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You can feel it in the air, can\u2019t you? We\u2019re in the last couple weeks of summer, and spooky season is just around the corner. Zach Cregger\u2019s new Resident Evil<\/em> movie is getting rave reviews \u2014 including from us! So long swimming pools and barbecues, the people demand thrills and chills.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n But for some gamers, the appeal of the horror genre isn\u2019t just about the adrenaline rush. You know the ones I mean: the people who treat nightmare fuel like Silent Hill f<\/em> and Resident Evil Requiem<\/em> as comfort entertainment, like an episode of The Golden Girls<\/em> or a couple hours with Stardew Valley<\/em>. Cozy horror has been a popular sub-genre in movies for decades; it’s generally more approachable scares like Gremlins, Misery, <\/em>or Tremors<\/em> instead of gorefests like Saw <\/em>or Terrifier 2. <\/em>It’s the perfect way to describe this year’s Emmy’s darling Widow’s Bay<\/em>, a horror comedy about a cursed island in New England run by a neighbor with tourist aspirations. We’re also starting to see more mashups of these two seemingly incongruous genres in games, like with the spooky farm sim Grave Seasons<\/em> and Devolver’s hit 2022 roguelike sim Cult of the Lamb<\/em>.<\/p>\n To learn more about the appeal of cozy horror, I spoke with affective neuroscientist Dr. Eric Leonardis, who\u2019s an expert in how our brains process emotions through play and entertainment. (He previously weighed in on one of our most-anticipated fall games, Virtue and a Sledgehammer<\/em>.) In the eyes of the good doctor, it\u2019s all about taking back control.<\/p>\n \u201cIt’s what they call dark play in the [neuroscientific] literature, this idea that if you have these explorations of negative themes, sometimes doing so will actually make you feel like you have more control over what might happen in the future,\u201d Leonardis explained. \u201cBecause we’ve simulated it, we’ve thought it through, right? The classic example is like when Michael Myers comes up the stairs, and you’re like, don’t go into the basement, go out the front door.<\/em> Get out of there. <\/em>You know what I mean? This is what I would do in this situation, right? And that can be comforting.\u201d<\/p>\n He adds that horror can feel cozy because we know we are safe in the heat of the moment, even if our character is getting their neck ripped open by a vicious zombie.<\/p>\n \u201cWe can explore these things without necessarily freaking ourselves out and actually feel at ease, because we know it is not happening to us. It is a situation which we are removed from and can reflect on safely. And I think that’s one reason that people might actually move towards these things,\u201d Leonardis said.<\/p>\n What\u2019s more, by navigating scary environments in a game, we\u2019re actually keeping our survival instincts sharp. Many of the emotional and neurological responses we have to virtual scenarios are just subdued versions of the real-life equivalent. A type of brain cells called place cells are a major reason for that, because they allow us to immerse ourselves in virtual spaces as though they were real ones.<\/p>\n A weekly cheat sheet to what you\u2019ll eventually love to play. No buying, no \t\t\tSign up freeGet Polygon\u2019s Wishlister newsletter<\/h3>\n
\n\t\t\tcommitment \u2014 just saving for later.<\/p>\n
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