Introduction

Anyone who knows a little about video game culture will think right away that there is something wrong with or missing in the heading of this encyclopedia entry. Indeed, "horror" is far from being a ludic term. It has grown to refer to a genre – a crossmedia one – exceeding the video game. It is employed as much as a noun to designate such a body of works as an adjective to characterize a particular work (this is a "horror game"). Moreover, it is the label "survival horror" that has come to encompass the overall body of this genre in the videoludic realm. Therefore, although the term is widely used and makes sense to many, it doesn't mean it is not open to assessments and refinements.

The Term's History

Insofar as the video game has relied on and been extensively studied in relation to cinema, it is very enlightening to follow Gary D. Rhodes' reflection in "'Horror Film': How the Term Came to Be." Rhodes observes with great insightfulness that, "the term 'horror' had descriptive meaning for fictional entertainment long before the term 'horror film' (and variants like 'horror movie') came into common currency, first in literature and then in the cinema" (2018, p. 91). He underlines that late 18th and 19th century British and American Gothic writers employed the word in their novels, like Ann Radcliffe who brings it into play over eighty times in The Mysteries of Udolpho (1794) to express a character's emotion or to describe a location. Only on very rare occasions was it aiming at a "generic designation" (2018, pp. 94-95). In early cinema, "horror" came to summon a variety of meanings (e.g., mysterious, spooky and weird) and to speak about diverse scenes and elements in movies (even in a drama like D. W. Griffith's The Greatest Question, 1919). While the expression "horror film" can be recorded for a first time in 1916 (without surprise in an announcement made by a Censor Commission), it is really with the adaptation of Bram Stoker's Dracula (1897) by Tod Browning in 1931 that the label "moved into relatively common usage in the industry and American popular culture" (Rhodes, 2018, p. 106).

Although Universal Pictures had not used the expression to advertise the movie (it was spoken about as a "mystery"), columnists and reviewers did. Among others, "Variety's critique of Dracula relied on 'horror' six times in the space of nine paragraphs" (2018, p. 103). As a result, and to cut the ground away from its competitors, the studio embraced the word to publicize its next productions (adaptations of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein (1818) by James Whale in 1931 and of Edgar Allan Poe's Murders in the Rue Morgue (1841) by Robert Florey in 1932). As Rhodes concludes: "Universal Pictures had appropriated the term 'horror film' from others, meaning exhibitors, critics, and audience members, an important example of nomenclature resulting not from studio hierarchy or even with its initial approval" (2018, p. 107). We'll see that the creation of such a label will emerge differently in video games.

With Dracula and Frankenstein, but also with The Mummy (Karl Freund, 1932) and later The Wolf Man (George Waggner, 1941), Universal's movies crystallized the genre. According to Rick Worland:

Horror films, foremost, revolve around the monster and its threat to individual characters. The stakes are high because the struggle . . . is often not only a mortal but a metaphysical one. The horror story turns fear, whether personal or social, into a specific type of monster; and seeks to contain and destroy it. (2007, p. 17)

The author of The Horror Film: An Introduction also foregrounds the importance of the name: "Though 'gothic novel' emphasized a setting, 'horror movie' stresses the emotion of fright experienced by both the characters and the audience, which remains this genre's primary distinguishing feature" (Worland, 2007, p. 16). One will recall that "horror" derives from the Latin "horrere", to shiver, and the old French "orror", to bristle or to shudder. This emotional focus gave birth to common themes, formulaic plots, (stereo)typical characters along with recognizable iconography and audiovisual style; namely the foundation of what the notion of genre designates in fiction. Video games will add interactive elements to these features.

