The Future Of Survival Horror

I look at 2015 and in terms of survival horror I'm not impressed. Dying Light=Mirrors Edge with zombies. Resident Evil: Revelations 2, well it's resident evil. Atari are going to try and revive Alone In The Dark. SOMA is the only game in this genre that intrests me as far as 2015 goes. What annoys me is that since Outlast everyone has jumped on the FPS horror train, which is something Red Barrels nailed and it won't be repeated (with the exception of Alien Isolation). Rewind about 20 or so years and Resident Evil drops, then Silent Hill, Alone In The Dark The New Nightmare and so on.

All the games had something in common, Atmosphere. Nealry every horror game that has come out recently has lacked atmosphere. I may sound like i'm bumming off Outlast but that is the only game in a long time to make me sweat bullets. Things that make a good horror game is the player needs to feel helpless, take Silent Hill for example, Harry and James couldn't shoot anything nearly (unless it was right infront of them which most of the time that was when you'd kill anything).

But it was that feeling of helplessness that gave us the atmosphere that made us soil ourselves. I feel in recent survival horror games we're giving far too much help from the get go, The Evil Within is a prime example of that. I feel this genre is on its death bed. And the prospect of Silent Hills being as scary as it is seems like this genres last stand. Apart from that I can't see anything else saving it.

So until then I'll just have to keep getting out the Ps1 and Ps2 because IMO that is still where survival horror is at. Please remember this is my opinion and i'm entitled to it just like everyone else is, so no hate please. Thanks for reading.

AS I say for all horror game topic I not a fan of horror games that focus on scaring the player because it just hurts the game. Also I find first person to be not as scary. Taping the forth wall just does not help me.

I think horror needs to focus less on jump scares and start targeting deeper, more psychological fears. Building tension from an unwinnable situation would also help, because horror should not be about powering through the fear, but to acknowledge and overcome it. Just keep the power fantasy away from horror games and they'll get better.

@mastermetal777:

That would be a difficult game to design and market for since Psychological fears are numerous and vary subjective..... some people might be afraid of the dark while others are afraid of commitment..... or clowns.

@Lulu_Lulu: all the more reason to attempt such a feat. Make people fear the unknown more than the so-called monsters.

@mastermetal777:

I would rather better gameplay.

I've been playing Revelations 2 recentlty and its....... well its going back to itams roots.....and thats a bad thing.

You know games like Demon's Souls, Dark Souls, and Bloodbourne could be considered to be in the genre of survival horror. Perhaps this is an evolutionary step for the genre.

Yea less jump scares and more slow nothingness.

Yea bring back the worthless character that they become jokes. They make some of the funniest games out there. Captain worthless man need more adventure.

@kojimano1fan:

I understand your frustration. The majority of games within the survival horror genre have a tendency to implement a great deal of generic action in an attempt to appease another demographic, which in turn takes away from the atmosphere you so desperately crave. This is nothing new to you of course.

The sole reason why action is so prevalent in your survival horror games is due to one rather obvious thing... money. Simply put, the action genre is more popular then the survival horror genre, hints the reason why a large amount action continues to weasel its way into your survival horror games. Keep in mind that you are nothing but a statistic to these corporations. They do what's in the best interest of themselves not the consumer. Trust me, I know.

Not long ago I pitched my idea for a realistic remake of the popular Capcom franchise Resident Evil. Not just for a videogame but for a film as well. The reason why I decided to pitch my take on Resident Evil was because I, much like yourself, was sick of the same cheesy, cringe worthy, nonsensical, inconsistent crap that Resident Evil was known for. To be blunt, I was not a fan of the Resident Evil franchise, but I wanted to be. I wanted to have a great survival horror franchise that was worthy of everyone's time and consideration. Not because of greed, glory or power but because I, as a gamer, wanted to play a great survival horror game that wasn't a generic, linear and heavily scripted peace of garbage that we all have unfortunately become accustomed to.

So, after a few months of tedious litigation I finally had enough of Capcom's incompetence and decided not to push any further. Keep in mind that I didn't come to this decision lightly. It was a difficult and time consuming battle. Simply put, I didn't have the resources or the political power to muscle my way through the corporate hierarchy, although I could have.

