Survival horror is dead

 

or at the very least on life support. A genre that was once a constant producer of quality video games to soil ourselves over are now almost extinct. Horror by definition is a subjective feeling. What one finds scary, another finds humor and in relation, is difficult to achieve. For a game to be scary, timing, mood and feeling all have to be right, these aspects are also out of the developers hands for the most part as they can't account for how and when someone plays. Another essential part of survival horror games and in my opinion the single most important reason as to why this genre is dying, is difficulty. For a game to create the danger it is trying to convey, the threat of death or in gaming terms a game over, has to be there. This directly conflicts with the wants of today's player as difficult games traditionally do not sell well. Think about it, the foreboding of danger around every corner and how the next room could be your last is exactly the core of the genre and conflicts directly with what most gamer's desire now. For these reasons and others, most franchises we used to recognize as staples in this genre have abandoned this aspect. So why do we continue to judge them on something they are not………

Which leads me to Resident Evil 6. I'm not sure where many people have been living, but as a franchise Resident Evil hasn't been a "Survival Horror" series for nearly a decade, so why is it being spoken about like it is. The last game certainly wasn't and four was borderline at best, yet the reviews almost universally mention how this new game has seemingly betrayed all that was sacred about the survival horror franchise and delved into an action game blockbuster. Look around you at the gaming climate ladies and gentleman, there are almost no games doing horror anymore. Even Dead Space for all its successes will be leaving the horror aspects in the dust and 3 will be much more action oriented, just like Resident Evil is now. That leaves a handful of games to scare our pants off and the common theme of these is that they are small titles that typically don't sell and game companies like money. Surprised?

If you want scary, go play Slender Man or games of its ilk because you aren't going to find it in Resident Evil or Dead Space from here on out. Does that mean they're bad? Not at all, but they need to be judged for what they are, not for what they used to be. Resident Evil 6 is a flawed, but good game that fans of the last entry will love. It fails in nearly all the ways 5 does, yet does nearly everything else better, so why is it being crucified by the media while the other was praised? To that I suggest taking a look in the mirror and curbing your preconceptions, just be sure there isn't anyone behind you when you do…..