Horror in First-Person

Hello everyone, in celebration of Halloween today's blog post I will be focusing on how first-person perspective effects the scare factor and all around spookiness in video games.

First off, I believe there are three things that can make or break a horror game. One, is the general atmosphere of the game. Whether it be a ghost town during a zombie apocalypse or a silent hospital that is haunted, creating a tense situation is key to perfecting a scary situation. Two, is the simple use of jump scares. While yes people criticize them for being cheap gimmicks that are overused in horror (which they kind of are), they are also just as effective as others forms of scares. Even if you know they are coming, the constant feeling of something popping up and scaring you, is within itself scary. Third, is the use perspective.

Recently I played the entire story line of the "Dead Space" game series, and it didn't really come to mind until now. I was never scared once throughout the entire three video games, and they are known to be the scary sci-fi re-imagining of the resident evil franchise. Don't get me wrong there were plenty of spooky and spine chilling moments in my play-through, but not once did I ever freak out due to a scare. I was more worried about my ammo conservation then the killer alien/zombies on the ship. The reason why I believe I wasn't scared was because the game took place in a third-person perspective.

"Dead Space 3"

This is where my previous point comes into play. The different uses of perspective are a critical piece of any horror video game. In a third-person perspective you are given an over the shoulder view of your character. This gives you a wide view of everything your character sees and then some. With having the entire room in your field of view and a simple camera turn to look behind you, there comes a slight miss in the immersion factor. In a first-person perspective, your view is very limited. You are only able to see what is directly in front of you, and for you to see what is behind you, you would have to do a full 180 degree turn. In doing so, you create an opportunity for the game to pull off a jump scare when you turn back around. A semi-recent example of this would have to be in the "Outlast" series. The entirety of the game is taken place in a mental hospital full of deranged killers, and you the player are trying to escape. It takes place in first-person and the game makes full use out of that. Throwing jump scares, chase scenes, and hiding segments at you from the start, and it's your job to play the game using only your eyes and a night vision camera to see what's in front of you.

"Outlast"

I guess in short what I'm trying to say is that horror video games set in a first-person perspective are far more tense and terrifying due to your limited view and increased sense of immersion. It really adds to the atmosphere by decreasing what you can witness, and really emphasizes on those jump scares by getting in your face. 

Tell me what you guys think in the comments below. Do you agree with me that first-person adds to the spookiness in horror games, or do you think other perspectives give off a better vibe when it comes to horror? Also, in spirit of Halloween, tell me some good scary games to play for October. I've been wanting to expand my collection and would love to see what you guys suggest.