#i'm still not There but making these look like old school vhs footage was fun

[coolcattime]

something I’ve noticed in a lot of recent indie horror games, a lot of them try to mimic the old playstation style with a lot of polygons and old tv fuzz and vhs filters. which I find interesting when compared to a lot of triple a games which now a days look a lot cleaner and shinier.

like i remember how early 2010s rpg maker had a chokehold on indie devs, now it seems like a lot of them are going for a “good for the time graphics” aesthetics. which is nothing bad! in fact for me I really prefer those compared to a lot of triple a games style, while those games might have different aesthetics the look to them are really similar.

this is all mostly biased towards stuff I’ve seen and played. just thought it be cool to share/ talk about!

So this is definitely a really fun area to discuss, I love media analysis and discussions.

I definitely think that a lot of AAA horror games (and honestly most games) are going for realism over stylised visuals, which I think definitely effects how the game designs certain moments. Like I think that realist looking games can still like be scary, I do really love the Dark Pictures games and find them quite genuinely scary at points, but I think it takes more effort to set the mood.

I definitely know the tend you're talking about with the indie games with the VHS sort of style. I've not played any, but I've seen gameplay of a few and I think I own a few because of the itch.io charity collections. And they definitely have a different atmosphere, like I think they feel a lot more like found footage which I think has a certain level of creepiness built in because it feels like you're not meant to be watching.

And I definitely think that the old RPG maker horror games have like a much scarier atmosphere than more modern AAA horror games, but I much be a bit biased because I really love Corpse Party. Like I got a bit hyperfixated on it in high school and still genuinely love it and think the story has such terrifying moments.

I also think in general, I get a lot more scared in stylised games, even if they're not meant to be scary. I get really scared playing The Long Dark, probably more scared than I get playing most horror games and that's mostly from the sound design as opposed to the visuals (though I do think The Long Dark has some gorgeous visuals).

I'm also not that picky about graphics in horror games because I do also enjoy Visual Novel horror games. Even if I typically feel more stressed, anxious, or upset than scared, I again think that Danganronpa and Your Turn to Die have made me feel a lot stronger emotions than any AAA horror game, just from making me love the characters and then putting them dangerous situations. And both of them have gameplay sections that are basically puzzles, but still made me feel like I was doing something terrible, which isn't something I've really felt in other games.