THE IMPACT OF HORROR GAMES

Five Nights at Freddy’s, also known as FNAF, was first released on August 8th, 2014. But it was to be followed by many other releases in the future. FNAF is a horror game based around you playing as a night guard watching 4 main animatronics until 6 am that were made in the 80s but were left to rot. But the more nights you watch over, the more the animatronics start to act weird. They start to move. The first one to move is Bonnie, a blue or many others speculated as a purple bunny. The second one to move is Chica, a yellow chicken. On the third night, Foxy comes out. Foxy is a red fox, and he's the fastest animatronic so you have to keep an eye on the pirate cove. Freddy is the main animatronic. He is a brown bear and does not move often. Freddy shows up when you don't make it until 6 am. Once in a blue moon if you get lucky you’ll encounter Golden Freddy. FNAF is a very popular game, and it became even more popular when theories on the lore (knowledge or belief) started to surface. There is so much lore to this franchise. Someone who made the lore into what it is was MatPat, also known as Game Theory. The first theory on FNAF that MatPat did was 9 years ago, on October 23rd, 2014 which is titled “Game Theory: Five Nights at Freddy’s SCARIEST Monster is You!” which reached 32 Million views.

Resident Evil was released on March 22nd, 1996. This was just the beginning of many other Resident Evil games to be added to the franchise. Players choose if they want to play as Chris Redfield or Jill Valentine. Both characters are part of the S.T.A.R.S. Police Department. The game takes place on July 24th, 1998. The characters get chased into an abandoned mansion, and you as the player slowly uncover the secrets of the mansion, and why these creatures are roaming around. You also start to uncover what started this virus known as the ‘T-virus’ which is a huge part of the many other games in the franchise. Throughout the other Resident Evil games you play many characters but mainly Chirs Redfield, Jill Valentine, Leon S. Kennedy, Ethan Winters, and many more but those are the most popular/frequent.

The first installment of the series (released February 23, 1999) follows the protagonist “Harry Mason” as he searches for his missing daughter in the mysterious town of Silent Hill. Silent Hill was so popular that it was given the title of one of PlayStation's greatest hits (in America). The series has sold millions of copies for each game, making millions of dollars with it. The series, however, may take hundreds of hours to complete (with the Silent Hill HD Collection already taking 10-30 hours of that for only 2 games).

Doki Doki Literature Club (abbreviated as DDLC) is a Visual Novel Dating Simulator set in a stereotypical after-school club (as the title suggests, a literature club). You’re given four girls to romance and see them open up to you as you play. Released on September 22, 2017, the game has always been extremely popular, even in its first month of release. The game still gets many good reviews and an almost obsessive sort of following on social media for its characters. The game is completely free to play, but the remake (Doki Doki Literature Club Plus) has an estimated 5.9 million dollar revenue on Steam. DDLC is expected to take around 4-30+ hours to complete depending on which objectives you are going for and how much of the game you are rushing.

When FNAF was released in 2014, it greatly impacted the indie horror game scene. Many other games were inspired by the horror games' design and elements. The deep lore that is embedded into the game. Taking childhood items like toys and playgrounds and adjusting and twisting them in disturbing ways. The impact on the jumpscares. FNAF used a different type of jumpscare than other horror games, many horror games used ghosts, zombies, and psychopaths to jumpcare the player while FNAF used animotronics. FNAF released numerous books, spinoffs, and many other games. FNAF’s dark world has left a mark on indie horror games. The game inspired many other games to follow in FNAF’s great success. 

Fnaf 4 Hoolihan, Hannah. “How to Play the Five Nights at Freddy’s Games in Chronological Order.” IGN, 24 Oct. 2023, https://www.ign.com/articles/fnaf-games-in-order.

“Resident Evil 3.” IGN, https://www.ign.com/games/resident-evil-3. Accessed 5 Dec. 2023.

It was a very popular game when it first came out making over 5 million sales, it was an international best-seller, and Resident Evil became PlayStation’s highest-selling game when it was released. Resident Evil has grown so much throughout the years and impacted the horror game community greatly. Resident Evil introduced and inspired many other games with survival horror and third-person genres. Resident Evil inspired the idea of the ‘over the shoulder’ perspective that gave players better control of firearms. Resident Evil inspired many other great games in the future like The Last of Us, Dead Space, and Gears of War.

Silent Hill was hugely popular for its horrific atmosphere and psychological horror. For a game so old, it is a very obvious inspiration for many future games after it (like Alan Wake, The Evil Within 2, and Infliction). Silent Hill is widely regarded as a horror masterpiece for the weight the game had on the industry. The eeriness makes your spine crawl and lets the player be fully emersed in the experience. People also love the character design, especially with the modern trend of "dressing like a horror game protagonist," (Silent Hill being shown in these video trends). Many can’t understand its ending at first, but it makes you think once you fully understand the weight of it, impacting the player for times to come.

“Silent Hill.” Plugged In, https://www.pluggedin.com/movie-reviews/silenthill/. Accessed 5 Dec. 2023.

Hersko, Tyler. “‘Doki Doki Literature Club Plus!’ Review: The Best Way to Play the Indie Horror Gem.” IndieWire, 2 July 2021, https://www.indiewire.com/features/commentary/doki-doki-literature-club-plus-review-indie-horror-game-1234648204/.

DDLC started an entire rave for itself back in 2017 and is still held dear to many people's hearts to this day. (Spoiler warning) With its effective use of twists, unique file mechanics, and horrific imagery, it was an easy start for many adolescents at the time to get into horror. The main girls are also very popular, each having their own quirks that players adore. It’s easy to say that this game had a lot of impact on players with its depressing themes, making you want to play over and over again just so you can find a happy ending, or see what you could have done differently. Its cute exterior and dark theming changed the industry’s fandom for the better and hopefully will inspire many more “cute yet gorey” games.