Zombies, blood, and terrifying children – why we can’t stop playing horror games | games

HHorror is so hot right now. There’s Obsession, Evil Dead Burn and Hokum in cinema, Widow’s Bay, From and Something Very Bad Is Going to Happen on TV, and of course a variety of horror games including Resident Evil Requiem (pictured above) and Reanimal, soon to be joined by Silent Hill: Townfall, Silver Pines and Dreadmoor. We’re also seeing a strange cross-pollination, where horror studio Blumhouse makes games, while the games themselves become horror movies and the entire backroom genre infects every medium it touches.

So it was great to attend the Horror and Games conference last week at Falmouth University, in Cornwall: a gathering of students, researchers and lecturers, all engaged in the academic study of horror games. There were great talks about zombies and transhumanism, the gothic in gaming, and the role of feral little girls in survival horror (there are a lot of them!). Topics as diverse as male fragility, disability and aging emerged. Will Doyle, Creative Director at Supermassive Games, gave a fantastic keynote about the art of creating horror in games using tools like disgust, spatial alienation, and the human instinct for horoscope. I learned a lot about theorists like Julia Kristeva and Mark Fisher, and about the technical similarities between indie horror games and film noir (for example, the use of darkness and creative camera techniques to “hide” budget constraints). It was incredible fun.

One theme was the way horror tropes such as zombies, the apocalypse and the supernatural are constantly being reworked to remain current. What’s particularly relevant about horror games today is how they explore the feeling of being helpless observers – and victims – of multiplying global crises. “Agency is a big theoretical concept that permeates cultural studies – thinking about agency as our ability to take action, as the illusion of control or the way in which control is framed and negotiated,” says Bobby Wild, senior lecturer in media and communications at Birmingham City University, who spoke at the event. “What’s interesting about video games is the question of where power originates between the player and the game, or the character, or the setting, and how it all comes together. Horror video games often explicitly play with the idea of ​​control and lack of control as terrifying; they suffer from tension with the feeling or illusion of power in terms of what your powers are and what you’re not.” We certainly see this in titles like Routine and The Complex: Expedition, which constantly ask questions about the role of the player and their ability to effect change.

Job stability, or the lack of it, has also become a common subject of horror. “The idea that the company you work for isn’t doing their best for you is a theme in a number of contemporary horror games,” says Ewan Kirkland, a senior lecturer in critical studies at the University of the Creative Arts. “In Lethal Company, Five Nights at Freddy’s, and Moutwashing, there’s this idea that the workplace is dangerous and that your employer doesn’t really care about your well-being, which is interesting given the times we live in. Obviously, video games deal with some political issues that are very important.”

Is it important to do academic work on horror games? Hell, yes. It is important that video games are valued as a cultural medium, but it is also important on a practical level, as the industry matures, to convey ideas and information to new developers about how games work – not as computer programs, but as cultural, aesthetic, social and political texts. It’s also wild to talk about the connection between tentacle porn and Baldur’s Gate 3, or Anthony Fiedler’s theories about “architectural weirdness” in relation to Raccoon City.

It is a life skill. Horror is a thriving cultural genre because it is, and always has been, a radical way to deconstruct society’s problems, threats, and horrors. We need to know what lies in the basement; We need to understand what zombies want and what they represent. We have to understand that no work of apocalyptic horror fiction has ever been about some distant future – it has always been about the present.

What are you playing?

Chiesa was playing Rhythm paradise groovea weird little rhythm game where you talk to aliens, bounce apples on a bodybuilder’s biceps, or shoot frogs to the beat. It’s strange and endearingly simple, a holdover from mobile gaming’s less complex past. However, unexpectedly, the multiplayer modes are a big hit with the family, especially the mode where you all try to get a slice of the cake with perfect timing. “We got two weeks of entertainment out of a game that I thought would last a few days,” she told me.

Available on: Switch/switch 2
Estimated playing time: A few minutes at a time, 10 hours cumulatively

What are you reading?

• For more from Poppy Wilde, read this article about what she calls the “response ability” of players Post-apocalyptic gamesfocusing on My Friend Is a Raven, a short game from 2019 with four possible endings. From Euan Kirkland, this paper on Silent Hill and psychoanalysis.

• After the last round of atrocities Job cuts At Xbox, Id Software said it still has the staff it needs to continue working on games and its Id Tech engine, despite losing half its staff. John Carmack, co-founder of Id, also spoke about the situation, saying: “The phrase ‘Microsoft would probably be a good brand steward’ does not age well.” Meanwhile, Bethesda employees plan to go on strike to protest the layoffs.

• The excellent website Critical Distance, which curates online video game writing, has links to some thought-provoking articles about Sony’s recent announcement about ending physical game production for 2018. Playstation. There’s a personal story about gaming and poverty, and an essay about the value of old games.

What to click on

Question block

This one comes from Nickvia email:

“My children (11 and nine) spending an hour of screen time daily, which they typically use on their primary computer in the living room. We all played Minecraft together for a while, but they’ve moved on from that now. they Also played Breath of the Wild and Pokemon ZAbut the elderly His son in particular increasingly wants to play Roblox.

I am aware of the risks on this platform and have enabled parental controls, age restrictions, turned off chat etc. But the “rotten” games he plays They are frankly rubbish – nothing more than fruit machines, where you just tap to spin and win “ultra rare”. looting. [They have] There is no actual strategy, challenge, or other gameplay.

I know there is a rich world of fun games out there. What can I lure him away from Roblox? Either for computer (Which cannot be dealt with heavy graphs) or switch.”

This is a tricky one, since it’s the channel-hopping environment, not a specific game, that many young Roblox fans find compulsive — sort of like a playable version of TikTok. There’s always another experience five seconds away. On switch 2, look at that Donkey Kong Bananza or Pokemon Bucopiawhich contains lots of colors and variety to keep your children busy.

To bring them back to Zelda-type experiences with a little twist, try Bravely Default: Flying Fairy HD Remaster or Rune Factory: Azuma’s Guardians. On PC, there is In the world (which is rated Pegi 12, so check it out yourself first), satisfactory, Minecraft Dungeons and Terrariawhich combines elements of Minecraft and Roblox mini-games but offers more structured and expansive gameplay. For more Zelda vibes, try Mina Al-Jouf or Paths in the Sky Chapter One (Pegi 12, again), which many people have described as a great introduction to more complex Japanese role-playing adventures.

Readers, let us know if you have any game recommendations or strategies for introducing kids to new games.

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