Enter the World of Survival Horror

When most people think of survival horror, the Resident Evil franchise will almost undoubtedly spring to mind; like a licker pouncing through a police station window, but without the girlish screams. Indeed, it was Capcom that first coined the phrase in 1996 to market the release of Resident Evil. Whilst the iconic series has become synonymous with the genre, it was heavily influenced by its predecessors, such as Sweet Home and Alone in the Dark. But the very first and oft forgotten 3D survival horror game dates back to 1982 with 3D Monster Maze on the Sinclair ZX81; the first 3D game for a home computer.

 

The premise the game is built on forms the basic fundamentals of the survival horror genre. The player is dropped into a randomly generated maze, inside which a T. Rex is on the prowl. The beast is lying in wait somewhere in the maze and the objective is to escape. The T. Rex anxiety level communicates the monsters location in relation to the player in a menacing barrage of statements such as: REX LIES IN WAIT and HE IS HUNTING FOR YOU, progressing to the alarming FOOTSTEPS APPROACHING, the heart stopping REX HAS SEEN YOU and the terrifying RUN! HE IS BEHIND YOU. Not exactly underwear soiling by todays standards but nevertheless, all of the ingredients that make up a survival horror game are present, though in a very primitive form. 

Firstly we have our vulnerable protagonist, isolated in an environment which is essentially puzzle-orientated. Second, we have our monster, which the player must avoid whilst traversing the maze. A confrontation results in death or running away; albeit in a very manly fashion I’m sure. And there we have the bare bones of what constitutes a survival horror game. This has evolved over time; the player, whilst still underpowered, is given skills, weapons and items. Although the latter are always in limited supply and the player must manage their inventory to ensure their survival.

 Both Haunted House, released in 1981 on the Atari 2600 and Sweet Home released in 1989 for the NES incorporated all of these additional features. Sweet Home was related to a Japanese horror movie of the same name but was never released outside of Japan. The player controls a party of characters, each with their own unique abilities. The game is set in a haunted mansion and the player has a limited inventory of items to utilise as they try to escape. And have I mentioned the loading screen that depicts an image of a door opening? Sound familiar? Yes, we’ve all seen it before (or should that be after) in Resident Evil. Sweet Home was the inspiration for the Resident Evil series and as Capcom was the developer and publisher, it’s no surprise that they borrowed heavily from it. As a quick aside, one of the characters wields a camera that can be used to inflict damage on some enemies. Could this have been the conception of the idea for Temco’s Project Zero, quietly gestating for 12 years...well it’s no Duke Nukem so it probably wasn’t picked up instantaneously, waiting over a decade for its moment to shine but it certainly could’ve provided the inspiration! 

 Alone in the Dark, released in 1992, was the next milestone in terms of its contribution to the genre. In addition to the already established staples, Alone in the Dark used pre-rendered 2D backgrounds overlaid with 3D graphics to create tense cinematic camera angles, heavy with suspense.  Resident Evil 2 was the first survival horror game I played and the use of the horror movie style camera angles to reveal the first licker in the game was genius. I was terrified. The suspense of knowing that something was lying in wait that I couldn’t avoid was oddly overwhelming. Alone in the Dark also implemented the mechanic of storytelling through notes and books littered throughout the game, which is a feature now commonly seen today in the likes of Bioshock, Alan Wake and of course the Resident Evil franchise.

Konami’s Silent Hill released in 1999 revamped the survival horror genre by adopting a more psychological approach than its visceral predecessors. Temco’s Fatal Frame (Project Zero in Europe and Australia) released in 2001 and Sony’s Forbidden Siren released in 2003 followed suit, with a style that had more in common with Japanese horror films than the Western gore fest. 

However, the winds of change once more breathed a new lease of life into the survival horror formula with The Thing in 2002 and Doom 3 in 2004. Western Developers put more emphasis on action in these titles and the player was given an armoury with which to stave off the horrors that go bump in the night. 2005’s Resident Evil 4 confirmed the trend and the clunky controls and vulnerable protagonist that defined the genre became a thing of the past.

 

This begs the question as to whether survival horror can be classified as such anymore. Has the Western approach killed off all that made the genre what it was? Or have the games simply had to adapt to today’s audience in order to survive in the market? Whilst the clunky controls, limited inventory and cinematic camera angles had their uses, perhaps gamers today have become impatient and dissatisfied with what could be considered severely stunted game play; especially when compared to the more popular titles to be found on our shelves, such as Call of Duty, Bioshock and other more action orientated titles. 

With that in mind, we’re once again witnessing unique offerings to the genre in the form of Alan Wake and Dead Space.  Both titles incorporated action but it can’t be denied that both created tense, suspenseful atmospheres that got our hearts racing. It must be love! They both received great critical acclaim but experienced disappointing sales. However, I believe that titles like this are the future of survival horror. Game play has to be revolutionised in order to avoid becoming dated. Whilst Resident Evil has pretty much abandoned the genre in its entirety, we can at least be comforted by the fact that we can still have the bejesus scared out of us with newer titles.

 If however, you're yearning for a taste of the past, you may be interested to know that Atari’s Haunted House made its debut on XBLA this week. If on the other hand, you’re craving something new and refreshing, why not give Deadly Premonition a whirl. The game is a mixture of survival horror and detective story and was released in the first quarter of this year in North America and Japan and was released this week in Europe. Whilst not graphically magnificent, the story sounds intriguing and most definitely new! This has provoked mixed reviews, with IGN bestowing a lowly 2/10 and Eurogamer a slightly more lofty 7/10. 

With the death of traditional survival horror, the field is open to new interpretation and that’s certainly what we’re getting with Twin Peaks inspired, super natural Alan Wake, Sci-fi Dead Space and now detective gone crazy Deadly Premonition. It’s no surprise that the market is slow to embrace change but change is sorely needed.