Blog: "10 Ways to Evolve Horror Games"

[AspiringFailure]

Tactical and deep = Dead Space.
Difficult and awkward = Silent Hill.
Difficult and awkward = Real life.

Now I know that DS is technically superior. I'm not denying this. But I still think trying to make combat fun in a Horror game is a horrible idea. :]


Amnesia's scope of Horror is WAY beyond just being loud and blatant, though. It does have subtleties and they tie in very well with the tension induced by the monsters. You're not just running from these guys and hiding, -you're trying not to look at them. You're always considering what to do should one show up, and you're curious about what they are. None of this is true for SH3. I'm not telling you enemies are the sole method of projecting horror in either of these games. They aren't.

But they are a very, very large part of it. I sure will admit that if ANY horror game I ever played removed the enemies, it would be zero scary and zero enticing to play. If there's a horror game out there that doesn't have you running away from baddies, -and it's actually good, I'd love to try it and see how that changes my opinion on the importance of enemies.