Manufacturing Fear: The Importance of Atmosphere in Horror
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- čas přidán 11. 02. 2024
- Horror games have been filling my library more and more over the past year and, over the course of this time, I've began to notice something. Not all horror games are created equal. Some are more outwardly scary than others, such as the Amnesia or Outlast games; others are more subtle with this, however. Games such as Silent Hill, Dead Space, and indie hits such as Anatomy by Kitty Horrorshow and The Exit 8 build their games in ways that don't jump out at you. Instead, they create environments that fill your mind with fear, allowing the player to build the tension themselves.
Thank you for watching!
Blake Hester's article on Silent Hill 2: www.gameinformer.com/opinion/...
Twitter: / cartrnd
Twitch: / cartrnd - Hry
When the music turns off and all the sounds and fears you held subconsciously... suddenly creep into the forefront of your mind... and make their nightmarish nest on the tip of all your senses.
The best kind of horror builds fear using subconscious cues like background music and atmosphere. And makes you wait for a jumpscare that'll never come. The original amnesia is still my favorite horror game to this day.
I’ve had Amnesia on my Steam wishlist for a while now, I’ll have to give it a shot!
the best horror edges you I guess
@@kintustis cursed reply
@@CartrND Highly recommend it 👍 The original Amnesia and Layers of Fear (the first one) are my favorite horror games of all time. There's just something extremely unsettling in both of their atmosphere that I can't explain. They build up the vibe and story from the very ground up in a very cool way
I love those games where you can put the pieces together yourself without being too brutally difficult. It's a fine art that I appreciate so much ❤️
..instead of something like "ooOoO here's an abandoned mall and you are going there exploring, then you find a spooky cursed voodoo doll and suddenly hyperrealistic ghosts and zombies and witches on broomsticks jumpscare you out of nowhere and start chasing you."
Then the lazy backstory is told to you by listening to like voicemails or something on devices that you find after jumpscares, and they just say stuff like "yes yes you must be Michael, I am doctor Guggenstein. By the way I am your father. I left the secret key in the secret government laboratory under this mall, that's where you will find the answer to all your questions. The code to the safe is 723, but you need to find the fuse to the electrical generator first to use it. I don't have much time, they are already chasing me. See you on the next recording" 😂😂
The laziest kind of horror there is. It's not even b-horror, it's like.. so bad and stereotypical that it's just plain bad.
I’ve rarely seen people talk about how different of an experience Fallout is when the music is turned off. The ambience in those games is scarier than some things meant for horror, especially in fallout new vegas. Playing new vegas with no music makes you realize that you are, in fact, in the midst of a nuclear apocalypse, and death comes swiftly and without a second thought. Great video overall man. Seriously deserves more attention.
The tonal shift is shocking! When I first played Fallout 4 when I was 13-14 years old, I thought I was crazy for thinking it was scary. Bethesda games are naturally goofy, so it feels weird to be reminded you’re living in a time of death and tragedy. Thanks for the love man!
I got the same from the metro series
Another comment kind of alluded to this with Fallout but there's something about it that's like, you're almost drowning out the horrific nature of the world around you with the music. You're preventing yourself from being alone with your thoughts, cause the moment that you turn that music off, you have to think about the horrific stuff around you. I wonder if a horror game could almost channel that, I think some Chilla's Art games do that really well at times by giving you that comfortable space where you don't have to think before telling you "now go outside :)"
This is remarkably polished and professional for someone with as few videos as this.
Thank you! I was stressing over the audio of this video for weeks so that helps ease my nerves. Glad you enjoyed!
@@CartrNDI second this, good sir.
I third this fantastic chap
Kinda amazing how Playable Teaser found such a perfect formula for creating horror that we still have lots of indie games a decade later that draw inspiration from it.
I never heard of that! I’ll have to check it out
An absolutely amazing piece of media. Very well made and honestly surprised me after deciding to give it a chance! Keep it up👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻
Glad you gave it a chance! I appreciate the support as well. Excited to create more like this!
The human world is incessantly, ceaselessly buzzing with noise. Just a collage of it. Taking it away makes something feel very amiss for most people, because isolation from others= death as far as the survival bits of your nervous system are concerned. Great video!
I'm glad the algorithm brought me to this video. Well done 👏
Happy it brought you here too! Thank you!
As a Fallout fan I can totally agree with you the ambience you get within the game is utterly terrifying. Not to mention when you pair with some vaults stories and the holotapes to listen to or read it makes a place that was unnerving to something else.
Amazing video!! I rarely play horror games myself (because im a wuss) but i have always been fond of their ability to create that special kind of ambiance. Ty for this great analysis of it!
