It seems to me that a new trend is rising in the action-adventure genre. Well, not so much as a trend but a slight shift in... I'll call it focus. I remember a time, not long ago, when I kept complaining about how action-adventure games are all about making horror-action games, and selling them as "survival-horror".I'll admit, some of the recent "survival-horror" games are pretty good, and some are downright awesome ("Dead Space"), so I guess I can't keep screaming from the rooftops about it.

But now I'm seeing something new. Instead of taking the "survival" out of the equation, I see games have started to neglect the whole "horror" part and focus more on action and survival. I first noticed that with "I Am Alive", a game that is for some reason listed under "Horror action adventure" here on the site, but is all about surviving in a post-apocalyptic world. I guess there is always theexistential kind of horror (fearing for your life), but that can be said for almost video game.

A more recent example of a "survival-action" game is "The Last of Us". This was the game that made me write this blog in the first place, so I'll talk a little about it. First of all - it looks damn cool. The first trailer shown during the VGAs was, in my opinion, awesome. I like the whole fungus-zombies angle (although zombies have been done to death lately), and the graphics and premise look really, really good. I don't have anything against these games, and this post is merely an observation (and a lot of ranting). Still, the game doesn't feel like a horror game, and is all about the characters survival against impossible odds. I could go as far as to compare it to "Dead Island", another not so scary zombie-survival game.

Now back on topic:

I know I know... Almost every video game is about surviving, more or less, be it a shooter or any action title, but this is different. These games are focused on surviving (usually in a post-apocalyptic setting, but not always) in a world gone mad, where the environment itself is out to kill the player, or at least make his life hell. Strangely enough, it seems that these days a game can be about survival OR about horror, but not both… I know today's gamers like fast-paced action, and I do to, but it still feels like developers no longer care about setting the right atmosphere that was such a major part in past survival-horror games, and are now totally focused on the whole "cinematic" shtick.

I don't really know where I'm going with this, but I felt like I had to share my thoughts on the matter… I guess (if I had to choose) I'd like to more horror games instead of survival games, but diversion in video games never really killed anyone, and I'm all for it. So basically… Yeah, I'll play survival games, horror games and survival-horror games.

Do I have a point to make? No, not really; just trying to see if I can organize my thoughts in a coherent, orderly way. I guess not…