\n<\/p>\n
T<\/span>he sound came first. In a San Francisco Bart train tunnel, Don Veca took his recorder and captured a train\u2019s metallic roar \u2013 \u201clike demons in agony, beautifully ugly,\u201d he remembers. That recording became one of the most chilling sounds in 2008\u2019s Dead Space.<\/p>\n \u201cWe dropped that screeching, industrial noise at full volume right after the vacuum silence \u2013 creating one of the game\u2019s most jarring sonic contrasts,\u201d Veca, who made horror history as the audio director for the Dead Space games, recalls. \u201cOur game designer hated it \u2013 but the boss loved it. Over time, it\u2019s become iconic.\u201d<\/p>\n Now, almost two decades after Dead Space first terrified players into clutching their controllers, horror game designers around the world still chase that same feeling. So, how do they keep on finding new ways to scare gamers \u2013 and what makes us keep pushing start on the horror?<\/p>\n Ask anyone who\u2019s worked on a great horror game, and they\u2019ll probably tell you the same thing: true fear starts with what you hear.<\/p>\n Veca says it begins in the mind. \u201cIt starts with psychology \u2013 not the fear of what is, but of what might be,\u201d he says. \u201cReal horror isn\u2019t a mugger with a gun. It\u2019s the shadow behind the door, the silence that lingers too long, the certainty that something is coming \u2026 but you don\u2019t know when, or what.\u201d<\/p>\n That unpredictability became the theme for Dead Space\u2019s sound design. \u201cWe built tension like a slow tide,\u201d Veca says. \u201cSomething could happen \u2026 something might happen \u2026 and then nothing \u2013 just a kitten in the kitchen. You laugh, the adrenaline fades, and three seconds later: claws, blood, screaming!\u201d<\/p>\n <\/span>Infected \u2026 Dead Space.<\/span> Photograph: EA<\/p>\n Jason Graves, the Bafta-winning composer behind the score for Dead Space and 2015\u2019s Until Dawn, agrees. \u201cSound and music prepare the player to be scared \u2013 it\u2019s all about the buildup, the tension, and then the release when something jumps out at you.\u201d<\/p>\n Graves even treated the score itself as a kind of infected organism. \u201cIn Dead Space, something has infected the crew and turned them into monsters, so I \u2018infected\u2019 the orchestra,\u201d he says. \u201cUnusual techniques, tapping instruments, no keys or chords \u2013 just clusters and tension.\u201d When the player thinks it\u2019s quiet, it might be 60 strings each playing any note they want, very softly. It becomes a living, dissonant room tone \u2013 always shifting, unpredictable.\u201d<\/p>\n If you doubt how much sound matters, Graves offers a test. \u201cMy daughter tried Until Dawn and kept freaking out,\u201d he laughs, \u201cI told her to mute it \u2013 and then she got through it fine. If the picture\u2019s off but you still hear something, that\u2019s what our brains are wired for. The monster under the bed, the fin on the water \u2013 your imagination fills the gaps, and that\u2019s 10 times scarier than anything we can show.\u201d<\/p>\n For cult game developer Swery \u2013 real name Hidetaka Suehiro \u2013 fear has never been about cheap shocks: it\u2019s about the human condition. He began questioning what truly scares players when his mentor, Resident Evil creator Tokuro Fujiwara, once asked him: \u201cWhat is fear in a game?\u201d<\/p>\n <\/span>Game developer Hidetaka Suehiro, also known as Swery.<\/span> Photograph: White Owls Inc.<\/p>\n \u201cI was in my 20s and naively answered, \u2018Game over,\u2019\u201d Swery recalls. \u201cHe replied, \u2018Then are games without a \u201cgame over\u201d not scary? Is a haunted house where you can\u2019t take damage not scary?\u2019 I was at a loss. Ever since, I\u2019ve been continually searching for the answer.\u201d<\/p>\n That curiosity became the foundation for 2010\u2019s Deadly Premonition \u2013 a surreal small-town horror which blends absurd humour with existential dread. \u201cBefore crafting fear, we set a clear goal: build the town and its people,\u201d he says, \u201cI even wrote the story after the town existed.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAt the centre of horror there is a human being,\u201d Swery adds. \u201cThat human, carrying an inner diversity and suffering, is fragile, and can be defeated by evil \u2026 that\u2019s everything.\u201d<\/p>\n Though it\u2019s in monsters that our fears are visualised, for Thomas Grip, game director of critically acclaimed 2015 deep-sea horror Soma, horror is also less about villains and more about what it says about being human.<\/p>\n \u201cI think it\u2019s a different kind of scary,\u201d he says. \u201cThere\u2019s no big twist or constant jump scares. The whole idea is that it forces you to ask uncomfortable questions: What does it mean to be human? What does it mean to be conscious? What sort of life is worth living?