Shinji Mikami on Horror Games: Some of the Games Out There Don’t Fit the Definition of Survival Horror

shinji-mikami

While horror games seem to have undergone a resurgence as of late, some fans are wary of said horror games being turned to action affairs just to be able to attract the shooter crowd. 

Speaking to Game Informer, the father of survival horror and creator of Resident Evil, Shinji Mikami comments on the state of horror games, and yes, he thinks it has veered more to action games territory, too.

It’s definitely gone more toward action. This is just my personal take, but to me the definition of survival horror is a game where fear and the sense of exhilaration coincide. So some of the games out there don’t exactly fit my definition. But I don’t have any rights to the definition of the genre so people can call them survival horror if they feel it fits. Basically, I understand that the spectrum of what survival horror is to the general public is pretty wide.

Mikami’s upcoming horror title, The Evil Within, does have shooting mechanics, but from what we’ve seen so far, it looks closer to pure horror games, than your traditional shooter. 

Do you agree with Mikami? And how do you think developers can find the right balance in making a horror game attract a bigger fan base?

[Source: Game Informer]

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