.jpg?q=50&fit=crop&w=1100&h=618&dpr=1.5)
The spooky season is here, and many gamers are replaying their favorite horror titles. One of the biggest horror series of all, Resident Evil, is a popular choice for its mix of scares, action, and zombie content. Among its most in-demand titles is 2019's Resident Evil 2 remake, which has players take the role of Claire Redfield and Leon Kennedy during a zombie virus outbreak in Raccoon City.
In both character scenarios, players have to survive by either avoiding or blasting through zombie abominations. The atmospheric setting is terrifying, taking place in dark corridors and closed-in spaces where the undead can be just around the corner ready to attack. However, one of the most iconic enemies is not exactly a zombie, but a bio-organic weapon in the form of a giant man. This man is known as Mr. X, and he hunts the player down consistently throughout the game. While he is a well-loved character by the fandom, many have realized that he is not so scary after the first couple of encounters. In fact, how he hunts the player eventually becomes more annoying than anything else.
When Scary Turns Into Tedious Gameplay
Part of what is supposed to make Mr. X scary is that he cannot be killed, only slowed down at best. This factor is meant to strike a players' anxiety, a fight or flight response, and a sense of powerlessness. However, in various threads on Reddit and Steam, a lot of players share that Mr. X is one of the least scary parts of the game and that they tend to be more scared of lickers and even the dogs. At worst, some players mentioned that Mr. X made the game less enjoyable because he would force them to tediously go around him and hide in order to survive.
Hiding from Mr. X was meant to be part of the fun, a scary part that could melt players into anxious giggles. However, Mr. X proved to Resident Evil players that being hunted can actually be an annoyance once the hunter is no longer scary. The fact that Mr. X is a constant in the game gives players a long time to be jaded and get used to his look and behavior, so once they are in their second character playthrough, the giant killer's appearance renders annoyed sighs rather than panic.
This is not exclusive to Mr. X and Resident Evil, though, as other horror games can fall into this rut - with Alien: Isolation, Among the Sleep, Phasmophobia, and Silent Hill being examples of this. The games have invincible characters that can be scary for a while but become tedious nuisances once players get to know their behavior a little too well. What makes Mr. X in particular get old quickly is the two-character scenarios of Resident Evil 2. Of course, the number of memes that rose up on the internet about him did not help his case. Some players even turned to mods to make Mr. X scarier, turning him into other characters such as Pennywise from It or Jason Voorees from Friday the 13th.
How To Keep Being Hunted Scary For Players
The trick that games will need to adopt if they want to keep players scared of being hunted is to find ways to make sure their hunters don't become predictable or a constant annoyance. Mr. X does have flawless moments in Resident Evil 2, especially in more performative scenes where he shows his raw strength by killing other characters and moving huge objects in this path. His better moments are more subtle, such as the anticipation of meeting him being rendered through hearing his footsteps. It is in those sequences that players are not hindered while also being in a state of terrified awe.
To keep hunts scary is to give a little more love to a script rather than setting an invincible A.I. lose upon the game world. One example is how Fatal Frame handles its invincible bosses before the final battle deals with them. The moment in which the player is hunted by an invincible ghost is scripted in a short window rather than as a constant in the gameplay. Sometimes less is more, and that is certainly true with Resident Evil and the horror genre as a whole.