“The Long Dark is a Horror Game”

[conanjaguar]

So what do you guys think? Is TLD a horror game?

 

Edited July 9, 2023 by conanjaguar

[Bearimpaler101]

this is hard to answer! I get stressed like I do while playing horror games. so I voted yes. But I don't think it is a scary game.

[Dx421]

It's also accurate to describe TLD as "science fiction" yet I think very few people would think of it as a scifi game.

In the end we just use words as best we can to describe ideas.

Edited July 10, 2023 by Dx421
Forgot the point - missed the second line

[xanna]

Great video, I agree with the essayist I think.

This feels like an apt time to post this video essay by Jacob Geller about cold and horror and video games - TLD gets a brief mention, and you'll recognise the music:
 

 

[PilgrimReaper]

I think it doesn't have to be a horror game, at least I specifically like to play pilgrim for that reason.

But then it's all about death, so... ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 

[Leeanda]

I see it more as a suspense/ thriller than horror but it does have its moments . I suppose it depends on how we perceive it as individuals. 

 

[LunarLime]

Horror is subjective.

Personally, I think that isolation is only really scary if it's a real life situation. In game, if I started to feeling too lonely, I would just stop playing, and talk to my roommates/brothers, friends, or even my cat. I've never had that happen before, being 'forced' to seek conversation because of a game's isolation, but knowing I have that reassurance basically nullifies any horror I could get.

For a game to really spook me without cheap jump scares, I have to feel like I'm in constant grave danger, with no way to fight back.

[yollarbenibekler]

Real life in wilderness without the technology is horror to some. But some find peace in it. Subjective. I say it is a peaceful game, you just need to adapt to the environment you are in.

[SpanishMoss]

The problem is "horror game" is not a great name for it. 
there really should be two catagoreys of scary game:

Horror and Unsettling. TLD in my opinion falls into the latter.

Horror should be a game that focuses on the scary elements, whereas unsettling is just that, a game with an unsettling nature 

 

 

[acada]

Horror? No. Sometimes tense an stressing? Yes. The only horror part was the nightwalker event. Otherwise it is calm game with occasional tense, scary moments, when weather suddenly changes or bear is behind corner in the fog.

[hozz1235]

Horror:  No.  Survivalist:  Definitely.

[xanna]

If there were a film of The Long Dark, with blizzards and bears and near--death injuries, what would we call it? Probably a drama or adventure-thriller rather than horror, although it would be terrifying. 

[conanjaguar]

On 7/10/2023 at 10:21 AM, Dx421 said:

In the end we just use words as best we can to describe ideas.

Very true.

On 7/10/2023 at 3:47 PM, LunarLime said:

I've never had that happen before, being 'forced' to seek conversation because of a game's isolation

It seems rather odd to me that such a thing is possible .

15 minutes ago, xanna said:

If there were a film of The Long Dark, with blizzards and bears and near--death injuries, what would we call it? Probably a drama or adventure-thriller rather than horror, although it would be terrifying. 

Nailed it.

[hozz1235]

On 7/10/2023 at 8:21 AM, Dx421 said:

In the end we just use words as best we can to describe ideas.

True, but I believe those descriptors need to be somewhat agreed upon so we know what the word means.  Just think if everyone called a cat something different? 😄

[TFA303]

I voted no, but I can definitely see why someone might say that.

 

And there are certainly moments of terror...

 

 

[xanna]

That's the poster for the film sorted

[Stuffed Plush Chainsaw]

Horror is a genre I would describe as one that instills fear in you by confronting you with unpredictable, often rapidly occurring instances of unspeakable, unimaginable, unnatural things a normal person would be terrified of mostly by the inability to comprehend the true extend of terror they pose. The Long Dark isn't that.

The Long Dark has for sure elements of the horror genre here and there. There are actually jump scares, especially when being immersed in darkness or bad visibility, yes, there is a certain eeriness to many places and situations, sure, and behind everything there is an unresolved mystery which is slightly otherworldly. One might even dread the idea of being absolutely and ultimately alone, or that there is no real hope to be had. But as for the genre a big part is the "intention" behind it. The Long Dark does not intend to terrify you. It does not intend to confront you with circumstances beyond normal human comprehension. It does not play on hyper-fears for the sake of you being terrified.

What it does is expose you to very real, primal fears: the dark, predators, being lost, isolation, the lack of food and shelter, which all culminate in the uncertainty of whether or not your end lurks behind the next corner. But these are very much very natural sources of anxiety, anxiety evolution has instilled in you, and these are situations you would certainly dread in real life, but which are not constructed to terrify you. They just do.

Edited July 12, 2023 by Stuffed Plush Chainsaw

[A Big Red Dawg]

Chainsaw has a point, this game is like subnautica, it doesn’t try to scare you, but it does a helluva good job playing with your fears 

[Stuffed Plush Chainsaw]

17 hours ago, A Big Red Dawg said:

Chainsaw has a point, this game is like subnautica, it doesn’t try to scare you, but it does a helluva good job playing with your fears 

Funny enough I was thinking about how Subnautica plays in this regard, and it follows a similar path. TLD just cranks this concept up to 11.

A stark contrast to TLD while being somewhat similar in other regards is The Forest. The Forest has intentionally upsetting themes and imaginary, and very deliberately tries to scare you. Being scared and afraid are two different concepts in my opinion. Being scared stems from the unknown, the unexpected, the unimagined coming at you at a pace too fast and/or too obscure for you to understand, but acquiring knowledge about what scares you usually alleviates its severity. On the other hand being afraid is based in (at least what is perceived as) knowledge of a realistic and substantial danger, the awareness of obstacles so hard to overcome that failure is likely rather than possible, and the foreboding that whatever fate you struggle to escape might turn out inevitable - and acquiring better understanding about what you are right to be afraid of doesn't make it go away one bit, usually the opposite is true.

Walking into that snowstorm isn't scary. But the realization that you very likely will not come out on the other end instills more fear in you than any zombie ever could. In a way fear is the big, substantial brother of horror that doesn't go away once you look it in the eye.

 

Edited July 13, 2023 by Stuffed Plush Chainsaw

[conanjaguar]

Some great discussion here .

(Meanwhile me taking notes to see how I can make that horror game I’ve been working on all year actually scary)

[Kayosiv]

I think for something to be  a "horror" game, it has to have an element of either supernatural or the unimaginable. Things can be scary without breaking the established rules of the world. Wolves are scary, they might kill you and death is scary, but those are all things of the natural order.

The Dark Walker is a horror element because it is impossible and unpredictable. It exists outside of realism to a degree that makes it unknowable and the unknowable, not the unknown, is terrifying.

[chrislacruz]

Not sure if it's been mentioned, but Michelle Paver's Dark Matter is a terrific ghost story set in a world very similar to The Long Dark.. well worth a read or listen.