Visage: The Scariest PC Game Ever Made?

[Spukrian]

Yes, they deliberately made combat clunky to discourage players from engaging in it. But it's possible to learn and "git gud" at it. This however made Frictional very upset, so they didn't include any weapons in the sequels.

I did some digging and found this quote in an interview:

Players are so used to how other games work that when you give them a weapon they will try to kill everything they can! Even though we really tried to tone down the weapons in Overture, most people where focused on using them and they did not experience the game properly.

I believe this attitude sums up the decline of Frictional Games.

 

[United Nations]

Yes, they deliberately made combat clunky to discourage players from engaging in it. But it's possible to learn and "git gud" at it. This however made Frictional very upset, so they didn't include any weapons in the sequels.

I did some digging and found this quote in an interview:

Players are so used to how other games work that when you give them a weapon they will try to kill everything they can! Even though we really tried to tone down the weapons in Overture, most people where focused on using them and they did not experience the game properly.

I believe this attitude sums up the decline of Frictional Games.

Decline?

No combat, puzzle exploration is what set Frictional Games apart.

Amnesia single-handedly jumpstarted indie horror games.

 

[Spukrian]

No combat, puzzle exploration is what set Frictional Games apart.

I disagree. What set their games apart from others were multiple solutions to puzzles and massive amounts of interaction with the environment. Both of which is severly lacking in their later efforts..

 

[SumDrunkGuy]

I was honest to god gonna buy this, United Nations had me sold on it. I opened the store and was about to type in the name when I seen "Evil Dead available now". I lost all control after that. Sorry United.

 

[United Nations]

I was honest to god gonna buy this, United Nations had me sold on it. I opened the store and was about to type in the name when I seen "Evil Dead available now". I lost all control after that. Sorry United.

My PC meets minimum req's, lol.

 

[United Nations]

No combat, puzzle exploration is what set Frictional Games apart.

I disagree. What set their games apart from others were multiple solutions to puzzles and massive amounts of interaction with the environment. Both of which is severly lacking in their later efforts..

Did you play Machine for Pigs or Rebirth?

 

[Spukrian]

Did you play Machine for Pigs or Rebirth?

I've played both.

 

[United Nations]

Did you play Machine for Pigs or Rebirth?

I've played both.

I played about 30min of Rebirth before I uninstalled it, namely due to it being review bombed on Metacritic and having a bad experience with Machine for Pigs.

I don't care if it's broke, is Rebirth worth a playthrough gameplay-wise?

 

[Jack Of Owls]

The "human" baby-things in Dying Light with the powerful psychic attack that could almost one-shot you unsettled me, but I haven't played a game that scared me all the way through though there were some doom/heretic/hexen user-created wads (or even the official ID released ones) that sustained a strong creepy atmosphere consistently.

 

[Spukrian]

I don't care if it's broke, is Rebirth worth a playthrough gameplay-wise?

I was very disappointed with Rebirth. It wasn't worth it for me. Worse than Machine for Pigs in my opinion.

 

[SumDrunkGuy]

I don't care if it's broke, is Rebirth worth a playthrough gameplay-wise?

I was very disappointed with Rebirth. It wasn't worth it for me. Worse than Machine for Pigs in my opinion.

Nothing is worse than Pig Machine. I liked Rebirth but I'm in the minority here. It doesn't meet the Frictional standard and I found it to be extremely annoying to play at times but the story and certain areas/set pieces managed to keep me engaged. I was happy with it.

 

[United Nations]

Just installed "From the Darkness" and "Infliction: Demo" from Steam after I Googled "games scarier than Visage."

Hopefully, these are worth it.

...

From the Darkness was pretty damn creepy.

Took me less than a couple hours to beat.

Problem is... The game had zero backstory at all.

Aside from a random Russian dude visiting his deceased grandpa's apartment to collect a photo album.

Then there's a bunch of demonic entities that appear out of nowhere, and for what reason?

Whatever... N4bA is a developer to lookout for once they are able to make a full-length game.

...

The Infliction: Demo was total shit.

Fuck that game, what a lousy demo.

 

[SumDrunkGuy]

Hey look I found another Visage. These games just poured out of the woodwork didn't they.

 

[United Nations]

Hey look I found another Visage. These games just poured out of the woodwork didn't they.

I played the demo dude, it is in no way, shape, or form as good as Visage.

The other one I mentioned above, From the Darkness, is actually creepier than Visage, but it's only 2 hours long for $6.99 on Steam.

 

[Ivan]

I commented about my experience with Visage in the general "whatchu playing" thread. I thought it was solid. I finished it b/c of its strong sense of place, the visuals and the audio was well done. While the presentation was great, I found the narrative and the gameplay very weak. Glacial movement speed, and I kinda recall there being some odd progression bugs/sequences I had to do multiple times/or JUST EXACTLY how the game wanted before something would trigger. Still, plenty of cool eyecandy and set pieces to experience. Definitely a team/studio to keep an eye on.

and for the record, yeah this was a much, much better experience than Amnesia Rebirth or Pigs. Which is a shame really since Frictional was on a phenomenal roll of delivering fantastic titles up until Rebirth.

