I used to a huge fan of horror games and the horror genre — games like Manhunt and The Suffering, or classic staples like the earlier Silent Hill and Resident Evil titles. Developers used to combine action games with horror aesthetics, without needing to constantly rely on jump scares.
These days, horror seems to mostly be flourishing in the walking simulator genre, perhaps in no small part thanks to the endearing love for the now unobtainable P.T. demo, itself designed as a playable introduction to Hideo Kojima and Guillermo Del Toro’s defunct foray into the aforementioned Silent Hill series. We’ll never know how closely the full game would’ve resembled that playable P.T. demo. Not fully. But one thing is for sure, the impact that that little demo had on the horror genre is felt to day, with even juggernaut series like Resident Evil cribbing the first-person, claustrophobic mood and design. (I also acknowledge that, with Resident Evil 7, the VR element might have forced their hand a bit here).
And now, with the announcement trailer for Evil Inside (I keep wanting to call it the Evil Within, itself a middling horror franchise from Resident Evil alums), we see that the allure of P.T. hasn’t faded, at least not in the eyes of game developers.
Now, to be fair, there isn’t much to go off here, so I could just be judging a book by its trailer. But if this trailer is indicative of what to expect, well, it’s just running with what P.T. already did, isn’t it?
I mean, aside from the hilariously goofy flash of a hanging clown in place of a chandelier. That one instance felt like maybe this will be a tongue-in-cheek experience, but the jump scare Force feels strong with this one, so I guess we’ll just have to wait and see.
You can check out the Evil Inside announcement trailer below.
