You’d be surprised how hard it is to make a truly terrifying horror game. It’s more than just scary images and jump scares; it needs a slowly built atmosphere, suspense, and terrifying consequences, not to mention, some scary elements. Looking at some of the greats: Silent Hill, Dead Space, Resident Evil & Amnesia: The Dark Descent, you’ll see what I mean.
But not every attempt is successful. Oftentimes, a developer will rely on too much gore, camp, poorly rendered graphics and bad mechanics, and all of a slugger, the game becomes less about scaring the player, and more about being terrible to them.
And a shitty game is a terror that I wouldn’t wish on my worst enemy.