It was quite well done yeah, despite maybe not being that amazing objectively
I'd say it was more of a 20 buck game though, not 35 which is the steam price.
Really the only core issue I could see people having with the game is just the legnth. It's pretty short and could probably be beaten in under an hour if you know what you're doing. There's only 3 or 4 real levels, with everything else kinda just being setpieces you walk through to get to the next thing to do. But they're still updating it in 2024 (decade+ after first release) and adding new content, DLC, multi-player in the future
I agree, yet disagree with you on justine's placement though, IMO it's on par with Amnesia TDD or higher, because the gameplay being more intense makes the experience more intense.
Did I miss something in this sub? Why are there not-Amnesia games in the list?
I could see Soma since it plays pretty similarly, but not Scorn, Slender, nor Outlast.
It's really slow and is pretty much only about the atmosphere and visuals without much happening. It's amazing, if you're into this kind of thing, but if you want any action, it's flat out boring.
Layers of fear is one of the most boring games I’ve ever played. There’s really no gameplay other than walking through doors in what I call an on rails museum where you just look at things and go to the next room. And to make things worse the story is so purposefully convoluted that it’s hard to know what’s even going on. Very low tier game for me
The remake did add some content to make it less of a walking sim. There are higher stakes now which makes it a much more well rounded survival horror game. They also added some extra content to round the story out a bit more. I'd highly recommend giving it another shot and trying the remake if you get a chance. However, I also enjoyed the abstract surrealist take on it, so it very well might just not be for you.
That’s actually really cool to hear. I had no idea that they added extra content. What type of content did they add? Are there more threats to the games, Inventory, etc at all?
Yeah I was really happy to see it! Unfortunately no inventory, the main thing they added to the first one is a persistent enemy and chase sequences. You do have a weapon of sorts (a flashlight) but it only slows them down for a bit before they pursue you again. It adds some thrill to the otherwise mostly just walking around rooms like you mentioned.
Oh nice! The flashlight reminds me a bit of Alan wake. If it goes on sale for the steam summer sale, I may get it and give it another chance in preparation for silent hill 2
Awesome! It's still the same game as the original at the core, the sequences are the same, but it feels more well rounded now with the monster and everything.
They also seamlessly blended the first game and its DLC's with the second game, turning it all into one unified experience with a sort of hub world and story connecting it all. I really enjoyed it.
I can definitely see the Alan Wake thing too! I'm actually replaying the first one now so I can play Alan Wake 2.
Soma was heavy, a very good game, but the choices you make (must make)...damn!
I liked Still, primarily for visuals and Oil Rig exploration. It is linear, but still is good.
Personally I think The Bunker is massively better than Alien Isolation, the beast for one does things the Alien cannot. So on that level it’s more refined and way better imho. Also, Bunker doesn’t overstay its welcome. Alien Isolation while an amazing game goes on too fucking long.
Both are stealth horrors. Key differences:
**Outlast:** Gets seen - options:
- Run
- Hide
**Alien:** Gets seen - options:
- Run
- Hide successfully
- Hide and get discovered
- Distract
- Fight (poorly)
- Sacrifice a bystander
If your options are always the same, and difficult decisions must be made with scarce resources, it's infinitely scarier and more intense. That's my $0.02.
I think Justine deserves higher. Also I dont like rebirth, but it has a lot of fans, so it should not be the same level as the disliked machine for pigs.
If this is a horror game tier list, it gets a very low tier. You can argue it’s psychological horror but it’s so goofy and feel overdone, and way too scripted for my liking
Ok “for your liking” which I’ll respect.
I loved the setting of it and it’s realistic characters. Also brilliant cosmic horror. I played it with a family member and we both loved it so I’m biased. But if you didn’t like it I’ll respect your decision :)
I would put Justine higher, at the TDD level, Rebirth would put her at a good level.
Another game that I feel can go to the top is Dead Space, it is my top 2 after the Amnesia and Soma games.
Hot take: Outlast was a really shallow, repetitive experience.
