The Next Level of Horror Entertainment: Facing Fear in Cooperative Interactive Drama Survival Horror Games

Abstract

Horror entertainment continues to change, with horror games being another step in this evolution after literature and movies. The paper characterizes how the cooperative mode of Dark Pictures Anthology games influences the horror experience of players. The Anthology has been analyzed via a close reading of selected Let’s Play videos, with 42 complete playthroughs analyzed and 18 playlists sampled. The article demonstrates how scare tactics deployed by developers cause players to feel more discomfort compared to a single-player mode. The split perspective of co-op exacerbates stress, tension, and fear as these are being experienced regarding not only oneself but also the other player. Additionally, players’ meta-genre knowledge combines with cooperation, thus influencing decisions and, ultimately, the game experiences. All this means that the cooperative way of playing may be seen as yet another step in the horror entertainment evolution.