Children’s horror is a shocking genre, even just knowing these two spaces coexist. While there are many examples of children’s horror out there, some stretch the overlap between horror for adults and spooks for children a tad too far. Horror games like the Five Nights at Freddy’s series and Poppy Playtime have set the trend for games in the horror genre to progressively market more toward children.
While it seems to be working, is this genre crossover good? Where do you draw the line between true horror and playful spookiness? Below, we’ll explain what children’s horror is, what it isn’t, and how certain games have shifted marketing tactics to appeal to a far younger audience than appropriate.
Children’s horror is a blanket term not limited to video games. It can apply to books (Goosebumps), movies (Monster House), and, more often than not, covers these kinds of media instead of video games. In comparison, horror for video games geared towards young adults hasn’t been any kind of secret in the gaming industry.
Practically since the internet existed, horror games like Slender Man were marketed towards both teenagers and adults, with the younger side of its audience ending up as the primary demographic. Children’s horror can be, and often is, an acceptable genre of fiction that gives kids a good scare without going overboard. Media like Coraline, the 2009 film adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s children’s book, is a great example of horror that unnerves without going into gritty details.
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So, what does horror designed for kids do in video games that other pieces of media tend to avoid? What does Five Nights at Freddy’s and Poppy Playtime do that other games,
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