How not to be afraid to play survival horror games. “People are wildly afraid and hide in the corners How they are not afraid to play

Don't leave the room, don't make a mistake...

(Joseph Brodsky)

Thursday, March 26, thanks to spbblog I was lucky enough to get to test a new quest from "Rabbit Hole" - "The Reducing Machine".

I will share my experience. What is it like to finally "leave the room", what is the meaning of the quest in reality and how to set your personal record!

The quest in reality is a new entertainment for Russia, but it has already become so popular that it would even be strange to explain what it is. The idea is simple: well, who among us would not like to feel like the hero of a book, a movie, or just an adventurer saving himself or the world? It's time to finally physically "leave the room" in which you live and try something new. For example, "leave the room" with the help of the brain. Thinking, after all, also needs to be trained!

I went through the quest for the first time and in the company of people I didn’t know, but the sensations remained unforgettable. You can hardly boast of the passage time - as much as 54 minutes, and there were a couple of clues, to be honest, there were. But the quest is well done. We did not notice any special "blunders" and illogical moments, the staff is friendly, the cookies are delicious. In general, everything is as it should be. The entourage is quite original - the heroes of the quest are invited to feel like "little" men on the desk of an unfortunate scientist. And I must say, "growing up big" was not so easy!

So how not to be stupid on the quest, go through it without prompts and meet the minimum time?

1. Choose the quest "according to the forces." Almost all companies have a gradation of the level of difficulty of quests. Who are you: beginner, specialist, pro?

2. Be careful. All the details are important, even those that seem insignificant to you at first.

3. Don't get hung up on one riddle if you can't solve it. Just take a break and look around - as they say, "the truth is somewhere nearby"!

4. Separate. It is no coincidence that there are several people on your team. While you are sitting and the five of you are thinking "what is this master key for?" time goes by.

5. Keep it simple. Any quest is made so that it can be completed in an hour. Everything is quite simple and you will need a number of Google, a large Soviet encyclopedia and deep knowledge of anything.

6. The logic of any quest is the search for the illogical. Yes Yes exactly! Look around: what is out of place? Move it to where it should be, and you will most likely get closer to the solution.

7. Don't be nervous. Yes, you are limited by time, but this is not a reason to panic. Because panic also takes time. Such is the "vicious circle".

8. Do not forget that you are on vacation, not on an exam. Don't take things too seriously!

9. Don't use force. Tighten the muscles of the brain, but not the arms. If "this thing doesn't fit in any way," then it simply shouldn't fit in there. Elementary Watson!

10. Don't think that you are the smartest. Alas and ah, but if you completed your first quest too quickly, then most likely it is simply poorly written. According to statistics, only 10% manage to get out of the first seen room of a well-written quest!

I am convinced of the importance of auto-training techniques every day. There are so many unfortunate, evil people around who just want to make things worse for everyone around. Yes, and situations regularly occur when you need to pull yourself together, get out of your comfort zone and use your talents to the fullest. And what could be better than to master several practical methods of auto-training and put them into practice?

Just a week ago, football competitions took place at my home university. Each faculty fielded a combat-ready team. For accounting and auditing, I had the honor to play. Even at school, not having enough physical endurance, I regularly defended the goal. There were matches when I got literally everything. And there were such failures when it was a shame to look into the eyes of teammates. Especially if it was a blunder in a fundamental confrontation with a parallel class.

Even at the age of 14-15, I realized very well that I lacked self-confidence. This did not allow me to fully realize myself not only in sports, but in general in life. After several years of searching, failures with theoretical books on psychology, several empty courses, I finally stumbled upon auto-training.

I made a decision for myself that I would not just play, but I would definitely play well. In fact, any competition begins even outside the field. And this is a struggle with the strongest opponent - yourself. Fears, violent fantasy, failures and jokes of "friends" (who do not see what is happening outside the window behind a laptop) - in such an atmosphere it is difficult to prepare oneself psychologically.

I decided to abstract from all this. From one of the books on auto-training (I read so many of them that I don’t remember the names), I remember the wise words: “The easiest way to overcome your bad thoughts is to overcome them with the help of music.” That's exactly what I did. My feelings were strong enough, so 2 hours before the match I started listening to my favorite song - Louis Armstrong "What a wonderful world". She always inspires me to new achievements. I listened to it during the warm-up as well, and took off my headphones just before the start of the match. So I avoided unnecessary thoughts.

