This is the fourth (and final) post in a series of posts about Deadly Premonition. You should read the first, second, and third entries first. THE OTHERWORLD I really like how Deadly Premonition deals with the Otherworld, a label I am borrowing from the Silent Hill series to describe an alternate reality, infested with zombies and other malicious creatures, that mimics the look and layout of the real world but seems decrepit and decayed. In Silent Hill, the Otherworld is often a form of narrative beat, a way for the characters to pass into a yet-scarier version of the game, a way for the designers to ratchet the tension up another notch (or, in some cases, two or three notches, all at once). Deadly Premonition uses the same sort of game mode a different way: to separate straightforward reality from the world of hidden connections and meaning. Agent York's descent into each Otherworld is more like a descent into the unconscious mind, where he's able to find links between things that are not obvious in the real world. This is how York performs his investigation, by finding bits and pieces of seemingly unrelated clues and then linking them together in a way that makes the picture clear. He does this in his dreams, and sometimes the middle of a normal day. But in the Otherworld, York has the ability to physically explore this space. He calls the method "profiling." The Otherworld is not a safe place, however. Though York is able to use this nether region to draw conclusions from uncommon sources, he also makes himself vulnerable to the malicious entities that reside in that space. Perhaps, if we see the Otherworld strictly as York's unconscious mind, we might conclude that these entities are of his own creation, based on what he knows about the case. I think it's more likely that York is visiting a physical space, a sort of distorted mirror of the real world, where evil takes a different, more substantial This chase mode? Genius. Annoying, but genius. form. This interpretation is reinforced late in the game, when other characters enter the Otherworld as well. In terms of pure game mechanics, the Otherworld gives the designers a way to cleanly break between the open world and a more traditional indoor level design. This is a great place for zombies, gun combat, and exploration, which are all hard to do in an open world setting. The decision to switch not only game modes but also thematic modes when entering the Otherworld is, I think, pretty smart. Deadly Premonition also uses the Otherworld to do something that is rare in video games: subtle foreshadowing. The game is the best example of foreshadowing that I've seen in quite a long time. One of the genius parts of Deadly Premonition is its use of color; the palette of the game slowly changes as Agent York gets deeper and deeper into the Otherworld, until finally the game simply smears a bright red haze over the entire frame. Silent Hill 2 used color to foreshadow, as did Condemned. But there are very, very few games that can make such a claim, and Deadly Premonition does it very well. Foreshadowing extends to level geometry as well; there's a particular section near the end of the game in which the player must climb an incredibly long staircase (sort of the reverse of Silent Hill 2 and 4's impossibly long staircases), all while very specific, crazy music plays in the background. The effect is pretty dramatic; the level of tension as the player reaches the door at the top of the stairs is very high. FINISH IT UP, ZACH This has been a long, unorganized stream of consciousness about a weird, delightful, scary game. If you couldn't tell, there's a lot of food for thought in Deadly Premonition, which I think is a mark of high quality. Though many reviewers may have been turned off by a lack of superficial polish, I think that Deadly Premonition is one of the best games I've played in a long time. It's absolutely worth playing, thinking about, investigating, and examining. It is a rare gem.

