Is "big budget horror games" trend dead on arrival?

[JDHarbs]

I think the unfortunate truth is that sex sells, and RE leans into that while Dead Space, Alan Wake, Callisto, Alone in the Dark, etc don't do that nearly as much.

All are great games, but RE's character models alone probably have a higher budget than most horror games do.

 

[A.J.]

And they were rewarded for their efforts by a pretty definitive statement that no one outside of nuts like me cares about Dead Space anymore. Another bummer, but it being a remake is not the problem (especially once you actually play it and realize how superior it is to the original in many aspects). The problem is that the market has changed and even game enthusiasts, for all their bluster about the kids these days and their GaaS, don't spend money on single player games. They buy them three years later on a $2 Steam sale far after it does anyone any good.

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I'd argue the market didn't change because Dead Space never met EA's sales expectations. Sales were probably inline for what the series was doing 10 years ago. However those sales numbers are worse due to budget increases.

 

[Fat4all]

unless you are Capcom you gotta treat horror games like horror movies

lower the budgets, increase the output of various horror projects

iterate on what works, but otherwise keep mixing things up

for every M3GAN you make, also make a Skinamarink

 

[adam3s]

Horror as a genre just has never justified huge budgets. Even horror movie juggernaughts like Friday the 13th, A Nightmare on Elm St, Halloween etc were all done on fairly moderate budget even at their peak.

With the exception of RE, I don't think its an issue that there are no other horror AAA games. We still get the occasional bigger budget releases like Alan Wake 2, The Quarry that do well enough.

 

[Mifec]

Is it really that bad? I wanted to play it one day, especially since its very cheap now, but I never heard any good things about it.

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It's genuinely terrible outside of looking very pretty.

 

[SzymboraWisławska]

I don't think it was ever a trend, unless you consider "riding Resident Evil's coattails" a trend.

The most budget a survival horror title that's not Resident Evil can allow itself is AA. And even that is pushing it.

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Calling AW2 "maybe an AA" game is ridiculous. Age of Wonders 4 is an AA game, Sinking City is an AA game, Greedfall is an AA game - the soundtrack for AW2 alone costed more than these games.

The same with DS Remake or even AitD. The latter hired two golden globes nominees - its not something that indie/"maybe AA" games do.

 

[Fat4all]

AA budget horror is what Frictional games does

they are smart with their budget and scope and deliver horrific games that are good

 

[Mentalist]

Calling AW2 "maybe an AA" game is ridiculous. Age of Wonders 4 is an AA game, Sinking City is an AA game, Greedfall is an AA game - the soundtrack for AW2 alone costed more than these games.

The same with DS Remake or even AitD. The latter hired two golden globes nominees - its not something that indie/"maybe AA" games do.

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Alone in the Dark is a 50 CAD game. To me, that's quintessential AA.

 

[Fat4all]

Alone in the Dark is a 50 CAD game. To me, that's quintessential AA.

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its 60 american

regardless, that doesnt mean much, AitD was undoubtably an expensive game to make, and A-AAA refers to budget

 

[DidactBRHU3]

I want that Jurassic Park horror game that is coming, if it's good, Capcom would make Dino Crisis again and the genre would be saved :)

 

[Bish_Bosch]

I mean Alan Wake 2 did well and the continuing success of RE suggests that people do want horror games but with a bit more camp to them. Whereas Callisto was borderline a parody of "serious" grey-brown 360 games.

 

[The Silver]

I'm of a mind that "true" horror is increasingly impossible to square away with the reality of what it takes to make an AAA game now. The costs and time invested are so great you have to go for mass appeal, you have to intentionally go for "safe horror", copying whatever is popping off at the time like zombies or slashers, for games it's 3rd person action horror, etc.

You can't push the envelope, can't experiment, can't make people uncomfortable cause you risk pushing away that mass audience, horror that really sets our to disturb you is more domain of the indies now that AAA costs have ballooned to the stratosphere.

Movies have dealt with this, keep horror low budget and use your creativity to make a unique experience. Five Nights At Freddy's is the poster boy for this success for games.

Resident Evil might as well be to other big budget horror games what GTA is to everything else, it's gotten so big and entered public consciousness to such an extent it's become a "safe buy in" and you can't replicate it.

 

[MajorasHeart]

The problem with big budget horror games is that you not only have to capture the minds of the consumers with engaging gameplay and mechanics, but those consumers also have to actually like horror to buy your game, and that's an extra handicap that will hinder sales, even by a small amount.

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Yeah, this is what I was thinking. I don't think horror has a huge fan base, at least from what I've seen—certainly not enough to warrant a huge budget unless it's a remake/sequel rooted in nostalgia. Creating horror could be seen as a risk because of this, so big budgets are saved for more "safer" options while some of the best horror hits of the last few years have been indie passion projects (Signalis, anything published by Puppet Combo, the FAITH series, etc)

Least that's how I see it

 

[skeezx]

Dead Space probably came out about half a decade too late, and Alone in the Dark was mid, so I wouldn't chalk it up to too much

also "horror" is kind of nebulous as a genre. even in spite of RE going back to its roots with 7 and 8 it's something I identify more with stuff like Until Dawn, Quarry, Amnesia ect above anything, those games did quite well and most weren't particularly cheap to make

 

[henhowc]

I liked Callisto. Lots of people hated it. 🤷🏻‍♂️

 

[inkblot]

I really loved Dead Space remake, it was the first time I got to experience the franchise and it was super disheartening to hear about how they've moved past a potential remake of 2.