But it is important not to burn out at the beginning of the match. No one will let the goalkeeper listen to music while the game is in progress: neither the referees, nor the players, nor the fans. Now it's time to apply auto-training. I used the recommendations from Artur Alexandrov's book "Autotraining". By consistently fulfilling all the author's instructions, I overcame my fears and caught real courage. My confidence was transferred to the whole team and in the end we took an honorable third place. I wonder how I would play without using the auto-training technique?

Horror is one of the types of extreme sports, which in the body of an unprepared person can produce more adrenaline than a long parachute jump. Fear in most cases is a conditional thing. It is laid in us from childhood thanks to various stereotypes, such as monsters in dark places or under the bed, belief in paranormal phenomena, and so on.

For many decades, our fears have been skillfully used by screenwriters and directors of horror films, who are well aware that a person will definitely go to the cinema again in order to jump on the spot from a sudden screamer at the right time and get their portion of emotions and adrenaline. Video game developers quickly realized that this effect will be much stronger if you not only watch what is happening on the screen, but also take part in it. This is how the first horror games appeared.

The main problem of modern horror games is that they quickly become outdated in terms of gameplay and graphics. To make a person squeal in fear, he must believe in what is happening on the screen. Movies in this case have an easier life, so even 20-year-old horror can be scary to death.

With games, everything is more complicated, and the same Resident Evil of 1996 will only give the player the necessary atmosphere, but is unlikely to be able to bring him to a heart attack. Of course, oldfag hipsters, in a rush to prove their uniqueness, are ready to be afraid of even a poorly drawn Yakubovich in one of the first versions of the "Field of Wonders" for PC, but we'll talk about really scary games on this moment.

We tried to collect in our list those horror games after which you want to relax from emotional overstrain. Their authors really tried to good atmosphere intertwined with a primal fear for his life. We deliberately didn't rank scary games in ascending order, as they are all worthy candidates.

Invest in your own brickworks along with the site.

1. Penumbra

Penumbra is a unique project. Its first part was released in 2007 and became one of the main representatives of the survival-horror genre, despite the seeming simplicity of execution. The authors of this scary game realized that the effect of fear for their lives and primal fear can be increased if all weapons are taken away from the player. There are no shotguns and rocket launchers here, there is only a fragile main character without superpowers, who is afraid of dying. It is better to hide from danger in Penumbra than to fight it off with a hammer.

The developers of the game went to an interesting trick to enhance the immersion in the atmosphere, and added to the main character the need to interact with the surrounding objects on a physical level. For example, to push a drawer out of the table, you need to hold down its handle with the mouse button and pull it towards you. Thus, an additional effect of presence is created. Later, many companies will start using this technique in their games.

Penumbra is tied with a good plot, in which the player will have to find out what happened in the mysterious mine in Greenland and what evil lurks in its dungeons and laboratories.

Even 10 years after its release, Penumbra is still scary. The authors skillfully play on the most common human fears. At the moment, the horror game Penumbra has come out in three parts, except for an amateur mod from fans.

2. Amnesia The Dark Descent

Amnesia The Dark Descent is a direct descendant of the genre from the developers of Penumbra, who used their previous work to make the horror game of their dreams. And at the same time bring some players to a heart attack.

Amnesia came out in 2010 and has been pushing players into their seats ever since. Frictional Games decided to go further and made the main character - Daniel - completely defenseless against all the dangers in this horror game.

According to the plot of the game, we wake up on the floor of one of the rooms of a medieval castle and realize that we have lost our memory. From this moment begins our long journey through the plot of the game, which we draw from the notes left by the heroes and scraps of newspapers. The viscous and gloomy atmosphere of the castle draws you in almost instantly. Even when nothing happens on the screen, fear covers involuntarily, and you begin to be afraid of every rustle. What can we say about the moments when the hero is really in danger.

