One fundamental issue plaguing horror games today.

As a sort of addendum to what I said yesterday, I feel that the survival-horror genre in video gaming has stagnated and in recent years has failed to produce any really new or noteworthy titles. Part of the reason that I think this is the case centers around a lack of evolution in the genre. Alone in the Dark and Resident Evil pioneered the genre by crafting the game play to fit horror fiction, limiting the players ammunition, combat abilities and movement. It is because of these gameplay elements the player is frightened; he or she is unable to adequately deal with every threat they face as a player, regardless of personal skill.

Video games were created with the intention to be beaten, solved, defeated. Every enemy encounter in the games of today are intended to be beaten by the player, despite different games offering varying difficulty in the vanquishing of its foes. As a game player, one begins to recognize this pattern almost immediately, regardless of what game is being played, and even the most difficult, challenging, and frightening enemies soon become mere obstacles that stand in the way of complete game victory.

For survival horror games to succeed, they need to begin by offering player incentive to something other than beat the game. Perhaps this can be achieved by alternate endings, but in my own experience alternate endings only frustrate when one does not receive the ending they wanted. I have not played the recently released Amnesia, but I am under the impression that title has no combat whatsoever, and attempts to reward the player who seeks to immerse himself in the experience,  rather than straight-shoot towards the end game. The game's goal is survival, not victory, so objective-focused gamers are not robbed of a quality horror experience by adhering to what the game asks of the player; total helplessness.

I might come back and edit this post later, but for now I will leave it as is. Also expect to see reviews on this page quite soon. Currently I am working on Valkyria Chronicles for ps3.