GamingUnion.net:
A conversation with a couple of friends recently brought up the topic of the horror genre in the video games industry, a genre that's become a bit of a personal joke, to say the least. We discussed how it feels like nothing new has been done in the last few years, and even the most visceral of experiences can easily be boiled down to a carnival ride: a few turns, some semi-predictable 'boo!' moments, and a lot of things jumping out at you. At the very worst, we have a series like Resident Evil, which has become an absolute far cry from what it used to be - even then, that wasn't very scary - and at best, we have the remnants of the Silent Hill series that is desperately attempting to relive its psychological glory days. Somewhere in between lay titles like Dead Space. It does a good job in promoting a few scares while at the same time staying close to the 'action shooter' genre that has taken an iron grip over the industry in the past few years. So where do fans of the horror genre have to go to get a decent scare? Apparently, like most things these days, the answer is the online Indie scene.
A breakdown of the best Silent Hill Characters that inspired and frightened gamers.
Estelle Mejia says: Silent Hill, for those who don’t know, is a psychological horror survival series that has declined somewhat. Fans point to the fact that the original team who helmed Silent Hill 1-4, named Team Silent, has been split, either working on different games for Konami or leaving the company altogether. This has left the series without a consistent team to helm the series for about 20 years, give or take.
Got that retro survival horror bug? Here's Chit Hot's picks for the seven best survival horror games from yesteryear.
Eternal Darkness was way ahead of its time especially for a Nintendo exclusive.
I would love to see a remake or sequel (multiplatform)
4 people love Eternal Darkness.
Quick! Jump on that remake, whoever holds the rights these days.
It's nice to know there are still some indie developers out there that are trying to keep this genre alive.
Dead Space was fun the first time, got some scares out of it. But after that it just became another third person shooter in really tight corridors with butt ugly enemies to shoot at.
Horror Games no longer exist. They just turn into action games like shooters.
Nowadays mainstream horror game's rely, in my opinion, too much on jump scares, as opposed to really engaging the player on a psychological level and exploiting kind of real fear's that people have.
We are given too much freedom, too much control of what we can often fight back with in these games. A big part of fear is feeling vulnerable and feeling desperate.
Hopefully some developer will realize this and revive what classic horror games used to do.
Amnesia is a beacon of hope! Support those developers! I pirated the game before it came out and loved it and then as soon as I saw it for sale on Steam, I bought it. I highly recommend that game (along with the Penumbra series, made by the same developers) to anyone who is looking for a seriously scary game. But I agree with this story in the sense that most 'horror' games just turn into regular shooters eventually.