Scariest game you've ever played?

Elite: Dangerous

30 million rebuy cost on my ship - damn straight I'm bounty hunting for this community goal in Solo mode!

The player killers in ED are extremely intimidating because to get to that level you don't just have to be intelligent, but you have to be highly skilled and highly invested in the game. Remember, some players quit before they even learn to land their ship - my first dock took me 20 minutes and I'm no stranger to flight sims.

Ask yourself why these intelligent, skilled players are flying around killing people when there's nothing to be gained and insurance costs to be lost? They're super rich and super bored. The space madness has set in! You'll get your jump scare when they interdict you.

I mean, I assume this is a post about which games gave you jump scares, but the fear of loss in a game is much more terrifying. My personal preference in an MMORPG would be full PVP, drop everything you're carrying. Like UO, Darkfall, Mortal Online - which are all not good enough to play. This open loot PvP system is so uncommon because its too scary!

SirJames said:

Elite: Dangerous

30 million rebuy cost on my ship - damn straight I'm bounty hunting for this community goal in Solo mode!

The player killers in ED are extremely intimidating because to get to that level you don't just have to be intelligent, but you have to be highly skilled and highly invested in the game. Remember, some players quit before they even learn to land their ship - my first dock took me 20 minutes and I'm no stranger to flight sims.

Ask yourself why these intelligent, skilled players are flying around killing people when there's nothing to be gained and insurance costs to be lost? They're super rich and super bored. The space madness has set in! You'll get your jump scare when they interdict you.

I mean, I assume this is a post about which games gave you jump scares, but the fear of loss in a game is much more terrifying. My personal preference in an MMORPG would be full PVP, drop everything you're carrying. Like UO, Darkfall, Mortal Online - which are all not good enough to play. This open loot PvP system is so uncommon because its too scary!

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No, I'm not into jump scares - which is precisely what Alien Isolation is not about

As for artificial constructs to inspire fear by making you lose progress - that's not particularly compelling in itself - to me. I mean, you can have that same fear in Minesweeper because you're trying to beat the timer - or Donkey Kong because you're going to miss out on the high score.

To me, games have to be compelling by themselves before I would bother to invest time that's so easily lost down the drain.

It's the same reason I don't find Dark Souls particularly compelling. Again, I think it's a poor and artificial way to motive players to succeed.

That said, if the games ARE compelling - THEN I will invest and feel the fear you're talking about.

Star Citizen will be very similar in that way. But unlike ED and Dark Souls - it will have a massive amount of content and a reason to exist beyond accumulating wealth or beating Boss patterns through trial and error.

wolfing said:

Fatal Frame by far, scariest game I've ever *attempted* to play. Last time I tried to play it was last Halloween I got it on Playstation sale for like $1 or something. Didn't last 2 hours, it's too freaking scary.

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I'm going with fatal frame too. Scariest game i played too.

Doom 3 monster closets, but I need to play Alien Isolation, Amnesia, and Outlast. The first house in Undying was pretty creepy, too, as was Realms of the Haunting.

Doom 3 on nightmare could be quite the intense and desperate gaming experience. Thinking about it in VR brings back shivery memories and while a part of me wonders "would I go through that again?" another part is quite intrigued at the idea.

Perhaps the Penumbra titles rate a mention too, although I'm yet to complete all of them and they were more so heavy on atmosphere rather than actual scares.
I'd put Silent Hill in this category too. Playing that for the very first time back in the day was great, as I had the PS1 hooked up to my dad's big surround sound stereo system.

Sounds like I'm going to have to pick up Alien Isolation and Outlast at some point.

Hey Pessimeister - yeah I'd totally recommend Alien Isolation, it's one of my favourite non-rpgs of recent years. It's bloody hard though - I started on Normal difficulty, dropped it shamefully to Easy after several hours of hiding in cupboards and getting eaten without much progress; and finally suffered the ignominity of playing on Novice. I just kept getting eaten (strangled, burned, run through with a tail etc). Turns out I'm really shit at stealth games. I still died a lot even on Novice….
Awesome game though, great atmosphere. I'm definitely doing another run at some point, and trying to keep it on Normal throughout……

Pess , that reminds me, silent hills 2 was creepy too. Atmospheric, and some occasional surprises that made me jump, when I didn't pay close attention.

