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 was sitting around trying to think of what to play and then just last night I noticed in my very helpful game log here on our very helpful game database that I have started Dead Rising 2 and then forgot all about it. So I guess I'll do that.

And maybe throw in another Castlevania game that I started and never finished, god knows I have a lot of those. Hmm, actually it's only two now... III and Adventure Rebirth. Ug, I know either one will give me a headache.

I wanted to try something new too but we'll see how far I get with these. And Dead Rising 2 is practically new for me anyway, I only played it the one night.

Neither of those is all that scary though. I need something scary...

I'm going to try to play Dead Space 3.

Maybe this could be my excuse to finish Obscure 2 on the Wii, but on the other hand I know that starting a new game plus in Project Zero 2: Wii Edition (comes recommended to anyone who has the means to play it!) is guaranteed to scare the living crap out of me. Gonna have to think about this for a bit.

I could try to play Amnesia again, but I think it's too much for me. I did get Dead Space in that Origin Humble Bundle.

@Secret_Tunnel I think you're confused, you're supposed to pick a scary game.

I'm in. Here's what I want to get at:

NEW GAME:

Spirit Camera: The Cursed Memoir on 3DS.

GAMES I'VE STARTED BUT NOT FINISHED:

The House Of The Dead: Overkill on Wii.

and

Castlevania: Lords of Shadow on Xbox 360.

So sign me up for those three at least.

I think I'll choose ZombiU. Had fun with it at launch, but this'll be a good excuse to dig in.

No promises that I'll finish it. But I'll definitely play it.

@kriswright
Yay! Everytime someone plays ZombiU a hjort receives its wings.

I managed to convince a friend of mine to do a bit of multiplayer a while back, and it was a blast! He's a pretty strategic dude, so having him as the king of zombies worked out very well. Wish there were more games out there doing stuff like that.

@Zero

Hahaha yeah I saw that coming but supposedly Dead Space 3 is scary for the first few hours at least.

Hmmm. I suppose I could play Alan Wake.

I will start with Dead Space: Extraction.

What's the average time to beat Zombi U?

I've been meaning to go back and play it, and this is as good a time as any...but I still have to finish La Mulana too...

@Shadowlink
I think that depends on how you play it, a little bit. My first playthrough took me 18 and a half hours, but I really tried to limit the number of characters used, and go in slow and methodically.

@Shadowlink

I need to go back to Zombi U also. I've gotten as far as I have without dying once but I'm so worried about it actually happening and me losing all my shit that I haven't gone back to finish it.

@DrFinkelstein
Not to worry you or anything, but I'd say that it's more likely to be a matter of when you die than if, so maybe you should come to terms with your own mortality a little bit.

While you will lose all your character's skills and so on, you will have a chance to retrieve your items, and any weapon upgrades will stay intact.

I think it's surprisingly upsetting to lose a character, because even though there is no personality or life story attributed to them, I grow fond of them after having been through all sorts of hardships. When my, at the time, most successful character suddenly and brutally died on me, I just sat staring at the TV in disbelief for a minute, and after a while somehow felt comfort in knowing that he died in such a way that he wouldn't turn into one of them. Silly, perhaps, but it's part of what makes the game so great, IMO.

"Sometimes dead is better".

Hmm... when's Cult County come out isn't it soon? Or maybe I will play RE4 again, or RE Deadly Silence.

I'll probably finish Zombi U off. I'm just a few hours in.

I wonder if my friend will let me borrow nis Zombi U...

Had my games planned out for months.
Majora's Mask 3 Heart Run
Bioshock
Bioshock 2
Three horror like games, three games I love and three games I have been waiting to replay.

I'm going with Zombi U as well. I've had the game since last Xmas and basically haven't played it. I'm also going to play Resident Evil: Zero. Now I just need to shake my addiction to GTA V before October 1st.

Oh yeah ZombiU hmm... maybe if I get through my games with enough time I'll pick that one up. Always meant to get to it eventually.