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

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I ended up playing more Fatal Frame II up until around 5 in the morning, so I am now on Chapter 7.

Chapter 5 started out innocently enough. My fears were assuaged as my flashlight turned back on as soon as I left the Kurosawa house, which was quite convenient. This was a short and mostly unremarkable chapter that was made up of mostly backtracking (go from one end of the map to the other, and then back, and then back again; naturally, ghosts tend to ambush you along the way...). But I will also add that the music has been outstanding starting with this chapter, and with headphones on, it really sets a scary tone.

Chapter 6 is where this game has really started to make its mark. Very, very, very creepy/disturbing segment of the game. The Kiryu House has been the darkest and most spooky area that I've explored so far, and all of the stuff with the possessed ghost dolls has successfully freaked me out quite a bit. Every time I walk into an area and there's just one of those dolls just standing there out of the blue, I lose my shit just about every time. There's just something about ghosts, and creepy children's voices, that when put together it always manages to send a shiver down my spine. But this was a really strong chapter overall. Good exploration, some good puzzles, plenty of scares and disturbing moments. The stand-out chapter so far of the game.

I'm still having a pretty easy go at the game, with a ton of health and film items in my inventory, but you could say the ghosts have just leveled the playing field a bit. Probably the worst thing ever happens at the start of Chapter 7: I lose my flashlight AND camera. I'm sure this next part isn't going to make me feel any better.

TheBigG753 said:

@Het_Nkik

Ah, lock-on. Now I see why the camera seemed to be a lot more reliable in FF4. Do you think that makes it too easy, or is it still pretty challenging? Though from what I watched, it did look like ghosts took a heck of a lot more damage before they could be vanquished than in the earlier games.

I don't think lock-on makes it too easy, and it even has drawbacks when facing off against multiple ghosts since it will center (and zoom in when fully charged) on a single ghost, making it really hard to get multiple ghosts in the frame for multi-ghost damage. And without the lock-on, I doubt I'd ever get any fatal frame shots, which are basically needed to take down the stronger ghosts since they have so much HP. And I've come across at least one ghost that easily broke the lock-on while still coming at me. That guy was an asshole. And like I said, there are some parts of the game where you'll be fighting without lock-on...

Quick question about if this is in other games, btw. This game has a fatal frame combo system. Basically, I picked up an upgrade for the camera that lets me know when to take a picture to get a fatal frame shot on the ghosts for extra damage. After taking a fatal frame shot, there's a split second where you can take a second fatal frame shot immediately after, and then even one more chance to get a third fatal frame shot after that, all in a row. It's not easy to pull off but you can do really good damage if you can get it done. So yeah, is this unique to this game (I'm assuming the single fatal frame aspect isn't, hence the series's US name)?


EDIT: Only made it two more chapters in last night, btw (beat Chapter 8), since they were long chapters. But even if I only do two chapters each on the 30th and 31st, I'll have the game beat on Halloween. Gonna take a break and rest my nerves tonight, though, and stream some Sonic Lost World instead.

@Het_Nkik

They actually just introduced that Fatal Frame combo a few chapters earlier in FF2. I've only managed to pull it off a few times, because normally if I get a shutter chance at all, I take the shot. I'm not sure if you can do back-to-back Fatal Frame shots in 2, if you can it's entirely possible that I just haven't been quick enough. I've combo'd together a Fatal Frame shot and then another charged shot, but that's the best I've done. Whenever I do a Fatal Frame shot, I was looking for my lens to turn red again for another shutter chance, and I just haven't seen that happen.

@Het_Nkik
I may be mistaken, but I thought that combo system was introduced in Fatal Frame IV. It's also in Project Zero 2, anyway. I think basically everything that was in FFIV got added to that, and then some additional stuff. I might be mistaken about that too. I've got mad mistakening skills.

EDIT: Haha! I was mistaken! Or am I mistaken about being mistaken? Meh, maybe I should defy the weather and play some Project Zero soon.

@r_hjort
@Het_Nkik

It could very well be that the combo system was improved in 3, and then again in 4/PZ2Wii. Or it could also be that I stink at pulling off the combos in FF2. Probably a little of both.

Have either of you played both versions of FFII or have each of you only played one? Wondering how similar the Wii version is to the PS2 version and whether it's worth it to play both or just go for the remake.

@Het_Nkik
Only played the Wii game and watched footage of the original. The biggest differences are likely technical stuff, like the over-the-shoulder type camera, the amount of graphical detail, the voice work and the controls. I think that any improvements that came with FFIV went over to Project Zero 2, but I'm not 100% on what all of those are. As far as story and stuff goes, I think it's meant to be mostly the same, except minor stuff like documents and notes have be re-written, so maybe there are some slight alterations there.

@Het_Nkik

Tough to say. I've only played the original, I think hjort has only played the remake. I would imagine that the remake has made improvements, but I couldn't say for sure which experience is better.

If you have a PS3, you can get the first two games for just a couple of bucks right now. It would be hard for me to not recommend that.

I'd love to play the original at some point since I'm such a fan of the Wii game, but I suspect I won't find it as scary with the static camera angles and all that. I don't have anything against that sort of thing in general, but limiting how much you can see of what's going on behind your character was a good move, IMO.

EDIT: Oh, and the nerve wracking "touch" feature is brilliant!

I do have a PS3 but I'm a big ol' dumb collector so I go physical unless there's no other option. But I'll figure it out. I'm gonna need a nice long break from the series before I venture back in anyway.

