Category: Horror Game Design
Research Log
When Buildings Dream: Environmental Storytelling in Horror Game Design
Environmental storytelling in horror game design is vital! I say it over and over in this blog, but even the most unsettling monster pales in comparison to the dread of entering a room that somehow already knows you’re there. An empty room is a truly unsettling thing… particularly a large room, and especially one you’ve…
Research Log
Horror Game Design Through Silence and Emptiness: When the Walls Do Nothing
Have you ever experienced a hallway that seems to stretch for too long, a silence that seems to last for one second more than it should? the magically haunting thing about these moments in Horror Game Design is that they don’t scream… they wait. And in the waiting, something inside us begins to unravel, it…
Research Log
Designing Fear Without Ghosts: How Hauntology and Potentiality Shape Supernatural Horror
I’ve long been interested in the potential of designing fear without ghosts. We all know that the most terrifying ghosts are not the ones we see, they are the ones that might be there, somewhere, in the darkness. In this blog, we have spoken, many time about t fear not being in the jump scare;…
Research Log
The Crossroads Experiment
Through my recent work in supernatural horror game design, it has increasingly become apparent to me that, if translating the supernatural into real, tangible, game experiences is my goal as a game design academic, there is a need to re-immerse myself in the tools, the code, the magical language if you like, of what makes…
Research Log
Why the Scariest Moments in Horror Games Are the Ones You Don’t See
The Terrifying Power of Implied Horror A creaking floorboard or a mysteriously flickering light, these moments, where nothing is seen but something, not quite right, is felt, have the power to unnerve players more than the most bloodthirsty monster encounter. So, why does absence of horror sometimes feel more terrifying than its presence? What is…
Research Log
The World as the True Antagonist: Conceptualizing Hostile Environments in Horror Game Design
Introduction Horror games traditionally frame their antagonists as tangible threats, monsters, murderers, or supernatural entities. However, some games subvert this paradigm by making the environment itself the primary source of terror. In such cases, the setting is no longer a passive backdrop but an active agent of dread, fundamentally shaping the player’s experience. This post…