The survival horror genre has lost its way in gaming. It's a bold statement to be sure, but I don't like to make such claims unless I truly believe them and my recent foray into PC gaming has reignited my frustrations about the popular sub-genre and how stagnation has started to creep in.

You see, a few weeks back, I came upon the YouTube channel of one MarbleHornets; the creator of a fake reality (forgive the oxymoron) web series based around the Slender man legend created by Victor Surge. I have always found the concept of a faceless, malevolent entity stalking mankind since time immemorial to be a genuinely unnerving concept and in the context of being constantly followed by an inhuman entity, it's probably the reason why I have always found Capcom's Resident Evil 3: Nemesis to be the only instalment in the series I have found to be genuinely unnerving, but I digress. 

After spending far too much time watching and reading about the slender man myth, I learned of the game created around the fakelore entity, Slender: The Eight Pages.

Parsec Production's indie hit is nothing short of amazing considering the minute budget it was created on. The premise is brilliantly simple, you are placed in a deserted and eerie forest and are tasked with collecting eight randomly placed pages from 'landmarks' scattered throughout the area with nothing but a flashlight. It sounds rather bland until you discover you're not alone, no, you are being constantly watched and followed by the games titular character who can literally appear right in front of your eyes or directly behind you at any given moment. With nothing to defend yourself with, the possibility of being caught behind any sharp corner or dimly lit narrow tunnel genuinely creates a tense atmosphere.

Now, it would be remiss of me to say that Slender has singlehandedly restored the survival horror genre in terms of being able to evoke the emotion of fear and anxiety in the medium of video games, but it HAS reminded me of how much the genre has changed in recent years.

The Resident Evil series has historically been considered by many to be the pedigree of the horror genre, yet with each release, the iconic series has diverged from tight, claustrophobic corridors and suggestive lighting to become what Capcom has termed as 'Action-Horror'. It's debatable that the series has had to naturally evolve to cater to a wider audience but Resi 6 feels more like a spiritual successor rather than a direct sequel. I should clarify that I thoroughly enjoyed six (despite the wildly varying quality of the four different campaigns) for what it was; an action game, but I never experienced any horror.

It's hard to feel scared when a developer puts you in a world where you are never alone and although co-op has become a popular mechanic, I feel that for an interactive experience to be truly unnerving, it needs to be experienced alone. 

Visceral Game's Dead Space series has retained some of the genre's conventions, but even Isaac apparently needs a friend to tackle the Necromorph's with and the inclusion of co-op in the upcoming third instalment has proven to be a controversial decision for fans. The simple fact is, games are just not as scary when you always have a teammate holding your hand around every blind corner and conspicuously broken air vent.

It's impossible to pinpoint one single change that has diluted the survival horror genre though, and if the inclusion of co-op is one of them, there is another just as important factor and that is the degree of power that is afforded to the player.

Just as Slender has done with its basic premise and simple controls, Frictional Game's Amnesia: The Dark Descent has also caught onto the fact that if you make the player character themselves a weak, visibly scared conduit for the player as opposed to an ex-special forces operative armed to the teeth you can create an experience that is genuinely intimidating.

The inability to defend yourself, with the only options being to run from confrontations or assume the foetal position in a pitch black wardrobe almost bends the rules of what a game should be. Of course though, fun is subjective, and fun can just as easily be found in being terrified as it can in being a mercenary badass able to gun down an entire onslaught of mutants with firepower to rival Iron Man. 

I just hope that more developers of triple A titles realise that the fun in survival horror comes from simply surviving by any means necessary without needing to bestow players with mining lasers turned super weapons. To create genuine scares, the player needs to feel vulnerable and sometimes, returning to the roots of what makes something so successful and special is the only way to re-discover what has been lost.