Even if the subsidiary was found to protect Atari who did not have the rights to the film, it remains that the name of the company that brought Steven Spielberg's Jaws (1975) into the arcade games as early as 1975, with Shark Jaws, was Horror Games. The advent of the videoludic genre will in fact primarily take place in the light of film. Video games were adapted from horror movies, as it is the case with The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (VSS, 1983), Halloween (Wizard Video Games, 1983), The Evil Dead (Palace Software, 1984), Gremlins (Atari, 1984), Friday the 13th: The Computer Game (Domark, 1985) or Aliens: The Computer Game (Electronic Dreams Software, 1986). When there was no direct link, the parallels were nevertheless made by the specialized press, the designers or the developers. For example, in the opinion of Computer and Video Games, the catching game Carnival Massacre (Edgar Belka, 1983) had "all the elements of a modern horror film" ("Carnival", 1984, p. 35). Paul Norman, who created Forbidden Forest (Cosmi, 1983), was not interested in just making a target game with a bow and arrow; as he acknowledged: "I'm a movie buff, not a gamer, and there's no movie in that idea" (Grannell, 2006, p. 71). And, inspired by Alien (Ridley Scott, 1979), the action-adventure Project Firestart (Dynamix, 1988) was merchandized in a straightforward way: "More than a game . . . A Horror Movie in Outer Space! An Action-Packed Race Against Time! 4 Disc sides. Tension-building musical score and sound effects. Pans, close-ups, fades, montage . . . just like a movie" (back cover of the game box). Such comparisons with the horror film have not faded away with the advances in gaming techniques and technology; on the contrary.

Yet, one label has come to specifically designate the genre in regard of video games. And as opposed to cinema, it originated from a player in the industry. To contrive a frightening zombie game, Japanese designer Shinji Mikami has appropriated and refined the model pioneered by French maker Frédérick Raynal in the third-person perspective Alone in the Dark (I-Motion Inc. & Infogrames, 1992). In Resident Evil (1996), he merged 3D polygonal characters and monsters, and pre-rendered 2D images for backgrounds shown in predefined camera angles just like in movies (a huge mansion from which it was necessary to escape). Instead of empowering the two playable heroes, and in addition to the clumsy tank controls, Mikami has not given ammunition in abundance to the player, but asked them to look for specific herbs to recover their health and to manage an inventory while being able to carry just a few items. The player was also allowed to save their progression in specific rooms on a typewriter using only the ink ribbons in their possession. These gameplay elements were added to the repertoire of "horror" in previous media. To market the experience the game was offering, the developer and publisher Capcom coined the label "survival horror". It was indicated in English on the covers of the trial version and of the first release in Japan, in conjunction with a loading screen shown upon returning to play the game: "You have once again entered / the world of survival horror. / Good luck!" It is through this welcoming back that Western gamers learned about it.

The label was not used instantly by commentators, reviewers and gamers. In video game magazines, categorizing in terms of videoludic genres (more than fiction ones), Resident Evil was related to horror, but classified as Adventure, Action-Adventure, Arcade-Action-Adventure, Action/RPG, Strategy, and – bizarrely – Adventure/Sport (see Perron, 2018, pp. 38-42). One of the first mentions of the label appeared in the review of the French magazine Joypad: "The way to manage the progression, linked to an attention to realism, gives a game that deserves its nickname 'Survival Horror,' because survival is the principle of Resident Evil" (Olivier, 1996, p. 78, freely translated). Quickly enough though, the nickname started to point at a generic designation. On the one hand, Capcom released Resident Evil: Director's Cut (1997), Resident Evil 2 (1998), Resident Evil 3: Nemesis (1999) and Dino Crisis (1999). And on the other hand, competitors started to capitalize on similar third-person perspective horror action-adventure games, such as Deep Fear (Sega AM7, 1998), Blue Stinger (Climax Graphics, 1999) and Silent Hill (Team Silent & Konami, 1999). A distinct text box of the May 1999 edition of PSM magazine previewing Dino Crisis was answering the question, "What is Survival Horror?", highlighting the "setting [of] a creepy ambiance to keep the tension level high" and that it "wasn't necessarily to blow everything up, but to simply survive, even if it meant running away" ("Dino Crisis", 1999, p. 58).

Despite the fact that the label was referring to a specific type of game, it has been taken in a broad sense. This is obvious in a review of the second game of the franchise: "Resident Evil 2 marks Capcom's return to the genre of survival horror that was literally reinvented with the original Resident Evil" (Cheung, 1998, p. 53). As I have asked elsewhere (Perron, 2018, p. 42), how could a genre that hadn't got its birth certificate yet be "reinvented"? We rather have to understand that the name was a substitute for "horror". Consequently, comparable to what happened in cinema, many post-dated "survival horror" certificates have been given to games that preceded Resident Evil: among others, Hunt the Wumpus (Gregory Yob, 1981), a graphic version of a text-adventure; Haunted House (Atari, 1981), an action-adventure game with an overview perspective; 3D Monster Maze (Malcolm Evans & J.K. Greye Softwar, 1981), a first-person action game; Ant Attack (Sandy White & Quicksilva, 1983), an action game with a 3D isometric view; and Sweet Home (Capcom, 1989), a role-playing game with an overview perspective.