Jim Sterling has an interesting article over at Destructoid called How Survival Horror Evolved Itself Into Extinction. In it he argues that as games have become more technically advanced, the key features that made PS1- and PS2-era horror games scary have been, well, fixed. Sterling talks about the difficulty of having to deal with awkward controls and fixed camera angles as key elements of the survival horror formula, and in his estimation, the post-Resident Evil 4 world won't abide by those types of mechanics. Though the piece is well written and well thought-out, I don't agree with Sterling's conclusions because I don't think that awkward controls and fixed camera angles are the key design elements of good horror games. Shot composition is definitely extremely important, but we've had well-composited moving cameras since the original Silent Hill. Control problems are something I've discussed here at some length, but fundamentally I don't think there's any reason that an easy-to-control game can't be scary (see also: games like Siren, Clock Tower: The First Fear, etc). Sterling does have a point when it comes to the lack of horror games this generation (I mean, excepting Alone in the Dark 5, Dead Space, Resident Evil 5, Silent Hill 5, Siren: New Translation, F.E.A.R., Condemned 1 and 2, and Fatal Frame 4, though to be fair I think that Jim would discount all of those games except Fatal Frame and Siren as being too action-oriented to be considered classic survival horror). And I even think he's not too far off in his estimation that the mainstream-ification of games has something to do with the dearth of horror games currently available. But I don't think it's quite as simple as "players are used to Halo and Resident Evil 4 and won't accept anything else." I think a better answer is "publishers don't believe that anything other than Halo and Rock Band will sell, and it costs so much to make games nowadays that there's no way they are going to take a risk on a niche genre." This is another well covered topic on this site, and while I hate to be the guy who beats the stuffing out of this particular dead horse, it's true: the market climate that next-gen consoles create is one of conservatism and risk-aversion. You can't double and triple development costs while erasing the installed base without some creative casualties, and genres like survival horror sound like risky bets to most publishers. Resident Evil is not like Halo, and it's not like GTA, and it's not like Metal Gear Solid or Gran Turismo or Madden or any of the other top-tier games from the last few years (publishers have a pretty short memory), and therefore it's weird. So, their reaction is pretty logical: change the format to something more like other things that have sold well recently. This doesn't mean that gamers themselves are tired of the format, or that they are unwilling to accept last-gen controls or game systems. In fact, most other genres haven't changed one bit from the previous generation when it comes to control; it's still just as hard to shoot people in GTA as it was last time around. But publishers see too much risk because next gen costs are so high, so they take the safe position of believing in whatever is currently the rage. The result, unfortunately, is a contraction of available genres. The way to solve this problem is to lower development costs and expand the audience. However, Microsoft and Sony are both failing to do that; their machines cost too much at retail and making a competitive next-gen game is an increasingly expensive proposition. Nintendo has the right idea, which is probably why we've seen a number of horror games announced for that platform (Fatal Frame 4 is out, there's also Cursed Mountain, Sadness, and a couple of others). It's not that gamers' tastes have changed with the times or that advancing technology has left survival horror games behind, it's that the genre itself is too niche to warrant developing for at the moment. Those games that do make it to market will be the ones that publishers feel comfortable with, which is to say that they will resemble last year's hits. This isn't an extinction, it's a pause while we wait for the installed base of next-gen consoles to grow to such a size that niche genres like survival horror are not viewed as risky.

Pow! Take that, traditional horror games! Site regular and forums member death2all recently e-mailed me with a simple question: do I think that the proliferation of "action-horror" games is the death knell for the survival horror genre? Will games that put an emphasis on action, such as Resident Evil 4 and Dead Space, replace the traditional survival horror recipe of item puzzles, slow paced traversal, and vulnerable protagonists? This is a legitimate question and I've spent some time thinking about my response, but it is also dangerously close to asinine arguments about the appropriate categorization of specific games. So please, in responding to this post, try to keep the topic focused on what the recent rise in action-oriented horror games means for the genre rather than which games merit labels like "action-horror" or "survival horror." The short answer to death2all's question is no, I don't think that the recent rise of action-oriented horror games means that the survival horror genre is in decline. I don't think that horror and action are incompatible, and I believe that there are many legitimate formats for horror that can peacefully coexist. In games that star a powerful protagonist, traditional-style fear can still be invoked by making the player responsible for less-capable non-player characters. I think that game reviewers will normally prefer games that they perceive to be "new" and "innovative," and are more likely reward new formats with higher scores, but that doesn't mean that "traditional" games are any less fun. The economic environment that new consoles cause is not conducive to niche genres like survival horror, and in less risky environments (like the DS) we see a huge number of "traditional" adventure games, many of which are horror-themed. So no, I think it's a phase, I think it's diversification, I don't think it's a bad Did not destroy horror games. thing and I don't think the genre is going away. But to really provide a more nuanced answer, I think that it's worth exploring the assumptions that the question itself is loaded with. The implicit assumption here is that games that focus on action are a recent development, and that they are an indication that the previous format has been left behind. First of all, I don't think action-oriented horror games began with Resident Evil 4. Of course there are games like The Suffering that merged horror themes with gunplay much earlier than the most recent Resident Evil. But if we go even further back in time, we find games like Zombie Revenge (2000), Nightmare Creatures (1997), and the Splatterhouse series (1990). The advent of this type of game, not to mention hoards of similar titles that employ horror as a visual theme rather than a core design mechanic, did not diminish the quality or popularity of the "traditional" survival horror genre. No, action-oriented horror games are nothing new, and I don't think there is any reason to believe that this latest round will become the only viable horror format. What is different about more recent action-horror games is that they are actually focused on scaring the player rather than just hijacking familiar horror themes. Consider Condemned. This is a very action-heavy game that is quite an effective horror game despite its emphasis on fisticuffs. Scary content and action are not mutually exclusive, and I think that we're going to see genre blending to good effect in the future. What is happening here is not the replacement of one genre with another. Resident Evil 4, and to a lesser extent The Suffering before it, represents a unification of two traditionally opposed styles of game play: PC games vs console games. In fact, this is the second time the Resident Evil series has been the catalyst for Bicultural kids are always hot. such a unification. When the original Resident Evil shipped in 1995, it represented a merger of the PC-exclusive Adventure genre with more action-oriented console games. It was one of the first adventure games to support direct control over the protagonist (a norm for console games but much rarer in the point-and-click PC world), and it injected a huge amount of zombie combat into a traditionally puzzle-oriented design. The hybrid format that Resident Evil provided proved popular with gamers from both sides of the aisle, and it's not much of an exaggeration to say that the series created the horror genre as we know it today. But since then, PC games have shifted away from slow-paced adventure games and towards frantic, action-heavy first person shooters. Resident Evil 4 is the result of the merger of console-style horror games (that is, a genre originally based on PC games) with contemporary PC action games. As with the first game in the series, Resident Evil 4 retains aspects from both of its genetic parents, and is appealing to a very wide audience. In that way it is more similar to the original Resident Evil than any other game in the series. Games are not created in a vacuum; game design is like DNA, combining and mutating with each generation. What we're seeing now is the result of experimental couplings of different types of genres, and I am encouraged that the results seem to be pretty successful. But like DNA, only strong traits of game designs survive, and I think that the aspects of "traditional" survival horror games will continue to be compelling even if they are paired with unfamiliar game mechanics. This isn't the end of the genre, it's a step in the evolutionary cycle, one that we've taken several times before. I think that the result will be diversification and improvement: not every experiment will result in success, and some games will appear to have hardly changed, but in the end we'll have more types of horror games and a wider audience gamers to enjoy them. I can't see how that's a bad thing.

