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'DBD isn't a horror game'

2

Comments

  • Archael
    Archael Member Posts: 837

    What is important is not where character came from, but what character represents and how it fits.

    Lich fits horror game even if came from DND.

    Murderous mastermind fits horror theme even if came from teenage mutant ninja comic (shredder), turtles would not fit survivors tho.

  • BubMickey07
    BubMickey07 Member Posts: 312

    It IS a horror game people don't see it as horror because it isn't scary because they've played all there is TOO play

    Like yeah the unknown is spooky but going against him 100 times is obviously not gonna be scary anymore.. look at new players they get scared at everything lmao

    People that always say "but Nicholas cage" "but d&d" you can have these things at it still be scary? Infact most horror movies try to have a lighter tone so when the killer shows up its actually scary like dbd is doing.

    But idk I'm not a doctor

  • Caiman
    Caiman Member Posts: 2,877

    DbD is a game made to play with horror themes, and the horror theme should be respected. I don't mind an evil undead wizard torturing people with black magic, because magic and fantasy can be very horrifying. "Curse of Strahd" is basically Dracula in DnD and it's one of the most well-known and popular DnD modules for a reason. It can work, and a dark and dingy dungeon filled with arcane secrets and bloody torture rooms is a fine fit for DbD.

    However, I will agree that Vecna looks really lame. I was expecting a skeleton or a gnarled corpse or something that actually evoked the menace of an unnatural undying evil that bends life and reality to its cruel whims. Instead he looks like a cartoon character. He looks like a villain from a low-level World of Warcraft sidequest. Doesn't help that of all the spells they could give him, none actually feel like necromancy, and they're all really underwhelming in their implementation.

  • crogers271
    crogers271 Member Posts: 1,809

    Billionare who kills because of brazillian manga

    I feel like there is a portion of my brain dedicated to blocking out how bad her lore is, because every time I come across it I'm like 'no, that can't be true.'

  • HommeBizarre
    HommeBizarre Member Posts: 423

    horror doesn't mean scary after all

    Imo, DBD is a horror game. Just not scary (at least not anymore, exception mirror myers)

  • Archol123
    Archol123 Member Posts: 4,634
    edited May 30

    What is the definition of horror in your opinion?
    I would say jumpscares are the dumbest form of horror.

  • HamsterEnjoyer
    HamsterEnjoyer Member Posts: 719

    And you'd be right considering thats not true and her real lore is about her father unknowingly creating the murderer that his daughter would later become influenced by the entity and her using the moniker to murder her competition in business

  • HommeBizarre
    HommeBizarre Member Posts: 423

    Gore stuff for exemple

    It can be scary for some people, not scary for other people

    Either way, scary or not it's still horror

  • Archol123
    Archol123 Member Posts: 4,634

    Unless you use a mori DBD is not really gore heavy is it? You see what I mean? It is kind ofhard to put the finger on what exactly makes this game a horror game, because except for the fact that it uses characters out of horror movies there is not really much to it…

  • HerInfernalMajesty
    HerInfernalMajesty Member Posts: 1,823

    While I disagree with you that Vecna isn’t horror (I personally find him terrifying), I have seen discussions talk about the horror aspect of the game getting in the way of Survivor fun. I couldn’t disagree more with that idea.

  • NekoGamerX
    NekoGamerX Member Posts: 5,290

    jumpscare myers say hello.

  • Nun_So_Vile
    Nun_So_Vile Member Posts: 2,421
    edited May 30

    This thread lmao

  • TheSubstitute
    TheSubstitute Member Posts: 2,495
    edited May 30

    You should familiarize yourself with Ravenloft and Vecna's DnD lore before making that claim.

    Edit: I'll add a screenshot.

  • Smoe
    Smoe Member Posts: 2,905
    edited May 30

    The game was made with the intent to be a horror game, therefore it falls within the horror genre objectively, same way that any game that was made with the intent of being a game within any genre objectively falls within said genre it was intended for.

    Whether we find DBD scary or not doesn't determine if it is a horror game or not, since scary is subjective and personal, while horror is a universal thing that encompasses all things people find scary.

  • Archol123
    Archol123 Member Posts: 4,634

    Just because something is intended to be x does not mean it is x... I don't suddenly become Dirk Nowitzki just because I intend to be good at basketball. The outcome is what matters.

