With Halloween approaching, a reader explains why survival horror video games are far more effective at frightening players than movies, pointing to the immersive nature of the medium.
Why Games Are Scarier Than Movies
The reader, writing for GameCentral, notes that the dark evenings of autumn signal the prime time for spooky entertainment. While the year's schedule has been disrupted by the anticipation of GTA 6, the reader admits there is little to look forward to at the moment. Nevertheless, 2026 has already been a strong year for horror, with the genre appearing to be here to stay across both big-budget and indie titles.
The reader has played the three biggest budget horror games of the year: Resident Evil Requiem, Silent Hill: Townfall, and Hellraiser: Revival. All three were enjoyable and, more importantly, all three were frightening. While Resident Evil is often seen as cheesy and silly, the reader argues this is part of its charm, and the series remains scary when it needs to be.
Resident Evil Requiem and Silent Hill: Townfall
According to the reader, nothing in the Resident Evil series matches the terror of the early sequence in Requiem, where the player is chased by a light-sensitive monster with no weapons. The immersion makes it much scarier than a movie. In contrast, last year's Silent Hill f was good but not scary, and the Silent Hill 2 remake, while creepy, was not frightening to the reader, possibly due to familiarity with the original.
The reader found Silent Hill: Townfall to be the weakest of the three games overall but the scariest, featuring nasty monsters and very little weaponry. The stealth action was not original, but the excellent graphics and atmosphere made it totally immersive. A bonus was the setting in a British town, which felt more familiar than America or Japan.
Hellraiser: Revival and the Genre's Appeal
The reader observes that survival horrors do not need great gameplay to scare players, making them the only genre where a developer can get much wrong and still be loved if the core job of frightening the player is done. Being in the game and experiencing events through the character's actions is more engrossing than watching a linear film.
Hellraiser: Revival, while not great in terms of gameplay and described as a poor man's Resident Evil in combat, was still enjoyable because the horror elements were well executed. The reader was surprised by the gory, horrible, and strong sexual elements, which the developers got away with. It serves as a good tie-in to the films and is probably better than any of the sequels. If it were not a horror game, it would be a 5/10 waste of time.
Looking Ahead
The reader is unsure what will be released next year, except for Resident Evil Veronica, but hopes for another Silent Hill and a range of indie games that will appear unexpectedly and scare players. Survival horror games do not age and do not require great graphics to be effective, so the reader encourages settling down and playing a favourite, or trying one of the three mentioned, with a guarantee of being scared.
