What makes horror?

[Azure-Supernova]

So I've been playing Metal Gear Solid V a hell of a lot and some of the side missions (Eliminate the Wandering Puppets) have had me itching for a good bit of horror. In my search I inevitably wound up looking at Resident Evil and stumbled across a fan remake for Resident Evil 2.


A lot of people seem to like the idea, but a lot of old school fans have crept in complaining about the over the shoulder perspective versus the origional fixed camera angles. Now whilst I agree that the fixed camera angles increase tension, surely that is just artificial? When I'm at the top of the famous L-shaped corridor in Resident Evil 1, Jill and Chris can see all the way down towards the next door, but the player can only see from the angle of the entrance. The more I think of it, blindsiding the player with zombies and packs of cerberus like that is a little cheap.

But it was never those moments that scared me beyond their intended jump scares. Once you've experienced it, it's just an obstacle. What really instilled me with paranoia was the ambience in Resident Evil 2/3. Walking through Racoon City and hearing the distant moans of zombies and the cries of their victims. Looking in my inventory and seeing a single loaded pistol and no extra ammo, but a basketball court full of zombies that might take 3-4 bullets each to take down and little wiggle room for dodging.

So in that respect, what makes a horror game a horror? Sure horror is subjective, but where is the line between actual fear and artificial fear drawn?

EDIT: For clarification, when I define actual and arificial fear I mean in terms of arbitrary gameplay elements.

 

[Maximum Bert]

I cant really answer that as like you said horror is subjective. For me where the line between actual and artificial horror is drawn is whether it is real or not. Obviously with games it is all artificial or with any medium really and so it is heavily blunted. For real horror that actually affected me it would have to be happening or have potential to happen to me and make me fearful of my actual well being which is not something I am likely to seek out (im not an adrenaline junky).

I cant remember a game doing it (bet there are some) but some films and books do make efforts to make the horror more than just something you are reading or seeing maybe through some sort of psychological gimmick like the ring or simply claiming it is based on a true story which can work to greater or lesser degrees.

As for games though I have not been scared by a game in a long time. Fatal Frame had an intense atmosphere that made it almost unplayable to my younger self but now I am older it does not affect me at all the danger and fear is rendered near mute by the screen. I guess the only fear I have now is of being killed before I can save and having to retread which is one born from annoyance so not a good one to play on really as its one likely to disengage me quickly.

Maybe some VR can help with horror but I dont think that will solve my underlying issue with them and to be honest I dont think much really could as no one is going to play a game you stand a very strong possibility of physical injury and or death in for fun. I do look forward to games exploring a more psyhological aspect though. Even if they fail to scare me I tend to like these over jump scares and extreme resource management (this tends to mildly stress me rather than scare me make me feel like I am working instead of playing usually).

 

[Fat Hippo]

I'm not sure drawing a line between actual and "artificial" horror is the best approach to differentiating between types of horror. All horror in video games is artificially generated, in the sense that a rational human being always knows that he isn't actually being hunted by zombies. He might engage with the fantasy, but in the back of his mind, he still knows it isn't real. He'd be shaking and sweating and pissing himself if he lost that connection to reality.

That doesn't mean we can't find a few different manners in which video games can create horror.

Jump Scares: This is really closer to being startled than horrified, but it's still a staple of the genre, and something Resident Evil has used frequently. Also works well as a manner of putting the player on edge, if he knows that there are jump scares, but doesn't know when they will happen. Which leads us to the net type...

Apprehension: This one is closely tied to the game mechanics, and fits will with your example of limited ammunition. The player knows he will be facing more enemies, and only has limited resources to do so, which forces him to be careful. He doesn't just need to beat his enemies, he needs to do so efficiently. This forces him to engage with the mechanics in a different way, and always pay full attention, even when facing "easy" enemies, such as the basic zombies in Resident Evil. It also ties into the fear of ambushes, and not knowing when it will happen, and as such functions as a sort of prelude to the aforementioned Jump Scares. A constant feeling of apprehension is usually complimented by...

Atmosphere: A generally creepy ambiance is pretty much obligatory for any horror game, whether it's the creepy mansion in RE1, the space station in Dead Space or the twisted worlds of Silent Hill. Without atmosphere, the previous two elements will feel tense at most, and silly at the worst. It's not just generated be the location however, other elements such as sound design and good writing play an important part as well.

