Why do people enjoy horror games?

[RageBurner]

Honest question. I've wondered this for a long, long time now.

While I like mysteries and police procedurals, I honestly don't understand why people enjoy getting jumpscared or seeing characters meet their unfortunate gruesome ends. Maybe I'm a bit too much of a "normie" in this regard, but yeah.

Maybe there's a bit of a deep seated trauma in there somewhere, as I recall watching TV when I was rather young and I mistakenly tuned into a channel that was airing what I think was Alien 3, and my little kid brain didn't handle that too well at all, I had nightmares for months on end and it was quite trying.

So what gives, folks? is my brain wired strangely or what?

 

[sennzxc]

i just do horror games to get my brain stimulated LMAO

 

[tenkaistar]

It's like riding a huge roller coaster for the first time, it's so thrilling. Though after consuming enough horror, you'll become desensitized to it and it becomes just another genre. Horror tends to explore the abstract and esoteric, and that keeps people around long after the scares go away.

 

[Stingy Perry]

Maybe the same reason people watched horror movies, well for me I play horror games because of the story some of them really had some deep narratives in them unlike some horror movies.

 

[Waffles]

Because I want to challenge my comfort zone.

I have very little tolerance for horror IRL, so playing a game that can scare me without actually scarr me is a pretty good way to deal with that.

 

[RageBurner]

i just do horror games to get my brain stimulated LMAO

It's like riding a huge roller coaster for the first time, it's so thrilling. Though after consuming enough horror, you'll become desensitized to it and it becomes just another genre. Horror tends to explore the abstract and esoteric, and that keeps people around long after the scares go away.

So my basic reading of this is that the thrill of the unknown gets you guys' brain juices flowing?

 

[Cheela]

Fear is a strong emotion. Stimulates your brain sometimes more than Hapiness. I’m worst than scared cat for horror games but i ve enjoyed my time with some of them. Also the settings some horror game are really awesome.

 

[DrunkOcelot]

Fear is a strong emotion. Stimulates your brain sometimes more than Hapiness. I’m worst than scared cat for horror games but i ve enjoyed my time with some of them. Also the settings some horror game are really awesome.

Setting for sure. Horror games seem to have a much more deliberate layout to everything, meant to make you feel powerless in alot of cases

 

[RageBurner]

Because I want to challenge my comfort zone.

I have very little tolerance for horror IRL, so playing a game that can scare me without actually scarr me is a pretty good way to deal with that.

My definition of comfort zone shifting is how much caffeine I'm willing to intake in a given day LOL

Fear is a strong emotion. Stimulates your brain sometimes more than Hapiness. I’m worst than scared cat for horror games but i ve enjoyed my time with some of them. Also the settings some horror game are really awesome.

That's true, some of the setups are really creative. What I tend to dislike most are "cheap shots" like FNAF tends to go for.

 

[DrunkOcelot]

Jumpscares are a cheap form of horror

 

[RageBurner]

Jumpscares are a cheap form of horror

Right? I think dread is a more effective form of it, if that makes sense.

 

[Cheela]

My definition of comfort zone shifting is how much caffeine I'm willing to intake in a given day LOL


That's true, some of the setups are really creative. What I tend to dislike most are "cheap shots" like FNAF tends to go for.

I think FNAF and all that jumpscare based horror games are like little kids entry for horror games. Like i gonna be honest, if it wasn’t for Slenderman on my day, i probably wouldn’t touch the genre as much as i do. Retrospectively it was a shit game, but it introduced me to the genre.

 

[Azazelivae]

Personally for me.

Jumpscare type of Horror is fun to play if you can play it with friends that is.

I mean look, like Phasmophobia for example, it's fun with friends, i don't care if i'm gonna get jumpscared sometimes playing it, hearing my friends scream so high every single glass break in the 100 miles radius is hilarious.

Though if it something that you play solo right, jumpscare heavy and stuff, for me i guess you can say "Morbid Curiousity" takes the cake for it, like, the thought process is "Man i wonder what really happen next" or "What exactly the story is" so at that point i don't care if i need to go through several jump of bugs bunny worth of jumpscare as long as i can piece the puzzle it's good for me.

BUT

It IS exhausting.

 

[rexfenix]

I honestly don't understand why people enjoy getting jumpscared or seeing characters meet their unfortunate gruesome ends.

That's not the point. This is gonna sound like crazy talk and all, but horror games, SURVIVAL horror in particular doesn't go through the same motions traditional games go. It's not really about getting jumpscared or getting horrified by gore, although these can be elements. Hell, it's not even about being traditionally "fun".
It's about a careful balance of gameplay and level design, mixed with enemy placement and scarcity of resources. That creates tension, which leads to the player think about their SURVIVAL and use their brains and skill to get through a situation.
Dino Crisis is a perfect example of this. The first one, not the second (although that game's rad), because it gives you just enough resources to be able to get by if you play it smart. If you don't play it smart, you eat shit, simple as.
The excitement from getting out of that maze of monsters alive and unscathed (and also FAST) is massively rewarding.

You can trust me. I've finished RE1 100 times.