I'm not finding it scary and I am finding how the ai cheats annoying. So far I've been playing on hard (might drop it down). My basic problem is the alien knows where you are as you move he circles your area in a fix pattern. Goes into a new room and he knows he needs to check that room - it really doesn't matter how quiet or tricky you are because the ai tracks you regardless of whether you make noise or otherwise. I've been much more impressed by other stealth ai games where the enemy is good at tracking you down but not because the ai feeds the enemy your position.

Pongo said:

Hey Pessimeister - yeah I'd totally recommend Alien Isolation, it's one of my favourite non-rpgs of recent years. It's bloody hard though - I started on Normal difficulty, dropped it shamefully to Easy after several hours of hiding in cupboards and getting eaten without much progress; and finally suffered the ignominity of playing on Novice. I just kept getting eaten (strangled, burned, run through with a tail etc). Turns out I'm really shit at stealth games. I still died a lot even on Novice….
Awesome game though, great atmosphere. I'm definitely doing another run at some point, and trying to keep it on Normal throughout……

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you said:

I'm not finding it scary and I am finding how the ai cheats annoying. So far I've been playing on hard (might drop it down). My basic problem is the alien knows where you are as you move he circles your area in a fix pattern. Goes into a new room and he knows he needs to check that room - it really doesn't matter how quiet or tricky you are because the ai tracks you regardless of whether you make noise or otherwise. I've been much more impressed by other stealth ai games where the enemy is good at tracking you down but not because the ai feeds the enemy your position.

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So, you would prefer an AI that doesn't cheat and potentially never encounters the player at all?

As a matter of fact, there's only a few levels where they force the hunt like that - which is deliberately to inspire fear.

AFAIK, it's one of the most sophisticated AIs around. What AIs do you think are better?

I never felt like the AI was cheating in Alien Isolation.

I remember reading a few similar comments on the Steam forum, but to be honest, it seemed like those people were just venting because they weren't very good at the game.

I liked seeing mention of Alien Isolation, Dead Space and Outlast. I own all those games but haven't gotten around to playing them yet.

For my personal scariest, I have to go with Amnesia: The Dark Descent. That was a game that at times had me stopping playing not because I was bored, tired or busy, but because it was too intense to play in long sessions.

And I'll throw in some honorable mentions to the F.E.A.R series (haven't played FEAR3 yet), Penumbra series and Doom 3

The Brown Dragon said:

And I'll throw in some honorable mentions to the F.E.A.R series (haven't played FEAR3 yet), Penumbra series and Doom 3

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The first F.E.A.R. was great. I'm surprised that slipped my mind.

None-sense you can have the ai not cheat but still have encounters. And yes i know why they do it (I think i stated they did it to try to create suspense). Anyway you (or perhaps it is the next poster) have a weird definition of ai. Why do you think it is the best ai around ? I find the pattern search very mechanical and predictable. That's not ai per sey. ai is more along the lines of a set of rules that allow the opponent to predict or figure out your next move and that is not what is happening here. The code is tracking your position and then giving the alien a set pattern based on your current location. So far I've seen very little actual ai.

NewDArt said:

So, you would prefer an AI that doesn't cheat and potentially never encounters the player at all?

As a matter of fact, there's only a few levels where they force the hunt like that - which is deliberately to inspire fear.

AFAIK, it's one of the most sophisticated AIs around. What AIs do you think are better?

