This game isnt very disturbing nor a horror game [Spoilers]

[Tynnyri]

Yeah yeah, I get it. Suicide, killing other people etc. That's all scary right?

Well, not really.

See, this game explains its whole story in the first 2-5 minutes (example: oh, Yuri and Syori do suicide, because if I press very sad words like depression and suicide in the poem minigame they both jump up and they both write about very sad things. Monika cannot be dated and seems to be the only special girl in the group. This means she has to cause the suicide of some people to get closer to me, etc.)

This game literally scared me 0 times, but disturbed me 4 times when I had to read the stupid-ass poems they did. Yes. Only poems disturbed me, not the ending, not the well-known fact that the girls will die horribly. None of that mattered. I knew that from the start.

I would love if the developers would read this: Dont give this much information to the player from the start: It only makes all the "OMG SHE KILLED HERSELF" become "oh so now she killed herself, finally."

I did like the idea of making the whole game simply to welcome new readers to the horror genre, though. (just read between the lines of what Yuri and Monika say to you in start)

[Talithmara]

Different people find different things scary. Anticipation and buildup is often much more effective than jumpscares. I knew what was coming with Sayori based on the warnings at the start, her condition and poems, and it was still effective. I think that without all that buildup, I'd have just been like "Welp, that happened, moving on." It wasn't just "cheap drama," if that makes sense. It had more meaning - the signs were there and the protagonist didn't see them.

That said, the warnings were important simply since, yeah, due to the nature of the whole thing, some people might be better off avoiding it. As someone with serious depression, myself, what happened with Sayori really sunk it's hooks into me deeper than it would with most people, and it took me awhile to get over it, to the point that it made it harder for me to do stuff IRL for a few days. I'm glad the warnings are there for the people who aren't into horror, so they know to avoid it.

[Meister]

Agreed, the game was fun when you passed the first 3 hours of void.

But not a horror game.

[HypetheKomodo]

Just kinda sounds like it wasn't your kind of horror, and that's fine! Different horror affects different peeps.

To me, it certainly got to me on a number of levels. From dissecting the dialogue and learning that these cute characters have a number of issues, and things only become worse as you lose more and more control over the game itself.

I ended up relating to and liking the characters, so as things derailed, and I found myself being a target of some events in the game, it really messed with my head and stuck with me.

Sorry it wasn't for you, though!

[Dyne]

I feel like it's been overhyped by the community tbh. Still kinda sp00ky just not what people say it is

[Delthea]

Can't please everyone.

[Meister]

It's not about the horror type, but the duration of the game that takes away all kind of interest I could have had for the wellbeing of the characters.

[Hundezahn]

Originally posted by Meister:

Agreed, the game was fun when you passed the first 3 hours of void.

But not a horror game.

I wonder how slowly you read if you seriously need 3 hours for act 1.

The horror btw has nothing to do with the suicides. It's the glitches and fourth wall breaking stuff that's supposed to be scary.

[TSense]

The game just lies to you for almost 2 hours.
Because of the steam tag and the warning at the start you know that something is up, and then you play a totally normal dating sim. After half a hour you maybe even forget a little about what it should be.
After a hour you feel that something is just... off. Something is not right.
You play so long that you get used to it, you learn to know what is "normal". On the 2 arc, things go bad. The game glitches out or just the music taking wrong notes.

It sets you up, hits you hard and then takes you to Mr. Bones wild ride.

If this game doesn't get you shaking, i want to know what does. Because it got me shaking.
Also if you answer Five nights at freddys iam gonna set your house on fire.

[Tynnyri]

Originally posted by TSense:

The game just lies to you for almost 2 hours.
Because of the steam tag and the warning at the start you know that something is up, and then you play a totally normal dating sim. After half a hour you maybe even forget a little about what it should be.
After a hour you feel that something is just... off. Something is not right.
You play so long that you get used to it, you learn to know what is "normal". On the 2 arc, things go bad. The game glitches out or just the music taking wrong notes.

It sets you up, hits you hard and then takes you to Mr. Bones wild ride.

If this game doesn't get you shaking, i want to know what does. Because it got me shaking.
Also if you answer Five nights at freddys iam gonna set your house on fire.

It does not lie to you. The poems you're given and the dark poem options in poem mini-game do not lie to you. They explain exactly what is going to happen in future and who is the last girl standing. The fourth wall breaking wasnt scary, because monika already does that when you give your poem to her.

It does not hit you with any new realizations, just confirms your suspicions.

Yea, I didnt shake at all in this game. The game spoils itself, as I've stated multiple times. It would have been better exprience if the darkness would have came out of nowhere.

What games get me shaking? Well real horror games, like Amnesia or Silent Hills, because you never know what is happening next and you have to avoid all the horrors you meet. (In Doki Doki you can just ignore any horror because it does not set you back in your progress, but that's not a problem really)

[Tynnyri]

Originally posted by Ranylyn:

Different people find different things scary. Anticipation and buildup is often much more effective than jumpscares. I knew what was coming with Sayori based on the warnings at the start, her condition and poems, and it was still effective. I think that without all that buildup, I'd have just been like "Welp, that happened, moving on." It wasn't just "cheap drama," if that makes sense. It had more meaning - the signs were there and the protagonist didn't see them.

