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need a PC horror game

mrmrmrmr nameless protagonistRegistered User regular
edited May 2011 in Help / Advice Forum
I think this is a good place to ask as I may get a wider range of answers than strictly in the gaming forum.

I'm in the mood for PC horror game. I want something recent-ish with a more adventury feel than either an RE-type survival horror or an fps. I can work with either though. Looking for something more atmospheric than visceral, but again, I can work without it. If it can make me jump that's a plus, but not so much as to be annoying (such as just random noises loud and out of nowhere).

I've played quite a few, so here's the ones that I've already played.
-Penumbra series (the first part of the first game is the creepy I'm looking for, as it eventually got tediously tense running from enemies that I couldn't fight)
-Amnesia: Dark Descent (same as penumbra, but the good stuff lasted longer)
-STALKER series (liked the fps part, loved the atmosphere, although rarely actually made me jump or anything)
-Alone in the Dark (off GOG.com, played the first one. I wanted to like it but it was just too old I guess for me to enjoy it. But a similar setting or atmosphere would be a plus. Are the new one or The New Nightmare any good?)
-FEAR (basically like stalker, but less appealing)

Other games (non-PC) that may glean some knowledge of my interests
-Resident Evil series (good survival horror all around, got me hooked on the genre. Zombies always a plus)
-Silent Hill series (great setting and atmosphere)
-Dead Space series (great tension, but not really what I'm looking for right now)
-Dark Corners of the Earth (good, but too difficult for the time I played it, might try again sometime)

Some ideas I've had are the adventure style games from the Dark Fall series and Scratches. Both easily gotten online, so info on those would be good too. Also, a Lovecraftian setting is definetly a plus.

But I get the feeling I've played most worth a damn, so any thoughts are welcomed.

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Posts

  • Dunadan019Dunadan019 Registered User regular
    edited May 2011
    How about Bioshock?

    its kinda horrorish. good atmosphere. FPS-RPG

    dead rising 2?

    more of a goofy horror...

    Left 4 dead1/2?

    probably more fun if you have more than just yourself playing it.

    Dunadan019 on
  • DehumanizedDehumanized Registered User regular
    edited May 2011
    Systemshock2box.jpg


    If you can find it...

    Also, in terms of stuff that's reasonably obtainable -- Metro 2033 does an amazing job of atmosphere. It's similar to STALKER in that regard. I'm not sure if I'd consider it horror (neither is System Shock 2), but they are super atmospheric shooters which ooze style and tension.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IO6uBPQcLdQ

    Dehumanized on
  • kaliyamakaliyama Left to find less-moderated fora Registered User regular
    edited May 2011
    If you're ok with point n' click adventure games, the freeware Trilby series are great:
    http://www.fullyramblomatic.com/5days/

    kaliyama on
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  • Hahnsoo1Hahnsoo1 Make Ready. We Hunt.Registered User regular
    edited May 2011
    I know you aren't looking for something FPS, but two more recommendations (on top of Bioshock and System Shock) in the FPS genre would be Singularity (more along the lines of Bioshock or Half Life 2 than "scary horror") and Clive Barker's Undying.

    As far as adventure games, you might want to look at the Gabriel Knight series, if you can find it. They are solid horror adventure games, although not really in the "jump at you" horror scares.

    Hahnsoo1 on
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  • mrmrmrmr nameless protagonist Registered User regular
    edited May 2011
    Played both Bioshocks and love them to death, along with Dead Rising/L4D, but I don't really think of them as scary or anything. I've always wanted to play System Shock but I cannot find it other than torrents, and those never work right for me.

    Metro is one that I forgot about and I've looked into it in the past. Might give that a shot. And Undying seems worth a look. Pretty sure it's not on Steam or GOG though.

    mrmr on
    Practice Round, my blog where I talk (mostly) about comics.
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  • DivideByZeroDivideByZero Social Justice Blackguard Registered User regular
    edited May 2011
    Scratches was excellent. I never thought a click-thru first-person adventure game would creep me out that much, I mean -- the controls ensure that you can't actually run from anything, so absent that danger how scary could it be?

    Answer: scary as shit.

    Play it alone, in the dark for maximum effect. It's very atmospheric, has a few good cut-scenes, decent story, and a couple of moments that just... yeah. The puzzles weren't too convoluted or obscure, I only had to look up one online.

    DivideByZero on
    First they came for the Muslims, and we said NOT TODAY, MOTHERFUCKERS
  • MelinoeMelinoe Registered User regular
    edited May 2011
    My family likes to play adventure games together, and most of them are horror.