But wait, one more question! A person in my stream chat said the older games have ghosts that come out and attack you if you spend too long in a room. Is this true?

I have a question of my own about the previous games: Do they have this phenomenon where ghosts sometimes aren't exorcised when you deplete their HP, but instead come back stronger than ever, with new abilities and stuff? They start glowing purple and get really menacing.

@Het_Nkik

I hear ya, I prefer physical copies as well if possible. If I had one of the backwards compatible PS3s, I'd have gotten the hard copies but at a certain point, I knew I wasn't going to go buy a used PS2 to play a few games.

As far as ghosts coming out of the woodwork, I have seen this happen, yes. Not as often in the second game so far, it maybe has happened a few times and seemingly randomly. What happened in the first game, is that at a certain point in the game, there are areas that the game tells you (without telling you outright) that you need to go to for the progression of the story. If you go "off script" to any other areas to explore for items or whatever, some stalker ghosts that are either invincible or near-invincible (I didn't stick around long enough to find out!) will attack and chase you through a few rooms ala Nemesis in RE3. It made item gathering a stressful experience in the first game, because going around to find supplies became necessary at a certain point. Sometimes they would show up when going off the beaten path, sometimes they wouldn't, and it was unpredictable as to which rooms they would appear in. And yes, sometimes you'd go into a room and explore and not encounter anything, and then it would show up just as you're leaving to chase you again. This aspect hasn't been nearly as prevalent in 2, though.

@r_hjort

I think there's a trade-off with the cameras. It's pretty jarring in the first two games when the camera changes perspective and then BOOM, there's a ghost just standing there. It also makes combat a lot more frantic, because you are switching from an unorthodox third person view to first person, and this can become disorienting when you are really trying to find a ghost. All that said, from watching Het_Nkik play FF4, you can just as easily still turn a corner and see something unexpected. And I think in the end, the standard third-person camera of the Wii games probably makes exploration more fun and combat more intuitive. Fixed cameras have always made me feel more tense, though, going back to Resident Evil just because of how one camera angle seems totally safe, and then the next all hell might break loose. Both definitely have their merits.

@r_hjort

Have not seen this yet.

@TheBigG753
Oh god, this sounds incredibly stressful. FF1 is going to be a pain if I ever decide to tackle it.

@r_hjort
There's something similar to this in FF4 but not exactly the same. Part of the story is about people with a sickness "blooming" (their faces... become weird and scary basically). Well some ghosts, after taking a certain amount of damage, they "bloom" and their face gets all distorted and purple! and they get faster. But it doesn't happen after their HP is drained, just after taking some hits.

@Het_Nkik
Aha, I see! Guess they pretty much adapted that system for the FF2 remake.

Alright, gotta go to work but will continue playing tonight. See ya guys.

The credits on Zombi U rolled in the twilight this morning.

Somber ending to a somber game

@TheBigG753

That's what Parker said right before he...

Now I'm on chapter 7 too.

Like @TheBigG753 says, Kiryu house is one of the best locations in the game, and I just love how relentlessly black the story of that place is. It's nothing but death, grief, pain and tragedy (not that the rest of the game is lollipops and sunshine), and just plain nasty. Like the fate of the Trevors' in Resident Evil REmake on the Cube, I feel like this piece of the plot could have worked all on its own, in a movie or a book. Marvelously macabre.

The ghosts are fantastic too. The twins and dolls, certainly, but that woman with the broken limbs freaks the hell out of me too. The way she crawls across the floor with her twisted neck and legs.

Random thought about the game: I love how it doesn't explain too much of the surrounding mythology, that is has the confidence to leave certain things up to the player to piece together. That it has faith in both itself and the audience, I suppose. You'll get to know everything you need to know to feel it all makes sense, but there will still be enough question marks to maintain a sense of mystery.

EDIT:
@Mr_Mustache
Congrats! Which ending did you get?

@r_hjort

I died in the same GD upstairs room that I died in the first Tower of London Chopper Rush

I really gotta learn my way around that place..


I was running so much and out of ammo, that in my mind I had a conga line of Zombies behind me (and probably led by an armored cop, BOO!). I also had no health items, and entered that area with half health. Ran through the water with a bag over my head, and booked for the stairs. Blech.

Now that I've seen the whole game, I MIGHT be able to play it on my own without Nikki around.

EDIT- And my NEW MVS Mason Barker (Score: 4250 or something) died right as he was making his way to the sewers with the Panacea. I dropped a mine, and the door SHUT behind me, and I couldn't reopen it. Some guys died, 3 made it in, opened my bag while taking a hit, took my Large Medipack (FULL HEALTH!), tried to fight off the other guys, health fading, went to grab my other pack, a guy grabbed me, I Virucided him, pushed another guy back, whipped my bag open for another L.M., and I was like 1/20th of a second behind on the USE. Terrible way to go down. Glad my Quest Item stayed right there...though it took me like another 2 hours to beat the game after that.

@Mr_Mustache

Man, I got so lucky during the final sequence. I was out on the pier and accidentally shot one of the exploding zombies and I realized my mistake too late, but somehow I didn't die and had enough health to continue on. I barely, and I mean just barely made it to the chopper. I didn't know in advance that I only had one shot, but I only assumed as much based on the rules of the game, and then seeing as it was after the credits...that made it all the more exhilarating.


Keep getting out of work later and later...gotta do something about that. Gonna play me some more Fatal Frame...