I finished Condemned 2: Bloodshot yesterday evening and I've just posted a review. It's a pretty good game, and at some points it's absolutely brilliant, but I found the story and level progression to be a bit random and unfocused. Still, the Condemned series represents an example of how horror games can diverge from the formulas defined by Resident Evil and Silent Hill and still be very high quality. I enjoyed Condemned 2, though I think that the original had a better story.

I need a smaller screenshot of this game. I'm pretty excited about the next version of the Fatal Frame series, especially since it's headed for the Wii and involves Suda51 somehow. So it was cool to see scans from Famitsu about the game, but even better news is that the game will be released at the end of July in Japan. Between this game, Silent Hill 5, Alone in the Dark 5, and the already-out Condemned 2: Bloodshot, 2008 is looking like a really good year for horror gamers.

I keep forgetting to post about Project Origin, maybe because the name is so forgettable. This game is the sequel to F.E.A.R., but sports a different name because Vivendi, the publisher of F.E.A.R., owns the copyright. Monolith, the developer of the game, was purchased by Warner Bros. a couple of years ago, which required that they sever ties with Vivendi. Needing a new name, the development team invited people to submit ideas and then held a contest to pick the most popular name. Project Origin is the unfortunate result of that contest, yet again proving that gamer-selected names often suck (thankfully, the last time this happened to a horror game, the developers opted to use their original name rather than the terrible fan-selected name).

Anyway, the game itself looks pretty cool. There's an official website with a trailer, and Kotaku has a clip as well. Since it's been announced for PS3 and Xbox360, it seems like an obvious match for the Quest. Project Origin is currently slated to ship this fall.

As an aside, Monolith has really been racking up the horror games lately! Not only did they just release Condemned 2: Bloodshot, they were also apparently involved in the new PS2 port of Silent Hill: 0rigins. In fact, they haven't worked on a non-horror game since 2005.

There's been a bit of horror game news this week. First of all, there's gameplay footage of Resident Evil 5. While we're on the topic of Resident Evil, there's also a rumor that Resident Evil 4 will ship for PS3 and Xbox360 with some new content, maybe starring Hunk. Finally, there's been a couple of announcements for horror (or at least, zombie-related) games for Nintendo platforms. First there's Last Fight, a Wiiware game about a food critic fighting vampires on a plane. Next is Mitewa Ikenai, a DS game about haunted photos that seems to be 1/2 visual novel and 1/2 puzzles. Finally, there's Zombie BBQ, a shooter that predictably involves zombies. Also, Condemned 2: Bloodshot has been out for about two weeks now, and the reviews are pretty positive. I'm really looking forward to playing this one.

