Weapons or no weapons in horror games?

[CarnivorousJelly]

In response to Old Man: based on your name I honestly don't know what I expected as a response, but that was rather cranky. I'd prefer not to derail this thread further just to respond to someone who prefers nitpicking over figures if speech and terminology rather than addressing the concepts being conveyed. If you want me to reply further, please PM me instead and I will gladly continue this discussion.

Back on topic! I had a late night thought about weapons in horror games, so maybe it's not that great of a thought... anyways!
When I think of video game weapons, I think of guns, bombs, big-ass swords, etc. - and I'm sure most of you do, too. The problem with that is the majority of our examples are drawn from games designed around making the player feel POWERFUL. These kinds of weapons, which give the player a sense of agency over the situation, are detrimental to horror because they take away that helplessness. Even the scrawniest snivelling mess of a player character becomes strong when handed a weapon of hyperdeath. As Kreekakon pointed out, an example of this would be Dead Space. The game is horror, but the combat sits firmly in the action genre because of the player's offensive capabilities.

Compare this with a, hypothetical, horror game where the weapon mechanics are designed to feel clunky and slow and awkward - like you're actually holding a gun for the first time and really don't know how to use it. No matter how much ammo you're given or how many guns/swords/fists you can use to fend off the monsters, you'd probably dread having to use them. You KNOW you would struggle in a fight and it would be better off to slink off in the shadows than deal with whatever's trying to hunt you down. Improvised weapons are great for creating that feeling: things like crowbars, rocks picked up off the ground, kicking and hitting (the protagonist of a horror game probably has no formal combat training), etc.. I imagine that's why Newsman found the dogs in Penumbra so scary; you can beat them down, but it's hard and the risks greatly outweigh the benefits.