In the early days of gaming, there was a consistent development of games to frighten people. Since the inception of horror games in the early 1980’s, it still is going strong in the gaming market today. Why is it that the horror game genre has millions of fans worldwide?

I talked with Apex High School student, Stacy Mattson and one of the points she stated was “I just really love to be scared…” According to a study done by John Hopkins University “Why do we Enjoy Horror? Science Explains” enjoying being scared is actually a very common feeling for many people. Professor Haiyang Yang says that in a safe scenario such as video games, we tend to feel the most positive emotions when something makes us feel a lot of strong negative emotions such as fear and anxiety. Researchers talk about the concept of a “horror sweet spot”, where it is scary enough to not be boring, but not too scary where you feel like you’re in danger. It simply comes down to people enjoying it when they see something that scares them just enough.

I next talked to student, Kai Schnetzer-Wiederhold who said “I enjoy the ambience and the environmental story telling.” Many horror games are notorious for those visual elements that enhance the game. The atmosphere is vital to give the proper horror experience that is in line with the art direction. They coincide with each other to make a scary area actually eerie. With environmental story telling, it is also so crucial to the horror experience because we want to see why we should be scared not told. For example, in the Silent Hill 2 remake when you enter the town you see blood on the street and a silhouette of a creature of some sort. Without saying a word, it tells you “that creature is dangerous”, which is significantly better than the character seeing a creature and saying “it is going to hurt me”.

Lastly, I talked to student Gabe Caparas who said “I enjoy them because it’s quite an adrenaline rush, especially when playing with friends” I totally agree. Gabe and I have been playing Resident Evil 5 which is not anywhere close to being the scariest in the series, but playing with someone elevated the game. Having someone share the scares with you greatly enhances the experience. With someone else, you really get immersed into the game which ultimately makes it a stronger game.

In conclusion, people are attracted to horror because we as people enjoy being scared in safe situations. As well as the ambience that surrounds the player and the story that is fed to you from the world. With creators putting in the passion to make horror, you see the impact of that everywhere through fans. Horror games will forever have a place in the gaming industry because people love to fear.