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Fear of the Dark - What Makes Games Scary?

July 26, 2010 in News comments 2

An article about what makes games scary, what developers can look for in successful releases, and why older games have an advantage in the fear market.

"I have a constant fear that something's always near." -Iron Maiden

Whether you’re trapped in a dark elevator shaft, cornered near an air duct, or just plain surrounded by zombies, only a handful of game designers have stimulated that dark-fearing, claustrophobic child within all of us. Scaring your audience is one of the hardest things to do as a designer – gamers are a giddy bunch: constantly giggling at twitching corpse glitches and missing limbs, the task itself is a scarier prospect than the execution. The games that truly frighten us don’t need the fanciest graphics, but that doesn’t make it any easier to accomplish.
Lelldorianx via gamersnexus.net »
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  • 0
    redneonfish Jul 27, 10
    Lack of music and some decent ambient sounds.

    I wouldn't call Half Life scary at all, but I think Ravenholm had one of the best atmospheres in an FPS game. That was thanks to the mad preacher and the fact that Gordon Freeman is basically you. Meaning, you're in the situation in the game, not some macho soldier, with poor dialogue and crap characterization.
  • 0
    reaver11 Jul 27, 10
    Ambient sounds, hostile environment where you cannot see the enemy, solitude, darkness. Thats what makes it scary for me.

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