Editor’s note: Our first Horror Week community piece focuses on making scary games actually scary. Luke says that he isn’t a “connoisseur” of horror games, but his tips make a lot of sense to me. They could work in many genres, actually. -Jason
I am not a huge fan of horror movies, but I’ve played a number of horror games over the years. Very few managed to actually scare or even unnerve me. Some games focus too much on cheap, one-time scares and neglect to create a suspenseful environment. Others have phenomenal settings, but the gameplay isn’t conducive to keeping the player on the edge of his seat.
Here are a few factors I feel foster fear in games.
The Player Should Feel Underpowered
You’d think that this is a no-brainer. I have a hard time getting the heebie-jeebies when I know I can blow any monster to hell with my shotgun and regenerate my health if I stand still for a few seconds. Developers need to put a lot of polish into the combat system in their games to keep players in suspense. The first Silent Hill was one of the scariest games that I’ve ever played, but the fire ax was an insanely overpowered weapon, and it never ran out of shells.
Ammunition rationing has been a part of the horror survival genre since the first Resident Evil, but the very first entry in that series was the last time I played a horror game where I felt that the enemies outnumbered the bullets. Of course, I never finished the first Resident Evil until the Director’s Cut came out and I was able to use the easy mode with double the ammo, so there does need to be a balance.
Ample ammunition is not the only culprit, because access to too many health packs or regenerating health takes away a fair share of the danger as well. A game with almost no ammo and damage that never heals would not be very much fun, but developers have a few options available to help balance things out and make the player dread enemy encounters.
Limiting ammunition to the point where players stop enjoying the game is out, but limiting the types of ammunition is in. With a wide variety of weapons that each only have a little bit of ammunition at any given time, I think developers can strike a good balance. With the Halo method, you can only carry two weapons, and you have to switch from your weapon of choice when it runs out of ammo. This takes the player out of his comfort zone but eliminates the frustration of being completely powerless and unable to progress.
As far as health goes, regenerating health and plentiful health packs are nice in a first-person shooter but anathema to the horror genre. Dead Space lacked regenerating health, but I only felt health was a problem when I was still learning the game and during boss battles. Resident Evil’s inventory management was an artificial constraint that limited healing opportunities, but was ultimately unfulfilling.
I think Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth has the best healing system for a horror game. The injuries your character sustains actually affect movement, vision, and hearing in a way that makes the player want to avoid getting injured at all. You have healing supplies that are necessary for different injuries. It’s so well done that I could spend a whole article talking solely about it — it’s worth buying or renting a copy just to experience the system.
No Scripting Allowed
I think I can explain this thought via haiku:
Resident Evil dogs
jumping through the window
only scary once.
I’d really like to leave it at that, but the problem isn’t just scripted events like the zombie dogs. Being able to die and memorize where the enemy’s going to come from kills any sense of real fear during an encounter. Sadly, this is still a problem for many games — more developers should take a lesson from Left 4 Dead’s A.I. director.
Uncanny Valley + Gore = Meh
Look, I fought through a horde of demons and chain-sawed John Romero’s severed head when I was 12, so I’m pretty desensitized to gore in games. Real life — or even film — is a totally different story, and I’ll lose my lunch if the gore is or looks real.
The problem with games is that the graphics can aim for realism but can’t hit the mark. On top of that, guts and mutilated bodies are strewn about like crates or explosive barrels. Most games are unsuccessful in using gore to create atmosphere.
Blood works with current graphics, but just like anything else that’s meant to intimidate or frighten, it needs to be used with restraint.
A nonlinear path is scary
Condemned has several scary moments, but most of them are of the dog-through-the-window variety. However, the game did have an entire level that’s scary. And I’m not just referring to a collection of scary encounters or events — the farmhouse level at the end of the game is frightening.
The player has the opportunity to explore the level nonlinearly. Knowing that I wasn’t going down a predetermined path gave me the feeling that anything could happen, and that scares me in horror games.
The Suffering had an open world feel to it, and between that and the atmosphere, I was scared in that game, too. Utilizing open areas instead of corridors can create the illusion of nonlinear levels, and both Condemned and The Suffering had scary outdoor segments.
Like I said at the top of this post, I am not a biggest horror connoisseur, but I’ve played enough horror games to notice a few things. This list is by no means comprehensive, and I have developed zero games, but these are the main things that can make me go to bed with the lights on or shampoo my hair with one eye looking towards the door.