Even though Jump Scares are often maligned, I think they play an important role in setting up the Apprehension in any horror game. If all of the enemies and threats are seen long before they become a threat, and there are few surprises, the pressure dissipates, and the player isn't forced to give the game his full attention at all times. Optimally, a game will mesh these elements together to create a tapestry of horror for the player.

Resident Evil uses all 3 of these well, which makes it an effective horror game in my opinion, even if it hasn't aged well in all respects. The part I think it did the best was apprehension, I always liked how it forced you to be careful with ammunition and herbs. The jump scares have become less effective, as people became less accepting of the fixed camera angles, and these scares relied heavily on these angles. I still don't think "artificial" is the right word, but a shift in people's gaming tastes have made this hard to appreciate for many. Atmosphere is generally good as well, though I always liked the mansion in RE1 far better than the police station in RE2. Especially in the RE:make, the atmosphere was excellent.

These 3 criteria may be slightly arbitrary, and they could probably be cut up further, or divided differently, but I think they serve well to show what parts of the old Resident Evil games have aged well, and which parts haven't.

 

[Zhukov]

In games? I'd say the anticipation of bad things combined with a sense of dis-empowerment.

(Good pacing is also a must, although that goes for many genres, if not all of them.)

Generally I find the truly unnerving parts of a game (or other media) are when you are given the impression that something unpleasant is about to happen but you don't know exactly what it will be or where it will come from. Like when a character is reaching their hand into a clearly unsafe space, or when you're advancing into an area from which creepy noises were coming just a moment earlier.

With games in particular I find that not empowering the player is also essential. Power isn't conducive to fear. I tend to sneer at horror games that allow you to kill the monsters. For example, in the Dead Space games whenever a flesh-eating many-limbed horror would burst out of a vent I'd just calmly blow its legs off. Not exactly scary stuff. By way of contrast, in Amnesia whenever something unfriendly made an entrance your only options were run and hide. Much better.

 

[Azure-Supernova]

Resident Evil uses all 3 of these well, which makes it an effective horror game in my opinion, even if it hasn't aged well in all respects. The part I think it did the best was apprehension, I always liked how it forced you to be careful with ammunition and herbs. The jump scares have become less effective, as people became less accepting of the fixed camera angles, and these scares relied heavily on these angles. I still don't think "artificial" is the right word, but a shift in people's gaming tastes have made this hard to appreciate for many. Atmosphere is generally good as well, though I always liked the mansion in RE1 far better than the police station in RE2. Especially in the RE:make, the atmosphere was excellent.

When I refer to the fixed camera angles as being 'artificial', I refer to it as being arbitrarily restrictive for the purpose of providing tension or apprehension, as they did in Resident Evil. In a horror game you'd think situational awareness would be high up on the list of things needed to survive, but your field of view is restricted for no real reason. Having an over the shoulder camera in any of the previous games wouldn't have hindered the horror element.

With games in particular I find that not empowering the player is also essential. Power isn't conducive to fear. I tend to sneer at horror games that allow you to kill the monsters. For example, in the Dead Space games whenever a flesh-eating many-limbed horror would burst out of a vent I'd just calmly blow its legs off. Not exactly scary stuff. By way of contrast, in Amnesia whenever something unfriendly made an entrance your only options were run and hide. Much better.

I'd tend to agree. Dead Space had the atmosphere, the tension, the aesthetics, the music and even the jump scares; but pulling out a plasma cutter and dismembering anything that came your way rendered it moot, especially by endgame when your arsenal is huge and you can deal with crowd situations with ease.

 

[Fox12]

I would argue that ideas are more horrifying then any monster. I mean, we aren't really scared of Cthulhu, we're scared of what he represents. Namely, our insignificance in the universe, and the unknown. The fact that we're scratching off a living on this tiny little rock, and all around us the darkness expands forever.

The best way to capture this is through atmosphere. Monsters can be a part of that, but it's possible to do it without any threats at all. One of the best types of horror is when you have a normal setting, but something is just a little bit... off. You can't quite put your finger on it, but it's there. Something is subconsciously digging at your brain. Something is terribly wrong, but you don't know why. One of the best recent examples is Spec-OPs: The Line, which certainly uses psychological horror.

Spoiler

Beautiful imagery is constantly contrasted by ugly imagery, capturing the difference between reality and fiction. Your mind is always being assaulted by either hellish of heavenly imagery. Things are either too beautiful or too awful to be real. You're constantly descending, and the world changes subtly around you. At one point you see a poster on a building, and when you turn a corner it's been replaced. You probably didn't notice... but your mind did. All of this exists to make you question yourself, and your motivations.

