In the case of Dying Light, stronger, faster and scarier monsters come to hunt at night which in this case, the developers used our fear of darkness against us. We are visual creatures and our fear of darkness is mostly caused because darkness could be hiding something dangerous and it leaves us vulnerable and exposed (Romm, 2016). Fear of darkness and the unknown has its roots in biology and throughout human history, dark meant danger, and fearing it meant taking precautions to stay safe. Uncanny behaviour include the fact that the zombie still walks toward the player even though both his hands are cut offĭying Light, as well as many other games uses darkness to instil fear in us. Dying Light’s monsters are unnatural, but for them to be frightening they must also be convincing and many people believe them to be so, including me which is why they may come across to us as “scary monsters”.
For example in the case of a human, we know that they can walk, talk and interact with each other, but this perception is altered in a game such as Dying Light which uses zombies, where it leaves us, the viewers disturbed and unsettled because something is not quite right and the uncanny induces feelings of fear because it challenges our own concept of subjectivity and stability, leading us to question our own identities (Tinwell, 2010). Uncanny behaviour is when we have certain expectations of an object or being with regards to how it’s supposed to look and act. Uncanny behaviour is one of the main psychological aspects that designers use to tap into our subconscious and Dying Light manages to make very good use of it (Extra Credits, 2012). What makes Dying Light scary? How does it manage to instil fear in us? What visuals, audio sounds and effects did the designers of Dying Light use to manage to turn Dying Light into a horror game?ĭesigners make use of several elements to make good horror games.