Jump scares are the worst! They are a good director's last resort or a bad one’s go-to in order to scare you in a horror movie, or game in this case. Jump scares plague the horror genre and that has transferred into horror games as well, particularly the indie scene. Yes, many people get a thrill watching their favorite streamers on youtube jump out of their pants at the next spooky scary skeleton to jump out at them on screen. But when it comes to gameplay and storytelling, a jump scare is just a cheap way to create fright or tension.
A true horror game is one that creates and builds a sense of tension and suspense as you slowly crawl your way through a creepy abandoned mansion filled with macabre imagery that leaves gruesome details up to the imagination. The true psychological and intense horror of a good game has been left behind in the genre for cheap jump scares as the years have gone by. Sure the great games do have jump scares like Frictional Games’ Amnesia: The Dark Descent, they have become so prevalent that it's impossible to separate them from the genre, but that's not all they have. The atmosphere and tension in Amnesia are what make it a great horror game, not every time spooky McFreakyPigMan makes you scream like a baby.
That’s the problem with Scott Cawthon’s Five Nights at Freddy’s. Ever since it first came out, it has started a trend of making a game that's entire purpose is built around jump scare after jump scare. FNAF’S incredible success and subsequent sequels have shown that jump scares sell, and that led to various other admittedly good indie imitations that also became successful. These types of games weren’t only popular for the jump scares but also for their hidden lore. However, the industry sees games built around jump scares selling well and that enforces the cliche on the horror genre even more in a self-perpetuating loop that is pushing out truly scary games that rely on physiological or thematic horror rather than jump scares. This ends up with them being forced to add jump scares to their games to sell them and so on and so on.
As a point for my argument, I think the most truly scary game I have played in recent years was Doki Doki Literate Club by Team Salvato. I kid you not. Doki Doki is the perfect example of a game that is truly terrifying on a psychological level that doesn’t really have jump scares. Now I don’t want to spoil anything for anyone that for some reason has not already had Doki Doki spoiled for them, because the game deserves to be gone into blind. So simply, the pure psychological mindfugery that comes from playing the game makes you ponder reality, and existence while forcing you to fear and worry for the characters in the game. Doki Doki is truly a masterpiece of horror without jump scares that is hard to come by after FNAF’s indie darling success has tainted the genre's waters. If we want more games like Doki Doki in the future we have to show the industry that jump scares aren’t everything, and that means we have to stop internet celebrities jumping out of their chairs every time a new FNAF comes out… otherwise, we’re doomed.
