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Survival Horror Games[edit]
Survival Horror is a genre of video game which focuses on the survival of the player character in a horror setting or theme taking inspiration from other horror mediums such as horror fiction and horror films. This genre of game is designed to invoke feelings of fear and suspense in the player throughout the course of the game through its gameplay. Some common gameplay design found in survival horror games are a downplayed action oriented style of combat, through limitations of combat necessary equipment such as ammunition for a firearm and limited character health regeneration tools, an element of puzzle gameplay and powerful enemies that can defeat the player character early in the game due to the strength of the players arsenal, but the player character grows in strength throughout the game with the introduction of more powerful equipment available to the player.
Origins[edit]
File:RE1 screen.jpg Resident Evil (1996) was one of the first games classed as a survival horror game.
The origins of the term survival horror game comes from the original 1996 release of Resident Evil which is considered to be one of the first video games to be define in the genre of "Survival horror"[1]. Series creator Shinji Makimi merits Capcom's earlier horror game Sweet Home as a source of inspiration for Resident Evil and was told that the chief of consumer products wanted to "successfully create a brand new genre of horror gaming that had never existed before"[2]. Mikami also took inspiration from horror movies, especially in the setting and narrative of the game, in particular he merits Stanley Kubric's The Shining as the inspiration to the infamous mansion setting of the first Resident Evil, he also took negative inspiration from the 1979 film Zombie as he was "dissatisfied with some of the plot twists and action sequences." and believed if he was making the movie, he'd do things differently[3]. With the major success of Resident evil with 2.75 million sales worldwide[4], survival horror games became increasingly popular, with other major titles in the genre such as Silent Hill and Alone in the dark, these games have become regarded as classics, with Resident Evil being named one of the 100 greatest games of all time by Time[5], Survival Horror games have cemented their legacy in video game history
Games Design[edit]
Survival Horror games contain many common games design choices and mechanics that set them apart from other games in the action/horror genre.
Combat[edit]
The largest distinguishing games design choice from survival horror games that is not found in other genres is the style of combat in these games. Survival horror games are historically played in a 3rd person view with early games such as Resident Evil being played with a fixed camera angle style. This camera view, paired with dark and claustrophobic level design instills a feeling of limited movement and control in the player, heightening their feelings of anxiousness from the level design and the unknown fear of what could potentially be found around the corner. The enemies found in survival horror games are also powerful and consume a relatively large amount of resources to be killed, this shows to the player that the enemies of the game are a constant threat to the player. Due to this the game naturally encourages players to avoid combat as much as possible.
Limited resources[edit]
Another feature of survival horror games is the unique inventory management system and resource management. This system commonly works by the character having a limited amount of inventory space in the form of blocks, with each item or resource in the game, such as ammunition for weapons, weapons them self or health items, taking up a certain number of blocks and in a certain configuration (such as a shotgun in Resident Evil 4 taking up 8 x 2 horizontal blocks of a 11 x 7 rectangle inventory)[6]. By having this unique factor, survival horror games add puzzle elements in even the most innate video game systems, adding to the stressful gameplay. It also enforces the idea that the enemies of the games are a constant threat, by limiting the amount of resources that can combat the enemies, it demonstrates through the system that it enforces the de-emphasis of combat in the games.
Enemies[edit]
The enemies found in survival horror games usually revolve around a common theme of the basic fears found in humans. According to Psychologists, all humans share a base set of fears, these being:[7]:
- Extinction - the fear of annihilation or to cease to exist, or a rudimentary fear of death
- Mutilation - the fear of losing a part of oneself, either physically in the form of physical mutilation, such as losing of a limb, or mentally in the idea of psychological issues
- Loss of Autonomy - the fear of being immobilized, restricted, overwhelmed entrapped etc. by things beyond our control
- Seperation - the fear of abandonment, rejection and loss of connectedness
- Ego-death - fear of humilation, shame or other form of self-disapproval
Knowing these fears that all humans possess, even at a minor level, allows for the design of enemies to be based around these fears in order to cause innate fear of the games' enemies, as they represent one or more of these fears and will affect every player. certain games sometimes focus on specific fears in this list, for example Resident Evil with its undead or mutant appearing enemies would meet both the extinction and mutilation fear types, where as another game such as Silent Hill has more of a psychological form of enemy would achieve mutilation, loss of autonomy and separation forms of fear in the player through the enemies and character.
Legecy[edit]
The survival horror game genre has a longstanding legacy that continues today. These early survival horror games were some of the first games that transitioned from 2D to 3D and helped influence modern game culture and design with many of the original survival horror games found in many "top games of all time" lists such as in IGN's top 100 games of all time[8]. This success has branched out into pop-culture as well, with many of these franchises that have begun as survival horror video games, growing to encompass multi-media content such as the Resident Evil film series and Comics that have ensured the legacy of survival horror games within worldwide gaming culture.
References[edit]
- ^ Chrisholm, Kristian. "Resident Evil: Enter the world of Survival Horror" (PDF). esource. Retrieved 10 December 2017.
- ^ Butterworth, Scott. "Resident Evil Creator Shinji Mikami Reflects on the Series' Roots". Gamespot. Gamespot. Retrieved 10 December 2017.
- ^ Creating Evil Incarnate: The Making of Resident Evil (91 ed.). Gamepro. IDG. April 1996. pp. 32–33.
{{cite book}}:|access-date=requires|url=(help) - ^ "Resident Evil". Video Game Sales Wiki. Retrieved 10 December 2017.
- ^ Time (November 15th, 2012). All-TIME 100 Video Games. New York, US: Time Inc. Retrieved 10 December 2017.
{{cite book}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ "Re4-inventory 1237334370.jpg". Resident Evil Wiki. Retrieved 10 December 2017.
- ^ Albrecht, Ph.D,, Karl. "The (Only) 5 Fears We All Share". Psychology today. Psychology Today. Retrieved 11 December 2017.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: extra punctuation (link) CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ "Top 100 Games of all time". IGN. IGN. Retrieved 11 December 2017.
