Horror in Video Games

Horror, since the first developed mind had a nightmare, has been prevalent in any and all forms of art and media. Literature, film, music, fine art...all of these (and more) have been touched by fear. Unfortunately, we've come to a breaking point in film, as the horror genre in the US has become little more than cheap shock scares and remakes. Yet, at the same time, horror has found a new home in the video game market.

I'm a gamer. Have been my whole life. I remember my Commodore 64, my Atari 2600, my first NES, etc. I remember my youth as a mage/thief, sitting at a table, fighting alongside my friends against hordes of goblins and orcs. I remember ThAC0...

As horror in film becomes more and more tweenie (PG13 horror? If I start to even talk about this, I'm going to go on a rant and lose this post), horror in video games becomes a much more solid concept. Games like Bioshock and Left 4 Dead raise the bar of fun and excitement, in the horror genre, to levels that it could never be found in film.

The reason for this is immersion. You're not just looking through a window at some atrocious happening...you are in that happening. You control your destiny, you seal your fate.

I'd love to go on and on about horror games, about Resident Evil, Clock Tower, and Alone in the Dark. I'd love to talk about newer games, such as, the aforementioned, Left 4 Dead and Bioshock. I'd really love to talk about Silent Hill, with it's obvious homages to Session 9 and Jacob's Ladder...

...and I think I will.

Honestly, I spend more time playing games than watching films. So, I'm going to start incorporating game reviews and discussions about various franchises in gaming. I think I'm going to start with a review of a game that has grabbed me and my friends by the balls so much that we started a clan for it. A game that has people on forums crying for more DLC. A game that has revolutionized the concept of horror by simply not explaining itself...and that game is Left 4 Dead.