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you said:

None-sense you can have the ai not cheat but still have encounters. And yes i know why they do it (I think i stated they did it to try to create suspense). Anyway you (or perhaps it is the next poster) have a weird definition of ai. Why do you think it is the best ai around ? I find the pattern search very mechanical and predictable. That's not ai per sey. ai is more along the lines of a set of rules that allow the opponent to predict or figure out your next move and that is not what is happening here. The code is tracking your position and then giving the alien a set pattern based on your current location. So far I've seen very little actual ai.

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Ok, if the Alien AI didn't cheat - how would you make sure the player felt properly hunted by it - and met it at the right moments? What if the Alien didn't roam the level the player was in - and what if the player went in different directions?

I don't believe I've provided any definition of a great AI - so please don't presume to speak about that.

I asked you what game you think has better roaming AI that can track you like the Alien can here.

When you've provided an example - then I'll get into why I think Alien Isolation has a better AI than most stealth games of this nature.

The VAST majority of stealth games have no roaming AI whatsoever. They have simple "engagement" patterns where the enemies go searching for players after they come within range of hearing or sight - within a very primitive set of parameters, until they "give up" and completely forget the player again.

I don't have a solid example because I haven't given it much thought - the last real stealth game I played was dishonored but it had different constraints and design patters. I don't remember thief 2 being that bad but it was 15+ years since i played it and again it had a different design.
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I will say one incredibly annoying thing about this game is the save system and lack of automatic check points. I do not totally object to the save objects but on multiple occasions I've had the game setup a trap right in front of the save object where the creature spring upons you (usually by a vent). This is an incredibly annoying design which is a deliberate attempt to make progress be lost (and redone). While you could argue that if one were a bit more careful working around the vents when they are right next to save points; i personally find designed to create tediousness. Anyway I'm 1/2 way through so hopefully i'll finish next week and then be done with it for good. No alien isolation 2 for myself.
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btw i thought the ai system in shadow of morodor was decent. It wasn't the strongest but i liked the general design of awareness and allowing awareness to slowly dissipate.

NewDArt said:

Ok, if the Alien AI didn't cheat - how would you make sure the player felt properly hunted by it - and met it at the right moments? What if the Alien didn't roam the level the player was in - and what if the player went in different directions?

I don't believe I've provided any definition of a great AI - so please don't presume to speak about that.

I asked you what game you think has better roaming AI that can track you like the Alien can here.

When you've provided an example - then I'll get into why I think Alien Isolation has a better AI than most stealth games of this nature.

The VAST majority of stealth games have no roaming AI whatsoever. They have simple "engagement" patterns where the enemies go searching for players after they come within range of hearing or sight - within a very primitive set of parameters, until they "give up" and completely forget the player again.

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you said:

I don't have a solid example because I haven't given it much thought - the last real stealth game I played was dishonored but it had different constraints and design patters. I don't remember thief 2 being that bad but it was 15+ years since i played it and again it had a different design.

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Ok then, it's just that you said other stealth games had much more impressive AIs - and I don't personally know of any.

For instance, I can sit down right now and play the game - or one of the added scenarios - and be terrified or scared out of my mind, because I can't predict where the alien will be - or what it will do.

There's no other horror game I can think of where that is the case, because once you've completed it - you tend to remember exactly what happens when and where. Even if there's some variation, it's usually very limited.

In Alien Isolation, every moment is full of dread - if you look past the few scripted sequences and the handful of segments where the Alien is hardcoded to be on your tail.

Personally, I find that incredibly impressive.

I will say one incredibly annoying thing about this game is the save system and lack of automatic check points. I do not totally object to the save objects but on multiple occasions I've had the game setup a trap right in front of the save object where the creature spring upons you (usually by a vent). This is an incredibly annoying design which is a deliberate attempt to make progress be lost (and redone). While you could argue that if one were a bit more careful working around the vents when they are right next to save points; i personally find designed to create tediousness. Anyway I'm 1/2 way through so hopefully i'll finish next week and then be done with it for good. No alien isolation 2 for myself.

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This is intentional to add tension to the game. It's actually one of the few cases of me agreeing with that design choice. I normally hate losing progress like that - but I think it fit very well with the overall design of being completely helpless and struggling to survive.

