Tokyo Game Show proved developers are taking horror seriously again

In case you hadn’t noticed from our coverage of this year’s Tokyo Game Show, there’s one genre that will be making a serious comeback over the next 12 months: horror.

Over the last few years many traditional horror franchises have become less about horror and more about action. Let’s take the classic survival horror series Resident Evil as an example. In 1996, the original Resident Evil shocked the world with graphic violence, creepy settings, and zombies galore. But by 2012 the industry was in agreement  with Jim Sterling that Resident Evil 6 had “abandoned any pretense of the survival horror genre” in favor of Hollywood-style action.

And Resident Evil isn’t the only example. Shorter-lived series Dead Space steadily abandoned hardcore horror for more action-based gameplay. Even the once-beloved Silent Hill franchise’s recent releases seem sub-par. Especially with off-track entries like the non-horror PS Vita dungeon crawler Book of Memories and the disappointing Silent Hill: Downpour. The less said about the awful Silent Hill: HD Collection (which was so buggy that Xbox 360 players got refunds) the better. It seemed the industry had put horror out to pasture and was content squeezing the last drops of money from formerly beloved franchises.

Then in 2011 Amnesia: Dark Descent (Amnesia) was released. Amnesia showed the industry that gamers do want to be scared, and if they aren’t getting it from big releases they will get their thrills elsewhere. It feels like triple-A development has finally caught up, and come out swinging. The big boys of horror are back in town, and they’ve brought some new faces along for the ride.

The next generation of horror

In one terrifying section at the Sony booth Resident Evil Revelations 2,  Bloodborne, and Psychobreak (known in Western countries as The Evil Within) all sat in one intimidating row. Each of them has in some way linked itself to the horror genre, and all represent significant developments in the industry’s handling of the genre.

Games in Asia’s own Thomas Price noted that Capcom’s latest Resident Evil, Resident Evil Revelations 2, is “strongly reminiscent of Resident Evil 4,” arguably the last truly terrifying game in the series. Revelations 2 marks a console return to form for the Resident Evil franchise, focusing on ammo conservation, zombie-dodging, and lots of jump-scares. Sure, the plot might not be shockingly original, but the gameplay and horror are there to entice fans who may have strayed from the series. While not exactly innovative, Resident Evil is making a wise choice in going back to basics, as I have said before.

(See:Resident Evil Revelations 2 preview: is the series back on track?)

Bloodborne, like From Software’s previous Dark Souls series, clearly focuses on combat above all else, but the developer was keen to call attention to the horror elements. He commented on the setting, character designs, and sound effects, all of which were designed to give Bloodborne a more “horror” feel than the Dark Souls series—and it works.