so, it seems in the past few years Horror Games have gone through a bit of a Renaissance.. be it Five Nights at Freddy's, Slender, Amnesia, Outlast, P.T. etc..

they seem to sell quite more than such games would have a decade ago, and more of them (many Indie titles) are showing up...


am I the only one who does not find any of these "Horror Games" appealing at all? I see people always talking all over the net about how scary they are, but they have never frightened me at all (although I have gotten a few "well, thats just gross" moments)...

I don't see them as scary at all, I just find them to be games with a slightly dark atmosphere and slightly sub-par gameplay mechanics..



Can someone explain to me why Horror games are such a "big thing" these days? because I really don't seem to understand the appeal..

Cheap jump scares. It's what the genre basically thrives on these days, and how people (over) react to them. Racks in a crap ton of Youtube views. In which, these "horror" games go hand in hand with the other Youtube bait games and gain tons of popularity and then they sell like hot cakes.

I think it's because of all the advertisemant they get from popular YouTube personalities overreacting to them.

The inner survival horror game nerd just shrieked because you put Five Nights at Freddy's and Slender in with the Playable Teaser of Silent Hills (which is an oooold survival horror game franchise that Westerners ruined but Silent Hills looks like it's going back to the 3spooky5me psychological J horror roots) and Amnesia, which are totally different style games. In fact, they're all pretty different. Also, Slender and Amnesia are pretty old. The latter are survival horror games of the old. FNaF is more like a horror-themed Castle Defense sort of game, while Slender is a "find X things" games with horror atmosphere (Slender: the Arrival is better if you want a story with Slendy, but tbh the Slendy games aren't as good as Marble Hornets. They just don't reach the same level of WTF).

Horror type games aren't new at all; they're just currently undergoing a surge in popularity thanks to FNaF, Alien: Isolation, Amnesia, Silent Hills P.T., and the Evil Within. You just might be the type of person that doesn't get scared easily.

As someone who has played FNaF and Slender, it's not just jump scares, there is atmosphere and a level of stress. It's babby levels compared to Alien: Isolation though (mostly because, y'know... more people working on it and more content, never mind established franchise).

Does horror appeal to you in the form of books or film? Is it just games that put you off?

there have been some Horror movies that really "gave me the shivers", but Horror games never seem to cause that feeling, just make me shake my head..

There is a misconception about what Horror means, especially in video games.
People assume it means that they will be literally terrified or have their mind totally blown by insanity.... Nope.

Horror is just meant to mean more dark, mysterious, weird, and dealing with common horror-tropes like zombies.

RE4 is a horror game because of the mood and monsters, despite it being Action/Adventure and never even attempting to scare you. Same can be said with Alien Isolation.

It's not the "scariness" that makes a game Horror, it's the art design, themes and settings.

It sounds like for some reason you're chosing not to immerse yourself in the horror games, hence they're not giving you the shivers. Or the games you've played aren't pushing your particular psychological buttons. What horror films did scare you? And did you enjoy being scared?