Gota's Blogs: 2014 - The Year that Gamers Wanted to Feel Vulnerable Again

[Gotakibono]

So, it's nearly December, and for me the final month of the year connotes many things: Cosy nights and short days; the inevitable growth of a winter beard; Christmas-induced panic shopping; beautifully drunken family dinners in which binge eating and drinking is the default setting; and as the year draws to the close, quiet reflection of the year gone by. 

 

 

And it's truly been a hell of a year when you sit back and look at it. I mean, this year alone a man-made spacecraft landed on a comet for the first time in history after an epic ten-year journey; another global pandemic struck as Ebola rampaged though the western countries of Africa; and the entire male population of the world masturbated in unison during 'The Fappening'. All three examples highlight vastly different attributes of humanity: Ingenuity, fragility, and our obsession with taking naked pictures of ourselves. This world of ours really is a strange, scary, masturbation-fuelled place to be, and the past year only added to that fact. 

 

The past year has also been a rather significant one in the gaming world (which is totally a real place by the way - I have pictures). A lot of shit has gone down, ranging all the way from "Gamer Gate" to the next-gen consoles transitioning into simply the current-gen. Also, more alarmingly it seems like releasing a broken game only to patch the hell out of it the week following release is so in right now. But on a personal level, perhaps the most surprising trend in the past year is the complete renaissance of the 'survival-horror' genre. Seriously, where the hell did that come from?

 

 

Now, I am a massive survival-horror fan - have been ever since the heady days of Silent Hill and Resident Evil 2 - so I'm not complaining about this sudden surge in its popularity at all.  I think I'm just confused and delighted in equal measure, resulting in an overabundance of suspicion and carefully subdued happiness. When you look back on the past decade, you can begin to understand my fears. During the PS3 era the genre was dead, minus little sporadic pulses of life in the form of the original Dead Space and precious few others. But don't let little signs of life fool you - it was still dead. It was more like the one last fart for the genre before rigamortis finally set in. Once heralded darlings of the genre Silent Hill and Resident Evil either faded into obscurity, or turned their back on their roots and not so much jumped the shark, but punched the fucking boulder right out of the volcano. It seemed that developers leaned away from the subtle, difficult, hauntingly tense atmospheres of survival-horror games, and instead gravitated towards big-action FPS games that usually relied purely on mindless gunfire, generic settings, prototypical protagonists and multiple explosions to form its atmosphere and core gameplay mechanics.

 

Gaming had changed, and no one wanted to feel vulnerable anymore. Survival horror is a genre famed for unrelenting difficulty, few save points, awkward camera placement that worried more about story-telling than fluid motion in game-play, and no regenerating health. It's a style of game that doesn't appeal to everyone, and as the years went by it seemed like it was becoming less and less appealing. The evolving market appeared to not want to be a victim in their games anymore, but a certified nigh on immortal badass instead. Resident Evil 2 at times could be the most frustratingly fun experience a young me could have; it was a game that I wanted to both throw out my window in anger and never stop playing. On harder difficulties getting to the end-credits felt like a hell of an achievement. Gamers didn't want that type of experience anymore. The seventh generation of consoles had a core group of customers who just wanted to have fun and not have to worry about carefully rationing the amount of supplies or bullets they had left.  

 

 

Games like Call of Duty and Grand Theft Auto were at the forefront of the market saturated with first-person shooters and free-roaming 3rd-person-shooters. They were critically acclaimed and lapped up by the public. They offered players the chance to be a rampaging mass muderer with unlimited ammo and supplies, or be a heroic war veteran whose constant checkpoints made sure that he spawns no more than two feet away from where he bit the bullet. Linear, slow-burning games were seen as archaic. If you weren't killing everything around you without breaking a sweat, then you weren't having fun. If the game didn't have regenerating health or an infinite bandolier of ammo, then it just wasn't fun. Such games were ubiquitous in the industry. But, just as suddenly as the genre of survival-horror croaked, it appears to have been sparked back into life.

 

The renaissance of survival-horror can be explained simply: Games became too easy. People want something different from the badass status quo. The tension just isn't the same if you're the one that's an almighty killing machine, The market is crying out for games that generate a palpable sense of fear, dread and tension; a game that makes the player panic and feel sacred - a game that makes them feel vulnerable. That's why I believe that survival-horror games have come back into fashion in the manner they have. Let me quickly rhyme off just a few of the survival-horror games released this year: Alien: Isolation, Outlast: Whistleblower, The Evil Within, Daylight, State of Decay: Lifeline, Damned, Among the Sleep, and Five Nights at Freddy's. That's more top quality survival-horror games in one year that we've been treated to in seven years. It's certainly a surprise reverse of fortunes for the genre that's been crying out for such quality for a quite some time. 

