Death of Repetition, Repetition

Death in video games have stayed stagnant throughout video game history. Rarely do games present audiences with an alternative way to move forward throughout a game’s level or narrative when players die. Instead, popular series and games like Call of Duty, Mass Effect, MMORPGs, Fallout and Outlast all use the same death mechanics even though they all operate within separate video game genres. That is, if the player dies from the result of not doing what the game designers intended, the game reverts back to an earlier state in time in which the player must overcome the same problem again. However, when it comes to games like Outlast this stagnant death mechanic, which I will call revertive death from now on, diminishes the exact experience players are meant to have when playing horror games. Dying and then reverting to an earlier point in time ruins the horror experience because it causes repetition. Repetition desensitizes audiences to horror of any experience.

An early scripted moment in Outlast.

Usability studio Vertical Slice conducted an experiment which recorded participants’ reactions to horror games, “After 10 minutes of [repetitive gameplay], fatigue set in, as players became frustrated at their lack of progress. Much of the tension experienced earlier on had faded by the end of the session.” (Windels, 2011). The early parts of Condemned: Criminal Origins are slow, and although players in Vertical Slice’s experiment did not die they still experienced the same environment with generic enemy attackers for 10 minutes. Since death causes repetition, game designers should consider exploring what their game would be like if failure is not programmed into the game. Recent horror game Until Dawn offers an example of how to redesign a core mechanic in many video games to work mechanically and narratively within the context of the video game. Until Dawn’s take on death is not revolutionary but it provides a far more enjoyable, or horrifying, alternative to the often used revertive death mechanics. It is also important to note that many indie horror games have played with not only alternative death mechanics but with many other elements normally unchanged between video games. Until Dawn is chosen still because it is a popular and highly successful video game, so as to demonstrate that changing often used game mechanics may not have a detrimental impact on sales of a game.

Until Dawn’s simplistic decision system.

In a remote cabin deep in the forests of western Canada, eight teenagers reunite to reconcile over the deaths of two friends exactly one year prior at the same cabin. However moments after meeting up, old wounds open up and the teenagers conflict with one another. The conflict between the characters is used to a psychopathic killer’s advantage, but a separate unknown monster also prowls the area needs to feed on humans for survival. The entire game takes place in one night, thus the player assumes the role of all eight teenagers, but only one at a time at varying moments to help them survive until dawn.

When the player takes control of a character, they have the opportunity to act upon the environment, explore the environment for collectibles or say certain lines of dialogue to other characters. All of the actions afforded to the player affect the narrative and the relationships between characters. If the player does not raise a character’s relationship with another, the currently player controlled character may not receive help when they need it most by non player controlled characters. Thus incentivizing players to mend the broken relationships caused from events a year prior in order to see all eight teenagers alive by the end of the game.

Menu showing Sam’s relationship status with other characters.

However, if the player fails to save a character and inadvertently causes their death, the game continues. Characters react accordingly to one of their friends dying and the narrative accounts for a situation that many games would treat as total failure.

Alfred Hitchcock, an auteur known for his suspenseful films said, “There is no terror in the bang, only in the anticipation of it.” (Halliwell, 1967). In other words, Hitchcock advocates for suspense and not solely for surprise. Vertical Slice’s experiment further supports Hitchcock’s statement when the usability studio observed that, “‘Implied danger’ was a key cause of scariness for the participants.” (Windels, 2011). Until Dawn does not allow for the game to ever end due to death, rather it continues until the narrative of Until Dawn plays out fully. Thus, Until Dawn’s unique death alternative allows players to fully experience the suspense and implied danger of the game throughout — and not feel fatigue from making, what other games would normally see as, mistakes due to fear. In the context of Until Dawn, suspense is heightened more so than games with revertive death because the player is presented with lasting consequences for the death of a character. Revertive death mechanics not only cause fatigue and boredom but also offer a break from the suspense the game has so craftily built up. Until Dawn’s mechanics and narrative coincide with each other to provide a game experience that is much better than a horror game that punishes the player for failing, perhaps from feeling the intended experience of fear.

The player must compose themselves at points and hold the PS4 controller still.

