Traditional survival horror continues to be alive and scaring

Greater than most genres, survival horror feels rooted in time. It began with the methodical Resident Evil on the unique PlayStation and is outlined partially by limitation — a sluggish tempo, dirty visuals, and scant sources to assist amplify the scares. A lot of these components stemmed from the early, awkward days of 3D gaming, whether or not it was Resident Evil’s clunky controls, which made zombie chases extra terrifying, or Silent Hill’s fog, which lent an iconic ambiance whereas additionally letting the builders get round technical limitations of the time.

And some a long time later, builders are nonetheless discovering methods to deliver a very powerful components of these video games — specifically, the temper and scares — to fashionable horror with out feeling dated.

The obvious method to do that is maintaining the type and tone of traditional survival horror whereas updating the gameplay to make it extra approachable. The newest instance of that is Concern the Highlight, the primary launch from horror film studio Blumhouse’s new gaming label. Very similar to Crow Nation and Signalis, it’s a recreation that appears prefer it was ripped proper out of 1998; the visuals are blocky, the textures low-res. It provides the expertise a dirty really feel, which is simply the best be aware for horror.

Concern the Highlight — developed by the two-person staff at Cozy Recreation Friends — begins out easy sufficient, with two buddies breaking into their highschool to carry out a seance within the library. However, in fact, issues go dangerous, they usually get pulled right into a nightmare realm that connects each to their very own pasts and a darkish thriller the college has been hiding for many years. It’s half coming-of-age story, half romance, and half true crime. Nevertheless it’s all rendered within the crunchy type of PlayStation-era horror, which lends it an uneasy edge.

The sport additionally helps you to actually give attention to the story by streamlining the gameplay. There’s so much of puzzle-solving; very similar to in early Resident Evil video games, you’ll be fixing all types of complicated mechanical issues and coping with arcane statues and locks. However there’s nearly no precise fight. As a substitute, you might have little selection however to run and conceal when the terrifying monsters seem. A number of the scariest moments of the sport have you ever huddled below a desk, ready for the creatures — which have lethal spotlights for faces — to move.

In some methods, eradicating fight makes the sport even scarier since you haven’t any technique to combat again. These moments in Concern the Highlight jogged my memory a little bit of stowing away in a locker in Alien: Isolation, hoping the xenomorph couldn’t see me. The hazy, soiled visuals solely amplify this sense, because it’s typically troublesome to get a transparent view of what’s forward of you.

On the opposite aspect of the spectrum is the latest remake of Silent Hill 2. As a substitute of making a brand-new survival horror expertise with fashionable sensibilities, it’s an try to take one of many style’s most influential titles — a very idiosyncratic one at that — and reimagine it as a big-budget launch in 2024. That has professionals and cons. Just like the remakes of traditional Resident Evil video games and the unique Lifeless Area, Silent Hill 2 appears and performs like a contemporary launch. The visuals are crisp and detailed, as a substitute of hazy and disorienting. And it controls like a well-tuned third-person motion recreation. It’s immensely satisfying to swing a bat, whether or not you’re smashing in home windows or keeping off a dwelling model.

There’s a shift in tone. The trendy Silent Hill 2 continues to be scary. The extent of realism makes the squirming enemies and cramped lodge hallways really feel extremely unsettling, and there’s a stage of immersion that may be panic-inducing. However now it performs and looks like numerous different video games and is, for lack of a greater phrase, so much cleaner than the unique. It’s now not as bizarre and distinct. It jogs my memory a little bit of the 2018 remake of Shadow of the Colossus: a canopy track that doesn’t substitute the unique however offers a unique method of it, one which’s welcoming for newcomers. (If solely Konami made the unique Silent Hill 2 extra accessible.)

The purpose is, these video games present there’s nonetheless loads of room to do fascinating issues with survival horror. They usually do it in a method that each related to the style’s historical past with out being stifled by it. Extra importantly: they discover new methods to scare.

Concern the Highlight and Silent Hill 2 are each obtainable now.