Just a quick survey of opinions. Do you guys think that the survival horror genre is dead or do you think that devs will try to revive it the way it was originally intended to be? (like the classic RE and Silent Hill games)

SH: Downpour kept the genre alive for me. I mean, the genre has to evolve, but not switch to action shooter like RE, and SH has done that successfully.

For right now, the genre is kinda stagnant, but you never know what the future holds.

Its never going back to how survival horror was the reason why games were like that back then was due to limitations in hardware. I would love to see an old school Survival Horror title and so far the ones I know of are the sequel to Amnesia and Zwei (Shinji Mikami's survival horror game)

Dead Space 3(people can call it what they want it has dread/horror in there just not in a way that makes it survival) sadly is going co-op and EA want the horror gone from it =S yeah talk about not knowing why the game sold so well oh well Gears of Space anyone?

The market isn't dead per say but its as what people have said so far its stagnant, on the subject of Downpour you do know the studio that worked on it is closing down? its like a curse Team Silent left SH back in the day and since then the entire series went downhill and each game went from shit to shittier after each incarnation (I blame Western developers not knowing their japanese myths and ghost stories since SH was built on some of them) Shattered Memories was a good game, Origins was meh but good for a psp game, homecoming...I can't get into it and Downpour is on my to buy list due to it going back to its roots but the cost to do that has being high =(

Survival Horror as we know it is dead and buried indie companies have proven that there is some more life in the genre but from any AAA companies not a chance its all money and how well a product sells and sadly Survival Horror games aren't in demand COD though... piece of shit of a game.

I don't really think the genre is dead but it definitely is on life support.

Amnesia, Siren and Silent Hill have kept things from going down the drain but there really aren't any big developers interested in the genre. As far as Resident Evil goes, Revelations was a step to the right direction and I really hope that the rumor about Downfall is true as it might keep RE games focused on horror at least on the handheld market. I just wish they did that on PS3/360/Wii U.

A lot of indie devlopers are taking the genre as their own, though, and I do appreciate it. I've actually been planning on making a thread for freeware horror games anyone can download, jut need to do more research so I can link to all of them.

It's certainly not what it was, but of course, most franchises end up that way eventually, just because they need to try and keep things original. I think Capcom are unwilling to resurrect Clock Tower as it is a pure horror game unlike Resident Evil 4, 5 or 6.

If they kept on doing them the exact same all the time, nobody would find that very good and then the games would never sell as well, because if nothing changes, people will see it's nothing new. Part of the problem with the survival horror genre is that it isn't really a genre all of its own, in that it basically recycles a lot of stuff commonly used in the films they pay homage to, but they do try to be unique doing it, which is met with either lukewarm or mixed results depending on how good or bad they make them.

I don't really have anything to say that hasn't been said already. I don't think it is dead either, just on "life support", as Mass said. Barely hanging on. I can only hope that developers turning every game into Gears is simply a phase. I think that in time people will begin to get tired of every game being a run and gun. I also agree with DXP's connection between hardware and game genres. Once we reach a certain point on our technological plateau developers will have to start changing their ways, and start focussing on the lost game genres. My theory is that it's all one big cycle, like all other things in life.

Has anyone else here read the September issue of OXM? Specifically the RE6 article? The editor was basically just criticising their hands on demo of Leon's campaign because it took them 15 minutes until they got to shoot something. They just went on about how they were bored to tears. People just don't appreciate the atmosphere of a game like they used to..

I liked certain aspects of Amy, for it reminds me of the 'old school' horror titles. But it has dull generic gameplay and therefore got pretty bad reviews all around. A lot of old horror games were more renowned for their story than control mechanics, but unfortunately Amy wasn't anything new. I don't think companies wanna lose fans. It's hard to please everyone and they know MOST gamers want bloody shoot 'em up action, so that's what they focus on. This is why RE and yes, even Silent Hill, are going towards action and abandoning what made it great.

Do you watch wrestling like WWE? It's strayed far from what made it good. Survival horror has did this as well.

In my opinion, it's not REALLY dead...but honestly, how can they make Survival Horror games that don't try to copy elements and gameplay from other games anymore? Developers I think are running out of ideas. I honestly think the only route that could put Survival Horror back on the map is virtual reality.

Like the Oculus Rift with Doom 3? I hear it's actually really good.

I think indie developers are trying their best to keep the genre alive but it's nowhere close to what it used to be. I don't think their will ever be a game with fixed camera angles, tank controls, and all the other components that make up a "classic" survival horror game. More than anything I want Capcom to port the REmake to PS3 and 360 but I don't ever see that happening.

There are still lots of popular horror games on the PC. Penumbra, Lone Survivor, Alpha Polaris, Dementium, Corpse Party... they all are smaller indie games but still awesome. Besides, graphics don't mean jack shit. Sure they might not make millions of dollars but they are popular as hell.

Amnesia was popular enough to get a sequel, being made in collaboration with another indie horror developer.

On top of those, there are a lot of promising horror titles coming up for the PC like Sound of Silence, Nevermind and Among Sleep. Let's not forget about Shinji Mikami's Zwei either.

What I'm trying to say is that while horror games might not be the mainstream of gaming anymore (if it ever was) it's still alive and kicking, with indie developers and a few others taking the matters to their own hands. If you want horror, you can get some. You just have to look harder.