There are a lot of horror game tropes I hate, like:
Jump scares
Cliche monster designs such as mutilated human, ghost woman, singing/giggling little girl, and worst of all, asylum inmate :cringe:
Having 'insanity' as a game mechanic
I also hate when horror games basically screams at you to "Be scared now!!!1!" including things like:
Player character breathing heavily when they see something you're supposed to scared of.
Camera effects such as shaky cam, blurry cam, blood on camera or 'insanity vision'.
A monster screaming in your face
A loud jumpscare music sting
Now, I know what you're thinking, "Dirt_Owl, do you even like horror games at all then?"
The answer is no. No I do not.
I love horror games but hate some of the mechanics sometimes. I don't have much of a problem with the repeated monster designs. The tendency to treat mental illness as a spooky otherworldly force that creates evil enemy murderers is really annoying though.
Gameplay mechanics I hate:
Ticky-tacky inventory management, weapons that only operate as a last resort rather than an always available tool, not being told which items are important or which ones I can drop, backtracking only because I can only hold three things (cry of fear), level design focusing on darkness at the expense of navigating, and what I hate most of all is gameplay centered around hiding in lockers or under beds. Yes I love sitting idle watching a monster exhaust its pathfinding until it goes to the other room. I love it when interesting puzzles and story bits are interrupted by a tedious sequence of hiding from a spooky gurgling monster.
I think there's often a hesitation to screw around with the horror formula, in all media. That's what makes some horror games so special.
The best horror game ever made is Silent Hill 4, by the way