Halloween Gaming 2019 Edition

It's that time of year again. Time to get some spooky gaming going, especially since I'm growing quickly bored with Fallout 4. I think I'm going to hook up the PS2 and try to finish Silent Hill 3 and maybe restart Fatal Frame. On the PC front, I was going to do Amnesia: The Dark Descent, but I have a coworker who recommended me a few indie Horror RPGs like Ib, Mermaid Swamp, and Pocket Mirror. So I may check one of those out and see how well horror translates into RPGs.

So what are your favorite scary themed games? :tonberry:

Hmm... Don't think I have anything planned this year. Might actually finally get around to The House in Fata Morgana, I guess? If I have the time, of course

I played Alien: Isolation last Halloween which was far too scary for me. I lasted an hour before hiding in a locker, saving and never loading it up again.

I actually really want to finally play SH2 at some point, maybe Halloween is a good excuse/opportunity to finally get around to it. Does it have a functional PC version?

It does. But I don't think it's available through Steam or GOG or any similar services. You'd have to resort to... other means

In Halloween gaming news...

I've started Amnesia: The Dark Descent, which is kind of weird, but largely because it's a style of game I just don't play very much. Unfortunately, I got distracted really early into the game so I didn't get very far. I am hoarding my lamp oil though, and while nothing terribly scary has happened yet, the audio cues have been good at getting my heart racing when the game hints at weird trout.

I also started back up my old save file of Silent Hill 3, which may have ended badly because I have apparently broken every PS2 controller I owned which makes the game unplayable one way or another. The best one I have has the R2 button broken, which would normally not be a big deal but SH3 has that as the "weapon ready" command meaning I can't fight anything which is a bit of a problem in this game. I finally found an old PS1 Dualshock controller that still worked, so I can finally continue on. I am at the point where I've finally reached Silent Hill.

I also got inspired to do a NG+ of Bloodborne, though I'm going to try to keep my playtime on this game at a minimum since I've already beaten it. Took down the Cleric Beast and I'm currently opening up all the pathways in Central Yharnam before dealing with Scrub Filter Hunter Gasciogne. I already obtained the Music Box as well. It's interesting going through because I'm strong enough to lay waste to most of the enemies, but the difficulty spike given has kept me on my toes at least. The nice thing is simply just knowing my way around cause holy hell is the early portions of the game very maze-like. I'm sporting a basic Hunter Pistol +9 and the Rakuyo +10.

I got nothing planned and I just played RE2 this summer, but I might put it back in on the 31st and try one of the game modes.

Silent Hill 3 is such an odd mix. On the one hand, I'm liking the characters and production values, but the gameplay and pacing is really getting to me. I just reached the Amusement Park which was the setting of the game's prologue. The game has certainly picked up, but I feel I can safely say that SH3 is a bookend style game that starts and ends strongly, but is bogged down by a really lousy middle section. It takes you 2/3rds of the game to reach the point where the plot properly kicks off.

Amnesia has been interesting. I like the fact that my only real options are to run and not fight. Most of the items I have are just fuel for lights, and the plot is finally picking up as I try to investigate why I gave myself amnesia and left notes behind telling me to murder someone. There is some real potential here.

As I promised myself, I have not touched Bloodborne as much, I'm still just exploring Yharnam and getting all the short cuts activated. Still need to fight Gasciogne, but I pretty much have the main path to his boss fight ready. Funny enough, I'm dreading the optional battle with his partner Henrick more than him. Looking at the Trophy list, I'm only missing three, I know two are the endings, but the last one is beating the Pnumerian Queen from the optional dungeons, and that is sadly something I really should have done before jumping into NG+.

I feel SH3's biggest weakness isq that it is a sequel. I feel that everything about Heather and her personal journey through Silent Hill would have been better if it hadn't been bogged down by forcibly tying it to the first game. I like the connection, overall, and feel the callbacks are nice, but it would probably have been better if the connections were looser and the game actually explored feminine horror more. The themes kinda die halfway through when it becomes a straightup revenge plot - and yeah, the lore dumps kinda slow the game to a crawl. It's kind of a clear contrast between SH2 and SH3, as in SH2 you had to walk down a very long, boring path until you actually reached the town, but that made it feel that much more isolating and hard to go back, while in SH3 you get three entire dungeons or so outside of Silent Hill and that just makes it feel... kinda detached from everything? You're literally just going back home and nothing is weird aside from this weird detective (who is potentially half-naked) and no-eyebrows lady.

