could anyone please tell me if there are some horror or horror themed games that are not in the horror section
Freakbalang or Typos and Brains these are horror themed games but do not have the horror tag anywhere and that got me wondering are there more like these that do not have the horror tag but are still horror or horror themed games regardless? if anyone can tell me more games that are horror but do not have the horror tag please let me know.
There are games that are not even tagged at all...
What you think horror is and what the dev thinks horror is, are usually two different items. So there are bound to be games tagged horror that are not, by your standards, and games that are not tagged horror but would be classified so by you.
But I guess it mostly would concern unintended horror. Horror is a popular tag, so if a dev intened to do a horror game, it should have those tags.
it is not by standards it is how the game is presented freakbalang is shown with a creepy atmosphere set in an ominous forest environment with the feeling of being watched at every turn but you have a game like Towel Required! and that one is on the horror tag but the game itself does not look like a horror game heck it does not feel like one either it is a comedy action game with no horror at all
here is the link for you to see that towel required has the horror tag despite the contrary: https://dillonbecker.itch.io/towel
You obviosly disagree with the dev about the meaning of the tag horror.
The current summary for the tag on itch is this (if you click it in browse, it reads so to the left)
Horror
Games that aim to startle and unnerve the player.
I would not agree with that definition of horror, but I would consider that towel game unnerving and thus meeting that tag. Or is there a separate unnerving tag anyone uses?
To me, horror is something to make you frightened. Not merely unnerved and startled. Horror is horrifying.
but you do not agree with that definition of horror yet you are okay with towel required that has the horror tag despite the fact that the game is not so unnerving it just that people are easily unnerved by anything nowadays that they put a horror tag on something that clearly has to show more elements of horror besides unnerving the player if that was the case i guess every game is a horror game by default just because every game demonstrated to be unnerving or has an unnerving section by that logic it would make every game a horror game then.
oh and you're not wrong about Horror is horrifying. but if horror is just to scare people then what about games that while they did not scare the players they still present heavy horror themed stuff like a creepy atmosphere, unsettling or disturbing environments,freaky enemy and boss designs etc games like splatterhouse war of the dead and even sweet home are horror or at least are horror themed games but they do not scare the players and yet just because they did not scare or horrified the players that makes them not horror not even horror themed games but a game like elden ring or world war z the game are class has horror just because they scared the player not because of the horror itself just scared players let it be only the boss fights or just to many zombies on screen. besides horror games now in these times focus too much on trying to scare the player that they become just a one play game and nobody ever plays them again(unless they are bored of course) but a horror game like lamentum that does not scare the players as much it is still a horror game at its core and it has more replay value than a haunted house walking simulator with jumpscares could ever hope to have.
oh and i do not think there is an unnerving tag but that would be pretty handy in this case.
I only glanced at the towel game, but if I am not mistaken, it is about old men running around with(out) towels. I would call that unnerving. I only agree that it falls under the current itch summary of "horror"-tag, because it specifically calls out unnerving.
This does not preclude me from disagreeing with the summary of the horror tag. It is not a contradiction. You can read it as a criticism about the horror tag and how inflationary people use it. Especially if you read on, what I think horror means.
There is the problem of funny horror. It is easier to discuss this with movies. Is Shaun of the Dead a horror movie? I would not call it suitable for kids, because of the horror elements, but ultimately, I would not call it a horror movie. Even if a tag of horror might be warranted.
Maybe it helps if we use tags and genres, even though both would be used as tags. So, something like Shaun of the Dead would be of the genre comedy, specifically spoof, but would also sport the tag horror.
Curiously enough, itch does have a genre section. Horror is not among those genres. Certain tags are actually called genre, if you look at the filter url. So, there is no tag puzzle. If you do tag a game puzzle, it appears as genre puzzle.
