In Oblivion, some dungeons were creepy - especially the ones frequented by zombies. But there were never really any serious scares.

In Skyrim, apparently there's enemies that will burst out of their tomb now - and the spook zombies from Shivering Isles will probably make a return (a spook zombie is the one playing dead until you turn your back or move to a certain area, then gets up suddenly).

Spiders as well, reportedly their webs are environmental traps now that you can get stuck in. Can you imagine struggling to get free, while dozens of skittering horrors draw closer?

Source: http://www.thenexusforums.com/index.php?/topic/286552-skyrim-information/

Thoughts?

OHHH YES :drool:

I hope you can burn their webs. :flamethrower: :ph34r:

Ehhh... Not bothered about how scary the dungeons are. But I want them to be interesting, which should happen because there are more level designers this time :celebration:

OH MY GOD YES.

Spiders are going to be teh real [censored] oo:
Darker dungeons would help too, in Oblivion the torches were not that necessary.

My thoughts exactly. :flamethrower:

I wonder if the spiders can make new web on the fly...that'd definitely be interesting haha

pumped for spiders, pumped for zombies, pumped for crazy trickster undead, pumped for puzzles and traps and oh god oh god

this is going to be the best dungeon crawling ever.

There should be undead that suddenly shoot up when you move close to investigate their bodies.

I'd like pitch black in dungeons, that would open tactical possibilities if you actually need a torch in one hand. Seeking the inscriptions on the walls should require some extra light too. (Some of the?) cave spiders should fear the fire and maybe retreat in a safe corner (up the walls?) at the sight of a torch.

Which would be hilarious in the middle of a slow time dragon shout, lol.

*zombie's eyes slowly open as it starts to rise in slow-mo.*

*Player charges fireball*

Whenever I play daggerfall I always look inside coffins and see those rotting corpses looking up at me. Since they are just a 2d texture I didn't think much of it, but given modern technology I'd expect such corpses to lurch up and look me in the face.. rare enough that you never expect it, but happens just enough to give you real creeps whenever you approach a coffin in a necromancer infested burial mount.

Reminds me of the air vent scene in Room 1408.. there needs to be scary as [censored] corpses like that.

Ah, here it is

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BFyiVNQTplg#t=3m01s

Gotta keep those players on their toes with stuff like that

Pretty much my thoughts as well.

At the very least we're assured draugr, giant spiders with nasty AI, and trolls which look a lot scarier than Oblivion's. There's also another dimension to fear in Skyrim that previous games have lacked, I think, which is huge creatures - hiding from a hostile giant or dragon as an inexperienced character could create a sense of caution and dread just as effective as the creepy moments.

im kinda frightened about this.. aswell as i am REALLY excited. Think about it... Being stuck in a spiders web while he walks toward you.... And i am afraid of spiders! So that might even help me get over my phobia of spiders.. But i have to be honest , if i get stuck in a spider web while a giant mother effin spider is walking towards me, my heart is gonna pound faster then ever... lol.. :cryvaultboy:

Sound and normal npc's can kill you is more fearfull than all the spiders/zombies/ghosts in the world.

I think the clean graphics gives it less tension. The reson Morrowind (and other older games like Silent Hill 1) can make you scared is because the graphic is more primitive. I belive this is a large part of what makes Morrowind feel more foreign and atmospheric.

This isn't supposed to be a horror game...

I definitely want things to be alive when you open their coffins, at least every now and then. And I want draugrs that are at least as scary as those in Solstheim. They were the only creatures that really gave me a fright when you turned a corner and suddenly they'd attack.

It's amazing what a little darkness can do in terms of atmosphere. Imagine the following:

You enter a cave. Several holes on the roof let adequate light in, enough to remove any eeriness. "Maybe I'll find some easy loot" your weak naive character thinks. It seems deserted. In fact that's the only unnatural thing about it. "It can't be empty, I'm sure I'll find a bear deeper inside" you think. You walk deeper inside but still nothing. You take another step and then BAM, you find yourself falling through a hole. Some kind of trap apparently. When you finally land, you find yourself inside a near pitch black place. You can barely see your nose.

Now fill up that place with really strong undead/spiders/whatever and you have a survival horror game! You are easy prey there so you have to be EXTRA quiet and even so, you don't know how to get out. Of course all that difficulty comes with the appropriate reward. All these things have to guard something after all...

However it's crucial for such a thing to work, to have the ability to actually HIDE. Even if you attack, it would be very difficult for your victim to find you if you keep quiet. Otherwise it's going to turn annoying really soon.



That's a way of limiting a game's potential.

No way that there can't be elements of one is there?

Horror brings realism. Would you just go "meh" if you were fighting rotten fleshed zombies in real life? If they bring out these emotions from people playing the game then it will be even more immersive to play.

My main critiques of Oblivion dungeons were threefold:

1) The bigger dungeons were too few and there were no real Uberdungeons.
2) Dungeons were far too bright. That's ok for "easy" dungeons, but some should've been much darker. Torches could've been far more important.
3) Puzzles and interaction within each dungeon felt a bit lacking and Stealth made almost no sense at all.

The highly mountainous Skyrim landscape is perfectly suited for housing really good dungeons, from complex cave systems (like the Metro system in Fallout 3), to majestic Dwemer ruins. In Fallout 3, I just loved getting lost inside the interior beneath the Capitol Wasteland.



I couldn't agree more. After all, with the PEGI 18 / M for Mature rating being almost a given, it's not exactly like we need to be careful about spooking the kids. (Again with the torches and totally dark dungeons.)

Are you talking to me?

My point was simple.
Clunky graphics and bad drawdistance brings more tension since you can't see what is about to happen.

What make's people scared is individual. I think real people are more fraightening than fantasy characters.

I say all things scary is good. Everyone should be happy.

When I play RPG's I'm not really in it to be "scared" either through psychological means or shock treatment but I don't mind it being there so if there are some scary events and dungeons then yeah sure it could be fun but I'm guessing it would be scary for about 10 seconds since we'll end up with pretty much god characters anyway. :laugh:

The guy who posted below you, forgot to quote him :facepalm:

But I agree. Could be going a bit far into the horror genre but i would love to see this in the elder scrolls. (being dark gritty fantasy)

True, and I agree there should be some. But I disagree that darkness makes horror, or rather, thrills. To me it becomes old very fast, and just annoying. I don't scare easily, if at all, from anything on a screen. Especially when it becomes predictable. The "mystery driven daylight thrill" that you don't expect is far more effective than the "horror driven darkness thrill" that you knew were coming.

So what I'm saying is "Keep me thrilled without using cheap non working darkness tricks".