I started watching horror movies regularly and then religiously around 5 or 6 years ago. My partner at the time was a big horror movie fan, and I didn’t want to miss out on having a shared interest with him. That being considered, one could say that I’m still very new to horror as a concept.
There was once a time in my life when I thought Seed of Chucky was some of the scariest shit I’d ever seen in my life. I watched that movie when I was something like 8 or 9, and then proceeded to not sleep that night because I thought the wretched little fucker was going to pop out of somewhere and rip me limb from limb. I know it sounds silly, but I was simply a child.
Fast forward to 2018 or 2019, and I watch that film again. It’s one of the silliest, campiest things I’ve ever watched, and it was hilarious. I wonder why I was so scared, and then remember even further back when my siblings/cousins decided to watch one of the Night of the Living Dummy episodes of the Goosebumps TV series, and they made me watch. Of course, I’m going to have a “thing” about evil little doll boys. I hated them. I feared them.
However, I’m grown now. I see these pieces of media for what they are: entertainment. Watching horror movies got easier with each film I consumed, and then I too became a fan of the horror genre as a whole. It was at this comfort level that I tried to get into horror games, as that’s a whole genre that I’m missing out on because I’m a little baby guy.
And alas, it was at that point that I realised that the acts of consuming a horror movie and playing a horror game are divided by a factor that ultimately holds me back from getting an enjoyable experience from the latter: I’m in control, and the spooky scary baddie is after me.
Horrible. Terrible. Terrifying. When I watch a horror movie, I’m not in trouble. I’m watching on as some chud makes a wrong turn or decides to fall over at the worst time, and I say loudly, “If it were me, I wouldn’t even be here.” I feel pride and comfort when I say this, and my brain pulses at the concept of being such a genius.
But when I play a horror game? It’s my fault. I’m the chud. I somehow got my dumbass self into this situation, and if I get eaten by the Big Ugly Bugly Beast, that’s on me. How on earth do I look beyond that and not shit a brick when some Eldritch horror is screeching as it chases me through an empty office building?
That being said, I’ve found that what gets me through this fear and keeps my dacks unshitted are two things. If a game is stylised, I’m easy-breezy. Games like Doki Doki Literature Club, Paranormasight etc. are fine and I do not get too frightened. The other thing is distance. Despite what The Ring would have one think, the monsters in games can’t come out of the screen. They can’t really hurt me. I’m a reasonable 2-3 metres away.
And that’s where VR horror games come in. I can’t do that shit.
I got the chance the other day to give Horizon: Call of the Mountain a red hot go. The opening, to be exact. Now that is not a scary game by any stretch, it is simply an action-adventure, and yet I found myself feeling worried that the second I turn around, there would be something behind me. Why? I’m a wuss. A Grade-A Weenie.
I’ve seen the trailers for games such as The Dark Pictures: Switchback VR, and I’ve seen gameplay for Resident Evil 7: Biohazard. Will I ever play them? No. I can’t do it. I’d break something. I’d scream and freak out. It wouldn’t be fun for me. There’s no distance.
And y’know what? I guess that’s what makes them great horror experiences. That sense of immersion in a VR horror game is something that I don’t think you can get anywhere else. I can comfortably admire that a VR horror game could potentially be the purest way to get an immersive spooky experience, but I admire it from afar.
Will I be able to get to a point as I did with horror movies, where enough exposure could lead me to be able to play a VR horror game without breaking any equipment in fear? Who’s to say? Not me, that’s for sure. I’m nowhere near that point, as I still get a fright if I unexpectedly see one of my housemate-bestie-wives in a room that I’m not expecting them to be in.
That being said, I think I’m just fine with not playing VR horror games. I’m comfortable in my ability to play a game that unnerves me, makes me feel a sense of dread, or shows me something grotesque, but from a reasonable distance away. For my health, for my well-being, and for my hygiene.
Leave a Reply