Of course revertive death is not a bad mechanic simply because it is often used in video games. It is normally problematic, however when applied to horror games as it does not fit with what the experience goal of horror games is. Until Dawn is designed to be extremely simple, only requiring simple button presses. Doing nothing and letting the game play out is also registered as an appropriate player input. In a game about confronting fears, this fashion of accepting player input works narratively as well as mechanically. If the player can not compose themselves to take action (and the action necessary is simplified and not a series of complex button presses, thus eliminating as much as possible the idea of gaming skill that players need to have), it is not regarded as failure but an action on its own. The game continues on and an appropriate ending referencing the death of a character is played instead of one where the character survives. If revertive death was in Until Dawn, players would realize that the game does not care about their decisions. A situation no video game should ever have because video games are a unique medium solely because it has the ability to include the player.

Contrasted with Vertical Slice’s experiment which included observing participants play Dead Space 2 and experience the misdirection prevalent in the game which regularly led to death, it is clear that players do not normally enjoy situations where the game treats their decisions as totally meaningless or simply the wrong decision. One participant in the experiment said, “Losing [my] way was frustrating and made the game less scary.” (Windels, 2011). If Dead Space 2 did not have revertive death mechanics, how scary would the game be if the game continued down the “wrong” path? Perhaps the player must then experience a game area designed to be particularly horrific that has embedded narrative within its space further hooking the player into the game and not just outright killing the player and making them instead choose to go left instead of right. Why offer the right path in the first place if it just leads to starting over and going left?

Like revertive death, combat in horror games are also an often seen mechanic. Until Dawn does not have any combat which removes a large element which causes many characters’ deaths in horror games. Though combat and death can still be good together. Early action horror game Resident Evil has death waiting around every corner. Paired with its punishing save system which requires an item found within the game world to use, of which there are only a limited amount of, Resident Evil is full of moments which cause revertive death.

Ink Ribbons are used to save at typewriters in the Resident Evil game world.

Though, I would not consider Resident Evil to be a bad horror game. Many of Resident Evil’s mechanics revolve around the idea of punishing the player and forcing them to relive situations in the game if they fail, not just the death mechanics. Limited resources, saves, knowledge and etc all contribute to a horrifying and punishing experience. It is when players obtain the limited resources and saves that causes heightened tension that follows them until they reach the saferoom in the game.

Until Dawn, however, is a game that would do poorly with that system, and as such Until Dawn’s death mechanics and lack of combat is appropriately designed to match what Until Dawn is — which is to say it focuses highly on portraying a narrative inclusive of the player rather than presenting an experience that focuses on punishing the player for lack of skill. Games like Outlast lie in a vogue state in which it has mechanics that punish the player, yet situations that also focus on portraying a narrative which brings up conflict between two elements: mechanics and narrative, which should coincide closely together.

Fullerton et al. discusses, in their paper, the limitations of games that constantly have spaces which uses the crutch of combat to be fun. While not particularly bad, many video games have been designed from the same perspective of a violent, masculine lens which has created a stagnant collection of video games. Fullerton et al. points out that there are many successful games that lack combat and violent spaces which are still engaging. Fullerton et al. then encourages designers to make more “diverse and nuanced forms of play typically available.” (Fullerton et al., 2004). The same advice applies to horror games. Many horror games use combat as a crutch to introduce jump scares and tense moments while neglecting the finer points of what creates horror.

When programming for alternative outcomes to death the entire game is also affected and may make for better horror. In games that do not allow death, there are numerous actions that players now cannot do that they can normally do in other games. In following with what Fullerton advocates for, creating a game that does not contain combat can create a more nuanced and unique experience. Until Dawn does not have revertive death, but creates tension through the possibility of a character’s death. Every interaction with a character or button press to move throughout the level can all contribute and pile up to the eventual death of a character. Suspense does not only stem from seeing the monsters or being in tense situations, but also with the interactivity players must experience with other characters.

Video games are different from film and other mediums because of its interactivity. Film is unique from novels, paintings and other similar mediums because of its visual element. Most films considered cinematic masterpieces all present a masterful control over both the visual and the narrative. Similarly, video game masterpieces should present masterful control over game mechanics, which accept player input, and the narrative. In games like Outlast, the only player input accepted is a single sequence of moves that complete a puzzle or get the player from point A to B without being caught by a monster.

