Jumpscares, a controversial horror technique, has long been considered cheap by particular horror enthusiasts. Read on to learn why that isn't the case.
Jumpscares in Horror Games
Whether you’re a horror enthusiast with a thousand spooky games and movies on your resume or a complete newcomer who hasn’t so much as seen a clip of Phasmophobia on YouTube, you’re likely to be familiar with the concept of jumpscares. After all, even some games that don’t dabble in horror utilize them to some effect.
Jumpscares are a controversial technique that has generated a lot of friction among chisel-jawed horror enjoyers. Some consider them a technique that has ruined the genre over the years, while others think otherwise. Although both sides have a point, we have ultimately come to the conclusion that jumpscares are an essential part of horror games. To understand why that is so, let us first go into the basics.
What Is A Jumpscare?
Jumpscares are a horror technique first employed in films, and would eventually be adapted for video games. Anybody who’s experienced anything in the horror genre is sure to know it: an abrupt change in imagery or a sudden event, often accompanied by loud, striking music, all used to incite a feeling of shock or surprise from the audience. It's one of the most commonly used techniques in horror, especially due to its relatively low investment for immediate returns.
It’s for that same reason that there's a popular sentiment among a vocal subset of horror movie enthusiasts claiming that jumpscares are a cheap technique used to force an unearned reaction. They argue that a movie that devolves to things just jumping at the audience lacks any real substance. Similarly, many horror game fans echo this sentiment, and often look down on games that excessively rely on this technique to incite fear.
The argument against jumpscares stems from the fact that it does not elicit true fear reactions from its audience. Instead, the fight-or-flight response felt after a jumpscare is only reasoned to be interpreted as fear for one’s survival being at risk after being unprepared for the new stimuli. This is often contrasted with the feeling invoked from scenes of dark, uncanny places, paired with unnerving music or unnatural camerawork.
How Does It Compare To Other Techniques?
As mentioned, jumpscares are often compared to environmental setups that invoke genuine, natural fear. This is commonly referred to as "atmospheric horror," which takes advantage of a regular person's tendency to fear the unknown. However, that term is quite vague and encompasses many different techniques to make your knees shake and your throat dry. These include but are not limited to:
● Lack of direct interactivity against the horror, giving you the feeling of helplessness and loss,
● Suspenseful build-ups that maintain tension for increasingly dreadful periods and
● Dispiriting audio and infrasound to make you lose your nerves
Do these elements sound familiar? Perhaps because these are stand-out aspects of legendary horror games such as Amnesia: The Dark Descent. Yes, that's right. Amnesia: The Dark Descent isn't just a jumpscare festival. The first one, in particular, is important because it distinguishes horror games from other media, such as movies or television. Playing a video game typically offers its players a variety of ways to deal with enemies, such as a gun, or camera, in the case of the Fatal Frame series. But in Amnesia: The Dark Descent, all you can do is hide in a dark corner and pray to the wall that whatever abomination is chasing you doesn't see the tail end of your coat.
The latter two elements escalate that feeling of vulnerability in its players. In a horror game with a notable lack of encounters, Amnesia: The Dark Descent uses its bleak atmosphere and long stretches of quiet periods to instill a sense of constant suspense.
When paired with the game's consistent use of disturbing background noise and unusually prominent ambient sounds, it pulls its players into a never-ending state of alertness, with the constant reminder that even their hearing is their enemy.
If you compare those two elements working hand-in-hand against the mere shock of an enemy suddenly appearing, it does seem like jumpscares are cheap thrills meant to force a reaction. It's like comparing what you can feel when you stand under the midsummer sun against accidentally brushing up against a hot pan; the former is torture, while the latter is just a momentarily painful experience that's often just a mild annoyance. In any other setting, the occurrence would be referred to as a "surprise."
How Jumpscares Are Used In Horror Games
Aside from Amnesia: The Dark Descent, truly memorable horror games also use a combination of abundant atmospheric horror elements sprinkled with jumpscares at sparse, opportune moments.
Most people see value in horror games with abundant jumpscares for content creation. That, quite frankly, is disappointing. Horror is more than just short-term screaming at the microphone with a funny face for people worldwide to watch and laugh at. A well-constructed horror game can evoke a feeling of dread from its players even long after they've left the computer or put down the controller.
However, there is value in understanding what other players think, because it does prove a point; most people do, at least to some degree, enjoy or remember jumpscares more. That’s because a few moments that leave a deep impression are much more memorable than an entire stretch of slowly building, creepy gameplay.
In turn, the more impressionable jumpscares a game possesses, the more we remember about the game, and the more impressions we can draw about it, aside from "the dark rooms were pretty scary." People would talk about specific, endearing moments where they felt their hearts get caught in their throats, like when Chica from Five Nights at Freddy's jumps at them the moment they lower the console, or when the apparitions in the horror game Madison would suddenly appear at certain places where you take a picture of an object.
This is especially true for video games because of its unique element of interaction. Unlike in a movie, where the audience simply awaits the next scare, video game players must run head-first into these events themselves. That raises the bar of horror even further, by adding a sprinkle of inevitable acceptance into the mix - because they know what they're getting themselves into.
Ironically, the result may even be even more terrifying for players who start to expect a jumpscare. That's because exceptional horror games know how to take advantage of it. For example, Chilla's Art's Night Security establishes throughout the game that the elevator is a kind of safe refuge for the player against the horrors of the building. However, right after a mild jumpscare, right before the elevator completely encapsulates them with the safety of its stainless steel doors, the game throws another, far more impactful surprise at the player.
