After a very full weekend of almost non-stop Silent Hill: Downpour (the newest Silent Hill game from Konami Digital Entertainment and Vatra Games) I went about my usual routine of reading every review for this new installment that I could find. What I found was myself questioning the entire sphere of horror video games, the unique challenges game companies must face in their construction, and our ability as individuals to judge anything based on fear.
Perhaps more malleable and complex than any other form of entertainment; the horror genre has hurdles all its own. Terror is undeniably the most unique and particular of any emotion; unlike action, comedy and romance which have general mass appeal, what terrifies one person may be found laughable in another.
Each person has their own unique definition of what is frightening, and while there are some overarching umbrella themes of spookiness (ghosts, zombies, hauntings, small children, sharks with vendettas, etc.) it is often when these things are definitively portrayed that perceptions become divided.
For example, put me in a room with a small child with doll-like makeup and a giant bow and I’m not frightened in the least (it’s happened, and I just looked around for its stage mother), but replace that doll-girl with your completely normal toddler who won’t make eye contact (or worse, stares in corners at nothing) and I will be backing away as calmly as my heart palpitations will let me.
It’s all in the details of the specific reality; the best horror films, books, stories, etc. are often the ones where the monster is never entirely revealed which allows each audience member to fill in the gaps with their own imagination.
Which is why horror video games are perhaps the most difficult to judge. While an RPG can be picked apart for the solidity of it’s story, and a basic shooter reveals itself as good or bad within moments of a first enemy encounter, horror video games must create an atmosphere inspiring universal fear while introducing adversaries close enough to fight but far enough to remain mysterious.
Truthfully I can only name a handful of horror games, films, and stories that I have enjoyed simply because they genuinely frightened me; but that doesn’t necessarily make them any less entertaining, excellent examples of their specific media. (Case in point- the not frightening to me but still amazing movie in theaters, Cabin in the Woods).
Similarly Silent Hill: Downpour, while not instilling the same level of fear as past installments of the Silent Hill series, was still a great game, and why I was inspired to write this article.
Silent Hill: Downpour illustrates the difficulty of the horror gaming genre perfectly; for while the game boasts a unique story, excellent atmosphere, moral complexity, challenging side quests, several compelling endings (which depend on the gamer’s in-game choices) and a new twist on both concepts of character customization and gamer influence on storytelling- to read the online reviews I hardly think anyone would be encouraged to play it.
Most reviews reproached the game for its commonplace combat and ineffective spookiness while mourning the loss of the game’s original composer (which by the way, I actually enjoyed Daniel Licht‘s score more than the usual weird tones). a consensus being that the game could be called mediocre at best, mostly due to its inability to terrify, both in and out of combat.
I wouldn’t see a problem if this sort of dissatisfaction in the horror game industry was limited to a few games, but nearly every horror game I’ve ever played (even several that were extremely popular) had dozens of reviewers carping the lack of a game’s scariness and great combat.
So it may be important to remind gamers and reviewers of the inherent irony in these complaints; for a monster to get close enough to effectively fight it the gamer has to see it very well- thereby rendering such monster no longer frightening, but if the monster hangs further back (making regular, exciting combat almost impossible) it remains mysterious and can hopefully still instill a modicum of fear.
It may also be important to suggest that game reviewers, and perhaps everyone in fact, limit their critiques of horror games to playability, atmosphere, logical sequencing and ability to entertain, which would simply be holding the game to the same standard as all other video game genres.
I’m sure some may argue that a horror game should only be played if it is terrifying, but I wonder at those people’s expectations in general. For while a horror game should absolutely hone a foreboding atmosphere and boast threatening, scary situations, it would be impossible for any medium to instill the same amount of terror in hundreds of thousands of ordinary people, let alone the unfortunately desensitized gamers that we are (face it, we’re all a little desensitized towards violence).
My suggestion to everyone would be to pull back on the personal interpretations of horror games. We all believe our imaginations to be superior and we each are definitely the masters of creating our own fears, but discouraging one person from such a personal experience as a horror game because of your own spooky inclinations isn’t only unfair- it’s misleading.
So to all the online reviewers who’ve told me time and time again to not try a horror game because it didn’t make them wet themselves in fear, maybe you should try a different genre for a while.
And for anyone out there considering any horror video game- just try it! Not to quote every bad horror movie ever but…what’s the worst that could happen?
Really good article. The horror genre is my favorite genre and I tend to enjoy even the ones that others seem to hate. I wrote the Downpour review for our website and while I didn’t find it terrifying, I did love it. I even loved Silent Hill: Homecoming, which seems to be universally hated. I think I just have a sense of appreciation of sorts for game developers who are still trying to scare us, whether or not they are completely succesful at it.