  • Smoe
    Smoe Member Posts: 2,905
    edited May 30

    What people intend to become and what a piece of fiction is intended as is not the same thing, what genre you intend for a piece of fiction to fall under is the genre it's part of, there can be elements of other genres mixed into the fiction alongside it's main one, but ultimately, you need to pick a main genre that the piece of fiction is aimed towards, that's how you differentiate between the genres.

    The outcome is important but without the intend to begin with, you can't classify the genre that the fiction falls into.

    Horror is a prime example as it has so many subgenres that you can spin it in so many different ways without it stopping being horror.

  • Archol123
    Archol123 Member Posts: 4,634

    Thats not it at all my man... I can write the worst book ever intending it to be a love story, but my intention does not turn it in one but its content does... Books get categorized by their content not the intention the author had when writing them.

    The intent is completely meaningless if it does not show in the results...

    That just sounds like a word that is so wide that it has lost its meaning and everything falls under its definition.

  • Smoe
    Smoe Member Posts: 2,905
    edited May 30

    And yet despite that, DBD is still officially categorized as a horror game and the horror genre still have subgenres that are all different from each other, yet are all still considerd as valid parts of the horror genre and are categorized under it, or are you gonna tell me that's all wrong too because it doesn't conform to your way of thinking and your ''I can never be wrong'' mentality?

  • Archol123
    Archol123 Member Posts: 4,634

    Well then it is debatable at least isn't it? Because some people are convinced it has nothing to do with horror, except the characters and the themes and others disagree. But surely it is not the intent that's relevant but what we actually got.

    That is a weird thing to assume and a bit petty at that isn't it? ^^

  • Jim_Tonic
    Jim_Tonic Member Posts: 555

    for free? Nah no way. Also he is a real life person, so he is immediatly less fitting than any fictional character you could come up with. If we talk about immersion, then having a real life actor playing as himself in a video game… not so much.

    I like nic cages movies but i have never seen anything remotely horror from his career.

  • Smoe
    Smoe Member Posts: 2,905
    edited May 30

    Well then it is debatable at least isn't it? Because some people are convinced it has nothing to do with horror, except the characters and the themes and others disagree.

    Does something stop being horror the moment it stops being scary? I would personally say no because scary is something that's highly subjective and changes based on who you asked.

    If you play the same horror game or watch the same horror movie over and over again enough times, it will all stop being scary eventually simply because you know what to expect from it, it's something that's inevitable for all things horror.

    I don't personally think most- if any at all horror games are scary, not even games like Silent Hill, Amnesia, Outlast, Alien Isolation, Resident Evil, Darkwood, etc. However that doesn't mean that they aren't still horror games, their horror haven't disappeared just because i don't find them scary, because neither my own personal opinion nor anyone else's dictate horror as a whole, since horror is a vast, universal concept (and genre) shared between all people that lives, and where one person might find something not scary, another person will. DBD is no different in that regard.

    I feel that whenever someone says something is not horror anymore because it's not scary to them personally, it's essentially them saying that only the things which they themselves personally think is scary or closest to be perceived as scary is the only correct type of horror, which by default also means that they're as a consequence invalidating all other people and what they would personally would find scary from the horror genre and see as scary instead.

    That is my stance on the matter.

    But surely it is not the intent that's relevant but what we actually got.

    If we're going by Brave Browser's AI search result, then the listed things below is what's used when sorting things like video games, movies and books into genres.

    • Plot and setting
    • Tone and style
    • Target audience
    • Themes and subject matter
    • Creator’s intention

    Which means that we're both correct, since it's all taken into account.

    That is a weird thing to assume and a bit petty at that isn't it? ^^

    Call it weird and petty if you will, but it is the general vibe i've gotten from you more often than not whenever i see you argue on the forum and it's something that tends to annoy me quickly whenever i see people be like that, or at least whenever i get the impression of it from people.

    Of course, i could be completely wrong in what i'm saying since i don't really know you, but it's simply just the impression that i've gotten from you purely from personal experience and observation, feel free to tell me otherwise in case it ain't actually so.

    Post edited by Smoe on
  • Archol123
    Archol123 Member Posts: 4,634
    edited May 31

    I said, AFAIK, that it isn't scary after x time and not therefore it's not horror anymore, but I don't see the horror elements besides the characters and themes...