That's why you would sometimes hear Let's Play-ers murmur "I didn't expect that," or "How was I supposed to know?" even if they're the kind who play horror games regularly.
Another excellent example is the trilogy of 8-bit horror games Faith: The Unholy Trinity. Due to its art style, it’s pretty difficult to pull off frightful jumpscares. On top of that, most of its jumpscares are placed at very predictable points in the game, which often fails to take its players by surprise. But regardless of that fact, the jumpscares in Faith: The Unholy Trinity play a vital role in creating one of the best horror games of that year.
The game knows its limitations well and uses all the tools at its disposal. It combines most of the usual techniques horror games use in developing a horrific setting, but then tops it off with another that only games of its genre can effectively utilize: the player’s imagination.
Faith: The Unholy Trinity is a masterclass of using every means it possesses to grind your nerves. It creates a highly unnerving setting through inhuman voicework, the horrific imagery of the occult, and unmistakable details in their artwork. This forces the player to expand and use their imagination to fill in the heinous blanks that its 8-bit artwork cannot depict. Not only are these sufficient in exhausting you with frightful chills, but they also push you to exasperation by having your imagination work against you throughout the ordeal.
And that’s why even its most anticipated jumpscares work wonders. After all, you can’t fight back with a weary mind.
How Horror Games Trend Against The Other
Most popular horror games nowadays utilize jumpscares in one way or another. These undoubtedly possess the most entertainment value, since they elicit players' loudest, most visible responses. Thus, much to the chagrin of many horror buffs, they're also the most enjoyable for the mainstream to watch on sites like YouTube and Twitch. Compared to how pure dread can make people feel meek and hesitant, there is no comparison between them regarding how many clicks they can generate.
For example, if you compare the amount of buzz that The Mortuary Assistant and SCP Containment Breach generated when they were both released in August 2022, The Mortuary Assistant won by a mile, despite the latter's established cult following. In fact, if you look at the graph on their release, it's almost as if The Mortuary Assistant even took SCP Containment Breach's audience. The reason behind this is quite simple: The Mortuary Assistant is simply a much higher-quality game in terms of both novelty and scares.
It's a great example of what you can achieve by mixing great atmospheric horror with tasteful jumpscares. Not only does it make for great content for YouTubers and Twitch Streamers out there, but it's also an incredible experience for gamers who play privately.
Of course, that's not to say that all games that utilize jumpscares often deserve the same attention. For example, Five Nights at Freddy's: Ultimate Custom Night was a game that had spread its efforts so thin on creating a surplus of jumpscares across 50-odd animatronics, that it became difficult to appreciate even its atmospheric horror on a normal playthrough.
Slender: The Eight Pages is also an example of a game that became looked down upon due to its excessive reliance on jumpscares. That’s because, aside from frightening its players with the baddie appearing in unexpected places, it had no substance at all. And that’s despite enjoying incredible popularity when it was released, even beating Amnesia: The Dark Descent at one point.
In that chase for clicks and broad appeal, we probably have content creators to thank for the rise of popularity of jumpscare-plagued games. Fortunately, many developers have been embracing the idea of developing a solid atmospheric horror while toning down jumpscare frequency. Notable and recent examples include the previously mentioned Faith: The Unholy Trinity, the Yomawari series, and Signalis, all of which are excellent horror games that balance the build-up of suspense and the climax of jumpscares very well.
Why Horror Games Need Jumpscares
Emotions are things that can escalate depending on the situation. For example, anger can build up from mild annoyance to red-hot rage if given enough time to simmer and ferment. This applies to fear as well. It can start from a mere discomfort and end with a full-blown panic attack.
But to create memorable events, it's vastly more effective for the media, whether it's a video game or a movie, to allow these emotions to peak at opportune moments. To let the viewer have their moment of catharsis. After all, people are much more capable of remembering events where their feelings reach peak levels, such as the happiness of marriage or the sadness of death. For horror games, this is achieved using the magic of jumpscares.
For example, we reviewed a game called Greyhill Incident earlier this year. While that game certainly possessed a decently horrific environment, complete with all the charms of a destitute, alien-infested neighborhood, the game ultimately failed to provide memorable moments due to its lack of big surprises.
Well, the level design was actually pretty mediocre too, so there's also that.
Of course, there are examples of horrific scenes that needed no jumpscare at all to threaten its audience with a heart arrhythmia. Unfortunately, this is more prevalent with movies, where they can employ a much more comprehensive array of cinematic techniques to take the horror factor to unbearable heights. Take, for example, the sealed apartment scene from the legendary Japanese horror film Kairo (Pulse, in English releases). Many movie techniques, from subtle body horror, lighting, music, imagery, and so on, worked hand in hand to deliver one of the most haunting few minutes I'd ever seen through television.
Horror games often cannot use the same techniques as horror films do for many reasons, such as the limitations on the engine, and so on. Still, a good horror game must balance the build-up and the peaking of a player's fear well.
Think of it as something similar to blowing up a balloon. Just watching it inflate is boring, right? At the same time, watching it after it’s popped isn't all that special, either. However, watching it get larger and larger with the anticipation that it will explode is exciting. To that end, atmospheric horror serves well as the air to stretch and strain our rubbery nerves thin, so that when an excellent jumpscare cuts through the tension and lets our emotions explode, it makes for a very satisfying bang of a conclusion.
Otherwise, horror games wouldn't be fun.
