Horror?

[ひまりん]

I don't fare really good with horror elements, even if it's just a small jumpscare. Should I buy this game? I got recommended it for the "mystery" and great story, didn't know it was a "horror" one.
On the topic, I would like to ask the same thing about Higurashi.
Thank you in advance.

And don't mind the Lambdadelta avatar, I don't have any experience or any knowledge about Umineko, this is a genuine question.

[Battler Ushiromiya]

It's not really horror. The most scary it gets is a tense atosphere in the first episode, and some particularly gruesome murders. There are no jumpscares, and if you can handle the tense atmosphere and a bunch of.... descriptive murder scenes, then you're set. As for Higurashi, I don't remember much different, but my memory of Higurashi isn't great due to how long ago it's been

[ひまりん]

Originally posted by Battler Ushiromiya:

It's not really horror. The most scary it gets is a tense atosphere in the first episode, and some particularly gruesome murders. There are no jumpscares, and if you can handle the tense atmosphere and a bunch of.... descriptive murder scenes, then you're set. As for Higurashi, I don't remember much different, but my memory of Higurashi isn't great due to how long ago it's been

Thank you for the answer, much appreciated.
Guess I'm buying this after all, if it's just murder scenes, I can handle it just fine.

[Veltharis]

I would disagree slightly with Battler's description, as Umineko does have some notable horror elements. It's not just overly descriptive murder scenes and a tense atmosphere.

That said, he's correct in that neither Umineko nor Higurashi are reliant on jumpscares. The narrative is a more slow-burning, psychological kind of horror that builds up over time.

I wrote a Steam Review of the first part of Higurashi a couple years back. It's fairly different than Umineko, but it might help give you an idea of what you're in for.

[ひまりん]

Originally posted by Veltharis:

I would disagree slightly with Battler's description, as Umineko does have some notable horror elements. It's not just overly descriptive murder scenes and a tense atmosphere.

That said, he's correct in that neither Umineko nor Higurashi are reliant on jumpscares. The narrative is a more slow-burning, psychological kind of horror that builds up over time.

I wrote a Steam Review of the first part of Higurashi a couple years back. It's fairly different than Umineko, but it might help give you an idea of what you're in for.

I think I should make it more specific about what I'm scared of.
When I say "I'm easily spooked", I honestly mean it. Even a foreseen creepy-face is enough to send me curling in the blanket for the next 5 weeks. However, "natural" death-faces, gruesome deaths wouldn't be the problem, but if there're creepy faces, I can't bear with it, even if I saw it coming.
Truth be told, I caught a glimpse of some Maria's CG, and that's what I mean by "creepy-face". I don't know if you would call it "horror" element, but for me it is, or at least, "disturbing"
If the game has only few of them, then it's still fine, but if it constantly bombards you with it, then I might have to rethink about this.
But knowing there're no jumpscares make me feel relieved, because it's my greatest weakness when it comes to, well, anything.

Sorry for bad English.

[Ellixer]

Since it's my favorite work of fiction ever, I find it difficult to dissuade another person from reading it, but if you don't like things that are remotely scary, you may want to reconsider. For one, the game got creepy-face galore (though millage may very). Look at Beatrice's sprites as an example. Though to be fair, Maria's got two sprites that I would peg as "the worst it's gonna get" (though I'm thinking of the ps3 CG, which isn't in this unless you patch it in) so if you can clear that hurdle the rest shouldn't be a problem.

I wouldn't say it's straight up horror. Higurashi is much closer to that. But it has its characters dropping like flies in often gory manners (though not often describe, the circumstances can be rather gross) and there are bits that I found genuinely revolting or disturbing. Horror varies from people to people though, and Umineko really doesn't tip its hand until several hours in so it's hard to get a good gauge.

I'm just going to list the kind of thing that may put you off (that I can think of anyway): Disturbing death circumstances, vivid depiction of everyday violence (for real it says something that this bit I find the most hard to watch due to how realistic it is), creepy faces, the occult, characters who are legit psychopaths, characters descend to madness, etc.

If they don't sound like a problem (and the creepy faces I think you've seen the worst of), then go right ahead. Otherwise, it may be best you look deeper and see. It's a long game and it's not cheap, so I do believe one may want to look a little deeper before just going for it.

