Shiying Studio

The Fearful Realism: Chinese Horror Indie Games and the Realist Horror

This paper examines Chinese horror indie games as a distinct subgenre that engages directly with social reality, proposing the term "fearful realism" to describe its aesthetic approach.

• The paper proposes "fearful realism" as a term for Chinese horror indie games that use supernatural elements to surface repressed histories and everyday injustices, drawing on Cynthia Freeland's concept of realist horror.
• The analysis centers on two mainland Chinese indie titles: Firework (Shiying Studio, 2021), in which a police officer reinvestigates a mountain village massacre, and Comedy Funeral (Great Fortune and Great Favour Unlimited, 2022), in which a child explores a grandmother's memories of trafficking and forced marriage.
• These games share a gameplay structure of diminished action, minimal combat and escape, simple untimed puzzles, and "archival adventure," in which players reconstruct stories from fragmentary memorabilia.