One question I always liked to ask my friends "why do
you people like getting scared?". For me It is a true mystery because we
tend to avoid things that cause us fear, so why actively go and seek it? I seen
my fair share of horror films from the old Hitchcock films to the shining as
well as more modern movies, but this blog isn't about movies, its about games
so let's try not to get sidetracked. I'm a scaredy cat when it comes horror
genres in general, I remember back in the days of middle school (it's what we
Canadians call junior high), I used to get so scared by Goosebump books and TV
shows, movies would have to be forced by my friends, and games? well let's just
say I don't even bother with that genre even though I have vast interest in the
undead and demons (which is a quite strange interest but it does fall under
mythology and such so I tend to look into it). Your verdict at this point would
be that I wouldn't know much about horror games since I never play one. You are
right in the fact that I never played a horror game (Well I have played some,
but I get so scared to the point of deleting that game after a few minute of
play), but I can tell you a thing or two about horror games from the gameplay
videos I've observed, of course it would be played by other people. We will
first examine a few titles and see what they did well, then dive into a more
generalized theme and see what is the common factors that make good horror
games.
We here at Imagiro Studios take our time when it comes to
research as you might have already known, so this time is no exception.
Although we haven't played many games of this genre compared to others, we have
seen enough game footage to get the game and analyze it to the bone. We also
almost never agree on something completely and coming up with some horror game
titles that we all liked was really difficult however it did yield some result.
"Heavy Rain" was one title everyone jumped onboard, the heavy
suspense and the story really brought chills to our backs as we try to unravel
the mystery using several characters and ultimately find the culprit. My votes
(Allen, the guy writing this article) went to Fatal Frame (you know the one
with the twin girls and crimson butterflies) and Amnesia: the dark descent,
both had great story, suspense, and I guess some good actions. If you are not
familiar with Fatal Frame, it was a Japanese horror game with a pair of twin
girls getting lost in the woods and wound up in some abandoned village covered
in permanent darkness (that or the story happened in one night). You play as
the girls, armed with a mysterious camera, going around town trying to find a
way out of the village. Your primary enemies are ghosts that can be defeated by
having their pictures taken (A lot of my friends who played this game laugh at
the idea of using a camera to kill ghost, but for me who understand the myth,
the camera was a very fitting weapon because it was believed that cameras were
able to capture souls). The camera was not the only unique features of the
game, unlike other horror games, Fatal Frame had multiple endings which can be
obtained, which makes it kind of like novel games. Amnesia: the dark descent
really did freak me out, but watching others play it made me realize what a
great game it was. For those not familiar, you play a character who woke up in
a dark castle having amnesia and you go around trying to resolve a case as well
as escaping the castle. The story is revealed through the many notes you find
in your journey, and your primary obstructions are monsters that even today I
cannot describe what they are. Two most unique features of this game include
the fact that you cannot defend yourself, you are absolutely cannot fight back
so your only option is to run and hide. The other unique thing about it is the
sanity meter which gives another way to die, if you go insane, you die, if your
HP bar is empty, you die.
Other than the titles we mentioned above, we also explored Deadly
Premonitions, the many Resident Evil series, The last of us, and Outlast. Some
were more recent and some were older series, but they all fit the horror genre.
Only after examining the many great titles out there that we sort of came to
notice a trend or rather a couple of trends to be exact.
First of all, we noticed that horror games usually have a
certain degree of actions in the gameplay. This means that it is part of the
action game category where the player gets to make split second decisions that
result in some consequence later. This was well demonstrated in almost all of
the titles mentioned before, whether it was running away to hide in Deadly
Premonition and Amnesia, or stand your ground to defeat the horrors in Fatal
Frame and Resident Evil. The action element is there to excite the player, a
change of pace from the usual slow and reading-heavy gameplay. Although there
is action in every horror game, we saw two types of action, the classic fight
or flight. In Amnesia, the primary action segments was running away from your
pursuer, a typical flight action, but a well used one because it signified your
vulnerability in the situation, sort of like a mechanism to put you in your
place. The fact of knowing that you cannot fight back makes you cringe and
fearful of what might happen if you get found which adds to the suspense and
induce fear. On the contrary, in games like Fatal Frame and Resident Evil, the
player has some way of defeating the horrors, this is the fight action and it
is used to show the player that he or she has the power over their own decision
and thus their fate. Even though you can power through some situations with
your power, the enemies also tend to be more difficult to defeat. Both action,
depending on how its done, can result in the same defect which we will call
redundancy and by that we mean the need to perform meaningless tasks that are
there to lengthen the gameplay time but doesn't contribute to the development
of the story which is the basis of the game. With flight actions, you are
forced to run away without knowing where you are going which successfully
derails you from what you are trying to do in the first place. With fight
actions, you tend to go through some area that has a lot of small fry monsters
that are just there to waste your time.
