Digital Media Strategy
Digital Media Strategy
I was an elementary school student when one of the biggest franchises to hit my generation emerged on August 5th, 2014. I’m talking about the hit horror game Five Nights at Freddy’s, better known online and in general as “FNAF”. You’ve most definitely heard about FNAF recently, as the game was adapted into a film that released this October, only 3 days before Halloween, and managed to gross a worldwide total of 293.7 million dollars. It would be an understatement to say that this game was popular; for years, it dominated YouTube and was the source of many theory videos and debate. The game, in fact, managed to create such a unique experience for the time that it skyrocketed a whole new genre of horror: mascot horror.
Bendy and the Ink Machine, another very popular 2010s era Macot Horror game.
As you may assume, mascot horror is categorized as horror where children’s mascots are taken and subverted into killers, creating a contradictory dynamic between the character and purpose. By having a mascot as the forefront of the experience- the horror- it’s also easier to create an experience fans will care about, as they may come to find themselves heavily attached to the characters. For FNAF, this is the case. To this day, FNAF characters are cherished and very popular, and I see fanart everywhere online.
But… certainly this couldn’t go wrong, right? Well, in my opinion, the whole idea of mascot horror has kind of spiraled into something it never should have been; a complete and utter cash grab. Due to the success of FNAF, and the genre’s ability to easily sell merchandise, we have seen a surge of mascot horror that, usually appealing to a younger audience than my crowd at this point, is able to get away with creating a sub-par gaming experience for the sake of milking cash. The biggest perpetrators in this whole debate are most definitely the creators of Garten of BanBan, the Euphoric Brothers, but we can also look to “franchises” like Poppy Playtime and Roblox’s Rainbow Friends for other examples.
Garten of BanBan is the worst of the three, in my humble opinion, but Poppy Playtime’s merchandise spread and meaningless content slop for children isn’t inspiring me, either. Rainbow Friends does the same thing, but it’s talked about far less. Why? Because Garten of BanBan is a legitimate shitshow. The games, yes, multiple games, creating a plot spread out between SIX games that will most likely just continue to grow as time goes on, are made quickly, sloppily, and all around badly- Don’t even get me started on how many polygons the two brothers in charge of the franchise have managed to slap onto their characters. The games are obviously content farms for children who don’t know any better, and the decision to split what could easily be one game into multiple paid sections is not just a coincidence. Hell, there is a merch button right in your face on the opening screen of every one of these parts. This, along with the fact that the Euphoric Brothers seem unable to take criticism for the blatant brainless slop and how to improve their games is why I think mascot horror has really died. Started by FNAF, followed by games like Bendy and the Ink Machine, Baldi’s Basics, Amanda the Adventurer, and a few others worth some salt, and hopefully, ending now. It’s time for mascot horror to pack up and leave.
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