MASACHIKA K AWATA

ROLE: Senior producer, Capcom

HORROR CREDENTIALS: Resident Evil

series, Dino Crisis series

THE MOMENT: The first chapter of the

Higurashi When They Cry series was terrifying. It is a text-based

indie adventure developed by a small team, and the quality

of its graphics and sound was not particularly outstanding.

However, it caused a sensation online because of the story

depicting madness in day-to-day life and many intriguing

mysteries which are not unravelled in the first chapter. It

reached a mass audience later on through various adaptations

including an anime, but the first chapter still feels especially

scary with its story depicting a breakdown of communication

between friends.

From major titles, Dead Space was also impressive with

its unique interpretation of aliens and the well-realised

isolation of the space environment. Its intensity reminded

me of the first Resident Evil. The boldest horror moment

was the dismemberment when the player is killed, which

showed – instantly – that you were dead. Unfortunately,

such dismemberment could not be removed to comply with

strict rules set by the Japanese ratings board, which made

it impossible to officially release the game in Japan. Still,

many Japanese horror game fans did import the game to

experience it.

THE ADVICE: The sequence of ‘unique situation’, ‘unexpected

surprise’, and ‘the need for players to escape’ seems to be the

key to creating a good horror moment, which I think is the case

with the two titles above. Players won’t be afraid of dying as

long as they are chilled out, and there won’t be any surprise if

they are able to make decisions calmly. That’s why I think it’s

important to make extraordinary environments to get rid of the

emotional ease and reassurance of players.

SPOOKT ACULARSPOOKT ACULAR

BARBARA KCIUK

ROLE: Narrative designer, Bloober Team

HORROR CREDENTIALS: Blair Witch

THE MOMENT: Moments such as your first encounter with Pyramid Head in Silent Hill 2 or

sudden appearances of Scissorman in Clock Tower are still as adrenaline-inducing as ever,

but for me, the most memorable was the way Eternal Darkness: Sanity’s Requiem messed

with the player. The way it crosses the fourth wall in order to scare you – who wouldn’t be

terrified if the game suddenly erased all your save files or unplugged your controller in the

middle of the fight? It remains both unique and terrifying, even today.

THE ADVICE: The secret is... that there’s no universal recipe. There are no universal

tricks that always work. Creating horror relies heavily on surprising a player – with a well-

paced jump scare, eerie atmosphere, sudden change of tone, or some small, seemingly

inconsequential detail that just rubs the player [up] the wrong way. As a creator, you must

always be one step ahead of the player, and that’s exactly why there’s no easy answer to

‘how’. Always be creative, experiment a lot, and trust your intuition, because if you start

following the rules, you’re not going to scare anybody.

Spooktacular

Interface

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