    Scratches definitely creeped me out, and the Dark Fall series is pretty good too. Although the third one, while still creepy, sort of veers off into "oh god that's terrible and disgusting" creepy instead of actually scary; it goes for a lot of cheap shocks.

    I know you said PC but the Fatal Frame games seem like what you're describing, they terrified me and I didn't even play them, just saw playthroughs. Maybe you can emulate them if your PC can run a PS2 emulator? (this doesn't mean pirate, the playstation emulators include a feature where you can put the game in the cd drive and the emulator can recognize and play it).

    Melinoe on
  • balerbowerbalerbower Registered User regular
    edited May 2011
    http://www.moddb.com/mods/dear-esther

    Free HL2 mod. You don't fight or die in it or anything. You just explore this mysterious island while a story slowly unfolds through some well-written narration. There are some parts in it that are eerie as hell, though. Complete atmosphere. Sound design is also top notch.

    http://www.moddb.com/mods/korsakovia

    By the same dudes who made Dear Esther. Also free. There is actual combat in it this time (you only have the crowbar and there is only one type of enemy). I can't say this is a great game cause the map designs can get pretty clunky and irritating. Combat is definitely not a focus point either. But gotta say this is also one hell of a frightening game. Also has grreeeeat sound design. It will annoy you, make you rage at the mechanics, but for sure, you will come out of the experience very unsettled.

    balerbower on
  • SliderSlider Registered User regular
    edited May 2011
    I bought a game a long time ago that pitted you against werewolves and...vampires, I think. I wish I could remember what it was called.

    *edit* Found it. Damn, I'm old.

    Slider on
  • GaslightGaslight Registered User regular
    edited May 2011
    If you're on the fence about Metro, it's worth noting that it goes on sale a lot, so if you wait a month or two chances are good you'll be able to acquire it for even less than the already very reasonable twenty bucks it goes for on Steam now normally.

    Gaslight on
  • CptKemzikCptKemzik Registered User regular
    edited May 2011
    It may not be the format you're looking for, but vampire bloodlines (action/rpg) has quite a few downright unsettling segments throughout the game.

    Just make sure to hunt down a patch that fixes the bugs that remain in the final retail version.

    CptKemzik on
  • OnTheLastCastleOnTheLastCastle let's keep it haimish for the peripatetic Registered User regular
    edited May 2011
    Nothing until you play System Shock 2. That is the best of what you haven't played.

    OnTheLastCastle on
  • mrmrmrmr nameless protagonist Registered User regular
    edited May 2011
    I have played Bloodlines and Fatal Frame (just the first). Bloodlines is great and is already on my list of games to replay down the road. Fatal Frame was tense and creepy, but a funny thing happened when my friend was watching me play it. He basically kept laughing every time I used the camera, asking "what the hell is with the camera?". This led into continuous laughter and I guess I couldn't take it seriously after that. But I guess the second one is scarrier?

    Thanks for the input so far though. I just started summer vacation so I'll likely get around to most of these if I can find them. Metro and Scratches are at the top of the list so far.

    mrmr on
    Practice Round, my blog where I talk (mostly) about comics.
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  • OnTheLastCastleOnTheLastCastle let's keep it haimish for the peripatetic Registered User regular
    edited May 2011
    Psh.

    Too scared to challenge a perfect immortal machine, eh?

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gw1y4vWU-rQ

    OnTheLastCastle on
  • InAmberCladInAmberClad Registered User regular
    edited May 2011
    Cryostasis and Condemned : Criminal Origins were both pretty great in my opinion. Condemned may possibly veer too much into the visceral part of your spectrum, but they both had me pull my headphones off in alarm when playing in the middle of the night.

    InAmberClad on
  • DrezDrez Registered User regular
    edited May 2011
    Obscure is Resident Evil/Silent Hill-ish, and rather spooky. I also found Clive Barker's Undying to be spooky.

    And um the Gabriel Knight series certainly has its moments.

    Drez on
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  • Peter EbelPeter Ebel CopenhagenRegistered User regular
    edited May 2011
    What about Pathologic?

    I haven't actually played the game, but this review/analysis made it seem great: http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2008/04/10/butchering-pathologic-part-1-the-body/

    Peter Ebel on
    Fuck off and die.
  • RadicalTurnipRadicalTurnip Registered User regular
    edited May 2011
    All the ones I would normally recommended already have been. That being said, aren't "The Witcher" and its sequel scaryish? I've never actually played them, just seen a friend do so for a brief stint.

