Horror

Actual combat is not as scary as the implied threat of combat. The biggest cares result from moments devoid of any physical combat; instances in which players anticipate or fear they are about to fight, but do not actually end up doing so.

Cutscenes are generally not sources of fear for most players, but casual players react more strongly to them. Core players seldom find cutscenes scary. Most players find cutscenes to be a respite from the game itself, though a minority of players is capable of being scared by some videos.

The first confrontation is almost always the scariest. In every game, across all player experience-levels, the first encounters with the enemies are much scarier than later ones.

Repeat failure prevents scenes from retaining any initial scariness they may have had before. Whenever players repeatedly die or spend too long struggling with navigation, frustration replaces fear. If major usability issues exist/occur, then players will be far less scared.

Gore in isolation can be provocative, but not scary. In some cases, the grotesque can make scenes scarier, providing there are other factors also contributing. Players are frightened even more when normal scares are accompanied by disgusting or shocking content. This gory material alone, however, fails to scare players.

Casual players are more easily scared than core players, but also enjoy the games more. Experienced gamers' familiarity with the medium, and their existing expectations of it, means they are less likely to become scared than casual gamers.

The closer a game resembles film, the more casual players are scared. Conversely, the less scripted a game is, the more the core players are scared. Third-person, tightly scripted events are scarier to casual players than to core gamers, while first-person, generative events are scarier to experienced players.

Heightened tension can be created by a potent atmosphere. This will keep the player engaged and ultimately make the scares bigger. Games which keep players engaged even when events are not occurring (by presenting a stimulating atmosphere) are more likely to scare players when those events do occur.

Large numbers of enemies makes games less scary. Once players are asked to dispatch more than two or three enemies at a time, they become less scared. Familiarity with enemies renders them less scary. http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/6480/scary_game_findings_a_study_of_.php?print=1

User review: A game which can be used to define 'Survival Horror'. It did only take 7.5 hours to complete but the ride was like an intense G-force maximising, full loop-da-loop rollercoaster. A perfect nightmare, challenging your anal muscles to keep in the mess. Best £5.89 I have spent in a long while! http://www.metacritic.com/game/pc/outlast

Amnesia the Dark Descent

Amnesia: The Dark Descent is a survival horror video game by Frictional Games, released for Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux platforms. The game features a protagonist named Daniel exploring a dark and foreboding castle, while avoiding monsters and other obstructions as well as solving puzzles. The game was critically well received, earning two awards from the Independent Games Festival and numerous positive reviews.

Originally released independently as a download, the game has since been published in retail by 1C Company in Russia and Eastern Europe as well as THQ in North America. A collection of five short stories set in the world of Amnesia, written by Mikael Hedberg and illustrated by the game's concept artists, was also made available. In addition, the game's soundtrack is available for purchase and a free content expansion called "Justine" has been released as well as many fan-made expansions and stories such as White night, La Caza, Emma's story, and through the portal.

Amnesia is an adventure game played from a first-person perspective. The game retains the physical object interaction used in the Penumbra series, allowing for physics-based puzzles and interactions such as opening doors and fixing machinery. Few in-game objects are operated by toggle; to open a door, for instance, the player must hold down a mouse button and then push (or pull) the mouse. This gives the player stealth, allowing them to peek out a barely-opened door or open it slowly to sneak away, but also adds to the player's sense of helplessness, as it is now entirely possible to attempt to push open a "pull" door whilst danger approaches from behind.

In addition to a health indicator, Daniel's sanity must be managed. Being in darkness too long, witnessing unsettling events, or staring at monsters will reduce Daniel's sanity, causing visual and auditory hallucinations and drawing the attention of monsters. Light sources help restore sanity, and if none are available Daniel may use tinderboxes to ignite candles in wall sconces and candelabra, or deploy an oil-burning lantern found near the beginning of the game. However, the number of tinderboxes and the amount of oil available are both limited, and standing in a light source also makes the player more noticeable to monsters. The player must balance the amount of time Daniel spends in light and shadow. Sanity is fully restored once Daniel completes an objective or progresses the game's story. It may also be restored by staying in the shadows until Daniel passes out, but this leaves him extremely vulnerable to any nearby monsters.

If a monster spots Daniel, it will chase him until he's out of sight. If spotted, Daniel must flee, as Amnesia does not give the player access to weapons. Daniel must find hiding places or barricade doors with rocks, chairs and other obstacles; however, monsters are capable of tearing down doors in their path and kicking obstacles out of the way, and move extremely fast once they have spotted their prey. Players can also choose to hide Daniel in the shadows, at cost to sanity. Monsters who lose sight of Daniel will search for him for a time, but will eventually leave and vanish.

