Developers diving into the realm of horror have always followed a few specific guidelines if they ever hoped to create a successful game. These guidelines, such as minimal amounts of health and ammo, grotesque enemies (whether it is due to their physical features or their actions) who remain hidden until the opportune moment and creepy, claustrophobic areas that build heart-pounding tension, are all very important in creating a terrifying experience for the player.
However, if there is one rule that has been applied to almost every single horror video game in the history of the industry, it’s isolation. Our survival horror protagonists have almost always gone through their adventure alone.
Why is that? Well, the answer is simple: isolation is a scary thought. Very few people want to be alone which is why this tactic is used so often by developers. The sense of dread increases immensely when a player realizes they don’t have anyone to speak with or back them up.
This is why players have rarely seen a survival horror game feature any type of cooperative mode. Ever since the rise of the genre began with the releases of the original Resident Evil and Silent Hill this formula has, for the most part, stayed the same due to its proven success.
Unfortunately, this has also engrained in many minds the belief that video games cannot be scary if there’s cooperative mode. I simply don’t accept that. After years of gaming (and my recent play through of ObsCure), I think such a feat, with the appropriate amount of time effort and money, is entirely possible.
As I mentioned earlier, there are several guidelines developers, consciously or unconsciously, follow. Yet this is an age of innovation. Rehashing the same video time and time again (unless it’s a sports franchise) is a surefire way to kill a series. This is why developers take these guidelines into account, and then mix and match what they want to use.
Take Resident Evil 4 for example. It contains grotesque enemies and creepy areas, but in no way does it have a lack of ammo or health for the player to use. Even though the game throws enough provisions at the player to supply a small army, it’s probably the most successful game in the franchise!
Developers have altered or removed whatever they felt necessary in order to create a good game countless times. What does this all mean? It means that, no matter the genre, not every guideline, rule or feature from previous games is needed to make a successful game.
So, why exactly is going solo a must for survival horror?
“Games can’t be scary if you’re playing with someone else.” I’ve heard this quote said and written many times in many different ways but I don’t agree with those who stand by this. Let’s take a quick look at films.
Horror films have almost never presented a solo act; and I only write almost because I haven’t seen every horror film out there so please let me know if one exists because I’d love to see it. Instead, they focus on a group of two or more people trying to survive the evil that pursues them. Take a look at these examples: Halloween, Friday the 13th, Evil Dead, 28 Days Later, [REC], Paranormal Activity, etc.
The point I’m trying to make is that many people still found these films scary even though the characters were never alone until the latter moments of them. Even most of us were with family or friends when we watched those films! Why can’t that synchronized feeling of terror be replicated in a video game? Is it because it simply can’t be reproduced, or do collective minds refuse the possibility due to the changing of a well-structured formula?
Yes, I do understand that films are a different form of entertainment than video games, but video games are interactive! In some ways, it should be easier to recreate that terror since it is us being placed in those horrific moments.
Of course, a project such as cooperative survival horror would be no easy task. It also doesn’t help that the few video games that do support this feature are far from shining examples of how to properly pull it off; Dead Space 3 and Resident Evil 6 being the most recent examples. Even though I don’t agree with them, it's because of these games I understand why people believe cooperative survival horror can’t exist.
The major problem with those games in regards to this topic is that survival horror was not the focus. People claim cooperative play as a contributor to the fall of survival horror in these games but that is not entirely the case. Instead of survival, the developers placed intense action on the forefront.
How can a couple of people be terrified of encroaching enemies when they’re given powerful weapons with endless amounts of ammo and a health bar the size of a zombie’s appetite? That’s not surviving, that’s obliterating all opposition.
Another problem with these games, in terms of survival horror (because I do enjoy these games for what they are), is the amount of enemies thrown at the player. Seriously, the amount borders on ridiculous. While playing Dead Space 3, there was one part when I yelled at the game, “Are you done yet?! Can I move to the next area? Oh, of course not; there’s another three waves of enemies I have to fight!”
When you see the same enemies over and over and over again they lose their original scare factor. This is where games such as Amnesia: The Dark Descent succeed in more ways than one. Even though the game boasts just a few different types of enemies, players only run into them on rare occasions. This makes each confrontation absolutely terrifying.
Adding to this development of fear is the fact that players are defenseless. An encounter with these monsters creates instant panic as players sprint towards a hiding spot and praying they weren’t spotted.
If these concepts were incorporated into a cooperative survival horror adventure, I believe it would flourish. Hear (read) me out as I suggest an idea about a two player cooperative survival horror adventure that has the capability of being a success.
Imagine two players adventuring the dark halls of a mansion; please excuse me for the cliché. The two of them must work together, solving puzzles and finding specific items to progress further into the mouth of madness. The eerie, distant sounds inch closer; the two know they’re being watched. Suddenly, the evil, tormented being appears. The two players, defenseless, must seek some sort of shelter from the terrifying soul pursuing them. Unfortunately, only one makes it to a hiding spot. The other gets cornered, shouting for help but to no avail. Then… silence. Now the surviving player, accustomed to partnership, is now truly alone increasing the sense of dread by tenfold.
It’s a very basic concept, and there are many kinks that would need to be worked out; an example being communication. Allowing players to communicate freely would give them the means to converse about tangent topics which could diminish the tension the atmosphere is attempting to build. On the other hand, restricting communication (à la Resident Evil: Outbreak) can lead to a barrier between players resulting in a loss of teamwork and strategy.
Either way, I believe that somewhere out there is a company who can create an amazing cooperative survival horror experience. I highly doubt any AAA company would ever be able to create something like this since publishers have their hands tied. This leaves it in the hands of indie developers who have the freedom to create what they choose.
Accomplishing a feat like this would be difficult, and they would need to start small before working to a larger project; somewhere around the size of Slender. Nonetheless, I believe they have the ability and the creativity to develop a cooperative survival horror game worthy of recognition.
I understand that for many of you the idea is still hard to believe. Although the odds of something like this working out favorably are slim, I hope to open your minds to its possibilities and the fun that it would (or wouldn’t) be. If the proper amount of time and effort are put into making a co-op survival horror game—that follows the guidelines which have helped fashion many other horror franchises—I think it could be a monumental achievement for the genre.
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