Why aren't you afraid?

Fall is probably my favourite time of the year. The days grow shorter, the leaves turn red and the whole world slows down a little after the heat of the summer. It's also the time of horror. Not only because of Halloween, although this plays a large role, but also because of the atmosphere. Around here it's the time when the mountains are often swallowed in clouds and sunny days grow sparse, which creates a nice eerie atmosphere. So naturally October is the month were many horror games and movies are released to capitalize in this. It's also the month were every Blogger and Youtuber starts to do spooky toplists and so forth. And I don't want to miss out on that fun.

So what is on todays menu? Well I gave it a lot of thought, and today I would like to talk about the what kills Horror. Because this has been a prevalent theme in many games of the last couple of years. They lost sight of what is important to create a truly frightening atmosphere. But what are the exact corner stones of this lack of Horror in many modern games? Why do many move away from the classical Horror Territory and more into something I would call Terror Games?

A good example for this is the Dead Space series. The first game was stellar. One of my favourite horror titles of all time. The industrial setting of the Ishimura combined with this outlandish design of the Necromorphs created a dense atmosphere. The game did an excellent job of keeping tension high without putting in constant stress. Dead Space expertly understood how to create quite and peaceful moments, which made everything all the worse. This was sadly abandoned in later titles, with the third becoming nothing more than a cheap Gears of War knockoff with cool monsters to shoot.

A Terror Game puts you under constant stress, but hardly makes you fear for your life, while in a Horror Game even the silent moments feel threatful.

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So now that we have distinguished these two types of games, let us focus on the classic horror games and what kills them. Apart from focus testing and overbearing publishers of course.

Bigger is not always better

Our technology is always improving. Just take a look how far video games have come in the last 20 years. From the first ground breaking 3D adventure of Mario to the incredible world of Witcher 3. New and better technology also allows game designers to create the worlds they've always dreamed of. It removes the boundaries and shackles that restricted world building in the past. And while this may sound like a great development, and for many games it is, for select genres boundaries are what makes them work.

Grand set pieces may look impressive, but they are among the worst things you can do for your Horror game. There is a reason why the classic Horror locations are Insane Asylums, Hospitals and so forth. Horror needs small and contained spaces.

Creating a huge set piece may allow you to flex your graphical muscles, but it also dampens the threat of your game. If you have a great view distance and a big, open location, you create the feeling that there is plenty of space to run. It dampens the urgency.

On the other hand if you can't really tell where you are running, because the corridors of the old hospital are full of twists and turns, it creates a much more threatening and dangerous atmosphere.

To be fair this is a problem that hasn't been to prevalent, but several games like Resident Evil 6 or Dead Space 3 still fell victim to it. Of course these games had other, bigger problems, but this was one of the final nails in the coffin.

Horror needs tight and confined spaces. The player needs to have the feeling of being trapped, not knowing what comes next. That is why P.T. worked so well. It was just one small corridor. Nowhere to run and nowhere to hide. 

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Still grand setpieces can work in Horror games. Just take a look at Dead Space once again. The Ishimura is huge. But she has hardly any large open spaces. Even though you're in this gigantic space ship, often you feel like a tuna trapped in the can.

I have the Power!

Often times Video Games are power fantasies. And why shouldn't they be? Nobody wants to play a simple farmer during the thirty years war, who is killed of by invaders. I want to be Batman. I want to be a monster killing Witcher. But for Horror Games this rule needs to be inverted. Playing a muscle bound soldier equipped with more weapons than even a horse can carry is pretty high up there in killing any kind of Horror atmosphere. Yes I'm looking at you Capcom and Chris Redfield.

But even if you're not a trained Special Ops soldier many games make it to easy to fight back. If you can defeat the threats before you, there is hardly any reason to be scared.

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A good example of this is Resident Evil 4. While it was the game that started the transition of the series into a more action focused franchise it also still had it's share of good old Horror. Munition was sparse and often forced Leon to seek the direct confrontation with his enemies. And here lies the problem. The kick and knife combo was just to good. Being able to kick enemies to the ground and then knife them into oblivion took away the danger from many human enemies in the game.

Horror games need a basic level of helplessness to function. But it is a thin line to wander between overpowered and completely inept. A game that does this well is Amnesia: The Dark Descent. The player has no way of fighting against the Gatherers. Even looking at them is harmful, as it decreases your sanity. However there are loads of ways to outsmart the monsters. This way you still allow the player to feel helpless without treating them like a drooling idiot. It allows the player to actively participate in the game and interact with it instead of relegating him to a kind of spectator, whos only job is to run away.

Allowing the player to fight back effectively starts a process which slowly kills Horror. It allows the player to grasp the threatening situation. It allows him to understand it because it allows him to rationalize it. And once the player reaches that stage the Horror is over.

The Same Procedure as every room

And now for the last and most important point. But first let me start with a quote.

“The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown.”

H.P. Lovecraft

That is the reason why a Zombie game won't ever be able to scare anyone anymore. The constant overexposure to these creatures has made us indifferent towards them. They have been done to death.

This is also why so many people feel uneasy when swimming in open waters. The unknown things that are beneath you. It let's our imagination run wild.

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Now what wider implications does this quote have for Horror games in general? Well it's quite easy. The moment something becomes familiar it loses a lot of its threat. Let's take the Shrine Maidens from Project Zero (Fatal Frame): Maiden of the Black water as an example. The first time you encounter this ghosts it's in a dark cavern filled with waters. They rise from their box shaped coffins, where they spent the eternity holding back the black water. It's a very threatening scenario and the water slows you down further. This creates an atmosphere where you feel helpless and vulnerable, even though you have means to fight back. Now repeat this. And repeat this. And repeat this. After the sixth or so encounter with a Shrine Maiden I started to yawn, whenever they appeared. I knew how the fought and I knew how to take them down effectively. The unknown became the familiar and the Horror died.

In that regards one of the worst things you could do for your horror game is filling it with standard enemies. Keeping encounters few, but unique is a better, but also more time consuming way in creating a horror video game. It is a race, where the creator has to be always one step ahead of his players. Never let them grow accustomed to their surroundings.

That is why shorter Horror Games work so well. They are easier to create and highly effective. But if you want to create a longer, more in depth, horror game make sure to keep the players on their toes.

Our constant exposure to media and all kinds of horror movies, films and stories makes it harder to create this feeling of the dreaded unknown. Maybe that is one of the reasons why many creators opt for the way of Terror. It's easier to create and the high stress situations create a similar adrenaline rush.

Horror is a incredible art form. It's they way of playing with your expectations, making them feel helpless and alone and creating and atmosphere of pure dread, that I enjoy so greatly. I think the gaming industry is big enough for both kind of games. The stressful terror and the dark, silent and eerie Horror that creeps up on you.

In any way what are your thoughts on this topic? What kills Horror for you? And what Horror games do you greatly enjoy? Let me know in the comments below.

And as always

thanks for reading