Jumpscare horror games such as Alien: Isolation, Amnesia, and Five Nights at Freddy’s are widely popular. In horror game discussions, however, the use of jumpscares is frequently subject to criticism. Jumpscare-critical players seem to agree that jumpscares are “cheap.” Cheapness assumes three things: jumpscares are easy to create, limited in their impact, and unfair to players. This video essay responds by defending jumpscares and arguing against the idea that they are necessarily cheap. I use Celia Pearce’s playframes theory to examine fairness and unfairness in jumpscare horror and compare Winterrowd’s The Maze (also known as Scary Maze Game) to several contemporary jumpscare games. This comparison demonstrates that many jumpscare horror games intentionally develop fair contexts for jumpscares to occur, and thus players familiar with the genre expect them. When contextualized clearly, jumpscares aren’t mere gimmicks. They deepen a player’s experience by heightening their sense of anxiety and requiring them to endure deep discomfort to progress.
is an English and Media Studies student at the University of Victoria who loves strange, gross, and scary things. More of Izzy’s video work can be found here.