--- title: Defining Horror as Tension | Silent Hill f | daily.dev description: A game designer from Silent Hill f discusses the philosophy behind horror game design, arguing that the core experience players seek is tension rather than... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/defining-horror-as-tension-silent-hill-f-cpxr0vndy twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: Defining Horror as Tension | Silent Hill f | daily.dev og:description: A game designer from Silent Hill f discusses the philosophy behind horror game design, arguing that the core experience players seek is tension rather than... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/defining-horror-as-tension-silent-hill-f-cpxr0vndy og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/CPXr0VnDY.png og:image:alt: Defining Horror as Tension | Silent Hill f og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Defining Horror as Tension | Silent Hill f **[GDC Festival of Gaming](https://daily.dev/sources/gdcfestivalofgaming)** · 1 min read · 1 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary A game designer from Silent Hill f discusses the philosophy behind horror game design, arguing that the core experience players seek is tension rather than fear itself. The key insight is that horror games are fundamentally about the buildup and release of tension, with the buildup being the most critical element — the anticipation before a scare is more impactful than the scare itself. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [Silent Hill: Downfall gets deep into its protagonist's headspace](https://daily.dev/posts/silent-hill-downfall-gets-deep-into-its-protagonist-s-headspace-trvdl0nut) · Game Developer · 1 upvotes · 0 comments - [This Silent Hill-Inspired Horror Could Be at TGA If It Had $1 Million](https://daily.dev/posts/this-silent-hill-inspired-horror-could-be-at-tga-if-it-had-1-million-bytzi0ryz) · 80 LEVEL · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [What Goes Into Designing a Soulslike?](https://daily.dev/posts/what-goes-into-designing-a-soulslike--ux7qeqiqo) · Game Designing · 3 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#game-design](https://daily.dev/tags/game-design) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/defining-horror-as-tension-silent-hill-f-cpxr0vndy) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"Defining Horror as Tension | Silent Hill f","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/defining-horror-as-tension-silent-hill-f-cpxr0vndy","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/defining-horror-as-tension-silent-hill-f-cpxr0vndy"},"datePublished":"2026-07-28T16:12:38.773Z","dateModified":"2026-09-14T07:40:12.086Z","description":"A game designer from Silent Hill f discusses the philosophy behind horror game design, arguing that the core experience players seek is tension rather than...","image":"https://i.ytimg.com/vi/5PsxuO0oL_g/sddefault.jpg","thumbnailUrl":"https://i.ytimg.com/vi/5PsxuO0oL_g/sddefault.jpg","isAccessibleForFree":true,"articleSection":"GDC Festival of Gaming","inLanguage":"en","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180}},"author":{"@type":"Organization","name":"GDC Festival of Gaming","logo":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/s--EatFrQY---/f_auto,q_auto/v1773656431/logos/gdcfestivalofgaming?_a=BAMAMiiu0","url":"https://daily.dev/sources/gdcfestivalofgaming"},"commentCount":0,"discussionUrl":"https://daily.dev/posts/defining-horror-as-tension-silent-hill-f-cpxr0vndy","interactionStatistic":[{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":1},{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"CommentAction"},"userInteractionCount":0}],"keywords":"game-design","timeRequired":"PT1M","video":{"@type":"VideoObject","name":"Defining Horror as Tension | Silent Hill f","description":"A game designer from Silent Hill f discusses the philosophy behind horror game design, arguing that the core experience players seek is tension rather than...","thumbnailUrl":"https://i.ytimg.com/vi/5PsxuO0oL_g/sddefault.jpg","uploadDate":"2026-07-28T16:12:38.773Z","duration":"PT1M","url":"https://api.daily.dev/r/CPXr0VnDY","embedUrl":"https://www.youtube.com/embed/5PsxuO0oL_g"}} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https://daily.dev"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"GDC Festival of Gaming","item":"https://daily.dev/sources/gdcfestivalofgaming"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Defining Horror as Tension | Silent Hill f"}]} ```