    Perhaps, but usually you don't have the creators intention openly aside from the plot, similar to when you do literature analysis, you can guess what he meant but you cannot know for sure if there is no indication in the text. People consume the medium and based on that have an opinion what the genre is, if the creator did a good job you will see his intention in the finished film/book, if not you won't and therefore it cannot be taken into account in my opinion.

    Thats kind of ironic now, because if I tell you you're wrong that would kind of cement your verdict of me being always right and if I don't then I agree with it being true as well ^^ Puts me in the same spot regardless of what I do. Well I don't mind being wrong about stuff especially if it is for the benefit of the game. But oftentimes it seems like people don't argue along the points. When I start of by asking what is horror about the game except for character and moris I'm asking about specific elements and then I kind of expect that a counter argument leads by naming elements... For example the killer chasing his victim would be thematic to some degree... That's one point nobody mentioned and I would have to say yeah, sure that might fit. But usually what makes it horror is not that the play tag for 10 min without ever getting close, but the killer being relentless and always right behind and nothing seems to stop them, and that theme is just completely gone when the survivor knows how to play... The killer is still close by but the threat of getting caught is kind of gone, which reduces the theme as well.

    You could say as well that horror is the fear of the unknown, which could carry the argument that when you have a few hundred hours in the game there is nothing unknown anymore and therefore this part also disappears.

    What stays is the visual, audio design and perhaps the characters and themes. I just feel like that's not enough to make it a horror game... Because the gameplay does not really carry that whole concept. Similar to how modern shooters tend to have skill trees aka rpg elements you could say dbd is a game with horror elements but not necessarily a horror game.

  • HommeBizarre
    HommeBizarre Member Posts: 423

    You aren't really looking at the détails of the decor aren't you?

  • Archol123
    Archol123 Member Posts: 4,634

    If you read my last post I mentioned the visuals... Yeah sure some maps, for example have dead bodies in the stacks of pressed automobiles... Does that make it horror? Or do you mean the maps that are from horror franchises like rpd and such?

    If I have a racing game for example Mario Cart and the race is along RPD as a map with all the asthetics, does it become a horror game because of that or does it stay a racing game? My point is that the gameplay does not necessarily reflect that it is supposed to be a horror game. And that what can be argued to be horror is, as I said in the previous post:

    "What stays is the visual, audio design and perhaps the characters and themes. I just feel like that's not enough to make it a horror game... Because the gameplay does not really carry that whole concept. Similar to how modern shooters tend to have skill trees aka rpg elements you could say dbd is a game with horror elements but not necessarily a horror game."

  • Lost_Boy
    Lost_Boy Member Posts: 677

    I mean it's a horror themed online PvP game. It's difficult to create an actual horror game when you don't have a dedicated story and control over things like suspense and tension when framing scenes with lighting and weird angles that will give you jump scares.

  • Caiman
    Caiman Member Posts: 2,877

    I like nic cages movies but i have never seen anything remotely horror from his career.

    He's done some horror and horror comedies. Vampire's Kiss is one, Willy's Wonderland is another and I recommend that one. He was also in the ridiculous and hammy remake of The Wicker Man, as well as the recent modern adaptation of Lovecraft's "Color Out of Space." He's been in a few other horror films I haven't seen, Nic Cage does a lot of obscure movies. He's not super-strongly tied to the horror genre but he's definitely not a stranger to it either. He's a very unique kind of person and he is the ONLY real-life person I don't mind being included in DbD, but I hope they never do it again.

  • Archol123
    Archol123 Member Posts: 4,634

    I think his recent Dracula movie was also supposed to be horror.

  • Caiman
    Caiman Member Posts: 2,877

    Renfield, with Nic Cage as Dracula? Definitely another horror comedy.

  • Smoe
    Smoe Member Posts: 2,905
    edited June 1

    I said, AFAIK, that it isn't scary after x time and not therefore it's not horror anymore, but I don't see the horror elements besides the characters and themes...

    Even if you don't see the horror elements, those characters and themes are still a reflection of things found in the horror genre, along with all the other elements in the game.

