Since the beginning of 2019, domestic horror games have sprung up on major game platforms. During this period, there were high-quality 3D horror games such as "Hong Kong Trick Record", "Paper Dolls/Paper Man", and "PAGUI Ghost Fighting".
In the following two years, the announcement of "PaperMan 2", "Hell Wedding", "Fireworks", and "Back Home" made horror game lovers addicted. And the unaired "Cave Diary", "Ghost Crying Ridge", and "Three Volts" are also hanging the appetite of players in their own way.
The phenomenon of horror games pouring out has attracted the attention of many players who have not paid attention to domestic horror games. What is the quality of the horror games that have sprung up in the last three years? And does this symbolize the imminent rise of domestic horror games? Similar questions haunted the author's mind, so I wrote this article to discuss with readers and friends.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="7" > more than a decade of domestic horror games missing</h1>
Looking back at horror games in the past decade or so, most of them have been occupied by well-known series such as "Silent Hill", "Resident Evil", and "Dead Souls". As for domestic horror games, there is no idea to break your head. The reason is that the article "after the founding of the country is not allowed to become a fine" may discourage most production teams. Conveying a mysterious and eerie atmosphere to the player while downplaying demons and ghosts has become a problem, and it is even more difficult to make players reflect on social issues on this basis.
Not only horror games, but also the gradual decline of Hong Kong and Taiwan movies after the millennium, the horror movies that were once the mainstay of them have naturally slowly declined. The "Mr. Zombie" series, "Double Pupil", "Ten Ways to See Ghosts", "Yin and Yang Road" series, "Murder List", Star Ye's "Night of the Returning Soul" are all "nightmares" of my childhood. In contrast, in the past ten years of horror movies, except for "Zombie" starring Mai Junlong's director Qian Xiaohao and "Lao Kasa" directed and starring Zeng Guoxiang, the rest really can't think of anything (and the author's Hong Kong films are rarely seen for direct reasons, there must be excellent works that I ignored).
Losing traffic also means that there is no investment, and the online game at the other end proves its value with a very high daily life and flow. No manufacturer is willing to let go of this blue ocean market and risk making horror games that almost no one pays attention to, but that doesn't mean players don't need it. A large number of flash and similar lightweight horror games made by RPG Maker have landed on major forums, but after all, it is only a carnival in a small circle, and there is no one in the horror game that can be found and downloaded and played now.
Although domestic horror games have been missing in China for a long time, there is no shortage of ghost stories in this land.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="64" > immersive with supernatural stories</h1>
In this land with a long history, there are countless supernatural stories. From the shamanic culture in northeast China to the witch cup in Yunnan, from the corpse snatcher in western Xiangxi to the gold-seeking lieutenant who searched for the dragon's den, China's earth and earth treasures have nourished countless spiritual and strange stories unique to local culture, and these stories of gods and ghosts that modern people seem to be able to argue with scientific means have also become the pastime of the city after tea and dinner, and continue to spread.
The game based on these myths and ghosts, the horror story as the main body of the game, while ensuring its own plot structure is coherent, it is difficult to interpret it very wonderfully.
Take "The Story of Hong Kong Mystery" as an example. In the game, the player takes the awakening of Jiahui's original consciousness as the goal, takes the magic mastered by the two brothers of the He family as the main clue, and uses horror stories such as "Ghost Mother Cooking", "Cantonese Opera Hua Dan Split Corpse", "Woman in Red Jumping off the Building" as an important means to fill the background of the key characters' stories. A large amount of background information in the form of diaries and letters is scattered in various means waiting for players to explore, which is very "standard", but this "standard" does not mean ordinary. Just as RPG games can't be without character attributes, and RTS games can't be without a technology tree, horror games also need a deliberately created sense of obscurity. The narrative will be fragmented after the story as a plot carrier, not only can mobilize the player's curiosity, increase their desire to find the truth, but also combine virtual and real, prolong the game's clearance time, killing two birds with one stone.
However, in the process of players looking for bits and pieces of clues, how to effectively use the level design to fill the player's constantly depleted patience needs to be carefully studied by the producers, and the experience brought to me by "Hong Kong Mystery Record" alone is very bad. Jump Scare is very boring to me, and the chase battle that is the "standard" of horror games is excellent for the first time, two or three times is acceptable, less than ten times is lackluster, and more than ten times is tedious. In particular, every ghost scene will be accompanied by a cabinet for hiding, this kind of chasing element that is informed in advance not only loses the most primitive unpredictable "happiness" of horror games, but also makes the author feel that this is a manifestation of the author's laziness.
"Paper Man" and "PAGUI Fighting Ghosts" released at the same time did much better than "Hong Kong Trick Record". A large number of interactive scenes and props in "Paper Man" are reproduced according to real objects, which greatly increases the realism of the game environment. Many foreshadowings suggest that players will not understand its true meaning until the second half of the game. This kind of "sudden enlightenment" surprise can not only deepen the player's immersion when traveling through the Yin Mansion, but also reflect the production team's thoughtfulness in layout arrangement. "Fighting Ghosts" is more straightforward, this historical event as the original picture, the integration of Taoist culture and the first local customs of the officials to construct a family story, the Chinese folk customs and East Asian culture to the fullest. In particular, the shocking scene of asking God to save the protagonist Lin Huowang at the end and the atmospheric portrayal of the yin and yang of the mother and son in the second ending really infected me.
But we still have a long way to go when it comes to game operation and modeling.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="65" > aspects need to be strengthened</h1>
The three games introduced above are difficult to achieve a satisfactory level in all aspects except the plot. While being able to justify a story is already above the passing line for horror games, highly repetitive art material and often pop-up optimization issues really affect the player's experience. Like the stiff body movements of female ghosts in "Hong Kong Mystery Record", the graphic bugs caused by piling up materials all make players play in minutes. The lockless attack mode in Ghost Fight is really uncomfortable, but what is even more disgusting is the frequent stuttering due to optimization issues. The body movements can still be covered up with an excellent plot, but this optimization problem has wiped out the horror atmosphere that was painstakingly created before.
Later, horizontal 2D horror games such as "Fireworks" and "Back Door" improved the game experience very well, but also limited the horror of the game. Due to the lack of a dimensional picture, players have a more intuitive prediction of when ghosts will appear, and the "someone behind them" situation will no longer happen.
For this type of game, the player's exploration of the game's plot is far greater than experiencing the horror atmosphere. How to perfectly present the plot to the player and let the player experience sufficient supernatural elements during the game is the focus of game production. That's why most players who have played Fireworks refer to it as a thriller puzzle game rather than a horror game.
He's really not that scary.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="66" > conclusion</h1>
For the strong rise of domestic horror games, I personally think this is a good thing for the domestic game market. It can allow more game producers and capital markets to see the inherent potential of domestic games, create our own unique game culture under the premise of obtaining traffic and benefits, and radiate to more game types.
For those horror games that have not yet been announced, the expectations of players are essential, but there is no need to fill the expectations. After all, our game background is not as good as those foreign game manufacturers who have studied for many years, and now every step is to feel the stones and cross the river. And the player's certain tolerance will also allow those independent producers to free their hands and feet and make a very personal horror game.
For the author, after experiencing a heart-to-heart, tear-jerking horror game, the criterion is no longer how terrifying it is. Whether it can resonate with the player, make the player feel as if they are in the same time and space, and experiencing the same thing is an important criterion for me to measure whether it is good or not. But for now, there is still a gap between that stage and that stage.
I hope that the current situation is not a "flash in the pan" of domestic games, and I hope that the domestic horror games that I can't let go of for a long time will not make me wait too long.