I finished Condemned this week and posted a review. I thought it was excellent; one of the best recent horror games that I've played. I went into the game with low expectations (the E3 2005 demo made it look really bad), but by the end boss I was throughly satisfied. Check the review for details about what makes Condemned such a neat entry into the horror genre.

Bioshock Dead Space A bunch of horror games have been announced this year, so I thought I'd take a step back and see what we can look forward to in the near future. I think this list is pretty complete, but please post information about upcoming games that I miss. Also, until the titles actually ship it will be pretty hard to tell if these games are really horror games or just some other genre in gothic trappings. With that, here's what's on the horizon: Condemned 2: Bloodshot - Q1 2008 - Xbox360, PS3 The sequel to the CSI-vs-demons Xbox360 launch title. Official site Left 4 Dead - Q2 2008 - Xbox360, PC Annoyingly named online horror-themed shooter; this one may not be Quest material, but I'll keep it on the radar. Here's the official site. Dead Space - Q3 2008 - Xbox360, PS3 Dead things in space, with a pretty Bioshocky aesthetic. Official site. Dead Island - 2008 - Xbox360, PC Zombies on a tropical island. Sounds like the House of the Dead move, though this game is guaranteed to be better than that film. Official site. Hydrophobia - 2008 - Xbox360 Mercenaries vs something scary in perpetually flooded environments. I think there is a pretty good chance that this is less of a game and more of a vehicle for water graphics, but we'll have to wait for it to come out. Official site. Silent Hill: 0rigins - Release Date Unknown - PS2 (already out on PSP) The PS2 version of this game was recently announced. I recently reviewed the PSP version. Resident Evil 5 - 2009 - Xbox360, PS3 Yes, it's Chris Redfield vs zombie villagers in Africa or maybe Haiti. Official site. Alan Wake - Release Date Unknown - Xbox360, PC A fascinating-sounding title that bills itself as a "psychological action thriller." Details are still sparse on this one, but I have pretty high hopes. Official site. Alone in the Dark 5 - Release Date Unknown - Xbox360, PS3, Wii, PS2 As I posted about before, Alone in the Dark 5 is now coming to the Wii and PS2 thanks to Hydravision. I think we'll see this game in 2008, but no firm release date has been announced yet. There's a sort of official site, but it's also one of these marketing countdown things and doesn't actually have any game info. According to the countdown the "truth will be revealed" in a couple of days. Shockingly, I suspect the truth to be that Alone in the Dark 5 takes place in central park. Silent Hill 5 - Release Date Unknown - Xbox360, PS3 Another title that will probably make it in 2008. The rumor mill says Q3 2008, but that's not official so I've left the date open for now. There doesn't seem to be an official site, so here's a pretty complete fan site. It is interesting to note that all of these games except for Resident Evil 5 are being developed by Western developers. Japanese developers haven't announced any horror games lately, which might have something to do with the absolute dominance of the Nintendo DS and Wii in Japan (those platforms are dominating here as well). I know for sure that there is another as-yet-unannounced popular Japanese horror franchise headed to the Wii (again, via an American developer). On the other hand, it seems like the Wii is particularly suited to horror gaming, as the Wiimote would make a perfect flashlight and Resident Evil 4 for the Wii kicks ass. I'm hoping that we hear about some new games for those platforms early next year.