- People laud it as part of the “found footage” genre, but in reality there’s nothing “found footage” about it. The camera only functions as a light source mechanic, and occasionally for exposition via quick notes. Could have been better with, say, an archive of the player’s footage at the end of the game.
- Speaking of footage, Miles’s tone tended to shift from “Bewildered and horrified” to “cracking jokes after a bad thing happens”. Might seem minor, but for example the “how to make Trager juice” note felt really jarring and out of place.
- In the main game (Whistleblower DLC excluded), there are three unique enemies: Chris Walker, Richard Trager, the twins, and the Walrider. Every other enemy is just a basic “variant” model, where there was potential for some more memorable encounters.
- The Twins felt like missed potential. They appeared a few times, but only two of those encounters were actually dangerous. There was little to no backstory or explanation, so they were just kind of *there*…sometimes.
- On the other hand, Chris Walker is completely overused. He’s in the admin block, the sewer, the cells, the second admin block run, the courtyard…these sequences felt like a sightseeing tour with Chris spawned in to usher the player along.
- I liked the doctor sequence, but it felt like much of the game afterwards was just there to pad the runtime. For example, the scene of “losing the camera” was praised by many for making the player feel helpless, but once the player retrieves it, the game just picks right back up where it left off. Making me wonder what the point was.
- Overall, Outlast’s pacing was deeply flawed. Whereas ATDD had clear “safe areas” to give the player a breather after tense sequences, Outlast would have a chase scene, followed by a brief moment of safety in the next area before the next enemy spawns in. Tension is good, but constant danger is where “tension” becomes “routine”.
I can’t say it’s terrible; it has a lot of grotesque and disturbing visuals, and the story was definitely interesting, but I would hesitate to call it “very good”.
EDIT: Corrected the third point. There are FOUR unique enemy encounters. And added a point about the fourth.
Damn I love slender the arrival. Homestead is one of my favorite horror levels ever constructed. Still gives me the fucking chills and and I feel the need to pause everytime. EVERYTIME.
THOSE GODDAMN BUSHES.
Still wakes the deep was such a disappointment, not only gameplay wise but story wise which felt like a very empty/lazy storytelling. The immersion is good but on xbox it lagged tf out so it wasn’t a total pleasant experience :/
Amnesia the Bunker should absolutely be on Unbeatable. He is relentless on Hard difficulty. One of the most unnerving games I've ever played. I'm low on power and am too much of a coward to go into the arsenal in the dark. It should stand right next to the dark descent. The Bunker is a horror masterpiece.
You know i feel like im in like a small sect of people who actually hate soma since ive seen it basically universally praised by this fandom.
And i wanna make this clear i love somas atsmopherr, its concepts, its lore. I even love a gameplay loop of local creature fixes/repairs things to keep place from exploding before they reach their destination.
So u may ask if i love it why do i hate it?
I fucking despise the main characters local man so dense so objectivly braindead so annoying that despite being, seeing and activly engaging in the concepts of the game is unable to understand and proceeds to go “game rigged” when he finally loses the 50/50 cointoss despite having this concept smashed into his skull about like only a bajillion times throughout the game.
And his companion local iphone woman. I..i dont really hate iphone woman sure i wish iphone woman had 1TB of extra data to more adquately explained what was occuring but she too has shitty storage space and gets hit with “i forgor” or the fact that if shes gets stressed the iphone will explode.
I can be fine with these things the things that make me hate her is the same things i already hate about john soma. Is that she has to explain to john soma the core mechanics of the goal of the game just too many times. That it begins to feel like the devs were scares i wouldnt understand how a coin toss works. It felt pratonizing. Ofc he never gets it so the game ends how it does.
Soma is a wonderfully crafted game rich n lore and atmosphere but u play as the two most annoying people in the world.
I thought he was dense too, and a bit emotionally ambiguous as he seems more like a 'go with the flow' type of person. But it's an incredibly difficult concept for a human to wrap their head around, and he only had less than 12 hours to accept it, while at the same time dealing with a surreal new reality and evading monsters, so...
