Making a Children's Game Frightening

[UselessBytes]

If you've checked out my story Real Fear, it should be pretty clear that I'm a big fan of all things literary horror. I've been writing horror for quite a long time and have run into one specific problem multiple times: How in high hell am I supposed to make a children's game like Pokemon frightening?

No, the Pokedex is famous for some rather startling facts about specific Pokemon, but in the end those boil down to random quips that would make for cheap terror, so I've never really look to it much for inspiration. I tended to end up writing about the more feral and unexplained Pokemon, detailing a character suffering from brutal nightmares at the hands of Darkrai, or delving into savage and brutal hunts carried out by the more feral species of Pokemon. However, with Sun and Moon came true beauty.

When the Ultra Beasts were announced, I was over the moon! They were so eldritch, so lovecraftian, it was if they were begging me to write more Pokemon horror! The Ultra Beasts are each so unique and strange that you can take any of them and twist it into the same kind of unfathomable monster that might haunt a classical horror piece, whether it be physically monstrous or psychologically. I have to say, I was in love at the first trailer.

So that's my question to you all, what about Pokemon alls out to you and begs for a mind shattering point of view on the terror it could potentially spawn? What about Pokemon makes you want to make a children's game not suitable for most children? What about Pokemon would you make absolutely terrifying?

 

[0bs1d1an_kn1ght]

>implying Pokemon isn't absolutely terrifying in context

 

[Drakon]

This creeps me out quite a bit more than most other pokémon things.

I mean, what the fuck is going on? It's the mystery that's freaky.

 

[diamondpearl876]

I agree that the UBs have a lot of potential for the horror genre. I tend to enjoy anything psychologically intense, and that can easily count as horror for me. Like any other genre, too, I think the stakes for the characters need to be high for the horror to be effective, no matter what's happening that's supposed to be terrifying.

I think most pokedex entries that come off as a "cheap thrill" could be spun into something genuinely terrifying. There's no way that most ghost-type pokedex entries are true, undeniable facts, so I like to think that they're open to interpretation.