[ひまりん]

Originally posted by Ellixer:

Since it's my favorite work of fiction ever, I find it difficult to dissuade another person from reading it, but if you don't like things that are remotely scary, you may want to reconsider. For one, the game got creepy-face galore (though millage may very). Look at Beatrice's sprites as an example. Though to be fair, Maria's got two sprites that I would peg as "the worst it's gonna get" (though I'm thinking of the ps3 CG, which isn't in this unless you patch it in) so if you can clear that hurdle the rest shouldn't be a problem.

I wouldn't say it's straight up horror. Higurashi is much closer to that. But it has its characters dropping like flies in often gory manners (though not often describe, the circumstances can be rather gross) and there are bits that I found genuinely revolting or disturbing. Horror varies from people to people though, and Umineko really doesn't tip its hand until several hours in so it's hard to get a good gauge.

I'm just going to list the kind of thing that may put you off (that I can think of anyway): Disturbing death circumstances, vivid depiction of everyday violence (for real it says something that this bit I find the most hard to watch due to how realistic it is), creepy faces, the occult, characters who are legit psychopaths, characters descend to madness, etc.

If they don't sound like a problem (and the creepy faces I think you've seen the worst of), then go right ahead. Otherwise, it may be best you look deeper and see. It's a long game and it's not cheap, so I do believe one may want to look a little deeper before just going for it.

Thank you, indeed the 2 Maria's creepy-faces I was talking about is from the PS3 CG. I never actually saw another CG with that type of creepy-face again, I too thought I've seen the worst of it, but still wanted to make sure. I "researched" the sprites of the characters and didn't find it as bad as the 2 Maria CG, definitely not even what I'd call "disturbing". And I've said before, the death-scenes/faces don't really make me feel scared (for some reasons). Maybe I'll do some more research in other elements of this game before I decide, but honestly I don't want to spoil myself too much.
But thank you again for the detailed answer, now at least I know what I saw was the worst of the worsts.

[Battler Ushiromiya]

Originally posted by Irina:

Originally posted by Ellixer:

Since it's my favorite work of fiction ever, I find it difficult to dissuade another person from reading it, but if you don't like things that are remotely scary, you may want to reconsider. For one, the game got creepy-face galore (though millage may very). Look at Beatrice's sprites as an example. Though to be fair, Maria's got two sprites that I would peg as "the worst it's gonna get" (though I'm thinking of the ps3 CG, which isn't in this unless you patch it in) so if you can clear that hurdle the rest shouldn't be a problem.

I wouldn't say it's straight up horror. Higurashi is much closer to that. But it has its characters dropping like flies in often gory manners (though not often describe, the circumstances can be rather gross) and there are bits that I found genuinely revolting or disturbing. Horror varies from people to people though, and Umineko really doesn't tip its hand until several hours in so it's hard to get a good gauge.

I'm just going to list the kind of thing that may put you off (that I can think of anyway): Disturbing death circumstances, vivid depiction of everyday violence (for real it says something that this bit I find the most hard to watch due to how realistic it is), creepy faces, the occult, characters who are legit psychopaths, characters descend to madness, etc.

If they don't sound like a problem (and the creepy faces I think you've seen the worst of), then go right ahead. Otherwise, it may be best you look deeper and see. It's a long game and it's not cheap, so I do believe one may want to look a little deeper before just going for it.

Thank you, indeed the 2 Maria's creepy-faces I was talking about is from the PS3 CG. I never actually saw another CG with that type of creepy-face again, I too thought I've seen the worst of it, but still wanted to make sure. I "researched" the sprites of the characters and didn't find it as bad as the 2 Maria CG, definitely not even what I'd call "disturbing". And I've said before, the death-scenes/faces don't really make me feel scared (for some reasons). Maybe I'll do some more research in other elements of this game before I decide, but honestly I don't want to spoil myself too much.
But thank you again for the detailed answer, now at least I know what I saw was the worst of the worsts.

Yeah, if Maria's faces are the worst for you and you're not creeped out by the incredibl gruesome murders, you should be set.

[в тени ведьминых]

It definitely has some horror moments, and different kinds of horror as well: Body-mutilation, Psychologial and mysterious. Those parts are not that big, but they are stil there. I was legit scared to read a certain moment in chapter 7. I would suggest playing it, and if you encounter something scary, turn on the lights.

[Battler Ushiromiya]

Oh right, I forgot Jessica's trip to the VIP room.That can definitely be seen as scary.