Dom Cook takes a long hard look at the survival horror genre, and reflects upon its changes over the years. 'Cookie cutter' and 'mainstream shoot em up' are phrases being linked to the franchise more often than not. One thing is clear though, they're just not scary anymore; that definitely takes out the fun factor.

Why Are Survival Horror Games Devolving?

Short answer: action is mainstream. Survival horror is, unfortunately, a niche genre. While it has dedicated fans, action is naturally going to be the best seller. Take the Resident Evil series as the best example in devolution: the first three games were what defined the survival horror genre, yet Resi 4 was almost entirely action; ditching zombies for angry, infected Spaniards and putting more focus on run-and-gun.

Resi 5 is the final step in the devolution of the Resident Evil series. Not only are zombies absent, but the game is also played at day-time, in the sun. I'm of the opinion that for a horror game to be scary it must either be entirely indoors, night time, or so foggy that you can't see any sunlight. As humans, we are all instinctively afraid of the dark as children. Naturally, sunlight is happy and good. See where I'm going with this?

bobbonew via questional.com »