Dead Space and scary games

I don't do horror movies. Period.

Can't stand the visualization of blood and gore right before my eyes as I watch helplessly while victim after victim the killer hacks his way through the flick.

And yet, I don't mind it quite so much when it's on another medium like, say, a video game. Does that make me somewhat a hypocrite? Meh, I don't know.

I bring this up since it's nearing Halloween, and that Dead Space (which recently came out) is actually getting pretty decent reviews, as well as getting some thumbs up from my bro and bro-in-law. But it's here where the problem lies - can I endure playing a decent game and overcome the genre of fear that envelopes it?

That's not to say I've never played any game that scared the shit outta me. I've played a couple Resident Evil games, shot my way through House of the Dead, and have actively and thoroughly completed through Eternal Darkness 3 times to get the absolute true ending. Even when I started playing Eternal Darkness for the first time, I intentionally played it at night with all the lights turned off. So why do I hesitate this time?

Essentially, survival horror has evolved to a level of fear that taps on paranoia's door. It's not enough to scare you with horrible monsters and stuff, but to scare you more by what is not seen. Sorta like how you can detect monsters via static radio in Silent Hill (yet another game I haven't played for this reason).

And reviews from other sites have not been very helpful in easing the fear factor. The game's meant to be scary, I understand, and Dead Space does just that. I just want to make sure I don't die from a heart attack before I finish the game.

While I'm at it, I haven't even played through Resident Evil 4 and Bioshock as well, both of which have had very good reviews. In fact, I own RE4, but haven't had the time to pop it in. Well, if there was ever a time to really get into these games, what better time than the scaring season to do it, eh?