Is this scary at all?

[BrokenG3ars]

I've seen some people referring to this as a survival horror game, but I can't find anything actually official about that being the genre of the game. I did try the demo and was pretty interested and what I played just seemed atmospheric/creepy at worst. Is there horror elements/jump scares later in the game I missed?

[Cheyenesku]

I wouldnt call it horror per se. It doesnt meant to scare you all the time. But it can be tense and scary at times due to atmosphere, sounds etc.
I would say its something similar to Stalker, that can get scary in places.
Like I just went for a quite far trip into the woods away from car (saw two anomalies that pull the car there, so i left it on the road) - some creepy sounds started working, those anomalies that rise from the ground can jump scare, even their noise can be creepy. It raised tension.

[DragynDance]

I'd say it's close to something like subnautica. Spooky atmosphere, unknown environment, mysterious creatures(entities). It's not meant to be a horror game, but being surprised and shocked by something you've never seen before or weren't expecting can make you jump, or you might just be nervous about exploring a new area with new stuff you haven't seen before.

[Cheyenesku]

Originally posted by Shmoogy:

unexpected tourist jumpscare when i turned around to go back to car after salvaging a wreck is the worst ive seen

But they do give you presents sometimes ;) If something suddenly some item flies from behind you its from them

[Cheyenesku]

Originally posted by DragynDance:

I'd say it's close to something like subnautica. Spooky atmosphere, unknown environment, mysterious creatures(entities). It's not meant to be a horror game, but being surprised and shocked by something you've never seen before or weren't expecting can make you jump, or you might just be nervous about exploring a new area with new stuff you haven't seen before.

Yeah, subnautica too. Good call

[Danjal]

Originally posted by Cheyenesku:

I wouldnt call it horror per se. It doesnt meant to scare you all the time. But it can be tense and scary at times due to atmosphere, sounds etc.
I would say its something similar to Stalker, that can get scary in places.
Like I just went for a quite far trip into the woods away from car (saw two anomalies that pull the car there, so i left it on the road) - some creepy sounds started working, those anomalies that rise from the ground can jump scare, even their noise can be creepy. It raised tension.

I'd say the problem is cognitive dissonance.

The entire atmosphere screams horror, but as far as I can tell the gameplay is anything but.
So the mind fills in the blanks, it expects there to be spooky ♥♥♥♥ and jumpscares so it jumps when it expects those - despite there being none.

I wouldn't even compare it to subnautica cause from as far as I can see, unlike Subnautica where there is scary ♥♥♥♥ that *WILL* eat your face and then some... There isn't in this game?
Atmospheric, yes. Actual horror? Not really?

If anything you'd have to compare it to the horror that is mannequins in Bethesda games.

STALKER, Subnautica and games like those are meant to be scary. This it almost seems is scary by accident...?