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The last generation of consoles, in particular the Playstation, spawned a new genre that has gone on to become one of the most popular in the modern day industry – the survival horror genre. Why? Games like ‘Alone in the Dark’ had been around for years and very atmospheric in their nature – but what did Resident Evil offer that previous games hadn’t? It is what I term ‘Atmos-fear’ – atmospheric environments, mysterious events and underlying tension combined with what many have called the most powerful human emotion – fear.
To me, a horror game is all about the way the atmosphere is portrayed. Sure, there are blood and guts on screen, but as shown in the success of films like The Blair Witch Project, the fear is not physical, but psychological. Like all good horror films, it is not the fear of what you know (even though that’s scary enough), it’s the fear of what you don’t know, and this fear of the unknown is what made Resident Evil so successful, as your primary fears are not borne out of seeing zombie dogs attempting to rip flesh out of your ankle (even though, as I said earlier that’s scary enough), but borne out of the feeling of ‘what’s round that corner?’ or the fear of not knowing what awaits you as a rickety door eerily opens up into a whole new expanse with a whole new load of possibilities. That’s what I call ‘Atmos-fear’.
It could be the way the light reflects everything so there is a massive shadow casting over you, or the ways the sounds make you feel unsafe.
Well, games are coming out, quite often in fact, that are trying to become scary and have more gore in it. I think that the founder, so to speak, of these ‘horror games’ was Resident Evil. It had everything you could want in a horror game. It had what I call ‘atmos-fear’, and I think that is what made the game so special and stand out from the rest. Ok, the blood-sucking zombies, prefect mix of tension and beautifully rendered graphics were another reason for its phenomenal success, but the atmos-fear gave it its edge.
There are many aspects of making an atmos-fear work:
The lighting adds to the way you see the different shapes and your surrounding. Dark corners and dark alleys make you feel like you don’t want to be here, and this is why, every ‘horror’ game should have lighting. Going back to my first example of Resident Evil, if you look at the re-make of Resident Evil on Gamecube, the lighting really creates an atmos-fear but having candles as the only source of light, apart from the huge strikes of lighting outside, which is reflected on the walls. Now that’s how you light up a game!
Your walking down dark corridor when you hear the floorboards creaking behind you, you turn round and….
Sound makes a lot of difference when you’re playing a ‘scary’ game. It makes the atmos-fear that bit more chilling if your constantly hearing weird little noises and then a massive zombie jumps on you from behind. Little sounds contribute to making the atmos-fear scary, but what about the sound of gunshots and screaming. If you hear someone scream, and it’s not you, you going to think something bad have happened and it could be you next…
Graphics need to be at a high standard to make sure that the zombies look believable. Plus, you would need the graphics to be good, to make the background look very eerie.
That’s what makes a scary ‘atmos-fear’ but it doesn’t have to be in the actual game that can make it scary. You, yourself can make it scary. Put on the dark lights to give it that extra scariness, while loud sounds add to what possibly could make you jump out of your seat.
Games that are meant to have a ‘scary atmos-fear need to be directed well. You could have zombies just jumping out from anywhere, but for the atmosphere to be created, you need to have it so everything happens quickly. That is why good direction is needed in creating a scary ‘atmos-fear’ otherwise it wouldn’t be scary!
So overall, games that need a scary ‘atmos-fear’ need these elements to make it as chilling as possible for the gamer. Without these, you will not be able to create an atmos-fear.
Thanks for Reading
Liquid
To me, a horror game is all about the way the atmosphere is portrayed. Sure, there are blood and guts on screen, but as shown in the success of films like The Blair Witch Project, the fear is not physical, but psychological. Like all good horror films, it is not the fear of what you know (even though that’s scary enough), it’s the fear of what you don’t know, and this fear of the unknown is what made Resident Evil so successful, as your primary fears are not borne out of seeing zombie dogs attempting to rip flesh out of your ankle (even though, as I said earlier that’s scary enough), but borne out of the feeling of ‘what’s round that corner?’ or the fear of not knowing what awaits you as a rickety door eerily opens up into a whole new expanse with a whole new load of possibilities. That’s what I call ‘Atmos-fear’.
It could be the way the light reflects everything so there is a massive shadow casting over you, or the ways the sounds make you feel unsafe.
