Horror genre has been one of the longest running genres to date. This article will look at horror genre in gaming in general which is both Survival and Psychological horror.  This will be a three part article which will look at the history and changes it has been going through from the ages and the outlook of what it might become in the future. So then let’s begin… to the past and beginnings.

Survival horror was technically first to begin the horror genre in gaming. Games like ‘Haunted House’ in 1972 from the Magnavox Odyssey and ‘Haunted House’ from Atari 2600 in 1981. Both are completely different versions and do not have anything to do with each other but, both are the true makers of horror in gaming. Let’s look into both of these a little bit… ‘Haunted House’ for the Magnavox Odyssey was a simple board game on the television back in the 70’s.   It wasn’t the greatest horror game but, it had all the elements to be a horror game from having; a haunted mansion, clues/puzzles, ghost, and most important a hero. This formula would soon be added to games that we have played many times before. On the other hand ‘Haunted House’ on the Atari 2600 was simple and straight to the point. The point of this version was to find an urn and escape before you get hit nine times from elements of horror(Bugs and Ghost) This would leave the player on screen to just have a pair of eyes in complete darkness. ‘Haunted House’ for the Atari 2600 also had an inventory system and a high difficulty setting for later levels. This too would be used for future horror games.

On to the 80’s in which, horror genre itself was starting to get in a cult classic feel. Games like ‘Uninvited’ and ‘Sweet Home’ were some of the horror games release in the mid and late 80’s. ‘Uninvited’ was made for almost every system and computers back in the day. ‘Uninvited’ was more or less the first to add a story element in horror genre. The main focus of ‘Uninvited’ is to find your younger brother inside a haunted/abandon mansion. ‘Uninvited’ has all the elements for a survival horror game, for one it has an inventory system, maps, first person layout view of the room your are in, text to see the event taking place, and finally actions to perform. Before gaming was starting to take a new form in the 3^rd dimension, there was one final survival horror game that came out for that time. This game would not see the light of day in North America or Europe and would soon lead into a game call ‘Resident Evil’ from CAPCOM. This game is called ‘Sweet Home’ for the Famicom and release in 1989, both developed and published by CAPCOM.  ‘Sweet Home’ was related to a Japanese horror film by the same name.  ‘Sweet Home’ follows five characters, in which they enter the mansion and soon the door locks behind them. The group soon finds out that the very owner of the house, haunts it and soon they have to fight and solve puzzles to stay alive. Same as the other games in the past, it follows the same formula and also has a RPG element mixed in. Each character has their own set of strengths and weaknesses, along with an inventory system, the ability to heal and revive others, different endings, combat, and more. ‘Sweet Home’ was one of the survival horror games that would change the genre for the next generation to come, for better or worst.

The early, mid, and late 90’s were all about the 3^rd dimension for gaming. Out with the old and in with the new. Let kick thing off with ‘Alone in the Dark’ and it was the first survival horror title to use some of the same feature found in ‘Sweet Home.’ ‘Alone in the Dark’ was release in 1992 by Infogrames for DOS. The plot centered on an unexplained suicide in the Louisiana mansion Derceto, in which a private investigator Edward Carnby and Emily Hartwood the niece of the suicide victim. These two characters must find out what is happening and the cause of the victim’s suicide before the darkness takes over them. ‘Alone in the Dark ‘ sets the benchmark in survival horror in the 90’s for the first to use the 3^rd dimension, fixed cinematic camera angles and to enhance some of the same elements from ‘Sweet Home.’ The protagonist the player selected must go thought the mansion to solve puzzles, fight gruesome monsters, and most important survive. After taking elements from past horror games ‘Alone in the Dark’ provided an experience that no one has ever thought would happen. ’Alone in the Dark’ has a gripping story, fast-paced action, scary environment, and the method of “not being able to make the ordeal alive.” One game that has never been talked about much would be ‘The 7^th guest.’ ‘The 7^th Guest’ was developed by Trilobyte and was release in 1993 on MS-DOS, and CD-I. This horror game was the first to use the CD-ROM, 3D pre-rendered graphics and the use of adult content. ‘The 7^th Guest’ was a hit but, not many people talk about it as much. Yet, again the game follow the same formula of using a haunted mansion, solving puzzles, and a gripping story.

Finally, ‘Resident Evil’ was release in 1996 by CAPCOM on the Playstation, and Sega Saturn. Resident Evil took a lot of the same elements from ‘Sweet Home’ and just added a twist to them. The RPG side was taken out and replace with real time combat, and now there are only two characters to choose from.  They did keep the scary mansion, puzzle solving, and the need to survive. ‘Sweet Home’ wasn’t the only game they got idea from. ‘Alone in the Dark’ camera angles would be also added to ‘Resident Evil’ along with the new virus/zombie outbreak story, ability to heal yourself, advance combat, and detailed creatures. ‘Resident Evil’ would also have its moments of adrenaline rush and scary events. ‘Resident Evil’ would also have a backstory to fill in the gaps with notes and memos inside the mansion, and a map system to track the player’s movements. ‘Resident Evil’ would soon spawn sequels, a prequel, remakes, and a movie adaptation.  ‘Resident Evil’ was a great success in the horror genre and more would follow in its footsteps… “You now entered the world of Survival Horror… Good Luck.”

‘Silent Hill’ would soon change the horror genre into a subgenre of its own called psychological horror. ‘Silent Hill’ would take the ideas of ‘Resident Evil’, and past horror games to make it, as its own unique subgenre in gaming. ‘Silent Hill’ was release in 1999 by Konami and Team Silent for Sony’s Playstation. ‘Silent Hill’ would be a great success on its own accord. It had a great, detailed story, in-depth scary environment that will chill you to the bone, difficult puzzles, and decent combat. Silent Hill would soon spawn its own series of games like ‘Resident Evil’ which included sequels, prequels, remakes, and a movie adaption. Silent Hill would follow a dad named Harry Mason, who is trying to search for his lost daughter. Harry must soon then solve puzzles, and fight chilling creatures to find the person he loves and protects. The town of Silent Hill has its own life and feels the darkness and terrible past it holds. Silent Hill also had unique gameplay element s like the radio, fatigue and open world gameplay. The radio would let the player know if the enemy is nearby and fatigue would affect Harry in many ways like; running and attacking. Silent Hill would let the player explore the town of Silent Hill, by letting the player run on the street of Silent Hill. The player can enter different buildings, find items that would not be on the main path, secrets, and more on what is happening to the town of Silent Hill. Silent Hill would also use a map system, inventory, and the player can find weapons, notes, memos, clues, and more. Silent Hill would soon leave its print on being one of the scariest games to date.

This concludes part one of the” Horror genre in Gaming: Past, Present and Future.” The next episode will talk about the present from 2000 to 2010 and how things have change since the 1990’s and below. What new games came out, what new styles and gameplay elements changed, and is horror genre losing its touch? (NOTE: Some games I did not list for many reasons like: Dino Crisis, Fear Effect and others due to the fact they have the same formula of Resident Evil, or other games. Hope you understand, and Thank you for reading and support for this article.)