One thing about having a kid is that you don't sleep very much. But for me, that means that I've had some time to play some video games in between cuddling my daughter, feeding her, and generally trying to let her Mom get some sleep in the wee hours of the morning. For some reason I've been on a FPS tangent recently (actually, I know the reason: I bought a 360)--I've played through Halo, Half-Life 2 Episode 2, Portal (all kinds of awesome, by the way), and I've put a little bit of time into a couple of horror games: Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth and Condemned. Call of Cthulhu is a game that I really want to like because the narrative is so well told. We've got a by-the-books Lovecraftian tale here, and it's executed within the game systems quite well. Flashbacks, insanity effects, and generally hot level design make the game play (which involves a lot of exploration, puzzle solving, and sneaking) pretty fun. That is, unfortunately, until they introduce the firearms. Once the guns show up, the game mechanics seem to fall apart. The story is still very well told, but the game play takes an immediate and dramatic nosedive. There are a couple of issues that together cause Call of Cthulhu to be way less fun than it should be. First of all, the shooting mechanics are terrible. There's no aiming reticle, and the angle of the protagonists arm on the screen makes it really difficult to judge exactly where the gun is pointing. Furthermore, weapons that should have a significant target area (like the shotgun) sometimes miss at point blank range. The switching of weapons and reloading is also incredibly arduous--on the 360 pad, switching weapons while moving isn't really possible because the D-Pad is used to select weapons, requiring you to take your thumb off the analog stick. Maybe it was easier under the original Xbox controller. None of this is helped by the fact that the enemies seem to be able to withstand much, much more damage than your character. But even worse than the aiming mechanics is the damage system used in the Call of Cthulhu. The idea is that you can get hurt in different ways and need to bandage yourself up rather than just magically healing. Applying bandages and splints takes times, and leaves you vulnerable in the world. If you don't bandage wounds, you can become further hurt by loss of blood. The problem with this system is that different types of wounds require different types of health items, and I perpetually seem to be out of the one that I need. And since you can just die by walking around with an unbandaged wound, it's important to patch all of your wounds up all the time. Even then, an enemy with a shotgun can kill you in one hit, or his friend with the pistol can shoot you in the foot and laugh as you limp five feet away before dying of blood loss. I understand that the developers wanted to use resource management as a way to make healing more realistic and to make the player more vulnerable, but this implementation just makes playing the game unfun. It strikes me as similar to Illbleed--too many resources that interact in ways that are not totally clear. I'm still trying to like Cthulhu, because like I said, everything else about the game is pretty phenomenal. It's just that first person mechanics are really well defined at this point, and the shooting mechanics in Dark Corners of the Earth feel like a regression to 1996. I shall complete this game for the story alone, but I'm disappointed that the weak shooting mechanics replaced the much more interesting sneaking and puzzle solving aspects that dominated the first part of the game. Condemed, on the other hand, appears to be freaking fantastic! I need to qualify that statement: I've only played the first hour or so of Condemned. But goddamn, what an awesome introduction. I'm really impressed with the art style, especially the use of lighting in the levels; the developers were able to get away with bright spaces without detracting from the feelings of claustrophobia and oppression that the dank environments are intended to invoke. The pressure upon the player is immediate and constant from the first moment of the game. I really hope it stays this good throughout its entire length.

Japanese game magazine Famitsu recently published an article called "The Heart of Horror Games" (part of their regular "The Heart of..." series). I'll post a bit more about the article itself later, but first I wanted to relate the list of horror games that they came up with. You'll notice a lot of similarities to my list, except that Famitsu counts "novel games," while I do not. There are a lot of titles in here that I've never heard of before (though most are not the type of game I am looking for), so I've included the Romanization of each name as well as the original Japanese and a clunky translation for most tiles. I skipped doing this for games that are well known or have been released in the West.

While many of the entries sound interesting, I think it is also interesting that some titles were omitted. Games like Nanatsu no Hikan and The Note seem like they would fit right into this list, yet they are nowhere to be found.

The list is sorted in order of release (oldest games to newest games), and contains only games that were released in Japan (and apparently only console games). I've noted games that are novel games, as well as 3D Exploration games (MYST-style). When I was unable to find any information about a game, I've marked it as "??? Game."

A note about my translations: I'm not a great translator, so while I've made an attempt to translate the names of these games correctly, you'll notice that the results are often pretty weird. In fact, there may already be better translations of some of these names out there; in only a few cases was I able to find any existing documentation in English. So take my translations with a grain of salt.

