Shocktoberfest: Enter The Nightmare -- A Month-Long Journey Through The Horror Game Genre

When does this start?

Shocktoberfest begins on October 1st, and will last the entire month of October, ending at 11:59 PM on Halloween night.

What should I play?

Anything that falls under the classification of a horror game. Survival horror, action horror, a horror-themed FPS, anything with zombies, etc. In the interest of having fun, this can be more of a loose definition of what defines a horror game, and constitute anything that is more-or-less "horror themed". So games like Gears of War or even Luigi's Mansion are fine.

For me, it's very much the same outlook as Backlaugust -- I've got horror games in my backlog, and it's time to play them. How many games you want to play is up to you, whether that's just one game or a few games. Any platform, doesn't matter. They can be new games, old games. Even horror games you've already beaten long ago and want to replay. You don't have to choose all of your games up front; you can if you want, but it's fine to just take it one-game-at-a-time.

Who should participate?

If you:

a. Enjoy horror games
and/or
b. Have at least one horror game in your backlog
and/or
c. Plan on buying a new horror game (such as, I don't know, ZOMBIU!!!!!!!!)

you should do this.

The purpose of this is a little less about seeing how many games we can beat, but for everyone to share in the experience of playing something scary. A good horror game can be a tough thing to get all of the way through to the end, but with some moral support from the rest of the community that's going through the same thing, maybe we can all make it back into the light by November! That's what it comes down to -- having fun, and being scared shitless. And being scared shitless is a lot more fun when being scared shitless as a group.

One last thing -- for your fellow NW-er who hasn't played every game, try using spoiler tags whenever possible for anything major that's story-related, or just in general anything that should not be spoiled. So, "I can't believe Leon died at the end!" instead of "I can't believe Leon died at the end!"


Completed (18)



Kentucky Route Zero, Act 1 (Secret_Tunnel, 10/6)
The House of the Dead: Overkill (GameDadGrant, 10/7)
Dead Space (PogueSquadron, 10/11)
Kentucky Route Zero, Act 2 (Secret_Tunnel, 10/14)
Fatal Frame (TheBigG753, 10/17)
Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse (PogueSquadron, 10/20)
Dead Rising 2 (Zero, 10/20)
Dead Space Extraction (Mop It Up, 10/21)
Super Castlevania IV (Het_Nkik, 10/23)
Spirit Camera: The Cursed Memoir (GameDadGrant, 10/24)
Zombies Ate My Neighbors (Het_Nkik, 10/26)
ObsCure II (r_hjort, 10/26)
Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon (Jargon, 10/26)
Resident Evil: Revelations (ludist210, 10/28)
ZombiU (Mr_Mustache, 10/29)
Fatal Frame II: Crimson Butterfly (TheBigG753, 10/31)
Project Zero 2: Wii Edition (r_hjort, 10/31)
Zero: Tsukihami no Kamen/Fatal Frame IV: Mask of the Lunar Eclipse (Het_Nkik, 10/31)


LEFT 4 DEAD (10)

999: Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors (Secret_Tunnel, in progress)
Castlevania: Lords of Shadow (GameDadGrant, *has thrown in the towel*)
Dead Space: Extraction (chrisguy, through 5 levels)
Doom II (Pokefreak911, 12 levels in)
Resident Evil Zero (gojira, at the Training Facility)
TellTale's The Walking Dead (Zero, finished Episode 3)
The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask (Pokefreak911, through Stone Tower)
Zero Escape: Virtue's Last Reward (Zero, finished first run)
ZombiU (gojira, Tower of London)
ZombiU (r_hjort, whack-a-zombie)


The Players (20)

chrisguy: Dead Space: Extraction
deathly_hallows: Cult County, Resident Evil 4, Resident Evil: Deadly Silence
DrFinkelstein: ZombiU
GameDadGrant: Spirit Camera: The Cursed Memoir, The House of the Dead: Overkill, Castlevania: Lords of Shadow
gojira: ZombiU, Resident Evil Zero
Hero_of_Hyrule: Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon
Het_Nkik: Super Castlevania IV, Zombies Ate My Neighbors, Zero: Tsukihami no Kamen
Jargon: Amnesia: The Dark Descent, Dead Space, Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon
kriswright: ZombiU
ludist210: Resident Evil: Revelations
Mop It Up: Dead Space Extraction
Mr_Mustache: ZombiU, Castlevania
PogueSquadron: Dead Space, Castlevania 3
Pokefreak911: The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask, Bioshock, Bioshock 2, Doom II
r_hjort: Obscure 2, Project Zero 2: Wii Edition, ZombiU
Secret_Tunnel: Dead Space 3, Kentucky Route Zero, 999: Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors, Red Dead Redemption: Undead Nightmare.
Shadowlink: ZombiU
Stephen: Alan Wake
TheBigG753: Fatal Frame, Fatal Frame II: Crimson Butterfly, Fatal Frame III: The Tormented
Zero: Dead Rising 2, Castlevania (III or Adventure Rebirth), Virtue's Last Reward, The Walking Dead


LAST YEAR'S THREAD

URL to share (right click and copy)

@vids I forget, how many players is Revelations co-op?

