Survival horror!

[Riletto]

I'm beginning to delve into the survival horror gaming genre and am looking for good scent recs!

 

Common elements of survival horror are:

-Psychological elements!!

-Dismal, eerie, dark.

-Isolation or abandonment in a dangerous environment.

-Vulnerability

-Unpredictability, chaos, uncertainty, constant impending fear.

 

 

I'd like scents that really dump you into the terrain that you are madly scattering through to save your own life. Blood, the scent of fear, steel, forests, mists, mold and decay, etc as well as things that encourage feelings of unease, isolation, paranoia, etc. Many games involve ghosts or mutations(which may or may not actually exist).

 

In particular I would love matches for Silent Hill(bonus points if non-LE scents!):

-Pyramid Head: Bloody, rusty, grimey, something that lasts and follows you? Maybe Gore Shock or something similar?

-Fog world: Something ashy, smokey, foggy?

-Hospital: I need an evil, run-down abandoned hospital scent! If you were urban exploring into a shut-down hospital, what would you smell?

-SH2 in general: I feel like I'm looking for something with almost a moldy/mildewy tinge to it but something sweet or gentle hiding. Perhaps Zombi?

 

Posting the link to the Fantasy Island thread on Silent Hill. I didn't find existing recs(obviously!) but there were good ideas for blends that may have an existing counterpart. http://www.bpal.org/topic/82136-silent-hill/

[Haltija]

I could try and be of some help. My suggestions are:

 

Elli's Song- The horrors of entropy, death, and decay: desiccated black mosses, vetiver, olibanum, patchouli, and ashes.

 

Yorick- Grave dirt, bone, decay, angel’s trumpet, and moldering scraps of shroud: the essence of finality.

 

Whispers of Monstrous Things- Yellowed fragments of vellum and parchment scrawled with unnamable horrors invoking ghastly abominations: decaying papers and moldering leather with sickly-sweet tonka, inky musk, black sandalwood, black fig, sugandh kokila, and pimento leaf.

 

Black Forest- This is the captured scent of a cold, moonless night, lost deep within the darkest wood. Haunting and desolate, this scent evokes images of fairy tale tragedy and half-remembered nightmares. Thick, viscous pine with ambergris, black musk, juniper and cypress.

 

Fallen- Cherubic white sandalwood and golden musk with a dark halo of amber, a breath of imperial florals, unbending woods, and the shadow cast by vetiver and violet.

 

The Burying Ground- Despair and desolation in a potter’s field: black soil and memories of screams on the pyre.

 

SkekUng The Garthim Master- Brute force and destruction: vetiver, smoke, steel, and dragon’s blood resin.

 

Acluphobia- Oppressive, stifling, suffocating, blinding: black patchouli, tobacco absolute, opoponax, and inky black musk.

 

Phantasm- This delicate, spectral perfume gives rise to an eerie distortion of of the senses. It bestows an ephemeral, ghostly, and truly haunting quality to your presence. Green tea, lemon verbena, jasmine and neroli.

 

The Day Burned White- Plaster and spraypaint, mottled with buttermilk – sweet, chalky, and edging on sickly. White and golden amber beams of daylight pour through the belly of the scent, while oakmoss and Spanish moss add a touch of decay.

 

 

I hope you find what you are looking for

Edited October 2, 2014 by Haltija

[StevenBoatman]

I'd recommend Gore-Shock, from the Dark Delicacies collection (you have to go to their site, though). It's totally the smell of the Otherworld in my mind. You might try to find an imp of it, though, as it's a little...powerful. Here's the description:

 

"Pulpy, scorched, pork-like flesh, glistening entrails, and doughy skin with the coppery tang of blood, salty, sweaty musk, filth, and a huff of rusted machinery."

[Balame]

Uugh, get yourself some Battle of Vigridr (Salt and sinew, venom and flame, and bone shards scattered across the gore-soaked soil of Óskópnir) if you want bloody decay and bone with weird unnerving incense. It suits SH perfecty. Some people think it's actually wearable because it has that perfumey backdrop, but it is so *wrong* to me.

 

I think Tears of Lilith might also fit the bill for SH in general (Hemlock and hydromel and gall, honey and aconite and wine, lavishly poured over a blend of deep red musk, velvet-red rose, and silvery ambergris). It's not the most unsettling scent, but it's quite sad and ethereal, which I suppose suits its namesake. It smells like wet, velvety tears with a few sweet florals and herbs. Makes me think of sad ghosts...

 

Pain (A sharp, cruel blend of lavender and pennyroyal) is good if you want something sharp and creepy. I always describe it as the dentist office from hell. Somehow it smells metallic and chemical. This would be perfect for a hospital scent.

 

Smokestack (Creosote, coal, and industrial waste) might be a bit powerful for "fog" but I could see it working. There is a Fog Machine Juice in the new weenies but I have no idea how it will smell. Maybe When I? (Flue gas, smoke, oil, and tears). Haven't tried it but it sounds airy and weird.

 

And yes, I concur with Goreshock for Pyramid Head. Maybe Blood Moon if you want something a bit less intense. I actually think the linen in it is fitting since he's always wearing that sack robe thing.

Edited September 29, 2014 by Balame

[Sabir]

Baba Yaga and The Ninth Cage come to mind for metallic scents.

[Aviatrix]

For emtpiness and isolation:

 

Death on a Pale Horse The End of All Things: empty white musk and mint seeped with solemn lavender, doleful patchouli and vetiver, scythe-sharp yuzu and lime, with geranium bourbon, white sandalwood and calla lily.

 

J-Horror This scent is spectral, draped in funeral white, and surges with otherworldly, malevolent rage: stargazer lily, white sandalwood, chrysanthemum, and shincha, with white mint, eucalyptus, licorice bark, and blood orange.

 

 

Also, many of last Yule's Miskatonic blends are creepy as all hell and would fit for a foggy, frightening atmosphere, for example:

 

A Low Candle-Lit Room Candle wax and waxen "skin," rotting leather and reeking damp wood, and the ashes of a yawning, cold fireplace. (this one made me incredibly uncomfortable!)

 

The Burying-Ground Despair and desolation in a potter's field: black soil and memories of screams on the pyre.


[Riletto]

Oh my, what wonderful(horrible!?) suggestions that seem pretty dead on! I don't know where to even start. I wish there were more GC things but hunting can be fun. Thank you for the recs, I have a lot of review threads to peruse.

[sharkdiver]

I don't have any scent suggestions, but if you like survival horror games, the tell-tale games version of walking dead is awesome...I got very emotionally invested! Season 2 is already in progress...

[rawgirl75]

I like The Tell-Tale Heart for creepy factor: This is a swollen, pulsating, thudding scent, heavy with dread; a steady, unceasing, throbbing harbinger of retribution and doom: blood musk, cocoa, black pepper, allspice, dragon's blood resin and vetiver.

[ModderRhu]

Pyramid Head definitely smells like The Grand Inquisitor's Heretic's Fork: Coppery dried blood, metal, vetiver, and bonfire smoke.

[DurAnorak]

I know it's harder to find but my absolute #1 Silent Hill hospital scent is Kinnabari v4 - I wish I could decant things so I could send you some! it's a terrible cold medicinal stone sort of scent and I only wear it at Halloween :x I hope you can turn up some somewhere because it's really perfect Silent Hill perfume to me~

 

I'd also suggest the possibility of Rumpelstilzchen for Pyramid Head - there's not enough blood in there but there's a good amount of nastiness all the same. A++ for Smokestack too, & at least those are both GCs!