A Short History of Horror in Video Games Pre-21st Century

Horror remains one of the most influential genres in entertainment. The many immersive, in-person, and theatrical horror experiences and escape rooms reviewed here on Haunting are a testament to this fact. Outside of immersive theater, the massive influence of horror can also be observed in the world of video games.

Horror practically rules the modern era of gaming. Resident Evil Village along with the remakes of other games from the acclaimed Capcom horror series continue to lead the genre’s development in next-gen titles. Not far behind in terms of influence are games like Amnesia: The Dark Descent, the Silent Hill series, The Last of Us series, Dead Space, and many others that tackle horror in their own unique ways.

In addition to next-gen developers, online casino providers have also put their own unique spins on horror as well. On popular online gaming provider Gala Bingo, the titles Halloween Fortune, Halloween Fortune II, and Halloween Cash Pots make up an entire series of slots that use the holiday’s pagan symbols and music to attract horror-obsessed players. The same can be said of the online slots Immortal Romance and Vampire Desire, which leverage the vampire mystique and gothic aesthetics in its visuals and sounds.

From web-based casino games to immersive next-gen titles, the popular video gaming world remains absolutely obsessed with horror. But where did it all begin?

While the glitz and glam of colorful online casino slots may seem divorced from the realistic horror environments of today’s next-gen games, their visual style is actually much closer to the historical roots of horror in gaming. Indeed, the very first horror game in the world was Sega’s Killer Shark, a primitive electro-mechanical jump-scare arcade game from 1972 wherein the player attempts to shoot a shark with a spear gun. The gameplay depends on flashing colors and simple motor skills, while the arcade cabinet itself features colorful artwork to make up for the minimal graphics – as was the fashion at the time. It was featured in the iconic film Jaws, and the original cabinets remain highly valuable to collectors today.

Ten years later, the ‘80s saw the release of the Atari 2600, one of the first true video game consoles. This was the console that released Haunted House, where the player represented by terror-struck cartoon eyes explores a “haunted house” made of simple 8-bit illustrations and colorful animation. While the game is more novelty than horror, it laid out the groundwork for Atari’s Halloween, a survival game based on John Carpenter’s iconic film of the same name. Although Halloween’s graphics remained colorful and simple, it featured more detailed characters and locations for players to interact with. It also used a chiptune version of the film’s soundtrack, which magnified the player’s attempts to escape from a psychopathic killer. The horror video game genre was born.

These developments led to other iconic games like The Rocky Horror Show and Friday the 13th: The Computer Game, both of which were released on the Commodore 64 in 1985. While both are based on iconic movies, the former focuses on the bizarre elements of horror, while the latter simply wants to unnerve players with clever scares. Alongside other retro ‘80s titles like Ghosts ‘n Goblins, Mad Doctor, Uninvited, and the Castlevania series, these games set the stage for the modern era of video game horror.

Indeed, the ‘90s saw the release of the most iconic video games in the horror genre. In 1993, Doom and its demon-killing, gun-totting hero changed both horror and first-person shooters forever. The first Resident Evil, which is still widely regarded as the greatest horror game ever, was released in 1996. And these are just some of the many influential horror titles to emerge from the ‘90s. It is mainly from this era that today’s next-gen horror games continue to take inspiration. Meanwhile, the inspiration for today’s online horror games can be traced back to the retro era of horror gaming. And as these next-gen and online games continue to develop, video games will continue to be a key part of horror’s ongoing evolution.

Image Credit: Enot91 under CC BY-SA 2.0 License – No changes were made to the image.