Dino Crisis, Resident Evil, Silent Hill, Capcom and the PS1 (golden age of survival horror)

[Louis_Cypher]

I'm just playing Dino Crisis for the first time in probably two decades, and it reminds me, that while it's not a perfect game, there was a ton of interesting horror adventure in the late 90s on PS1. I expected that the 'tank controls' prevalent in this era, wherein you had to manually turn a character clockwise or anticlockwise, with the right and left D-pad, would instantly turn me away, as I found them hard as a kid, but it's actually fine with age, experience and better reflexes.

It's just a tight little sci-fi concept turned into a game, featuring nice exploration, without all the obsession with interior emotional lives that even matter-of-fact horror or action games think they must always add in today; they are just a team of special forces sent in to investigate a laboratory, and that is all you need to know. It feels like a mid-budget 90s horror movie, in the best of ways; refreshingly absent of modern political obsessions, just focused on neat plot/narrative.

It would be pretty nice if they did a remake in the same engine as the new Resident Evil 2, and just ignored the third game, reviving the series, with a next-gen Dino Crisis 3. Above is a bit of art for a fan remake project (hopefully to give Capcom ideas). Capcom seemed to have hit a slump around the PS3/360 era, like a lot of Japanese developers seeming to struggle to update their IPs, and make HD games. However, they seem to have recently returned to their roots and put out good stuff. I still discover new games on the PS1 and PS2 to this day, and there was a lot of interesting horror around then; I'm gonna play more of the games with pre-rendered backgrounds. It's not always necessarily scary, but nice to play blind as you don't always know what you will get unlike an AAA game today.

Please share any survival horror recommendations.

 

[Falksi]

That list really makes me realise how few games from the genre I actually like.

Dead Space 1 is a definite exception. Love it and definitely my favourite. Fantastic game.

Alan Wake and Condemned 2 were two other games which I really enjoyed. Resident Evil 4 was OK, but now special.

Not sure if Deadly Premonition & System Shock 2 would fall into the "Survival Horror" category too?

 

[Louis_Cypher]

I've not played Deadly Premonition, but I'd say System Shock defo qualifies, as you are surviving, and it's a horror

I am quite liking the PS1 games right now however, so stuff from the eastern tradition, as opposed to the western one which was more PC like. They play more slowly and deliberately, more like an exploration game in some respects. I'm not sure you could really say the Dino Crisis games are deeply horrifying; they are more like an exploration adventure with occasional scares due to dinosaurs breaking windows, etc. The other day I came across one for the Wii which I had never heard of, based on Tibetan folklore, called 'Cursed Mountain'. I like strange and different cultural settings in horror games.

 

[schru]

Red Seeds Profile (Deadly Premonition) is supposed to be a survival horror as its combat was modelled on that of Biohazard 4, though it is rather simple and easy.

 

[Lemming42]

The original Alone in the Dark shits all over Resident Evil IMO. The obstacles are a lot more creative, and the layout of the mansion more memorable. Plus the endings - boring-ass lab with Albert "Faggot Supreme" Wesker going off on a boring monologue about his shitty new zombie thing which you have to fight on a helipad, versus tunnels of FLESH leading to a living tree or whatever.

Resident Evil is such a direct ripoff that I'm not sure how they got away with it, but it's also a less interesting ripoff.

 

[Wunderbar]

The original Alone in the Dark is barely even a game, it's a Dragon's Lair-style glorified interactive movie full of gotcha trial-and-error traps. Japanese devs took the formula and made a proper game with actual gameplay mechanics.

 

[Wunderbar]

I'm used to be a rabid SH fan, but later relocated to a RE club. Of all survival horror games that I've played, early RE series had the best core gameplay loop - managing your resources, backtracking through non-linear levels, fighting/avoiding enemies and such. The other games either dipped too much into storyfag territory, or dipped too much into actiony territory, or were lacking in certain gameplay departments, or just weren't as tight mechanically.

RE1 remake is a pinnacle of the genre.

 

[Multidirectional]

That list really makes me realise how few games from the genre I actually like.

Dead Space 1 is a definite exception.

Dead Space is an action game not survival horror.

 

[Lemming42]

The gameplay mechanics are part of what turn me off RE, to an extent. The combat is just a nuisance. While I appreciate the ammo management angle of it, every time a zombie shows up, it's less a case of "oh god, can I afford to use the shotgun or the magnum here" and more a case of "oh god, more of this shit". Running back and forth to save rooms to get more ammo out of the infinite-storage-trunk doesn't add much to the game. And the less said about the boss fights, the better.

Alone in the Dark's combat is even worse, of course, but somehow it annoyed me less, maybe just because there's less of it overall.

The backtracking was something that didn't appeal to me much either, which is probably why I got on better with Alone in the Dark's smaller mansion with more distinct rooms.

I've always been confused as to why other post-RE tank control games decided to lean so heavily on the combat - games like Fear Effect and Dino Crisis, for example. Even RE3.