Then, because dinosaurs were quicker than zombies, Capcom's marketing team came up with new terms to publicize Dino Crisis: "panic horror" (Butler, 2011, chap. 3, sec. 612) and "survival panic" (as seen in a magazine advertisement). Upon its release, Resident Evil 2 has been classified under "Horror/Action" by PlayStation Magazine ("Resident Evil 2", 1998, p. 58). Afterwards, by giving better controls and empowerment to the gamer, Resident Evil 4 (Capcom, 2005) has become a new landmark. For the French Gameplay RPG magazine, "Capcom practically invents a new video game genre, a sort of Action-Horror" (Fry & Philippe, 2007, p. 104, freely translated). This label would apply to many games subsequently, headed by Dead Space (Electronic Arts Redwood Shores Studio, 2008) and Mikami's The Evil Within (Tango Gameworks, 2014). The term "horror" even came to be replaced, as a reviewer was invoking the "survival action genre" (in Elliot, 2014, p. 59).

Current Use

Taking into account that a term or label remains both descriptive and confining, it is conducive to adjustments and reassessments. As I have just exemplified, "horror" has been attributed different qualities. The study of video games has tackled the multifariousness of the genre. In Videogames and Horror. From Amnesia to Zombies, Run!, Dawn Stobbart has divided horror video games into a few subgenres, taking care to note that "just as horror in other media cannot be contained into specific categories, neither can videogame horror" (2019, p. 27). Her classification is mainly based on fictional intertextual bearings insofar as, besides survival horror, she is talking about lovecraftian horror, supernatural horror, physical horror, splatter horror, slasher gaming and science fiction horror. Nonetheless, if not in direct affiliations, Stobbart has not forgotten to acknowledge the importance of specific video game genres:

Horror can appear in many genres of games, in terms of both mechanics and aesthetics. For example, the stealth and survival subgenres of action games lend themselves to horror, through their mechanical structure; . . . the shooter and fighter genres do also function well as a basis for a horror narrative . . . (2019, p. 27)

The focus of Joshua Bycer is to a greater degree oriented toward gameplay in Game Design Deep Dive: Horror (2022). More than survival horror and psychological horror, mentioned once, his main clusters are action horror, stealth horror, multiplayer horror and open-world horror in response to more contemporary approaches. What is more, Bycer has drawn attention to indie games in opposition to Triple-A ones, leading him to introduce the subgenre of "microhorror", inspired by the idea of a "microgame."

The beauty of microhorror has been allowing developers to experiment with a unique concept that may not be deep enough for a full-length game. There have been horror games built around driving, cooking, sleeping, golf, and dating, and I am sure just about any topic you could come up with. (2022, p. 88)

He gave as a paradigm The Dread X Collections (DreadXP et al., 2020); five games have been released in the series by 2022.

The connection between horror video games and films have been obvious because of the audiovisual nature of their support. However, this is another term that is as important and relevant to discuss about the genre and that cannot be forgotten. Like Tanya Krzywinska who has underscored the "gamification of the Gothic" (2015), Ewan Kirkland has recalled in Videogames and the Gothic:

Gothic culture provides easily identifiable repertoires of iconography, which games across genres can mobilise, including castles, mansions, derelict institutions, libraries, dungeons; imposing statues, suits of armour, ominous gilt-framed paintings, chests, leatherbound books, potions; zombies, bats, giant spiders, ghosts and goblins; swords; axes, arrows, dagger and perilous spikes descending from ceilings or emerging from below. . . . Game content is frequently themed, and Gothic genres demonstrably provide rich repositories of recognisable settings, objects and adversaries. (2021, pp. 19-20)

Adding "interactive agency and ludic control" to this repertoire allows for the generation of a "Gothic videogame experience" (2021, p. 12). Reflecting on the "Gothic Bloodlines in Survival Horror Gaming", Laurie N. Taylor has for her part introduced a new denomination to account for the linkage:

Ludic-gothic games are narrowly defined in relation to their processes and the operations of those processes in contrast to survival horror games which are based on horror and survival–-meaning focused on affect and on running instead of fighting for gameplay. (2009, p. 55)

The processes addressed concern the transgression and subversion of narrative and gameplay norms.

