Best Survival Horror Games List

[Kane99]

I wonder if games like the Man of Medan, The Quarry and Until Dawn would make a survival horror list. I mean, they are kinda survival in the point and click sense, but I don't know if they qualify as traditional survival horror games. I mean it does have survival elements in each one, because failing certain parts results in your death. 

Do you think these games could be on a list like this? Maybe the best survival point and click story driven games.

[The Blackangel]

I wouldn't put Man Of Medan on a horror list of any kind. It's more of a "choose your own adventure" kind of game. Some may say that that's exactly the point. But in my eyes, I don't call it horror. Action packed, yes. But not horror.

[Heatman]

22 hours ago, Kane99 said:

I wonder if games like the Man of Medan, The Quarry and Until Dawn would make a survival horror list. I mean, they are kinda survival in the point and click sense, but I don't know if they qualify as traditional survival horror games. I mean it does have survival elements in each one, because failing certain parts results in your death. 

Do you think these games could be on a list like this? Maybe the best survival point and click story driven games.

The three of them definitely makes the list for me. There's a little bit of more action in the Man of Medan but it doesn't take it out of survival horror context to me. There's no arguments whatsoever on The Quarry and Until Dawn making that list. 

[Akun]

On 9/3/2022 at 7:24 AM, Kane99 said:

I wonder if games like the Man of Medan, The Quarry and Until Dawn would make a survival horror list. I mean, they are kinda survival in the point and click sense, but I don't know if they qualify as traditional survival horror games. I mean it does have survival elements in each one, because failing certain parts results in your death. 

Do you think these games could be on a list like this? Maybe the best survival point and click story driven games.

Technically, yes, I would classify them as "survival horror games" because 1) they do contain traditional horror elements like jump scares, scary monsters, and scary moments, and 2) the "gameplay" does involve you trying to keep the characters alive and ensuring they survive by making the correct choices.

But honestly, I wouldn't put them on any list either because I find them to be generally poorly written and filled with cliched movie tropes. And this is coming from someone who generally likes games where your choices affect the story like Detroit: Become Human, a far superior QTE adventure game IMO where the story outcome relies on you making the correct dialogue choices, not just beating the QTEs.

I also find the "replayability" of The Dark Pictures Anthology games to be superficial, because you could easily get the "best" ending by following a walkthrough, whereas a game like Detroit: Become Human doesn't necessarily have the "best" ending because many of its endings are more nuanced in morality, meaning that if you just follow your instincts and choose the best decisions you personally believe in, some of the endings you get by playing this way would still feel authentic instead of being just a "bad end." There's more meaning in your decisions that way, instead of forcing you to pick the "correct" choice during the journey.

Edited September 4, 2022 by Akun

[Kane99]

15 hours ago, Akun said:

Technically, yes, I would classify them as "survival horror games" because 1) they do contain traditional horror elements like jump scares, scary monsters, and scary moments, and 2) the "gameplay" does involve you trying to keep the characters alive and ensuring they survive by making the correct choices.

But honestly, I wouldn't put them on any list either because I find them to be generally poorly written and filled with cliched movie tropes. And this is coming from someone who generally likes games where your choices affect the story like Detroit: Become Human, a far superior QTE adventure game IMO where the story outcome relies on you making the correct dialogue choices, not just beating the QTEs.

I also find the "replayability" of The Dark Pictures Anthology games to be superficial, because you could easily get the "best" ending by following a walkthrough, whereas a game like Detroit: Become Human doesn't necessarily have the "best" ending because many of its endings are more nuanced in morality, meaning that if you just follow your instincts and choose the best decisions you personally believe in, some of the endings you get by playing this way would still feel authentic instead of being just a "bad end." There's more meaning in your decisions that way, instead of forcing you to pick the "correct" choice during the journey.

Yeah, they may technically qualify, but I don't think they come close to the likes of what true survival horror games do. Because I believe in most of these games, it's kinda easy to survive, it's just the choices you make can alter things. I don't think it has enough "Survival", but it does have enough "horror" though. 

[Akun]

1 hour ago, Kane99 said:

Yeah, they may technically qualify, but I don't think they come close to the likes of what true survival horror games do. Because I believe in most of these games, it's kinda easy to survive,

Well, see, that's where the gameplay design of these games come into consideration. If it's just hitting the right QTE buttons to ensure a character's survival, sure, it's easy to keep them alive, and IMO, that's what makes the "your choices have consequences" aspect of the game cheap and superficial. But if your dialogue choices are more nuanced, in that making the wrong decision, no matter how sensible you might think they might be in real life context, can accidentally cause a character to die, that's when the games are more interesting and their storytelling potential utilized properly. I know of certain games, particularly visual novels and JRPGs, where you have to make a series of correct choices to keep certain characters alive (Devil Survivor comes to mind), and those choices don't feel random either and make sense. So I would say they have their own style of survival element that certain players like myself do enjoy, especially if they prefer story over gameplay in videogames.

[killamch89]

On 9/2/2022 at 3:59 PM, Heatman said:

I can't wait to get my hands on both Dead Space Remake and Resident Evil 4 Remake. I have a feeling that they are both going to be very intense especially Dead Space Remake.

