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Or is it just a simpler way of saying survival horror? If there is a difference, please site examples of each genre.
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I believe so.
Horror is a theme , and is perfectly possible to have many variations of it (seventh guest could be considered, puzzle horror, for example). Horror is a broad genre.
Survival horror is a specific sub genre where the struggle for survival is not only a main mechanic(like many non-horror games), but a key element in how the horror is delivered to the player.
right on the goddamn head
for example evil within for me is SURVIVAL horror
you start with a pistol and a melee attack, (i havent gotten to far in so excuse me if im wrong) the game is VERY stingy about ammo drops and you feel the weight of using a bullet
i remembered there was a dock in one area and i thought "wow i wonder if theres a easter egg refering back to the resident evil 4 lake easter egg
and then it hit me i only had 3 bullets and didnt want to waste them shooting the goddamn lake
this was a long drawn out way of saying the difference for me is in horror your thinking about whats coming up next but in survival horror the game makes you focus on whats going on right then in the moment
"Survival" as a genre sub-type means that players have to work with limited resources to achieve their goals. Not being able to "survive" is a possibility, which means player might have to retry the level and waste less ammo and spend less medkits in the process (or something along these lines).
Edit: Of course, it can be argued that many different types of games feature situations where player (or his intergalactic civilization) is poor and miserable, but survival games epitomize it and become "scrooge simulator" (and not the rich duck kind).
I think the difference is where the horror stems from. In a horror game your helpless against the creature or environment so naturally the horror stems from these things. In survival horror the horror stems from your need for necessities, what am I going to do once I'm out of bullets or what am I going to do once the batteries in my flash light die.
The way I see it, the main difference between Horror and Survival Horror is your ability to fight back. In a Horror game, like Amnesia, you're expected to avoid any and all conflict with the spooks out trying to get you. In a Survival Horror game, like Silent Hill, you're given the tools to combat whatever evil they toss at you, but it's still meant to be spooky.
I think its important to mention that those tools are usually very limited. Instead of being helpless right from the start like Amnesia, I think survival horror thrives on the feeling of being prepared one moment, but having one mistake take all of your safety nets away from you.
Amnesia is a survival horror game, but it can be said that all survival horror games are horror games, but not all horror games are survival horror. Horror just means the game has scary themes, for example bioshock.
Or even Castlevania, and Ghouls and Ghosts.
Amnesia is not survival horror. It's just horror.
All horror is survival, but it's not the 'survival horror' genre.
I think an important distinction in 'survival horror' is the main character is not completely helpless. They can't kill everything, but they do have the illusion of being able to fight back. Amnesia there is no fighting back. Alone in the Dark did have some weapons eventually, tho their use was limited.
I would say the "survival" aspect is defined by the limited or non-existent ability to fight back. As contrasted by horror games where your ability to fight back is not limited. Something like the Souls series of games will often have enemies that are grotesque, ones that jump out or are hidden, and other various things where the atmosphere is downright creepy/eerie. The floating eyes in the Tomb of the Giants likely creeped out everyone the first time they see it.
By making death something that can occur in Amnesia with no way to fight back, it is does hit that survival point.
You make a very interesting point and it has made me rethink my argument. Here is how I would argue it.
Horror has been around since people started making games. Horror's prerogative is to scare you. It can be any type of game: adventure, fps, fighting, item hunt, puzzle, etc etc. You might be defenseless or not. It doesn't matter, the idea is to scare you on top of the regular game play.
Survival horror on the other hand relies on the gimmick of giving you tools that mimic reality inside a horror environment. It could be weapons, item combination, or some type of health system. It could be a combination of the three. You're pretending to survive in that environment. The rules are not necessarily realistic, but suspense of belief is an important aspect of any horror game.
This can be pretty difficult to decide on games. Amnesia is horror because it's horror on top of a puzzle game. Dark Corners of the Earth: Call of Cthulhu is a horror FPS despite having some survival aspects: sanity system on top of ammo conservation. I think the important distinction is wither the game play is based on survival or based on horror. Minecraft and the Forest are their own genre's-sandbox horror. I think that's a good model. What do you think?
"Survival" is a tricky word here because as other people have mentioned, you're always trying to survive. Weapons, items and health a features of most games not just survival horror. Doom 3 has weapons and health and you're trying to get through it all while "surviving" (not getting killed), but it's clearly not survival horror. To me, survival horror's definition should include A) the tools you are given are limited and B) fighting ability is limited, if at all present. Fighting should be sub-par to avoidance.
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Amnesia is not Survival Horror, the first two Penumbra games before it were. The Justine DLC might classify too. AMFP is ever farther away from Survival Horror than TDD was.
I consider "Survival Horror" a classification for games where player-agency is de-emphasized, like Amnesia, Slender, and a lot of other indies. These are games where you are trying to survive, not fight back. "Horror" games are action/FPS with horror as the style and mood, like newer Res Evils/Silent Hills, L4D, etc. While games don't necessarily classify themselves along those lines, that interpretation seems better rooted in the history, and more intuitive in speech.
Agreed! This is how I differentiate survival horror and horror games. And there is a difference because I can play horror games, but am terrified of survival horror games :)
I see it as the opposite.
Survival Horror is a genre where the fate of the player depends on himself instead of the game magically protecting him/her around, keeping enemies away, keeping their resources always plenty, etc. Instead, everything that affects the player's success is given to the player to take care of, hence Survival. There are other Survival games that aren't Horror though.
Also, Amnesia and Slender are not Survival Horror, they're just Horror.
Really at this point I think it is personal preference of language, and not anything that can be nailed down. Marketing for games is a toss-up, reviewers and bloggers can call it whatever they like to make their case, and using historical terms to decide is difficult when video games have become so much more complex in such a short time.
Horror has scary monsters and a theme that may or may not make you feel uneasy. Survival gives you a gun and a bullet where you have to survive with just that.
survival horror is an engrish term japanese marketers came up with for resident evil.
horror is a theme and there are horror games of all genres - third-person action games like resident evil and evil within, adventure games like sanitarium, etc.
to further clarify - the vast majority of games are survival games. because if you don't survive you can't win. survival is a meaningless modifier - imagine "survival FPS" or "survival fighting". the only reason to use the term "survival horror" - out of habit, because you like how it sounds, out of respect for the OG of horror games (yes I know resident evil wasn't the first horror game, but it was the one that launched the theme into popularity)