As for me (Perron, 2018), in regard to terminology, I have been speaking about "horror video games", "survival horror games" and "scary video games". Since "horror" is the term used in common cultural consensus, I used the first label to designate the overall body of works associated with this fiction genre. I referred to the second one to denote the specific type of third-person action-adventure games in line with Alone in the Dark and Resident Evil. Following the distinction initially made by Ann Radcliffe between horror and terror – a more imaginative and subtle anticipatory dread – I have branded Silent Hill and Fatal Frame (Tecmo, 2001) as "survival terror" (2012, p. 32). Finally, while I know that the adjective "scary" is less ubiquitous, buzzwordy or sanctioned by usage than "horror", I have preferred it. The reason lies in Richard Dansky's response to the question, "What, then, makes the writing of a horror game special?":

The answer is fear. The writer on a horror game has an added responsibility. In addition to supporting gameplay, creating an engaging story, and writing good dialogue, the horror game writer must help create and sustain a feeling of fear. And that means working with mood and tone in a way that can be different from other games. (2009, p. 115)

The psychological and physiological state of felt agitation in video games relies a great deal on the action tendencies of fear, which is more about fleeing and fighting than of horror per se which is detached or distanced from action. To stress the experience sought by the gamer, it makes a lot of sense to talk about "scary video games".

Conclusion

Using terms to describe a large and various body of works such as the one constituted by "horror" in video games – as well as in fiction in general – reveals both the perspective from which the genre is studied and the elements that one wants to bring into the forefront. Above all, this ultimately displays the spectrum of the experiences created by the genre.

Atari (1981). Haunted House. Atari. Atari 2600.

Atari (1984). Gremlins. Atari. Atari 2600.

Belka. E (1983). Carnival Massacre. Thorn EMI. Atari 8-bit.

Browning. T. (Director). (1931). Dracula. Universal Pictures.

Butler, M. (2011). Interactive Nightmares: A History of Video Game Horror, Kindle Edition.

Bycer, J. (2022). Game Design Deep Dive: Horror. CRC Press.

Capcom (1996). Resident Evil. Capcom. Sony PlayStation.

Capcom (1997). Resident Evil: Director's Cut. Capcom. Sony PlayStation.

Capcom (1998). Resident Evil 2. Capcom. Sony PlayStation.

Capcom (1999). Resident Evil 3: Nemesis. Capcom. Sony PlayStation.

Capcom (1999). Dino Crisis. Capcom. Sony PlayStation.

Capcom (2005). Resident Evil 4. Capcom. Nintendo GameCube.

"Carnival" (1984, June). Computer & Video Games, 32, 35-36.

Cheung, K. (1998, May). Resident Evil 2. Hyper, 55, 52-55.

Climax Graphics (1999). Blue Stinger. Activision. Sega Dreamcast.

Dansky, R. (2009). Writing for Horror Games. In W. Despain (ed.), Writing for Video Game Genres: From FPS to RPG (pp. 113-26). A. K. Peters.

DreadXP, Airdorf Games, Strange Scaffold, Scythe Dev Team, Secret Cow Level, Snowrunner Games, David Szymanski, Lovely Hellplace, Torple Dook, Wayward Preacher, oddbreeze, & Mahelyk (2020). The Dread X Collection. DreadXP. PC Windows.

"Dino Crisis" (1999, May). PSM, 3(21), 58-59.

Domark (1985). Friday the 13th: The Computer Game. Domark. Commodore 64.

Electronic Arts Redwood Shores Studio (2008). Dead Space. Electronic Arts. Sony PlayStation 3.

Electronic Dreams Software (1986). Aliens: The Computer Game. Software Studios. Commodore 64.

Elliot, M. (2014). The Evil Within. GamesMaster, 284, Christmas, 58-59.

Evans, M. (1981). 3D Monster Maze. J.K. Greye Software. Sinclair ZX81.

