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"Escape The Killer" style horror games such as Dead By Daylight boil this gameplay mechanic down to its bare essentials, featuring multiplayer matches where groups of players try to escape a map while a single player uses the abilities of their chosen "monster" to track down players, disrupt their teamwork, and drag the unluckiest of them off into the shadows. The Left 4 Dead series, besides pioneering survival co-op first-person shooters, also popularized the gameplay mechanic of several players working together while one other player takes control of a mutant "monster" with the ability to attract fresh zombie hordes, grapple players, knock them back, or pull them apart. It's a common stereotype that the protagonists of horror films get into the most amount of trouble when they "split up," so the abilities of "Special Infected" in Left 4 Dead (and the special "Ridden" in the spiritual successor game Back 4 Blood) were specifically designed to drag players away from each other and create moments of frightening isolation. Survival Horror Co-op Games Where Players Are Forced to Split Up
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Many co-operative survival horror games released in recent years use these aforementioned tropes to create fear and suspense in their multiplayer modes, using both psychology and game mechanics to 'isolate' players from each other even when they're together. Isolation is the most straightforward way to make sure the main characters of a horror story are forced to confront their nightmares, but there are also plenty of stories where groups of protagonists try to survive a horror scenario, only to steadily fall apart as they take casualties, succumb to in-fighting, or just make bad decisions in a blind panic. Related: Sci-Fi Horror Tabletop RPGs For Fans Of The Alien Franchiseīecause horror stories are meant to test the convictions and skills of their protagonists, many horror storytellers try to come up with a reason why the main character doesn't just run away or call emergency services to deal with the horror in their place. The places, events, and threats of a horror story, be they gore-filled rooms, shadow-lurking monsters, or awful revelations, are meant to build tension and push main characters to the limits of both body and mind, culminating in a moment where they undergo dramatic personal transformations in order to survive/defeat the horror, or succumb to their flaws and suffer a final, terrible fate. Newer horror games like Dread Hunger, however, are challenging this formula with co-operative game modes that test the teamwork, trust, resolve, and resilience of players, proving the truth of the old maxim: " Hell is other people."Įvery horror story, whether it's a blockbuster movies or pulse-pounding video game, is a crucible that tests both their protagonists and the viewers who identify with said protagonists. Many iconic survival horror video games like Silent Hill 2, Amnesia: The Dark Descent, and Outlast generate terror by isolating their player and forcing their character to endure nightmarish perils essentially by themselves.