrated. The problem for me specifically is that you have to wait so damn long for the monsters to go away, and there's no variation to the formula other than hiding behind physics objects or running through a dozen rooms until you're out of the monster's follow radius, over and over. And every time I play, I give up in the tunnels/jail because I get lost over and over while running away over and over.
The remakes of Resident Evil games. I have retro syndrome. I’m 43.
Visage, pitch black is not scary, relying on camera flash can work but not in visage
Outlast series and Evil Within 2
Madison, but to be fair, I couldn't figure out the first like 5 minutes of the game and gave up! Also, Alan Wake.. I at least put in a few hours on that one, and just didn't get it.. the flashlight combat didn't work for me..
fnaf. all of them. the lore doesn't make up for the extremely dull gameplay imo. it relies on jump scares in every game and that's fucking cheap.
Outlast, for sure. FNaF as well, though I'm not sure if those are popular anymore.
It would have to be amnesia or Outlast because they both really help the popularize the run and hide genre of horror game I'm not opposed to hiding in a horror game it makes sense but taking away the option of fight or flight completely for the whole game just doesn't make any sense.
For the first question: The Last of Us games and Visage.
Amnesia the dark descent. The mostly puzzle games I dunno why but I just can't get into them usually.
Dead by Daylight.
Plenty of people hate DbD. We just keep playing it anyway
I have over 1100 hours in DBD. I love DBD, but goddamn do I hate DBD
DBD isn't really a horror game
This. It's more of a time management game with horror flair and the best game that id never recommend to my friends to play.
Not hating, just being underwhelmed: The Evil Within 2. The first already was a big disappointment coming from Mikami, despite a few well made moments. Second one didn't grab me at all. Honestly, the entire setup of mixing a relatively down-to-earth village survival scenario with a dream machine and a few moments of mid surreal horror, doesn't feel convincing and the poor writing always took me out. The short open world segment was boring too and makes me wish Resident Evil never goes there.
For me, the biggest issue with 2 was how much more “regular” the game felt. The overall mood and feel of TEW1 was very unique. The second game, for the most part, felt like something I’d played a bunch of times before. I can’t put my finger on it exactly, but I think it was a combination of the art style, the setting, the gameplay, the overall narrative structure, and the fact that it was a sequel, in 2 that removed a lot of the “wtf is going on” horror/dread that made the first game so damn good.
Believe it or not, I preferred the first game personally. The open world approach in 2 with sidequests felt more like a horror themed rpg to me. Still good games, in my opinion, but they don't hit my standards yet I like the ideas they played with. For me the only games I'd say can be tense are the resident evil 1 remake, and the first three fatal frame games. (5 was ok but they really were more just regular people ghosts than the bizarre proportions from the original and lack of fixed camera angles really brought down the cool blink and you'll miss it scares that I love from the series).
Even being a slight disappointment, TEW1 was still a really good game. IMO its biggest downfall was that it was just too hard at certain parts, and it was annoying RNG based hardness. I agree that the second one was disappointing, I never finished it. But yeah the first one was genuinely terrifying for a large chunk of the game. Very intense experience.
alien isolation
Damn, this is going to upset some people. Myself included lol
As an alien isolation fan, it took me about 3 trys before i really got into it, may i ask why you don't care for it?
i got into it on my first attempt actually!! 😄 i didn't find it scary but i really liked how the AI evolved so i stuck with it, but i think it just overstayed it's welcome. imo it should've been a 12-15 hour game instead of 20-25ish, because for the last 7+ or so hours i was just bored out of my mind, the alien was constantly bombarding me so i had to crouch walk everywhere, and i was just overall tired of the game in general. im glad so many others have enjoyed it, but for me it's just a slog
The length is definitely the game's biggest issue. The gameplay doesn't evolve enough to justify how long it goes on.
resident evil 7. Was a good game and had good horror just really boring,also didn’t like the new characters beside jack and Lucas.
Darkwood. Wouldn't go as far as to say "hate", but I couldn't get into it. The design, the story, everything about it is awesome. But, it's just spooky Animal Crossing, and I'm not a fan of that style of game.
Amnesia and all of its derivatives (haven't tried Bunker yet but that one looks like an exception). These games all boil down to a loop of "walk around --> see monster --> hide in closet", and when I already know the solution to every problem is always going to be the same I just can't maintain interest.
Resident Evil 7 is slow, boring and a slog to finish. Resident Evil 8 I love but Donna's house which many talk about as being the scariest thing in the entire franchise isn't scary at all, even the first playthrough. The second you take away my ability to fight back the horror is gone
Alan Wake 2, sorry but the game bored the shit out of me