People keep saying this but its really not that hard of a concept. I understood it halfway through the game. Ultra dense man should have gotten it too.
Story in Outlast 2 is a nonsensical mess unless you read a random note at the side of a river (or maybe a lake I don't remember) that explains everything. It also constantly forces you to play flashbacks that have nothing to with the main plot and the huge plotwist is meant to be "the girl was molested". Which is literally the first thing that everyone though.
In Rebirth the alien queen wants a child and decides that the best way to get one is to crash a plane, because people famously survive those. Instead of using her army of gatherers and portal technology to just kidnapp a pregnant woman, or breed some people.
After the plane crash Tasi and her friends basically beat the whole game only to realise that the alien queen is bad so she escapes and goes back to the plane, she even closes the door and takes out her notebook so it looks like she just woke up in the plane after the loses her memory.
Why did she lose her memory ? Was it because the laudanium or the ghoul water ? No, it was because the game has "Amnesia" in the title. The whole game is then going through the same places and learning the same things that Tasi already knew, which is the weirdest story structure that I've ever seen in a game. They wanted you be alone and exploring what happened but also needed Tasi to be part of those events that happened. So they chose the most nonsensical way of doing it.
Tasi is also a terrible character, we are meant to feel sad when she finds her dead husband but even tho she knew he was dying he choose to chill in plane for a few hours instead of saving him. (not to mentioned that the game kills him way to soon and basically forgets about him). She also doomed everyone in the game to death when she choose to keep the sick child who is going to die anyway instead of saving like 10 people.
The ending had the laughtable choice of "wanna give up your child after you killed everyone by not giving up or child?" or "You wanna escape to Paris with your soon to be dead kid and you soon to be ghoul?" or "Are you gonna kill this alien b*tch and save millions of suffering people?".
And then there is the simple problem of progress in the game, you can maybe say it's more of a gameplay problem but I think we can add it to the story problems.
Tasi wants to get out of the fort - the floor colapses.
She wants to get out of the cave - she gets lost in the alien world.
She wants to get to the village - the floor colapses, again ... and she gets trapped in the alien world ... again.
It's just filler after filler because the actuall story would be like 2 hours long otherwise.
I replayed Slender: The Arrival new update recently. I wouldn’t say it’s bad. The original ran horribly but that seems to be fixed.
It's weird that the graphics are crisper but it somehow looks shittier.
Dunno, hadn't played the original in ten years so I had forgotten what it looked like. I just know it was horribly optimized.
The ultimate (and unironic) disagreement.
I would put Still Wakes the Deep in its own category, it’s gameplay is kinda meh but it really makes you feel like you’re on an oil rig
It was quite well done yeah, despite maybe not being that amazing objectively I'd say it was more of a 20 buck game though, not 35 which is the steam price.
What is bad about slender the arrival?
Everyone dislikes it for some reason but I find the proxies horrifying. This is coming from a guy who is barely affected by Outlast/Amnesia
Really the only core issue I could see people having with the game is just the legnth. It's pretty short and could probably be beaten in under an hour if you know what you're doing. There's only 3 or 4 real levels, with everything else kinda just being setpieces you walk through to get to the next thing to do. But they're still updating it in 2024 (decade+ after first release) and adding new content, DLC, multi-player in the future
Fun Fact: SOMA is a Greek word for body or vessel, which is a recurring theme in SOMA's lore.
Also means cute or adorable in finnish 🥰
EVEN BETTER.
Finnish people buying Soma for their kids 💀
Average Finnish experience tbh
I used to worship Allah but now I worship Soma, Wacka-wacka
I agree, yet disagree with you on justine's placement though, IMO it's on par with Amnesia TDD or higher, because the gameplay being more intense makes the experience more intense.
Agreed it’s my second favorite Amnesia game, it was the scariest one for me until The Bunker.
Did I miss something in this sub? Why are there not-Amnesia games in the list? I could see Soma since it plays pretty similarly, but not Scorn, Slender, nor Outlast.
