Independent Horror Video Games as Modern Zines

Video games are typically perceived as expensive projects requiring hundreds of specialized employees to produce. However, they can serve as a potent medium for personal expression and collaborative storytelling, especially in the realm of Independent games. This paper will examine video games as modern illustrated zines, particularly their role as tools for socially transgressive expression. To provide a baseline for understanding how horror games engage players through polished, more mainstream narratives, we will first examine Triple-A horror games with professional staff and publisher financing. We will use this as a stepping stone to delve into independent horror games, we will discuss their role as cultural artifacts rooted in the DIY ethos, and punk-inspired experimentation. These “indie games” offer small voices creative freedom to explore identity, belonging, gender, sexuality, and themes of interest to queer Gothic studies such as alienation, desire, and subversion of sexual norms. Just like the photocopier revolutionized self-published zines in the mid-20th century, the internet, accessible and user-friendly developer engines have had a democratizing effect on game creation, allowing marginalized voices to find and forge their own communities. Indie games exemplify this democratization and function as the digital evolution of the self-published zine by challenging norms and experimenting with what their respective mediums can do. By examining the themes and mechanics of horror games, this research highlights the medium’s unique capacity for catharsis, the construction of communities, and the expression of transgressive and experimental ideas in a safe place.