- Name
- Survival Horror
- Aliases
- Horror,Psychological Horror,
Survival Horror
Popularized by franchises such as Resident Evil and Silent Hill, these games typically involve a strong implication of danger, vulnerable protagonists, and disturbing monsters.
Concept Images Related Pages
Overview
Players are typically placed in dark, secluded environments with limited inventory space and scarce ammo in order to put them at a disadvantage and consequently, make them focus on survival. These games commonly incorporate puzzles as well as visceral action sequences. Another factor that is often used to provoke a response from players is jump scares, these are used not only to startle players, but to also keep them on their toes. Typical adversaries in these games include; zombies, aliens, insects (often spiders), and grotesque monsters. There are generally two sub-genres of survival horror:
- Psychological horror (e.g. J-Horror). Examples include Silent Hill (Franchise), Fatal Frame (Franchise), and Amnesia (Franchise).
- Action horror (i.e. Hollywood (Location)-style visceral horror). Examples include Resident Evil (Franchise) and Dead Space (Franchise).
History
The term "survival horror" was first used for the original Japanese release of Resident Evil (Game) in 1996, which was influenced by earlier games with a horror theme such as 1989's Sweet Home (Game). The name has been used since then for games with similar gameplay, and has been retroactively applied to older games as well. Both Sweet Home and Resident Evil were Capcom (Company) created games by Tokuro Fujiwara (Person), along with Shinji Mikami (Person) in Resident Evil's case. The Resident Evil (Franchise) series went on to inspire the Silent Hill (Franchise) series. Starting with the release of Resident Evil 4 (Game) in 2005, the genre began to incorporate more features from action games, which led game journalists to question whether long-standing survival horror franchises have abandoned the genre. Still, the survival horror genre has persisted in one form or another, though with Resident Evil 6 (Game), Capcom (Company) has used the label "dramatic horror" to refer to this departure.
Notable Franchises
Some franchises have helped the survival horror genre in making a name for itself over the years. The following is a list of some of the most notable, in alphabetical order:
- Alone In the Dark
- Amnesia (Franchise)
- Clock Tower (Game)
- Condemned (Franchise)
- Corpse Party (Franchise)
- D (Franchise)
- Dead Space (Franchise)
- Fatal Frame / Project Zero
- F.E.A.R.
- Parasite Eve (Franchise)
- Penumbra (Franchise)
- Resident Evil / Biohazard
- Silent Hill (Franchise)
- Siren
- Souls (Franchise)
- Sound Novel (Franchise)
- Sweet Home (Game)
- System Shock (Franchise)
- War of the Dead (Franchise)
- Zero Escape (Franchise)
Games view all →]
- 10 Dead Doves (Game)
- 10 Years After (Game)
- 3D Monster Maze (Game)
- 7 Days to Die (Game)
- 999: 9 Hours, 9 Persons, 9 Doors (Game)
- AX-2: Uchuu Yusousen Nostromo (Game)
- Absolute Fear: Aooni (Game)
- Ad Infinitum (Game)
- Afterfall: InSanity (Game)
- Alan Wake (Game)
- Alan Wake II (Game)
- Alan Wake's American Nightmare (Game)
- Alien Syndrome (Game)
- Alien: Isolation (Game)
- Aliens: Alien 2 (Game)
- Alisa - The Awakening (Game)
- All is Dust (Game)
- Alone in the Dark (Game)
- Alone in the Dark (Game)
- Alone in the Dark 2 (Game)
- Alone in the Dark 3 (Game)
- Alone in the Dark: Illumination (Game)
- Alone in the Dark: The New Nightmare (Game)
- Alundra (Game)
- Amazing Zombie Defense (Game)
- Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs (Game)
- Amnesia: Collection (Game)
- Amnesia: Rebirth (Game)
- Amnesia: The Bunker (Game)
- Amnesia: The Dark Descent (Game)
- Among the Sleep (Game)
- Amy (Game)
- Ao Oni (Game)
- Athena: Awakening from the Ordinary Life (Game)
- Back in 1995 (Game)
- Banshee's Last Cry (Game)
- Baroque (Game)
- Baroque Syndrome (Game)
- Becrowned (Game)
- Bendy and the Dark Revival (Game)
- Bendy and the Ink Machine (Game)
- BioShock (Game)
- BioShock: The Collection (Game)
- Black Death (Game)
- Blair Witch, Volume I: Rustin Parr (Game)
- Blair Witch, Volume II: The Legend of Coffin Rock (Game)
- Blair Witch, Volume III: The Elly Kedward Tale (Game)
- Blue Stinger (Game)
- Brain Breaker (Game)
- CDF Ghostship (Game)
- Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth (Game)
- Call of Mini: Zombies (Game)
- Carcass Clad (Game)
- Carmine (Game)
- Carrier (Game)
- Caster's Trap (Game)
- Chapolim x Drácula: Um Duelo Assustador (Game)
- Claire (Game)
- Clive Barker's Undying (Game)
- Clock Tower (Game)
- Clock Tower (Game)
- Clock Tower 2: The Struggle Within (Game)
- Clock Tower 3 (Game)
- Coded Arms (Game)
- Cold Fear (Game)
- Condemned 2: Bloodshot (Game)
- Condemned: Criminal Origins (Game)
- Conscript (Game)
- Contagion (Game)
- Corpse Party 2: Dead Patient (Game)
- Corpse Party: Book of Shadows (Game)
- Cosmology of Kyoto (Game)
- Countdown Vampires (Game)
- Cronos: The New Dawn (Game)
- Crow Country (Game)
- Cry Of Fear (Game)
- Crying is not Enough (Game)
- Cryostasis (Game)
- Curse: The Eye of Isis (Game)
- Cursed Mountain (Game)
- D (Game)
- DarKnot (Game)
- Dark Escape 4D (Game)
- Dark Fall: Lost Souls (Game)
- Darkcean (Game)
- DayZ (Game)
- Daylight (Game)
- Daymare: 1998 (Game)
- Dead Nation (Game)
- Dead Rising (Game)
- Dead Sky (Game)
- Dead Space (Game)
- Dead Space (Game)
- Dead Space (Game)
- Dead Space 2 (Game)
- Dead Space Extraction (Game)
- Dead State (Game)
- Dead of the Brain: Shiryou no Sakebi (Game)
- Deep Fear (Game)
- Dementium: The Ward (Game)