Survival horror runs right along with isolation horror, in that you are alone. Sometimes with no backstory as to why or how you got into your current situation, you have to depend on your instincts along with whatever clues and resources are lying around to get you through some horrifying situations — most of the time with multiple enemies coming at you from all sides.
Definitely not a situation you’d want to find yourself in real life, but in video game form? The recipe is chef’s kiss. And video games like Amnesia, Outlast, and even Resident Evil have the survival horror recipe down pat.
There are three things that make these video games some of the best, most memorable, entries in the survival horror genre. And it’s because they fully encapsulate the three elements that make the survival horror subgenre so beloved overall:
1. The Fear Factor
One of the first things players notice in survival horror games is the slow and steady build up.
In Amnesia, you first wake up in a crumbling castle. Confused, disoriented, with no memory of how you got there or why there’s what looks to be flesh growing along the walls. The fear factor is the state of the unknown. You hear something prowling, but you don’t know what it is; and your only weapon to keep the mystery creature at bay is an oil lamp to light the darker parts of the castle… and, of course, you have an extremely limited supply of oil.
In Outlast, fear is handled a tad differently. In the first Outlast game, you willingly sneak into an asylum knowing the patients are all criminally insane and have been illegally tested on for years. The fear comes when you realize that the patients have taken over the asylum, killed the guards, and you’re left with no choice but to go further into the bowels of the asylum to find a way out with nothing more than the night vision on a dying video camera as your go-to light source.
Whereas in most Resident Evil games, you’re at least semi-aware of the dangers and are armed with a handgun at the beginning. Unfortunately for you, the enemies get bigger and stronger while your ammo gets scarcer as you progress through the game.
Once you’re properly scared, the secret to beating all of these scenarios is the second-best thing about survival horror games: the puzzles.
2. The Satisfaction of Putting Together the Puzzle Pieces
In every single one of the best survival horror games there are puzzles that must be solved to get through the door (literally or figuratively) and escape the current threat. It’s what keeps the games interesting – and what makes most players pull out their hair – because as you work to find the code to unlock the next door, the enemies are steadily getting closer, and supplies are running low. Having to lock-in and think while under extreme pressure, even when the puzzle itself seems outlandish or silly, increases the fear factor exponentially! The feeling of having to solve a puzzle – if not the puzzles themselves – while trapped in a life-or-death situation taps into real-life terror, and takes the horror in survival horror games to the next level.
I know I spent thirty minutes doing circles in Outlast: Whistleblower as I searched for a specific window above a specific door in a specific hallway that would lead to an exit from the current area. The problem was, while I was caught up in the moment, the exit I was seeking looked exactly like every other hallway with windowed doors while I was being chased by a cannibal with a buzzsaw! (The only difference was this particular door had a crate by it. Who would have guessed?).
And sometimes survival horror games throw you for a loop by taking away what meager supplies you have, while giving you a limited amount of time to figure out the puzzle. You’re now isolated in a scary environment with dangerous enemies and you have no supplies and your time is short!
In Resident Evil 7, your character gets drugged and then tied up in a room that’s been set up for a birthday party. Your job is to watch the video that’s been left in the room so you can figure out the clues and discover that the whole thing is one big booby trap meant to kill you. (Hint: gameplay-wise the whole scenario is meant to be played through at least twice so you’ll have all the clues memorized and can get out without setting off any traps).
Honestly, I’m sure by the end of most survival horror games people are just thrilled to have said they’ve beaten the game – that they survived – and call it quits, right? For many, yes; but then they risk missing out on the absolute best part of these games: Their lore.
3. The Storytelling Makes You Come Back for More
Once you’ve gotten over the fear factor and you’ve figured out the puzzles, the lore is what makes you want to dive back into survival horror games. Because there’s always an in-depth story behind every one of these terrifying scenarios that you just can’t find within the first playthrough.
The notes are too scattered. You didn’t see that one NPC that held a vital secret. You didn’t unlock the one chest hidden away in the attic. Whatever the reason, you get to the end of the game, and there are things left unanswered. Sure, you could scour the internet or read through Reddit to get those answers… but why not do another playthrough and have the satisfaction of discovering them for yourself?
I know from experience that, in the first Outlast game, when you aren’t running for your life from cannibals and insane surgeons who want to study your insides, you come across files that are scattered across the asylum that give you clues to the horrors of what happened to these patients inside the walls.
One such document in Outlast talks about a guard who worked in the asylum who started asking too many questions and got a little too close to the truth, and so the directors committed him. They informed the guard’s wife that there was a horrid accident, claimed he died on the job, and she was generously compensated to keep her silence. Then, as you progress through the game, you come across a patient who’s quietly sitting inside of a burning cafeteria. You can simply avoid him — he’s one of the few NPCs that won’t attack you — but, if you talk to him, he reveals that he used to work there and that all he wants is to go home to see his wife and kids again.
The game doesn’t directly say that this is the guard who was committed, but it’s heavily implied, and this is just one of many pieces of Outlast’s story that can be overlooked. Either you don’t find the file, you don’t talk to the guard, or both. It makes you want to go through the game a second or third time until you have all the pieces to the puzzle regarding what happened to the place.
It’s the meticulous attention to detail that both creators and fans have come to expect – and love – in survival horror games! You can choose to enjoy the genre on a surface level, playing through scary scenarios while also solving puzzles, and still get a lot out of the games in terms of entertainment. But those who dig far deeper into the stories, those who seek out not just the “what” but the “why” of the atrocities they’ve been thrust into, truly understand why survival horror games have endured in the hearts of players for decades.
Survival Horror Games Will Always… Survive!
With their fear-factor, puzzles, and lore, survival horror games continue to pull people in. And they always will!
There’s a reason games like Silent Hill, Resident Evil, and Outlast continue to get made over and over. Why games like Soma and Alien Isolation are still talked about even though they are ten years old.
It’s an easy three-part formula that, when done right, will prey upon the players’ fears and have them spreading fan theories all over Reddit and Wikipedia the moment they get to the end credits.
What are YOUR favorite survival horror games? Let me know in the comments. And, please, let me know what about their fear factor, puzzles, and/or lore had you absolutely hooked!
***This guest article was written by W. A. Roberts. You can learn more about them in their author bio below.***
Video game screenshots for this post were provided by W.A. Roberts. The top/featured image for this post is a free stock photo of a spooky hallway and controller vector illustrations from Pixabay.