The reason why I'm mentioning this is because a large number of people have become content with crap. Simply put, our society has low standards, and as a result of that its considered an acceptable practice, in the eyes of many, to pay more for less. But the truth is that the survival horror genre, regardless of our opinions, can become exceptionally popular and profitable, maybe not to the degree of the action genre but its still worth investing in as long as you have the right people in a position of power. Maybe one day we'll get what we so desire.

@Archangel3371:

How so ?

They had zero atmosphere and even if they did it would be over shadowed by the tedium and or frustration caused by the games other elements......

Although they are like Horror games in the sense that they both have shitty save systems and wonky controls.....

@wiouds:

Actually thats a good point..... the Adventure part I mean..... if they keep using survival elements in the Horror genre then they're just pushing the genre further into obscurity...... they should use Adventure Elements instead..... solving puzzles is less likely to kill off the atmosphere than Counting Bullets.

Infact I'd argue that Survival Horror is just an actionless horror with nothing interesting to show for it.

No, they are entirely filled to the brim with atmosphere. They have plenty of aspects that survival horror games share such as dark and foreboding elements in the setting and background, bizarre and creepy enemies, fear and trepidation of death and the unknown. There is a LOT of survival horror elements in these games.

@Archangel3371:

Nobody fears death in Dark Souls.... they fear losing progress.... because its annoying.... not scary.

And the enemies are not scary.... they are lazy, uninspired, brain dead AI's that are either tedious or frustrating to encounter..... nothing that can be beaten by chain backstabbing is scary.

Funny enough...... those points apply to early president evil aswell. Hardly any atmosphere in that either.

Well those are just your opinions.

@Archangel3371:

Duh...... Atmosphere is highly subjective....... although I must say people who say President Evil 5 has no atmosphere but Dark Souls does is exactly whats wrong with Horror.

@bornstrategist

These devolopers all think they know best because they made it. But you're definetly right about the money making statistic, they simply stopped giving a (excuse my language) ****. I really hope Silent Hills gets devoloped because it's going to end up being the genres saving grace. And I know everyone is entitled to their own opinion but just putting Dark Souls and survival horror in the same sentance is absurd.

@Archangel3371: Dark souls is just an action RPG. just because it has a great atmosphere doesn't change the fact..

I think that there's more then just atmosphere that lends itself to the survival horror genre though.

@torenojohn7:

To be fair, Horror has no Defining characteristics other than the aforementioned atmosphere...

Survival Horror on the hand is something else alltogether..... well not really.... just pick any atmospheric game and then stifle the resources and viola !

I find horror games are about scaring the players.

Survival games is about the player trying to keep their character alive for as long as they can or to complete a goal.

Survival horror is about surviving a horror movie.

LOL how is that different from every other game ever made? in call of duty you do the same thing.

@wiouds:

Makes sense..... but I'm sure the Wiki entries are going to need abit more of an explanation... Or atleast I do... Been going back and forth now for a few years discussing it with many people but still I can't confifently say I understand.

Hate to mention it but, Slender and remakes are the only games that have genuinely scared me in recent years.

It's just that simple helplessness and not knowing when you will next come face to face with the enemy that made it effectively scary. Plus the ambience.

Fatal Frame, Siren and Silent Hill took the cake back in the day and still probably will if I decide to play them again.

Alright I will try to make it more clear they about gather food and other resources to stay alive. The forest, Minecraft, and Subnautica are example.

Bloodborne has zero atmosphere? Jesus the game has like 2 colors in the entire game. Black and more black. That's much less the case in Dark Souls and Demons souls.

Any atmosphere that RE5 has is killed by it not being totally linear. That equipment screen in between every level sure is spooky!

@EPICCOMMANDER:

Linearity has got nothing to do with Atmosphere........ as for the results screen... it wasn't spooky.

It is when you end a mission in one place and start in a totally different area like RE5.

@EPICCOMMANDER:

Would you rather it ends and Starts at the exact same place ?