Silent Hill mastered this technique, using the world around you as a psychic mirror for your characters thoughts. The horror was never really the monsters. It was you all along. The things inside of you. The best horror titles make you realize and ugly truth, especially about yourself. They make you confront uncomfortable things you would rather ignore.

That's my issue with games like RE. I like them, but they're not scary. They're silly, and often rather cheap. Fixed camera angle can be used to great affect, but they need to make sense in the universe. Silent Hill did this rather well. RE... didn't.

 

[Cold Shiny]

Many, many people have said this, so I'm just parroting their words.

Horror in video games is 90% sound design. Its something about how the human brain interprets sound that just makes it so much more impactful than how the game looks. This can be with beautiful and immersive sound, or dissonant , jarring sound.

Amnesia: The Dark Descent.... has terrible graphics. It also has the best sound design of any game I'vs ever played. Guess what affected me more? The sounds, music, and voice work. Horror is all about immersion, and I don't really know why, but the "horror response" is activated more easily by sound.

Remember your most terrifying moments in video games. Could you see the monster? Probably not. The sound combined with your imagination is doing all the work.

 

[CaitSeith]

Horror doesn't come from what it is; but from what it is perceived. Do you like RE2 and RE3 ambient? Try ZombiU (or Zombi); it's pretty good in that aspect. It's a shame that you find RE's fixed camera angles artificial; but remember: the game is trying to creep the player; not Chris or Jill.

 

[CaitSeith]

When I refer to the fixed camera angles as being 'artificial', I refer to it as being arbitrarily restrictive for the purpose of providing tension or apprehension, as they did in Resident Evil. In a horror game you'd think situational awareness would be high up on the list of things needed to survive, but your field of view is restricted for no real reason. Having an over the shoulder camera in any of the previous games wouldn't have hindered the horror element.

There was really a more relevant reason for the first RE to have fixed camera angles: hardware limitations. Such detailed rooms were impossible to make in 3D with the PS1 technology. So they used fixed cameras and put the 3D generated characters and objects on pre-rendered background images, and they put the camera in angles that made the images look like rooms and corridors. Similar to the fog in Silent Hill, this way of overcoming a technological limitation had the added effect of making the game creepier.

 

[Azure-Supernova]

When I refer to the fixed camera angles as being 'artificial', I refer to it as being arbitrarily restrictive for the purpose of providing tension or apprehension, as they did in Resident Evil. In a horror game you'd think situational awareness would be high up on the list of things needed to survive, but your field of view is restricted for no real reason. Having an over the shoulder camera in any of the previous games wouldn't have hindered the horror element.

There was really a more relevant reason for the first RE to have fixed camera angles: hardware limitations. Such detailed rooms were impossible to make in 3D with the PS1 technology. So they used fixed cameras and put the 3D generated characters and objects on pre-rendered background images, and they put the camera in angles that made the images look like rooms and corridors. Similar to the fog in Silent Hill, this way of overcoming a technological limitation had the added effect of making the game creepier.

Oh don't get me wrong, when Resident Evil 5 was first released I was mourning the fixed camera angles and I still believe that Resident Evil 2 is a masterpiece regardless, even the narm! The only example I can use to make my point is Resident Evil 5 (which I eventually came to love in its own way) Lost in Nightmares DLC. The game might have pulled on RE1 nostalgia to achieve it, but I found its short playtime scarier than any segment of RE5 and funnily enough very little actually happens in the DLC. But there is an easter egg that changes the camera to a classic fixed camera angle style and it doesn't add anything, it just makes the game frustrating to play.

 

[Mikeybb]

Lots of good descriptions and points made here.
Of course as everyone acknowledges it's very subjective.
As such what follows is my very subjective take on it.

Sometimes it seems it's easier to define what isn't horror than what is.
A scare isn't horror.
Something that makes you jump isn't horror.
An object or individual that frightens isn't horror.
Gore isn't horror.
...and yet all of these things can coexist happily along with horror.

In many ways I feel that horror isn't what you perceive with your senses but instead it is what you extrapolate from such things.
It's a sense of chilling realization.
An understanding of what you cannot see or, if done well, what you really, truly do not want to see.
Fear is in the now, but horror is past or future.

Fear runs at you claws out, swift and relentless.
Horror creeps and despite this, no matter how fast you move, no matter how far you run or how well you hide, it will always be there.
Ahead.
Waiting in the darkness.