In Amnesia The Dark Descent, the developers have added another interesting gameplay element - the mind of the protagonist. When Daniel is in the dark for a long time or sees a terrible monster, chaos begins in his head. You can go crazy here, so it's better not to look at the monsters, which adds to the fear of not being able to see where the danger is. Absolute tension and cold sweat throughout the game.

3. Cry of Fear

Cry of Fear is a unique example of a successful horror game that lacks the mind-blowing AAA-class graphics, gorgeous animation and epic direction that modern developers are so proud of. There is only a quality atmosphere here, which compensates for such a sneaky trick as screamers. And for this game you can forgive everything. Even the fact that it is actually an amateur modification on a slightly modified Half-Life engine (which was released in 1998, we recall). If you are a weak-hearted person and faint at the sight of a small spider, then do not start playing Cry of Fear.

This horror game was released in 2012 and is distributed on Steam absolutely free. No one put their hopes on the mod exactly until the first players left their feedback about the game in the style of “the best laxative and without chemistry”. After that, Cry of Fear became incredibly popular in the gaming community, even among those who consider graphics to be a fundamental factor in games. In addition, this horror game is incredibly hardcore, and the imagination of the developers in the methods of bullying the player is simply limitless.

4. Layers of Fear

Layers of Fear is very difficult for those people who regard games only as a rest for the mind. To fully immerse yourself in the atmosphere of this terrible game, you will have to think about what is happening on the screen, about the fate of the hero and his thoughts.

If you are a lover of surrealism, which is masterfully intertwined with art, then Layers of Fear will definitely appeal to you. The story of an artist who expresses his inner world in creepy paintings is truly frightening. More scary than the screamers that abound in this truly scary game. Mind games will make you question your own sanity. Having passed along a long corridor and turning back, you run the risk of not seeing this corridor. No one knows what will appear in front of you the next moment.

In Layers of Fear great amount metaphors, so if you like to run through the corridors with a shotgun at the ready, then this game is not for you. The rest will be imbued with the atmosphere and appreciate the work of the authors who tried to make a real work of art out of their project.

5 SOMA

SOMA is very hard to call a horror game in the usual way. There are almost no screamers here, and those that are are very skillfully served at the right moments so that the player does not relax to the end. Instead, SOMA brings us one of the darkest and most atmospheric narratives in video game history. And this is another game from Frictional Games - the developers of Penumbra and Amnesia.

If the goal of Amnesia was to scare the player to death, then SOMA wants to tell us an interesting and deep story about the fate of humanity and the protagonist in particular. Mysteriousness is added by the fact that all the action takes place at a scientific underwater station, where we are strangely transported after a normal, at first glance, brain scan. There are no living people left at the station, only a few creepy monsters, who, however, do not pursue us throughout the game, as happens in other horror games.

Loneliness in dark corridors and plot details are more frightening than sudden monsters in other scary games. This SOMA has earned high marks from critics and players.

6. SCP – Containment Breach

What you will not find on the open spaces of the modern Internet. Sometimes, enthusiasm pushes people to do strange things. For example, the creation of an encyclopedia of anomalous objects in the world, which are united by the abbreviation SCP, while many of them pose a threat to humanity. In order for you to feel the atmosphere of the SCP - Containment Breach game, we recommend that you first familiarize yourself with the paranormal catalog in Russian.

How do you like the idea of ​​a concrete and rebar sculpture (screenshot of SCP-173) that requires constant eye contact? As soon as you blink, the sculpture will instantly be behind you and twist your neck.

According to the plot of the indie game SCP - Containment Breach, you are one of the workers secret laboratory, where the most dangerous SCPs of the planet are kept in special conditions, which, due to chance, break free. Your goal is to survive. There is no limit to human fantasy, so even despite the low quality of the graphics, the atmosphere is provided for you. You will remember for a long time your hysterical escape from the so-called "grandfather" or "plague doctor". Yes, and the classic 173 will not lag behind.

7. F.E.A.R.

When did F.E.A.R. (First Encounter Assault Recon), the game made a splash in the video game market. Sparkling with fashionable graphics at that time, it was a dynamic shooter, in which elements of a psychological thriller and atmospheric horror were woven.