The game is deliberately trying to stress you out and frustrate you, which I thought worked to its benefit.

Really, I found the entire experience to be less about compelling gameplay (of which there was precious little) and more about putting myself into a situation that would completely freak me out.

Sadly, the game was way too long and it was ultra repetitive towards the end. They should have cut out at least 50% of those awful filler fetch/fiddly quests. Also, the story was all but non-existant and was utterly redundant.

But the actual Alien, atmosphere and the core mechanics - including hiding and the motion tracker were nearly 100% spot on. Probably one of the most - if not THE most atmospheric games I've ever played.

btw i thought the ai system in shadow of morodor was decent. It wasn't the strongest but i liked the general design of awareness and allowing awareness to slowly dissipate.

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You mean the gimmick of "remembering" little details of what you'd done to enemies?

Ok, I didn't find that to be particularly impressive.

Personally, I found the sensation of being hunted by a very unpredictable but smart Alien in AI very, very convincing.

I don't think I've ever played another game with such a roaming AI that actually worked.

Doesn't mean it's perfect or anything.

But I understood why they had to cheat in a few places - and I don't think it was due to any kind of weak AI code - but simply a practical solution that worked just fine for my part.

No not the gimick of remembering what you had done; the gimick of searching for you once you have been spotted and over time the search stopping.
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As i said it is not roaming ai. It is procedural - the alien knows where you are so it knows where to move its search pattern. You might find that impressive but it is trivial to code and (imho) cheap. It means if you sit in one spot very quite for a very long time the alient will continue to walk right next to you because it knows where area to search.

you said:

No not the gimick of remembering what you had done; the gimick of searching for you once you have been spotted and over time the search stopping.

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Ok, so you're impressed by something that has been happening in stealth games since they were invented. Primitive spot - search - stop patterns with minimal parameters.

Cool, I guess you like simplistic, predictable and unsophisticated AIs.

As i said it is not roaming ai. It is procedural - the alien knows where you are so it knows where to move its search pattern. You might find that impressive but it is trivial to code and (imho) cheap. It means if you sit in one spot very quite for a very long time the alient will continue to walk right next to you because it knows where area to search.

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What? There's no conflict between roaming and procedural. Roaming means the Alien moves around large areas based on a series of parameters - and not staged, scripted events. That only happens in a few key areas of the game, as I've already mentioned.

The Alien is based on a sophisticated AI involving all sorts of parameters, including sound, vision, aggression, intensity and so on.

Here are some developer quotes:

“The alien is systemic across the board. We can just drop the alien into an area and see how it behaves. It knows when it sees something and it knows when it just suspects something… Obviously, we bookend certain areas to give you an objective, but most of the time the alien is in the world and it’s hunting you. You’ll acquire some abilities you can use to defend yourself for a while, but then suddenly the alien stops attacking you. It stops doing what you thought it was going to do. You’re looking at this alien and something’s changed. It learns.”

“Yes, it’s a piece of AI and it has parameters we can tune, but the alien’s network of behaviours is so insanely complicated, the thing is almost sentient. There’s a difference between artificial intelligence, where we know what its parameters and behaviours are at a glance, and it being so sentient we have to dig into the code just to find out why and how it did what it did during our playtests.”

Here's another video going into greater detail - and specifically pointing out that the Alien DOES NOT now where you are:



Now, I understand that you weren't very good at the game and you became frustrated. That's ok, it's not for everyone.

But I think it's important not to confuse your experience with the reality of what the game does and doesn't do in technical terms.

Hum. I think I lost a post somewhere. I explained why what it does is not ai. I'm ok at the game and will finish; i Just think it is pretty lame. I recognize that you are impressed by simple procedural behavior and that is fine if that what you enjoy. I rather the game used less cheating and more logic myself.

Yes, we know what you think. You've repeated it multiple times. That doesn't change that yours is the minority opinion. Now how about you allow this thread to get back on topic?