 

[Wunderbar]

I've always been confused as to why other post-RE tank control games decided to lean so heavily on the combat - games like Fear Effect and Dino Crisis, for example. Even RE3.

"RE sold well" + "making this more actiony further improves sales".

 

[Tacgnol]

Apart from Chris in RE1 with his tiny inventory, there is generally enough inventory space in every RE game to have at least 2 weapons + ammo and a recovery item.

That's usually more than enough to do most combats with, and have space left for doing puzzles.

If you need to carry an entire inventory of recovery items and ammo, you're bad at the game.

 

[Falksi]

That list really makes me realise how few games from the genre I actually like.

Dead Space 1 is a definite exception.

Dead Space is an action game not survival horror.

It's on the list. So I picked it.

 

[karoliner]

Dino Crisis 1 was very boring i only finished it once. 2 is much more fun. I don't play a lot of real horror games mostly action. Of the games i liked and would recommend the most:

Dead Space 1 and 2
F.E.A.R. 1 and 2
Silent Hill 1-4
Haunting Ground
Rule of Rose
Resident Evil 1, 4 and 8
Alan Wake and American Nightmare
The Coma 1 and 2 (korean horror games)
Tormented Souls (which is not out yet but the demo looks promising)

 

[oddech_wymarlych_swiatow]

Alone in the Dark is above them all.

 

[Ash]

List is missing some very important survival horrors which are among the best: System Shock 2, Darkwood, Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth. Instead it has mediocre shit like Dino Crisis, Alien: Isolation or The Evil Within, or games that aren't even survival horror like Clocktower (P&C Adventure Horror) Amnesia (Horror walking sim/puzzle) or FEAR (Action Horror).

Once again I cannot participate in Louis' polls, and Silent Hill is gonna win when it doesn't deserve to...a total classic, but the survival part is a bit mediocre with resource management barely being a concern because health and ammo is everywhere in abundance, and inventory management (e.g deciding what to carry or not) not existing.

 

[Louis_Cypher]

Some more bonus pictures of Regina's rubber-confined ass, for you latex fetishists:

Spoiler

What do people think of Haunting Ground? I was searching for some games a few years back for someone who didn't want combat, just exploration, and Haunting Ground came up. I think it has some enemies but maybe fewer? Also Fatal Frame, is another I never played back at the time. How is that? I do like J-horror when it is about folklore, hungry ghosts and stuff.

 

[Morpheus Kitami]

I've only played Alone in the Dark recently (past 5 or so years), the first two. It was really cool finally playing them, the original still has a few scares left in it despite being a hokey haunted house these days. Bit heavy on the puzzles in comparison to later entries in the genre. Which worked well in the original, but AitD2 had some issues. In that one far too many of the puzzles you were likely to get it right, but not actually do it the way the game wants you to, so you think you're wrong. That one needed some more time in the oven, because it was half-baked. Because, oh yeah, you have to fight a gymnast with a melee weapon with tank controls. I'm not normally one to complain about such things, but that seemed suspect. Melee combat in general seems to be based on whoever can get the other in a stun loop. While ranged combat seemed to be based solely on figuring out where to point the gun, because nobody figured out such things like auto-aiming yet.
On the unusual front, I remember the Men in Black game for PC and PSX being survival horror. It was only four levels long, but they were fairly long missions. In retrospect it felt more like the comic book than the movie, since you were actually supposed to be preventing information on alien encounters from getting out. Things like finding out what happened on a base in the south pole, or some aliens in some South American mine. The game expected you to fight a couple of the big bugs bare-handed, which being about 8 at the time, went about as well as you would expect. Also, for some reason it had quite a bit of platforming, which is interesting...to be positive.

 

[Wunderbar]

List is missing some very important survival horrors which are among the best: Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth. Instead it has games that aren't even survival horror like (Action Horror).

Call of Cthulhu DCotE turns into a full blown action game after you finish the prologue. It even lets you shoot Dagon in the face with a warship artillery.

 

[Mexi]

Resident Evil is the best series overall, but fucking hell, Silent Hill: 2 is maybe the best horror game ever made? It's a fucking masterpiece. I've played Siren: Blood Curse, and it's the most confusing, shitty game ever. I couldn't finish playing it as my PS3 always gets the YLOD, and I just ended up watching it on YouTube. The atmosphere is ridiculously depressing too. Just a huge buzzkill of a game.

Are the originals any better btw? Would it be worth it to watch them on YouTube since I'm not playing video games anymore. I don't really have time to play video games, but I love watching horror games on YouTube every now and then.

 

[Machocruz]

Other - System Shock 2. The level of immersion, of feeling like you are there experiencing those events is unmatched by anything on the list excluding SOMA, which I can't make a judgment on since I haven't played. How it's designed is really a great example of what separates, or used to separate, PC games from console.

 

[Morenatsu.]

