I’m Not Going to Lie, I’m a Little Bit Scared

Laura of GAMElitist talks about the future of horror games, the psychology behind them, and how it affects her.

[Hellsvacancy]

I had to stop playin it around my 3/half year old daughter, i bought it, was sittin there enjoyin it not even aware she was payin attention to it then she sais "oh no Daddy the little boys head fell off" i thought *its ok, its not that bad, shes seen me BRUTAL melee kill some poor sap on K3 a hundred times* but the scene with the Spider got to much for her

I did the fatherly thing and turned it off, put Thomas And Friends on, its the only time shes ever commented on a game shes seen me play, ive never played God Of War/Dead Space etc around her (there is limit) but yeah, shes didnt like Limbo one bit

I loved it, im DEFO gonna 100% it

[JoGam]

Dude I don't like bugs and when the spider popped out......I actually jumped in my seat. The spider looks creepy.

[NeoBasch]

Completely agreed. The horror genre is perhaps the only form of gaming to receive such a large boost in comparison to their movie equivalents. Games like Dead Space, Silent Hill, and Fatal Frame put to shame just about every horror movie that ever existed.

It could be because of the increased focus on the player, but I have a feeling it has more to do with the excellent character development that horror movies are denied because of their length. Also, the attention to detail is much greater in a game than a movie, because the player might be able to interact with it.

Games like Silent Hill are scary because you come to care for the characters and sympathize with their problems. These only compound when you put the controller in the player's hand.

Also, nice taste in movies. Wolf Creek was scary as hell. The Exorcist was a joke.

[limewax]

I personally feel it's got more to do with how the movie industry has fallen from grace as such, There are great horror movies, just they're all old.

Games are overtaking movies in many aspects, and most disturbingly, story telling. That is why I find the horror genre of games has risen so much, It can retain the core principles of horror in gaming in a way most genres would struggle with. Hence it carries over easily and outshines the horror movie industry

[jeeves86]

The Exorcist is almost 40 years old. Also, forgive me for making an assumption here, but the film tends to lose a lot of its bite if you're an atheist.

Horror games have so have so much power in them because unlike a movie, the game cannot proceed without player interaction. That means that eventually you have to man (or woman) up and take the plunge.

[NeoBasch]

I'm not an atheist. It still sucked, IMO. It was cheesy, and ridiculous. No one seemed to be thinking logically. Didn't care for any of the characters either.

[jeeves86]

And that brings us back to my first point, it's an old movie. It's not as frightening now as it was back when it was released, but in its time it was really scary for a lot of people.