Recomend a decent/good non-RPG

I was looking for an entertaining survival/horror type game but I'm open to others genres too... Any suggestions?

Make sure Sammy sees this question. That's his wheelhouse.

Dead Space immediately comes to mind.

http://www.thelostcrown.co.uk/

It's an adventure …

You may like "Obscure 2 " , i do not

Care to give us a composite of what you've already played, so as to prevent frivolous suggestions?

JDR13 said:

Dead Space immediately comes to mind.

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I second this: Dead Space is very well done once you get used to the interface and 3rd person view. Also, Bioshock and Bioshock 2 come to mind. I just started Metro 2033, and so far it seems like a good 'survival' type game as well.

Sir Markus said:

I just started Metro 2033, and so far it seems like a good 'survival' type game as well.

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I saw Metro 2033 at a store yesterday, but I thought it looked sort of low-budget. Post some impressions after you finish it.

JDR13 said:

I saw Metro 2033 at a store yesterday, but I thought it looked sort of low-budget. Post some impressions after you finish it.

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Will do. I'm only about an hour into it, and it seems to be an unabashed Stalker rip-off so far (not a bad thing, IMO) and the production values seem to be fairly high, so it doesn't appear to be a 'budget' title, at least that's my first impression anyways.

I have played plenty of horror games.

3rd Person Perspective
Alone in the Dark 1-5
The series that started it all, but not my first pick. 1-3 might be too outdated and 5 seem to ignore the rest of the series and was quite poor. The fourth game on the other hand was creepy and I think it's still a worthwhile experience. You explore a mansion on a dark Island from the perspective of 2 different characters.

Cold Fear
Alone in the Dark on a boat. A short "meh" kind of game that gives you exactly what it seem to offer, zombies on a boat. One creature that looks like a group of small tentacles is especially creepy. You can check it out if you played everything else.

Dead Space
Find out what happened on an abandoned spaceship kind of deal. Very much inspired by System Shock I think. Also similar to DOOM 3.
The most up to date game I say and might be worth your time.

Obscure 1-2
Survival horror based on a highschool slasher theme. A group of teenagers explore a highschool infested by something dark. Probably on the same level as Cold Fear, a game to play when you finished the better games.

Resident Evil 0-5 + Codename: Veronica X
Ah. The Resident Evil series. I say that a dedicated gamer should have played the Resident Evil series at one point in their lives. Resident Evil 1 should definitely be played on the GameCube (the remake) and it's ok to begin with ZERO. Also be sure to play Codename: Veronica X as "part 3.5". I say that these games have an above average story, fun puzzles, good combat etc.

Silent Hill 0-5 + Orphan
The PS1 game, Silent Hill, might be too outdated for your taste, but I say it's the creepiest part of the series. It tells the tale of a father who's daughter dissappear after a carcrash, in the spooky and abandoned city "Silent Hill". The 2nd game is storywise disconnected from the first, but is by many rated the best Survival Horror ever made. It tells the tale of a man who end up in Silent Hill without really knowing what he is doing there. If you enjoy the 2nd it's up to you if you want to play the others since they are all, in my opinion, weaker. Orphan is a mobile game.

Siren: Blood Curse
A playstation 3 exclusive that plays like an episodic TV-series, each part with it's own specific scenario and characters, all centered around a cursed island outside Japan. A very unique game, which doesn't mean it's neccessarily good, but pretty cool for it's originality I say.

The Suffering 1-2
You play a convict that just got locked up in his cell when hell breaks lose on the prison. During your escape, it's revealed that you either did or did not kill your family. Your morality during the game decide the outcome. A pretty decent and horrifying game. I say that the 2nd game was a step down though.

1st Person Perspective
Bioshock 1-2
Explore the underwater "utopia" known as Rapture, where freedom rules. Or at least, that was the plan, until everyone begun getting addicted to genetical enhancements and the society fell to tyranny. A very unique experience, but one might say they are a step down from System Shock 1-2 which are the games the developer did before Bishock.

Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Universe
Set in HP Lovecrafts universe, don't let the ancient graphics puts you down. This is a really great but very difficult game.

Clive Barker's Jericho
Skip. No, seriously.

Clive Barker's Undying
You play an irish adventurer and "supernatural investigator" who is just about to visit his old war buddy in his great mansion. Once there you quickly realize that something is terribly wrong in this place. Undying is the original "haunted house" first-person shooter and really, I haven't seen any game so sucessfully pull this off. It have a great story.

