Greetings fellow denizens of the Escapist,
with Halloween fast approaching, it seems apt to discuss the topic of survival horror games, and, more specifically, The Evil Within game being developed by Tango Gameworks, with Resident Evil creator Shinji Mikami in the driving seat.
Given that the latest Resident Evil game (RE 6), whilst still (in my opinion) remaining true to the outlandish subject matter of the RE universe, was minimal in regards to making the player react to its presented horror and more towards action, it can be assumed that the spirit of Resident Evil is going to shift into The Evil Within, perhaps leaving the original series in a bit of a slump. Indeed, the trailers for The Evil Within thus far have shown a lot of material which apes the Resident Evil style, as would be expected given the direction input from Mikami. For example, in the extended gameplay video, we see:
I want to make clear that I'm not criticizing the similarities here, I am rather bringing the intended question of this thread to bear. For the sake of this argument, let us assume that The Evil Within is nothing apart from the best bits of other horror games, stitched together into a gruesome but appropriately effective monstrosity. If the sum of these parts work well and cohesively, is there anything wrong with the game taking such queues as a means of becoming scary?
I realize that in other videogame genres there are similar examples, of games which take mechanics/ideas from other titles and modify them for their own, but with the horror variant of videogames, there is the looming issue of not only engaging the player, but eliciting a reaction of fear/dread/anxiety/apprehension. If a horror game chooses to borrow ideas from previous ones as a means of making itself more orientated around provoking horror, and doesn't go about inventing more unique content for itself (bear in mind this is an assumption we are making for the sake of this argument, not a statement of how The Evil Within is going to be), does that diminish it in your eyes?
Are there indeed any examples of horror games which have done the same and done well/badly?
And just because it's that time of year again:
with Halloween fast approaching, it seems apt to discuss the topic of survival horror games, and, more specifically, The Evil Within game being developed by Tango Gameworks, with Resident Evil creator Shinji Mikami in the driving seat.
Given that the latest Resident Evil game (RE 6), whilst still (in my opinion) remaining true to the outlandish subject matter of the RE universe, was minimal in regards to making the player react to its presented horror and more towards action, it can be assumed that the spirit of Resident Evil is going to shift into The Evil Within, perhaps leaving the original series in a bit of a slump. Indeed, the trailers for The Evil Within thus far have shown a lot of material which apes the Resident Evil style, as would be expected given the direction input from Mikami. For example, in the extended gameplay video, we see:
a chainsaw wielding maniac named the Butcher, echoing RE4's Dr Salvador
a locker hiding mechanic aping the one used in the recent Outlast game
the traditional RE slow opening door action
the ability to burn fallen enemies if one has the necessary items, which has been around since RE1
a mine trap which can be set beneath windows, similar in design to the trip wire explosives in the first section of RE4, though here they can be used and placed by the player
a sequence strikingly similar to the RE4 Chapter 2 where the player must defend a house from incoming waves of enemies which come through the windows
a briefly seen creature apparently named Re-bone Laura who bears a resemblance to RE4 boss
U-3/It
a locker hiding mechanic aping the one used in the recent Outlast game
the traditional RE slow opening door action
the ability to burn fallen enemies if one has the necessary items, which has been around since RE1
a mine trap which can be set beneath windows, similar in design to the trip wire explosives in the first section of RE4, though here they can be used and placed by the player
a sequence strikingly similar to the RE4 Chapter 2 where the player must defend a house from incoming waves of enemies which come through the windows
a briefly seen creature apparently named Re-bone Laura who bears a resemblance to RE4 boss
U-3/It
I want to make clear that I'm not criticizing the similarities here, I am rather bringing the intended question of this thread to bear. For the sake of this argument, let us assume that The Evil Within is nothing apart from the best bits of other horror games, stitched together into a gruesome but appropriately effective monstrosity. If the sum of these parts work well and cohesively, is there anything wrong with the game taking such queues as a means of becoming scary?
I realize that in other videogame genres there are similar examples, of games which take mechanics/ideas from other titles and modify them for their own, but with the horror variant of videogames, there is the looming issue of not only engaging the player, but eliciting a reaction of fear/dread/anxiety/apprehension. If a horror game chooses to borrow ideas from previous ones as a means of making itself more orientated around provoking horror, and doesn't go about inventing more unique content for itself (bear in mind this is an assumption we are making for the sake of this argument, not a statement of how The Evil Within is going to be), does that diminish it in your eyes?
Are there indeed any examples of horror games which have done the same and done well/badly?
And just because it's that time of year again:
