Survival Horror has had a more turbulent history than perhaps any genre of video game in existence, since it’s appeal is largely antithetical to the usual video game fantasy of unchecked power. In these games, you’re often under-equipped, weak and facing forces that can make mincemeat of you. So why play them? My theory is that the act of beating the odds is often more satisfying here, than simply blowing through false threats in other games.
The game that put the genre on the map was the original Resident Evil, a game about navigating a map filled to the brim with undead threats and weird puzzles, with limited ammo, healing, game saves and inventory space; as well as a singularly unhelpful control scheme. Even despite the cheesy acting, the mechanics served to aid the tension of the situation. Later, when the remake was rereleased on the new consoles and PC, it quickly became a best seller, selling over 1 million copies.
This formula carried the series all the way through three main entries, and several spinoffs, including a remake of the original title and Dino Crisis, essentially Resident Evil by way of Jurassic Park.
Meanwhile, Konami has its Silent Hill series. Silent Hill had a similar formula, but tended towards surreal horror rather than the B-Movie schlock of Resident Evil. The series evidently peaked with Silent Hill 2, a favorite of many critics, including Jim Sterling of The Jimquisition and Yahtzee Crosshaw of Zero Punctuation fame.
Back in Resident Evil town, the fourth game went through four failed iterations before landing at the one we know today, one of which became the first game in the Devil May Cry series. Notably, the team felt tired of playing around with the same formula, and wanted to do something new.
Resident Evil 4’s final version had a behind-the-shoulder camera, a focus on accurate shooting, and generally felt like a giant, goofy parody, notably featuring the hero trading barbs with a squeaky midget Napoleon, while proving himself to be a bad enough dude to rescue the president’s daughter.
The game, a proven hit with numerous rereleases, including the PS4 and Xbox One, provided a template for every game in the series to come, and influenced a great many action-horror games, including EA’s Dead Space series.
Unfortunately, Resident Evil becoming an action game led to a dearth of big budget horror games, and Silent Hill struggled under the increasingly incompetent Konami, with the series punted back and forth between random Western studios, and an HD remaster of the second game being made out of incomplete code of the originals.
That is, until the ridiculous runaway success of independent titles like Outlast, Five Nights at Freddy’s, and Amnesia: The Dark Descent, vis-a-vis the rise of the Let’s Play genre in the New 10’s. Notable amongst all three games is the omission of self-defense and weaponry, forcing players to run and hide to stay alive.
Noticing this, several big studios went big into horror games, starting with Sega and Creative Assembly’s Alien: Isolation, an official sequel to Ridley Scott’s original Alien film. Here, the player is given weapons and tools, but can do little but distract or delay the Alien with them, as the thing is invulnerable, can kill the player instantly, and is faster than the player when alerted. All of this is augmented by incredibly high production values going towards the most elaborate low-tech sci-fi setting I’ve ever seen, and some very effective sound engineering.
Next, we have the sordid tale of P.T., which is short for playable teaser. Strap in, children.
In 2014, Konami released P.T. for free on the PS4 store, a fairly effective horror title that was hiding a big secret: the reveal of Silent Hills, a new horror game by Metal Gear creator Hideo Kojima and horror filmmaker Guillmero Del Toro, starring Norman Reedus. Then, as part of a general burning of bridges between Kojima and Konami that culminated in the former leaving to create a game about a naked Norman Reedus on a beach with a baby, Silent Hills was canceled, but not before Konami’s CEO demanded the game be made into a mobile title.
Now, scheduled for early 2017, we have Resident Evil VII, a game not taking cues from RE4, but other first person horror games like Alien and Outlast, as well as the series own roots. Like P.T., it has its own playable teaser, and also set to take on the world of virtual reality horror, as the game can be played front to back with or without Sony’s PS4 V.R. headset.
Logan Graham is a junior studying media arts with a focus in games and animation at Ohio University. What is your favorite survival horror game? Let him know by emailing him at lg261813@ohio.edu.
