With Deadly Inc. and Content Warning, video games may finally become horror comedies

Next to romantic comedies, horror is probably one of the most diverse genres. It has so many subgenres, whether it’s horror, supernatural, survival, gothic, folk, sci-fi, fantasy, or even Christmas, it has something for every horror fan. One of my favorite subgenres is horror comedy, which itself has a variety of titles – shaun of the dead, scream, evil dead 2even american psychonone of these films are exactly the same, but they are all undoubtedly an important part of film history.

Importantly, they’re all well-acted because they’re funny, using comedy to heighten the fear. Laughter makes you feel safe, but that safety is only temporary, providing only a brief respite before you shit yourself in the next scare. Horror comedy is a staple of the genre, but I don’t think it translates well to video games yet.Some horror games are just as fun to watch as the originals resident Evilwithout its clunky translation and delivery of dialogue (Jill Sandwich must be quoted here), and with genuine horror comedy, e.g. lollipop chainsawalthough I think some of the “horror” elements are lost here.

Then last year indie developer Zeekerss released deadly company, a four-player co-op horror game where you scavenge for scrap and do your best to survive both the mysterious creatures that await you and your job itself. Since then, I’ve been waiting to see if someone could copy Lethal Company’s formula, take its spirit, and turn it into a complete genre in its own right. Now, with the meteoric success of Content Warning, I think video games are finally taking their place in the horror-comedy genre.

Content warning, much like Lethal Company, it puts four players together, but instead of hunting for things like metal plates and axles, you have to shoot scary things in a forgotten land filled with all kinds of creatures, To have a greater understanding of the fictional version of YouTube. Its shooting section actually lets you create two-minute-long videos that you can save and share online, taking a tongue-in-cheek approach to creating content and making it almost literal.

But the key to both games is that you’ll be so frightened by their respective monsters that your friends will giggle at your death. Sure, it’s embarrassing to get killed by one of Deadly Company’s main treasure-collecting bugs, but your friends are having a great time, so who cares? Of course, this can eventually lead to the death of all but one of your crewmates, turning them into the final girls, making the fear even more intense because now it’s their turn to protect your loot/view.

It’s in moments like this that both games excel, because comedy is so naturally integrated into these horror games, precisely because they make you so stupid despite the fact that so many people are trying to kill you. They’re scary, but they’re hilarious because they’re scary, a perfect blend of two genres that you might initially think don’t work together. Horror games can be funny with scripted jokes, yes, but there’s nothing funnier than letting the gameplay help the players tell the jokes (and they’ll probably laugh harder than any of the dialogue).

Personally, I hope people continue to make games like Deadly Inc. and Content Warning. Horror is one of my favorite genres, and even though I’m not a big fan of multiplayer games, being able to hang out with my partner while one of us runs for our lives was a great way to spend an evening. I hope it inspires more horror games to be fun than more similar games out there, and I guarantee you’ll probably end up scaring more people this way.