Are you getting it when it gets released? 

I'm not quite sure exactly when either is being released - If I'm not mistaken, Resident Evil 4 Remake could be coming out some time next year but we don't have any info on Dead Space Remake at all.

[Heatman]

On 9/5/2022 at 11:41 PM, killamch89 said:

I'm not quite sure exactly when either is being released - If I'm not mistaken, Resident Evil 4 Remake could be coming out some time next year but we don't have any info on Dead Space Remake at all.

Dead Space Remake comes out on 27th January 2023 while Resident Evil 4 Remake will be coming out on 24th March 2023. 

[killamch89]

On 9/11/2022 at 1:30 PM, Heatman said:

Dead Space Remake comes out on 27th January 2023 while Resident Evil 4 Remake will be coming out on 24th March 2023. 

Thanks for the info bro - I haven't really kept up with the Dead Space Remake.

[Heatman]

2 hours ago, killamch89 said:

Thanks for the info bro - I haven't really kept up with the Dead Space Remake.

You're welcome mate. It's not a big deal at all. I'm very sure that it's pretty much why most of us are here to help one another out. I'm happy to help out in this case. 

[Ajibusu]

On 9/3/2022 at 12:24 AM, Kane99 said:

I wonder if games like the Man of Medan, The Quarry and Until Dawn would make a survival horror list. I mean, they are kinda survival in the point and click sense, but I don't know if they qualify as traditional survival horror games. I mean it does have survival elements in each one, because failing certain parts results in your death. 

Do you think these games could be on a list like this? Maybe the best survival point and click story driven games.

I would say Until Dawn can make the list of survival horror games since each stage comes with the player doing everything not to fail. I can't say the same about the other games that you mentioned. 

[Heatman]

4 hours ago, Ajibusu said:

I would say Until Dawn can make the list of survival horror games since each stage comes with the player doing everything not to fail. I can't say the same about the other games that you mentioned. 

If you haven't checked out The Evil Within, it's one good pick for a survival horror game. Everything about the game from the beginning to end was damn creepy. 

 

 

[Kane99]

On 9/4/2022 at 8:19 PM, Akun said:

Well, see, that's where the gameplay design of these games come into consideration. If it's just hitting the right QTE buttons to ensure a character's survival, sure, it's easy to keep them alive, and IMO, that's what makes the "your choices have consequences" aspect of the game cheap and superficial. But if your dialogue choices are more nuanced, in that making the wrong decision, no matter how sensible you might think they might be in real life context, can accidentally cause a character to die, that's when the games are more interesting and their storytelling potential utilized properly. I know of certain games, particularly visual novels and JRPGs, where you have to make a series of correct choices to keep certain characters alive (Devil Survivor comes to mind), and those choices don't feel random either and make sense. So I would say they have their own style of survival element that certain players like myself do enjoy, especially if they prefer story over gameplay in videogames.

True, it's a fairly easy survival horror game. From what I have seen of the games, the choices seem to have impact, and sometimes you have to make them quickly on the fly. I imagine most gamers can figure out how to keep everyone alive in these games too. For me, I can see myself having an easier time playing these games, even though they may have jump scares and other cheap scares, I feel like it's more my pace and I can handle it more than say other, more popular and traditional survival horror games like Resident Evil. 

49 minutes ago, Heatman said:

If you haven't checked out The Evil Within, it's one good pick for a survival horror game. Everything about the game from the beginning to end was damn creepy. 

 

 

Yeah Evil Within is a game that counts. I think I tried the demo of the first game, but couldn't get into it. I watched a playthrough for both games, and I liked what I saw, but it's the type of game where your character kinda moves a bit too slow at times. At least that's what I felt from the time I did play it. 

I wonder if there are plans for third in the series. I feel it's been a long time coming. 

[Heatman]

1 minute ago, Kane99 said:

True, it's a fairly easy survival horror game. From what I have seen of the games, the choices seem to have impact, and sometimes you have to make them quickly on the fly. I imagine most gamers can figure out how to keep everyone alive in these games too. For me, I can see myself having an easier time playing these games, even though they may have jump scares and other cheap scares, I feel like it's more my pace and I can handle it more than say other, more popular and traditional survival horror games like Resident Evil. 

Yeah Evil Within is a game that counts. I think I tried the demo of the first game, but couldn't get into it. I watched a playthrough for both games, and I liked what I saw, but it's the type of game where your character kinda moves a bit too slow at times. At least that's what I felt from the time I did play it. 

I wonder if there are plans for third in the series. I feel it's been a long time coming. 

Well, in the first release, there is was some opinion here and there about the game not being fast paced, although I don't have any problems with it at all. But for the second one, it's better in terms of the game's speed. I don't have any updates on the 3rd release and I'm not sure if they are working on it. 

[Akun]

5 hours ago, Kane99 said:

True, it's a fairly easy survival horror game. From what I have seen of the games, the choices seem to have impact, and sometimes you have to make them quickly on the fly.

Yeah, but to me, their "impact" is kinda shallow, depending on your reflexes only rather than your decision-making skills based on your morality and logic. That was my point in the post your quoted.

Edited September 15, 2022 by Akun