50 Fun Facts About Horror Game

In which year was 'survival horror' first used, for the Japanese release of Capcom's mansion game?

The term 'survival horror' debuted with Resident Evil's 1996 Japanese release; it was later applied retroactively to 1989's Sweet Home and 1992's Alone in the Dark, which both influenced it.

Capcom's 1989 Famicom RPG Sweet Home, an ancestor of Resident Evil, was made alongside what?

Director Tokuro Fujiwara toured the film set for inspiration; the film's director Kiyoshi Kurosawa let him take liberties with the script.

Alone in the Dark (1992) is set in a haunted mansion in which US state?

The game takes place in Derceto, a Louisiana mansion; designer Frédérick Raynal drew on Lovecraft's Cthulhu Mythos and the films of Argento and Romero.

Which two S.T.A.R.S. members can you play as in the original Resident Evil?

Chris Redfield and Jill Valentine are the two playable S.T.A.R.S. members; Chris gets six inventory slots and Jill eight, while Barry Burton and Rebecca Chambers appear as support characters.

In the original Resident Evil, what do you need to save your game at a typewriter?

Saving requires an ink ribbon, consumed at each typewriter; their scarcity was one of the ways the game kept you feeling less in control.

What is Resident Evil called in Japan?

With over 213 million copies sold it is Capcom's best-selling franchise and the best-selling horror series in gaming.

Who directed the original Resident Evil and later founded Tango Gameworks to make The Evil Within?

Hideki Kamiya's discarded first draft of Resident Evil 4 turned into Devil May Cry instead.

Resident Evil 4 (2005) sends Leon Kennedy to rescue the president's daughter from a cult where?

Leon travels to a rural village in Spain, where the Los Illuminados cult holds Ashley Graham; it launched on GameCube under the 'Capcom Five' deal and popularised the over-the-shoulder camera.

Resident Evil 7 (2017) broke with series tradition by using which perspective?

Resident Evil 7 switched to a first-person view, taking cues from The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, The Evil Dead and Saw, and confined the action to the Baker family's Louisiana plantation.

Silent Hill, the town, is located in which US state?

Silent Hill is a resort town on Toluca Lake in Maine in Konami's lore, though the 2006 film moved it to West Virginia; Team Silent made the first four games between 1999 and 2004.

In the first Silent Hill (1999), Harry Mason is searching the town for whom?

Harry is hunting for his missing adopted daughter Cheryl after a car crash outside town; the developers used fog and darkness to hide the PlayStation's pop-in, which became the series' signature look.

Silent Hill 2's James Sunderland comes to town after receiving a letter from whom?

James receives a letter from his dead wife Mary, who says she is waiting in their 'special place'; the story drew on Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment, and Bloober Team's remake arrived in October 2024.

Which seemingly unkillable Silent Hill 2 monster wears a huge helmet and drags a giant knife?

Pyramid Head, dragging his great knife, first appears in the Wood Side Apartments and later kills Maria in front of James; he embodies James's guilt and desire for punishment.

P.T. (2014) was a free 'playable teaser' for which cancelled game?

P.T. teased Silent Hills, which Hideo Kojima and Guillermo del Toro were making with Norman Reedus under the fake '7780s Studio' name; Konami cancelled it in 2015 and pulled the demo from re-download.

Silent Hill f (2025) is set in the 1960s in a fictional town in which country?

Silent Hill f is set in 1960s Japan, in the fictional town of Ebisugaoka, where heroine Hinako Shimizu navigates the fog; it was the first main entry set outside the United States.

In Fatal Frame, what do the protagonists use to capture and pacify ghosts?

The Camera Obscura was invented in-universe by Dr. Kunihiko Asou; the series is known as Project Zero in Europe.

In Clock Tower (1995), Jennifer Simpson is stalked through the Barrows mansion by a killer known as what?

Scissorman, the shears-wielding Bobby Barrows, stalks Jennifer through the mansion; director Hifumi Kono modelled the look and heroine on Dario Argento's 1985 film Phenomena.

Dead Space (2008) built its combat around what 'founding principle'?

Dead Space's founding principle was strategic dismemberment, severing Necromorph limbs rather than going for headshots, which is why they have so many; creator Glen Schofield cited Resident Evil 4, Event Horizon and Solaris.

What is the profession of Dead Space's protagonist Isaac Clarke?

Isaac Clarke is a ship systems engineer sent to repair the USG Ishimura, a planet-cracker mining ship overrun after the discovery of an artifact called the Marker.

Amnesia: The Dark Descent (2010) was made by Frictional Games, a studio from which country?

Frictional Games is based in Helsingborg, Sweden; Amnesia is credited with helping launch the Let's Play boom on YouTube, and the studio later made Soma in 2015.

What is the name of the amnesiac protagonist of Amnesia: The Dark Descent?

The protagonist is Daniel, an Englishman who wakes in Castle Brennenburg in 1839 having deliberately erased his own memory; Alexander of Brennenburg is the baron he has resolved to kill.

In Outlast (2013), the only way to see in the dark of Mount Massive Asylum is through what?

Miles Upshur's camcorder night vision is the only way to see in the dark; it drains batteries, so the journalist has to scavenge them constantly.

Who created Five Nights at Freddy's, largely single-handedly, in 2014?

Scott Cawthon built Five Nights at Freddy's mostly alone after critics said the characters in his family game Chipper & Sons Lumber Co. looked like creepy animatronics.

In the first Five Nights at Freddy's, what does using the cameras and doors consume?

Run out of power and both go dead; the night guard, Mike Schmidt, has to last from midnight to 6 a.m.

Who plays Mike Schmidt in the 2023 Five Nights at Freddy's film?

Josh Hutcherson plays night guard Mike Schmidt; Matthew Lillard plays William Afton, and the film was released simultaneously on Peacock and in cinemas in October 2023.