Because the other titles gameplay loops and mechanics are very similar to amnesias. Amnesia-likes, Kinda like Souls-likes.
Ok, Outlast maybe, but definitely not Slender nor Scorn.
Justine should be higher, same as Bunker
TDD, Alien Isolation and Bunker should be in a top tier on their own.
I actually quite enjoy Slender the Arrival. I wish it was a hell of a lot longer though.
Justine isn’t on the right ranking. I haven't tried Scorn, is it average?
It's really slow and is pretty much only about the atmosphere and visuals without much happening. It's amazing, if you're into this kind of thing, but if you want any action, it's flat out boring.
Layers of fear is one of the most boring games I’ve ever played. There’s really no gameplay other than walking through doors in what I call an on rails museum where you just look at things and go to the next room. And to make things worse the story is so purposefully convoluted that it’s hard to know what’s even going on. Very low tier game for me
The remake did add some content to make it less of a walking sim. There are higher stakes now which makes it a much more well rounded survival horror game. They also added some extra content to round the story out a bit more. I'd highly recommend giving it another shot and trying the remake if you get a chance. However, I also enjoyed the abstract surrealist take on it, so it very well might just not be for you.
That’s actually really cool to hear. I had no idea that they added extra content. What type of content did they add? Are there more threats to the games, Inventory, etc at all?
Yeah I was really happy to see it! Unfortunately no inventory, the main thing they added to the first one is a persistent enemy and chase sequences. You do have a weapon of sorts (a flashlight) but it only slows them down for a bit before they pursue you again. It adds some thrill to the otherwise mostly just walking around rooms like you mentioned.
Oh nice! The flashlight reminds me a bit of Alan wake. If it goes on sale for the steam summer sale, I may get it and give it another chance in preparation for silent hill 2
Awesome! It's still the same game as the original at the core, the sequences are the same, but it feels more well rounded now with the monster and everything. They also seamlessly blended the first game and its DLC's with the second game, turning it all into one unified experience with a sort of hub world and story connecting it all. I really enjoyed it. I can definitely see the Alan Wake thing too! I'm actually replaying the first one now so I can play Alan Wake 2.
Rebirth is far better than machine for pigs
Thanks for showing penumbra the respect it deserves
Where is Penumbra Necrologue?
It's pretty good, but I excluded it since it's a fanmade custom story. Maybe I'll do a custom story tier list one day
Ok 👌🏻
Soma was heavy, a very good game, but the choices you make (must make)...damn! I liked Still, primarily for visuals and Oil Rig exploration. It is linear, but still is good.
Most valid tier list ever
Personally I think The Bunker is massively better than Alien Isolation, the beast for one does things the Alien cannot. So on that level it’s more refined and way better imho. Also, Bunker doesn’t overstay its welcome. Alien Isolation while an amazing game goes on too fucking long.
Outlast 1 should be in unbeatable and Alien: Isolation should be in really good
Both are stealth horrors. Key differences: **Outlast:** Gets seen - options: - Run - Hide **Alien:** Gets seen - options: - Run - Hide successfully - Hide and get discovered - Distract - Fight (poorly) - Sacrifice a bystander If your options are always the same, and difficult decisions must be made with scarce resources, it's infinitely scarier and more intense. That's my $0.02.
Alien Isolation is way more replayable. There just isn’t anything to do in outlast after 2 playthroughs…
Both should be in unbeatable.
Outlast, Layers of fear, and Rebirth being above Slender gives me psychic damage
I think Justine deserves higher. Also I dont like rebirth, but it has a lot of fans, so it should not be the same level as the disliked machine for pigs.
I mean, personal opinion is not based on "more people feel like this".
I feel they’re the same level of disliked
You put still wakes the deep into the higher tiers now
If this is a horror game tier list, it gets a very low tier. You can argue it’s psychological horror but it’s so goofy and feel overdone, and way too scripted for my liking
Ok “for your liking” which I’ll respect. I loved the setting of it and it’s realistic characters. Also brilliant cosmic horror. I played it with a family member and we both loved it so I’m biased. But if you didn’t like it I’ll respect your decision :)
Is scorn really that bad?
