Draft:Mascot horror
Submission declined on 2 October 2024 by Zxcvbnm (talk).
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| Submission declined on 18 May 2024 by Pbrks (talk). This draft's references do not show that the subject qualifies for a Wikipedia article. In summary, the draft needs multiple published sources that are: Declined by Pbrks 7 months ago.
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Comment: Zero reliable sources mean it's probably not notable. Couldn't find sources either when I searched. ᴢxᴄᴠʙɴᴍ (ᴛ) 17:50, 2 October 2024 (UTC)
Mascot horror is a derivative of the horror fiction genre and is popular among indie game developers. It gained movement in the mid-2010s with the arrival of the Five Nights at Freddy's series. Comparative patterns to mascot horror are already known from the slasher movies of the 1980s, and the creepypasta-based video games of the early 2010s; both of these spun around a recognizable character to advertise their horror-based properties.[1] The distinct characteristics of the subgenre are toy-like villains, an abundance of jumpscares, and appealing to children, them being the primary audience.[2]
Characteristics
[edit]Mascot horror generally consists of these characteristics:
- A marketable character, who is most of the time the antagonist and face of the game.
- A child friendly area to explore (a toy factory for example.)
- Hidden lore, many times in the form of clues, cryptic puzzles, and environmental storytelling.
- Jumpscares that always play as soon as the player dies, mostly accompanied by a loud distorted scream
- A featureless protagonist, as many of these games are in first-person perspective.
- Frequent references to childhood, such as making the protagonist having grown up with the said in-universe media.
- In some games, it is implied that the antagonist is a human turned into the evil mascot.
- A gimmic used to solve puzzles and/or fight enemies.
Mascot horror games also become popular through being played by youtubers. Five Nights at Freddy's, for example, achieved some of its popularity through Let's Play videos by famous youtubers such as Markiplier, JackSepticEye and Game theory.
History
[edit]The beginning of mascot horror can be retraced to the early 2010s. At this time, the Slenderman mythos became popular, and susequentaly so did the game based on the mythos, Slender: the Eight Pages and it's sequel, Slender: the Arrival.
on august 8th, Five Nights at Freddy's released. As a horror game, Five Nights at Freddy's steered clear of classic horror elements like blood, gore, and psychological horror in order to appeal to a younger audience. It gained attention through Let's plays, most notably those by famous youtuber Markiplier.[3] In nine years, Markiplier's original Five Nights at Freddy's Let's Play video has received over 111 million views.
The Five Nights at Freddy's series released another 9 games. All of them considered the parents of mascot horror and "Surveillance horror"[2]
After Fnaf, many games released copying the style of a "toy-ish, child friendly monster". Notable examples are Tattletail, Bendy and the Ink Machine, and Hello Neighbor.
After the release of popular mascot horror game "Garten of Banban", people on the internet stated that the mascot horror "formula" was overdone and oversaturated, as many of the current tropes became "cliché" and unoriginal.[4]
In 2024, indie developer and youtuber "Uniquegeese" released a game titled Indigo Park. It became massively succesfull, with people stating it was "a redemption for mascot horror."[5]
References
[edit]- ^ a b "Mascot Horror". TV Tropes. Retrieved 2024-05-13.
- ^ a b "Mascot Horror". Know Your Meme. 2023-07-17. Retrieved 2024-05-13.
- ^ "Mascot horror - Glitchwave.com".
- ^ "mascot horror". NamuWiki. 2024-09-17. Retrieved 2024-10-01.
- ^ Ciardella, Alexandrea (2024-06-23). "Indigo Park: The New Mascot Horror In Indie Video Games –". thezillennialzine.com. Retrieved 2024-10-01.
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