This series of Playable Futures articles considers how the design, technology, people, and theory of video games are informing and influencing the wider world.

Horror as a theme has a storied history in video games. From early releases like 1986’s unexpectedly eerie point-and-click Uninvited: Entering the Mansion to the disturbing setting of The Last of Us Part 2 – via the perennial survival horror category – games have long excelled in frightening or unnerving their audiences.

But horror certainly isn’t confined to games, thanks to its pre-existing presence in written fiction, cinema, television, and even music. No one medium defines horror, and in the case of games, it is most commonly realised as a style and tone applied to other genres, rather than a true genre of its own. So often, horror games are in fact action-adventure titles, or point-and-clicks, or even 2D shooters and farming sims.

Over in film, meanwhile, while the likes of ‘comedy horror’ and ‘road movie horror’ are definable sub-genres, their existence relies on the application of horror as a tonal compliment to existing genres. And while bands like The Misfits ooze horror in every beat and lyric, by genre they are a punk outfit.

Considering games’ decades long relationship with horror, then, it might be easy to assume we have the form nailed like the lid of a well secured coffin. But what games can inherit from a broader understanding of what horror is is now opening up many more opportunities to explore new creative forms and commercial successes.

That is something very much on the minds of the 2023-founded games division at iconic horror film company Blumhouse Productions. Blumhouse’s most celebrated cinematic works include The Purge, Five Nights at Freddy’s, and Paranormal Activity – the latter of which generated box office revenues of $194.2 million from a combined shoot and post production budget of around $215,000.

“Our first instinct isn’t to make games of all the Blumhouse IP we have. We’re taking our time to reflect on what horror can mean to games now”

“Blumhouse is obviously a powerhouse as a horror studio, and we’ve always looked at finding unique horror in different places in film, television and other experiences. Now we’re exploring games,” explains Louise Blain, a deeply experienced former game journalist, and now Creative Lead at Blumhouse Games. “Blumhouse is expanding in really interesting areas because there are so many exciting places to tell scary stories. And our first instinct isn’t to make games of all Blumhouse IP we have. We’re taking our time to reflect on what horror can mean to games now.”

The result of that reflection is an impressive slate of in-development games – and one released title Fear the Spotlight – created by independent teams working with access to Blumhouse’s full suite of expertise, experience, and talent. And most notably, the games collectively offer up a range of genres given a horror tone – many of them in unexpected places. Grave Seasons, for example, is a pixelated farming sim from studio Perfect Garbage, that asks you to outwit a supernatural serial killer while tending to crops and forming friendships.

Other Blumhouse Games projects meanwhile, are bringing non-gaming talent into production of horror games. The mystery-shrouded FMV game Project C for example, hails from Sam Barlow, the mind behind the extraordinary Her Story, and Brandon Cronenberg, screenwriter and director of horror movies such as Antiviral and Infinity Pool.

Blumhouse’s debut slate of games, Blain believes, assert that there are still many untapped opportunities when it comes to horror – from new ways to make games to fresh approaches to genre. And that is in part fostered by the newly blossoming relationship shared between games and cinema.

“I think what we’re seeing now is better communication between the game, film and TV mediums, and a better understanding of what they can take from one another or do together. If we look at things like the Fallout and Last of Us TV shows, which bring something of a flavour of horror, we’re seeing this incredible quality, but also that people understand games more now, and understand taking stuff to and from games and films, with authenticity and understanding. The new opportunities there are really exciting.”

Absolutely, that coming together is partly informed by TV and film makers inheriting the production tools and methodologies of games, from Unreal’s increased adoption, to pipelines torn straight from the game production rulebook.

But to focus on the technological alone, Blain suggests, is to miss the broader opportunity here.

“I do think that rather than on the technical or engineering side, what I find interesting as a horror devotee seeing these new stories interconnecting in various new ways, is when film or games take advantage of elements of the other medium. Something like the Host movie for instance, is a horror entirely set on Zoom. That’s a fascinating concept for game makers to explore.

“Or there’s Don’t Peak, a short horror film that features Animal Crossing. Which is a really interesting crossover of the mediums, and of themes. In so many ways, far beyond just horror and even entertainment, we see games starting to influence film making in these new ways – but it’s really interesting to see how that is now moving in the other direction, and horror is a really exciting space for that.”

The Blumhouse Games team are also looking at how the ethos of horror movie creation can be applied in games. Horror cinema is a realm where highly creative, sometimes deliberately lo-fi production can bring more authenticity, and a believability that drives the scares far beyond skin deep.

The found footage form that propelled both Paranormal Activity and The Blair Witch Project to global acclaim, for example, is inherently cost effective in film – and presents a fascinating way to present a game.

Indeed, the cult war movie 84C Mopic – one of the first found footage films – adopted the style to bring intimacy with entrenched troops in the Vietnam war. In doing so, it also served up something that carries disturbing horror tones, demonstrating how horror techniques have a place far beyond their conventional home.

Games, of course, need a generous level of functional polish. Nobody wants to play a broken game. But a new movement in horror games is at its inception, borrowing from the production mindset of lower budget horror films.

“What we’re seeing now is better communication between the game, film and TV mediums, and a better understanding of what they can take from one another or do together”

“Blumhouse’s famed creative, sometimes lo-fi, distinct approach to horror will be in the games we make in some form. That approach can bring this authenticity, and its lands with audiences. Paranormal Activity was obviously huge, and horror generally, and that was shot in [director] Oren Peli’s house. That kind of approach can bring this really personal feeling, with small teams making really interesting things. We’ve always wanted to open up what horror can be, and now we’re doing that with games.

“I think that a lot of people who have worked in horror are maybe looking to games, as there’s so many interesting ways that games can tell unique stories. We’re learning from each other together. Our first game, Fear the Spotlight, is a great example. It’s massively influenced by the favourite horror films of the co-creator Crista Castro, but at the same time it’s a modern love letter to crowding around the CRT TV as a kid in the 90s playing classic survival horror experiences. It’s taking all of the best things from so many different places and creating something unique and emotionally impactful. Not to mention scary.”

Fear the Spotlight presents a fascinating case of what a modern horror game can be, informed as it is by a wider understanding of what horror can be across so many mediums in 2024.

Made by a team of two that together bring experience from both triple-A gaming and children’s television, it takes a unique approach to what fear can be, somehow balancing the cozy with the frightful, while presenting itself in a meticulously realised, nostalgia-inducing low-poly style. It understands the horror games that have come before it intimately, but does something entirely new with what survival horror can mean – and how it can feel.

Fear the Spotlight is a shining example in a new intersection of the video game form and the horror tone that itself is part of a larger movement. And it’s a movement informing both the creative and commercial frontiers of not just games, but film, television, and more. It’s a frightfully interesting opportunity.

Playable Futures is a collection of insights, interviews and articles from global games leaders sharing their visions of where the industry will go next. This article series has been brought to you by GamesIndustry.biz, Ukie, and Diva. You can find previous Playable Futures articles and podcasts here.