Condemned 1-2
You are a crime scene investigator who are framed for a murder and you need to find whodunnit to be cleared of all charges. First-person "brawler", in which you need to bash crazed drug-addicts with whatever tool you find, all in a spooky abandoned setting, in chase for a murderer. Condemned 1 is the creepiest game I played, except Siren: Blood Curse, I think. It also have a supernatural theme. The 2nd game isn't as good as the first.

DOOM 3 + Resurrection of Evil
Yes. DOOM 3 have an excellent horror atmosphere and the game have more in common with System Shock than DOOM1/2. You run around in a pitch-black space station to find out what's going on. Tons of PDA's and logs give you clues about what have happened with the crew. The sound really adds to the atmosphere in this one. The expansion is short but still worthwhile.

F.E.A.R 1-2 + expansions
You are a soldier in a special ops team that run right into a haunting of a little girl. I never was a fan of the F.E.A.R. series, even if I played them all. The expansions can probably be skipped and the 2nd game is a step down from the first.

Half Life 1-2 + Episode 1-2
Maybe not the first game to consider for survival horror, but they are horror games, although that's not why one would like to play them.

Penumbra 1-3
You are searching in a mining dig on Iceland to find out what happened to your father.
These low-cost production games have sucessfully packed an excellent atmosphere and a really creepy environment. They are adventuregames, but the first tried to include combat mechanics that was removed in the 2nd game (which is the best of the series). The third is somewhat disconnected to the previous ones, but I guess it acts as the real ending.

Prey
What you get from blending Indians with UFO's. This game was in production for ages and what came out had some memorable moments. Runs on the DOOM 3 engine and is in many ways similar.

S.T.A.L.K.E.R + Clear Sky
Buggy like hell but excellent gameplay and atmosphere. Plays as a free-roaming First-Person Shooter with some RPG elements.

System Shock 1-2
I guess these are the games that inspired DOOM 3 and Dead Space, and perhaps Bioshock as well. Both might be worth to check out, as long as you can live with their age. They both are very well executed and above everything else in their time.

They Hunger (Half-Life Mod)
One of the coolest mods I played. They Hunger is very similar to George Romeros zombie movies. There's a new game for HL2 in production that have been in the making for ages, but the games for the first games are available already.

Though unasked for, I'll contribute my Metro 2033 impressions…

STORY:
At best, it might be described as "nonsensical." The story does provide sufficient impetus to cover the constant progression from one level to another, yet never reveals enough to substantiate the game as a whole. Indeed, it feels like the developers intended such: most likely in anticipation of creating a franchise, wherein said story might be expounded upon.
Pardon me if I'm being a little obtuse, but I have no desire to post any spoilers. Suffice to say, various characters make one-off showings in the story, only to rapidly disappear, while the player-character's background is never explained (and, thus, the reason for everyone's confidence and dependence upon them). The climax of the game, it's conclusion, is also suitably underwhelming (due partially to a platforming-esque sequence that proves too dramatic a shift in gameplay).

GRAPHICS:
The game features X-Ray engine graphical quality, indeed, my first impression was thus: Stalker 2.0
Unfortunately, this rendition of the engine features far less in the way of customization, such that I suspect most gamers will be forced to set the video options down an entire notch, as opposed to merely lowering the "shadow" quality. Having said as much, the game looks genuinely good even on low settings (I played on "normal"). Shadows and dynamic lighting are particularly impressive, though certain textures appear to be rather low-resolution (likely a concession to some unknown engine limitation) and the water-effects are not quite on par with other modern engines.

SOUND:
Frankly, where I'm concerned, sound remains the one true low-point of the game. Weapons lack punch, the fidelity is, at times, choppy, the voice-acting is subpar across the extent of the game (though this may be partially attributed to the poor dialogue, chock full of "jokes" that land with all the wit and impact of an anvil) and the musical score is so forgettable that…well, I've completely forgotten it already.
Oh, ere I forget, the "breathing" sounds come so often and with such volume that, if you are anything like me, you'll swiftly take every opportunity possible to remove your gasmask.

