10 Really Stupid Decisions In Horror Video Games
Maybe don't visit the town you KNOW is built on top of Hell?
The horror genre really brings out the worst in people. And I don't mean that in the sense of malicious murderers, supernatural psychopaths, and a-hole abominations who have been turned to evil and are out hunting for blood - but their poor, unfortunate victims that are quite literally scared stupid.
Those who were once intelligent and measured turn into quivering messes in the face of danger, desperately making choices that wouldn't make a lick of sense if they had kept a level head.
And whilst this is somewhat understandable considering the whole life or death deal victims find themselves in, even worse is the genre's proclivity to have characters that make terrible, stupid decisions that lead to their horror-ific situations in the first place.
How often do we need to be told not to split up, not to investigate the weird screaming noise, or not to touch the floating-demonic-sigil-covered-in-acid-we-just-found-in-a-booby-trapped-ancient-ruin before the lesson really sticks?
Many times, apparently. Many, many times.
Hey, at least you have some sense of agency over the stupid in video games, not that it helps much - as these absolutely dreadful choices have long since proven...
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Spoilers within!
10. Going To A Town Built On A Portal To Hell - Fatal Frame 2: Crimson Butterfly
Expanding on the scariness of the first Fatal Frame, the second sets up a mystery that sees two sisters trapped in a supernatural town. Though to be honest, it's how they get into this whole mess that feels like an avoidable situation.
Their first mistake is travelling to a forest that has a big old legend about people that get lost in it never coming out again, but let's just ignore that for now.
The main problem that serves Mayu and Mio terribly throughout gameplay is deciding it's a good idea to chase after butterflies that are obviously not of this world - glowing demonic red and leaving sparkling paths in their wake. That's not normal butterfly behaviour, and that whole 'follow the butterflies' line from Harry Potter really doesn't stand up when the things look as freakin' weird as this.
Of course, they're butterflies connected to a village that was decided to be built upon a portal to hell itself, too. There's better plots of land out there for your township to be slapped on top of, surely?