Is Dead Space a Horror Game?
Dead Space is a franchise of survival horror video games set in science fiction environments, including spaceships and space stations. Dead Space video games have been praised for their atmosphere, unique enemies, and story. The original Dead Space video game, Dead Space (2008), was developed by EA Redwood Shores (later Visceral Games) and published by Electronic Arts. Dead Space video games are well-known for their horror video game atmosphere, and also for their action elements, especially the third-person shooter gameplay and the variety of weapons available. In Dead Space video games, combat is a prominent feature, and the player character must often fight enemies in order to progress. Considering that Dead Space video games feature action gameplay, players and horror video game fans may wonder whether Dead Space is a horror video game, or if it is an action video game with horror elements.
Dead Space is a horror game because the gameplay is mostly directed at scarying and frightening the player, a distinctive characteristic of the horror genre, even though this game also features action elements.
The Definition of Horror Video Game
The definition of horror video game often sparks some debate. However, the most ample definition of horror fiction and of the horror genre is that it describes works which are intended to scare and fighten. In this sense, horror video games are the video games which are intended to scare players. This is different, for example, from strategy video games in which players must think of different ways and strategies in order to win against the AI (artificial intelligence) or against other players. Considering that the definition of horror video game is of a video game that is primarily intended to scare the player, then horror video games are those in which the whole experience and gameplay is geared towards one direction: the direction of feeling scared. As such, horror video games employ different strategies and gameplay features, which are often seen in multiple video games, such as jumpscares, suspenseful atmosphere, suspenseful soundtrack, absence of many allied NPCs (non-player characters). Some horror video games feature enemies that are generally much more powerful than the player character, and some horror video games do not allow the player character to fight against the enemies, only run or hide, such as is the case of video games such as Amnesia and Outlast. Other video games, which allow the player character to fight enemies, such as is the case of Dead Space, Dino Crisis, and Resident Evil, still feature enemies which are generally stronger or more menacing than the player character, and this is evidenced by the fact that these games in general feature monsters or strong creatures as enemies, while the main character is most often a human.
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Fighting Enemies in Survival Horror Video Games
Many classic horror video games, such as Resident Evil and Silent Hill, feature very suspenseful atmospheres and puzzles, and in many cases, these games may not promptly give the player character weapons or means to fight enemies. To be more precise, Resident Evil video games are most often described as survival horror video games. Survival horror is a sub-genre of horror video games in which the main goal of the main game character is to escape the horror situation, often involving leaving a specific location or making contact with someone who can help. While some survival horror video games allow the player character to fight against enemies, fighting and defeating all enemies is sometimes not a viable way of playing the game, either due to limited ammunition, which is in some cases not enough to defeat all enemies, or due to the large quantity of enemies which attack the player character, which makes combat quite difficult and uneffective in the overral aspect. Especially in higher difficulties, some survival horror video games become increasingly difficult if played with the goal in mind to defeat all enemies, rather than with the goal of surviving the horror situation in the game. Dead Space is also a case in which this is true. In higher difficulties of Dead Space, it can be increasingly difficult to defeat all enemies while also conserving ammunition, and sometimes choosing the alternative of escaping the situation is more viable in many aspects, especially in the aspect of conserving health items and ammunition. One crystalline example of the difference between survival horror video games and traditional action video games is by analysing the differences between Dead Space video games and Doom video games. In general, in Dead Space video games, the player character is expected to survive the horror situations however possible, while in Doom video games, the player character is expected to defeat all enemies or as many enemies as possible. These differences in goals are presented not only through the gameplay, but also through the storytelling, world-building, dialogues and other lore present in these video games, which reflect the differences of their genres. Ultimately, these differences reflect how Dead Space video games are video games about surviving a horror situation.
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The Presence of Action Elements in Horror Video Games
Many horror video games, including survival horror video games, include and feature action elements. This is seen in various classic horror video games such as Alien: Isolation, Condemned, Dead Space, Dino Crisis, Metro, Resident Evil. What these video games have in common is that, while there are action elements present in the games, the primary goal is to survive a horror situation, and not necessarily to defeat all enemies. In most cases, while the main game character is able to use weapons and tools to fight enemies, most often the possibility of fighting enemies is something that is required in order to reach a more important objective, while in traditional action video games the goal is to defeat the enemies, such as in Doom video games. In classic survival horror video games, the player character must often fight, or evade, the enemies, in order to reach, for example, a communication system to contact someone and ask for help, or to leave the current location. While there are moments in survival horror video games in which the main game character must fight and defeat the enemies in order to survive, the primary goal of the storyline is generally to ask for help or to leave the location, which is in line with the aspect that horror video games are video games that are primarily intended to scare the player, and not video games in which the player character must neecessarily fight and defeat all enemies.
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