50 Fun Facts About Horror Game

In which year was 'survival horror' first used, for the Japanese release of Capcom's mansion game?

The label was later applied retroactively to 1989's Sweet Home and 1992's Alone in the Dark, both of which influenced it.

Capcom's 1989 Famicom RPG Sweet Home, an ancestor of Resident Evil, was made alongside what?

Director Tokuro Fujiwara toured the film set for inspiration; the film's director Kiyoshi Kurosawa let him take liberties with the script.

Alone in the Dark (1992) is set in a haunted mansion in which US state?

Designer Frédérick Raynal drew on Lovecraft's Cthulhu Mythos and the films of Argento and Romero.

Which two S.T.A.R.S. members can you play as in the original Resident Evil (1996)?

Chris gets six inventory slots and Jill eight, and you save with ink ribbons at typewriters.

In the original Resident Evil, what do you need to save your game at a typewriter?

The scarcity of ribbons was one of the ways the game made you feel less in control.

What is Resident Evil called in Japan?

With over 213 million copies sold it is Capcom's best-selling franchise and the best-selling horror series in gaming.

Who directed the original Resident Evil and later founded Tango Gameworks to make The Evil Within?

Hideki Kamiya's discarded first draft of Resident Evil 4 turned into Devil May Cry instead.

Resident Evil 4 (2005) sends Leon Kennedy to rescue the president's daughter from a cult where?

It launched as a GameCube exclusive under the 'Capcom Five' deal and popularised the over-the-shoulder camera.

Resident Evil 7 (2017) broke with series tradition by using which perspective?

The team took cues from The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, The Evil Dead and Saw and shrank the game to one Louisiana plantation.

Silent Hill, the town, is located in which US state?

The first four games were made by Konami's internal Team Silent between 1999 and 2004.

In the first Silent Hill (1999), Harry Mason is searching the town for whom?

The developers used fog and darkness to hide the PlayStation's pop-in, and it became the series' signature look.

Silent Hill 2's James Sunderland comes to town after receiving a letter from whom?

The story was inspired by Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment; Bloober Team's remake arrived in October 2024.

Which seemingly unkillable Silent Hill 2 monster wears a huge helmet and drags a giant knife?

He first appears in the apartment complex and later kills Maria in front of James.

P.T. (2014) was a free 'playable teaser' for which cancelled game?

Hideo Kojima and Guillermo del Toro made it under the fake studio name '7780s Studio', with Norman Reedus as the star; Konami then made it impossible to re-download.

Silent Hill f (2025) is set in the 1960s in a fictional town in which country?

Its heroine Hinako Shimizu navigates fog-swallowed Ebisugaoka; it sold a million copies in a day, the series' fastest.

In Fatal Frame, what do the protagonists use to capture and pacify ghosts?

The Camera Obscura was invented in-universe by Dr. Kunihiko Asou; the series is known as Project Zero in Europe.

In Clock Tower (1995), Jennifer Simpson is stalked through the Barrows mansion by a killer known as what?

Director Hifumi Kono based the look on Dario Argento's Phenomena, and digitised real people for the character graphics.

Dead Space (2008) built its combat around what 'founding principle'?

That's why the Necromorphs have so many limbs; creator Glen Schofield cited Resident Evil 4, Event Horizon and Solaris.

What is the profession of Dead Space's protagonist Isaac Clarke?

He's aboard a mining ship overrun after the discovery of an artifact called the Marker.

Amnesia: The Dark Descent (2010) was made by Frictional Games, a studio from which country?

It is credited with helping launch the Let's Play boom on YouTube; the same studio later made Soma.

In Amnesia: The Dark Descent, saving manually costs how many tinderboxes?

Tinderboxes and lamp oil are your only defence against sanity loss in the dark of Castle Brennenburg.

In Outlast (2013), the only way to see in the dark of Mount Massive Asylum is through what?

Night vision drains batteries, so journalist Miles Upshur has to scavenge them constantly.

Who created Five Nights at Freddy's, largely single-handedly, in 2014?

He made it after critics said the characters in his family game Chipper & Sons Lumber Co. looked like scary animatronics.

In the first Five Nights at Freddy's, what does using the cameras and doors consume?

Run out of power and both go dead; the night guard, Mike Schmidt, has to last from midnight to 6 a.m.