    RadicalTurnip on
  • MelinoeMelinoe Registered User regular
    edited May 2011
    All the ones I would normally recommended already have been. That being said, aren't "The Witcher" and its sequel scaryish? I've never actually played them, just seen a friend do so for a brief stint.

    IMO not really. I get scared extremely easily by games (and other stuff) and I don't really remember being afraid while playing it. Can't say as much for the second one, as I'm playing through it right now but am still pretty early on.

    Melinoe on
  • LibrarianLibrarian The face of liberal fascism Registered User regular
    edited May 2011
    If you also have an Xbox 360 you really need to play Deadly Premonition.
    If you don't have one, that game is the best reason to get one.

    Librarian on
  • BeastehBeasteh THAT WOULD NOT KILL DRACULARegistered User regular
    edited May 2011
    call of cthulhu: dark corners of the earth is super cheap on steam and well worth playing through, it is hard as balls

    the attack of the fishmen/escape from innsmouth part is probably the most pant-soilingly tense moment i have ever experienced in a videogame

    Beasteh on
  • EntriechEntriech ? ? ? ? ? Ontario, CanadaRegistered User regular
    edited May 2011
    Peter Ebel wrote: »
    What about Pathologic?

    I haven't actually played the game, but this review/analysis made it seem great: http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2008/04/10/butchering-pathologic-part-1-the-body/
    By the same people who made Pathologic, I'd put in a recommendation for The Void. Rather than try to fumble by way into why it's amazing, I leave you with RPS' awesome words.

    Entriech on
  • mrmrmrmr nameless protagonist Registered User regular
    edited May 2011
    Psh.

    Too scared to challenge a perfect immortal machine, eh?

    Hey, trust me when I say I really really want to. I just can't find it anywhere cheap or legal. I pray it gets picked up by GOG sometime.

    mrmr on
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  • Hahnsoo1Hahnsoo1 Make Ready. We Hunt.Registered User regular
    edited May 2011
    Pathologic really is difficult to play as a game. It has all of the functional elements of a game, but it's difficult to play for entertainment purposes. It's like trying to slog through great classic literature by an author you don't like (my example would be Moby Dick). You recognize the reasons why people could like it, but the actual experience is quite lacking.

    The Void is a much better experience, although if you are color-blind, it's nigh unplayable.

    Hahnsoo1 on
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  • BloodySlothBloodySloth Registered User regular
    edited May 2011
    Beasteh wrote: »
    call of cthulhu: dark corners of the earth is super cheap on steam and well worth playing through, it is hard as balls

    the attack of the fishmen/escape from innsmouth part is probably the most pant-soilingly tense moment i have ever experienced in a videogame

    The devs were really ballsy in actually making a pretty faithful adaptation of a scene in a short story, and making like an entire chapter in the game one long escape sequence. It's tense as hell but an be extremely annoying if you do something the devs didn't really intend.

    I fucked myself over when I decided to just run past a bunch of dudes, when apparently the devs intended for the player to duck into a little alleyway before getting spotted. I ended up having to backtrack through a horde of enemies that already knew where I was, because I had reached a checkpoint spot and the thing I needed to get to was some distance behind me in a little hiding spot.

    Anyway yeah, it's an excellent horror game if you can deal with some annoyances. Particularly great if you're into H.P. Lovecraft's stories.

    BloodySloth on
  • CptKemzikCptKemzik Registered User regular
    edited May 2011
    The first half of cthulhu was a great exercise in atmospheric first-person horror gameplay despite some quirks. I felt like once you
    get to the marsh refinery

    however, it just became a clunky fps game with a lot of trial-and-error deaths in order to figure out the developers' script intentions.

    CptKemzik on
  • mrmrmrmr nameless protagonist Registered User regular
    edited May 2011
    Yeah I distinctly remember the escape chapter. It was really nicely done up until then graphics/atmosphere wise. At first the escape was indeed tense in the right ways, but then after the fifth time of me trying and failing when I tried to experiment it got more anger-inducing than anything. I would kill for another game based off a cthulhu mythos story like that though.