Well, games are coming out, quite often in fact, that are trying to become scary and have more gore in it. I think that the founder, so to speak, of these ‘horror games’ was Resident Evil. It had everything you could want in a horror game. It had what I call ‘atmos-fear’, and I think that is what made the game so special and stand out from the rest. Ok, the blood-sucking zombies, prefect mix of tension and beautifully rendered graphics were another reason for its phenomenal success, but the atmos-fear gave it its edge.
There are many aspects of making an atmos-fear work:
The lighting adds to the way you see the different shapes and your surrounding. Dark corners and dark alleys make you feel like you don’t want to be here, and this is why, every ‘horror’ game should have lighting. Going back to my first example of Resident Evil, if you look at the re-make of Resident Evil on Gamecube, the lighting really creates an atmos-fear but having candles as the only source of light, apart from the huge strikes of lighting outside, which is reflected on the walls. Now that’s how you light up a game!
Your walking down dark corridor when you hear the floorboards creaking behind you, you turn round and….
Sound makes a lot of difference when you’re playing a ‘scary’ game. It makes the atmos-fear that bit more chilling if your constantly hearing weird little noises and then a massive zombie jumps on you from behind. Little sounds contribute to making the atmos-fear scary, but what about the sound of gunshots and screaming. If you hear someone scream, and it’s not you, you going to think something bad have happened and it could be you next…
Graphics need to be at a high standard to make sure that the zombies look believable. Plus, you would need the graphics to be good, to make the background look very eerie.
That’s what makes a scary ‘atmos-fear’ but it doesn’t have to be in the actual game that can make it scary. You, yourself can make it scary. Put on the dark lights to give it that extra scariness, while loud sounds add to what possibly could make you jump out of your seat.
Games that are meant to have a ‘scary atmos-fear need to be directed well. You could have zombies just jumping out from anywhere, but for the atmosphere to be created, you need to have it so everything happens quickly. That is why good direction is needed in creating a scary ‘atmos-fear’ otherwise it wouldn’t be scary!
So overall, games that need a scary ‘atmos-fear’ need these elements to make it as chilling as possible for the gamer. Without these, you will not be able to create an atmos-fear.
Thanks for Reading
Liquid
You want atmos-fear?I've had Silent Hill 2 for a couple of months now. Played it for an hour, and it scared me silly - I was shivering and the hairs on my arms were vertical. Haven't had the minerals to put it back in the PS2 yet. Admittedly, I've been distracted with all sorts of other gaming goodness, but that takes the biscuit for me. Res Evil wasn't scary, it was just nervy. Silent Hill REALLY is scary.
The last generation of consoles, in particular the Playstation, spawned a new genre that has gone on to become one of the most popular in the modern day industry – the survival horror genre. Why? Games like ‘Alone in the Dark’ had been around for years and very atmospheric in their nature – but what did Resident Evil offer that previous games hadn’t? It is what I term ‘Atmos-fear’ – atmospheric environments, mysterious events and underlying tension combined with what many have called the most powerful human emotion – fear.
To me, a horror game is all about the way the atmosphere is portrayed. Sure, there are blood and guts on screen, but as shown in the success of films like The Blair Witch Project, the fear is not physical, but psychological. Like all good horror films, it is not the fear of what you know (even though that’s scary enough), it’s the fear of what you don’t know, and this fear of the unknown is what made Resident Evil so successful, as your primary fears are not borne out of seeing zombie dogs attempting to rip flesh out of your ankle (even though, as I said earlier that’s scary enough), but borne out of the feeling of ‘what’s round that corner?’ or the fear of not knowing what awaits you as a rickety door eerily opens up into a whole new expanse with a whole new load of possibilities. That’s what I call ‘Atmos-fear’.
It could be the way the light reflects everything so there is a massive shadow casting over you, or the ways the sounds make you feel unsafe.
Well, games are coming out, quite often in fact, that are trying to become scary and have more gore in it. I think that the founder, so to speak, of these ‘horror games’ was Resident Evil. It had everything you could want in a horror game. It had what I call ‘atmos-fear’, and I think that is what made the game so special and stand out from the rest. Ok, the blood-sucking zombies, prefect mix of tension and beautifully rendered graphics were another reason for its phenomenal success, but the atmos-fear gave it its edge.
There are many aspects of making an atmos-fear work:
The lighting adds to the way you see the different shapes and your surrounding. Dark corners and dark alleys make you feel like you don’t want to be here, and this is why, every ‘horror’ game should have lighting. Going back to my first example of Resident Evil, if you look at the re-make of Resident Evil on Gamecube, the lighting really creates an atmos-fear but having candles as the only source of light, apart from the huge strikes of lighting outside, which is reflected on the walls. Now that’s how you light up a game!
