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)

@TheBigG753
Yay! I haven't played the original, so I'm kind of curious to hear about it so I can see what differs in the Wii remake, in terms of plot and structure. Maybe I should start playing my NG+ at the same time.

EDIT: Also, @gojira is absolutely right about the doors and the scanning. Don't know what I was on about before.

@r_hjort

Ah, no worries. Thanks Gojira!

I'll get some in tonight. Last night did not go as planned.

Dead Rising 2 is dead and will never rise again. Beat the last boss in overtime.

He was annoying though.

First off, this game sends you back to your last save regardless, so when you die on a boss, instead of starting right there again, you start at the last save point and have to go all the way back. There was a save point not too far from him, but it was still annoying, took a few minutes just to get back to him, get through the loading / etc. and start the fight again. In the age of indie games that instantly put you right back in the most logical point after you die, I have no patience for this kind of thing anymore.

Second off, I couldn't find any legitimate strategy other than face him head on and just have a battle of attrition and hope I came out on top. I tried a few other strategies but you ultimately have to face him in direct melee. And he kept destroying me, since he had some pretty brutal attacks that were hard to dodge when directly engaged in melee combat. Eventually I looked up a FAQ and it suggested using a "painkiller" which you create by mixing two bottles of vodka together which minimizes the damage you take for a minute. That helped a ton and I (barely) beat him first try with that.

Overall impressions of the game? Good, but basically just more of the same from the first game, and I'm not sure that I really needed more of the same. To the point where, even though it tried to mix things up a bit with the Vegas / casino vibe, it just felt like being in yet another mall... because that is essentially what it was. And it felt to me like the progression wasn't done as well as in the first game, which slowly introduced more powerful weapons and such and by the end you were driving a freaking car through hundreds of zombies at a time. There was a car in this game, but I had no idea how to unlock it, unless the keys they were selling in the pawn shop were for that car... but they cost $2,000,000 to buy, which you would never, ever have in a single run of this game without knowing some exploit or something. And the first game introduced the whole military clean-up angle near the end which mixed a real thinking foe into all of the brainless zombies, not so much here, though you did get a bit of that at times.

I guess the big new thing was the combo creation, but I didn't explore that too much. The game doesn't give you enough TIME to explore much of anything too much!

So yeah, I guess the TLDR is that it was an ok sequel but it didn't add enough new and didn't feel like it progressed as well, so I wouldn't put it up with the original. Still enjoyable though and I like how it manages to be humorous and serious at the same time... kind of like the original Dawn of the Dead. But much more silly and insane.

As of roughly 10pm EST last night.. Joseph Singh ("Indian Bruce Willis")..is no more (2020 - HIGH SCORE) Alexander Marshall is now the only hope. And we know of no one else more fit for the job; a 34 year-old stay-at-home parent. He does have a goatee though, so..

Joseph went down after he was surrounded like Macauly Caulkin in a My Girl bee's nest. After that, Mr. Marshall returned to unceremoniously dispatch Mr. Singh (who fought to his last breath killing 3 infeceted with a Malatov Cocktail before being engulfed by a 4th "healthy" and one on fire) and steal his bag. Then..he attended a rave! What a weird / funny / what's going on?? segment.

Now I'm off on a wild letter chase. Looks..lengthy.


Question: do crossbow bolts get used up, or can they be recovered? Do you still wanna aim for the head with them, or just go for the chest?

EDIT- Just Gojira and I are playing ZombiU after its listed up there 5 times? Bummer, brah. Ah well; how's it going, Gojira? Are you way past me? I'm beyond the stuff you last mentioned.

@Mr_Mustache
I loooooove the rave! One of my favourite parts of the game, the whole general area there. My first survival mode attempt ended there when I tried to lob a grenade into the group of "dancing" infected, hit something in the darkness that made the grenade come clinking back to me, and shut the door with the grenade on the wrong side of it.

Crossbow bolts can be retrieved after you've fired them, so that weapon's not a bad deal! Aiming for the head is always better, and especially when you use a weapon like the crossbow, since the ammo is even more rare than usual.

EDIT: I think the bolts can break under certain circumstances, but don't quote me on that since I haven't experienced it myself. Never used the crossbow as much as I should have.

@r_hjort

I was so confused! Nikki was like, "are they entranced by the music?!" I guess that makes sense since its trance music!! A joke by Ubisoft? Either way, good play.

I've run myself out of Handgun ammo twice already, and I haven't seen Carbine ammo in a LONG time. Got the Shotgun last night, packs a punch (surprise!!..), awesome. I have the most ammo of that right now, if you can believe it. I do believe I'll pack the Crossbow now. I found it last night afterbacktracking. I got scared in that little tunnel; I picked up the Backpack XL and some other stuff, and then went another way. Accidentally found that secret entrance to that area, and the H.C. was right at my feet. Ha! Awesome.

EDIT- OH, why can't I upgrade my weapons (yet?) to a 2nd expansion/power level yet? I mean, I'm the type of guy who spreads the wealth in games like this, but if one weapon is getting the most attention..and has the ammo to go with it.. Hmm.

Making some headway in Resident Evil Revelations now...finished 3-1 at lunch.

@Mr_Mustache
Hahah! Never thought about that, but yeah, that's a pretty good joke if it's intentional.

You can only upgrade one aspect of every weapon once, so if you've already increased, say, the ammo capacity of your handgun, it won't get better than that. I suppose this is a way for the devs to try and make us use more than one weapon.

