Sony's PlayStation 5 gameplay event gave fans plenty to be excited about, revealing a number of exclusives coming to the next-generation console including Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart, Spider-Man: Miles Morales, and Horizon: Forbidden West. To the surprise of many, the event also showcased a promising number of horror games coming soon including Resident Evil 8, Demon's Souls, and Returnal, a sci-fi third-person shooter from Resogun developer Housemarque.
While the promise of 4K graphics, 60 FPS gameplay, shortened loading times, support for HDR, ray tracing, and 3D audio are certainly major selling points, buzzwords need to be backed with gameplay. Showcasing the true power of next-generation gaming on PlayStation 5 highlighted one of the most exciting aspects of the new consoles so far: PlayStation 5 has the potential to completely redefine the horror genre in video games.
More Power with PlayStation 5
Looking back at Sony's GDC event earlier in the year, 'The Road to PlayStation' offered a glimpse into the design philosophy and technical specs of the next-generation console. Lead system architect Mark Cerny detailed four key aspects of the console: the new ultra-high-speed custom SSD, integrated custom I/O processing system, custom AMD GPU with support for ray tracing, and immersive 3D audio. The new custom SSD and I/O processing system were designed with the goal to remove barriers to play such as loading screens; the custom GPU allows for high resolutions including up to 8K-graphics and ray tracing, a new feature to that simulates how light moves in real life; and finally 3D audio, a whole new audio experience that offers "a greater sense of presence and locality." Couple all of that with the Unreal Engine 5 and developers now have the ability to create video game worlds that are far more expansive, detailed, and immersive than ever before.
Inside Xbox Focus of Horror Games
Of course, horror isn't the only genre to benefit from all of this new tech, but horror games can be a great way to easily show players exactly how ray tracing or 3D audio will change the whole experience. During the PlayStation 5 gameplay event, multiple new games in the horror genre featured prominently including Resident Evil 8, Demon's Souls, Returnal, Ghostwire: Tokyo, and Little Devil Inside. Similarly, Microsoft's Inside Xbox event in May featured Scorn, The Medium, and Vampire: The Masquerade Bloodlines 2, as well as sci-fi games like Chorus or Second Extinction that were shown using some very eerie, horror-like trailers.
How Observer: System Redux Improved
Less than 24-hours before the PlayStation 5 event, Bloober Team and released a brand new gameplay trailer for Observer: System Redux, a next-generation remake of the 2017 horror game. The new gameplay trailer offered some of the best visual comparisons to date that perfectly capture what the new technology is capable of and how it can be used to influence horror games. Bloober Team "rebuilt and upgraded the visuals in practically every aspect" for Observer: System Redux, allowing for enhanced 4k textures, an upgraded lighting system, volumetric lighting which allows for improved light beams and shadows, improved particle effects, and higher-quality animations and character models.
Bloober Team's The Medium Couldn't Work on Current-Gen
The aforementioned upcoming Xbox Series X exclusive, The Medium, is an upcoming horror game developed by Layers of Fear 2 and Blair Witch developer Bloober Team. Alongside the announcement of the game, lead game designer Wojciech Piejko spoke about how the next-generation consoles have already changed the way developers are creating games. For a studio that is very well versed in the creation of horror games, next-generation tech in the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X is already leading to brand new experiences the industry has never seen before.
The PlayStation 5 Could Redefine Horror Games
When it comes to the horror genre, the atmosphere and the environment are make or break. Sure, in a slasher like Friday the 13th or a sci-fi horror like Alien: Isolation, players are being hunted down by a villainous being and that in itself creates a unique level of terror that makes up one portion of the experience. However, Jason Vorhees isn't quite so terrifying walking through a park in broad daylight. High-quality character models and animation is incredibly important and will improve the experience immensely in the jump to 4K graphics but games like Amnesia: The Dark Descent has proven that it's not the be-all-end-all.
Designing a tense and unsettling atmosphere in a horror game requires clever use of lighting, shadows, and audio design. Look no further than Gone Home, an adventure game that's long been considered a horror due to its tense atmosphere when exploring Katie's home. The PlayStation 5 is giving developers brand new tools that allow them to create far more expansive and immersive than ever seen before, and its support for features like HDR, ray tracing, and 3D audio is going to change the horror genre in video games.
PlayStation 5 releases worldwide Holiday 2020.
