Silent Halls
P.T., Freud, and Psychological Horror
Keywords:
psychological horror, the uncanny, freud, game designAbstract
“What is a ghost?”
“An emotion, a terrible moment condemned to repeat itself over and over…”
-The Devil’s Backbone (Del Toro, 2001)
This paper analyses P.T.(Kojima Productions, 2014), a playable teaser made to demo a planned instalment within the Silent Hill franchise. While the game is now indefinitely cancelled, P.T. has cemented itself not only as a full gaming experience, but also as a juggernaut in genre of psychological horror. Drawing from Sigmund Freud’s concept of the uncanny, the aim of the paper is to address how these psychological concepts surface within the now infamous never-ending hallway of P.T. and create a deeply psychologically horrifying experience.
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