 

 

In saying that, the one game that truly captured the minds of people this year was P.T., the playable demo of the new Silent Hill. Playthroughs, discussions and excitement for the game swept across the gaming world (seriously, I'll show you the pictures if you still don't believe it exists) and showed the value of being vulnerable. Sure, sometimes it's awesome to be the hunky, muscular hero or heroine that doesn't understand death or vulnerability and always has a catalogue of witty one-linears, but don't underestimate the power of fear and subtlety of tone when placed in the shoes of a under-supplied, weak, scared protagonist. After years of more and more elaborate ways of killing in gaming, we now appear to be entering an era that wants to feel what it's like to merely survive.

 

Maybe this is just a fad that'll pass, and I can't let myself to believe that developers will continue to pour money into a variety of different genres of games, especially since risky ventures are proving ever more costly. But in this crazy world all you can do is hope. A market that values variety of products is only a good thing, and I firmly believe that survival-horror's back where it belongs: Scaring the absolute shit out of people. 

Edited November 26, 2014 by Gotakibono

[funboy1246]

the resurgance of survival horror popularityis a welcome one in my opinon, game genres are like clothes. whats trending today may be so five minutes ago tomorrow. well written arcticle btw. cudos to you.   :yay:      

[Memnoch]

As always an awesome read, although tainted by a lack of photographic proof of the gaming world, only promises...

I think you hit the nail on the head when you said people want easy games and regenerating health these days. Silent hill was released in a time when even Fps had more human heros (albeit them taking 20 bullets and not getting a sweat as soon as they put a bandage on their arm)

However if they do want to succeed in releasing horror games again, the controls cant stay as clunky as they were in the day. I'm all for realism, and the geek who finds himself knee deep in blood without any idea what is happening is the best protagonist they could use, but not walking in an invisible box.

[antithesis]

What is this "The Fappening" you speak so fondly of?

[Dreakon13]

I'm not sure "Five Nights at Freddy's"and "top quality survival-horror games" should really be in the same thought.  At least not listed in the same vein as Alien: Isolation or Outlast.  It's a clever spin on the genre, sure... but it's a student project with about 15 minutes of actual gameplay.

 

That one notable aside, that was an interesting read!  Thanks for sharing.

 

 

What is this "The Fappening" you speak so fondly of?

 

Hacked iCloud photos.  Naked celebrities.  Lots of them, without their consent for public consumption.

Edited November 26, 2014 by Dreakon13

[Xxleonardo97xX]

Punching boulders into a volcano 

[Happy]

 All three examples highlight vastly different attributes of humanity: Ingenuity, fragility, and our obsession with taking naked pictures of ourselves.

I'd like to keep that quote around, i feel like i might have need of it.

 

As far as the revival of the survival horror genre goes, i guess it's at least partially related to indie titles becoming more influential. You see, the heads of the industry like to decide things. At some point, Square Enix decided that nobody wanted to see turn-based battle systems in RPGs anymore. Then Bravely Default turned out to be successful and they were surprised it was, because they themselves had previously decided that it wouldn't. Now that indie horror games saw more and more attention, they probably saw the demand coming back even though it hadn't ever really left. I'm having problems finding the words to describe exactly what i mean, Jim Sterling described it rather well regarding the topic of Bravely Default and i find the argument can be carried over to this particular scenario rather well.

 

Good read as usual.

Edited November 26, 2014 by HappyKastanie

[Gotakibono]

As always an awesome read, although tainted by a lack of photographic proof of the gaming world, only promises...

 

Here's all the proof you need: 

 

 

What is this "The Fappening" you speak so fondly of?

 

I have no idea what you're talking about. 

 

I'm not sure "Five Nights at Freddy's"and "top quality survival-horror games" should really be in the same thought.  At least not listed in the same vein as Alien: Isolation or Outlast.  It's a clever spin on the genre, sure... but it's a student project with about 15 minutes of actual gameplay.

 

That one notable aside, that was an interesting read!  Thanks for sharing.

 

I agree with you, but it certainly used tension and a sense of dread very effectively, even if it's only in 15 minute bursts. 

[antithesis]

What is this "The Fappening" you speak so fondly of?

I have no idea what you're talking about.

and the entire male population of the world masturbated in unison during 'The Fappening'.

My mistake...no...what? 

[Gotakibono]

 

My mistake...no...what? 

 

 

Hmm, it seems that I made a series of very coherent typos that joined together to form a sentence. 

[Beyondthegrave07]

The best adjective you've ever used, Gota... Masterbated-fuelled! Lol.

[BlueFireReaper]

Once heralded darlings of the genre Silent Hill and Resident Evil either faded into obscurity, or turned their back on their roots and not so much jumped the shark, but punched the fucking boulder right out of the volcano.

 

Was that sentence intending to reference Resident Evil 5? Because if it did, you just made my day from that.

[Gotakibono]

Was that sentence intending to reference Resident Evil 5? Because if it did, you just made my day from that.

 

Yep, glad you got the reference!