I've been a gamer for most of my life. I was about 5 when I got my NES and I loved every second of it. I've owned many gaming systems, although not all of them. Anyway, as the title says, what has happened to the horror genre in gaming?
 
Remember back to the middle of the 1990's when the Playstation was gaining some serious ground. I remember one day I went to the video store to rent something. I wanted a game like Resident Evil 2. To be honest, back then, I was really intrigued by the full motion CG video that the Playstation could produce. I wanted a horror game, but also it had to have some sort of CG videos to keep me in awe and entertained. I found a game called Silent Hill. I checked the back of the disk case and thought it looked kind of interesting. It wasn't Resident Evil or anything, but I was sort of drawn to it by the mysteriousness of it. I got home and I started to play it. My Brother was in the same room watching me as I played. After playing the first 10 minutes of the game, I really liked it. Whole town covered in fog, all the town residents disappeared, your daughter disappears and you playing as Harry Mason needs to find her. I also liked the lack of explanation as to why this was happening in the in this town. Most of the time I would like any game (or movie) to explain the strange happenings in the story, or at least give some hint to it. Silent Hill was a rare case for me, as I preferred not to know why the people were missing or why the whole town was in a fog. It felt much more massive in scale, not knowing why these events were occurring.
 
Moving on, I played the game all the way up to the first real level of the game, the elementary school. Just to note, I really enjoyed the whole atmosphere before the school, walking in a ghost town covered in fog, being chased by some strange creatures. I still love it, even today. So I got to the school and entered it. From this point on, Silent Hill really changed my perspective on games forever. The school was incredibly atmospheric, more so then I was anticipating. Of course I was in Junior High at the time, so the school had a more profound effect on me then it would have if I had first seen the game today. Before Silent Hill, I had never seen an elementray school in this fashion before in any media, movies or games. My Brother was even unnerved. I remember him sitting on the couch as still as a rock and just staring at the screen. I got the artifact I needed and I breathed a sigh of relief as I climbed the clock tower in the court yard. I remember thinking: "Thank god that's over". So I exit the clock tower and I was still in the school courtyard. I remember this feeling of terror just gripping at me as I walked around the court yard, thinking: "I thought I was finished the school, why am I still here". I then entered the school and compete horror ensued. The school had changed from a scary school, to OMG WTF hell hole of death and decay. I walked around the evil school around 2 minutes, and I said "I've had enough", and I shut off the game. I didn't shut off the game because it was a bad game, I shut it off because I never felt so scared playing a video game in my whole life until that point. Sure I played some scary games before Silent Hill, but nothing like this.
 
And this leads me the question: Why are games sacrificing a good atmosphere, a good story, for over the top action and meaningless violence? Why aren't so called "horror" games scary anymore? Take a look at the recent Silent Hill game: Silent Hill Homecoming. The developers went for a tactical approach to fighting the creatures, to improve on the combat, which in my opinion was the wrong way to take the Silent Hill series.  Below are a list of things that make supposedly scary games, not scary:
 

• Engaging combat. A scary game should never have enjoyable or engaging combat. The combat system should work, but it is a mistake to put tactics into combat for a scary game. It ruins the mood and it makes the creatures less scary. For example, take a look at Silent Hill 2. The creatures do not run at you, except for one, and they look as if they are wind up toys; not creatures that can anticipate attacks or block or anything. Also they have no "weak points", you just shoot them or hit them until they die. By adding a tactical combat system, one to exploit weak points, and making the creatures able to dodge attacks, takes away from the horror and of the whole feeling you should have about the creatures.
• Cut scenes: This one is a bit of a stretch, but think of it this way, a boss is going to burst through the door, you get ready for it then.....Cut scene! You are forced to watch as the main character narrowly escapes death as the boss bursts through the door and tries to hit our hero. Think of that again, but without a cut scene. You don't know that something will burst through the door and when it does, you can guarantee it will make you  jump and force to react quickly. You must escape the boss while controlling your character and not watching it through a cut scene. This will be much more terrifying and more satisfying to the player.
• Weak Antagonist: I remember playing some scary games and when I finally get to see who caused all the mess was just one weak ass looking last boss. In my opinion any evil that you are up against in these scary games, has to be much bigger than you are. It has to be everywhere, like a plague.