    Perhaps, but usually you don't have the creators intention openly aside from the plot, similar to when you do literature analysis, you can guess what he meant but you cannot know for sure if there is no indication in the text. People consume the medium and based on that have an opinion what the genre is, if the creator did a good job you will see his intention in the finished film/book, if not you won't and therefore it cannot be taken into account in my opinion.

    I will meet you halfway on this, you're right that the content is in most cases are required to be consumed first in order to see the intention of the creator, unless it is specifically stated by the creator themselves beforehand on things like the first page of a book or on said book's cover.

    However, it is not something that can be applied as easily to something like horror, because in order for something to be horror, someone needs to find it scary and because of that, horror as a whole is both determined by what people personally find scary/fear while also not being determined by what people don't find scary since someone else will find it scary/fear it instead. After all, horror is not just a genre only, it is a primal concept in of itself that have existed since humans have walked the earth, which also extends to certain animals too since they too can also feel fear.

    Also because so many different types of horror subgenres exist, if means that even if you read some book or watch some movie that falls within one of those many subgenres and you don't find the theme of said subgenre scary, it is still considered horror as the subgenre exist in the first place because other people find it scary/feel fear from it.

    Thats kind of ironic now, because if I tell you you're wrong that would kind of cement your verdict of me being always right and if I don't then I agree with it being true as well ^^ Puts me in the same spot regardless of what I do. Well I don't mind being wrong about stuff especially if it is for the benefit of the game. But oftentimes it seems like people don't argue along the points. When I start of by asking what is horror about the game except for character and moris I'm asking about specific elements and then I kind of expect that a counter argument leads by naming elements... For example the killer chasing his victim would be thematic to some degree... That's one point nobody mentioned and I would have to say yeah, sure that might fit. But usually what makes it horror is not that the play tag for 10 min without ever getting close, but the killer being relentless and always right behind and nothing seems to stop them, and that theme is just completely gone when the survivor knows how to play... The killer is still close by but the threat of getting caught is kind of gone, which reduces the theme as well.

    The thing is, DBD is a pvp multiplayer game, which in of itself automatically means that it is bound to lose any semblance of fear much quicker compared to single player games, goes as well for other pvp horror game out there.

    When you play a multiplayer game, people will try to master it and maximize how efficient they can play in order to increase their chances of winning. Had DBD been a PVE game instead where people play only as Survivors like in Outlast: Trials or Lethal Company, the feeling of fear from the game's horror would have persisted for longer as the competitive nature people get from a pvp game isn't there.

    I don't think there are any examples that i could give you about the game that would satisfy you, however while you can say that the feeling of fear is gone for you, you can't really say that the theme itself is gone since it is objectively still there as part of the gameplay that reflects elements from the horror genre that it's imitating. That and because while you may not get the sense of it being scary or feeling like horror to you anymore, other people (again) will still feel said fear and their experience with it is just as valid as anyone else's and doesn't make what they think and experience any less horror.

    You could say as well that horror is the fear of the unknown, which could carry the argument that when you have a few hundred hours in the game there is nothing unknown anymore and therefore this part also disappears.

    Which returns us to the previous point that all things horror related stops being scary when any horror's unknown factor becomes known and have been re-experienced enough times that it just becomes trivialized and loses it's effect, it's something that applies to horror in all forms of any kinds of medias no matter what.

    What stays is the visual, audio design and perhaps the characters and themes. I just feel like that's not enough to make it a horror game... Because the gameplay does not really carry that whole concept. Similar to how modern shooters tend to have skill trees aka rpg elements you could say dbd is a game with horror elements but not necessarily a horror game.

    When you say ''not necessarily horror' and ''I just feel like that's not enough to make it a horror game...'', we're moving back to the previous point of horror and it's relation to what's scary, which i will repeat my previous point. Because scary is subjective, it doesn't make DBD not a horror game since there are people out there who would find the game scary instead and their fears and thoughts on horror is again, just as valid as anyone else's.

    Also it kinda contradicts your previous argument "Books get categorized by their content not the intention the author had when writing them." (I know you wrote books, but other medias like video games and movies can be applied here too). DBD's content in all those areas you just mentioned from visuals, audio, characters and themes are all things found in the horror genre itself such as in elements from slasher movies like Friday the 13th, Texas Chainsaw Masacre, Halloween, etc. As well as other things like the game's lovecraftian themes inspired by the Lovecraft mytho or DBD's gameplay having clear influence from horror games like Alan Wake & Naughty Bear, therefore because the game's content and it's themes is both based on and reflects so much from the horror genre itself, the game by default would also fall within the horror genre regardless if you personally feel any fear from the game or not.

