Horror gaming could be for its greatest shocks in more than 20 years

The horror movie has always been an interesting genre to explore video games. As an inseparably subjective medium, much more than a film, at least video games can use interactivity for greater immersion and thus produce more terror. Unfortunately many horror games lose their potential for real, visceral horror and smart unique mechanics such as those found in similar to Eternal Darkness: Requiem Sanity feel like a rare breed.

Published in 2002 as exclusive Nintendo Gamecube, Eternal darkness He quickly reached a cult classical state due to his unique design elections. His story is not very special, he watches several different characters over two thousand years when they fight ancient, malevolent power that seeks to enslave the human race. But the methods that Eternal darkness It is used to deliver and present this horror experience, which makes it an unforgettable and unique title. The game specifically contains a mechanic of “effects of common sense”: Eternal darkness It reflects the psychological states of the characters in the game through bizarre visual and sound effects that sometimes break the fourth wall. Nintendo would end the submission of a patent for this function, which would prevent other developers from implementation. But now this patent has expired, maybe opening floods for the arrival of a similar mechanics.

MARNICE assistant and one of his hallucinations in the game

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Other developers can (and should) finally use the effects of eternal darkness'

Horror games could use “effects of common sense” for incredible results

There are several ways Eternal darkness“The effects of common sense can manifest themselves, from gentle and disturbing to eccentric and immersion. Some of the most important effects of the common sense of the game include:

The heads of sculptures turn to watch the movements of the player
Cameras angles tilt unnaturally
Visual effects imitating television functions such as volume reduction
Various defects, including those that lead the player to the belief that their file stored, was deleted

Of course, not all these effects of common sense can be copied by current horror developers. For one thing, although the patent in question has expired, the specifics of the above -mentioned effects of common sense are still protected by the Act on Mental Property: Nintendo could still have a case against developers that directly replicate one of the above effects. In addition, some effects for breaking the fourth wall, such as Faux TV volume, would not work today because of the wider diversity of television user interfaces.

After being said, the sky is still a limit for developers from which they are interested in learning Eternal darkness“Using these audiovisual peculiarities. There is something uniquely confrontation with unexpected television defects because it can exclude users from a feeling of calm that would be ended after regular, continuous use of television use. In other words Agitation because of the atmosphere of horror game, this surprise can easily turn into horror.

But elements for breaking the fourth wall are just part of why Eternal darkness“The effects of common sense are thus evocative. A common problem is the most famous horror games is that they inevitably become familiar: after sending 200. Necromorph in Dead spaceCreatures are beginning to lose a psychological impact, and if they kill players, they can only respond and try again. But the effects of mental reason Eternal darkness Always keep the players on your feet and stretch behind the playing logic in the game to re -create a novelty. This helps to fight the feeling of Tedia, which can be introduced after so many hours in a typical horror game that could benefit the future horror.