Tag Archives: Amnesia
Halloween Week: Top Spooky Soundtracks
What makes a game or level spooky? Is it the monsters you face? Or the environment? Maybe the screams of the dying? Those are all major factors, but another very significant factor is often the music that plays in the background. Just like in movies, music can make or break a scene by creating a certain type of mood. In this case, a spooky mood.
We’ve singled out the spookiest game soundtracks we could find, and included videos for your listening pleasure. Be warned: some of them are not the best thing to listen to alone or in the dark.
The History and Influence of Survival Horror
Halloween is just around the corner, and what better way to celebrate than to take a look at the history and influence of the survival horror genre. The genre has undoubtedly had its ups and downs over the past couple decades, but things are currently looking about as good for the genre as they have since its golden age.
Developing games with the intent to scare people has been around since the early 80′s. Games like Mystery House and Haunted House were some of the first games to try and instill fear in players by putting them in the shoes of characters who were weak in comparison to the enemies they faced.
Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs Gets a New Teaser Trailer
Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs is the upcoming sequel to Amnesia: The Dark Descent, which is widely considered one of the scariest games in recent memory. Frictional Games, the developer for both games, has released a new teaser trailer for their upcoming Amnesia sequel, in which the main character seems to be hiding from an axe-wielding pig.
The Waning State of Survival Horror
Flashback to 1996 when the original Resident Evil was released for the PlayStation and effectively coined the term “survival horror”. While it wasn’t the first game to utilize the survival horror mechanics, it most definitely was the first game to bring the genre to the forefront of the industry. Resident Evil effectively ushered in the golden age of survival horror that was unfortunately too short.
Clock Tower 2 and Overblood followed the precedent set by Shinji Mikami’s revolutionary title while adding things of their own to the survival horror scheme. With the release of Resident Evil 2 in 1998 and Silent Hill in 1999 the survival horror genre seemed to be stronger than ever, which makes its rapid decay over the next few years even more tragic. While Silent Hill 2 was a fantastic game and possibly the best in the Silent Hill series, its success alone was not enough to keep the genre at its peak.
What Do You Think You’re Doing Capcom?
As a long time Resident Evil fan it’s discouraging that the series is going the route of becoming first person shooter comparable Modern Warfare, but it’s not very surprising. To the chagrin of Resident evil fans the series has become more and more action oriented over the years, and it was inevitable that it would come to this. Capcom probably figures why not go all the way, and try to compare to one of the best shooters out there.
Fans of the series don’t want it to be all about headshots and over the top setpieces. We want the series to return to its roots, and be about scares and atmosphere. We want to roam dark, quiet, and eerie hallways, and be scared about what is around the next corner. I don’t want Resident Evil to play like Zombie Mode in the Call of Duty series. I don’t think it will be quite like that, but you can’t blame me for having that fear in the back of my head.
