WARNING: MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS AND BAD LANGUAGE.
Now that I have succesfully narrowed down the audience, let us begin.
It will come to no surprise to you when I say that after all this time people are still (and probably always will be) pissed off at the cancelation of Silent Hills. Honestly, Konami really screwed a pooch with this one (seriously Konami? You couldn't hold out for like, this one title?). But I digress.
With this..."hickup" in mind, many skilled indie devs are jumping at the chance of making they're own silent hill styled game (it is the perfect time and excuse they need) and thats awesome! Games like Allison Road, Punity, Alchemilla etc are all getting some well deserved limelight
But this got me thinking: what makes a good psychological horror title? Because lets face it, the World needs more games like Silent Hill (especially with how neglectful Konami have been to it). Ofcourse silent hill isnt the only psycho horror out there. F.E.A.R., Alan Wake, Path(little red riding hood horror anyone?) and Forbidden Siren are just a few other great examples.
With that said, here are 5 important things to keep in mind when making your psychological horror:
1. Atmosphere: It might be cliche to talk about how important atmosphere is to horror, but it's a different kind of atmosphere to most horror. See, usually atmosphere works as a build up to something, it might be an event, a monster, a gang of zombies etc... But with psychological horror it works differently (usually). Atmosphere IS the monster and monsters ARE part of the atmosphere, the ambience and monsters work as one massive ecosystem, the music, enemies and location work as one massive character, "the enemy".
So, technically, you are inside "the enemy"
2. You are (or atleast part of) "the ememy": again, This is not always the case, but more often than not your inner demons, phobias and/or believes will be turned against you, often making you question yourself as to weather you are the hero or villain, and so, the uneasy feeling has already started.
3. "The escalator effect":
With alot of survival horror games, there comes a point in the story where you say:
- "Right, I've beaten the boss, I think I'm about to finnish the game! Wait... Whats HE doing here? NO! Dont drink that! Do not put that in your... Argh shit! He...Hes turned into a what!? Dammit... I have to go where to beat him!? "
Sound familiar? That's because alot of survival horror games try to trick you into thinking that you can stop stressing and lower your guard only to turn the heat back up to 11! This is obviously a shock tactic inorder for the last level to get the maximum reaction out of you before the curtain call. Many psychological horror games do not use this, they prefer to use the "escalator effect". Basically that means that the tension, fear, stress and atmosphere keeps on building and building, making the player question how much more he/she can take, until the grand finale and you "face your final inner demon and stop punnishing yourself" or "that ghostly woman tracks you down and finally has her wicked, sadistic, creepy way with you" (if you've played it, you know what I'm saying)...
This brings up the everlasting and perpetual debate of "Silent Hill vs Resident Evil" (which I am sure we are all tired of by now, I mean, its been going on for like, 17 years. Ever heard of the word opinion?). We can't compare the 2 games with each other, they're tactics are too different.
See, resi' tends to use the "false ending shock tactic" Where as silent hill uses the latter tactic, "the escalator effect".
Resi ' uses gore and visually disturbing enemies, where Silent Hill uses mentally disturbing locations and berely visible villains. Its completely subjective as to which is scariest so please, try to get along kids. This is also the reason why the concept of "Silent Evil" would be too messy and both ideas would clash too much to pull off. Not impossible but it would be bery hard to pull off. Well thats my opinion anyway... Moving on before the superfan troll brigade crucifies me.
4 illusions: yes, because who doesnt enjoy a mindfuck or 2?
I'm not talking about loop wholes or lamps that look like lady parts. I'm talking about halusinations, fabrications and possibly a lamp that looks like lady parts (never seen one in a game, make it happen guys).
Joking aside, an illsusion doesn't have to be something visually distorted. It could be that your companion is actually a ghost or not even real. The evil monster chasing you could cause your whole gaming system to "crash" (ala Eternal Darkness). Illusions are the best thing to put into a game if you want the player to feel constantly on guard, disjointed from reality and boost anxiety. There are not enough games out there who use illusions in games and its a crying shame because aswell as making us feel alone, confused and scared, it also enhances the fun.
5. Choose your fate: multiple scenarios and multiple endings are great in any game (replay value is important people!). But if you want to further mess with the players emotions, having to make a crucial and game changing decision in an already disturbing, stressful and terrifying scenario may just push them over the edge. The new game "Until dawn" may not be a PSYCHOLOGICAL horror, but having to make quick descisions while being preassured definatly messes you up and more games need to do this (not JUST point and clicks, remember Dino Crisis anyone?).
Optional: The infamous unbeatable enemy:
This one is completely optional, but let me ask you something. What's scarier than an obscure, big, ugly monster in a dark gloomy room? Well, you take that monster, and you make that fucker invincible. Love it or hate it, it will scare the hell out of you when you waste all of your already scares ammo on one monster, only to find out that it was all futile!
Now, I must stress that this is only my opinion of what I feel would make a good psycho' Horror game. If you have any other ideas or comments feel free to contact me via twitter @matacorpse.