The Japanese were the first to scare the audience with little girls in their films. The authors of F.E.A.R. skillfully interpreted this idea, creating the image of Alma - a girl who became a victim of experiments trying to breed a clone of an ideal soldier with telepathic abilities. During the experiment, Alma got out of control and now wants only revenge, destroying everyone in her path.

Playing as an operative of a secret unit to counter paranormal threats, we will have to go through a real hell of skillfully presented horror, which was released in several parts. F.E.A.R. remains one of the scariest games of our time.

8 Dead Space

Dead Space is one of the few representatives of science fiction in the Survival-horror genre. The first part of the game was released in 2008, and no one had high hopes for it, but the players were delighted.

According to the plot of this horror game, we find ourselves in the world of the future, where humanity has already mastered deep space and can afford to mine minerals on other planets. A distress signal was received from the Ishimura ripper ship, and the mining company sends a shuttle to the place of the signal, on which our main character, engineer Isaac Clarke, is also located. When the repair crew arrives on the scene, it becomes clear that the game's developers were inspired by films such as Alien and The Thing. In a matter of minutes, the hero remains cut off from his group on a huge spaceship, teeming with necromorphs - a special form of life that the crew has turned into.
Isaac has a difficult journey to save his life, as well as to find his beloved, who was also on the Ishimura.

The excellent atmosphere of this scary game is recreated thanks to the ingenious work of sound engineers and directors who make you squeeze into your chair when traveling through the narrow corridors of the station with a laser cutter at the ready.

9.Outlast

Outlast quickly became known among the players as one of the scariest horror games of our time. Despite the fact that this project is usually called indie development, its production and development overshadows many AAA projects from the giants of video game development.
This game will make even the most phlegmatic gamer, who is skeptical about horror game genres, squeal. By the way, Outlast is considered one of the most cruel and “meaty”, so it is categorically contraindicated for children. The number of intestines and severed limbs per square meter rolls over. And this complements the atmosphere of madness, horror and disgust that reigns in the game until its very end.

In the plot of Outlast, we play as a journalist named Miles, who, thanks to a tip from an anonymous person, learns about sinister experiments on patients in the Mount Massive psychiatric hospital. Unable to contain his creative impulses, Miles goes to do investigative journalism with a camera at the ready. And this camera becomes almost the main element of the game. Through her peephole we will see all the horrors that the human imagination can create with people.

Looking at the dismemberment in infrared mode in complete darkness terrifies the player much more than simply wandering around in search of a way out. All this is supported by a chic soundtrack, from which everything that can be compressed is compressed. While traveling through a huge psychiatric hospital, every second you expect that some next psycho will jump out from around the corner, who will start doing all sorts of indecency with your body.

The hero, as usual, is completely defenseless, so we can only run away from our pursuers, screaming heart-rendingly. The chases are staged very atmospherically and convey the panic of the protagonist to the player with proper realism. Not everyone will dare to play Outlast, because it has been recognized as one of the scariest games of our time.

10 Alien Isolation

Alien Isolation became a real masterpiece for fans of the original Alien films, which still scare the goosebumps of people around the world. The ingenious universe created by Ridley Scott and Giger's fantasy has come to the point that the whole world knows about it. A lot of games were released in the Alien universe, but none of them were truly scary and they were ordinary shooters. That all changed when Creative Assembly announced a new Survival-horror starring Alien.
Alien Isolation is a true homage to the original 1979 film. The game very accurately reproduced the entourage of the ships shown in the film, as well as the general style of the story. The first launch brought tears to the eyes of the fans as we looked around in the cryosleep bay to painfully familiar music.

According to the plot, we play for Amanda Ripley - the daughter of the main character from the first film. Fifteen years after her mother's disappearance, Amanda suddenly receives news that the Sevastopol space station has obtained a black box from that same Nostromo. Without thinking twice, the girl goes to the station, hoping to lift the veil of secrecy.

The very first meeting with the Alien makes the heart beat furiously in the chest, you will not soon forget this feeling. The authors did a great job on the atmosphere of this terrible game, and the Alien himself was programmed in such a way that he acted as unpredictably as possible. More than once you will have to sit in lockers at a time when an alien creature will pass a meter away from you.

If you are a man and have already planted a tree and had a baby, then Alien Isolation will make you a great brick house in which you will discuss your adventures in this game for a long time.