    Post edited by Smoe on
  • HerInfernalMajesty
    HerInfernalMajesty Member Posts: 1,823

    Hi Archol, as a disclaimer I just want you to know that I feel nothing but respect in my heart as I type this comment.

    The concepts of the Entity, what it does, the uncanny valley dreaminess of the trials, the never ending infernal punishment of both the Survivors and Killers to play out this dance in perpetual torment etc., these concepts are not horrific to you?

  • Archol123
    Archol123 Member Posts: 4,634

    There are some religions that have constant reincarnation and suffering during life as it is, is that horror then as well? Just because the lore around it might seem like horror, does not mean the game is, otherwise probably every piece of literature with demons and such would automatically be horror and I think that would draw the frame way too far, at some point everything would be horror just because of some implications of pain and suffering…

    Besides that infernal punishment because of the trial itself? Or is there some sort of higher hell they end up in when they get sacrificed? Because otherwise unless you go rather deep into the lore and listen to the audio files and read all that stuff it never really gets through in the gameplay does it? You could argue that those things are horror elements, just like a skill tree is a rpg element, does not necessarily mean the game is a horror game…

    On a side note if you think about single player games that can end by you dying and needing to restart… Do you always question what the possible afterlife what look like and then decide on that whether or not it is horror because there is or might be some otherwordly deity mentioned in the world that might claim your soul?

    I'm not disagreeing on the lore certainly being horror, but the lore is not the game… The gameplay is mostly what matters and when we look at the gameplay we have a goofy game of catch, just like I said above. Because otherwise snake is also a horror game… As this poor snake is forced to endlessly eat stuff and do it over and over when it bites its own tail, seems quite like torment as well does it not? That's basically just what the gameplay loop is… Think about it from that point, is not every RPG game truly horror because you get thrown into this world where possibly around every corner there might be monstrous enemy that will crush you and there would be nothing you could do about it? With monster roaming the world and nobody being able to feel safe because not even the mighty walls of fortified cities may prevent the monsters from getting through? But does it get reflected in the gameplay? Nah not really…

  • HerInfernalMajesty
    HerInfernalMajesty Member Posts: 1,823

    From my own personal PoV, yes most of your examples are horrific. RPG games with monsters, perpetual reincarnation with suffering, yes those things are horrific to me. Any game with killing or even violence is technically horrific to me.

    So okay I see that there is a struggle in defining the line of horror from your POV. I need to ask you questions to see your position better:

    • Does there exist any game that YOU personally consider to be horror?
    • Do you consider the violence of dbd, hooking, the concept of never ending trials horror? Or are they just horror overlays on a wireframe textureless game? Because in that case then I guess in your POV no game can be horror since it’s all just pixels and numbers and systems.
    • If the Entity took you from your bedroom tonight, would your feelings change? Would you be scared to be a Survivor in the fog? Is it the medium of the game itself that isn’t horror to you, even if the concept is?

  • Archol123
    Archol123 Member Posts: 4,634

    There are phobias for basically everything, if the only requirement for it being horror is that some people are afraid of it then cooking simulator is also a horror game because some of the ingredients might scare certain people that suffer from such a condition… That just makes this way too wide of a defnition.

    People also feel competetive about single player games, just think about the dark souls no hit runs… I don't think it would last longer in total, but just in comparison to its runtime… When you play it again it will lose that aspect similarly fast, and I don't think it is different with any other game where you can become better and learn the stuff that otherwise might frighten you because they are unknown.

    My point was that I don't think lore or themes are enough to make a game a horror game, and I don't think the aspects are visible enough in the gameplay for it to be considered a horror game, I don't think the lore, the themes and the characters matter too much when it comes to what a game truly is… I guess that just means that I don't think it is a horror game, others think it is and there is no correct opinion about whether it is or not.

