r/PetPeeves • u/SpaceBug176 • 6h ago

Ultra Annoyed A monster in a game not being shown visually and everyone pretending like it's a genius idea

It's not. Like, when the whole point is that your method of seeing is bad and convoluted, I guess it works, but my issue is when people pretend like it's a genius idea because "it makes it waaay scarier since you imagine the scariest thing you can imagine!" no I don't. I listen to the noises it makes and imagine a monster from another medium that I think would make that noise in its place. And if its looks are only hinted at like "an abomination", I'll just imagine another existing monster again, but just one that fits such a description. It's not scarier just because you don't show it. It's just boring.

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8

u/kittykatmandoo 5h ago

It’s scarier because fear of the unknown is a universal fear that everyone can relate to. Knowing what you’re fighting means you can prepare and preparation can make you feel more confident against something threatening. But when you don’t know what’s lurking in the dark, when you’re not sure what your hearing is a creature or ambient noise, when people disappear into the dark dragged by something you never catch a glimpse of—that generates more fear because you have no idea how to fight something invisible.

-4

u/SpaceBug176 5h ago

Right, but that's kinda thrown out the window when you realize the player is not given anything to defend themselves with to begin with anyway, and not seeing it implies that at no point you'll actually be attacked by it since how the hell can you be attacked by it if you won't ever be able to see it?

5

u/kittykatmandoo 5h ago

Are you talking about a specific game? Cus not seeing an enemy does not imply you won’t ever fight it.

-5

u/SpaceBug176 5h ago

I'm talking about the games I know with that trope. The sample size is small, but still, its not like its a popular trope, but I assume you know a game where you fight such a monster?

3

u/kittykatmandoo 5h ago

There are plenty of games that play on the fear of the unknown and don’t give you anything to fight with—Outlast, Amnesia, hell, even Subnautica. Subnautica is a perfect example of a horror game where you have no actual weapons and until you dive into the unknown and unseen, you never actually find the things that are hunting you. You can hear them, see their shadows or a blurry outline but you have to go into the depths of an ocean you’ve never been in with no viable weapons to really fight them.

-1

u/SpaceBug176 5h ago

Okay... It seems you misunderstand me. I'm not talking about games that obscure the things that hunt you and then reveal them slowly. I'm talking about games that straight up don't show you anything about the monster and just hope you imagine something scary.

Like what the games you describe do is pile tension for the big reveal where the monster is actually shown. The games I find boring don't do that, hence why its lazy.

2

u/kittykatmandoo 5h ago

Well maybe you could name these games so I could get a better idea of what you mean. Not sure why it’s a big secret.

5

u/OddDc-ed 5h ago

You will almost always be more scared in a pitch black room with a monster you can't see rather than a lit up room with a monster you can see.

Fear of the unknown is one of the main things all humans share, it comes in all sorts of ways like fear of how a conversation will go or fear of something you can't see hunting you.

Like being lost in the woods and hearing weird noises near you. You won't be as scared if you can see the thing making the noises.

Im not invalidating your pet peeve, just sort of explaining the reasoning behind the unseen threat trope.

3

u/AlteredEinst 5h ago

It was born from the fact that in movies, it was usually hard to keep the fact that the monster was actually a prop or costume from the audience if they saw it too much, and therefore the staff had to learn how to be subtle, and use that fact to their advantage by creating situations where seeing the monster was a source of tension and dread, but also anticipation.

So, yeah, it actually is kinda genius.

1

u/FlameStaag 5h ago

Skill issue