Your walking down dark corridor when you hear the floorboards creaking behind you, you turn round and….
Sound makes a lot of difference when you’re playing a ‘scary’ game. It makes the atmos-fear that bit more chilling if your constantly hearing weird little noises and then a massive zombie jumps on you from behind. Little sounds contribute to making the atmos-fear scary, but what about the sound of gunshots and screaming. If you hear someone scream, and it’s not you, you going to think something bad have happened and it could be you next…
Graphics need to be at a high standard to make sure that the zombies look believable. Plus, you would need the graphics to be good, to make the background look very eerie.
That’s what makes a scary ‘atmos-fear’ but it doesn’t have to be in the actual game that can make it scary. You, yourself can make it scary. Put on the dark lights to give it that extra scariness, while loud sounds add to what possibly could make you jump out of your seat.
Games that are meant to have a ‘scary atmos-fear need to be directed well. You could have zombies just jumping out from anywhere, but for the atmosphere to be created, you need to have it so everything happens quickly. That is why good direction is needed in creating a scary ‘atmos-fear’ otherwise it wouldn’t be scary!
So overall, games that need a scary ‘atmos-fear’ need these elements to make it as chilling as possible for the gamer. Without these, you will not be able to create an atmos-fear.
Thanks for Reading
Liquid
To me, a horror game is all about the way the atmosphere is portrayed. Sure, there are blood and guts on screen, but as shown in the success of films like The Blair Witch Project, the fear is not physical, but psychological. Like all good horror films, it is not the fear of what you know (even though that’s scary enough), it’s the fear of what you don’t know, and this fear of the unknown is what made Resident Evil so successful, as your primary fears are not borne out of seeing zombie dogs attempting to rip flesh out of your ankle (even though, as I said earlier that’s scary enough), but borne out of the feeling of ‘what’s round that corner?’ or the fear of not knowing what awaits you as a rickety door eerily opens up into a whole new expanse with a whole new load of possibilities. That’s what I call ‘Atmos-fear’.
It could be the way the light reflects everything so there is a massive shadow casting over you, or the ways the sounds make you feel unsafe.
Well, games are coming out, quite often in fact, that are trying to become scary and have more gore in it. I think that the founder, so to speak, of these ‘horror games’ was Resident Evil. It had everything you could want in a horror game. It had what I call ‘atmos-fear’, and I think that is what made the game so special and stand out from the rest. Ok, the blood-sucking zombies, prefect mix of tension and beautifully rendered graphics were another reason for its phenomenal success, but the atmos-fear gave it its edge.
There are many aspects of making an atmos-fear work:
The lighting adds to the way you see the different shapes and your surrounding. Dark corners and dark alleys make you feel like you don’t want to be here, and this is why, every ‘horror’ game should have lighting. Going back to my first example of Resident Evil, if you look at the re-make of Resident Evil on Gamecube, the lighting really creates an atmos-fear but having candles as the only source of light, apart from the huge strikes of lighting outside, which is reflected on the walls. Now that’s how you light up a game!
Your walking down dark corridor when you hear the floorboards creaking behind you, you turn round and….
Sound makes a lot of difference when you’re playing a ‘scary’ game. It makes the atmos-fear that bit more chilling if your constantly hearing weird little noises and then a massive zombie jumps on you from behind. Little sounds contribute to making the atmos-fear scary, but what about the sound of gunshots and screaming. If you hear someone scream, and it’s not you, you going to think something bad have happened and it could be you next…
Graphics need to be at a high standard to make sure that the zombies look believable. Plus, you would need the graphics to be good, to make the background look very eerie.
That’s what makes a scary ‘atmos-fear’ but it doesn’t have to be in the actual game that can make it scary. You, yourself can make it scary. Put on the dark lights to give it that extra scariness, while loud sounds add to what possibly could make you jump out of your seat.
Games that are meant to have a ‘scary atmos-fear need to be directed well. You could have zombies just jumping out from anywhere, but for the atmosphere to be created, you need to have it so everything happens quickly. That is why good direction is needed in creating a scary ‘atmos-fear’ otherwise it wouldn’t be scary!
So overall, games that need a scary ‘atmos-fear’ need these elements to make it as chilling as possible for the gamer. Without these, you will not be able to create an atmos-fear.
Thanks for Reading
Liquid