10 design lessons learned from 30 years of horror games

gamedeveloper.com:

Horror is not just one of the most prolific themes in video games. Its use in an interactive medium is a brilliant opportunity to discuss player psychology, the myth of player agency, how folklore and superstition reflect cultural values and collective fears, and the difficulties of scripting the unexpected. Over the past few decades, many designers and developers working in this genre have shared their methods, techniques and philosophies with us, key lessons which we have condensed and summarized for your convenience. Naturally, the advice here is not comprehensive, or one size fits all. But within these tips, there is some overlap suggesting consensus on some key points that, whatever your approach as a horror game designer, could be a good starting point. Here’s what we learned.

Pretty much all of Mason Smith’s GDC 2021 talk MORTIS 101: 'FAITH's' Horror Design Toolkit could be used for this article, but one piece of advice stands out: betray the player’s trust. “You can identify spaces that the player considers safe, and then you can invade that,” he says. Some of the most intriguing moments in games, he argues, come from when the relationship between developer and player is disrupted such that the developer is no longer the player’s advocate.

“What parts of the game does the player think does a player think are safe? And how do you invade that?... What parts of the game does a player think is safe? Is it safe room? Is it a particular corridor or hallway? Is it a particular part of the game? It can be tempting to never let the player feel safe like they're always in danger…But I believe in that playful relationship between designer and player, especially in horror. But you have to find those moments, right those