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Indie Horror Games: The Spooks and the Scaries!

Eri Kong

In the wide catalog of games, few genres elicit a strong response as horror. Though AAA games dominate the spotlight, indie games have been on the rise, creating unforgettable, bone-chilling experiences. But how are these indie games able to instill fear into its audiences like AAA games do? In this blog, we’ll be taking a look at Five Nights at Freddy’s to Fears to Fathom to explore the different methods some games use to scare their players.


Mascot horror is a subgenre of horror characterized by its use of mascots, like cartoon characters, to deliver frights. It skyrocketed in popularity in the mid-2010s because of the release of Five Nights at Freddy’s, an indie horror game that utilized both uncanny visual and sound design to generate scares. In Five Nights at Freddy’s, the player is a newly-hired security guard tasked to watch over a family entertainment center from 12 to 6 AM. However, “the animatronics here do get a bit quirky at night” says the game. . They move around the pizzeria and slowly make their way towards the player, who must make sure that the animatronics do not get past their doors or else it is game over. The game uses the uncanniness of the animatronics moving from one spot to another and looking at the camera sometimes to freak the player out. The game’s sound design is also specifically tailored to immerse the player; the player will only hear the sounds of static from security cameras, groans and creaks from the animatronics, and sometimes footsteps rushing towards the player if they’re unlucky. And who can forget the iconic jump scares by the animatronics? As a contrast to the quietness surrounding the characters, the noise the animatronics make when they jumpscare the player is loud. The difference in loudness startles the player, especially new players, thus intensifying their reaction to the scare. Later games in the Five Nights at Freddy’s franchise would also use these tactics to scare its players.


Utilizing the uncanny creates an ironically scary experience, as it uses the player’s preconceptions of familiar objects and twists them into something horrifying. This, however, isn’t the only tactic used to frighten players. Some indie horror games use fears and concepts familiar to the player. In Fears to Fathom, the series takes submissions of real life horror stories and creates games based on those stories. They immerse the player into the story by having them play as the person telling the story. You get to experience what they experienced, whether it be a crazy ex breaking and entering their home or a potential murderer in a motel the player is staying in. What makes these experiences scary is that these events can happen in real life. Fears to Fathom puts us in a position where we experience these events as they happened to other people. Even though we know the storyteller survived to tell the tale, we still feel the fear they felt in the moment, wondering if we will also make it out alive. Games like Fears to Fathom use horror in a way that is grounded in reality, thus being able to deliver them in a way that hits close to home for players.


Like AAA horror games, indie horror games shine in many different ways. They specifically curate spooky experiences using different aspects, like the environment art and sound design. These choices all focus on invoking fear in many different ways, such as through utilizing the familiar and unfamiliar. Indie studios may have less resources and funding than AAA studios when it comes to creating games, but they shouldn’t be ignored when they have also created timeless horrors for players to enjoy and remember. Why not indulge in a good indie horror game this spooky season and explore the scares it has in store for you?

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