How does this relate to games?
Well, the most terrifying moments I have ever experienced in games aren't those hurtling, helterskelter moments but the quiet ones.
The moments when something truly horrible just clicks into place.
I won't share individual moments for fear of spoiling such potential moments for others but suffice to say when it is done right, the effect is profound.
Fox12 mentions a game in which it is done very well indeed.

 

[Silentpony_v1legacy]

Its purely subjective, but I know I feel the most fear from powerless-ness. From not being in control, unable to fight or being literally unable to harm what's after me.
Games like Amnesia, Outlast or to a lesser extent FNAF or Alien Isolation(which I hate, but I acknowledge it can be scary)


I know its touted as the best game ever EVER by a lot of people, but Silent Hill 2 wasn't scary at all for me. For one, you have an arsenal of weapons and plenty of ammo. Secondly the enemies are piss poor stupid, easy to predict and kill, and are loud as fuck so you always know when their around. Thirdly the much touted atmosphere was severely lacking. The majority of the game is spent walking between rooms, solving obtuse but clear puzzles, occasionally walking past a monster going the other way who couldn't give less of a shit about you. And the town is 99% empty, which some people find creepy I guess? God help them if they're even in an empty room. They'd have a brain hemorrhage!
But I just found it boring and easy.

But like I said earlier, games where you literally can't hurt what's coming after you really builds on the helplessness the player feels. Giving them a shotgun, lead pipe, and a pistol really detracts from the 'survival' part, ya' know?

 

[totheendofsin]

in a word, atmosphere

the aesthetic, the sounds, the music (or lack thereof) all combining in a way intended to put you in an state of unease as you play the game

that IMO makes horror

 

[joest01]

Shitty camera angles are good for jump scares. The thing that makes you jump is something else. It has to come from the writing and the soundtrack plays a big role too.

Try this: play corpse party on psp (the first one) once with the sound off and then with some quality headphones.

Since that to me is the only game to ever cause me actual nightmares, and adding the fact it has a cutesy 8bit artstyle, I have to give the soundtrack and writing most of the credit.

Thinking about it, only hinting at a pile of flesh and bones gives your imagination a lot to work with

 

[PurplePonyArcade]

