>>717222054
(Note I say this as someone who thinks PS1-PS2 era Survival Horror sucks)
Horror as an "emotion" stems directly from a feeling of having a lack of control, that feeling one gets when they are unable to protect themselves from harm or lack to power to prevent bad shit from going down. It's that caveman feeling you get when that saber-toothed tiger is about to eat you and you have no way to defend yourself. One of the chief difficulties of telling horror stories in Videogames as opposed to movies or books is that the very nature of video games means you always have some level of control. The nature of game design means you always have the knowledge that there is some "correct" route or tactic to use that will ensure your survival or reaching the "end of the level", thus giving the player a feeling of control, with control being the antithesis of feeling powerless and thus of being scared. Thus one can say that when controls are "too good" or even worse, can be "mastered", that horror becomes impossible. Because when one has perfectly mastered a game they are perfectly in control, and thus no longer capable of getting scared by the game which can no longer harm their character unless they wish it.
