I just thought I'd make my first post about my thoughts on the Horror genre, firstly to see if anyone out there actually reads it, and secondly to see that if people do read it, whether they agree with me or not.
Someone said to me the other day that they don't play horror games because they don't see the point. "Why would I want to be scared? It doesn't make any sense." They think that if they can't see-and-shoot, or jump on a zombie's head while collecting coins or something, then it just isn't worth playing because they don't achieve anything from it. I think they're looking at it the wrong way.
When you play a horror game, you need to become engrossed in it, and the world of the game needs to draw you in. The atmosphere, the sound and the visuals need to compliment each other and the level design needs to be perfect. It doesn't matter whether the game is particularly easy or lacks that sense of incredible action that some games have, when you complete a GOOD horror game, you have achieved something greater than when you complete a regular shooter because the difficulty comes not in learning when to press what button and which weapons are most effective, but more in the fact that you need to overcome fear in order to proceed.
Fear is an emotion, the same as the twisted joy some gamers feel when they blow someone to pieces with a grenade in Call of Duty, or the adrenaline when a gamer is drawing with a rival and one point away from victory. Essentially, fear isn't completely detatched from other games, it is simply another form of obstacle for the player to battle against, and arguably for some players it is one of the most difficult obstacles to overcome!
Ultimately, when you get into a horror game it doesn't matter so much whether you're blowing up a freakish alien blob, running while screaming for your life or just creeping through dark and foreboding corridors, it's all about the experience. So many people are missing the point, and missing out.
Someone said to me the other day that they don't play horror games because they don't see the point. "Why would I want to be scared? It doesn't make any sense." They think that if they can't see-and-shoot, or jump on a zombie's head while collecting coins or something, then it just isn't worth playing because they don't achieve anything from it. I think they're looking at it the wrong way.
When you play a horror game, you need to become engrossed in it, and the world of the game needs to draw you in. The atmosphere, the sound and the visuals need to compliment each other and the level design needs to be perfect. It doesn't matter whether the game is particularly easy or lacks that sense of incredible action that some games have, when you complete a GOOD horror game, you have achieved something greater than when you complete a regular shooter because the difficulty comes not in learning when to press what button and which weapons are most effective, but more in the fact that you need to overcome fear in order to proceed.
Fear is an emotion, the same as the twisted joy some gamers feel when they blow someone to pieces with a grenade in Call of Duty, or the adrenaline when a gamer is drawing with a rival and one point away from victory. Essentially, fear isn't completely detatched from other games, it is simply another form of obstacle for the player to battle against, and arguably for some players it is one of the most difficult obstacles to overcome!
Ultimately, when you get into a horror game it doesn't matter so much whether you're blowing up a freakish alien blob, running while screaming for your life or just creeping through dark and foreboding corridors, it's all about the experience. So many people are missing the point, and missing out.