Florey, R. (Director). (1932). Murders in the Rue Morgue. Universal Pictures.

Freund, K. (Director). (1932). The Mummy. Universal Pictures.

Fry and Philippe (2007, January). "Mais où va donc le survival-horror?" Gameplay RPG, 102-105.

Grannell, C. (2006, May). The Making of Forbidden Forest. Retro Gamer, 25, 70-73.

Griffith. D.W. (Director). (1919). The Greatest Question. First National Pictures.

Horror Games (1975). Shark Jaws. Atari. Arcade.

I-Motion Inc. & Infogrames (1992). Alone in the Dark. Interplay. PC DOS.

Kirkland, E. (2021). Videogames and the Gothic. Routledge.

Krzywinska, T. (2015). Gamification of Gothic. In M. Fuchs (ed.), Diversity of Play (pp. 21-38). Meson Press. http://meson.press/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/978-3-95796-076-4-Diversity-of-Play.pdf

Norman, P. & Cosmi (1983). Forbidden Forest. Cosmi. Commodore 64.

Olivier (1996, July-August). Une ambiance démente pour au moins 10 heures d'aventure. Joypad, 55, 78-83.

Palace Software (1984). The Evil Dead. Palace Software. Commodore 64.

Perron, B. (2012). Silent Hill: The Terror Engine. Michigan University Press.

Perron, B. (2018). The World of Scary Video Games: A Study in Videoludic Horror. Bloomsbury.

Poe, E.A. (1841). Murders in the Rue Morgue. Graham's Magazine.

Radcliffe, A. (1794). The Mysteries of Udolpho, A Romance, Volume II. G.G. and J. Robinson.

"Resident Evil 2" (1998, February). PlayStation Magazine, 6, 58-65.

Rhodes, G.D. (2018). "Horror Film": How the Term Came to Be, MONSTRUM, 1(1), 89-11. https://www.monstrum-society.ca/uploads/4/1/7/5/41753139/rhodes_-_horror_film_-_monstrum_1.pdf

Sega AM7 (1998). Deep Fear. Sega Entreprise. Sega Saturn.

Shelley, M. (1818). Frankenstein. Lackington, Hughes, Harding, Mavor & Jones.

Stobbart, D. (2019). Videogames and Horror. From Amnesia to Zombies, Run! University of Wales Press.

Stoker, B. (1897). Dracula. Archibald Constable and Company.

Tango Gameworks (2014). The Evil Within. Bethesda. Sony PlayStation 3.

Taylor, L.N. (2009). Gothic Bloodlines in Survival Horror Gaming. In B. Perron (ed.), Video Games: Essays on the Fusion of Fear and Play (pp. 41-61). McFarland.

Team Silent (1999). Silent Hill. Konami. Sony PlayStation 2.

Tecmo (201). Fatal Frame. Tecmo. Sony PlayStation 2.

VSS (1983). The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Wizard Video Games. Atari 2600.

Waggner, G. (Director) (1941). The Wolf Man. Universal Pictures.

Whale, J. (Director) (1931). Frankenstein. Universal Pictures.

White S. (1983). Ant Attack. Quicksilva. ZX Spectrum.

Wizard Video Games (1983). Halloween. Atari. Atari 2600.

Worland, R. (2007). The Horror Film: An Introduction. Blackwell.

Yob, G. (1981). Hunt the Wumpus. Texas Instruments TI-99/4A.

Author Information

Bernard Perron is a Full Professor of Film and Game Studies at Université de Montréal. He has among others coedited The Video Game Theory Reader 1 & 2, The Routledge Companion to Video Games Studies and Video Games and the Mind. Essays on Cognition, Affect and Emotion. He has edited Horror Video Games: Essays on the Fusion of Fear and Play. He has also written Silent Hill: The Terror Engine and The World of Scary Video Games: A Study in Videoludic Horror. His research concentrates on video games, interactive cinema, horror genre, and on narration, cognition and the ludic dimension of narrative cinema. www.ludov.ca

Citation Information

Perron, B. (2022). Horror. In Grabarczyk, P. (ed.), Encyclopedia of Ludic Terms (Spring 2022 Edition). URL: https://eolt.org/articles/horror

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