8 Tricks Horror Video Games Use To Terrify You
4. Resource Management
It wouldn't be a survival horror game if there wasn't some form of inventory or resource management embedded into the core gameplay. Doing what it says on the tin, resource management has been a staple of the genre ever since the heyday of Resident Evil and Silent Hill and still has players deciding which items they need to carry.
The 'every bullet counts' mentality of the genre is a way of maintaining a certain level of difficulty during gameplay. Fighting hordes of zombies just wouldn't be as scary if there were plenty of bullets to go around. Instead, players must be selective on when to dish out their valuable ammo. The same is true for health and other items needed to complete objectives.
Do you risk dropping your last green herb for some extra ammo, or risk losing both for a key item needed to progress?
To make things more managable, most games offer storage systems for players to hang onto items for later use. But even then each trip to a storage box in Resident Evil requires some planning. This can be particularly punishing during first playthroughs where failing to bring the correct item could make life a lot harder.