Slow burn atmospheric horror games with minimal to no jump scares

Thief 1, 2 and 3. They're not "horror" games per se, but they have some of the scariest levels in any game I've ever played.

Are there any other games like that? Where most of the game is pretty chill but then it throws some really great horror at you?

On topic, Condemned is great as well, but probably quite hard to get hold of. I wish there was a detective/investigation game like L.A Noire with a strong horror element, imagine like Red Dragon but in an open world city where you have to stop a semi-randomised serial killer. Identifying the patterns, speaking to witnesses etc. The close you get to him the closer he gets to you. That sort of thing.

What is is about children, old people, and pregnant women that make them scary?

P.T. was entirely jumpscares retard, it was the very last horror game to actually do them because bitches complained.

this

Five Nights at Freddy's
If you beat the game without losing, there's no jump scares.

Things that make you jump organically are entertaining and a good payoff after building tension. Say the AI is programmed to try and creep up on you and you're busy doing a puzzle or whatnot, and there's a faint noise behind you so you drop what you're doing and turn around and BAM there it is coming towards you and too close for comfort, no loud noises or scare chords involved.

>Children
Easier to lose sight of, childish innocence in a non-innocent manner
>Old people
They're basically walking corpses
>Pregnant women
It could be anything in that womb pinata

Dunno about others but I was terrified by Ravenholm

darkwood

Having to be responsible after them

no

nah

There is nothing wrong with jumpscares.

The subversion of threat
It's so tired, the "creepy little girl" thing is such hack shit. I immediately lose respect for the creators for using such a played-out and uncreative template

Is amnesia any good?

they're lazy

this brings up an interesting conflict. people in horror threads often complain about the subjectivity of horror. doesn't a jumpscare essentially tell you to be scared, removing subjectivity? its akin to a television laugh track.

jumpscares just aren't horror though, they can happen in any genre. they're good when they happen naturally or as a one time thing, but entirely relying on them means you aren't good at creating "horror". trying to make someone feel disturbed is a lot harder than startling them with a loud noise.

they're fine if used sparingly.

Has anyone played Spooky's House of Jumpscares?

The problem with jumpscares is that they often don't follow up with anything. It's usually "BOO! Haha got you, have a nice day." The good jumpscares make you shit your pants and stress out while trying to escape.

No, but I've watched a lot of it. Your Consenting Mind is 10/10.

they're fine if used sparingly and must be earned by build up or complete surprise
throwing them at a couple random spots because you can't come up with anything better is lazy

Cry Of fear.
Never post here again.

Ocean House Hotel VtMB

Nah you're right. Ravenholm is still an effective level to this day, from the build up to the change in mood and music and the introduction of poison headcrabs.

>Cry Of fear.
Cry of Fear has jumpscares, especially with that little girl enemy. The previous game made by the same person, Afraid of Monsters, seems to avoid them, I think I prefer that one. You need HL1 to play it though since it's a mod and not standalone.

a lot of times jumpscares have to be "earned" through completing a long section where the player is under tension, as a jumpscare releases that tension and tells the player he can rest a bit without any scares.

however, this goes against the idea of jumpscares working best when unexpected. a jumpscare that works really, really well with a similar concept but great execution is the boy of silence in the comstock tower. instead of being the exclamation mark of the segment, it launches the player into an action sequence immediately, pretty much rewarding the player for GETTING jumpscared. really good design.

>no or minimal jump scares
That was one of the criteria

Visage is the most stressed I've been in a horror game for a long time. The jumpscares are actually comforting compared to the oppressive atmosphere.

this is a really difficult balance too. if you toss jumpscares out randomly, it really is cheap. therefore, the best jumpscares are designed around segments where the player really does not expect it. however, using too many jumpscares like this makes the player expect it. "oh, a room with pickups on the far end. wonder when the jumpscare is gonna come."

i keep trying to find justifications for more than a couple jumpscares in a game in terms of psychology and game design, but im having a difficult time.

Children because their playfulness and innocence in an uneasy, unsettling context can be kinda scary

Old people cause they are the image of death and poor health. Their wrinkly spotted skin, milky blood shot eyes and hunched stature is definitely creepy.

Pregnant women is self explanatory

I just beat system shock 2 for the first time yesterday and its got great unsettling atmosphere and monsters. The first time i ran into a midwife scared me a bit.

But seriously fuck the spiders. I dont want to live in a world where a small spider can tank three shotgun shells.

Spend a night in Detroit.

test

Any fellow adventurefags here? Really loved Darkness Within and Scratches. Can someone recommend more games like it? Both felt incredibly comfy in a weird way.

I want a game like this where the monsters are big and horrible but extremely quiet and part of the gameplay is nigger-rigging sound alarms out of bottles, cans, crockery, string etc. to keep track of their pursuit of you and give you more of a chance to react before they get the drop on you.

Attached: Fuck You.jpg (480x269, 19K)

SOMA is super slow burn.
But it's not really scary in the typical horror sense.
It dread and depression inducing.

>No Pathologic 2 even though it's current

I know it's debatable to call it horror, but come on

Darkwood is also an excellent suggestion though

SOMA was so good
I felt a weird variety of fear when being pursued by the robots that had shitty brain scans in them in the underwater segments

>Children
not scary
>pregnant women
not scary
>old people
because they look weird.

>slow burn atmospheric
Post the image. You know what I'm talking about you shitposting fucks, get it over with.

Just finished Tacoma
not too scary aside from rampant corporatism and no human rights but super atmospheric and way better than Gone Home

Attached: Tacoma_CrewMeeting.png (1920x1080, 1.74M)

STALKER is a shooter but has some really scary moments and an overall dark/lonely mood

>turn corner
>spooky ghoulie jumps out and zooms into your face
It’s shit and the worst part about it is that even if you’re good at walking simulator there’s no way to predict when it happens

Not going to play it until it is complete

Shut the fuck up and stop spamming you fucking tin foil hat video

>slow burn atmospheric
Why do people keep falling back to "oh if only horror was/wasn't X, it'd be perfect." There was the no-combat only hiding phase, the no-first person phase, and so on, and now we have this. Each time, there's one game that comes out that everyone gets their dicks out over, there'll be a bunch of shitty clones that follows the meme, and then some new game will show that its way can be done so you'll get your dicks out over that one and start all over again. You can already see it starting with the "low res, low poly retro = spooky" with people getting their dicks out over Lost in Vivo and Paracusia. Stop it with the fads.

Attached: 1470295900466.jpg (245x280, 10K)