@gojira

I went "shopping" trying to fill up my box..and found that space is finite, as you have. Planks upon planks..

@Zero

It's just two I think.

@Mr_Mustache

So many planks. There are a lot of times I want this game to be Fallout. With the limited inventory I think you should be able to put stuff in the boxes and containers you find. That way stuff isn't just lost.

@gojira
The syringe allows you to extract virucide from certain infected. Your scanner will be able to tell you if an infected is virucide positive or not. When you approach a virucide positive body you will be given the context sensitive option of extracting some with your syringe by pressing the A-button. The syringe is now a life insurance of sorts, allowing you to get away from what would otherwise be an unavoidable bite, by injecting virucide into your attacker's neck. The infected will die immediately, but now you'll have to hunt down more virucide if you want to use the syringe again.

EDIT: Although I guess you knew the basics since you got a bit of a briefing when you got the item.

@gojira
As for the storage, the whole concept of the game is about working with limitations, managing your resources and being forced to make hard decisions! You'd take out what little is left of the survival in the survival horror experience by getting rid of that!

Played a bit more Fatal Frame last night, and welp, this game is officially pretty damn scary. I felt on edge for most of the time last night, for a few reasons. First, there's a pretty substantial difficulty spike starting with the third chapter. All previous encounters were all 1-on-1, but now ghosts sometimes appear in groups, which is a lot harder to defeat without taking damage. Also, ghosts on the whole are becoming less human-like in appearance and more menacing and difficult. The more frequent "mini-boss" ghosts now force you to study their actions and behaviors to find their weakness and determine when to snap a photo. It's gotten a lot more stressful in that regard.

Aside from that, I sorta screwed up by saving the night before after a pretty lackluster performance in one of the battles at the end of Chapter 2. As it turned out, I finally reached that point in the game where I was supply-starved and didn't really have what I needed for how relentless the ghost encounters would become in Chapter 3. I ended up dying a few times early in the chapter because I had to go through several areas without having any way to replenish health. That's another thing interesting about this chapter. If you go along the "golden path" (i.e. only go to the next area that you're supposed to go to), there are hardly any helpful items to find laying around like there were earlier in the game. If you go off-script a bit, the game punishes you for this exploration by having a powerful, almost impossible-to-kill ghost show up from time to time and chase you for a few rooms ala Nemesis in RE3. It's a scary moment each time this dude shows up.

Unfortunately for me, I had to go on a few supply runs through already-explored areas to try and find as many items as I could, which meant a lot of "OH SHIT -- RUN! RUN! RUN!" each time that it appeared. I've managed to go through a good chunk of the mansion and feel sufficiently stocked up right now for what lies ahead in the immediate future (some big-time ghost busting!). But I've got to say that my time spent exploring for supplies was a pretty unsettling experience.

Right now, nowhere feels safe, not even the typically "safe" areas, and I've never felt more vulnerable than I do right now as any next room could spell an encounter that ends in my death. I'd say I'm feeling sufficiently spooked at this point...


@Mr_Mustache

You're probably somewhere between a third and halfway through, if I had to guess. I couldn't give a very good time estimate because I play these types of games really slowly.

I put some more time into Spirit Camera: The Cursed Memoir and at this point, I think I'm about halfway done. Took out two ghosts (the second one was NOT easy to figure out how to get him to appear), and I feel I'm getting to the bottom of the mystery.

I'm not sure exactly how long this game goes for, but I "stumbled" across some information that I think will act as a sort of "revelation" as to what the story is about. Anyway, it just feels like a halfway point to me. I hope to finish this game off in the next couple of days or so.

@r_hjort

I should probably pay more attention. I understood the refilling part, but I didn't get how you use it.

And I understand limited resources. Maybe it's just how it's presented, but it just feels like you should be able to drag stuff into boxes and not just out of them.

@gojira
I forgot it even came out on Wii U. Was talking of the 3DS version.

@Zero
I believe its 2player but if we get a timetable and build up a roster going maybe we can rotate a few pairings.

@vids

Yeah, Revelations is 2-player co-op.

TheBigG753 said:

I couldn't give a very good time estimate because I play these types of games really slowly.

Me, too!

@gojira

I'm back in the game tonight, woo!

EDIT- And I got some bald dude now who shaved his head, not bald because he's emaciated..like my old old guy.
He looks "ready for action."

