The Ludic Impact of Horror Games on the Body: Until Dawn, Amnesia: The Dark Descent, and Alien: Isolation

Horror video games create an enhanced sense of fear compared to film and television of the same genre due to their use of ludic elements. These ludic elements, specifically haptic game design mechanics, play conditioning, and the coding of the games themselves all bypass the screen and controller to impact the body of the player. Understanding affect as the relationship of the body to the world, video games are therefore a strong affective medium for the horror genre.

Three aspects enable video games to have this strong impact: haptic game design mechanics, play conditioning, and game coding. Using the controller as a threshold object, video games physically interact with players to create a horror experience that compels the body to mirror the fear on screen. Additionally, horror games condition players to play them in a specific way to heighten tension and deny control. Finally, the coding of horror games can create obstacles that deny player control and create an environment of fear.

The aim of the essay is to explore the effective use of all these elements and mechanics in three games: the 2015 game Until Dawn, the 2016 horror game Amnesia: The Dark Descent, and the 2014 game Alien: Isolation. (VH)