Well, yes, but that's not what I was at issue with. The 'mission style' campaigns are inferior to something like half-life or dead Space 2, which have no loading screens, and only the chapter name is presented to the player.

@EPICCOMMANDER:

Capcom uses the results screen in all their games.... ever since the original President Evil.... or atleast I think they did. and you know how fanboys love to praise the atmosphere in those games....... and even if the mission style design is abit of an abrupt intrusion.... it only hurts the atmisphere alil but.... it doesn't flat out destroy every single ounce of it......

Oh and every chapter in President Evil 5 doesn't start you off in a completely different area..... infact there's only three areas that are completely different...... going from the oil refinery to the ruins (which has a hight tech experimental lab in it for some reason) completely different and then you go from the Ruins to an Oil Tanker.... other than those two instances there wasn't any level transitions that were hard to buy into.

No, that started with RE4. Before that, all the RE games only had a results screen after you beat the game.

-Byshop

@Byshop:

Interesting..... so this is all Mikami's fault.

I think its important not to lose sight of the actual issue that is plaguing the survival horror genre. Atmosphere is extremely important in a survival horror game, but that's not the only issue. For example, one of the biggest issues that is specifically plaguing Capcom is its corporate structure. You see, much like congress the Japanese also have older, out of touch people in a position of power.

There antiquated ideas and lack of market knowledge is one of the main reasons as to why they are struggling. Any time a corporation has to look upon you as a statistic then they have obviously lost touch with you, both as a person and as a gamer. Statistics are not always correct and do not accurately account for individual preference, taste, etc. These corporations must understand the importance of innovation and evolution before they can improve upon any product. This, among many things, is the reason why the Resident Evil franchise is failing to obtain a larger audience.

Now, aside from Resident Evil, Dead Space is also another good example of what not to do with, what was initially, a survival horror franchise. So, for those of you that have played through some, if not all, of Visceral's Dead Space games you'll notice that resources are far to easy to obtain and stockpile, especially in Dead Space 3. Aside from that there are also other issues. Overpowered weaponry, predictable enemy spawns and stupid, lets run straight at the barrel of your gun, AI. Granted, not all enemies run straight at you, but the majority do. All of those things that I have just mentioned maybe considered minor or insignificant in the grand scheme of things, but they are all instrumental in establishing the right atmosphere.

With that said, I can appreciate what Resident Evil and Dead Space do right, but at the same time there are far to many mistakes being made. But the point that I'm finally getting to is this... corporate suits and lackeys don't understand what you want, they cant relate to you and they don't have the right motivation. And as a result they attempt to emulate and implement action into their games in an attempt to compensate for their lack of knowledge, passion and their inability to relate to you. Simply put, when you position money as your primary form of motivation then your product will suffer due to your lack of passion, commitment and creativity.

That is the reality we live in. Which begs the question; what can you do to get what you want? And the answer is... support independent developers and/or content creators. For we don't have the resources, power and/or notoriety to promote whatever it is that we create or wish to create. Simply put, we are passionate about what we create and we operate independently to avoid losing the rights to our creations.

You see, anytime you contract with a game publisher or movie studio you must surrender your copy written material to them. Meaning, they now own the rights to that intellectual property, and can do whatever they wish with it. You know, like they did with the Resident Evil movies, Resident Evil 6, the Dead Space animated movies, Alien 3, Alien Resurrection, Robocop 2014 and so forth.

But the point I'm making is this, corporations don't care about our artistic integrity because they'll always find another Michael Bay, Paul WS. Anderson or M. Night Shyamalan to replace us. Why? Because they're willing to do something were not, and that is to sacrifice their moral and ethical values for financial gain. And just in case you didn't know, that's what hypocritical hacks do.

Anyway, I hope this rantastic forum post has been of some value to those of you that have made it this far. So until next time, treat others the way you wish to be treated and support those that have your best interests in mind. With that said, here are some links to a few relate videos that you may find enjoyable. : )

Do the Japanese truly understand the western culture?

Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O_leq4qG5ss

Where has survival horror gone?

Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7rHUjMl6zNk

Dead Space Vs Resident Evil: Which do you prefer?

Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RIsq6Q3wLQ4