I used to think of comedy games as being on par with horror as a genre of gaming, but I realize now that they’re not as similar as I once thought. At least, that’s what I’ve realized when I think of video game genres. Games like Bethesda’s The Evil Within can bill themselves as part of the survival horror genre, for instance, while games like Five Night’s at Freddy’s are more classic, jump-scare based horror. The same can’t be said of comedy, however. There’s no comedic shooter sub-genre; a game is either funny or it’s not. To sell a game on comedic elements alone is, well, financial suicide.
The reason I orignally thought of the two genres as similar was that they rely on a certain element of subjectivity. Silent Hill 2 may be scary to some, but those immune to its horrors might not have the tolerance for its tank controls. Plus, there are various kinds of horror. You might, for instance, actually be playing gore porn. The game might not possess the qualities of a psychological thriller, choosing too often to rely on jump scares to raise your adrenaline. And there’s the genre of the gameplay itself. Is it a first person shooter? Adventure game? If DOOM doesn’t scare you, then hopefully you’ll at least have fun blasting demons with your shotgun.
Like horror, comedy has its various subgenres, and its consumers have subjective tastes. Game developers have to consider not only the type of comedy they want to write, but also the genre of game they wish to make, and they have to choose wisely. For instance, I took to the absurdist humor of Jazzpunk . Others who don’t enjoy that kind of humor might criticize it for simply being a walking simulator. Conker’s Bad Fur Day , on the other hand, has a broader sense of crude humor, and it was a 3D platformer, which I consider to be the N64’s specialty. Some of the jokes in Conker might have fallen flat, but that’s ok because it doubles as a successor of sorts to Banjo Kazooie . A comedy game can’t rely solely on its jokes.
Both comedy and horror can be adapted to various video game genres, but how come it’s easier to notice and appreciate horror? I think it’s because horror relies on a dark, imposing atmosphere. This atmosphere affects the art direction of the game, and it’s difficult not to notice. Silent Hill has an abandoned town. Bioshock has an aquatic city with a crumbling infrastructure. What does comedy have? A psychopath who makes quips for every kill he makes? Granted, Matt Hazard , billed as a parody, has a level that parodies Mario , but so do a lot of decidely more serious games via Easter Eggs. And even though it’s true that light-hearted games like Super Mario 64 can set aside a small portion to scare players (seriously, that killer piano!), I argue it’s much more difficult to create, let alone sell, a comedic atmosphere.
Sometimes comedy is a bonus in my video games, and it’s a safer bet to go with a game that focuses on creating solid mechanics first. I don’t see a future for a game to sell itself solely on being a comedy. However, while I don’t want a strictly comedic game, I’m still open to developers trying. At the very least, if a game developer decides to focus on the comedy more than the mechanics, then at least he or she sees the value in good writing.