So, I have finished Resident Evil 4 for the first time in my life this week and now I'm in the process of replaying FEAR. The massive difference in how they approach horror just astounds me - Resident Evil 4, while basically using zombies altho they were not zombies, often managed to keep me on the edge. I was never really terrified or anything like that, more like unnerved whenever I have anticipated encounter of something new and always put just a bit unbalanced by how ... 'Off' many of the things in that game felt. It was a good feeling. Good kind of horror. Enjoyable, and kept me curious troughout - and, more importantly, it didn't need jup scares to achieve this effect, it rather managed it by creating locations which were just a tad implausible, dialogues which were unsettlingly unbelievable, by keeping the effect of "Something is not right" troughout the entire experience. Well done, Resident Evil 4 - I wouldn't call it the scariest horror game I have ever played, but it certainly is the most recent.

And now I'm playing FEAR. And it's ALL the jumpscares. Now I should start off by saying that I'm very susceptible to jump scares - I'm not particularily proud of it, but as much as I expect it and as much as I'm prepared for it, a thing jumping at my screen and going "HABLABLABLABLA" always makes me jump when executed at least semi-competently. I'm not horrified by it, I'm not scared of it - it just triggers an automatic reaction in my brain which makes my heart pump and my muscles instantly ready for action, something that I have to then compose myself from for a couple of minutes. Turning down volume when expecting jump scares helps as it's motly audio, but that instantly takes me out of a game. The point is - jump scares are certainly effective in keeping me nervous, but that's not necessarily because I'm scared of an unknown horror the game is going to present to me, it's because I'm really, really not looking forward to the next time some annoying SOB jumps at my screen during next few minutes and I'll have to shrug it off again. I don't feel terrified of what the game is presenting to me - all I'm nervous about is reaction of my own brain, a sort of meta-fear if you will, and the worst thing is that the moment a jumpscare happens, all the delicious suspense is lost, even if it's executed very well (I'm looking at you, Dead Space.)

However, they do say that horror is a very subjective sensation, and everybody is scared of something else. So how do you experience jump scares? Are they effective at keeping the horror of the experience going, or are they just effective at triggering a reaction (or do you just ignore them completely?) Have you seen jump scares used for good effect which would not bring you out of the experience, and if so, where?

Doom 3 killed the jump scare for me because that's ALL IT HAD!

I don't mind a few or even a lot ,but when it counts for virtually everything a 'scary' game has to offer then I lose interest.

Also your line "...Now I should start off that I'm very susceptible to jump scares...". Well you see, everyone is very susceptible to jump scares which is why they are so effective and so commonly used, and is also why IMO they are a cheap thrill that anyone can deliver, therefore there really is no talent in it.

Anyone (and any game) can scare anyone with surprise. But to terrify someone with just a mood or a vibe....therein lies true genius, and unfortunately it is too be found rarely in gaming, or for that matter in movies.

NICE thread BTW. This should make for some fun reading.

Not jump scares,but playing Fallout 3 and every time I go to de-activate a land mine I wince
and duck slightly....Still trying to figure out why...

I really like Thief. It's not really horror, but sneaking around a dark castle gives you a good sense of danger and vulnerability that feels natural. The levels with undead can also be really intense. The levels feel very alive and you don't get much time for a break or else you get caught.

Doom 3 did kill the jump scare for me too, since then I find jump scares not scary, but rather only causing me to have a reflex. And yeah.. FEAR.. fear was to me zero scary. :) But then I am not finding little girls scary no matter what the setting is (I found those Japanese horror movies a good comedy and at best a drama)

But that said, I found the first Dead Space to be exceptionally scary ;) The mix of audio and visual design in that game was so well done and it oozed atmosphere. Which is what is required for me to be actually feeling something like FEAR in a game. I think this can only be compared with a few sections in Alien Isolation, particularly the one where you just get dropped into the med section of the base and there are survivors in there with you, and you just sneak around and see the Alien stalking them (often very close and unexpected because all this motion is impossible to properly motion track). Now that was scary ;)

TL;DR

Jump scares are not scary to me, but of course I have an reflex reaction to them. I actually find games utilizing them to be the "cheap" kind of horror. Only horror game so far that actually made me feel really really tense and anxious was Alien Isolation. And only until I understood the gameplay properly. It's funny but the longer you play Alien Isolation, the less scary it becomes, but in between all the tension it finds some GENIUNE creepy moments, like running away from robots (Which are very creepy...) into a vent and suddenly being face to face with the Alien. THAT made me avoid ventilation shafts nearly the entire game. And this happened very early (From what I hear, some people NEVER had that happen to them.. hah ;p)

But I will say this, headphones or proper 5.1 or better sound system are absolutely vital to actually feel the horror in horror games properly. Especially in Dead-Space the sound environment in certain sections... or when the Alien just randomly drops down a vent in front of you completely out of nowhere....

