The most terrifying enemy will always be the one you cannot see. I remember in the first Unreal(not even a horror game) a moment when you flick a switch and you get blocked in to the corridor, as the lights slowly die out 1 by 1. The last light fails and a few seconds you hear a lew pitched, predatory growl. Then the lights flash back on again and you are faced with a Skaarj warrior standing inches away from your face.

Amazing, and all with the power of NOT knowing what COULD be out there.

Also, I vaguely remember Barry’s cameo in RE3 now; a quick google suggests that it only occurred in particular endings which is probably why i didn’t remember it despite having clocked RE3 about 3 times.

I dont know, it really is a tricky one when you try and put your finger on how it can work. Maybe we’re all too numb to thrills and chills after all these years of zombie apocalypses and cult worshipping towns!

a) The adventure, in a lot of ways it resembles older game styles – pick this up, put it down somewhere else, combine it, that kind of stuff. There’s a gratification to be had in the early resi games when you find all the doors that can be unlocked by a key and it frees up an inventory space, daft as it sounds.

b) The tension that is brought about by sometimes severe (depending on difficulty) ammo and health shortage, coupled with what’s basically control limitations in the movement and camera.

Now the second half of b) is obviously an odd thing to be nostalgic for, and I fully understand why it wouldn’t wash with gamers now but I still miss it.

Resident Evil 4 lost a lot of this charm but brought enough awesome actiony fun to the table for it to not matter. Resident Evil 5 seemed a bit soulless to me.

Silent Hill 2 is the only game I’ve ever played that has a palpable sense of sickness about it, actual eerieness and creepiness that makes you think about the nastier side of human nature and isolation. Most other horror games I have played do not even reach this level, including resi games. With FPS games, it’s generally about short scares and unfortunately, making it so bloody dark you can’t see frig all.

Dead Space delivered some consistent chills, but for me it was perhaps at the cost of varied combat and environments. I also didn’t think it was a patch on the early Resi games or Silent Hill for that matter. The scares were too cheap too often in Dead Space. It played a little too much like Doom 3, to my mind.

Resident Evil 4 nailed both the action and the subtle chills. But it was last-gen. Personally, I’m still waiting for the definitive survival horror experience of this generation.

Also barry burton did have a cameo in resi 3! He’s the guy that gets jill and carlos out before racoon city go boooooom! :D

Those cutscenes from the original MADE that game. We should bring back live action cut scenes.

I don’t remember him in RE3 though, but then I struggle with Resident Evil plot points tbh.

I traded in RE5 ages ago, so I won’t be getting the DLC, cool as it looks. That’s what they get for bringing out the DLC a year after the game is released. Bandits.

Have to say I totally disagree with the Dead Space comment as well.