Question to the psychologist:

Good day.

I hope that my question will not seem frivolous to you. Online games are my hobby and they make up quite a big part of my life at the moment. In addition, it seems to me that this applies not only to games, but is some kind of more global psychological problem.

The bottom line is that I'm afraid to play any competitive games against live players. It doesn't matter if it's a 1v1 game, a 5v5 team game, or even 15v15. This is not even fear, but rather a feeling of anxiety, like the one we experience, for example, before going to the dentist or for an interview.

It would seem, why overpower yourself for the sake of such a frivolous activity as a game? But, as I said, I perceive them as quite a full-fledged hobby, and a great opportunity to communicate with friends, or even as a way to make new acquaintances. Myself game process I like it and I really enjoy it. But every time I have to step over this psychological barrier of my own, literally force myself to play the very first game, because. after that it gets easier.

I searched for people with a similar problem on the net. As it turns out, there aren't that many of us. I just couldn't find any good advice. The most popular is "just step over yourself, take defeats as a way to become better, etc." - does not work. As a year ago I experienced this feeling of excitement, so I still experience it. Every time. Overpowering doesn't bring me into my comfort zone or help me deal with stress. On the contrary, it will help to earn it.

The second popular diagnosis is: “You are afraid to let your allies down, or embarrass yourself in front of other people.” I would agree with him, especially since I am very much afraid of public attention. But, as I said, in 1v1 games, the picture is exactly the same. Although, maybe it's the fear of embarrassing yourself in front of your opponent... To be honest, I don't know.

Options for when the feeling of excitement passes:

1. I don't play against live players, but against the computer.

2. I play with my friends.

3. The feeling of excitement is strongest at the beginning. The longer I play, the weaker it gets.

Please help me understand what is wrong with me. I will be very glad to any hints and recommendations.

Thank you very much in advance for your time.

The psychologist Perepada Olga Mikhailovna answers the question.

Hello Alexey. Your question is indeed, a bit unusual. What is wrong with you? I don’t know ... What could be wrong with a person who denies live communication, avoids reality in virtual world looking for himself outside of real reality? You describe situations in which you experience a certain anxiety, you say that among your familiar gamers this is not so rare, but at the same time you do not see the real reason lying on the surface. Let's see?

You experience the excitement of playing with real people. But what happens in reality? Is there a similar excitement and in what situations? You don't say anything about it.

There is no anxiety with friends. This is quite understandable - they are safe for you, they are already in the "friends" category. And what happens to you when you communicate with "not friends"?

The feeling of excitement is stronger at the beginning. - Of course. You are stepping out of your so-called "comfort zone". You must communicate with other living people, the principle of which you are not familiar with as well as the principle of operation of inanimate technology.

You apologize for wasting your time. To myself? Do you think you are unworthy of the time spent on you? Why?

What to do? First, try to see the situation from the outside. Estimate. Answer the questions. Remember when such excitement still arises. Analyze the reasons. Think over a strategy (well, let's call it games). Work it out in reality - with living people (first friends, then strangers). View - increased contact with people in reality - how does it affect the level of excitement in the game? And, of course, keep a balance in the future :) I wish you good luck).

These girls keep Krasnoyarsk residents in fear, make them huddle in the corners, drive them to hysterics. Although one is a 1st year student, the other is a doctor by education. It's just that they are almost the most frightening horror characters in Krasnoyarsk. Actresses of the performances "Nadya" and "Anna's Curse". The girls, of course, anonymously spoke about their work. If you are a unique person, and still have no idea what questrooms are, start your acquaintance with the topic from here.

Nadia

Character Description: After the disappearance of one strange girl, other children began to disappear in the boarding school. The first missing girl was never found, but all the other children were found too often. Every hour a child died in the boarding school.

How do you explain to family and friends who you are?

I don't really talk about who I work for. There are several reasons for this: firstly, the NADENKA quest is one of the top quests in the city, many have already visited it and were delighted. But there are many people who still have not had time to come to us, including my friends among them. I do not want to spoil their first impression and the effect of surprise. After all, many participants, coming to a horror quest, understand that only an actor is involved, but during the game, the brains are completely turned off, the border with reality is completely washed away, and you just turn out to be the main character of the scariest horror movie. If my acquaintances know that it is I who is playing the role of NADENKA, then it seems to me that they may lose some interest in what is happening, and they will not fully feel the horror of the abandoned children's boarding school.