    A book does not have gameplay and lore divided, lets call it world building and plot for that aspect… plot is what the characters do and world building is the world around it… You could write a book, that plays in hungary, at the time of Dracula, and in this world Dracula truly exists but the plot does not care about that and it would not be a horror book for that reason, as it literally plays no other role than being there. When we look at that for dbd now then we have gameplay (the plot) that does not really have much of this horror aspect, as it is basically just a goofy game of catch, whereas the world around it might be a horror setting, but it does not really matter that much. And characters present does mean much either… I could write a comedy book about Dracula cooking dishes with garlic, would it be horror just because Dracula plays a role in it? Rather not…

    I just don't feel the gameplay reflects its horror theme enough to call it a horror game, which is why I will say it has horror aspects, but it is not a horror game.

  • Archol123
    Archol123 Member Posts: 4,634

    I guess there are quite a lot of games that I would consider horror from Amensia a few of those games for example fungoose tends to play.

    I don't consider that to be horror, otherwise most criminal minds episodes would be horror as well because such concepts are not that horrific in comparisson. If unlimited repetition is horror than so is Sysyphus' struggle to bring the stone up the mountain, as it has no ending and repeats itself until all eternity and so is eternal life as there is no end to it either, or is it not about eternity but about the pain? In which case existance is pain and therefore horror ^^

    The themes would be horror, but the game is not. Like I said many times before I just don't think the gameplay is able to put a focus on the horror of the whole thing if it happens in real life… If that would happen it would fully depend on whether or not I'm a fit marathon runner or an unhealthy couch potato… If I am that fast that Trapper can never catch me then it does not really matter does it? Are you familiar with this goofy if then thing about the snail that tries to catch up to you and kills if it catches you, but it moves at the speed of a normal snail… If that thing can realistically never catch me, then where is the issue? Then there is just nothing to be scared of.

  • HerInfernalMajesty
    HerInfernalMajesty Member Posts: 1,823
    edited June 1

    What games do you consider horror? Why is Amnesia horror to you?

    How would you change DBD to make it worthy of the horror genre title in your eyes?

    And yes, in many ways regular existence is horrific. In many ways it is also beautiful. I would also classify Sisyphean situations as horrific yes.

    And your fitness determing your fear in a trial is very brave. I would still be terrified regardless of how fit I am.

  • AbsolutGrndZer0
    AbsolutGrndZer0 Member Posts: 1,436

    Vecna IS horror, and to say Dungeons and Dragons is nothing but fantasy, well it shows someone who knows nothing about Dungeons and Dragons.

    Do you not consider this to be "Horror"?

  • Archol123
    Archol123 Member Posts: 4,634

    Because the theme also carries through onto the gameplay…

    I don't really have the intention of making DBD into a horror title, but as I already explained you would need to find a way to have the theme carry over towards the gameplay, which makes it kind of hard in a multiplayer game… As with experience the game loses its horrors…

    I would say they are frustrating, but not necessarily horrific.

    Fully depends on who you face, if you face demogorgon, Unknown or some other you probably would, but then again Legion for example is probably the least of a threat, all he is is a person with a knife… Survival rates in knife fights are not good by any means, but it is not like you won't find stuff that could be used against it.

  • Smoe
    Smoe Member Posts: 2,905
    edited June 1

    There are phobias for basically everything, if the only requirement for it being horror is that some people are afraid of it then cooking simulator is also a horror game because some of the ingredients might scare certain people that suffer from such a condition… That just makes this way too wide of a defnition.

    Horror exist in the first place because of what people fear, some horror subgenres exist because some of them plays on fears that aren't as widespread as the more common ones.

    You absolutely can make a cooking simulator into a horror game.

    Horror is a wide definition of many different things people fears as the genre is incredibly broad, even just by the fact alone that you personally reject dbd as a horror game while naming other things as horror just proves that point.

    My point was that I don't think lore or themes are enough to make a game a horror game, and I don't think the aspects are visible enough in the gameplay for it to be considered a horror game, I don't think the lore, the themes and the characters matter too much when it comes to what a game truly is… I guess that just means that I don't think it is a horror game, others think it is and there is no correct opinion about whether it is or not.

    Which by your logic, only the things that people personally considers as horror are actually horror, while whatever everyone else think horror is within the genre who's opinion doesn't match out own is not horror, meaning nothing is objectively horror in the horror genre as a result.

    Either horror is an objective thing used as a term that encompasses all things people considers horror regardless if other people don't find it scary themselves or horror is just completely subjective and changes depending on who you ask and no one else's opinion on horror that would go against their own is correct.

