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)

r_hjort said:

@GameDadGrant
How many hours have you spent with the game? I suppose it's not the lengthiest game out there, but I'm still a bit curious.

The 3DS's internal "Daily Log" says I've spent about 2.5 hours with the it so far. So yeah, pretty short game!

(this might also kind of give away the amount of free time I have available to me, to fit playing video games into my life. This is a very brief game - under three hours for sure! - and yet I've been "playing" this game for a couple of weeks now. The Daily Log also says my average Play Time per session is about twenty minutes. )

@GameDadGrant
Wow, that is pretty short! But at the same time, cool that you could keep going even while playing in such short bursts over a couple of weeks. I mean, I could see myself losing interest with certain games played under those circumstances. I need to get me this game at some point, because Project Zero.

@r_hjort

Yeah, thankfully the game has tons of save points that are fairly close together, so being able to play for 20 or 30 minutes at a time works really well. I never really had to re-do stuff or backtrack at all due to time restraints.

Speaking of save points, my last save was *right* before the start of the final boss fight, so even though I died at the end, the next time I play I'll be right back to where I need to be. Convenient!

@GameDadGrant
Good to hear they didn't go all Ninja Gaiden on you.
That's good handheld design right there, making sure you don't have to go too far back even if you suddenly need to get off the bus or go back to work or run from the cops.

I only pop onto this board once every few months these days but you can add me in if you want!

Beat earlier this month: Super Castlevania IV

Currently playing: Zombies Ate My Neighbors (Genesis)

Upcoming game: Zero: Tsukihami no Kamen [Fatal Frame IV]

Het_Nkik said:

Upcoming game: Zero: Tsukihami no Kamen [Fatal Frame IV]

So jealous! How do you play it? Japanese Wii or homebrew? I always wanted to play this, but never felt comfortable with homebrewing and stuff.

@r_hjort

Imported copy plus Homebrew Channel plus English translation patch. But if your Wii is on firmware 4.2 or less you can run the English patch without the Homebrew Channel. But whatever method you use you still have to have a physical copy of the game.

This will actually be my THIRD time starting this game. I always get too scared and chicken out during the first chapter. But I'm going to be livestreaming on Twitch this time as I play so hopefully that'll give me the courage to continue...

@Het_Nkik
So I can install the homebrew channel and everything on my Wii even if it has the latest firmware? They haven't blocked it in any way?

Project Zero 2: Wii Edition was my first real Fatal Frame experience, but it made me crave more. Scared the hell out of me, and did so in style. Watched snippets of footage of the first chapter of FFIV, and it seemed terrifying!

r_hjort said:

@Het_Nkik
So I can install the homebrew channel and everything on my Wii even if it has the latest firmware? They haven't blocked it in any way?

Project Zero 2: Wii Edition was my first real Fatal Frame experience, but it made me crave more. Scared the hell out of me, and did so in style. Watched snippets of footage of the first chapter of FFIV, and it seemed terrifying!

Nintendo has tried to block it (and briefly blocked it) in the past, but the homebrew peeps always managed to get it working again within a week or less. So yeah, you can currently install it on the latest firmware.

Here's a handy guide with a few different ways to install the HBC: http://wiibrew.org/wiki/Homebrew_setup
Make sure you pay attention to the "Compatible with..." section in Part 3. You'll want to use anything from Indiana Pwns to LetterBomb. Twilight Hack and Bannerbomb only worked with older firmwares. These are different methods for installing the HBC in case that makes no sense to you.

Although the HBC is removable, it does leave traces of being on your system through the Wii's notepad feature. So if your Wii breaks, Nintendo may refuse to fix it if they find traces of the HBC on your system. So definitely take that into consideration.

@Het_Nkik
Thanks for all the info and the link!

Yeah, it's stuff like repair related issues and other complications that has kept me from giving Homebrew a shot, and since I had to send my Wii in for repair once before, I'm kind of cautious about it. But, if decide to transfer all my Wii related data to my Wii U, or maybe even get a used Wii for cheap purely for the Homebrew, I'll definitely get Fatal Frame! Good to know I can still do it.