Alan Wake (2010) is set in which fictional small town in Washington state?

Bright Falls, a Pacific Northwest town on Cauldron Lake, is the setting; Remedy structured the game like a TV thriller in six episodes, and a live-action web prequel was titled Bright Falls.

Until Dawn (2015) uses what mechanic to make players' choices reshape the story?

Until Dawn's 'butterfly effect' system tracks every choice, branching the story so all eight teens can live or die; Rami Malek, Hayden Panettiere and Peter Stormare performed in mocap.

Alien: Isolation (2014) follows which member of the Ripley family?

You play Amanda Ripley, Ellen's daughter, searching for the Nostromo's flight recorder 15 years after the 1979 film; the game copies that film's lo-fi 1970s future rather than the gung-ho Aliens.

Which studio, best known for the Total War strategy series, made Alien: Isolation?

Creative Assembly, the Total War studio, developed Alien: Isolation for Sega; they planned it as third-person before switching to first-person to make the alien scarier.

Dead by Daylight is an asymmetric multiplayer game with what player split?

Survivors must repair five generators to power the exit gates while the Killer feeds them to the Entity.

In Phasmophobia, which item reveals a ghost's fingerprints on doors and switches?

A UV light (or glowstick) reveals fingerprints on doors and switches, one of the game's evidence types alongside EMF readings, spirit-box responses and freezing temperatures; Twitch streams made it a hit in October 2020.

In Lethal Company, what do players collect and sell to meet The Company's ever-rising quotas?

Crews scavenge scrap from abandoned, monster-infested exomoons and sell it to The Company; solo developer Zeekerss put it into early access in October 2023, with quotas designed to eventually beat you.

Poppy Playtime is set in the abandoned factory of a fictional company that made what?

Mob Entertainment released the first chapter in October 2021 and the fifth in February 2026.

Doki Doki Literature Club! (2017) disguises itself as what kind of game before the horror kicks in?

It poses as a cute dating simulator before turning psychological; Team Salvato released it free, and to end it you must delete Monika's character file from the game folder.

The 2012 indie game The Eight Pages has players collecting pages while avoiding which creepypasta figure?

The full title is Slender: The Eight Pages, and Slender Man stalks you through the woods; Mark J. Hadley built it alone in Unity, inspired by Amnesia and the web series Marble Hornets.

Little Nightmares (2017) follows Six, a hungry little girl escaping which vessel?

Six escapes The Maw, a vast iron vessel that feeds its grotesque guests; Tarsier Studios made the first two games, and Supermassive Games took over for Little Nightmares III in 2025.

Bloodborne (2015) takes place in which plague-ridden Gothic city?

Yharnam, a Victorian-Gothic city gripped by a blood-borne plague, is the setting; FromSoftware developed it as 'Project Beast', drawing on Lovecraft and Bram Stoker.

Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem (2002) is famous for 'sanity effects' that do what?

It was the first Nintendo-published game rated M, and Silicon Knights deliberately avoided calling it survival horror.

Left 4 Dead (2008) uses an AI called what to control pacing and item placement?

Valve's Source engine game pits four Survivors against the infected on the US East Coast.

Soma (2015) is set in what kind of location?

Soma unfolds in PATHOS-II, an underwater research facility on the Atlantic seabed; Frictional dropped Amnesia-style inventory management to focus on story and machines that think they are people.

System Shock 2 (1999) was designed by which man, who later created BioShock?

Ken Levine led design at Irrational Games, which co-developed it with Looking Glass Studios; it was going to be a standalone game until EA, which owned the System Shock rights, came on as publisher.

BioShock (2007) is set in Rapture, an underwater city built by which fictional magnate?

Andrew Ryan, an Ayn Rand-inspired tycoon, built Rapture in 1946 as an objectivist haven; the genetic material ADAM, which grants superhuman powers, is what wrecked his utopia.

Condemned: Criminal Origins (2005) was a launch title for which console?

Condemned launched alongside the Xbox 360 in November 2005; Monolith's FBI agent Ethan Thomas hunts a serial killer in Metro City, and Condemned 2: Bloodshot followed in 2008.

Signalis (2022) has the player control what kind of character?

You control Elster, a Replika android searching a derelict facility for her lost partner; German duo rose-engine styled it after PlayStation-era Silent Hill and Resident Evil.

Darkwood (2017) traps its characters in a dark forest somewhere in what region?

Darkwood is set in an unnamed Soviet Bloc country in the 1980s, made by Polish studio Acid Wizard; it's played top-down: explore by day, barricade your hideout by night.

Bendy and the Ink Machine puts you in the shoes of Henry Stein, a retired what?

Henry Stein is a retired animator who returns to Joey Drew Studios after a letter from his old partner; Kindly Beast released the first chapter in February 2017.

Slay the Princess (2023) inverts which classic storytelling archetype?

It inverts the damsel in distress: instead of rescuing the princess, your objective is to kill her before she ends the world; The Pristine Cut expanded it in 2024.

Resident Evil Village (2021) sees Ethan Winters searching a European village for whom?

Ethan hunts for his kidnapped infant daughter Rose after Chris Redfield raids his home; it launched the same day on PS4, PS5, Xbox, Windows and Stadia, and later got a PS VR2 version.

In 3D Monster Maze (1982) on the ZX81, which unbeatable creature hunts the weaponless player?

A Tyrannosaurus rex stalks the maze, and the game reports its distance and awareness ('He is hunting for you'); it is often called the first survival horror game.

Which 1994 3DO game had no enemies at all, making a sentient house the main threat?

Doctor Hauzer, from Riverhillsoft, has no enemies; the house's traps are the threat. It rendered both character and rooms in polygons and let players switch between third-person, first-person and overhead views.