    Anywho, nabbed Scratches off steam as it seems like that's what I want at the moment. I'll wait for Metro to drop maybe again but I'll likely get it regardless soon. If I like Scratches I'll give Dark Fall a shot.

    mrmr on
    Practice Round, my blog where I talk (mostly) about comics.
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  • SiskaSiska Shorty Registered User regular
    edited May 2011
    Thief 1, 2 & 3. A sneaksie game where you mostly try to avoid direct confrontation with guards, priests, zombies, robots and some other critters. It's not gory. More of a suspense thriller type game. A bit of an adrenaline rush if (when) the alarm goes off and you have to get away and find some shadows to hide in before you get slaughtered.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thief_%28series%29

    Siska on
  • kuhlmeyekuhlmeye Registered User regular
    edited May 2011
    Hahnsoo1 wrote: »
    I know you aren't looking for something FPS, but two more recommendations (on top of Bioshock and System Shock) in the FPS genre would be Singularity (more along the lines of Bioshock or Half Life 2 than "scary horror") and Clive Barker's Undying.

    As far as adventure games, you might want to look at the Gabriel Knight series, if you can find it. They are solid horror adventure games, although not really in the "jump at you" horror scares.

    kuhlmeye on
    PSN: the-K-flash
  • GaslightGaslight Registered User regular
    edited May 2011
    I am itching to try Singularity myself now. I'm pissed because it was on sale for $10 on Steam a week or so ago and only too late did I read someone describe it as "In alternate history Soviet Russia, bio shocks you!"

    Gaslight on
  • Hahnsoo1Hahnsoo1 Make Ready. We Hunt.Registered User regular
    edited May 2011
    Gaslight wrote: »
    I am itching to try Singularity myself now. I'm pissed because it was on sale for $10 on Steam a week or so ago and only too late did I read someone describe it as "In alternate history Soviet Russia, bio shocks you!"
    It's a surprisingly solid game. It has a Bioshock "feel" in terms of the UI and graphics (the "tech juice" is totally not EVE. Uh huh. Yeah.), but it has a lot of Half-Life-like setpieces. When you go through the abandoned living quarters at the beginning, it feels like Ravenholm, for example. You also get a "swiss-army-gadget" that gives you a bunch of powers which you unlock gradually (like Bioshock) and have to use in a variety of game-physics puzzles (like Half-Life). You are restricted to two weapons (boo!), but there are plentiful weapon stations where you can swap weapons and buy ammunition and upgrades (yay!)... I've never been in a section where I felt that I was "stuck" with two useless weapons for a long period of time. The game also has a "twist", of sorts, but this occurs at the end of the game (unlike Bioshock) and the game lets you reload the previous checkpoint and experience all three endings. It even has some hilarious Fallout-like sequences when you are watching old 1960s Cold War Russian educational films ("Duck and Cover!"). If you are itching for more Half-Life or Bioshock, Singularity will definitely scratch that itch.

    Hahnsoo1 on
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  • GaslightGaslight Registered User regular
    edited May 2011
    If it went on sale again I'd be all over it. Amazon has a special edition with some sort of tie-in graphic novel for a little bit less than Steam but who knows when I'd get to playing it anyway.

    Gaslight on
  • EchoEcho ski-bap ba-dapModerator mod
    edited May 2011
    Clive Barker's Clive Barker's Undying by Clive Barker is a solid recommendation.

    Echo on
  • OnTheLastCastleOnTheLastCastle let's keep it haimish for the peripatetic Registered User regular
    edited May 2011
    Undying has not aged well at all. It's so repetitive and the environments are huge empty wastelands.

    I think Thief 3 is supposed to have one of the scariest levels in gaming, but it's near the end? I need to go back and keep playing it to get there. Thief 1 had some parts that scared me when I was younger.

    OnTheLastCastle on
  • GaslightGaslight Registered User regular
    edited May 2011
    Conveniently, Metro 2033 is on sale for $9.95 on Direct2Drive right now.

    Gaslight on
  • EntriechEntriech ? ? ? ? ? Ontario, CanadaRegistered User regular
    edited May 2011
    Undying has not aged well at all. It's so repetitive and the environments are huge empty wastelands.

    I think Thief 3 is supposed to have one of the scariest levels in gaming, but it's near the end? I need to go back and keep playing it to get there. Thief 1 had some parts that scared me when I was younger.
    Thief 3 is home to the infamous "Cradle", a haunted insane asylum. Worth noting that the designer responsible for the Cradle was also responsible for Fort Frolic in Bioshock, which should give you a good idea as to the tone of it.

    Entriech on
  • BlindZenDriverBlindZenDriver Registered User regular
    edited May 2011
    There are some awesome mods for the Stalker games. Some "just" adds eyecandy and smaller tweaks but there is also others which do a lot more. The one called Oblivion Lost may be what you look for.

    BlindZenDriver on
    Bones heal, glory is forever.
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