@ludist210
Has it been a 50/50 ratio of Jill and Chris scenarios so far? I'm kind of interested in the game for old times sake, but I have had big problems with certain things about the game I've seen in videos, and most of them seem to be most prominent in Chris's levels.

@r_hjort

(First player is listed first, second player uses the partner in co-op) Chapter 1 is Jill and Parker, Chapter 2 is Chris and Jessica AND Jill and Chris. The first part of Chapter 3 was Parker and Jessica, and the next part is Jill and Parker. Jill is probably the most used throughout the game. Chris is second, and then some...other characters.

Revelations is a good game and worth a spin, I liked it more than RE5 for sure.

@ludist210
Aha, I see. I've tried the demos of the game, and I quite enjoy their Jill sections, exploring the ship, looking for keys and ammo and all that. It almost feels like old times, but as soon as I see the more action-packed stuff I get really turned off on the whole thing. It seems like the game has even more one-liners, gags and obvious exposition in the dialogue during those parts, and it ruins any sense of urgency for me. Like, why should I be scared when not even the characters in-game seem to be? Do you think someone as nit-picky as myself would enjoy the game overall?

@r_hjort

I think the in-game characters aren't as scared is because some of them (namely Chris and Jill) have been there before in Raccoon City. So in that sense, the thrill is still present, but they don't act as scared. There is a sense of urgency among them though.

The game is a mix of traditional Resident Evil with some action thrown in. So it's not a pure Resident Evil, per se, but it's a good game in its own right. If you can find this on sale, jump on it. $50 USD is a bit steep.

@ludist210
I suppose that makes sense, but having characters say stuff like "Me and my sweet ass are on our way" when a partner is about to be torn to shreds by mutated dogs is still gonna get me worked up in all the wrong ways.

I think the cheapest I've seen the Wii U version is 29 USD, which doesn't seem too bad.

@r_hjort

To be fair, Jessica is a flirt with everyone, especially with Chris. Cheesy, yeah...but meh, that line is great. Seriously.

That price is fair. Aside from the campaign, Raid Mode is a lot of fun to play.

@ludist210
I'm not sure what type of dairy product would even begin to describe the quality of that line.

Last question since I seem to turn this thread into a Revelations FAQ: How does Raid Mode compare to Mercs? I may not approve of RE becoming more action-oriented in general, but I've always had a good time with Mercs.

@r_hjort

Mercs is more pure survival/how long can you last. Raid gives you a starting and ending goal in each stage, and the enemies are varied...some are fast, some are short, some are really powerful, and some have ridiculously high defense. The better you do, the more stuff you can buy to upgrade your weapons (or buy new ones). I prefer it.

@ludist210
Sounds interesting! Thanks for all the info, I really appreciate it. If I can afford Revelations after I've secured the Marios and Zeldas this year, I might pick it up!

Played some more of Spirit Camera: The Cursed Memoir today. I'm on the last home stretch of the adventure, I think. Everything is looking to get wrapped up in the next couple of "chapters" or so. I think, anyway. There's no real way to tell how long this game lasts, but I feel the game is coming to an end soon. I really can't see this thing being strung out much longer than it is already. (plus I've heard this is a short game, so if it ends soon then the rumors will prove to be true)

ludist210 said:

I think the in-game characters aren't as scared is because some of them (namely Chris and Jill) have been there before in Raccoon City.

It's funny you mention that about Resident Evil Revelations - I was playing some Project X Zone last night, and Chris and Jill are playable characters in that game, too. (dressed in their Revelations gear, no less) At one point, while fighting the various monsters and other enemies, Chris remarks to Jill about how he now "sizes up a situation before he has the chance to get scared" and Jill reminds him that he (and herself) are probably numb to the horror of monsters because of the nightmares they've already endured in the past. (I'm paraphrasing a bit, can't remember the actual quote)

I think your assessment of Chris and Jill's "bravery" in Revelations is spot-on.

EDIT:

Ah, never mind here's the actual quote from the game, taken from Project X Zone's Wiki page:

Chris: Lately, it’s like I’m already sizing things up before I can be afraid…

Jill: Well, we have seen a lot over the years.

I may not have remembered the quote exactly right, but I still stand by and agree with your assessment.

@r_hjort

Oh, alright! I thought we'd have a shot to upgrade each weapon a few times, as in Resident Evil 4. What're ya buyin'?

I didn't sign up for this, but yesterday my sister and I completed Dead Space Extraction for the Wii, which is sort of a Halloween game. The game's pretty short, I think our total time was six hours maybe, and it ends quite abruptly. It's quite literally a prequil as the story isn't wrapped up in any way, and unless there are more chapters on a higher difficulty setting then the story must be continued in Dead Space. That makes it even more lame and weird that this game was made for a different system, as if you just have a Wii then you can't finish the story.

As for the game itself, forget the controversy, it isn't even a good game to begin with. There's a lot of down time as the story unfolds, with usually nothing to do, though sometimes there are some items to grab. There are only a few different enemy types throughout the game, and a couple bosses, so not much variety. Most of the weapons are pretty awful, either because the rounds travel so slowly or because they have short range, and the secondary fire modes tend to use too much ammo to be worthwhile. The pistol that you get at the beginning of the game is actually the best one to always have around simply because the shot is instantaneous. If you don't have the pistol for a boss, it's obscenely difficult.

My sister said something like "If you go online to rate it, D+."

I'm two more levels into Dead Space Extraction. 5 down, 5 to go. I'm still finding it excessively difficult to find time to play M-rated games.

I think maybe if the game was a little less of a slog, I'd be able to make some time. I think I'm enjoying it more than Mop it up. But then, I'm only halfway through the game.