Title Platform Japanese Notes Sweet Home Famicom Splatterhouse TurboGrafx-16 Otogiriso Super Famicom 弟切草 Sound Novel, "St. John's Wort" Splatterhouse 2 Genesis Splatterhouse 3 Genesis Mansion of the Hidden Souls SegaCD 夢見館の物語 Alone in the Dark 3DO Kamaitachi No Yoru Super Famicom かまいたちの夜 Novel Game, "Night of the Kamaitachi" New Mansion of the Hidden Souls - Somebody's Behind That Door... Saturn 真説・夢見館 扉の奥に誰かが… I think this is the same game as before. D 3DO Yakouchuu Super Famicom 夜光虫 Novel Game, "Noctiluca scintillans" Darkseed Saturn Gakkou no Kaidan Saturn 学校の怪談 ??? Game, "School Ghost Stories" Gakkou de Atta Kowai Hanashi Super Famicom 学校であった怖い話 Sound Novel, "Scary Stories from School" Clock Tower Super Famicom QUANTUM GATE 1 ~Akumu No Jyosyou~ Saturn Quantum Gate ～悪夢の序章～ ??? Game, "Quantum Gate 1 - Preface to a Nightmare" Majyotachi no Nemuri Super Famicom 魔女たちの眠り Novel Game, "Witches' Sleep" Yaku ~Yujyou Dangi~ PS1 厄　〜友情談義〜 Novel Game, "Misfortune ~Discussing Friends~" Alone in the Dark 2: One Eyed Jack's Revenge Saturn Twilight Syndrome ~Investigative Report~ PS1 トワイライトシンドローム 探索編 Novel Game, some exploration Tsukikomori Super Famicom 晦-つきこもり Novel Game Resident Evil PS1 HORROR TOUR Saturn 3D Exploring Game Gekka Kiri Maboroshi Dan - TORICO Saturn 月下霧幻譚-TORICO ??? Game, "Illusion in the Moonlit Fog" Gakko de Atta Kowai Hanashi S PS1 学校であった怖い話S Sound Novel, "Scary Stories from School S" Twilight Syndrome ~Completed Investigation~ PS1 トワイライトシンドローム 究明編 Novel game, some exploration Enemy Zero Saturn Clock Tower 2 PS1 This is "Clock Tower 1" in the US. Kyofu Shinbun PS1 恐怖新聞 Sound Novel, "Fear Newspaper" Yaku Tsu ~Noroi no Gemu~ PS1 厄痛～呪いのゲーム Sound Novel, "Misfortune 2 ~The Cursed Game~" The "2" part of the title is a dumb play on words with the word for pain. Darkseed Saturn I don't understand why Darkseed is listed twice, once in 1995 and once in 1997, by different companies. Is it a typo, or are there actually two different Darkseed games? Moonlight Syndrome PS1 ムーンライトシンドローム Novel Game, some exploration. R?MJ - THE MYSTERY HOSPITAL PS1 3D Exploring Game Prisoner of Ice ~Demon's Descent~ PS1 プリズナーオブアイス〜邪神降臨〜 Adventure Game Resident Evil 2 PS1 Clock Tower - Ghost Head PS1 This is "Clock Tower 2" in the US. ...Iru! PS1 ・・・いる！ ??? Game, "It's here!" This title is impossible to search for because the name is a common word. Daiyuurei Yashiki ~Hamamura Jun no Jitsuwa Kaidan PS1 大幽霊屋敷 浜村淳の実話怪談 Novel Game, "Huge Ghost Mansion - Jun Hamamura's Real Ghost Stories" Yasoukyoku PS1 夜想曲 Sound Novel, "Nocturne" Echo Night PS1 Juggernaut PS1 Juggernaut 〜戦慄の扉〜 3D Exploring Game, "Juggernaut - The Horrible Door" Silent Hill PS1 WEB MYSTERY ~Yochimu wo Miru Neko~ DC WEB MYSTERY 予知夢ヲ見ル猫 FMV Game, "WEB MYSTERY - The Cat with Precognitive Dreams" Inagawa Junji no Kyoufu no Yashiki PS1 稲川淳二の恐怖の屋敷 FMV Game, "Junji Inagawa's Mansion of Fear" Echo Night 2< - Nemuri no Shihaisha/a> PS1 エコーナイト#2 眠りの支配者 "Echo Night #2 - The Sleeping Leader" Resident Evil 3 PS1 Yuuyami Doori Tankentai PS1 夕闇通り探検隊 FMV Novel Game, "Twilight Street Explorers" AKA "Season of Twilight" Yakouchuu 2 - Satsujin Kouro N64 夜光虫2　殺人航路 Novel Game, "Noctiluca scintillans 2 - Murderer's Sea Route" D2 DC Shisya no Yobu Yakata PS1 死者の呼ぶ館 Novel Game, "The House that Calls the Dead" Resident Evil: Code Veronica DC The Ring DC Inagawa Junji no Mayonaka no Takushi PS1 稲川淳二 真夜中のタクシー FMV Game, "Junji Inagawa's Midnight Taxi" Twilight Syndrom Saikai PS1 トワイライトシンドローム 再会 Novel Game, some exploration, "Twilight Syndrome Reunion" Oumagatoki PS1 逢魔が時 Novel Game, "Dangerous Dusk" Yasoukyoku 2 PS1 夜想曲2 Sound Novel, "Nocturne 2" the FEAR PS2 FMV Game Oumagatoki 2 PS1 逢魔が時2 Novel Game, "Dangerous Dusk 2" Silent Hill 2 PS2 Fatal Frame PS2 零　〜ZERO〜 "Rei Zero", a play on words because "rei" can mean "ghost" or (with the character they used) it can mean zero. Kamaitachi No Yoru 2 - Kangoku Jima no Warabu Uta PS2 かまいたちの夜2 監獄島のわらべ唄 Novel Game, "Night of the Kamaitachi 2: Prison Island's Folk Song" Resident Evil 0 GC Clock Tower 3 PS2 Silent Hill 3 PS2 Kyoufu Shimbun Heiseiban Kaiki! Shinrei File PS2 Siren PS2 Fatal Frame 2 PS2 Resident Evil Outbreak PS2 Echo Night: Beyond PS2 Kuon PS2 Silent Hill 4 PS2 Hayarigami Keishichou Kaii Jiken Fairu PS2 流行り神 警視庁怪異事件ファイル Novel Game, "Fashionable God: The Strange Incident at Police Headquarters Case File" Michigan PS2 Resident Evil Outbreak 2 PS2 Akai Ito PS2 アカイイト Novel Game, "The Red String" Resident Evil 4 GC Haunting Ground PS2 Constantine Xbox Higanjima PSP 彼岸島 Novel Game Fatal Frame 3 PS2 THE Noroi no Ge-mu PS2 THE 呪いのゲーム Novel Game, "THE Cursed Game" Rule of Rose PS2 Resident Evil Deadly Silence DS Indigo Prophecy PS2 AKA "Fahrenheit" I wrote some notes about this game. Jyui Dr. Toumajyou Tarou PSP 呪医 Dr.杜馬丈太郎 Novel Game, "Dr. Tarou Toumajyou: Cursed Physician" Siren 2 PS2 Dead Rising Xbox360 Kamaitachi No Yoru x3 Mikadukijima Jiken no Shinsou PS2 かまいたちの夜×3 三日月島事件の真相 Novel Game, "Night of the Kamaitachi Triple: The True Events of the Crescent Moon Island Incident" Condemned Xbox360 Escape from Bug Island Wii Vampire Rain Xbox360 Hikurashi no Naku Koro ni Matsuri PS2 ひぐらしのなく頃に　祭 Sound Novel, "When They Cry - Festival" (literal translation is "When Cicadas Cry").

