Game Modification Showcase

Game Modifications, or mods, are user-created games that use an existing game as a basis. Counter-Strike for example began as a mod for the PC game Half-Life. Mods can use assets that already exist in the base game, or they can build a game using original assets. Within the modding world exists the same gameplay mechanics and genres that are in regular games, including horror. Horror mods are usually zombie shooter games but some mods can be scarier than their retail counterpart, such as the ones below.

Indie Horror Game Showcase

I recently discovered that Lone Survivor, an indie horror game, had been released. When I say indie, it is meant much in the same sense as an indie film. Indie or independent games are often created by small, unknown developers without the financial backing of a publisher. Indie games exist in every genre of gaming and can have just as many gameplay mechanics. In this post I will cover some indie horror games, including Lone Survivor.

REVIEW: S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl

S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl
PC, 2007

Players assume the role of an amnesiac in search of their identity in the Chernobyl exclusion zone in this unique PC game by Czech studio GSC Gameworld. I know this is an older game—released in 2007—but I am going to review it because,

• It is the latest game with strong horror elements that I have played
• It is worth noting the game since it blurs the lines between action-horror and survival-horror.

S.T.A.L.K.E.R. is loosely-based on Roadside Picnic by Boris and Arkady Strugatsky (which was made into the movie Stalker by Andrei Tarkovsky). The story in S.T.A.L.K.E.R. revolves around stalkers, individuals who sneak into the exclusion zone to, among other things, find and smuggle out artifacts, surreal objects with strange properties. players take control of a stalker who has lost their memory, whose only clue to the past is the note "Kill Strelok" found on the player's PDA.

Comparing Action-Horror and Survival-Horror

Resident Evil 6 is on the way, but it is going to be more of an action game with less emphasis on horror. The reasoning behind this shift away from horror is that the market for the genre “is small, compared to the number of units Call of Duty and all those action games sell,” according to Resident Evil: Revelations producer Masachika Kawata (Graft, 2012). Many would point to this as further proof that the horror genre is dead. However, I see this as an evolutionary step towards action-horror becoming its own genre. Many horror games use fast-paced action to create terror and a sense of urgency much like a chase scene in a slasher film. A great example of this is Valve’s Left 4 Dead series, which is a multiplayer first-person shooter in which players work together to survive the zombie apocalypse.

What I am saying is that action is not the death of horror, but another aspect of it that does not take away from survival-horror games and it does not ruin horror as a genre. When gamers look at these two subgenres—action-horror and survival-horror—they view them as conflicting categories, fighting for the right to be called horror. In reality these are two parts of a whole that each have their own strengths and weaknesses which we will be going over.

After the jump, I will go over the differences of survival-horror and action-horror

History Time: The Rise of Action-Horror

Continuing our look at the history of horror games; we now look at horror gaming in the 21^st century. 

Within the short span of a decade, horror games have changed dramatically. Some horror fans consider the 2000s the death of horror gaming, due to the rise of action-horror. I however think there is room for crossover and co-existence, but that is a topic for another post. After the jump is part two of the history of horror gaming.

History Time: Early Years of Horror Gaming

Before we go any further, we should talk about the history of horror games. 

Horror gaming has been around for quite a while and covers a multitude of genres. As such, Horror gaming history nearly spans the history of gaming itself, but since I don’t have the time or space to go in depth I will cover this history by decade. For each decade I will highlight some key games and note a few relatively unknown titles. And for the sake of space, the history will be split by century because the turn of the century saw a shift in the way horror games were presented; this in turn led to the birth of action-horror.

This look at the history after the jump.

Introduction to the Blog

Welcome to my corner of the internet, I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

I am Dan, a twenty-something student who loves games, movies, and 80s music. This blog focuses on the former of the three: games, and more specifically horror games.

Games in general have the potential to be intelligent works of art. However, in contrast there are many games that are well known yet reduce the artistic value of this medium, such as the annually-released Call of Duty franchise. Horror games are a great example in showing video games as an artistic medium since their key feature is generating an emotional response, whether this is panic, terror, or in some cases humor. Horror games also contain varied mechanics, art styles, and stories that give a broader view of gaming as a whole—how many point-and-click action games have you seen lately?

Through all of this, Horror games allow us to take a look at the following across the history of gaming:

•  Mechanics 
• Art Direction
• Development
• Evolution

Along the way we will look at different games in order provide a sense of what’s out there. Not just commercial games but indie games as well—such as Ben Croshaw’s 5 Days a Stranger—and also video game mods (if I can gather the courage to play Cry of Fear). I hope to make this fun as well as educational. As we discuss these topics I want you to discover exciting new games and perhaps something about game design along the way.