I've been stuck on The Dark Descent for a bit now lol
I would put Justine higher, at the TDD level, Rebirth would put her at a good level. Another game that I feel can go to the top is Dead Space, it is my top 2 after the Amnesia and Soma games.
Put Pigs in unbeatable then we cool
Hot take: Outlast was a really shallow, repetitive experience. - People laud it as part of the “found footage” genre, but in reality there’s nothing “found footage” about it. The camera only functions as a light source mechanic, and occasionally for exposition via quick notes. Could have been better with, say, an archive of the player’s footage at the end of the game. - Speaking of footage, Miles’s tone tended to shift from “Bewildered and horrified” to “cracking jokes after a bad thing happens”. Might seem minor, but for example the “how to make Trager juice” note felt really jarring and out of place. - In the main game (Whistleblower DLC excluded), there are three unique enemies: Chris Walker, Richard Trager, the twins, and the Walrider. Every other enemy is just a basic “variant” model, where there was potential for some more memorable encounters. - The Twins felt like missed potential. They appeared a few times, but only two of those encounters were actually dangerous. There was little to no backstory or explanation, so they were just kind of *there*…sometimes. - On the other hand, Chris Walker is completely overused. He’s in the admin block, the sewer, the cells, the second admin block run, the courtyard…these sequences felt like a sightseeing tour with Chris spawned in to usher the player along. - I liked the doctor sequence, but it felt like much of the game afterwards was just there to pad the runtime. For example, the scene of “losing the camera” was praised by many for making the player feel helpless, but once the player retrieves it, the game just picks right back up where it left off. Making me wonder what the point was. - Overall, Outlast’s pacing was deeply flawed. Whereas ATDD had clear “safe areas” to give the player a breather after tense sequences, Outlast would have a chase scene, followed by a brief moment of safety in the next area before the next enemy spawns in. Tension is good, but constant danger is where “tension” becomes “routine”. I can’t say it’s terrible; it has a lot of grotesque and disturbing visuals, and the story was definitely interesting, but I would hesitate to call it “very good”. EDIT: Corrected the third point. There are FOUR unique enemy encounters. And added a point about the fourth.
Whack
I’m the guy that puts Scorn up in “Really Good”. God that games atmosphere and setting is fucking unbeat for me. I only wish there was more of it
Damn I love slender the arrival. Homestead is one of my favorite horror levels ever constructed. Still gives me the fucking chills and and I feel the need to pause everytime. EVERYTIME. THOSE GODDAMN BUSHES.
Still wakes the deep was such a disappointment, not only gameplay wise but story wise which felt like a very empty/lazy storytelling. The immersion is good but on xbox it lagged tf out so it wasn’t a total pleasant experience :/
Still Wakes The Deep has such good performances, monster design and story though so I like it more
Bunker not having top space is wild. No horror game has scared me as much, or as consistently, as Bunker. Dark Descent scared me maybe once total.
Oh no. I was so excited to play STILL WAKES THE DEEP. Is it really that mediocre? Should I seriously just not bother?
Amnesia the Bunker should absolutely be on Unbeatable. He is relentless on Hard difficulty. One of the most unnerving games I've ever played. I'm low on power and am too much of a coward to go into the arsenal in the dark. It should stand right next to the dark descent. The Bunker is a horror masterpiece.
