Saturday Night Horror Thread

That's just your opinion, like Gothic being immersive :^)

Any game with frequent switches between first person and third person has always felt like a half-measure to me.

I said "inadvertently", and you're forgetting the female vampires, the analytical work on the sexuality in the book is extensive.

You're forgetting that Carmilla is a separate book by a separate author.

No, seriously, they're called the brides of Dracula. I'll go drag out my copy and point you to the chapter they're introduced if you need convincing.

Certainly better than normal third person, and infinitely better than isometric third person, but I've personally never played a third person game that was even a little scary. Third person is a constant reminder that you're playing a game, and just doesn't work for me, even jumpscares lose all effectiveness.

I bet you have 40+ hours played on Skyrim you fucking casual

Don't bring up your favorite game in an unrelated thread and expect to not get bullied. Gothic's pretty easy.

Post your skyrim time played you fucking casual :^)

Not to mention that Dracula converted Lucy Westenra into a vampire.

Start talking about horror games or we'll take this somewhere else, like your mother's house

Right, exactly

Is it just me or hast (western) literature somewhat "tamed" folklore monster? I mean, witches as malevolent spellcasters who in fact are in league with the devil and have the resulting powers probably could be quite scary, but thanks to the Brothers Grimm, all we see are old hags that can overwhelm little children at best (or rather, are overwhelmed by them).

I like to believe that the original idea for witches was not just an old woman with magical powers, but rather some type of downright evil supernatural force that dwelled deep within the darkest forests.

But what about parasites?

that's… that's terrifying.

What about them?

For instance, why aren't there more games centered around them? I recently had an idea for a sci-fi horror game in which you, a xenobiologist - are called to a secret research station, which so happens to have caught the biomechanical ship of an alien entity. Rest assures, all hell breaks lose when they remove the pilot organism from the ship, as this triggers the ship's defense systems, which in turn consume all bio-matter in the immediate vicinity to create guardian entities and stationary defenses.

Separated from its ship, the alien creature has no choice other than infesting you, even though it can not take direct control of your body. The player character agrees to help the parasitoid (or rather, symbiotic) Alien to get back to its ship in exchange for the alien shutting down the ships defense mechanism (i.e., shutting down all the nasty guardians walking around).

Gameplay would be an action adventure with shooter elements - while you have to fend off the guardian organisms, you also have to solve various riddles around the ship, and the alien symbiont occasionally grants you upgrades in the form of mutations that allow you to breath otherwise toxic air, for instance.

Can't speak to why there aren't more of them, but there are definitely a few, in addition to La Plaga I already posted. Don't mean to piss on your originality but the idea you put forward sounds kind of similar to The Many from System Shock 2, and there's also the Metroids and X parasites from Metroid Fusion.

As far as the idea for the mechanic, that sounds more like straight symbiosis, and for a game centered around parasitism I'd like it to be more focused on the idea of something living inside of you which is slowly draining away your life without your knowledge, an entirely negative relationship. There's always the plague from Pathologic, but that's not exactly the same thing. I could see someone arguing that in VtMB you play as a parasitic creature, which is a different spin on it also.

Fair enough. The general idea primarily is that parasitism (and endoparasitism in particular) is quite horrifying as it combines the them of rape (you are "impregnated" against your will") with a perverted version of childbirth. And if you actually survive the "birth" and have to kill "your" child as quickly as possible, you add infanticide atop of that list.

I put at least 5 or so hours into Dreadout, and honestly it makes me wish it had a bigger budget. It does have charm though and makes me interested in Fatal Frame.
Great sound design and creepy music helps. That or being able to fight back but you're a bit weak and enemies can easily fuck you over.
It doesn't matter either way, as long as it gives me an "Oh fuck I'm doomed" moment.

Witches do not get enough love (or fear, rather)

Nuttin'
Darkness Within 1 and some Resi5.
Droning music, ambient noises, shit like wood creaking and pipes whistling. Don't make the environment dark as fuck, but rather give it an uncanny valley kind of feel. Give the player some down time where they can feel safe, but keep these moments far away from each other. Make them fear what they can't see. There's more but I'm tired and can't think straight.
They could very well return as villains, but only if devs go back to real vampires: Animalistic, undead humans who act on their primal instincts and their need to feed; not sparkly ones who are oh so tormented. One type of Vampire I don't see is the one from Nosferatu on Snes. A beast that just doesn't give a fuck and keeps dead, rotting bodies and other creatures where he lives just because. He doesn't care about luring anyone in or be welcoming, he doesn't even give a fuck about keeping his castle clean. He just feeds and throws the bodies where the fall for others to see.
Third person actually makes me feel like my character is dying, in first person it might as well just be some dude dropping a camera on the floor.
Because the game sold like shit and scalpers make it so expensive that you might as well not bother. It doesn't help that it's not THAT good to begin with.