That said, the warnings were important simply since, yeah, due to the nature of the whole thing, some people might be better off avoiding it. As someone with serious depression, myself, what happened with Sayori really sunk it's hooks into me deeper than it would with most people, and it took me awhile to get over it, to the point that it made it harder for me to do stuff IRL for a few days. I'm glad the warnings are there for the people who aren't into horror, so they know to avoid it.

No, but think if the buildup would have started from when she told you she is depressed. That would have made me shake... Would she kill herself? What is the next screen I see when I open her door? But when the game spoils she is going to kill herself, the whole story is explained.

You being unable to date monika also gave away the last twist: Why would she be only girl I cannot date?

Also call me cynical, but when I know I have no power to stop Sayori's suicide, What should I do? Care? Nah. I know what will happen and that I could have not stopped it (which also took the horror out: You know you had no choice but to see her kill herself, no suspense there)

[Talithmara]

Different things work for different people, and there's nothing wrong with that.

For example, you mentioned games like Amnesia and Silent Hill, which pretty much only "scare" me in the sense of "I'm almost at the next checkpoint, I do not want to do all this over, if I screw up" which is the same kind of feeling something like Mario can give you. I definitely respect their atmosphere and everything but they don't make me feel vulnerable and unsafe after getting up to do something else. DDLC did. Again, this is just my own personal experience, but yeah.

(Granted, you DID say Silent HillS, not Silent Hill. I never played PT but I can imagine being unnerved by that.)

[Tynnyri]

Originally posted by Ranylyn:

Different things work for different people, and there's nothing wrong with that.

For example, you mentioned games like Amnesia and Silent Hill, which pretty much only "scare" me in the sense of "I'm almost at the next checkpoint, I do not want to do all this over, if I screw up" which is the same kind of feeling something like Mario can give you. I definitely respect their atmosphere and everything but they don't make me feel vulnerable and unsafe after getting up to do something else. DDLC did. Again, this is just my own personal experience, but yeah.

(Granted, you DID say Silent HillS, not Silent Hill. I never played PT but I can imagine being unnerved by that.)

I think you missed the point. The scare isnt what you should be scared of, its the anticipation of the scare. In DDLC there isnt any anticipation for any kind of scare. You can see when the people kill themselves before they do. There isnt any SHOCK. You know when things happen before they do.

DDLC gives you too much information, so the athmosphere isnt lying to you when its safe and when its not, which it seemed to try to do. DDLC isnt scary because athmosphere isnt there to hinder your progress, but it tells you when to smile and when not to.

In silent hill, the athmosphere is always creepy, making you nervous and scared to what will happen next. Even if there is nothing happening, you're scared that something WILL happen. In DDLC to contrast, the athmosphere becomes creepy when a girl is about to kill themselves, which in contrast explain how you should feel. You are only nervous when the athmosphere changes. And it changes only when something awful happens. It does not bamboozle you to think "oh, everyone acts nice, I think everything is nic- OMG SHE KILLED HERSELF!"

Instead, your brain goes like "oh everyone acts nice, I think everything is nic- oh she started to talk about pretty dark ♥♥♥♥ well now she will kill herself soon, yup there she goes"

[Talithmara]

I honestly don't feel that way when playing games like Silent Hill. I get that's the point, but it doesn't affect me that way. It's not about missing the point, it's about how different people find different things scary - like how some people think FNAF is scary and others don't.

Meanwhile, DDLC is a different kind of creepy. Yes, the game is rife with hints, foreshadowing, and even an outright warning - but it has an effect similar to what you described in Silent Hill - you know that something WILL happen, just not exactly what or how. That does build anticipation.

I don't find Silent Hill scary, you don't find DDLC scary. There's nothing wrong with that.

[Tynnyri]

But again, the foreshadow should not happen before the scary parts, because then you know when the scare is meant to happen.

In silent hill, you dont change from happy beach theme to the very depressing mist of silent hill whenever the scare is about to happen. That would ruin the scare. Just like it did in DDLC

[Shadran]

First of all, this is just your opinion.
Many people, myself included, found the game really disturbing, and for the exact same reasons you mention, so this kinda disproves your whole post.
Different horror works on different people, and this is a fact, not an opinion. You won't find something that will produce the same reaction on everyone.
For me, already knowing that I would've found Sayori's dead body in her room only added to the experience.
The fact of being trapped into a terrible scenario I couldn't get out of caused me a whole lot of anticipation and stress, managing to unsettle me a lot.
Silent Hill and Amnesia (or SCP:CB, to name another)... well... They stay scary (and note that I'm saying scary, not disturbing or something else) only if you let them be scary. Once you stop caring about the protagonist and start running through the game, they stop having any effect whatsoever.