Honestly, this only reminds me how unfair it is that this game is considered the "last good Silent Hill" while Silent Hill 4 is treated as a franchise killer. This game feels like a rush job in so many aspects (the areas of Silent Hill you visit are just retreads of the second game's areas - not even the first game's which would have been more thematically appropriate) and aside from the very fresh take on the protagonist, honestly doesn't feel like it really adds much to the general Silent Hill themes. And I was never really scared throughout this game, tbh. The Room, on the other hand, had pretty great pacing from the start (slowed down a bit later with the dungeon retreads) and has an actually interesting departure from the format, as well as some unsettling scares that genuinely got to me.

No hate for SH3. I just want justive for SH4.

Haven't played much SH3, instead I dived a bit deeper into Amnesia and fell off the wagon concerning Bloodborne.

For Amnesia, I've reached the first story location my character had a funky flashback for. The opening area isn't too bad and while I spotted some monsters, I didn't really have much problem evading them. From my understanding, they get more aggressive later. Got some nice Lovecraftian backstory going on here with diary entries and even some gothic horror with a subplot about the Lord of the castle hiring some men to kidnap locals, only for the authorities to start investigating and said lord locked them all in the wine cellar to die or something possibly worse. I'm on my way to a lab, but the area is flooded thanks to the earthquakes and I've encountered my first real pain in the ass monster. Critter is invisible, but I can tell where it is from the footsteps it makes in the water. The issue is that he is faster than me, and while I can evade him by staying out of the water or throwing items to distract it, I have to hit a silly switch to open a door, but said switch is on a timer. I got a bit bored trying to do the marathon race to the door so I've stopped there.

In Bloodborne.... Well I've taken out both Gasciogne and Vicar Amelia. Never realized there was a summon spot for the Amelia fight, but I used him more to deal with the two crazed hunters guarding the south door to Old Yharnam. Took a dive into the Chalice Dungeons only to be reminded of why I ended up quitting them and just ending the game. The last few Chalice Dungeons start adding some nasty restrictions, namely halving your health and then overloading the place with hard hitting or speedy enemies. Despite my gripe, I took down the boss that was giving me issues before I finished the game, but I'm probably going to avoid going further until I gain some more levels to help balance the higher difficulty in NG+. I have most of Cathedral Ward explored and with Amelia gone, we've shifted to actual night in Yharnam meaning I can do a few side-quests like sending people to one of the two "safe" houses and helping Eileen the Crow hunt a few mad Hunters. I'm currently playing around with a few new weapons, namely having a ball playing with the Scythe weapon. I may deal with Old Yharnam next, I'm just debating if I want to tangle with a boss I disliked to open the backdoor, or if I want to play bullet hell with the Gatling weilding hunter guarding the place.

Came back to SH3 and have finally reached the final boss. Man this game is back heavy. It just feels like a lot of the backstory of the cast really doesn't come into play until the end when little of it is enough of a bombshell to hold onto it. I'll give my final thoughts once I beat the game. I've been a bit too distracted to play the other games.

I played through Call of Cthulhu, Resident Evil 2, and SOMA with a friend recently, as per our tradition of playing games together that we're too scared to play solo. It's amazing how much "the ability to fight back" helps, even if that ability is only minor, to minimise the fear factor. Of course, smurf Mr X as a blanket rule. We really should give Silent Hill a spin. Recommendations for the best entry point for newcomers?

League of Legends. The skill level of some players is scary.

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Originally Posted by Jiro

We really should give Silent Hill a spin. Recommendations for the best entry point for newcomers?

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Silent Hill 1. It's what started it all and is the creepiest entry by a mile. If you can't get past this being a PS1 title, then 2. It's completely standalone and works great as an entry point, since most of the later entries take more or less direct inspiration from it. 3 is a sequel to 1, so that's a no, and 4, while a fantastic game, kind of shakes up the series formula a lot so it's not exactly the OG Silent Hill experience you're getting here. Have not played any of the post-Team Silent titles, so I can't comment on them.

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Originally Posted by Fynn

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Originally Posted by Jiro

We really should give Silent Hill a spin. Recommendations for the best entry point for newcomers?

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Silent Hill 1. It's what started it all and is the creepiest entry by a mile. If you can't get past this being a PS1 title, then 2. It's completely standalone and works great as an entry point, since most of the later entries take more or less direct inspiration from it. 3 is a sequel to 1, so that's a no, and 4, while a fantastic game, kind of shakes up the series formula a lot so it's not exactly the OG Silent Hill experience you're getting here. Have not played any of the post-Team Silent titles, so I can't comment on them.