\u201d<\/p>\n Forget gore and surprises in the dark \u2013 in Soma, it\u2019s more about using silence and philosophy to get under your skin. \u201cThe key to any horror story, no matter the medium, is that the audience fills in the blanks themselves,\u201d Grip says. \u201cIf your story is just, \u2018Here\u2019s something scary, be scared,\u2019 it\u2019s not that interesting. The best horror makes you think about something deeper.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/span>Deep sea scares \u2026 Soma.<\/span> Photograph: Frictional Games<\/p>\n Something else to play on is the fear of the unknown, and unease often comes from what isn\u2019t shown. \u201cYou shouldn\u2019t spell everything out,\u201d Grip says. \u201cThe player only gets glimpses, and their imagination fills in the rest \u2013 their own fears, anxieties, and whatnot. That\u2019s where the real fear comes from.\u201d Even the monsters in Soma reflect that idea. \u201cThe key is familiarity,\u201d he says. \u201cThe best monsters are ones where you think, \u2018Something\u2019s off here \u2026\u2019 and the more you look, the worse it gets. People react strongly to things that look infectious or unhealthy. It triggers a primal fear.\u201d<\/p>\n In 2021 viral indie horror hit Poppy Playtime, with its factory of cute, murderous toys, fear takes a brighter shape. \u201cNostalgia carries vulnerability. When we think of childhood, we think of safety \u2013 and twist those things, the reaction is visceral,\u201d Zach Belanger, CEO of Poppy Playtime studio Mob Entertainment, says.<\/p>\n \u201c<\/strong>That\u2019s what makes Huggy Wuggy so effective. We ask, \u2018How can something feel both lovable and wrong at the same time?\u2019\u201d he adds, of the game\u2019s fluffy baddie.<\/p>\n <\/span>Pixel scares \u2026 Loop\/\/Error.<\/span> Illustration: Koro Pixel Studio<\/p>\n In 2025\u2019s psychological horror Loop\/\/Error, the images themselves are made spooky by suggestion \u2013 leaving detail to the imagination in the form of a blocky, black-and-white pixelated art style. \u201cUsing pixelated visuals and the deliberate absence of colour creates unfamiliarity \u2013 your mind projects things that aren\u2019t really there,\u201d solo developer Koro says. \u201cIt\u2019s like remembering a nightmare: blurry, incomplete, but emotionally sharp.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe fear in Loop\/\/Error doesn\u2019t rely on horror cliches,\u201d Koro adds, \u201cIt comes from human depth. From watching a mind collapse under its own weight, and realising that the scariest place to be trapped is yourself.\u201d<\/p>\n Finally, there\u2019s another element that makes horror in video games so impactful: you have to take part yourself.<\/p>\n \u201cIn a game, you\u2019re not watching someone else flee \u2013 you\u2019re in it, and that\u2019s why it feels good: your heart races, but you\u2019re still in control,\u201d says psychologist Kieron Oakland, a specialist in cyberpsychology at Arden University.<\/p>\n Daniel Knight, creator of 2020\u2019s ghost-busting multiplayer game Phasmophobia, agrees. \u201cGames put you inside the fear,\u201d he says, of the horror game which took Twitch by storm on its release. \u201cWhen you decide to open a door or step into a dark room, the fear is yours. You\u2019re responsible for what happens next.\u201d<\/p>\n Grip also believes the genre endures for this reason. \u201cIn games, you make the decision to walk into danger,\u201d he says. \u201cThat makes it personal. The fear comes from you being the idiot walking into the dark tunnel.\u201d<\/p>\n After all, scary movies ask what you\u2019d do in the dark. Video games make you find out.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The sound came first. In a San Francisco Bart train tunnel, Don Veca took his recorder and captured a train\u2019s metallic roar \u2013 \u201clike demons in agony, beautifully ugly,\u201d he remembers. That recording became one of the most chilling sounds in 2008\u2019s Dead Space. \u201cWe dropped that screeching, industrial noise at full volume right after<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":31939,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[52],"tags":[378,386,2658,2366,7794,537],"class_list":{"0":"post-31938","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-technology","8":"tag-games","9":"tag-horror","10":"tag-play","11":"tag-psychology","12":"tag-pushing","13":"tag-secret"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31938","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=31938"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31938\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/31939"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=31938"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=31938"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=31938"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}The sound of fear<\/strong><\/h2>\n
The human element<\/strong><\/h2>\n
The unknown \u2013 and twists on the familiar<\/strong><\/h2>\n
The interactive factor<\/strong><\/h2>\n