Should Dark Mod be more horror inspired?

[HappyCheeze]

One game that really scared me was,

Quest for Glory IV, Shadows of Darkness: The ending of QFG3 spooked me. QFG4 (the sequel) takes place in a translvania-like land. Complete with vampires, undead, and some really creepy Hexapod creatures. There was this old monastery where these demented monks did some evil rituals. You, being the hero, have to break into it and look for clues. But theres a stone hexapus (a six armed cephalopod) that comes alive and grabs you if you don't have the right means of entry. That always scared me when I was younger. The death screens and the dying music changed to a really dark mood.

 

I've played two very scary mods.

 

They Hunger by Neil Manke: A half-life mod that puts you, an author driving along the countryside, trying to get ideas for his next book, gets struck by lightning, causing the car to roll into a pond. After swimming out of the pond, you find yourself in a cemetary. Its empty, except for the occasional body, and than, finding your way into a morturary, the radio talks about strange phenomena happening and the shit hits the fan with zombies EVERYWHERE.

 

TH also makes fun of its self, from time to time, but for the most part, it scared me first time playing it. Neil Manke and his crew are working on a hl2 game called They Hunger, Lost Souls, and I can't wait. http://www.blackwidowgames.com/

 

(original they hunger: http://www.moddb.com/mods/they-hunger)

 

Afraid of Monsters: Directors Cut: Another half-life mod, and oh my, is it scary. You play the role of David Leatherhoff, who is addicted to these new painkillers. At the hospital, in a bathroom, taking the pills results in a 'bad trip' (which you play through). Waking up, its night time and the place looks abandonded. Time to find a way out of there.

 

Theres 4 different endings. http://www.moddb.com/mods/afraid-of-monsters-dc

 

The thing I like the most about AOM:DC, is that its kind of a generic horror. Theres a lot of spooky enemies you'll fight, but its mainly just you trying to find a way to escape. Theres no disease or alien invasion, its just some kid who takes painkillers, trying to escape from all the horrible things. I highly reccomend this.

[pataran]

One game that really scared me was,

Quest for Glory IV, Shadows of Darkness: The ending of QFG3 spooked me. QFG4 (the sequel) takes place in a translvania-like land. Complete with vampires, undead, and some really creepy Hexapod creatures. There was this old monastery where these demented monks did some evil rituals. You, being the hero, have to break into it and look for clues. But theres a stone hexapus (a six armed cephalopod) that comes alive and grabs you if you don't have the right means of entry. That always scared me when I was younger. The death screens and the dying music changed to a really dark mood.

 

I've played two very scary mods.

 

They Hunger by Neil Manke: A half-life mod that puts you, an author driving along the countryside, trying to get ideas for his next book, gets struck by lightning, causing the car to roll into a pond. After swimming out of the pond, you find yourself in a cemetary. Its empty, except for the occasional body, and than, finding your way into a morturary, the radio talks about strange phenomena happening and the shit hits the fan with zombies EVERYWHERE.

 

TH also makes fun of its self, from time to time, but for the most part, it scared me first time playing it. Neil Manke and his crew are working on a hl2 game called They Hunger, Lost Souls, and I can't wait. http://www.blackwidowgames.com/

 

(original they hunger: http://www.moddb.com/mods/they-hunger)

 

Afraid of Monsters: Directors Cut: Another half-life mod, and oh my, is it scary. You play the role of David Leatherhoff, who is addicted to these new painkillers. At the hospital, in a bathroom, taking the pills results in a 'bad trip' (which you play through). Waking up, its night time and the place looks abandonded. Time to find a way out of there.

 

Theres 4 different endings. http://www.moddb.com/mods/afraid-of-monsters-dc

 

The thing I like the most about AOM:DC, is that its kind of a generic horror. Theres a lot of spooky enemies you'll fight, but its mainly just you trying to find a way to escape. Theres no disease or alien invasion, its just some kid who takes painkillers, trying to escape from all the horrible things. I highly reccomend this.

 

Haha, I've played that mod and got the bad ending. Yes, that was an amazing horror mod. Did you know the mapping and design was done by a 14 year old. 0_o

[HappyCheeze]

Did you know the mapping and design was done by a 14 year old. 0_o

 

Yeah. He was like 16 when he did DC.

 

Now they're working on Cry of Fear, and it looks badass.

[Crispy]

Grim Fandango

Congratulations, you have just won 100 points of awesome.

[HappyCheeze]

Congratulations, you have just won 100 points of awesome.

 

I agree.

 

Adventure games, a big chunk of my childhood

[pataran]

I agree that clive barker's undying was a sleeper hit. It had incredible atmosphere.

[Baal]

Bloodlines has some really boring leveldesign in parts. The city hubs are good but they feel too restricted and small. The characters and dialog are the highpoint of that game though. And there's a good chance of discovering something new on every playthrough which is great.

 

I have played the demo of the first Penumbra and I liked it but it was way too short. Do they sell both of them in a package? I have to try them some day.

 

They Hunger was great and I heard of Afraid of Monsters but haven't tried it yet. I can put it on the list along with Call of Cthulhu and a lot of other games.

 

Does anyone want an awsome point? I have some left.