Without counting the units bought [through the Humble and Potato Bundles] our total lands at 710,000 units," Grip wrote on the Frictional Games blog. "Adding all HIB and Potato Sack sales gets us to 1,360,000 units in total, which can be called the optimistic figure ... A slightly pessimistic guess (not far from reality I think) is that 2/3 of every bundle and pack buyer already owned Amnesia. This gives us about 920,000 units in total."

What's really fascinating about Amnesia sales is that outside of obvious peaks during the game's initial release and later Indie Bundles, the figures remain consistent on a monthly basis. "Not counting any discounts, the monthly full price sales lie at over 10,000 units. This means that less then every 5th minute someone in the world is buying a copy of Amnesia ... The figures themselves are far beyond any guesses we would have made two years ago. It is also insane, because this number is actually higher than it was around three months after initial launch." Interestingly, Frictional's other horror series Penumbra also continues to sell 900 units per month, which alongside Amnesia should make 2012 Frictional's most profitable year. http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/119526-Amnesia-The-Dark-Descent-Sells-a-Million

Outlast

User review: Red Barrels have done a fantastic job combining an intensely disquieting setting, a unique visual look, and an incredibly effective camera gimmick to ensure that nobody escapes Mount Massive without a few nightmares.

Outlast is a first-person survival horror video game developed and published by Red Barrels, a company founded by programmers previously involved with video game franchises such as Prince of Persia, Assassin's Creed, Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell and Uncharted. Outlast centers around a story driven survival campaign told in first-person narrative and set in a dilapidated psychiatric hospital overrun by homicidal patients. Its presentation is similar to the found footage genre popularized in horror films. The protagonist, reporter Miles Upshur, is incapable of combat, except for scripted sequences allowing him to shove enemies out of his way. Without any traditional weapons, players are expected to navigate the facility's ransacked environment with parkour: vaulting over low obstacles, crawling, and sliding through narrow gaps. In addition, Miles may survive encounters with

assailants by hiding inside staff lockers or under beds; more intelligent opponents may search the room for an allocated period before moving on.

Miles carries with him only a notebook and a camcorder, with which he plans to document the horrors within the asylum. It has a night vision option for use in the asylum's many unlit sections. Use of the IR mode consumes batteries, which must be scavenged and replaced as the storyline progresses.[6] Plot details unfold through notes taken by the protagonist as footage is recorded through his camera, as well as manila folders scavenged from the environment.Outlast has sold over 15 million copies and has made over £224,850,000.

Slender: The Arrival

Slender: The Arrival is a video game developed by Blue Isle Studios as a sequel to Parsec Productions's Slender: The Eight Pages. It was released on Microsoft Windows and OS X on March 26, 2013. A Steam release was released on October 28, 2013. The game was released on PlayStation Network on September 23, 2014 in North America and September 24, 2014 in Europe and Xbox Live Arcade on September 24, 2014 worldwide. Like its predecessor, the game is based on the Something Awful forums' creation, the Slender Man.

The majority of the game takes place in abandoned areas (house, defunct mine, etc.), each with different objectives. Slender: The Arrival uses similar mechanics to its predecessor, The Eight Pages. The character is armed only with a flashlight. This limited defense forces a sense of helplessness, as the best way to survive in the game is to run whenever in danger. The Slender Man's behavior changes slightly between levels. In the first level, the Slender Man can be seen outside the window, and after going through the gate outside he can be seen on the top of hills well away from the player. In level two, he most often teleports off-screen or just out of the character's line of sight, but is capable of appearing directly in front of the player. It is observed that his motion centers around following the player, but consists largely of jumping from place to place, the inconvenience of which is increased as each of the eight pages are collected. His behavior is much the same as this in level four, except more activel. In level three, he pursues much less aggressively, serving less as the main antagonist of the level and more as a scare tactic, though one capable of teleporting directly in front of the player and ending the game. In this level, the main antagonist is a girl who chases the player (most often following her path directly, but has been seen teleporting. It is unknown whether this is a glitch or an in-game mechanic.) The only way of subduing her is by focusing the flashlight (on its second setting) on her. While looking at the Slender Man, the camera succumbs to electronic distortions such as static, blurring, color spots, audio distortion, etc., which obstructs the player's vision unless facing away, and far enough from it. The player cannot pause while this occurs, to prevent them taking a break due to being frightened. When caught, the death screen is also

different; while in Slender: The Eight Pages, the player saw a white static background with Slender Man's faceless head, the one for Slender: The Arrival is black, with an overhead-lit and color-distorted hue and less static. There are also new choices in difficulty (which must first be unlocked by completing the game once) being easy, normal, and hardcore. The differences being that hardcore allows the flashlight to run out, enemies are more aggressive and the player's stamina runs out quickly. Easy has infinite flashlight, a great deal of stamina, and the enemies are not very aggressive.