More than most genres, survival horror seems rooted in time. It began with the methodical resident Evil on the original PlayStation and is defined in part by limitations: a slow pace, dirty visuals, and few resources to help amplify the scares. Many of those elements emerged from the awkward early days of 3D gaming, whether resident EvilClumsy controls, which made zombie chases scarier, or silent hillThe fog, which provided an iconic atmosphere and at the same time allowed the developers tech-limitations”>overcome the technical limitations of the time.
And a few decades later, developers are still finding ways to bring the most important elements of those games (i.e. mood and scares) to modern horror without seeming dated.
The most obvious way to do this is to maintain the style and tone of classic survival horror while also updating the gameplay to make it more accessible. The most recent example of this is Fear the spotlightthe first release from horror movie studio Blumhouse's new gaming imprint. very similar crow country and indicatedIt is a game that seems straight out of 1998; The images are blocky, the textures are low resolution. It gives the experience a dirty feel, which is the perfect note for horror.
Fear the spotlight – developed by the two-person team at Cozy Game Pals – starts out simple enough, with two friends breaking into their high school to perform a seance in the library. But of course, things go wrong and they find themselves drawn into a nightmarish realm that connects both to their own past and to a dark mystery the school has been hiding for decades. It's part coming-of-age story, part romance, and part true crime. But it's all rendered in the crunchy style of PlayStation-era horror, which gives it an uneasy edge.
The game also allows you to really focus on the story by optimizing the gameplay. there is a lot puzzle solving; very similar to the beginning resident Evil In the games, you'll solve all kinds of complex mechanical problems and deal with arcane statues and locks. But there is almost no real combat. Instead, you have no choice but to run and hide when the terrifying monsters appear. Some of the game's scariest moments have you cowering under a desk, waiting for the creatures, which have deadly spotlights instead of faces, to pass by.
In some ways, removing combat makes the game even scarier, since you have no way to defend yourself. These moments in Fear the spotlight It reminded me a little of stowing away in a locker in Foreigner: Isolationhoping the xenomorph couldn't see me. Confusing and dirty images only amplify this feeling, as it is often difficult to have a clear view of what is in front of you.
On the other side of the spectrum is the recent remake of silent hill 2. Rather than creating a new survival horror experience with modern sensibilities, it's an attempt to take one of the genre's most influential titles (a particularly idiosyncratic one) and reimagine it as a big-budget release in 2024. That has pros and cons. cons. Like the remakes of the classic. Resident Devil games and the original dead space, silent hill 2 It looks and plays like a modern version. Images are sharp and detailed, rather than fuzzy and disorienting. And it controls like a well-tuned third-person action game. It's immensely satisfying to swing a bat, whether you're breaking windows or fending off a living dummy.
There is a change of tone. the modern silent hill 2 It's still scary. The level of realism makes the writhing enemies and narrow hotel hallways feel incredibly unsettling, and there's a level of immersion that can cause panic. But now it plays and feels like many other games and is, for lack of a better word, much cleaner than the original. It is no longer so strange and different. Reminds me a bit of the 2018 remake of shadow of the colossus: A version that doesn't replace the original but offers a different way of looking at it, one that's welcoming to newcomers. (If only Konami made the original silent hill 2 more accessible.)
The point is that these games show that there is still a lot of room to do interesting things with survival horror. And they do it in a way that both connect with the history of the genre without being stifled by it. More importantly, they find new ways to scare.
Fear the spotlight and silent hill 2 Both are available now.