@r_hjort

How was the Wii version of 2, btw? Is the voice acting English only or can you switch to Japanese? I need to import myself a copy of that.


OH! And one thing you should know about IV and one of the reasons it wasn't released outside of Japan: There are a couple of pretty big glitches in the game. 1: You can't complete the ghost list. There are six ghosts where, even if you capture them, they won't get added to your list. This makes it impossible to obtain a special item (a lens that's always fully charged) unless you use a cheat code (HBC has some Game Genie-like apps) or use a save file that has it unlocked. 2: There's a section in Chapter 3 that can lock up your game if you do something in a certain order. Probably best to look that up before starting the chapter so you don't frustrate yourself.

@Het_Nkik
I'll make a note of that, thanks for the heads up!

The game only has the English voice work, but at least it was handled fairly well. The actors voicing the two sisters aren't mindblowing or anything, but they do the job well enough, and the ghost voices were great, which I think is even more important.

I think the game is brilliant overall, with the exception of the Haunted House mode, which is close to being broken, but on the other hand that little extra was hardly a selling point for anyone. I wrote a review of the game for Nintendo Enthusiast back when I did that sort of thing and the game was new, in case you're interested. Not my best writing, but hopefully informative enough for anyone on the fence about the game. EDIT: Also noticed that there are a couple of sentences in there that aren't actually mine, but the editor's. Oh well, at least they're true.

Man, stuff is HEATIN' UP in ZombiU. Still rolling with the stay-at-home dad (my high score holder), and I'm shooting (giggle) up in weapon levels. What a beast. Out around the Tower of London pier right now, and I've acquired some C4. Oh hells yeah. I think I'll do some backtrackies though for C4 spots where I made mental notes before. Diggity dig it.

@ludist210

ZENOBIA?! Is someone playing Ogre Battle?! AWESOME.

@Het_Nkik
@r_hjort

Good to see some discussion on FF4 because I briefly thought about doing this last year for Shocktoberfest, but I wanted to play the other games first, and like hjort I'm wary about homebrewing too. But at this point, my Wii is packed away in a box and I'm using the Wii U for playing Wii games. Pretty much I have nothing left to use the Wii for, so I definitely think it will be worth hooking back up for one more game.

Mr_Mustache said:

@ludist210

ZENOBIA?! Is someone playing Ogre Battle?! AWESOME.

Ogr...what? NO! No one is freakin' playing Ogre Battle! GRAH! That....game. MYEH!

YOU should be playing Resident Evil Revelations. It's a Wii U game now, you can totally do it!

SPIRIT CAMERA: THE CURSED MEMOIR is complete! Last boss was harder to take down than I thought. There was actually another form that I hadn't fought earlier, so there was actually more to do than I anticipated.

Still, all is well that ends well. Check this game off as DONE!

So I beat Zombies Ate My Neighbors... but I used a Game Genie at the end.

WITHOUT the Game Genie I did make it all the way to the last boss and beat his first form. But I was out of health and ammo by that point. And it's a four level slog between the previous save point. AND you lose all your weapons and items whenever you continue. SOOOO. I Game Genie'd it just to kill the last boss. I don't know if you want to mark this as beat or not, but I'm not going back to the game. Because fuck it so hard.

@Het_Nkik

Whaa...? But Seth, you like, beat Ninja Gaiden on NES!

ZAMN must be really difficult if that game forced you to use Game Genie, but Ninja Gaiden didn't....

Well, finished episode 1 of The Walking Dead in a single sitting. Took about 2 hours. Was pretty interesting. I wouldn't say I quite understand the GOTY praise yet, and I don't really understand the repercussions of my choices, but it's compelling nonetheless.

The interesting thing is I'm also reading through the graphic novels at the same time. Those are pretty nuts. I doubt the game will get quite that hardcore...

I'm through with Episode 5 of RE:R. I forgot how good this game was (even though I've beaten it before) and the upgraded visuals really help the Queen Zenobia (and other areas) come to life.