Yeah, yeah, took long enough, I know Thanks to you guys, I got my ass in gear today and added a bunch of games to the database. Here's what's gone in today: Quest Games: Condemned 2: Bloodshot Dino Crisis Escape from Bug Island (ouch, 33%!) F.E.A.R. Obscure 2 Silent Hill 5 The Darkness Close Call Games: Dino Crisis 2 Dino Crisis 3 Still pending (need more info): Soul of the Samurai Twilight Syndrome Saikai and the rest of the series Harker Vampire Rain Alan Wake Jericho (a nice woman at Codemasters sent me a bunch of info, but I haven't looked at it yet). So the database is a little bit more up-to-date now. In the near future I want to split off a classification for cancelled games, as there are a few in the list that should be removed but not forgotten. Thanks to all of you who supplied information for the games, it made my life much easier!

As I am sure the regulars of this site are aware, I am way, way behind on my database maintenance. Part of the reason is that adding new games to the list is always controversial, and another part of the reason has to do with the crazy busy schedule I've had lately. But the biggest reason is that adding games to the database takes time. I need to dig up a lot of information about each game before I can add it, and it is not uncommon for the process to take several hours. Recently, fourms member SyberiaWinx wrote me to complain about my failure to add Ronin Blade (aka Soul of the Samurai) to the database. She was kind enough to supply all the information I need to actually add the game, making the process much, much easier on me (though I still need to see more information about this game before I'm convinced it's horror, but that's another issue altogether). So maybe instead of waiting around for me to get my ass in gear and update the database, you guys can help me out. Below I've listed a bunch of games that I know are missing from the database, as well as the information I need to be able to add each game. If you have some free time and want to expedite the game-adding process, it would be super helpful if you could dig up this information and post it here. It will cut down my time-to-add time by close to 90%. Here's the info I need before I can add a game to the database: The name of the title in all regions that it was released The release date in North America. If it didn't come out in North America, the release date in its country of origin. The regions (America, Japan, Europe) that the game was released in. The systems (PC, PS2, Xbox360, etc) that the game was released on. The average score of at least 10 reviews. You can use GameFaqs or MetaCritic as long as they have > 10 reviews, but if those sites do not list the game or do not contain enough reviews, you need to track down more. The world score isn't useful unless there are a minimum of 10 reviews computed in the average. GameFaqs user reviews are unreliable and should only be used as a last resort. Please post links to the reviews you used to calculate the average. Please calculate the actual decimal average of the reviews as X/100. Links to at least five screen shots, ideally at 640x448 resolution or larger for PS1 and PS2 games. Ideally showing game play and not menus or cut scenes. Ideally with no other review site's water mark (IGN, etc) on the image. The name of the developer. Any official web sites that may exist. Here are the games that I know I am missing. Feel free to suggest other games or tell me that some of the items in this list are wrong. Please review the inclusion requirements before posting. F.E.A.R. (added!) Twilight Syndrome Saikai (and perhaps the rest of the Twilight Syndrome series--need more info) Soul of the Samurai (if it is indeed a horror game) The Darkness (added!) Gakkou no Kaidan G (maybe; can't find any info about this game) (discarded!) Silent Hill 5 (added!) Dino Crisis (1, and maybe 2) (Added!) Obscure 2 (added!) Escape from Bug Island (begrudgingly) (added!) Condemned 2 (I guess? Is this series really about horror?) (added!) Vampire Rain (maybe? if it's more than a brawler/shooter with vampires, I'm game) Harker (maybe? again, don't know enough about it) Alan Wake (looks awesome, but is it horror?) (Thanks to various forum members for helping to compile this list) So, what do you think? If you think one of these games, or even some other game that I don't have listed here is quest-worthy, and if you have some spare time on your hands, it would be pretty awesome if you could help me track the requisite information down.

In as few words as possible, here's some horror-related news and links from E3. Konami has officially announced (with screen shots) the development of Silent Hill 5, to be completed by Harker-developer The Collective. A new Resident Evil 5 trailer is available (Africa!). Also more information on Left 4 Dead and Condemned 2.

And in some non-E3 news, I've finally tracked down Ghost Vibration and Nanatsu no Hikan: Senritsu no Bishou on a trip to Tokyo this week. These have eluded me for a few years, so I'm glad to add them to the collection.

Today I had some free time for the first time in two weeks, so I updated a bunch of stuff in the database. With E3 coming up next week, I am now prepared for the flood of information that occurs every year. I'll be at E3 again this year, so expect a full report when I return. Tons of games added: George Romero's City of the Dead. Thanks to the forum guys (and gals!) for turning me on to this game. With actual in-game screenshots available now, it looks like it might even come out some day. Demonik is the second Xbox360/PS3 horror-related game to be announced. It's being developed by Terminal Reality, the guys behind Bloodrayne, Nocturne, and a Blair Witch game (Rustin Parr). No screenshots yet, but a trailer is available. Luigi's Mansion came out a really long time ago and I've been meaning to add it for years. I'm quite interested in which aspects of "traditional" horror games are applicable to horror-themed games aimed at a younger audience. In the same vein, The Haunted Mansion is also in the database. Also, new Siren 2 information is available at the official Siren 2 site. Check out the promotional video, it looks really, really cool. Fingers super crossed that it's playable at E3. Also, thanks again to the forums members for pointing me to new gameplay footage from Condemned. I'm not sure about this game yet--it's certainly dark, but it looks pretty much like every other shooter ever so far. We'll see if it lives up the hype.

Thanks to forums member Innominatus for the heads up about Condemned, a survival horror game slated for release on next generation (PS3 and Xbox2) consoles. Innominatus also provided a cool translation from the Jeux-France page: Sega unveils the first pictures of his next horror game entitled Condemned and developed by Monolith on the new generation of parlor consoles Xbox 2 and PlayStation 3 as well as on PERCENT. This game announces to be itself of a new kind since it is a matter of a mixture innovating between a FPS and a survival horror, a unique experience of the fear in an alarming atmosphere and realistic extremist. In this psychological thriller, the player will embody Ethan Thomas, an agent of the FBI that will have to investigate on several committed murders by Serial Killers in a dark universe and disturbing inspired film Seven. Thanks to the technical capacities of the future consoles, the editor announces us already a degree of realism never attains with notably graphic components of a very high quality such as the textures of the game. Looks pretty cool! Other than some Silent Hill 5 rumors, this is the first survival horror game to be announced for next gen consoles.