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# Can indie games save the survival horror genre?
- URL: https://www.killscreen.com/can-indie-games-save-survival-horror-genre/
- Published: 2012-11-05T20:30:20.000Z
- Updated: 2015-11-17T14:50:25.000Z
- Description: It’s not news that the mainstream horror game is in a bad way: Resident Evil 6 was an atrocity, Silent Hill hasn’t been relevant in years, and the Dead Space series (which, to be fair, is excellent) seems to be moving in more of a pure-action direciton. At FMV, Matt Butler takes heart in a groundswe
- Author: Joseph Bernstein
- Tags: News, #wp, #wp-post, #Import 2024-07-26 09:39

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/25/84/2584b75d-4bd6-4cce-8259-f1d1c65abbb5/content/images/previously/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/routine.jpg)

It’s not news that the mainstream horror game is in a bad way: *Resident Evil 6* [was an atrocity](http://killscreendaily.com/articles/reviews/why-resident-evil-6-devastating-parable-about-heroin-addiction/?ref=killscreen.com), *Silent Hill* hasn’t been relevant in years, and the *Dead Space* series (which, to be fair, is excellent) seems to be moving in more of a pure-action direciton. At FMV, [Matt Butler takes heart](http://www.fmvmagazine.com/?p=12736&ref=killscreen.com) in a groundswell of indie horror games like *The Dark Descent* and *Slender*:

> What is most fascinating about this new wave of indie horror is how utterly ruthless and uncompromising it is. At a time when the mainstream’s so-called horror titles are nothing more than shooters with a few zombies in them – falling over themselves to empower and entertain the player with gung-ho gore and bravado – the indie upstarts in question are doing everything they can to render the player utterly impotent and powerless.

I would add to this group of games the [biofeedback-enhanced ](http://www.nevermindgame.com/blog/?ref=killscreen.com)*[Nevermind](http://www.nevermindgame.com/blog/?ref=killscreen.com)* and the audio-only horror masterpiece [BlindSide](http://www.blindsidegame.com/?ref=killscreen.com). Butler looks for causes:

> The question of *why* horror has found new inspiration in the hands of independent developers is an interesting one. Obviously, it is likely to be something of a backlash against the decline of psychological-led experiences in the mainstream, and the rise of action-centric shooters in their wake…But there can be little doubt that there is a real commercial appetite for psychological-horror, too – and this is the key hook for entrepreneurial teams and individuals.  
>  

It’s a cliche, but I’ve always found that the less a horror narrative shows me and the more it implies, the more frightened I become. The new mainstream horror games are orgies of visible gore and violence. In this sense, the technological limitations of the new indie horror games may be an advantage: they simply can’t show everything. They have to suggest.