Exploring How Horror Design Elements Impact the Perception of Game Difficulty

Conventional video game design increases the difficulty by asking for faster physical reflexes and precision from the player. This research explores an alternative method of changing the player’s perception of a video game’s difficulty using horror elements. Three games were developed for the experiment, each sharing the same layout and objective. Game A (Non-Horror/Easy) featured a brightly lit environment and a slow-moving robot enemy. Game B (Non-Horror/Difficult) retained the visual style of Game A but was designed to be more difficult in a conventional way by having a faster robot that instantly kills the player. Game C (Horror/Easy) had the same slow-moving robot enemy from Game A but with added horror elements: dim lighting, audio cue, and the robot was replaced with a generic horror-themed creature. The study surveyed thirty experienced video game players using a modified NASA TLX test. The survey’s results confirmed that the participants felt Game B (Non-Horror/Difficult) demanded faster reflexes than Game A and C. Despite the enemy having the same slow movement and damage input, participants felt that Game C demanded faster reflexes than Game A. Participants also reported an increased level of stress with Game C, even slightly more than Game B. Lastly, Game C gave participants the same feeling of having just finished something difficult, higher than Game A and slightly higher than B.