I'd argue that most "horror" games and movies have lost touch; they focus more on gore and shocking people than actually raising the hair on your arm. If you have a pc I'd suggest checking out Cryostasis...one of the scariest games I've played in a while.

" I'd argue that most "horror" games and movies have lost touch; they focus more on gore and shocking people than actually raising the hair on your arm.   

To your first point and your whole blog in general, I point you to the first Condemned

 
I would agree that many recent horror games haven't had as good as atmosphere as some of the older ones.

 
 
Also Nightwish kicks ass!

I remember i had a similar experience with silent hill. I played it during winter holiday, and I had to force myself to start that game.  I loved it, but i hated to play it, because i was so disturbed. I did get to the hospital though.

I gave up on this game too, for the same reasons. The telephone ringing, the blood splattered everywhere, the doors that lead to nowhere. I can't stand it anymore.
 
Think I was 10 by that time. Never played such a scary game like that after. But I'm wondering if Shattered Memories could be worth of the serie's name, it appears to be as, in not more, scary than the original one.

"

 
I would agree that many recent horror games haven't had as good as atmosphere as some of the older ones.

 
 
Also Nightwish kicks ass!

"

 Frictional Games still know how to make a good horror game.

  I got the artifact I needed and I breathed a sigh of relief as I climbed the clock tower in the court yard. I remember thinking: "Thank god that's over". So I exit the clock tower and I was still in the school courtyard. I remember this feeling of terror just gripping at me as I walked around the court yard, thinking: "I thought I was finished the school, why am I still here". I then entered the school and compete horror ensued. The school had changed from a scary school, to OMG WTF hell hole of death and decay. I walked around the evil school around 2 minutes, and I said "I've had enough", and I shut off the game. I didn't shut off the game because it was a bad game, I shut it off because I never felt so scared playing a video game in my whole life until that point.  

RE2 is my favorite "horror" game of all time,
But horror games have never been that good imo

I don't find horror movies or games scary. I like the genre, but don't get scared

Silent Hill is hardly even a shade of what it used to be (though I really enjoyed Shattered Memories).
 
I blame most of the fall on the Resident Evil series.  RE4 made the jump from survival-horror to survival-horror-shooter, and RE5 was even more action-movie-y than 4.  But there are still plenty of atmospheric games out there.  Someone already mentioned Condemned.  And I don't give a flying fuck what you say, playing through Dead Space for the first time was one of the most nerve-wrecking experiences I've had in recent memory.

It's weird that you rip on Dead Space for not being like Horror games of old. For me, Dead Space succeeded on just about every point you made in your post:

• They really throw you into the game without much explanation, even toward the end not much is explained
• The game is HUGE on atmosphere, not so much on jump scares. Just standing still and listening to the all the shit banging around and crawling through the vents on the Ishimura scared the crap out of me.
• The worm mini-boss is exactly what you describe about non-cutscene bosses. All 2-3 times that thing popped up it scared the crap out of me. It's still the coolest boss I've ever seen in a game. In fact, I think there can't be more than 5 actual cutscenes throughout the whole game.
• All the bosses in Dead Space are fucking gigantic.

I have to disagree with you about horror games not having enjoyable combat. That's such a weird thing to say. It's like saying FPS games shouldn't have engaging stories because it distracts from the shooting. Awful combat has been a huge factor in holding back a lot of survival horror games from getting the accolades they deserve if you ask me. When one gets it right, it's usually a smash hit, like RE4 and Dead Space recently. Not every game needs to be exactly like your favorite game in the genre.

Yeah dude Dead Space was awesome, for what I got to play of it that is. Lights off, surround sound on loud, all the shades closed at 2AM. Yeah, that shit got pretty intense. 
 
Fatal Frame is awesome too. I haven't really played any Silent Hills. I tried the Silent Hill "The Room" or whatever and hated it after an hour or two of gameplay.

