Comment Great for immersion, not so much for storytelling (Score 1) 225
Depends what you want from your horror. The author seems to want a roller coaster ride, which games excel at giving you... Video games are certainly much more immersive and are better at creating an atmosphere. Whether they're first or third person whatever happens on that screen feels like it's happening to you.
But if you want to talk about horror from a storytelling standpoint... The best horror games are still cartoonish, sophmoric and one-dimensional compared to the best horror movies (and books for that matter.) For whatever reason the quality of writing just hasn't evolved yet. I'm not saying it can't be done, though I am beginning to suspect that there are some pretty big roadblocks. For example the character you inhabit has to be in many ways a blank slate, so it's a strange hybrid of your mind and decision making powers and someone else's background-- great for immersion, not so great for character development.
But if you want to talk about horror from a storytelling standpoint... The best horror games are still cartoonish, sophmoric and one-dimensional compared to the best horror movies (and books for that matter.) For whatever reason the quality of writing just hasn't evolved yet. I'm not saying it can't be done, though I am beginning to suspect that there are some pretty big roadblocks. For example the character you inhabit has to be in many ways a blank slate, so it's a strange hybrid of your mind and decision making powers and someone else's background-- great for immersion, not so great for character development.