To be fair I’m a bit to a wuss too. I left my microphone audio out of the majority of this for a reason, you would hear me screaming too often haha. Thank you for watching!
Fallout has always been a favourite for that same reason for me. It's the survival aspect that really makes you walk on the edge. Most of the time you can just perk up the player but if you really look at it, it's mostly about how to deal with the horrors around you.
Well said!
@@CartrND the fact that perks make the game somewhat more immersive versus your own curiosity and risk, definitely says more about the games entire drive. It's about how humanity will thrive with the most existential threats possible. As the player you are forced to handle this with the bare minimum and the perks you choose, ultimately shapes how you choose to survive and the mode of value and virtue you display in those dire circumstances. Fallout isn't meant to be FUN, it's about how you would barely scratch out an existence. But I digress... Each game is entirely different in this approach but remains a single thread cord in the human condition. That's my soap box story and I'm sticking to it.
Dead Space has some of the best sound design ever
Agreed. I can’t speak for the original games, but the remake did a fantastic job with it
the dead space remake is so slick, dude, but you’re right that it’s not exactly nonstop fear, but I’ve always felt the franchise was more sci fi with gleefully excessive gore than horror.
The backtracking in the remake was seriously a genius move, because it allowed the spaces to become familiar yet unpredictable. One thing that GOT me got me was the tram. Idk if it triggers randomly or if the game needs a bit of extra loading time, but sometimes when you’re riding on it, it SLAMS to a halt with a deafening BANG, and it says something I don’t remember but implies that you might suddenly be attacked, and you hear some
skittering while the lights are out, but then they come
back on and you go on your merry way, no monsters.
That was imo a perfect encapsulation of what the remake adds, almost like a flex by the devs to remind you that it isn’t just a gussied up remaster. You’re backtracking, but then AUGH WE GONNA GET YOU…. or not…. but we might :)
I think you put it perfectly, very well written! If I could change anything about this video it would probably be covering more of moments like the one you mentioned in Dead Space. There are so many instances like that, you could write a whole essay centered around that.
Dead Space runs out of ideas halfway through. It is the cabin fight in RE4 over and over again. I forgot how repetitive the gameloop is.
I’ve played a lot of survival horror games and it’s definitely not my favorite. Still found it fairly enjoyable, it’s just not on the level of RE or Silent Hill
@CartrND there's only so many times an enemy screaming in your face can be scary. Also when you see how the AI works and compare it to RE4, it is more annoying. In RE4, enemies run up to you, stop, take a breath, then strike. In this game, enemies run you to screaming, strike immediately, then take a 5 second break before striking again. It doesn't give you a lot of reaction time, which adds pressure until it runs out of new enemies to throw at you, which is very early in the game, or new scenarios to fight them in. It becomes, walk through a room, quarantine goes off, doors shut, kill all screaming bad guys, doors unlock. I turned the game to easy mode by the end to brute force my way through I was getting so bored.
OG RE4 on the other hand, does a much better job at throwing new ideas and enemies at you. If you play the original again, you'll notice that every chapter offers an additional type of channel that adds up over the course of a very long game. It is much scarier making you never feel like you understand what is going to happen next.
i really loved this video, from the descriptions of each game and how they were nerve-racking and terrifying, to how your voice and narration perfectly brought everything together! this should have way more likes what \(>o
This guy only has 456 subs? Thats crazy
That’s 456 awesome people!
I love Exit 8, it’s like a Highlights puzzle but Scary 😂
Atmosphere is essential for horror in any format
For a horror story to succeed in its intention, it has to take itself completely seriously
The scariest sections of a horror tale is where nothing is happening and you're expecting something to happen
Being all alone in a silent and empty area that makes all your instincts to run suddenly rise is what really gets you
"There's no terror in the bang. Only the anticipation of it"
Alfred Hitchcock"
what a great hidden gem, nice video and great work, ty for the journey
Absolutely! Thank you for watching!
Awesome vid very informative and well made
Thank you so much!
i'll save this video if i ever learn how to make games
Keep in mind that this is just my opinion. I am in no way an expert on game design!
Well made video, the algorithm has picked you up
Thank you!
i think i liked silent hill 2's set up and scares. you never expected much but they where there.
Great video man
Thank you!
Amnesia perfected this fr
That and Visage are two games on my list that I haven’t gotten around to yet, but everyone hyped them up so much I’m excited to try them out!
Yknow it makes sense why I found fallout so scary now...i literally never played with the music on because I thought it was annoying. Its clicking together now.
This video is a masterpiece
Thank you! That means the world!