Horror games terrify in Cologne

A few years ago, horror games were a rarity.

Even the big horror IP such as Dead Space and Resident Evil were abandoning scares in favour of action.

That’s been changing this year, and Gamescom was filled with creepy games designed to scare the pants of gamers.

The Evil Within and Alien: Isolation, both titles due in October, were on display. But Gamescom was also home to two big horror announcements.

The most talked about new horror title was P.T (or rather, Playable Teaser). This ‘game’ was a unique way for Sony and Konami to reveal Silent Hills, a title that is being created with the help of Metal Gear genius Hideo Kojima and movie director Guillermo del Toro.

The other title was the re-announce of Until Dawn. Originally due for PS3 and Move, the game is now coming to PS4.

There are many reasons [for the return of horror games],” says Pete Samuels, the boss of Until Dawn developer Supermassive Games.

Partly it’s because of what we can achieve in terms of realism with the next-generation of consoles, that’s driving people to try and do something very different. Whatever their motivations may be – whether that’s realistic gore, or more terrifying monsters, more emotion. Realism for horror is a big driver in games.”

This article originally appeared in MCV 801.