And how do loved ones react?

My mother is an absolutely fearless person, and she was one of the pioneers of the NADENKA quest. She loves quests very much, including horror. It was thanks to her that the organizers made certain amendments to the actor's game. So, probably, we have this family love for performances. Only I play, and she passes.

I generally follow, and they, the poor, are lying on the floor in hysterics

Nadia

Are there times when you get scared?

Of course, there are many such moments. People are all different, and accordingly, the reaction to me is also different for everyone. There were cases when furniture flew at me from fear, and they covered themselves with the Bible, while praying heart-rendingly. But, probably, most of all I was frightened at the beginning of summer. We had a purely male team, consisting of athletes, masters of sports. Even though the administrator explained to them before the game that you can’t touch me, just admire, although the guys seemed to be cheerful and adequate, but once inside the game, they were so scared, how loud they squealed, that I would never have thought that such healthy guys can do that. And so, in one of the locations, as usual, I come close to make the effect the strongest, the guys huddled in a corner, and just at the moment when I was about to leave, one of them, the master of sports in freestyle wrestling, moved and ran after me. I wasn't supposed to run away, and I wasn't supposed to step out of character. Without showing how scared I was, I moved on very slowly, and he ran up from behind, grabbed me tightly in a vise and lifted me up. That's when I had tears in my eyes from fear. Thank God, the hugs were quite tender, and soon they let me go.

The most unusual behavior of the participants?

In most cases, somewhere, probably, 19 games out of 20, people are wildly afraid of me and hide in the corners. Moreover, we do not have a single scenario, and every time our administrator comes up with something new and makes me scare everyone in different ways. It all depends on the behavior and reaction of people. I come right up to someone, nose to nose, and they just back away. They don't let me get too close to someone. There are times when I generally follow the players, and they are the poor ones lying on the floor in hysterics. All of us are completely individual. But, probably, the very first thing that comes to mind now about a non-standard situation is when such an adult guy, quite tall and beefy, was hiding behind his fragile girlfriend with a bible in his hands and read prayers! It was something!

And at what moments it becomes funny and how do you restrain yourself?

There was another funny moment: again, my story rests on the guys. So, at the very beginning, the guy knocked on the door for about ten minutes, closing his eyes and covering his ears with his hands, and shouted to be let out. Then, a little bolder, but apparently not completely, he began to trail at the end of his team. In one of the rooms, we had an old printed tape for entourage. Here I enter. He grabbed the ribbon with trembling hands, opened it, and began wrapping it around himself like a mummy. He wrapped himself around until it was over ... In general, it was wildly funny. It's good that the lighting of the quest allows you to smile sometimes, and at the same time there is no risk of being seen by the players!

What instructions are there in case something goes wrong in the game?

This is easy for us. In principle, I have absolutely nothing to fear during the game. Each game is completely different for each team, and the admin is constantly giving me different instructions about my appearance and further actions, depending on the reaction of the team. If there are some unforeseen circumstances, then we also quickly find a way out, beat the situation so that people do not notice anything. For example, there was once such a case: clients lost the key to one door and could not find it in any way. So the administrator came up with the following solution: he gave me a spare key and let me in to them. I slowly approached and held out my hand ... how much squealing was! They couldn't take it from me for 10 minutes! By some miracle, the clients managed to change the station to a walkie-talkie and, accordingly, did not hear the instructions of the operator at all. But we found a way out - we gave hints written on paper! More precisely, I threw them at them while they were hiding in the corners!

Favorite and least favorite types of players.

Here, probably, I will answer briefly: come to the quest, pay money for it, do not look for something to complain about, do not show aggression. Just enjoy! enjoy what is happening, and then, I'm sure, everything will go at the highest level and you will be delighted!

Anna

Character Description: There is a legend that 50 years ago a young family moved into this house. In 1968, their daughter Anna was born. At the age of 16, she began to have severe epileptic seizures. Treatment in a psychiatric clinic did not give any positive effect. It only got worse.