[HappyCheeze]

They Hunger was great and I heard of Afraid of Monsters but haven't tried it yet. I can put it on the list along with Call of Cthulhu and a lot of other games.

 

Does anyone want an awsome point? I have some left.

 

Go play AOM:DC NOW!

 

I'll take an awesome point.

[Baal]

I just tried the "Scratches" demo but there's is only one puzzle and right before it starts to get interessting its over. Not enough to decide if I could enjoy this game.

[SplaTtzZ]

I loved undying cos it managed to be scary in a different setting. I would never have thought that the beautiful but bleak moors of Ireland could be made scary but Undying achieved that. They don't make em like they used to.

 

My scariest thief map would have to be Shlebridge cradle, because the atmosphere was great; for the first half of the mission there are practically no enemies; but then you release the cage heads!

 

I think the key to making a really scary scene in a game is to make the player feel powerless. the chase scene in Call of Ctulhu was fantastic because you could only run from your enemies, desperately trying to survive. Penumbra does this as well; it has virtually no combat, and there are some really scary parts say where a monster comes up a corridoor to a room you're in; or you have to frantically try and block off an exit from another monster trying to chew you in half.

[sparhawk]

Quest for Glory IV, Shadows of Darkness: The ending of QFG3 spooked me. QFG4 (the sequel) takes place in a translvania-like land. Complete with vampires, undead, and some really creepy Hexapod creatures. There was this old monastery where these demented monks did some evil rituals. You, being the hero, have to break into it and look for clues. But theres a stone hexapus (a six armed cephalopod) that comes alive and grabs you if you don't have the right means of entry. That always scared me when I was younger. The death screens and the dying music changed to a really dark mood.

 

That was a really good one. I found it quite atmospheric, and it was quite creepy when you played in the night in a dark room, and then you walked through that forrest.

 

I loved it. I even replayed it on a DOS emulator only recently because I liked it so much.

[sparhawk]

I just tried the "Scratches" demo but there's is only one puzzle and right before it starts to get interessting its over. Not enough to decide if I could enjoy this game.

 

Well, maybe you should download it somehwere and see if you like it. Since it's quite old already, you should definitely buy though if you like it, because it's well worth it.

 

Another good one is Black Manor.

[Baal]

There's a directors cut with some graphical upgrades and an additional episode. I should try that.

Does this game have puzzles as creative as the classics? There is not much replay value in this genre but some of the things you had to do in games like Day of the Tentacle (for example) had me laughing on the floor. So much for horror...

[Mortem Desino]

Quest for Glory 4 was great fun. Just don't try to "pick" your nose (With lockpicks.) Best death scene ever.

[HappyCheeze]

Quest for Glory 4 was great fun. Just don't try to "pick" your nose (With lockpicks.) Best death scene ever.

 

I believe that was only in QFG I and II. I don't remember being able to do that in QFG4

[HappyCheeze]

There's a directors cut with some graphical upgrades and an additional episode. I should try that.

Does this game have puzzles as creative as the classics? There is not much replay value in this genre but some of the things you had to do in games like Day of the Tentacle (for example) had me laughing on the floor. So much for horror...

 

DUUUUUUUDE DOT is amazing!

 

Now I want to go home and play Sam and Max, and Monkey Island, Grim Fandango, Indiana Jones and the Fate of atlantis, and all the sierra adventure games like Space quest, kings quest, quest for glory, Gabriel knight. leisure suit larry.

 

 

AAAAAAAAAAAAAH

[sparhawk]

If you like that kind of adventures you should give "Edna bricht aus" a try. At least if you know german. It's hillarious and really done in the spirit of Monkey Island. The developers are fan of it, and they tried to make a game in that spirit, and they definitely succeeded.

I found it in some torrent news because they were complaining about torrent downloads, and I immediately bought it, because it's really good. And best of all, it doesn't have a copy protection as well, because they figured that it wouldn't be worth the hassle to implement one.

 

Wikipedia says that there is an english version as well "Edna & Harvey: The Breakout" so you might look for this instead. Haven't checked though. I think it was done by a german team, so I don't know the value of the translations, but the german dialogs often enough give me a laugh. Especially with their veiled references to all kind of things you will probably know.

 

Edit: Another site claims that the english title would be "Edna breaks out!" wich sounds like a straight translation from google. I just sent a mail to the creators and asked them to make sure though.

[Baal]

Thanks, I'm downloading the demo right now.

 

There is also this fan-made sequel to a game you probably know.

www.zak2.org

I haven't played it but heard good things about it. Its only in german but an english translation is being worked on as it seems.

[alien]

A fire casting skeleton that suddenly paths towards via a scripted trigger is kind of instant death, followed by instant death, which would kind of bugger up the whole aspects of a stealth game, as you wouldn't know the path of the undead. You're more likely to scare someone to death by rattling a chain close behind them via a sound file than anything visual, fear is generated by something you can't see, unseen horror is more scarier than seen horror.

eg like in horror films, you dont usually see whats killing the cast off until right at the end.

 

Plus in doom 3, lights are dynamic the fire from the fireball would light up the room and the thief which would still result in instant death, and its soul distroying to reload instant death events when you cant figure out how to bypass them. You then get hit by the gameplay tedious event.