Video game developers have many tools and tricks in their arsenal to scare the player. A talented creator or team can use these techniques in new and interesting ways that scare even the most jaded and desensitized player. After all, why play horror if it doesn't scare you, even a little?
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Scary games that use players' microphones
Using the player's microphone in gameplay is a great way to add immersion and tension in horror games. Here's which titles made it the best.
Despite the association with horror games, these techniques are not exclusive to horror games; They are also used in other genres to emphasize moments of tension or danger. Players of a wide variety of sports will recognize some of these moves. As always, when discussing the creation of horror in video games, I draw on Bernard Peron. The world of horror video games To inform the theory behind fear.
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Hiding the monster
Fear lies in ambiguity
Let's start with one of the most famous tricks that many developers use to make their monsters scary. hides them. The player's imagination is more adept at creating terrifying monsters than designers can often achieve. This does not mean that monsters are not to be feared; This means that sometimes the threat of the unknown and the unknown can be very frightening.
The Amnesia The series does this on several occasions. Not only by obscuring monsters in darkness or underwater, but also through a sanity mechanic that discourages the player from looking at monsters for long periods of time. If the player stares at the horror for too long, it will compromise their sanity, leading to further visual distortions and other more serious consequences.
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Low diegetic and non-diegetic sound
The drone of doom
Diegetic sound is sound that would be natural to the environment depicted; Non-diegetic sounds are those, such as voices, musical notes, and other sounds that a player would not expect in the environment. Both types of low, barely audible sounds can be used to create atmosphere in ways that may not be obvious to the player.
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19 horror games inspired by Silent Hill
Silent Hill has inspired many games over the years with its expertly crafted puzzles and psychological horror, and here are some of the best.
Low background droning and rumbling are staples of the Silent Hill series, especially those that take place in the city itself. This creates a sense of discomfort that increases as the game progresses. It's often so chaotic that players don't realize what's keeping them on edge. Combined with fog or deep atmosphere, it helps to create clever sound design silent hill One of the most atmospheric horror series in horror gaming.
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Pareidolia
Is that a tree or a monster?
The human brain is very sensitive to certain types of misunderstandings and often reads human patterns on surfaces and objects that are far from human. This is called pareidolia. Creators of all kinds of visual media cleverly exploit this to create fake outs and ghostly scenes, which can create moments of intense fear.
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A classic example of creators using paraeidolia to fake a monster and disguise it is in the depiction of Slender Man, in which he is sometimes partially obscured by the dense trees and dense forests that surround him. Thin: Eight pages This is especially true at high stakes, as the player should not look directly at the thin man. But it's hard to tell the difference between the tree and this internet boogeyman, keeping the player in a constant state of paranoia.
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Antici…p…tion
A moment of calm before a jump scare
The moment before the jump scare is just as important, if not more important, than the sudden appearance of the image and/or sound. Jump scares only work if the right environment is achieved. What that looks like varies. Developers can create a false sense of security or a lingering sense of dread that can set the scene for a sudden scare.
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If you've ever watched someone play Five Nights at Freddy'sYou see the expression of fear on the player's face as everything goes silent, and they know something bad is coming. Early entries of Five Nights at Freddy's The franchise takes a particularly effective but formulaic approach to jump scares, including deathly silence or unsettling musical cues before animatronic attacks.
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Taking resources
They don't call it existential dread for nothing.
Part of scaring the player is taking the power of the classic video game Power Fantasy and throwing the overpowered guns and plot armor out the window. Or at least remove some of the player's offensive abilities. Scavenging for supplies and managing inventories is a big part of what makes survival scary and compelling.
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The Resident Evil The series has it down to a fine art. While late-game scenes feature enough power and weapons to defeat the “big bad,” there are more villain-ready shooter game heroes than the so-called elite squads. Resident EvilTo say nothing of a reluctant hero like Ethan Winters of the metamycete arc.
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Making the player feel lost
But not really
There's a reason that labyrinths or labyrinths are such a staple of horror and gothic fiction. It creates a feeling of helplessness and confusion, which, when used carefully, can create an intense sense of doom and crisis in the audience, or in this case, the player. In its best example Outlast Games, in which distraction is the scary part. If you knew how to get out, you wouldn't be in this mess.
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How to Escape the Huggy Waggy Room in Poppy Playtime: Chapter 5 (Battery Locations and Locker Code)
Poppy Playtime: Chapter 5 traps players in a room with Huggy, and they must find three batteries and an alternate locker code to escape.
There's a fine line between the control of a well-executed maze and a skillfully engineered distraction, but if it's too challenging, a player will stop panicking and start getting frustrated. A really obvious example of this is the infamous chase sequence Time to play Poppy. Being chased by Huggy Wuggy in the first game, in particular, has been cited as one of the most frustrating chase sequences in horror video gaming. In large part, because the player often has to retry so many times that this giant blue monster stops being scary.
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The monster is coming from inside your computer
It's especially uncomfortable when any genre of game feels like it's invading a player's console or PC. Take control from Flowey Undertale Changing data in Monica Doki Doki Literature Club Or threaten your data on Ocelot Metal Gear SolidDevelopers spoil the player's sense of control.
By shattering the illusion of player control and agency, developers are able to bring the threat of the video game narrative space one step closer to the player's reality. In another example of this PTIn which a fake error screen suddenly interrupts to tell the player that a message (presumably the creepy undead Lisa) is coming to get them. It's an effective and mischievous way for developers to turn video games into themselves.
Scary analog horror series
These analog horror series are some of the scariest shows the genre has to offer.