All horror games have some sort of deep back story
supporting the game progression, which is why you tend to see games broken into
chapters or episodes, not only to show a sense progression, but to simulate an
adventure. It also does a lot to bring mystery and suspense to the whole game
as the player wonders what this whole thing is about. We feel like this aspect
should be the focus of any horror game because a deep story is very compelling,
but we all know that a good story isn't good unless it is told in the right
way. Much like a good storyteller, developers should really develop a story and
purposely leave out key things about the story and allow the player to figure
out the story as they progress. We found that some of the best titles told the
player very little at the beginning and use the story to show the player the
story. Maybe that is why investigators are popular characters because it's
their job to solve mysteries and the player get to step into their shoes to
unravel the story. Also, not being told the story leaves a lot of suspense and
mystery which drives the player to play more just to find out. This gives the
developer a lot of leeway in term of graphics and gameplay mechanics because
players will overlook these things just to know what happens at the end, we're
not saying that you should be lax with these things, players still want good
graphics and game mechanics, they add to the experience and the enjoyment of
the story, if you do them well, it allows the players to fully experience the
story, if done poorly, it will hinder the goodness of the story and make it not
as good as it should be.
Last thing that we think is really important to the horror
genre is the employment of atmosphere, ambiance, feel and etc. This include
visuals, sound, and other sensory stimuli we might experience. I don't think I
need say much about this, as you all know some form of stimuli that induces
fear and suspense. Dark places, yellow weathered walls, flickering lights, fog
and rain, blood trails, all these things create an unsettling environment that
tells the player's instinct that something isn't right. After all the analysis,
we think that sound is the number one thing that makes things scary, sudden
changes in pitch, sharp sounds, slow eerie music are almost always used in good
games, we watched some gameplay videos with and without sound and concluded
that sound contributes to about 80% of the scariness (but for someone like me,
even without the music, I can't stand the 20% visual scariness). We're not
saying that you cannot make a horror game without great music, but as a
developer it is almost a must to do your due diligence on music selection,
sound in horror requires more emphasis than other genres.
So after all that, the conclusion is obvious. To make a
great horror game, you need to first come up with an awesome story and telling
it in the most mysterious and provocative way possible, then work on designing
the gameplay actions, and finally design a world with music that goes with the
story that you came up. But let's beware of a few things before you start your
next big title. The thing with story focused games is that story needs to be
developed naturally, we seen many games that have story elements that are
forced and seemed out of place which eventually lead to redundancy as we
mentioned above. One way to create a naturally flowing story is to plan out
your whole story from start to finish but not only the plot, but also how you
want the player to experience it. Things like dead ends in a story is very good
device to do that because it puts the player on the backfoot and wonder what
they did wrong, especially in a game with choice. We highly recommend Extra
Credit's video on the illusion of choice, a lot of their concepts can be
employed in horror games and bring it up a notch. But basically, don't force
stories or experiences, make it seem smooth and logical. Another thing, try not
to tell the story too much through notes/journals pages/diaries or flashback/cinematic
but don't make them too insignificant that people don't look at them, they
should give important clues that lead the player to the next discovery of the
story not the actual story.
I guess to sum it all up, horror game is about letting the
player get deeply immersed in the suspense and mystery created by the story and
environment so that they are drawn to play more just to reach the end and see
something out of the ordinary. Approach it like a writing a book but in
interactive graphical form. Let the player play through the story, not tell it.
P.S. Since we are on the topic of scary stuff, we would like
to hear what you guys think about some horror games you played, or movies you
watched that gave you sleepless nights. Also, any comments on what your
thoughts are on the topics we discussed above would definitely be appreciated.