Who plays Mike Schmidt in the 2023 Five Nights at Freddy's film?

Matthew Lillard plays William Afton, and it was released simultaneously on Peacock and in cinemas.

Alan Wake (2010) is set in which fictional small town in Washington state?

Remedy structured it like a TV thriller in six episodes, and a live-action web prequel shared the town's name.

Until Dawn (2015) uses what mechanic to make players' choices reshape the story?

Rami Malek, Hayden Panettiere and Peter Stormare did the mocap; all eight teens can live or die.

Alien: Isolation (2014) follows which member of the Ripley family?

It's set 15 years after the 1979 film and copies its lo-fi 1970s future rather than the gung-ho Aliens.

Which studio, best known for the Total War strategy series, made Alien: Isolation?

They planned it as third-person before switching to first-person to make the alien scarier.

Dead by Daylight is an asymmetric multiplayer game with what player split?

Survivors must repair five generators to power the exit gates while the Killer feeds them to the Entity.

Phasmophobia (2020), the co-op ghost-hunting hit, was made by Kinetic Games, based in which English city?

It exploded when Twitch streamers picked it up in October 2020 and became Steam's best-seller for weeks.

In Lethal Company, what do players collect and sell to meet The Company's ever-rising quotas?

Solo developer Zeekerss put it into early access in October 2023, and the quotas are designed to eventually beat you.

Poppy Playtime is set in the abandoned factory of a fictional company that made what?

Mob Entertainment released the first chapter in October 2021 and the fifth in February 2026.

Doki Doki Literature Club! (2017) disguises itself as what kind of game before the horror kicks in?

It was released free by Team Salvato; to end it you have to delete Monika's character file from the game folder.

The 2012 indie game The Eight Pages has players collecting pages while avoiding which creepypasta figure?

Mark J. Hadley built it alone in Unity, inspired by Amnesia and the web series Marble Hornets.

Little Nightmares (2017) follows Six, a hungry little girl escaping which vessel?

Tarsier Studios made the first two; Supermassive Games took over for Little Nightmares III in 2025.

Bloodborne (2015) takes place in which plague-ridden Gothic city?

FromSoftware developed it as 'Project Beast', drawing on Lovecraft and Bram Stoker.

Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem (2002) is famous for 'sanity effects' that do what?

It was the first Nintendo-published game rated M, and Silicon Knights deliberately avoided calling it survival horror.

Left 4 Dead (2008) uses an AI called what to control pacing and item placement?

Valve's Source engine game pits four Survivors against the infected on the US East Coast.

Soma (2015) is set in what kind of location?

Frictional dropped Amnesia-style inventory management to focus on story and machines that think they're people.

System Shock 2 (1999) was designed by which man, who later created BioShock?

It was going to be a standalone game until EA, which owned the System Shock rights, came on as publisher.

BioShock (2007) is set in Rapture, an underwater city built by which fictional magnate?

The genetic material ADAM, which grants superhuman powers, is what wrecked his utopia.

Condemned: Criminal Origins (2005) was a launch title for which console?

Monolith's FBI agent Ethan Thomas hunts a serial killer in the city of Metro; only one sequel ever followed.

Signalis (2022) has the player control what kind of character?

German duo rose-engine styled it after PlayStation-era Silent Hill and Resident Evil.

Darkwood (2017) traps its characters in a dark forest somewhere in what region?

It's played top-down: explore by day, barricade your hideout by night.

Bendy and the Ink Machine puts you in the shoes of Henry Stein, a retired what?

He returns to Joey Drew Studios after a letter; the game openly borrows its structure from BioShock.

Slay the Princess (2023) inverts which classic storytelling archetype?

Instead of rescuing her, your objective is to kill her; The Pristine Cut expanded it in 2024.

Resident Evil Village (2021) sees Ethan Winters searching a European village for whom?

It launched on the same day across PS4, PS5, Xbox, Windows and Stadia, and later got a PS VR2 version.

In 3D Monster Maze (1982) on the ZX81, which unbeatable creature hunts the weaponless player?

The game reported the monster's distance and awareness, and Edge later called it the original survival horror game.

Which 1994 3DO game had no enemies at all, making a sentient house the main threat?

Riverhillsoft rendered both the character and the rooms in polygons and let players switch between third-person, first-person and overhead views.