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Wholeheartedly agree with this. Silent Hill is one of my favourite PSone era games, made even more special that when I first played it I had a NTSC copy on my PAL PSone so everything was in black and white (due to my TV being so old that it didn't have a SCART socket) which added to overall atmosphere so much - although it meant that one door puzzle took me forever where I didn't have any colours to go by :lol:

Yeah, I'd say Silent Hill 1 or 2 are the best starting entries. I started with SH2 which is my fave entry, but played SH1 last year and had a blast with it. The technological limitations of the hardware only add to the creepy factor of the game. It's interesting how the PS2 entries utilize a film filter on the games as well to give it a more aged feeling. If there is one thing Team Silent has always done a stellar job of, it's constructing an eerie atmosphere through their audio and visuals.

Well, Silent Hill 3 is finally finished. Overall, it's been the toughest entry in the Team Silent entries for me, both literally as a game and figuratively in my investment with it. There are some great ideas here, an excellent cast, and the usual awesome atmosphere the team is known for; but this was really the hardest game to get into for me. I honestly thought SH1 would be that, but I blasted through that game. It took me over two years to finally beat this game and my playtime is under six hours. It just could not hold my attention. So let's break this down and do my usual +/- comparison of the individual elements.

Story: I honestly liked the plot, while I agree with Fynn that I had wished the series moved away from the silly cult angle, I liked the idea of seeing and adult version of the child Harry rescued in the first game would turn out. I feel there was an interesting hook still here so I didn't mind the fact the game is a distant sequel to the first one. My real complaint of all this is really that the story under performs in what it was trying to do. I don't know if Konami simply made them rush this game out the door, budget cuts, or what; but SH3 feels like a half-assed attempt at a really good idea.

This thought didn't occur to me until I reached the final dungeon, which was a semi-redo of the final area from SH1 which involved seeing a few locations from around the town pertaining to Alessa. I realized how awkward it was that we spent 3/4ths of the game just trying to find the excuse for Heather to visit the town and when we got there, we only really visited one old location from the original game and majority of what you see of the actual town was just reused from SH2. I mean it was Alessa's childhood home, so you think they would have had you going through recreations of SH1 areas. In fact, part of me thinks the building area you have to explore before reaching home would have fit so much better had it just been a location in the main town instead of Heather's absolutely bonkers return trip home.

Having Heather explore the SH1 Silent Hill would have been neat and helped with her character arc concerning how she is Alessa, but really her own person as well. Her commentary when she sees some of the most iconic places were some of the most interesting parts of the final dungeon. Likewise, exploring the town would have allowed them to better spread out the subplot concerning Vincent and Claudia, instead of having most of it dumped on you in the final dungeon. Another issue is that while most of the SH games have a killer plot twist in them, I feel like Heather's would have been a cool bombshell had it not been spoiled for me, but it also brings to light all of the issues from above. This is in contrast to SH2, where the major spoiler was also ruined for me, but honestly enhanced the whole experience because it made picking up the symbolism and subtext more rewarding and noticeable.

Characters: Honestly the game had a great cast, and I really loved Heather. I appreciate the fact that she didn't play up damsel in distress like so many female characters do in this genre, and found it amusing that after awhile she not only got use to SH's shenanigans but became vocally irritated by it much like how the player would feel. She had the right amount of vulnerability and inner strength to make her super endearing. I especially love how in the ending, she finally breaks down after everything is done to finally come to terms with all the trauma she went through in the game. Her commentary from reading objects was hilarious and I love the playful "take that!" to some of he weirder parts of SH2 if you have a save on the card. Heather was easily the best thing about this game.

The supporting cast isn't too bad either. Douglas became a pretty interesting guy once you reached SH and Vincent was an interesting foil to both Heather and Claudia. I only wish both of them had a little more screen time to flesh out their arcs better. Same goes for Claudia, who is just as demented as Alessa's mother was in SH1, maybe even more so.

