What Makes an Awesome Horror Game?

                         What Makes an Awesome Horror Game?

Horror games have different requirements from the movies and fiction they were inspired by. Take this as a critical dissection of what makes these games good. It is certainly not an endorsement of fucked up behaviour in real life. This is for those that find this form of entertainment thrilling. An excellent horror game must balance the narrative elements of horror with rewarding gameplay.

A horror game must disturb the player. The Corpse Party series are great at this, very fucked up storylines: everything horrific you can think of (perhaps to the point of overuse). I would argue that Capcom's flagship horror series, Resident Evil, does this poorly. To me they are essentially action games with minor horror elements and really driven towards quick reflexes rather than a scary narrative. However, Capcom is pretty skilled at crafting a spooky tale or two in games such as Clock Tower 3, and Haunting Ground. The former centering around a teenage girl who has to run away from perverted ghosts, who try to "embrace" her. It does a good job of creating a lot of distance between encounters to let the horror built in your mind for a while. These are not just movies or novels, however, and would be nothing if the "game" portion were listless.

An excellent horror game must also be an enjoyable game not merely a horror narrative. I assert that the Resident Evil series has become better over time. Earlier on the tank controls were used to make it more difficult to control. The argument was this actually increased the "horror" factor. I personally couldn't get past the tank controls, and thankfully more recent games in the series have gotten rid them for more modern left goes left, forward goes forward type control schemes. The Fatal Frame series are great from a play standpoint. Centering around a camera with special powers that reveals hidden images when photographed, and sends spirits trying in an agony to their final resting place. The first Parasite Eve game has a rewarding power-up system: instead of levelling up your character like a traditional RPG you add abilities to your gun over time.

My personal preference is an RPG or visual novel style game, as I'm back at quick reaction games. I also prefer more psychological horror than gory, Rosemary's Baby or Psycho rather than Human Centipede or the Saw movies. The first Silent Hill game does this well: you are stuck in this deserted town in the middle of winter, with barely anyone around. You must slowly piece clues together in this lonely town. To quote the spine-chilling band Barenaked Ladies "I'm the type of guy that laughs at a funeral," I enjoy horror video games (and movies) more if they can poke fun at themselves. I prefer games set before smartphones, and very current technology, as those elements just distract me from the immersion. I am a man stuck in the past.

An excellent horror game must balance the narrative elements of horror with rewarding gameplay. They allow a safe release of our shadow selves which should be indulged on occasion. Best played by candlelight.