" Yeah dude Dead Space was awesome, for what I got to play of it that is. Lights off, surround sound on loud, all the shades closed at 2AM. Yeah, that shit got pretty intense.  Fatal Frame is awesome too. I haven't really played any Silent Hills. I tried the Silent Hill "The Room" or whatever and hated it after an hour or two of gameplay. "

I liked Dead Space and it had some genuinely scary moments but I still wouldn't call it a proper horror game.  Like all modern games that try to be scary you once again ended up at a point in that game being so powerful that it broke the tension and even if you were swarmed by enemies gunning them down was a cake walk.  And it was filled with a shit tonne of monster closet scares.  The worm thing also stopped being scary after the first encounter as it was the same 'hit my weak spot to win' sequence repeated over and over.  
 
Bad controls and unforgiving game design isn't what makes a good horror game scary, its a combination of limiting the players power, atmosphere and as little repetition and predictability as possible.   Also not playing as a steroid riddled super soldier with an arsenal of guns helps :P

" because action and giant tits sell more games than atmosphere "

I would liek to throw in Heavy Rain in the discussion too. It was really good at setting a mood and tension to many thing you did. That's what I'm seeking in a horror game. We can always hope that Alan Wake has some good genuin tension and suppense. Yeah... it has to have some kind of action and the old games had it too. The problem is that new games relys to heavy on the action part as you already said. Build atmosphere and keep the suspense up is my tip.

"because action and giant tits sell more games than atmosphere "

I thought that Dead Space was scarier than any Silent Hill that i've played. No SH game was scary for me, but it made me tense and disgusted, especially SH2. 

I hear what you're saying. I really, really love Dead Space and Resident Evil 4, but they aren't scary games. If you want to get scared, you pretty much have to go back to the last generation and play the Project Zero and Silent Hill games. 
 
Man... I hope the next Project Zero is released outside Japan. I've been thinking of importing Project Zero IV and downloading that fan-made translation patch, but I don't know if I'll have the money anytime soon.

Resident Evil was never scary and Silent Hill Shattered Memories was kind of brilliant. All you had to do to delineate the cheap scares, the only thing RE ever had, was to give the game a capable hero and a decent camera. That should tell you everything. If you game stops being scary because you fix the awful camera and controls, it was never really scary. Not in a substantial way.

" I'd argue that most "horror" games and movies have lost touch; they focus more on gore and shocking people than actually raising the hair on your arm. If you have a pc I'd suggest checking out Cryostasis...one of the scariest games I've played in a while. "

"

It's weird that you rip on Dead Space for not being like Horror games of old. For me, Dead Space succeeded on just about every point you made in your post:

• They really throw you into the game without much explanation, even toward the end not much is explained
• The game is HUGE on atmosphere, not so much on jump scares. Just standing still and listening to the all the shit banging around and crawling through the vents on the Ishimura scared the crap out of me.
• The worm mini-boss is exactly what you describe about non-cutscene bosses. All 2-3 times that thing popped up it scared the crap out of me. It's still the coolest boss I've ever seen in a game. In fact, I think there can't be more than 5 actual cutscenes throughout the whole game.
• All the bosses in Dead Space are fucking gigantic.

I have to disagree with you about horror games not having enjoyable combat. That's such a weird thing to say. It's like saying FPS games shouldn't have engaging stories because it distracts from the shooting. Awful combat has been a huge factor in holding back a lot of survival horror games from getting the accolades they deserve if you ask me. When one gets it right, it's usually a smash hit, like RE4 and Dead Space recently. Not every game needs to be exactly like your favorite game in the genre.