Doesn't look like I'm gonna get around to Dead Space 3. I'm really enjoying 999 though; I love how grounded it is in real life. I'm learning all sorts of awesome stuff from playing this game! I've got a few predictions, which I'm not sure I should share yet for fear of someone accidentally confirming them... but I think I'm right! I hope I'm not, though.

We'll see if I end up playing Undead Nightmare.

I just realized that Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon should count for this, so add me on as Currently Playing that. Amnesia I'm afraid I am too much of a wuss to ever go back to and Dead Space really isn't calling to me. But I'm probably around halfway through LM:DM!

Just beat Fatal Frame earlier tonight. The final chapter was short but spooky! I really liked the game overall. Very suspenseful and the game did a great job of building this up over the length of the game, before creating an incredibly tense atmosphere by the end. The ghosts themselves weren't particularly scary or anything, it was more the uncertainty of not knowing what was or wasn't going to happen next that had me on edge for much of the game. Fatal Frame has you fearing the unknown, and then provides relief by having you stare directly in the face of the now known entity.

The ending of the story was pretty weak, though, considering the buildup over the course of the game. It's not an ending I'll remember for being particularly interesting or satisfying...it's kinda just there, and didn't do much for me. The events of the game and the files that you found seemed to be heading towards a pretty weird, dark place, and the mostly straightforward and open-and-shut ending just felt unfinished in a lot of ways.

I definitely recommend it for anyone looking for a genuinely creepy game with that classic survival horror gameplay. It definitely fulfills that old school Resident Evil fix, but in a much darker, scarier package.

I'll put more time into Spirit Camera later today, but I have to note something about the game I was playing last night. I'm still working my way through Project X Zone, and the stage I was playing last night was one from The House of the Dead! Felt pretty appropriate.

I'm pretty much at the end of Dead Rising 2. Did the whole main game, got the credits, now I'm in "overtime" and I'm basically at the end boss of that. Could probably have finished it off tonight, but it's late and I don't know how tough it will be so... I'll wait. Tomorrow probably?

Trying to decide if I will start another game after that or just stick with Virtue's Last Reward. I feel like I didn't play anything particularly scary this year. But only 10ish days left might be rushing it...

Hey Bigs, feel free to add me for Castlevania on a whim.

-I- wouldn't count it, but I know other guys count stuff like that (and I know what people say about me for NOT counting that).

EDIT- And I'm not quite playing as "Bruce Willis." He looks like..hmm.. I dunno. He's not bald-bald. And I don't think he's white-white. I'll get you his name -- TONIGHT!

@gojira

Finally got to read what you wrote! Yes, where you left off (typing) is where I left off (playing). ALSO, for the first time (and it took me a bit to figure out what it meant..), I was able to upgrade my Handgun Skill. YEAH! I hadn't had that happen with/to anyone else yet, so I guess I'm a Lv2 (or Lv1 vs. Lv0?) Handgun dude. Rock it. What actually changes? Reload speed and/or accuracy? My personal reload speed and management of the Pad is improving for me, too! I took a few shots the other day and quickly changed to the cricket bat without disorienting myself and freaking out. ALSO -- FREAKIN' R BUTTON!! QUICK TURN?! Where has this been my whole gameplay?! Man, I'd probably be 2-3 folks back still!

I gotta find some more weapon upgrades. I think I only have the first Power and Capacity upgrades for the Handgun, and a Power upgrade for the Carbine. I went out "grinding" for that Handgun level and found that power upgrade behind a pickable lock. YES. So awesome. (Can we tell from "afar" which doors are pickable vs. keycard locked vs. locked from the other side vs. other locking means?)

And the Pad Upgrade is pretty sweet, I'll agree. I initially thought it was a "pad(dle)" upgrade to my Bat. NOPE!

I beat both Dead Space and Castlevania 3 for the record! I don't know if the OP was updated recently.

@Mr_Mustache
Your weapon skills improve after a certain number of successful kills with the respective weapon types. You can check the specifics in one of the subscreens if you want to know how many more you need to kill to improve your skill level. EDIT: Misread your post, but I might as well leave this here anyway as a public service announcement.

When your skill level increases your general handling of the weapon type is improved; you can get it out of your holster and reload it faster, as well as being able to aim more efficiently and something else that I can't remember right now. Of course, these skills are locked to your character, so death means they're gone forever and you need to start from scratch, unlike the physical weapon parts that you attach by one of the work benches.

As for the thing about pickable locks, I don't quite remember if the scanner allows you to see what type of lock it is on any given door. I think most of the locks require you to actually inspect them for you to know what type they are, with one exception, but don't quote me on that. I need to play ZombiU again. Can't go around not remembering stuff like this!

@Mr_Mustache

If you scan them they'll say if they are open or barred, needs a lock pick or a card.

Alright, the OP is updated. Let me know if anything needs to be corrected.

I think I will start Fatal Frame II tomorrow night.