MECHANICS:
Shooting is both the game's forte and its downfall.
First, as noted, most weapons lack any sort of substantial punch, in either graphical result or accompanying audio. That, however, is made more severe given the relatively scant range of firearms available. Despite offering a few levels wherein new guns might be purchased, a little exploration will consistently yield even better ones. These, however, are merely the same old weapons with a component addition, such as a stock, silencer, bayonet or scope. What's more, these selfsame weapons will appear in the later "shops," such that I ended using the same weapons for nearly three-quarters of the game, given that nothing better ever materialized.
The so-called "survival" element is also somewhat of a joke, though newcomers to the field might find it engaging. A little exploration (and I mean that, it takes very little effort given the relatively on-rails levels) will yield more than sufficient ammo, of both the "shooting" and "spending" type, along with an abundance of healing items.
That, actually, is one mechanic I was deeply disappointed by: the "ammo is not only for weapons, but also for bartering" concept bandied about during the game's hype-season. This arises from the separation of "shooting" and "spending" ammo by the game itself and the fact that only ONE type of ammo is used in bartering. Frankly, save you make the mistake of holding the reload-button long enough, while using the proper type of weapon, that you end up switching from "shooting" to "spending" ammo, you will never be without sufficient "money." I actually ended the game with what, arguably, were the very best weapons in the entire game (all acquired long before reaching said end) and more than a hundred "spending" bullets. Considering your average gun runs as much and I spent nearly one-hundred and fifty on ammo (anticipating a challenge in the end that never materialized) along with one-hundred on unnecessary body armor (again, in anticipation of…yadda, yadda…), that's saying something.
On the plus-side, the recharging flashlight mechanic (use of such, along with night-vision, depletes your electricity), lack of a consistently viewable quest compass (one does exist, but requires a button press to see, thus it can be ignored; offset by the linear levels) and inclusion of quasi-stealth mechanics (which can be ignored, but largely to your detriment; these include glass on the floors to create sound, along with cans on strings, various traps and the ability to destroy light-sources) are all welcome additions.
Sadly, the game includes some rather jittery AI. Non-playable characters repeatedly spotted me through solid walls, monsters spawn at ridiculous and (at times) improbable locations, acting without the slightest sense of self-preservation. Again, this is coupled with other aspects of the AI: for instance, many of the fights where NPCs are concerned may be overcome by simple inaction. In all but one scenario where a NPC was present at my side, I never fired a shot: it conserves ammo (which turns out to be unnecessary, as already discussed), yet also shatters the illusion of abiding in a dangerous world. For that matter, the gas-mask mechanic seems tacked on. You'll never run short of filters. What's more, should you do so in the company of a NPC, they will give you more.

REPLAYABILITY:
The game comes off as neither more nor less replayable than any other FPS, falling far short of the bar set by the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. series. This is primarily a result of the stark linearity, yet also stems from the mechanical semblance it bears to so many other games. That is not only references S.T.A.L.K.E.R. (technically, it's inspiration) in-game, but also bears so many story-and-world-similarities, leads to a rather dismal comparison.

CONCLUSION:
All told, I would recommend a single play, if only to gauge its merit on your own. Personally, having uninstalled the game already, I will never be playing it again.

The scariest game I've ever played, and orders of magnitude scarier than anything else I've played was Fatal Frame 2. Still gives me the creeps.

wolfing said:

The scariest game I've ever played, and orders of magnitude scarier than anything else I've played was Fatal Frame 2. Still gives me the creeps.

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Yeah, the Fatal Frame games are pretty brutal, part 2 in particular. I have planned to play them when PCSX2 is good enough.

@ JDR + Sir Markus - I have yet to play dead space, having earned the most votes thus far I'll probably start there.

@ themadhatter - Aside from RE5, Bio 1 and System shock 1 + 2 I have not played any other games that could even be remotely considered survival or horror… Thanks for the critical analysis of Metro 2033, not sure if it's worth buying now. Maybe when it it makes the bargain bin?

@ Tragos - Hmm, something different to consider.

@ JemyM - Oh wow a very detailed list, thanks! I've been meaning to play the older RE games since having played RE5 for PS3(chronologically speaking, I've been considering playing them backwards)… I've been told the prior installments were better.

@ wolfing - Sounds interesting, I'll see if I can pick a used copy for cheap.

Thanks for all the suggestions guys.

Nice list JemyM! I'm particularly fond of penumbra 1-2, call of cthulhu and silent hill 2 as far as horror games go. Honorable mention would be thief 3 and the shalebridge cradle mission.

MasterKromm said:

@ JemyM - Oh wow a very detailed list, thanks! I've been meaning to play the older RE games since having played RE5 for PS3(chronologically speaking, I've been considering playing them backwards)… I've been told the prior installments were better.

