I agree with you in that cities in horror games are a bit tired. And I agree with your reasoning as to why. Cities are easy. They have lots of twists and turns, a large population (that can potentially become zombies/psychos/mutated monsters), lighting (working or otherwise), and a simple explanation as to why guns are present. For all intents and purposes, a city is a great place for a horror game. That is, if you aren't the 100th person to come up with it.

It's unfortunate that designers' so consistently default to this setting, as it is ripe with uninteresting plot devices. I.e. The city is destroyed because of the [insert disaster] that also caused everyone to turn into [insert creepy badguy] and now you, the player, who wasn't affected because he (was out of town/...just because) must fight off the [creepy badguys] to save the (world/girl/yourself).

Now I'll admit that a few of those cliche's aren't exclusive to the horror genre, and some are outside of the scope of cities, but you get the idea. Boring.

By avoiding the simply setting of a city, you are forcing yourself to get creative. How could a shooter take place in a castle? Well, maybe the man who owns said citadel is extremely paranoid about WWIII breaking out, so he's stocked his fortress with various guns. Also, to make the setting more intricate, he's designed a series of labyrinths and dungeons to prevent invading 'what-nots' from getting to him.

Then again, depending on the gameplay, the problem of boring settings could become irrelevant. Take Left 4 Dead for example. If you go back to the second paragraph I wrote and fill in the blanks, Left 4 Dead fits into a cliche horror story. But, the tense and innovative gameplay, and over all epic feel, makes you forget that three fourths of the game take place in the streets of a destroyed city that happens to have guns everywhere.

In the realm of story driven horror games, which Left 4 Dead is not, a touch of innovation could go a long way. It isn't all that hard to come up with a believable horror scenario that takes place somewhere rural.

One thing I'd like to see -and I'm not saying they don't exist already, I just haven't seen one- is a fantasy horror game. Like Final Fantasy meets Silent Hill. That would be sweet.

To summarize, I agree with you.

Well this really depends on the time period.

Most games take place in a modern day city setting because it's what we can most easily relate to. The easier it is to get the player to feel familiar with their surroundings, the easier it is to scare the pants off of them.

I think it's important to give players a sense of comfort at first because most players go in to horror games on "edge" and are expecting the worst. If you can convince them that everything seems comfortable at first, then it's easier to frighten them. It's why a lot of the scariest things when we are children are the ones that invade our most comfortable safe zones. Monster under the bed, monster in the closet, ghosts in the basement... whatever the case may be.

People are scared of that stuff because it threatens their normal lives and makes them feel unsafe no matter where they may be.

I'm not going to be scared if I'm playing a character who is roaming a dark abandoned castle and something jumps out at me. I'd be more scared if my character was just informed that a killer was on the loose and that he cuts off power to houses in order to get a jump on his prey... and then the power in my house goes out. Then I'd be terrified.

Quote:the castle idea is alot scarier but you wouldnt have access to the weapons you would need to defeat the enemies in there

That never stopped Resident Evil, they just worked around it by hiding a "secret" biolab under the carpet loaded with guns.

Many older horror games (like the Original Alone in the Dark) are very short on ammo, and if anything that increases the atmosphere and level of tension. You could do the same thing, giving the player a single revolver with a few bullets in it.

If you wanted too, you could have your car outside have extra ammo, or bring a few companions with you (also carrying a weapon/ammo) that split up when you enter, giving you some extra gear to find by meeting up with them or looting their poor unfortunate corpses. Ah, and when i say "a few companions" i don't mean a small army of expendable soldiers, more like 2-3 people.

An amusing choice for the player could be whether he wants to save his companions, or let them die so he can have their weapons/ammo.

I have some macabre liking for destroyed places, like the remnants of a city that's been under siege (Half-Life 2) or an abandoned military bunker.

I'd actually love to see a horror game that takes place in a more edgy environment, like a condemned amusement park or mountain ski resort (like in The Shining)-- places that you should have positive associations with but which are twisted in some subtle, sinister way. Although it was a crap game, I liked the environment of The Thing because it was such an unusual setting because Antarctica implies such desolation-- you're not just running down the road for help.

I think the weapons problem really just needs an adequate excuse. Your castle, for instance, could have been invaded by an army that was torn to pieces, sort of like in the old 80s horror movie The Keep. If any sort of authority came there and was wiped out, you get their weapons (isn't this the reason why theoretical physicist Gordon Freeman is running around with rocket launchers in Half-Life 1?)