 

[Eyestabber]

Fear Effect was quite disturbing to a younger me. Not much of a jump scare game, but the atmosphere was oppressive, creepy, fucking perfect.

 

[United Nations]

I commented about my experience with Visage in the general "whatchu playing" thread. I thought it was solid. I finished it b/c of its strong sense of place, the visuals and the audio was well done. While the presentation was great, I found the narrative and the gameplay very weak. Glacial movement speed, and I kinda recall there being some odd progression bugs/sequences I had to do multiple times/or JUST EXACTLY how the game wanted before something would trigger. Still, plenty of cool eyecandy and set pieces to experience. Definitely a team/studio to keep an eye on.

and for the record, yeah this was a much, much better experience than Amnesia Rebirth or Pigs. Which is a shame really since Frictional was on a phenomenal roll of delivering fantastic titles up until Rebirth.

Did you play the finished version or an earlier build?

Only "bugs" I experienced, if you want to call them that, are the absence of the main character's animations.

Everything you carry floats directly in front of you... Plus the glued on eyes of every NPC I can remember.

The narrative, while not robust, was my favorite part of the game and helped to cement an atmosphere of dread.

Many parts of this game were totally original... It really took off from the slow beginning of your average family home that was a staple of this time period.

 

[luj1]

Idk what a scary game is

when i was a kid, i found half life scary

but also adventure games like heart of darkness were scary because of explicit death animations

depends if were talking about jump scares or a different kind of scary

 

[United Nations]

Idk what a scary game is

when i was a kid, i found half life scary

but also adventure games like heart of darkness were scary because of explicit death animations

depends if were talking about jump scares or a different kind of scary

As a kid in 1996, I remember the first Resident Evil game as being pretty terrifying.

Now looking back, the single-digit polygon characters look like total shit.

I know I've stated this before earlier in this thread, but videogame graphics are still not close to offering the same level of scares as movies can.

Instead of videogame graphics that match movie quality, current gen games have gone the way of hyperrealism, whereas graphics seek to augment cartoonishness rather than photorealism.

 

[Zarniwoop]

Started playing this and it's not scary at all.

Definitely "inspired" by Penumbra tho. Heavily.

 

[SumDrunkGuy]

Anybody here played Moons of Madness? It's only $15 and the trailer impressed me. Reviews aren't so great but hell I might just buy it for the visuals and atmosphere. Looks cool.

Fucking Visage never goes on sale.

 

[Mary Sue Leigh]

Wishing for another game like FEAR 1 but I know that won't happen.
It alternates the scary walking sim with scary stuff and big brain tactical gunfight segments. While I feel most people disliked that, I found it to be a perfect balance that kept me from getting bored at the ghost stuff that most likely wouldn't be able to harm me.
The faceless special forces guys with guns however, were.
Or maybe it's the setting such as the mundane but at the same time bizarre like a giant office building after hours, with no one there.
The kids today seem to have come up with a word for this, I think 'liminal spaces'. I do like that kind of stuff.

But to haunted house games such as Visage I'm practically addicted so feel free to share more good titles of that particular kind.
Two more I remember are Silver Chains and The Dark Occult, they're both set in more old timey houses and the latter is incredibly difficult imho.

 

[United Nations]

Started playing this and it's not scary at all.

Definitely "inspired" by Penumbra tho. Heavily.

Visage is inspired by Penumbra?

Nah, no way... Maybe the physics I guess, but that's it.

If Visage isn't creepy to you, checkout the other game I mentioned above, From the Darkness.

It's only 2 hours long and even more lo-fi than Visage, but it's definitely creepy.

(Larger, ever-present problem is... Games CANNOT be scary until computer graphics match reality).

N4bA, the developer, releases their next game "9 Childs Street" this fall on Steam.

 

[United Nations]

Wishing for another game like FEAR 1 but I know that won't happen.
It alternates the scary walking sim with scary stuff and big brain tactical gunfight segments. While I feel most people disliked that, I found it to be a perfect balance that kept me from getting bored at the ghost stuff that most likely wouldn't be able to harm me.
The faceless special forces guys with guns however, were.
Or maybe it's the setting such as the mundane but at the same time bizarre like a giant office building after hours, with no one there.
The kids today seem to have come up with a word for this, I think 'liminal spaces'. I do like that kind of stuff.

But to haunted house games such as Visage I'm practically addicted so feel free to share more good titles of that particular kind.
Two more I remember are Silver Chains and The Dark Occult, they're both set in more old timey houses and the latter is incredibly difficult imho.

Condemned: Criminal Origins?

That reminds me of the first FEAR.

 

[Heroic Liberator]

I recall finding The Suffering scary back in the day as a wee lad, but I doubt that it'd hold up today in its fright factor. Still pretty cool monster designs tho (which perhaps would be scary in some high budget movie adaptation, but not in an old timey video game with mediocre graphics).