Topic: Shocktober 2020: Play scary games here.

[pokepal148]

Shocktober - A Month-Long Journey Through The Horror Game Genre

Some may say the real world is scary enough in 2020, but I won't let that stop us!

When does this start?

Shocktober begins on October 1st, and will last the entire month of October, ending after Halloween night.

What should I play?

Anything remotely spooky or halloweeny will suffice. If horror isn't your thing than there's plenty of stuff like the Castlevania series or Demon's Crest that will also fit the bill. This is basically a themed Backlaugust but the focus is more on playing games and sharing your experiences than beating them.


Who should participate?

If you:

a. Enjoy horror games
and/or
b. Have at least one horror game in your backlog
and/or
c. Plan on buying a new horror game
d. Have something remotely halloweeny

you should do this!

The purpose of this is a little less about seeing how many games we can beat, but for everyone to share in the experience of playing something scary. A good horror game can be a tough thing to get all of the way through to the end, but with some moral support from the rest of the community that's going through the same thing, maybe we can all make it back into the light by November! That's what it comes down to -- having fun, and being scared shitless. And being scared shitless is a lot more fun when being scared shitless as a group.

[pokepal148]

I started up Alien Isolation. I'm about an hour in and I haven't seen a single alien. I feel cheated.

[NWR_insanolord]

Of course you didn't see them, they're in isolation. It's the name of the game.

[broodwars]

I started up Alien Isolation. I'm about an hour in and I haven't seen a single alien. I feel cheated.

Don't worry. For the rest of the game, you never will see a single Alien. 

[Order.RSS]

Good idea Pokepal! I'm still playing Animal Crossing which I guess has a Halloween theme coming up... But that's not scary obviously, so which of these should I tackle this year: ZombiU or Resident Evil Revelations? Never played either of them.

Of course you didn't see them, they're in isolation. It's the name of the game.

Even xenomorphs understand they have to self-isolate and quarantine.

[M.K.Ultra]

Alien Isolation is probably my favorite scary game. I have been meaning to replay it since I got the PS4 camera as you can have it detect your movement and sound. I am also considering ZombiU or State of Decay 2. I just need to finish The Wonderful 101 first.

[Mop it up]

But that's not scary obviously, so which of these should I tackle this year: ZombiU or Resident Evil Revelations? Never played either of them.

The latter, but good choices either way. Revelaitons is the better game, but ZombiU is more of a novelty.

[broodwars]

But that's not scary obviously, so which of these should I tackle this year: ZombiU or Resident Evil Revelations? Never played either of them.

The latter, but good choices either way. Revelaitons is the better game, but ZombiU is more of a novelty.

Or you could play Revelations 2, which is better than both of them. *shrug*

[Order.RSS]

Revelaitons it is this Shocktober, will report back! ...Once I can tear my attention away from Hades...

Or you could play Revelations 2, which is better than both of them. *shrug*

Hmmm bummer, don't think I have that one unfortunately. They weren't bundled together on Wii U, were they? To be honest both this and ZombiU were some of those "eh it's 5$ whatever" purchases years ago, which have been haunting my backlog for years now. So I don't think I'll be getting other entries in the series unless I somehow wind up loving this one.

[pokepal148]

I had a fun time with what I played of ZombiU but I dropped it a couple of hours in and didn't feel the need to pick it up again.

[M.K.Ultra]

I mentioned a few scary games to play earlier but I just started Hi-Score Girl on Netflix and the first episode features a lot of classic arcade games including Splatterhouse. I then remembered I could play it on the Namco Museum Arcade Pac https://www.nintendoworldreport.com/game/48507/namco-museum-arcade-pac-switch.
This game is quite scary for an eighties arcade game. The music is creepy and the visuals are quite graphic. I had always assumed it was cartoony, but I don't know of anything this dark and mature of the same time period. The games controls are tight and the enemy designs are creative and varied. It gets difficult in stage 3 but with unlimited credits/continues you can get through the game without resorting to save states. If you have the Namco Museum on switch I recommend checking this game out as part of Shocktober 2020.
Also, I watched the second episode of Hi-Score Girl and there are a number of TurboGrafx-16 games featured. One of them was, you guessed it, Splatterhouse. I checked the TG16 mini box and sure enough it is on there. Once I finish the arcade game I will be playing through the TG16 port for comparison and report back with some final thoughts.

[M.K.Ultra]

So I completed Splatterhouse on Switch via the Namco Museum. I forgot to mention that I was using the NES joycon. The game only uses two buttons and the d-pad on those controllers is my favorite for switch options. Again, the music, graphics, and tight controls make me heartily recommend this game. I tried out the TG16 version via the TG16 mini. There are the usual downgrades you get with any arcade to console port. The most noticeable losses were the music and Rick's mask. The protagonist is obviously a Jason knock-off in the arcade game and perhaps that would not fly with a console release. The red mask in the console version sort of bothered me  .
The TG-16 game also limits you to 5 continues where as the arcade game does not. However you do get 5 hearts i.e. you can get hit 1 more time per life. Still a decent port and I don't know why I never played it on my TG-16 growing up. The TG-16 controllers are also two-button but have built-in turbo switches (they are even called "Turbo-pads"). The middle setting does work for attacking repeatedly but I still prefer to mash the buttons myself.
Also, in the discord we had a patron game night and played some Luigi's Mansion 3 multiplayer. It is really fun but most of us had not played since the game came out so we were not familiar enough with the controls to get very far.