I think Resident Evil is the clear benchmark here, but it'll be interesting to see what happens when they run out of older games to remake. Either way their brand new entries and really good!

 

[data west]

Because we all know Callisto Protocol did well....

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lol Callisto Protocol had tons of hype and momentum. It's not the genre's fault they released the most milquetoast, designed by committee, horror game of all time. Shit felt like a worse version of The Suffering... on the PS2

nice graphics though

 

[werezompire]

What kind of budget did Pacific Drive have? I haven't played it yet.

 

[Kickfister]

One could argue a large part of RE's success as a horror game is down to not actually being very scary and being more fun anime action rollercoasters with a goopy monster theme.

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People say this, but outside of 4, 5, and 6 (and 4 is on the edge), I just don't think it's true to people who don't like horror media (me normally, but my GF loves it so I'm playing through tons of horror games with her). It's true that they all have goofy elements that offer tension relief, but by and large these are definitely tense experiences your first go around with limited survivability, jump scares, creepy monsters, invincible (most of the time) enemies, pursuit segments, etc.

That said, I'll say that RE3 presents as a very spooky game but the moment Nemesis shows up with a rocket launcher, it pretty much stops being scary and is just funny lol.

 

[Fat4all]

What kind of budget did Pacific Drive have? I haven't played it yet.

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dunno the budget, but i wouldnt put it at AAA for sure

pacific drive was published by Kepler Interactive, which is a sort of indie "co-owned" publisher that aims for what i would say is somewhere like A to AA games solidly

they also published ultros, tchia, sifu, scorn, kinda reminds me of devolver a bit

 

[Poimandres]

I'm hoping STALKER 2 captures some of the horror of SOC. Kind of feels like other genres with horror elements is where you'll find this in the AAA space, like Bloodborne for example.

Really I think horror lends itself well to indie games. Novelty is a big factor to catch people off guard, somewhat low fi presentation adds to an unsettling atmosphere, and shorter game lengths in general work better in stopping games from becoming boring or predictable (neither of which you want in a horror game!)

 

[Astral]

I'd love to see a high budget "quiet" game come out. Something more purely atmospheric and spooky than loud, gory, bang bang pew pew suplex.

 

[Neutron]

So it's horror?

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Resi does it differently to movies though. In Resi, the sexy characters are empowered. Not just fodder for the monsters.

 

[Fat4all]

Resi does it differently to movies though. In Resi, the sexy characters are empowered. Not just fodder for the monsters.

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sounds like evil dead

 

[Fat4all]

Resident EVIL Dead

pay me capcom

 

[Shadoken]

When it comes to sales nowadays , I feel like RE is kinda like how Mario performs in the platformer space. Its the one IP that can pull consistent big numbers in an otherwise niche genre. Sure there are some surprise hits but no other franchise that performs consistently well.

 

[Yautja_Warrior]

It's a damn crime Dead Space Remake didn't do well, it was a top quality game on the same level as the recent Resident Evil games and deserved to be a massive success.

 

[Messofanego]

Have you seen what's been happening with the massive layoffs and closures in 2023 and 2024? Don't expect high budget games in most genres that aren't proven hits, especially from lesser known developers who aren't iterating on a franchise. Let alone horror which doesn't have a universal reach.

 

[SzymboraWisławska]

I liked Callisto. Lots of people hated it. 🤷🏻‍♂️

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Can you elaborate on what you liked about it? I only hear negative things about this game.

 

[Dec]

Can you elaborate on what you liked about it? I only hear negative things about this game.

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Simple but responsive combat, with a lot of weight and a unique hook (melee focus). Some of the best character modeling and motion capture. Densely detailed evironments that reward scrounging. Very limited min-max inventory system (very limited slots, many instances of choice to drop healing or ammo items to make more money).

 

[fifthblight]

I think video games as a medium kind of hamstring any attempt at making a pure horror experience because they're by definition intended to be interactive, and if you don't give the player enough to do in that space, they're largely going to get frustrated and bored and not want to engage, so developers have a difficult time crafting a game where you're both entirely helpless and willing to keep going. Even titles where you have a totally indestructible enemy stalking you (like Alien: Isolation) have to cut the tension by giving you a way to fight less threatening enemies on occasion, because watching someone in a movie be stalked and elaborately, gruesomely murdered is entertaining, but being stalked and gruesomely murdered yourself over and over while you're trying to reach a goal just isn't fun for most people.

indie devs are willing to take a chance on releasing an experience that will only appeal to 10% of a prospective audience, but AAA shareholders are famously risk-averse, so I'm not confident that we'll ever really get many titles that stray too far from the action-horror or third person shooter with horror elements (or remakes) from that space.