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The best part, I think, with the Resident Evil, is how they build up a growing story with returning characters you learn to like. It's easy to understand why they have so many fans. I recommend to taking them in order to enjoy the story and see how the games change over time. I didn't play the two Wii games but watched playthroughs of them on youtube.

Here's an attempt of a spoilerfree recap, in chronological order;
* Resident Evil Zero (gamecube) is a direct prequel to 1, and tells the story about Rebecca Chambers who only briefly appears in Resident Evil 1 as a NPC. On top of that it deepens the story behind the main villain of the series. I personally consider this one of the best. I played it before 1.
* Resident Evil 1 is the first game and it should definitely be played on GameCube (the remake). It introduces the returning characters Jill Valentine and Chris Redfield. It was the game that started it all but can be played after Zero. The remake is really one of the best games in the series.
* Resident Evil 2 isn't available as a remake and some would consider the graphics to be outdated, others consider it to be the best part in the series. It introduces Leon S. Kennedy and Claire Redfield who from #2 on becomes returning characters. Also, the mysterious Ada Wong appears in this game and can be played briefly in Umbrella Chronicles and "Ada's Report" in RE4.
This and three are the games that most remind you about George Romero's zombie movies.
* Resident Evil 3 isn't available as a remake either, and tells the story about Jill Valentine during Resident Evil 2. I consider it to be the weakest game in the series, but it's still nice. The villain is by some celebrated as the coolest villain in gaming history.
* Resident Evil: Codename Veronica X returns to Claire Redfield who somehow ended up in the wrong place. Features the return of several characters and villains and really builds up the backstory to the series. Some consider it the best, some the worst.
* Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles (Wii) returns to the old games (0, 1 & 3) but now as a railroad shooter, but fills out the story and give an official ending to one of the games returning villains.
* Resident Evil: Darkside Chronicles (Wii) returns to the old games (2 & Codename Veronica) but now as a railroad shooter. Fills out the story that happened to Leon S. Claire prior to part 4 in the series.
* Resident Evil 4 uses Leon S. Kennedy as the primary character, introduces a new monster that returns in 5, and change the way Resident Evil is played into more of a 3rd person shooter. Far more actionpaced than earlier games and it's no longer a Survival Horror from this one forward. By many considered the best game in the series, celebrated as one of the best games ever made, but loathed by oldtime fans as it popularized the Resident Evil series by killing everything they were about. Finding the "best version" of this game is a bit difficult. The GameCube version had superior visuals due to the shadow system, but the PS2 game contains a 5-part bonus called "Ada's Report", which really fills out the backstory of the game and is really fun to play. The PC version is the PS2 version but with the option to play with mods and improved resolution. The WII version contains all the features of both the GameCube and the PS2 version and might be the best edition of the game.
* Resident Evil: Degeneration a fully CGI animated movie that act as a bridge between 2 and 5, introducing a new villain and return to Leon S. Kennedy and Claire Redfield.
* Resident Evil 5 again with Chris Redfield, but with other famous characters present. Something of a closer in the series. I enjoyed it. There's one map in particular that seems like a nod to fans of the series, with the horror feel of the earlier ones. To bad it's so short. The bonus level "Lost in Nightmare" is a real fanservice to fans of the old games.

I begun playing these games a few years back when they were already old and I bought a gamecube for doing so (got it for like $50 with a couple of games). I became an instant fan and bought the 5th game on release day for PS3.

MasterKromm said:

@ wolfing - Sounds interesting, I'll see if I can pick a used copy for cheap.

Thanks for all the suggestions guys.

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BTW, Fatal Frame 2 (only one I played, don't know if Fatal Frame 1 is more or less scary) is not "survival horror" (which in my case I don't find scary at all), they are more paranormal horror.

I highly second "Undying"! Definitely the creepiest game I've every played along side of Silent Hill 2, but the gameplay is much better than the wonky 3rd person controls in SH 2, I think.

Ah… Clive Barker's Undying, that was a good game. Not as creepy as Dead Space though. It was more the old fashioned haunted house type of creepy.

Yeah, you guys keep pushing Dead Space. If i t weren't for the bad news on the wonky consolized controls, I'd be there...

Thing about Undying, was that it was VERY deadly. It was truly survival, and had you on your toes to runaway if necessary. Like that.

Yeah, the PC controls for Dead Space stink out of the box. They're fine with a bit of tweaking though...certainly shouldn't keep you from playing one of the best horror games ever imo.

Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem is another good horror game if you have a Gamecube/Wii.