![]() The power of puzzle solving in horror media was broken wide open by the now uber-famous film franchise Saw. But I believe what thinking about puzzles in a horror game can do for us is to get us to consider the authorial intentions of a piece of media, and how those intentions in themselves can have implications for how we experience that media, beyond just how they’re translated into the content itself. Survival horror allows us to examine the particular relationship between developer and player that takes place in the genre - even though the emotional experience can be thought of as negative, as one has to stand and face the sense of powerlessness and suffering embedded that comes with it, we get positive things out of our successful attempts. But while the puzzles are not pulse-pounding in the same way as curb-stomping a zombie in a narrow hallway, that doesn’t mean they’re a break from the horror of the game they just function a little differently. ![]() ![]() It’s certainly what a lot of big-budget horror has clung to in terms of creating fear, with examples like Dead Space and later Resident Evil entries relying almost entirely on combat with minimal puzzle solving. Combat is often what’s remembered as the most terrifying bit, since it involves the most immediately high-stakes gameplay and sees the player in their most vulnerable state. Spoilers for Bendy and the Ink Machine to follow.Ĭlassic survival horror like Silent Hill or Resident Evil (before RE: 4 ruined it, sorry not sorry) typically contains two major gameplay components: combat with enemies where the player is at a distinct disadvantage, and puzzle solving that often involves exploration to find items in far-flung places on the map.
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