Gameplay: Here's the other place where I feel a lot of things went wrong. I feel a lot of people complained o how easy SH2 was compared to the first game so the devs decided to ramp up the difficulty. There is an odd focus on combat in this game that really didn't do it any favors. Enemy A.I. is far more aggressive than in SH2, which is not necessarily a bad thing since it does ramp up the tension, but I feel the enemy types were poorly balanced. Half of them are speedy annoyances that will make you curse the more aggressive A.I. whereas the other half are massive meat bags who are always situated in small areas that are difficult to maneuver around. The game almost forces you to have to fight and kill a lot of these creatures just so you can have time to check your map and not get molested. Course the real issue at hand here is that many of these enemies can do a ton of damage and Heather goes down really easily. The other major issue is that enemies are just massive damage sponges in this game. Even the dog enemies felt like they took way more dame than they should reasonably be able to, so the last leg of the game became an issue because I got a bit too frivolous with ammo and walked into a super tanky final boss fight having to learn how to melee her since aI had virtually no ammo for any of my guns. The game adds a block function to combat but the feature is way too slow that only the most bumbling of telegraphed attacks will allow you to time it right. Even then, some of these windups are so slow, the block may even subside before they actually attack making the whole point moot. That' not to say you can't become a combat expert, the issue isn't that these tools don't work, it's more that they have a higher learning curve than I feel the game warrants seeing how the clunky tank controls and slow ass animations make combat an utter chore to begin with. I guess I can commend them on trying to make it more worthwhile, but it only made me wish I switched gameplay to easy mode so I didn't have to waste my time on the least enjoyable part of the game. I can't wait to get to SH4 and add breakable weapons and item management to this terrible formula. The puzzles are still fun, if a bit more out there in this entry. I also, I think it was BS that the human sized enemies can block and take scratch damage from your weapons. I know the Memory of Alessa is basically a dark psychic phantom created from the recesses of Heather's soul, but it doesn't change the fact that it's total bulltrout she can take scratch damage from a shotgun blast to the face just because she raised her puny arms up a bit. Not to mention the computer seems to cheat a bit in this aspect with zen like reflexes to block and being able to hold a block pose longer than Heather can.

Level design is a bit hit or miss. On the one hand, the locations themselves are pretty well done and have the usual twists and turns expected from the series with special points going to the Mall, Subway, and Amusement Park. But the linear nature of the game, and the near removal and lobotomizing of the town itself hurts the game's pacing.The town can be nerve wracking in the beginning of the games, and sure most fans complain it's a lot of dead space, but it does serve a purpose as being a bit of a palette cleanser for the player. Cause eventually the town becomes much less scary than the actual locations you need to go to, and the downtime between finding areas helps to reset the tension. SH3's more linear approach just makes the game feel exhausting after awhile. The mall level itself is massive and takes what feels like forever to complete, so to follow it up with the spooky claustrophobic subway afterwards just felt like overkill. Not helping matter is the fact that all but the final two locations have a Light and Dark world variant which became a bit more predictable than it should have, and making these locations feel like forever. For a game that I timed in under six hours, it really felt like it was going on three times longer than necessary. Not helped by the fact not a whole lot of relevant things happen in the first three areas besides Heather wondering why she's having this nightmare.

Music and Atmosphere: Not going to lie, Team Silent still brings it with great visuals and designs combined with an awesome score that is equally on par with the earlier installments. The VA work still feels a bit wonky and some of the motion capture elements give away the fact the actors were trying to get around wearing bulky suits, but it honestly adds a charm to the game and more down to earth tone to the cutscenes, so no complaints here.

Final Thoughts: The game has a serious pacing issue not only in its narrative but also with the core game. I kept putting the game down because there was little narratively going on to keep me invested and the gameplay's constant barrage of dungeon to dungeon with wonky controls and combat made playing through it feel more like a chore than usual. I mean the first two game's weren't great in this department either, but something about the design here really just wore my patience thin. I feel it was a lack of breathing room between locations and the heavier emphasis on combat was likely the culprit. While I enjoyed the game being a direct sequel to SH1, I feel the team didn't take the idea far enough, which is sort of why I can agree with some detractors that SH3 may have worked better as a standalone title like SH2 was. The game needed to be longer, get you into the town faster, and give the player a real focus much sooner than it did. Once the revelation was made about the twist concerning Heather, the game should have let her explore the first game's part of SH1 and let Heather walk in Harry Mason's shoes while giving more time to build up Vincent's subplot and Cluadia's past to really make the ending sequences more cathartic for the player. It's not a bad game, but it's harder for me to recommend over the first two games for sure.

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Late to the party and most of these aren't technically RPGs, but I think they hit the horror element anyway. All of these are available on Steam.

Sound of Drop is Visual Novel that I've recommended on here before, but I'm going to let the game's intro theme and artwork speak for itself:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mnFNMHM7-aw


Tokyo Dark is an interesting story about a cursed mask, though I haven't finished the game and am still working my way through it. The main character is really likeable and their are plenty of achievements to get.

The letter is a very choice driven VN about a haunted mansion. The decisions you make affect who lives and who dies, and the opening and ending theme songs are really nice. The artwork takes some getting used to, but I got past it by the time I finished the demo.

Betrayer is on the scarier side of my preference range with a default black/white/red color scheme which makes trying to see the skeletons you're supposed to shoot all the more difficult. Though to be fair the scary spot doesn't start until you unlock the night world, which is a bit into the story. Also haven't finished this one because I keep running out of ammo, so I'd say it's on the challenging side if you like that sort of thing.

P.R.I.C.E. is also a great Halloween game as it's free and short. It's an escape to room type game with beautiful artwork and music.