As a big fan of the genre-bending psychological horror narrative fishing game Dredge, I have been playing more psychological horror games in the past few years than I ever have in the past. Sure, I loved the Zero Escape games, but the majority of horror games seem to be more the Resident Evil type – action and gore, rather than what I lovingly refer to as “freaky-deaky shit.”
For some games, like The Count Lucanor, the horror elements are a major component of the gameplay; without them, there is no game. However, it seems that in the past few years, there have been several indie horror devs that have managed to create some seriously addictive gameplay loops that can exist independent of the story and horror.
Dredge has an option in the menu to remove the paranoia-based “freaky-deaky shit” while leaving the fishing mechanics (and mutant fish) still intact and highly enjoyable. I played through the entire narrative with the regular settings enabled, and have replayed it several times on relaxed mode so that I could take my time in exploring and uncovering all of the little secrets hidden throughout.
Another game is Order 13, where people have enjoyed the order fulfillment mechanics so damn much that the creator added a “Chill” update that allows players to turn off the scares (though apparently that was bugged when it was first added – I wish they’d released it on April 1st). Even though watching GrayStillPlays’ video of Order 13 shows the ending, I still plan to buy it and play it all the way through. I’m sure there’s things that he missed, and a game is always a different experience when I play it myself rather than watching someone else play through it.
I was also introduced to Dollmare via a GrayStillPlays video, and I -know- he missed a ton of the lore-related stuff, so I bought it to play on my own. But even though I plan to play it through at least once with all of the freaky-deaky shit active, they literally just added an “endless mode” yesterday (May 20th) that allows players to sort dolls all damn day if they want. Yet another addictive game mechanic that was created to support a horror storyline, but stands well enough on its own.
And I’m sure there are plenty of gamers who sneer at the idea of playing a horror game without the scary elements. However, adding the ability to focus on the base mechanic while leaving out the scares is an excellent way to add replayability to a horror game. Once the storyline is complete and the secrets are uncovered, the scares usually cease to be scary anyway – turning them into an annoyance at best and an active encumbrance at worst.
So I’m all for developers giving players the option to turn off the jump scares, aggressive damage-dealers, and other freaky-deaky shit in their horror games. I’d actually be happy to see it as a “new game +” type option for those who beat the game with everything enabled for the first playthrough. But either way, giving players another way to enjoy the game is rarely a bad thing.