List is missing some very important survival horrors which are among the best: System Shock 2, Darkwood, Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth. Instead it has mediocre shit like Dino Crisis, Alien: Isolation or The Evil Within, or games that aren't even survival horror like Clocktower (P&C Adventure Horror) Amnesia (Horror walking sim/puzzle) or FEAR (Action Horror).

Once again I cannot participate in Louis' polls, and Silent Hill is gonna win when it doesn't deserve to...a total classic, but the survival part is a bit mediocre with resource management barely being a concern because health and ammo is everywhere in abundance, and inventory management (e.g deciding what to carry or not) not existing.

Clock Tower and Amnesia aren't survival-horror, but Alien: Isolation is? I haven't played the latter two, but aren't these all about running around and hiding from invincible monsters? What, do you need to have combat and resource management to be about ‘survival’? I'd also count System Shock 2 as action-horror instead of survival-horror. It was very fast-paced and fun, and had no survival-ish feeling whatsoever.

Well, it's a stupid label, anyway. Every horror game is ‘survival horror’, which is like calling every single FPS an ‘immersive sim’. And RE is barely about survival compared to Sweet Home anyway trololololo

 

[Tacgnol]

I've only played Alone in the Dark recently (past 5 or so years), the first two. It was really cool finally playing them, the original still has a few scares left in it despite being a hokey haunted house these days. Bit heavy on the puzzles in comparison to later entries in the genre. Which worked well in the original, but AitD2 had some issues. In that one far too many of the puzzles you were likely to get it right, but not actually do it the way the game wants you to, so you think you're wrong. That one needed some more time in the oven, because it was half-baked. Because, oh yeah, you have to fight a gymnast with a melee weapon with tank controls. I'm not normally one to complain about such things, but that seemed suspect. Melee combat in general seems to be based on whoever can get the other in a stun loop. While ranged combat seemed to be based solely on figuring out where to point the gun, because nobody figured out such things like auto-aiming yet.
On the unusual front, I remember the Men in Black game for PC and PSX being survival horror. It was only four levels long, but they were fairly long missions. In retrospect it felt more like the comic book than the movie, since you were actually supposed to be preventing information on alien encounters from getting out. Things like finding out what happened on a base in the south pole, or some aliens in some South American mine. The game expected you to fight a couple of the big bugs bare-handed, which being about 8 at the time, went about as well as you would expect. Also, for some reason it had quite a bit of platforming, which is interesting...to be positive.

I always felt that AITD 3 was a good balance of the two games. It had a good amount of relatively logical puzzles and a fair bit of combat.

The wild west setting meant that there were no stun locking enemies with automatic weapons, and it also felt like they tried to claw back some of the horror element that was mostly missing in the second game.

 

[Pound Meat]

I chose Parasite Eve since you accidentally forgot to put Martian Gothic: Unification.

Why is F.E.A.R. on that list?

 

[Ash]

List is missing some very important survival horrors which are among the best: Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth. Instead it has games that aren't even survival horror like (Action Horror).

Call of Cthulhu DCotE turns into a full blown action game after you finish the prologue. It even lets you shoot Dagon in the face with a warship artillery.

False. Gameplay constantly switches between stealth, exploration/walking sim, action and puzzle. All the goddamn time. Based on that I'm questioning if you even played it. "Full-blown action game" Just because it has a brief segment where you missile a dude in the face doesn't mean shit. In Resident Evil 1 (the game that birthed the label, of course) you also missile a dude in the face.

And yes, for those that don't get it: "survival horror" is distinct from "action horror" or just "horror". It does need survival elements more involved than simply hiding from the monster in a closet, yet also can't be all-in action. Emphasis on survival via gameplay design is key. Every horror game (and most games in general) revolve around survival, but the survival horror places unique emphasis in it. Just like the somewhat newly popular "survival" (singular) genre where there is no horror, but the whole thing is entirely focused around survival. Games such as ARK: Survival Evolved.

"Survival Horror" label makes perfect sense to distinguish the from the shit horror games e.g 20 minute jumpscare walking sim horror games with zero gameplay, as well as to distinguish from the action-horror and any other horror subgenre. It is a distinct style of design and therefore needs a tag. You know, for when people want to discuss it, or seek out other games like it (play Darkwood you fucks).

Examples of special survival emphasis via gameplay design:

-Very limited inventory space. Pick and choose what is optimal for your survival. No walking tanks here, walking via tank controls aside.
-Enemies that reward little to nothing, only cost precious resources to remove. Therefore, sometimes avoidance or hiding in a closet like a pussy is best.
-Restrictive game saving
-Very stingy resource distribution.
-Need to scavenge and craft makeshift tools to survive like a fucking caveman.
-Limitations to player control, usually at least in the form of slow movement speed, so you can't overcome all challenges with raw dodging skill.

 

[Morenatsu.]

imagine caring about labels instead of just playing every game ever made