Horror in Non-Horror Games

While horror games are specifically created to frighten the player, video games across all genres have incorporated horror elements. Developers have also dedicated entire sections of their games to being scary. While this is not true of all games, many well-known titles have incorporated the occasional 'scary level.' I will discuss a few that I have played in today's post.

Independent Versus Mainstream Games

Kristen, author of the blog Historical Character Creation, asked if I could explain the difference between indie games and the more mainstream titles in a comment on my my "indie games showcase" post. I apologize for being so late to answer your question, but I intend to answer it to the best of my abilities.


While neither mainstream nor indie games have a standard definition, the two can be examined best by looking at a few key factors.

Interview with Trey Blankenship: Mechanics of Horror

While conduction the previous interview with David Budd I was able to have another member of David's team, Trey Blankenship, answer my questions about their work on Depth, a modification for Amnesia: The Dark Decent. Even though the two were asked the same questions, their answers cover different topics in horror gaming. In this interview, Trey Blankenship discusses more mechanical elements and design.

Ghosts in Gaming (Guest Spot)

Hello, I am the writer of the ghost hunting blog Skeptical Ghost Investigating and I will be writing a guest blog about ghosts in video games.

Ghosts in videogames vary from Boo from the Mario games to Alma, the ghost girl, from the horror game series F.E.A.R.. Some ghosts are there for a light form of entertainment and some are created to scare you to the bone.

My favorite survival horror games are the older Silent Hill and Resident Evil games and neither Silent Hill nor Resident Evil contains ghosts, just monsters and zombies. I have come to notice that few games deal solely with ghosts and I have a theory on why.

Interview with David Budd: Importance of Story in Horror

I have been having issues finding people who would be willing to do an interview with me on the subject of horror video games. Most major players are extremely busy with new projects to discuss the subject. However, I was able to have email correspondence with someone going into the field and working on a horror game project, David Budd. The game is a survival-horror mod using Amnesia: The Dark Decent  as a base. David discusses some very interesting topics, such as the importance of narrative and how players prepare to play horror.

'Off-Beat' Horror

The games that could be considered off-beat do fall within general categories of gaming. However, the elements found within these games cause them to fall into ‘outsider’ status even though some of these games were developed by major studios. Still, these games have elements that are outside the norm or are strange by the standards of the average gamer. I am still working to create this classification and trying to discover if it is an effective means of classifying games in general. Listed are games that have 'off-beat' elements and could be considered horror games or are in fact horror games.

Installing a Video Game Mod: Cry of Fear

This guide will instruct those whom do not know how to install a mod the proper steps in successfully installing a computer game mod. This guide is for installing the Half-Life mod Cry of Fear onto a PC. This is meant to be a general guide and it is always important to read any installation instructions specific to a modification. Always be sure of what you are downloading and do not download software from an untrusted source.