Short answers, pulled from the story.
Survival horror is a subgenre of action-adventure games where the player character is deliberately vulnerable and under-armed, placing emphasis on puzzle-solving, evasion, and resource management rather than direct combat. The genre is defined by subject matter, tone, pacing, and design philosophy rather than specific mechanics alone.
The term survival horror was first used by Capcom to market the original Japanese release of Resident Evil in 1996. The name was subsequently applied to games with similar gameplay and retroactively attached to earlier titles that shared the genre's characteristics.
Historians disagree on which title holds the distinction. Shiryou Sensen: War of the Dead from 1987 is considered the first true survival horror game by critics Kevin Gifford and John Szczepaniak. Sweet Home from 1989 is often cited as the most influential predecessor to Resident Evil. The Atari 2600 game Haunted House from 1982 has also been retroactively classified as the first in the genre by some reviewers.
Resident Evil 4, released in 2005, shifted the genre toward action by emphasizing reflexes and precision aiming. It earned multiple Game of the Year awards but led critics to argue that the Resident Evil series had abandoned the survival horror conventions it had established, contributing to a broader industry trend toward action-oriented gameplay.
The commercial success of the Resident Evil 2 remake, released in 2019, which sold over four million copies in its first month and 15.8 million copies by April 2025, encouraged other companies to create remakes of classic survival horror games. Remakes of Dead Space, Silent Hill 2, Resident Evil 3, Resident Evil 4, and Alone in the Dark followed, alongside new original titles.
Survival horror games typically feature limited ammunition and weapons, scarce resources requiring inventory management, mazelike and dark environments with restricted visibility, puzzle-solving to unlock new areas, and isolated protagonists who must evade rather than confront enemies. Story is frequently delivered through journals, texts, or audio logs rather than through living characters.