It certainly explains some things. There not being a genre horror. People just tag anything remotely unnerving as horror, like a jump scare, and the real horror games cannot tag themselves as actual-horror. Also there is no ironical-horror or tongue-in-cheek-horror tags that anyone would use. The towel game obviously uses horror not in any serious manner.
creepy atmosphere, unsettling or disturbing environments,freaky enemy
All of those aim to unnerve the player. Or rather, they could be used to unnerve. Just like the zombies in Shaun of the Dead could be used such. But the overall tone of the movie makes that very hard.
There is a difference between effect and element. The tags rarely distinguish between them. So if there is the element zombies in something, and the effect is fright in the viewer/player, the intent was horror. But if the viewer/player was not frightened, nor was it intended, but there are still zombies, a creepy athmosphere, disturbing environment, how to tag this? Creepy is easy, there is a common tag for that. But most devs will just use horror as a catch it all and fill up with other tags.
(there is an unnerving tag, but only two games use it ;-b )
well nice to know that at least two games use the tag unnerving but from what i saw towel required or any other game in the same circumstances only has the unnerving element because the old men while it is unnerving to see them rushing towards you naked that is just it they are not creepy nor do they look scary nor do they look intimidating not even threatening and the atmosphere was more adrenaline filled rather than creepy or ominous or even unsettling and the setting is just a public shower which looks and gives off the feeling of uncomfortable instead of disturbing and yeah you're not wrong about horror comedies because for the most part many horror comedies like dead rising or zombieland for example have horror elements but thanks to the comedy elements it clashes with those elements causing this awkward mixed of terrifying and disturbing to funny and hysterical the constant changing kills both tones and mood of any game or movie with these elements unless the comedy is more dark and cynical which would in a way fit with horror to some extent.
The surprising thing is not, that games are tagged horror while not being scary. Horror is the most popular tag. It says so on the itch.io homepage on the top left corner. Everyone tags it, even if it is ironic and tonge in cheek.
The surprising thing are scary games that do not tag it.
You can start looking for those with the non advertised feature of tag exclusion, to give a late answer to your op. Enter some "scary" tags, like creepy or even psychological horror and then add exclusion to the url. The last one has like 6k games.
?exclude=tg.horror
https://itch.io/games/tag-creepy?exclude=tg.horror
https://itch.io/games/tag-atmospheric/tag-mystery?exclude=tg.horror
https://itch.io/games/tag-psychological-horror?exclude=tg.horror
oh snap now that you mention if i remember right there was a game called streetlight insomnia that was on the psychological horror tag despite the fact that it could of also have the horror tag or survival horror tag here is the link: https://web.archive.org/web/20211111163728/https://jonniemadeit.itch.io/streetli...
Actually, the only important information needed to explain and understand all of this, is this: The developer choses the tags.
In theory, you could report games for having incorrect tags. But this begs the question what tags would be correct, and that is not something that can be answered with authority most of the time. Imho that option in reporting is meant for factual wrongness, not anything that is in the eye of the beholder or that could be tagged ironically. A factual error would be a game for that playdate console showing up as a physical game. Or a physical game (read: pdf for printout) showing up as a game asset. Or a game asset showing up as a game. Stuff like that.
Miscategorized — Shows up on wrong part of itch.io, incorrect tags, incorrect platforms, etc
I see you referenced my game Freakbalang, after finishing developing it, I just forgot to put the tag back in. I have tagged it as horror now. I removed it before because at its early stages the story was so incomplete, I felt like it didn't deserve that tag and basically it felt like an empty walking simulator. But now that the game is complete, I believe the "love" story I made is horror. Btw, have you tried the game yet? And did it feel like horror to you? (but kindly don't spoil the story for the others, thanks!) 😁
Yeah, games or media that's presented like that is most probably going for the horror genre. On a side note, I noticed that in some noticeably horror games here on itch.io, they are labeled as "adventure" instead of "horror" and thought maybe because the horror genre is flooded in here, or the game/s are literally just adventures to experience. So based on those thoughts, I also went with the same labeling, as I want users to experience something more than just a scary or creepy game.
