Spider splicers.
Genetic mutations.
Body harvesting.
Everything about Dr. Steinman.
"This one — too symmetrical!"
BioShock has some of the most memorable creeps in videogame history. So why isn't
it considered a horror game?
BioShock uses creepiness start to finish, from the
shadowy corridors of Rapture to the mask-wearing jazz fiends to the doctors gone
wrong. But the game's scariest and most iconic threat is the Big Daddy. The first
encounter with the Big Daddy is set up to demonstrate how powerful and deadly
these enemies are, to teach the player how dangerous they are to battle. So the
next time the player runs into them, they know to watch out. Choosing to battle a
Big Daddy can quickly drain a player's ammo and health, which is scarce in early
gameplay. BioShock is an exceptional feat of atmospheric storytelling which
still — after all these years — manages to terrify players...up until the moment it
stops terrifying them. That moment varies a little depending on the player and
their style, but there's a specific game mechanic that de-escalates the threat.
The Hypnotize Big Daddy plasmid transforms the horrifying powerful
monsters into just another obstacle. It alters the gameplay so much that instead
of making the player cautious when one appears, it now becomes an opportunity to
save some ammo by conscripting a bodyguard. And two Big Daddies? even better!
Make them fight it out!
You only get the Hypnotize Big Daddy plasmid if you save
three little sisters. It's possible to harvest the little sisters and acquire
immediate rewards, which also make progress easier because you have access
to more resources. Either way, the early game burden of limited resources is
lightened and the game, as a result, becomes much less scary.
Prey has a similar mechanical linchpin.
The mimic's ability to transform into any item makes
exploration a tense, frightening experience. You have to be on constant
alert for jump scares.
Then about halfway through the game, you uncover the Psychoscope,
which allows you to scan a room and see what items are
shapeshifted mimics. Suddenly it's much less stressful to explore. The game still has
scary moments and frightening creatures, but the moment-to-moment experience is
no longer terrifying.
The survival part of survival horror is key to
understanding this tonal shift. The cornerstone of horror games is a
constant low-level feeling of powerlessness. The main way games invoke
that feeling is to limit resources, whether that's ammo, health, battery life
or electricity. This keeps players in a constant
defensive state by forcing them to actively think about whether it's
worthwhile to fight, to run or to hide.
This simple gameplay limitation is the root of terror for most survival horror games.
But it's the main thing that
separates, for example, zombie survival horror games from zombie shooter games.
If you gave Joel enough ammo to mow down waves of zombies in The Last of Us, would
it still be a horror game? Regardless of which path you choose, BioShock will
eventually morph into a regular action game, thanks to an increased access to
healing items, ammo stockpiles, and getting the ability to shoot bees.
Because once you can shoot bees from your hands at any time, it's hard to be
afraid of like a gassed-up flapper wielding hooks.
It also becomes less
scary because you, the player, become better at predicting the actions of the
enemies in the game. You learn the sounds of, say, the Houdini splicer —
"Hello, beautiful!"
their movements, their weaknesses. Both BioShock and Prey incorporate this
meta-understanding of enemies-as-mechanic with the camera and the Psychoscope,
respectively. Both items give passive bonuses once the player has photograph
or scanned the enemy. Instead of punishing contact with enemies, it
encourages players to get up close, de-incentivizing running or hiding.
Knowledge is power!
It's not a bad thing that players become
immune to frights. It's difficult for any game to maintain a tense atmosphere over
an extended period of time. Most beloved horror games are surprisingly short,
around the eight hour mark.
But BioShock clocks in at 12 hours, and Prey at 15.
If you have a lot of story to tell, it makes sense to
transition mechanics to be closer to an action game, to keep them from becoming
too rote. This also means, to a certain extent, that the skill and knowledge of
the player is a factor in how long a survival horror game remains scary. A
veteran player who can pick out the algorithmic movements of a monster, or
who can confidently line up shots and not waste ammo, won't be as afraid for as long.
But where's the fun in that? Both BioShock and Prey are better games for
flirting with terror, even if neither game commits to it for the full tenure.
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