Survival Horror vs Action Horror

[Dr.Henry_Killinger]

Egann said:

Survival Horror is basically action horror with the difficulty drastically turned up and a few "play it smart" options added. Fundamentally, in A-H there is no choice but to fight, and is balanced around that. S-H is mechanically very similar, but the enemies are stronger, item drops are rarer, and the player is encouraged to find alternatives to fighting.

Basically, in A-H the player is directed into fighting the monster by the designer. S-H adds that the player is never allowed to properly prepare for a fight, and there are usually some alternatives around.

Other than that, they're basically the same thing.

If I had to pick, though, I would say S-H is better because it includes all the A-H design choices and then adds its own. You can always turn a S-H game into an A-H game by turning the difficulty down and playing like Rambo, but the reverse is not true.

Survival Horror is actual horror.

Action Horror is just the pretense of horror, since there is no reason to be afraid as you are equiped with the tools to combat it. It might shock the player but even that is only when they percieve a threat.

That being said, a lot of what we think is Action Horror is actually surivival. If an enemy is dangerous enough to pose a significant threat even if you can combat it, its a fight to survive.