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Is Survival Horror Coming To An End?

July 24, 2010 in Blog comments 11

It's been a topic that has been discussed to death in the past, but is it finally time to put the final nail in the survival horror coffin? After this year's E3, fangoria.com thinks it might be...

After watching this rather dismal E3, I’ve come to terms with something I’ve been denying for several years: survival horror—my favorite genre in all of gaming—is on its deathbed, and despite all of my false hope, I realize the time has come to write the eulogy.

It hit me when Sony showed the trailer to DEAD SPACE 2. Now, unlike most people, I wasn’t a huge fan of the original (I know, sue me) precisely because I didn’t find it scary. Creating a loud, bombastic soundtrack and covering the walls in entrails does not make something frightening, and neither is the old trick of “enemies who play dead until you get close to them.” To truly unnerve someone you have to understand pacing and mood, and that in horror, quiet moments are an absolute necessity (if not the most important part of the experience). You can’t—as DEAD SPACE did—throw me into wave after wave of baddies with a buzz saw that dismembers them in two seconds and expect to get under my skin.

All that being said, the game showed promise, and I wondered how the developers would approach the scares in the sequel—and after watching the demo, it looks like they decided the best approach was to totally eliminate them. The video showed main character Isaac Clarke in a space station running into a room only to—HOLYSHITWTF!!!—start getting shot at by some futuristic helicopter. He escapes only to—HOLYSHITWTF!!!—get attacked by a huge monster that tries to swallow him whole. Then he takes off running down a hallway only to—HOLYSHITWTF!!!—get attacked by the ‘copter and the creature at the same time, exploding out of the airlock into space, now having to fight the creature ON the helicopter. Exhilarating? Yes. Fun? Probably. Scary? Not in the least. It is an action game in the guise of horror, and this is what’s supposed to be “leading the charge” in the genre.
Miss Razz via fangoria.com »
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  • 0
    Zerpent Jul 24, 10
    So, the real problem isn't that there are any "scary" games, it's just that the one who wrote this isn't as easily scared anymore? At least that's what it looks like to me.
  • 0
    Dragoon Jul 24, 10
    I was never really a fan of this genre and s such have only played very few games related to it. Although it does seem a shame that this is somewhat dwindling, as with any genre of gaming.
  • 0
    Daweii Jul 24, 10
    Gamers are just growing up I mean the same has happened to the horror genre in the Movie industry, viewers are just becoming harder to scare. Films these days are infinitely more scary than films of 30 years ago but we wouldn't know as we've grown up with the new breed of horror.
  • 0
    Ded Valve Jul 24, 10
    I believe that it has "shifted" greatly into the action genre.

    It's a tough thing to say whether we simply grew up and don't find things as scary anymore or the fact that truly scary games aren't being made like they use to.

    The last one to even come close to being a true survival horror was Dead Space and that's a pretty pathetic excuse tbh :/
    • 0
      Aussie Legend Jul 25, 10
      I think you're right, the survival horror games almost feel embarassed to be a scary game, and try to hide it under some big manly shooting or what not.

      I'd love to see an HD survival horror game with no combat at all, and see how much they can *bleep* with your head.
  • 0
    Seeker X Jul 24, 10
    I think it's more because a lot of developers aren't really thinking outside the box. There's a good reason why Japanese/Korean horror movies tend to freak a lot of us out. Mostly because they're not the typical monster flicks that we see all the time.

    Though it is more difficult to apply to VG's, as you need to take the gameplay into perspective. But in any case, it's been YEARS and the last thing I would call at least a little more than immersive in a "horror" game was Alan Wake, and that was more suspence than actual horror.
    • 0
      Miss Razz Jul 24, 10
      I def agree with developers not thinking out of the box... or at least, not being as imaginitive as they were 10+ years ago. Think back to the survival horror games that came out during the PSone/PS2 era. Resident Evil, Dino Crisis, Fatal Frame, Clocktower, Silent Hill, Haunting Ground, etc. They were all pretty original ideas at the time and something we haven't seen this generation. If devs can't come up with new ideas, why not just bring back some old series? (I'm not talking about the action-styled RE games, or the "new and improved" Alone in the Dark.)
      I'd love to play a new Dino Crisis game in HD graphics. Or even a new Resident Evil Outbreak game online. The ideas are there. But nobody's using them
  • 0
    Raziel_326 Jul 24, 10
    If people want to see horror thats true thinking outside the box, then I'd highly advise downloading some Graphic novels/mangas written by Junji Ito. I have never seen (or read) anything quite like is work, and the only stuff in a long time that brought major chills down my spine.
  • 0
    Ech0ez Jul 25, 10
    Agree with the article completely. The majority of "horror" games these days are just Action games with lighting problems that thing yelling 'boo' fifty times in the space of ten seconds makes them scary. Although I certainly don't think that true horror games will cease to exist. As long as games like Call of Cthulu, the Penumbra series, Project Zero/Fatal Frame and so forth continue to be developed, the genre still has hope. Once the market shifts away from the heavy emphasis on Action games I imagine we'll see a return to proper Survival Horror.
  • 0
    Aussie Legend Jul 25, 10
    I'm not quite sure its dead just yet. I mean, if they were to have a old Silent Hill/Fatal Frame type game in 3D... that could be possibly the best use for it.
    • 0
      Ech0ez Jul 25, 10
      Yeah but until developers do just that there's no real hope for it. Poor Tecmo got screwed over when Nintendo wouldn't even bring PZ/FF4 to the West, and Konami and Capcom are too busy running their Horror franchises into the dirt to try and revive it. The few developers that try just get screwed over by poor sales, look at games like Call of Cthulu and Cursed Mountain for example. The only horror game in recent years that was genuinely scary and sold well I can name is Metro 2033, which hopefully may spark a new trend in the genre if it can gain some more popularity.

      That said unless Metro somehow manages to cause mass evolution in the genre towards the Action audience in a way that actually works, it's unlikely that the situation will get any better until the market changes.

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