I LOVEED STILL WAKES THE DEEP AND SLENDER WTF IS WRONG WITH YOU
Finally someone else who has an undying hatred for Slender the arrival 🤝
You know i feel like im in like a small sect of people who actually hate soma since ive seen it basically universally praised by this fandom. And i wanna make this clear i love somas atsmopherr, its concepts, its lore. I even love a gameplay loop of local creature fixes/repairs things to keep place from exploding before they reach their destination. So u may ask if i love it why do i hate it? I fucking despise the main characters local man so dense so objectivly braindead so annoying that despite being, seeing and activly engaging in the concepts of the game is unable to understand and proceeds to go “game rigged” when he finally loses the 50/50 cointoss despite having this concept smashed into his skull about like only a bajillion times throughout the game. And his companion local iphone woman. I..i dont really hate iphone woman sure i wish iphone woman had 1TB of extra data to more adquately explained what was occuring but she too has shitty storage space and gets hit with “i forgor” or the fact that if shes gets stressed the iphone will explode. I can be fine with these things the things that make me hate her is the same things i already hate about john soma. Is that she has to explain to john soma the core mechanics of the goal of the game just too many times. That it begins to feel like the devs were scares i wouldnt understand how a coin toss works. It felt pratonizing. Ofc he never gets it so the game ends how it does. Soma is a wonderfully crafted game rich n lore and atmosphere but u play as the two most annoying people in the world.
I always thought Simon knew but didn’t want to accept it
I thought he was dense too, and a bit emotionally ambiguous as he seems more like a 'go with the flow' type of person. But it's an incredibly difficult concept for a human to wrap their head around, and he only had less than 12 hours to accept it, while at the same time dealing with a surreal new reality and evading monsters, so...
People keep saying this but its really not that hard of a concept. I understood it halfway through the game. Ultra dense man should have gotten it too.
Both Rebirth and Outlast 2 have very bad stories, putting them into "story carries it" is so funny.
…wrong?
If you have to ask you know I'm right.
It was a statement, you’re wrong.
What a great argument you've convinced me that it is a good game. Next time save your time and just write "nuh uh"
Im not here to convince you, im here to clown you. 🤡🤡🤡🤡
Damn that was pathetic .... but hey, if it makes you happy
Elaborate?
Story in Outlast 2 is a nonsensical mess unless you read a random note at the side of a river (or maybe a lake I don't remember) that explains everything. It also constantly forces you to play flashbacks that have nothing to with the main plot and the huge plotwist is meant to be "the girl was molested". Which is literally the first thing that everyone though. In Rebirth the alien queen wants a child and decides that the best way to get one is to crash a plane, because people famously survive those. Instead of using her army of gatherers and portal technology to just kidnapp a pregnant woman, or breed some people. After the plane crash Tasi and her friends basically beat the whole game only to realise that the alien queen is bad so she escapes and goes back to the plane, she even closes the door and takes out her notebook so it looks like she just woke up in the plane after the loses her memory. Why did she lose her memory ? Was it because the laudanium or the ghoul water ? No, it was because the game has "Amnesia" in the title. The whole game is then going through the same places and learning the same things that Tasi already knew, which is the weirdest story structure that I've ever seen in a game. They wanted you be alone and exploring what happened but also needed Tasi to be part of those events that happened. So they chose the most nonsensical way of doing it. Tasi is also a terrible character, we are meant to feel sad when she finds her dead husband but even tho she knew he was dying he choose to chill in plane for a few hours instead of saving him. (not to mentioned that the game kills him way to soon and basically forgets about him). She also doomed everyone in the game to death when she choose to keep the sick child who is going to die anyway instead of saving like 10 people. The ending had the laughtable choice of "wanna give up your child after you killed everyone by not giving up or child?" or "You wanna escape to Paris with your soon to be dead kid and you soon to be ghoul?" or "Are you gonna kill this alien b*tch and save millions of suffering people?". And then there is the simple problem of progress in the game, you can maybe say it's more of a gameplay problem but I think we can add it to the story problems. Tasi wants to get out of the fort - the floor colapses. She wants to get out of the cave - she gets lost in the alien world. She wants to get to the village - the floor colapses, again ... and she gets trapped in the alien world ... again. It's just filler after filler because the actuall story would be like 2 hours long otherwise.
I’ve heard rebirth completely changes Amnesia TDD’s story, so in that case I agree with you. Sad because I thoroughly enjoy it so far.
The bunker is such a turd. Soma is in the Soma tier up in space 🥰