"

what happened? You grew up, that's what happened. None of the RE games are any more terrifying than Dead Space for example

"what happened? You grew up, that's what happened. None of the RE games are any more terrifying than Dead Space for example"

Having unenjoyable combat is a bad idea. Then, when you're forced to fight, say a boss or something, you don't want to and you may just quit the game because of that. You can still make a scary game with the ability to defend yourself. However, it would be up to the designers to make it difficult to find something to defend yourself with. That could still raise the stakes and make even the smallest enemy a hair-raising experience, while still making it so that the game doesn't overwhelm you or make you wanna stop after 20 minutes (like Deadly Premonition seems to during the Endurance Run)

" what happened? You grew up, that's what happened. None of the RE games are any more terrifying than Dead Space for example "

The only game that ever scared me was when I was 10 or 12 and played the Colonel's Bequest on the PC, I'd argue a good Friday the 13th game that didn't focus purley on Gore could turn out all right.   

I really do miss old-school survival horror games. I remember my first time through the original Silent Hill right after it came out. I was only 10 years old, but I had already had experience with the first two Resident Evils. Silent Hill was a very different beast. The first game in the series is still my favorite to this day, because the atmosphere is unmatched. It's one of the few games where the outdated visuals and audio can actually add to the experience. I last played it a couple of years ago, but it still sent chills down my spine. I have to disagree on Homecoming, though. It has a good combat system, but the game is hardly anymore action-oriented than the ones before it. Playing through that game the first time, it takes awhile to really get a full grasp on melee combat, so you never do too well, and combine that with the fact that supplies are pretty scarce and you can only hold very limited amounts of ammo at the time still makes the whole "survival" aspect of survival horror come into play. I also thought the game had many genuinely scary moments, and probably the best atmosphere since SH2.
 
Horror games aren't the same anymore, though, for all the reasons that have been stated. It's all about bigger action and less about atmosphere and chills, which I have no problem with if that's what a game is meant to be. Back in the late 90's, never in a hundred years would I have thought Resident Evil would become what it is today. It's a shame, really...Capcom sacrificing the integrity of what is arguably one of their greatest franchises just to appeal to a more casual audience. The only thing we can really hope for is that they decide to go back to the series' roots with the next installment, if one should happen. 
 
I do agree with you, OP, that Dead Space was not a scary game...not at all. I really enjoyed my time with the game, however, I just never felt anxious or nervous, despite the great atmosphere that the game possessed. I was always fully stocked on supplies and never got the sense of vulnerability, either. It reminded me of Doom 3, in that it loses its effectiveness early on and never really tries anything new it terms of scariness. It relied far too much on jump scares and became painfully predictable not too far in. Again, it really is an excellent game, it just didn't succeed in being a real "horror" title.
 
Good horror games are few and far between these days. Someone mentioned Condemned, which is a pretty creepy game, though not one I found particularly scary. Its sequel is a different story, though, when it's not trying to be a clone of its developer's other series, FEAR. Condemned 2 honestly scared me more than any other game had for years when it came out. More recently, Metro 2033 has a thick, depressing atmosphere with a good amount of scares thrown in. I recommend checking it out if not done already.

" @Rhaknar said:

" what happened? You grew up, that's what happened. None of the RE games are any more terrifying than Dead Space for example "

I agree with this. My imagination was what really killed me when I used to play those games. Now my down to earth view on the world kind of makes horror games a waste of time since the only thing that scares me at the moment is parenthood and unemployment. "

It's not that atmospheric horror disappeared this generation.  It was just never really here.  Silent Hill was an aberration.  And they still make Silent Hill games today, so I don't see the big deal.  It is an always has been a niche genre. 
 
Also, you are missing out on skilling SIlent Hill.  I've palyed them all except Homecoming, and Origins is the only one I was disappointed by.  I'm thinking of importing Fatal Frame 4 sometime this year using that fan made translation patch.

" because action and giant tits sell more games than atmosphere "

RE1=HOLY SHIT WHAT THE FUK WAS THAT!!! 
RE2= HOLY SHIT WHAT THE FUK WAS THAT!!! 
 RE3= HOLY SHIT WHAT THE FUK WAS THAT!!! 
RE4= HOLY SHIT WHAT THE FUK WAS THAT!!!
RE5= Ah, oh, bang bang

Survival Horror is horrible at surviving as a genre. Everything is about action these days. And maybe one of those stupid "something broke with loud music!!"-moments.