 

[Boo Man]

i like the atmosphere & setting and survival aspects. for me the reward is "feeling safe" and im prepared to bludgeon as many monsters as it takes to find a safe area to save game & recover. and if anything jump scares me, I'm going to make an example out of that monster

 

[DrunkOcelot]

That's not the point. This is gonna sound like crazy talk and all, but horror games, SURVIVAL horror in particular doesn't go through the same motions traditional games go. It's not really about getting jumpscared or getting horrified by gore, although these can be elements. Hell, it's not even about being traditionally "fun".
It's about a careful balance of gameplay and level design, mixed with enemy placement and scarcity of resources. That creates tension, which leads to the player think about their SURVIVAL and use their brains and skill to get through a situation.
Dino Crisis is a perfect example of this. The first one, not the second (although that game's rad), because it gives you just enough resources to be able to get by if you play it smart. If you don't play it smart, you eat shit, simple as.
The excitement from getting out of that maze of monsters alive and unscathed (and also FAST) is massively rewarding.

You can trust me. I've finished RE1 100 times.

I've played through the Ps1 RE1 so many times. When I was a kid it scared me, but now it's just cozy as hell.

However--I've never played through REMake1, and I've been doing so the past few days. It's a much heavier vibe

 

[RageBurner]

That's not the point. This is gonna sound like crazy talk and all, but horror games, SURVIVAL horror in particular doesn't go through the same motions traditional games go. It's not really about getting jumpscared or getting horrified by gore, although these can be elements. Hell, it's not even about being traditionally "fun".
It's about a careful balance of gameplay and level design, mixed with enemy placement and scarcity of resources. That creates tension, which leads to the player think about their SURVIVAL and use their brains and skill to get through a situation.
Dino Crisis is a perfect example of this. The first one, not the second (although that game's rad), because it gives you just enough resources to be able to get by if you play it smart. If you don't play it smart, you eat shit, simple as.
The excitement from getting out of that maze of monsters alive and unscathed (and also FAST) is massively rewarding.

You can trust me. I've finished RE1 100 times.

That's not strange at all, I get it, actually.
Survival horror elevated the genre, I feel, but I guess it doesn't tend to click with me personally.

 

[DrunkOcelot]

i like the atmosphere & setting and survival aspects. for me the reward is "feeling safe" and im prepared to bludgeon as many monsters as it takes to find a safe area to save game & recover. and if anything jump scares me on going to make an example out of that monster

Hell yeah. It's hard to replicate the feeling that carefully saving up items and such is in a survival horror game as opposed to saving supplies in a more action oriented game. Everything feels like it counts.

 

[Cheela]

Personally for me.

Jumpscare type of Horror is fun to play if you can play it with friends that is.

I mean look, like Phasmophobia for example, it's fun with friends, i don't care if i'm gonna get jumpscared sometimes playing it, hearing my friends scream so high every single glass break in the 100 miles radius is hilarious.

Though if it something that you play solo right, jumpscare heavy and stuff, for me i guess you can say "Morbid Curiousity" takes the cake for it, like, the thought process is "Man i wonder what really happen next" or "What exactly the story is" so at that point i don't care if i need to go through several jump of bugs bunny worth of jumpscare as long as i can piece the puzzle it's good for me.

BUT

It IS exhausting.

Phasmophobia doesn’t feel like a horror game because of the fun factor of playing with friends. But gotta say as a fan of ghost stories, i really like its approach to ghost hunting.

 

[RageBurner]

Hell yeah. It's hard to replicate the feeling that carefully saving up items and such is in a survival horror game as opposed to saving supplies in a more action oriented game. Everything feels like it counts.

And it really does!
A youtuber and friend of mine is playing through RE0 currently and I've been following it (he's playing blind). Managing those resources is a lot of work, but it's quite realistic given the situation, that's a strength of the genre.

 

[DrunkOcelot]

And it really does!
A youtuber and friend of mine is playing through RE0 currently and I've been following it (he's playing blind). Managing those resources is a lot of work, but it's quite realistic given the situation, that's a strength of the genre.

Link to your buddies run? Probably toss it on for night-time TV

 

[Azazelivae]

Phasmophobia doesn’t feel like a horror game because of the fun factor of playing with friends. But gotta say as a fan of ghost stories, i really like its approach to ghost hunting.

I mean in the end of the day it is still technically horror and the main selling point of the game is also the Jumpscare in it in the way so it still kinda answer OP's Question.

But i get it, when you go against a Ghost, alone would make you vulnerable af, but with Team man that atmosphere goes out the window lmao, but yeah that's why it's fun.

 

[RageBurner]

Link to your buddies run? Probably toss it on for night-time TV

He's a great guy, I hope you enjoy it. Horror isn't his specialty mind you. I started following his channel because of a puzzle roguelike called Desktop Dungeons (which I love to bits).

 

[DunkeyKong]

It's like discovering games, try to know what I'm scared of, what kind of things would ruined it and diving deeper into it

After awhile, I feel like I was tired of the repetitive jumpscares rather than getting scared by it. It becomes more predictable as time goes on

The kind of horror I would be scared of though would be those with…let's just unexplainable imagery. I don't know what I'm looking at, but even if I did know, I would still feel uncomfortable looking at it

It made me feel quite uneasy, like the fear of the unknown. It's a really strange and unsettling feeling, especially those VHS tapes for example

 

[DrunkOcelot]

He's a great guy, I hope you enjoy it. Horror isn't his specialty mind you. I started following his channel because of a puzzle roguelike called Desktop Dungeons (which I love to bits).

Thanks man. I watch youtube more then anything. Videogame runs are cozy as hell.