Why are survival horror games so popular?

It seems weird, scary games that are popular. But it´s actually not that weird, people seem to have a thing for things that scare them. Teen slasher movies have a lot of popularity and those movies are considered as classics by a lot of people. With games it´s pretty much the same, the more blood and disturbing shit that goes on the more likely people will want to play it. But why?


People are weird? I´m not even going to deny that, people are weird but I don´t think that´s the main reason why a lot of people enjoy playing survival horror games. I can´t speak for everyone but for me it´s a personal victory to beat the monsters and make it out of the game alive. Well not every game has a happy ending, yes I´m looking at you Silent Hill 2, but it´s nice to know that you made your way through the game and beat it. Preferbly on a high difficulty because beating a game on easy still doesn´t mean much to me. I think for other people it´s also some type of victory, to face your fears and make it out as the winner. Nobody wants to be weak, nobody wants to cower away and hide. You want to be strong, you want to say to whatever makes you scared to get lost!


Other people might just like a dark environment, spooky details and a lot of blood. Why? I don´t know, some people just like these things and others like rainbows and unicorns. We´re not all the same, whatever motivates us to play certain games I still hope it´s just for fun! Because that´s another reason for me to play survival horror games, I think it´s fun to put myself in these situations and make it through. For example in the game the Evil Within I faced monsters I didn´t think I would survive and yet I made it through, sure I made mistakes but you learn from that and you become stronger and smarter in the process. So in a way a survival horror game also forces you to do better, it´s not going to be a breeze and to understimate it would be a serious mistake!


Which brings me to another reason why people like to play survival horror games, they´re not always that easy and some people like a challenge. I think certain survival horror games can give you a challenge and it´s up to you to complete that challenge. Not only does that make you feel good it also gives you some bragging rights (if you care about such things). Maybe it also helps you look cool in front of your girlfriend (maybe even your boyfriend), so with survival horror games things can only go well. At least if you make it, if not then you´re in for a lot of frustration...

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