Scared Stiff: Turning a horror trope into a treasure

Colette Bennett — Fri, 27 Jul 2012 14:30:00 EST

If it's horror, Colette Bennett knows it. 'Scared Stiff' is a column dedicated to everything frightening gaming has to offer, from ghostly little Japanese girls to flesh eating zombie dogs.

Whether you've spent the last two years foraging through horror games, or the last twenty, by now you may have noticed that they have a few things in common. I was recently playing a "scary" game that will go unnamed, and as I progressed, I recognized that I felt that needling desire to get up and go do something else, anything else, even though I was supposed to be relaxing and enjoying myself. It was that sense of weariness that can only come with drudgery, the frustration that says, "This could have been so much better, if only!"

If I had one of those handy checklists by my side that you can use to make sure you haven't forgotten something crucial, I would have been able to tick off each of the following:

Who am I? Welp, it looks like I got amnesia
Oh no! I've lost my girlfriend/wife/daughter/mother/dog
Blood, but you don't know where it came from (could be yours though)
Scrawled notes, preferably with directions
Wow, I'm in an abandoned [enter facility type here]

Every genre has tropes. It's a part of what makes the formula work, whether you're an androgynous pretty boy leading a pack of rag-and-tag scoundrels in an RPG or flexing your overly-significant muscles at your opponent in a fighting game before you land that dazzling finishing move. Dissolve these tropes, and the genre in question becomes murky. Use them every time, and people get sick of the same old, same old. What to do? Why do video games and their consumers have to be so demanding?

Continue reading Scared Stiff: Turning a horror trope into a treasure

Scared Stiff: Turning a horror trope into a treasure originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 27 Jul 2012 14:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

Scared Stiff: Amnesia and the evolution of the modern horror game

Colette Bennett — Mon, 18 Jun 2012 15:00:00 EST

If it's horror, Colette Bennett knows it. This column is dedicated to everything frightening gaming has to offer, from ghostly little Japanese girls to flesh eating zombie dogs.

You fumble through the darkness, your feet slopping in the rain. You have no idea where you are or how you even got here. An unfamiliar sound reverberates in the distance, its tinny undertones stinging your ears and furthering your sense of confusion. You're alone and have nothing to defend yourself with. And the only sound you can hear is that of your breathing, ragged with panic.

There's no mistaking it - this is survival horror.

Unlike the basic action and platform genre, the evolution of horror titles has followed a slow, twisty path. By the mid-nineties, it was known for its signature talent: the ability to reel you into a dark, unknown world like a helpless fish. Titles like Silent Hill and Resident Evil acted as some of the first passports into the journey we now refer to as "psychological horror." System Shock, Parasite Eve, Fatal Frame, and Siren were memorable trips into less-than-reassuring territory. Throw in some unexplained, mysterious figures, watch the world spin out of control, and you've got one hell of a recipe for an addictive genre. Who would have thought that fog-choked towns and shambling creatures who greet you with a spray of vomit could be so appealing?

Gallery: Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs

Continue reading Scared Stiff: Amnesia and the evolution of the modern horror game

Scared Stiff: Amnesia and the evolution of the modern horror game originally appeared on Joystiq on Mon, 18 Jun 2012 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments