Horror movies create a lasting fear in the hearts of its viewers that not only scares them during the movie, but long after. It is the opinion of Amnesia developer Frictional Games that the same should be so for the realm of video games.
In a post on its blog, Frictional Games said, “In most games the player usually starts out in some strange and not very normal situation. In our own game, Amnesia, the story takes place in early 19th century and has the protagonist waking up in gothic castle. Not something very easy to relate to,” it said in a blog suggesting ten ways on how the genre can improve,”
“Other games see the player has some secret agent, has them trapped in a spooky town/village, etc. All of these are very abnormal situations, and something few of us will ever find ourselves in.”
One of the other characteristics discussed was that of human interaction: merging human emotion with the pixel. They noted that it is “not an easy task.”
“Most horror in other media does not have the phenomena/situation per se as its focus, but instead its effect on people,” said the developer.
“The Exorcist is a great example of this, and so is The Shining. However, in video-games the main actions still revolve around inanimate objects or brainless foes. By having the player’s actions being directly tied to other people, the horror gets so much more personal and intense.”
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Via VG247