The entrance to a difficult stage that relies on the player avoiding a monster.

In games like those, the player input is hardly important. If the only input that the game accepts is a single combination, then the game fails in properly making full use of its ability to include the player along with the experience. Until Dawn is a horror experience that accepts multiple conscious decisions as well as the conscious or unconscious decision to do nothing. The game asks players to say and do certain things. The choices presented may all be answered differently depending on who the player is, which offers a more unique experience for the player. Until Dawn also presents players with choices that if the player is clever enough to work through, they will be able to believe that a certain choice is better than the other, or perhaps feel suspense in not knowing whether or not they have all the information to commit to one decision.

Picking up totem collectibles in games shows the player with vague images of the potential future. Some totems make it easy to discern what will lead to death, while others may make it more difficult.

Whereas in Outlast the player can only do one action. That is not to say Outlast is not a gripping horror experience. Outlast is a gripping horror experience but not a horror game masterpiece because it excludes the player, the key element to what makes video games unique, for much of its narrative.

Until Dawn presents game designers a well done example of a horror game done well. It takes into account the medium of video games and its unique ability to accept player input as well as supports its primary experience goal of keeping the player in suspense and surprising them when necessary. Although not the only reason of Until Dawn’s success, its alternative mechanics of death assists in keeping the game suspenseful. Having to repeat stages in a horror game because the player failed can lead to fatigue and the opposite experience of what the horror game is meant to provide. Yet this paper does not wholly exclude the idea that death can be a beneficial mechanic in horror games. However, it should not be the default mechanic that designers turn to having when they introduce combat as a source of tension and suspense. Exploring different avenues of what happens when the player is too scared or tense to play the game at the required skill level may create an entirely unique experience that is horrifying from the beginning to the end even when the player fails. Though horror games must also take care to not make the game a simple experience and exclude player input. With all these limitations stated, it may seem that creating a horror game that this paper advocates for is impossible. However, it is simply just hard to conceive due to the many years in which games have reused revertive death mechanics even when it does not fall in line with intended player experience goals. Solving the problem of repetition in a horror game will undoubtedly create a better horror game and not another action game with scary monsters. Much like how cliche narratives are rejected, often reused game mechanics should be treated with the same scrutiny. In an IGN article about horror games, Travis Fahs eloquently describes what horror is, “It isn't what you see, but what you don't see. It's the suggestion; the subtle teasing of the subconscious; the lonely creaking of the floorboards resonating throughout an empty hallway; the slow advance around the corner; the swelling sense of dread as the ever-present evil that looms near refuses to reveal itself.” (Fahs, 2008). Dying around the corner ruins what horror is. Instead once the player character respawns, it makes the unseen irrelevant. It makes the sound effects of floorboards an indicator of how far you are away from when the monster will jump out. The empty hallway is a reminder of your failure. And instead of dread, it is frustration as you prepare to fight the monster that will spawn as you cross over an invisible trigger set by the game designers.

Work cited

Capcom. (1996). Resident Evil [Computer software]. Capcom.

Fahs, T. (2008, June 23). Alone in the Dark Restrospective. Retrieved November 24, 2016, from http://www.ign.com/articles/2008/06/23/alone-in-the-dark-restrospective

Fullerton, T., Morie, J., & Pearce, C. (2004, March). A Game of One’s Own: Towards a New Gendered Poetics of Digital Space. Proceedings of PerthDAC 2007: The 7th International Digital Arts and Culture Conference: The Future of Digital Media Culture, 136-146.

Halliwell, L. (1965). The Filmgoer's Companion. London: HarperCollins.

Monolith Productions. (2005). Condemned: Criminal Origins [Computer software]. Sega & Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment.

Red Barrels. (2013). Outlast [Computer software]. Montreal: Red Barrels.

Supermassive Games. (2015). Until Dawn [Computer software]. Sony Computer Entertainment.

Visceral Games. (2011). Dead Space 2 [Computer software]. Electronic Arts.

Windels, J. (2011, September 7). Scary Game Findings: A Study Of Horror Games And Their Players. Retrieved November 23, 2016, from http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/134848/scary_game_findings_a_study_of_.php