Pacing, immersion, and atmosphere are the keys to a truly good horror experience. I've heard one youtuber say that an important part of that was terrible controls and how he was sad that practice was lost. I wish I could remember their name so I could recommend they see a doctor because clearly the need some anti-loony pills. Another part I do not think a lot of folk realize is that one of the absolute most important aspects of a horror game is the thoughts and mental state of the people behind it. This is one reason why a big-named, soulless cooperation can't just vomit out any old horror game in droves like with shooters, sports games and others. While the best games are made by people who know what they are doing and care horror is especially vulnerable without a loving parent to nuture it during development because true horror is like Adventure games, RPGs, and visual novels in that they just can't survive without good writing. Some say an exception of this might be Resident Evil, but then these same people might disagree with me that Resident Evil's writing is not very good. Proper use of adrenaline can help to. That might be part of the appeal of Resident Evil 4, but I cant say having not yet played that one. What I do know is that adrenaline is one of the things that made me love Bioshock and get me into horror games in the first place. Of course that alone does not make a horror game. Chaotic, high adrenaline is what makes a good shooter horror or not. Team Fortress 2 and Counter-strike have that and they are certainly not horror games. On that note to me multiplayer aspects in horror do NOT work. Fast pace crazy fun is just something shooters do. Not just shooters but the right crafted multiplayer game in general is capable of that. Hence why I have such a strong love of fighting games since to me nothing does fast-pace, pulse-pounding better than testing your metal against a well trained opponent in a fast fighting game. Though lets get back to horror. What makes Bioshock scary to me is not just my heart rate, but also the environment and how well the writing compliments it. Wondering through a dark, ruined, drug-crazed town never knowing when some lunatic will stab you with a needle is pretty tense. Also I found Big Daddy fights especially scary. I know in my head I had to fight them some time but they are otherwise peaceful and because of their typical peaceful nature my mind feels even more scared as I fight the big man with a fishbowl head attempting to rush at me with god-like speed and strength to drill me a new asshole and vagina shooting him like a lunatic hoping my ammo would remain plentiful and constantly running to find a place to hide. That was scary and that was fun and did not need tank controls to scare me. That said, as a wise man put it, terrible controls are fine as long as they are made to give you a sense of venerability and make combat feel like its not worth it. That all works out good and thats why people love the earlier Silent Hill games. Another thing a wise man once said is that immersion can save an otherwise bad game and thats another reason people love a good horror game like Silent Hill 2, immersion, really getting you into the world and everyone in helps you forgive when games do have terrible controls like Silent Hill 2. Another thing that helps immersion is that if you are making a horror game with voice actors no matter how their voices sound the best thing you can do there is find actors who are really into it. Disconnect with voice actors can ruin the experience and leave the player who may have otherwise liked it wishing it was a horror game without voice acting like the latter part of Earthbound who did just find to scare the piss out of the player without the needs for voices. People complain about jumpscares, but when done right it can be an especially scary thing. Not just in horror games either is it an effective tool. I remember my second playthrough of Half-Life 2 finding an area I did not see before and yelling at an enemy suddenly appearing very close without warning. Know what? It was amazing! So they work. Silent Hill 2 had a few of them if you folk recall that did just as well to give me an instant laxative. I think whatever stigma jumpscares may have is aimed at Five Nights At Freddy's. I am not sure if I can call myself a fan of the series yet or not, but I do like the lore and enviroments. "Its just jumpscares" one twat says and I disagree. It might take the survival aspect of the term survival horror to a more insanely literal definition since its more about not getting jumpscared than that. I won't call them games good or bad and let you pick for yourself, but they are effective horror. As humans we are social creatures, even the most bitter and timid like myself need social contact at some points or we go insane. Horror games like Silent Hill 2 do VERY VERY well to make you feel totally alone. While not as good FNAF has an equally as good if not better method of at the very least making you feel alone and fragile than many horror games and didnt need the bad camera angles of Resident Evil. That said maybe that is a bad comparison since RE is 3rd person and FNAF is 1st person. I DESPISE bad use of jumpscares which FNAF is NOT. Its not scary. Go to Steam greenlight right now(unless you watch Sterling's Youtube) and look for jumpscare oriented horror games. Its just a bunch of monsters screaming at you and that not scary. It puts me to sleep faster than Resident Evil 3 did. Know what is scary? Sitting in your barely lit little room jittering and if like me sometimes feeling like you are over-caffeinated despite having very little coffee as a big machine thing slowly approaches with you having no power to stop it. It looks down at your in your dumb, childish little mask and sweat falls as it looks closer debating on if it wants to turn you inside out of not. Bear in mind I am a coward, but the first time this happened it made me want to cry. One of my most notable horror experiences and to me a big reason why horror games are better than horror movies because you are a part of the story. It also reminded me of a very good indie horror game called Spooky's House of Jumpscares, a game that very much has a name that betrays what it really is so if you dont want a spoiler then I will mark the next sentence to ignore. {Spoiler:The game has little to do with jumpscares, it uses its cutesy image with fake jumpscares. These may scare more caffeinated but they are a mere ruse for the real horror within.} Maybe I am going off topic all over so lets end this with what thoughts I have left on horror. My favourite horror game is Bioshock and among games I have not completed Silent Hill 2. One of the previous commentators said soundtrack can also be a big thing and I agree. Akira Yamaoka is a musical mastermind, but to go back on what I said before he has very specific feels and views of horrors, believing that in order to make true horror you have to be in a happy mind to do since being sad so long will make you numb to negative feelings and perhaps make the game feel the same way. Agree or disagree with him to me this prooves to me that the people behind a horror game have to be carefully picked and carefully craft their art since that art exists because of them. I hope this has helped some. Good day.

 

[G00N3R7883]

Three key factors stand out for me.

- The player has to be alone. If you've got a partner (either Human or AI controlled) everything is immediately less scary. There's a sense that your partner can save you from the danger.

- There should be a small number of powerful enemies, rather than a massive number of weak enemies. The more times I kill something, the more efficient my tactics will become, and the more comfortable I feel. I learn which weapon is best, how many hits will kill the enemy, what distance I should attack from, if I should watch/listen for something that indicates when the enemy will attack.

- Resources like ammo, health packs, etc, should be scarce. There should be times when I've run out of those things and need to just run away, or at least I'm forced to use a tactic I'm less comfortable with, for example the only weapon I've got ammo for is one I find difficult to aim.

I think those are the biggest differences between horror (Resident Evil 1, Dead Space 1) and action (Resident Evil 5/6, Dead Space 3).