I could write an essay about this, but I will refrain :P

I don't really like jump scares, but I think they have their place, and I think there's a good way to do them and a bad way to do them.

My favorite "jump scares" are the ones that don't come with a musical sting, and may not even be that sudden. The ones that only work in the context of the game, after the atmosphere and/or story have gotten under your skin. One of the most frightening moments in any game I've played was near the beginning of Amnesia. I opened a door, saw a monster in the middle of the room turn around, jumped out of my seat (literally. That's the only time I've ever done that.), turned the game off, and didn't come back for a few years. In reality, there wasn't anything particularly sudden or startling about it, but in the context of the game it was horrifying.

I think this is the reason FEAR's horror falls so flat. All of its scares are well-executed and the atmosphere is creepy, but in the context of the game--a game when you swing wildly back and forth between over-the-top ego-boosting firefights and Japanese horror--they just don't work.

Even really hammy "musical sting" jump scares can be done in a clever way. The FNaF series, love it or hate it, is exceptionally good at making the player paranoid and executing its scares at just the right moment, so they either catch you off guard, or benefit from your knowing and dreading that they might happen.

All that being said, I firmly believe that jump scares are a garnish rather than a main course, and that horror games could massively benefit from focusing on atmosphere and story as a way to creep the player out, as opposed to jump scares and chase scenes as a way to trick them into having a fight or flight response.

I remember that orphanage from Thief 3... I found that REALLY scary when I first played it when I was around... 15, I guess?.

It seems that when jump scares are intentionally put in a game, they don't work on me (like in Fear). However, if I'm playing a game and just happen to run into an enemy that I didn't expect, that sometime startles me.

I've only played #1.

Oh yeah, Dead Space uses some extremely effective means to achieve some great atmosphere. From the unnerving music to the on-board computer silently repeating "Isaac" in various tones and pitches just so player can't quite make it out, it makes you feel so isolated and lonely. It's just ... Jump scares didn't really work for me in that game, and later on it just becomes an atmospheric power trip. Not that Resident Evil didn't.

Alien Isolation, on the other hand... Oh yeah. That game's some fantastic horror. The vent thing you mentioned? It didn't happen to me until the very end. Just as I thought nothing can surprise me, there he was, Xenomorph rushing straight at me trough the vents I have so dearly considered safe. Man... You can't make a TL;DR as something that's longer than what you're TL;DRing :-P Go on, I like essays :-P

At any rate, yeah, some games use jump scares cleverly and sparingly - then again, I'd say a lot of them are not really jump scares, rather ... Well, regular scares. And yes, they're exceptionally difficult to pull off.

Side note; State of the art military facility on Mars, you think they'd have some adequate BACK UP LIGHTING!!!! :P I've been in caves that weren't that dark!

I need to finish that some day. It's really good, but I keep getting distracted by other games.

Haha! The most memorable time this happened to me was with the pink demons in Doom, suddenly there was one of them behind me making this ridiculous snoring sound, made me jump in my seat and my brother, too.

Go to 0:41 of this video for the funny sound:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZS1TQKe_D18

Five Nights at Freddy's, FNaF2, and FNaF3 all have a little bit of atmosphere, but the real fear is that a jump scare is coming out of nowhere. The game uses jump scares nearly exclusively and is exceptionally effective because every jump scare in (FNaF and FNaF 2) is fatal. There is no partial fail state, or survival state (except a glitch that allows you to ride-through Chica's kill animation in FNaF). The games make good on the intensity because you have to focus on many aspects to keep the killer enemies at bay, from flashing lights, looking at them on the camera to slow them down, or playing audio bites to distract them and lure to another location away from you (we'll not even mention keeping the music box wound up to prevent an otherwise unstoppable fail state). The games are pretty intense even three or four play throughs in, and are absolutely terrifying on your first time. Even if you've seen someone else play, it can get you by surprise.

Jump scares in traditional games are weak and cheap. They pop up and are usually quite harmless except for the intense startle that you get. Games like Outlast, Resident Evil, Silent Hill, etc. all use a jump scare or two in their make up, but they are never fatal, and are almost never even harmful. In a game like FNaF, a jump scare represents a failure and can be prevented.

Jump scares are effective if they are used sparingly in typical games, but even a game built around them can be pretty good.

I'm not against jump scares if they are good, but in general they are a cheap shortcut to what really makes horror effective -- an unsettling atmosphere of dread. It's much more difficult to create a believable atmosphere that continues through the whole work. I think some of the best examples have been Bioshock, The Ring (remake), and Sinister.