    It can't be both.

    A book does not have gameplay and lore divided, lets call it world building and plot for that aspect… plot is what the characters do and world building is the world around it… You could write a book, that plays in hungary, at the time of Dracula, and in this world Dracula truly exists but the plot does not care about that and it would not be a horror book for that reason, as it literally plays no other role than being there. When we look at that for dbd now then we have gameplay (the plot) that does not really have much of this horror aspect, as it is basically just a goofy game of catch, whereas the world around it might be a horror setting, but it does not really matter that much. And characters present does mean much either… I could write a comedy book about Dracula cooking dishes with garlic, would it be horror just because Dracula plays a role in it? Rather not…

    Except the plot here is that Dracula is acknowledged as the main antagonist who is out to get you and hunts you down as a result, with you hearing spooky music as you hear your imminent doom closing in on you, running for your life from him in a life & death situation, which if he gets you will result in him having you painfully impaled and hung from a dirty meat hook for a spider god to come and eat your soul piece by piece, calling it a goofy game of catch does not change that all those things i've just mentioned is pretty damn horrifying things in of itself and saying it isn't just returns us to the point of you using horror as a subjective term.

    Also yes, a comedy book about Dracula cooking dishes with garlic would still be horror, it would in fact fall into the comedy horror subgenre.

    I just don't feel the gameplay reflects its horror theme enough to call it a horror game, which is why I will say it has horror aspects, but it is not a horror game.

    And i believe it does as the elements, themes and actions found in the game are objectively horror as they are all something that's found in other horror related things outside of DBD, anything aside from that is just subjectivity.

    Post edited by Smoe on
  • Archol123
    Archol123 Member Posts: 4,634

    Ofc you can, but not when you use normal cooking stuff… When you make some weird cannibal cooking thing it can be. But not when you take some ordinary ingredients, despite some people having a phobia for ordinary cooking ingredients…

    The issue is that in both cases the word is meaningless… Because if basically everything is or can be horror then it is not descriptive anymore, the same goes for when you base it only on subjective thoughts about the topic the words loses its meaning.

    Thematically it is horrifying, but it does not get projected onto the gameplay, which is what I was saying the entire time, the gameplay does not provide the theme that the lore and the visuals have … It does not feel like doom closing in on you because of the restrictions the gameplay provides. You're not running for your life, because A. thematically you will just get into the next trial even if you do in fact die or get sacrificed to the entity, so you're not running for your life in that sense. You could argue you run to avoid pain I guess.. B. The game just is not able to give that feeling during the chase, while all this might be thematically true it is not really conveyed through the gameplay… Because the chase just does not feel like I am getting hunted down by a powerfull monster, because most of the killers are severely restricted by the map which is why it feels like a goofy match of catch… The theme does not get translated in the gameplay.

    I don't really think it would, but whatever ^^

    The themes alone don't make the game a horror game, as stated before, its gameplay is what defines it.

  • HerInfernalMajesty
    HerInfernalMajesty Member Posts: 1,823

    I think I kind of understand what is and isn’t horror to you but not completely. That’s okay though, we can agree to disagree. For me DBD meets the threshold of a horror game, while for you it does not. Thank you for the conversation and for being patient and civil.

  • BbQz
    BbQz Member Posts: 83

    Cool a "the thing that scared me 100 times isn't scary anymore" thread theses are classics

  • devoutartist
    devoutartist Member Posts: 150

    dbd is not horror it's just scooby doo running around like a headless chicken and when a wood pallet get drop on the killer big toe he moans that's not really horror never was tbh just ppl trying to immerse themself into a "horror" mood that's about it horror seting have ways to fight back to some extent it's none existent in dbd and in most horror setting the big evil gets defeated to some extent dbd aint it

  • Mooks
    Mooks Member Posts: 14,795

    it’s really concerning how some people try to gatekeep what is and isn’t suitable for the horror genre?

    It’s not like there is a definition anywhere where your subjective opinion is the determining factor…

    You could just say that its not frightening/eerie/horrifying for you personally but that doesn’t make it not-horror..

  • duygu
    duygu Member Posts: 333

    I agree, devs should bring back the flashlight scroll tech so we can go back to the good old moody atmosphere dbd era.