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Why would anyone want to play a game designed to scare them? We argue that an alliance between evolutionary theory and game studies can shed light on the forms and psychological functions of horror video games. Horror games invite players to simulate prototypical fear scenarios of uncertainty and danger. These scenarios challenge players to adaptively assess and negotiate their dangers. While horror games thereby instil negative emotion, they also entice players with stimulating challenges of fearful coping. Players who brave these challenges expand their emotional and behavioural repertoire and experience a sense of mastery, explaining the genre's paradoxical appeal. We end by illustrating our evolutionary approach through an in-depth analysis of Playdead's puzzle-horror game Limbo. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article investigates the nature and appeal of morally ambiguous protagonists, or antiheroes, through an evolutionary lens. It argues that morally ambiguous protagonists navigate conflicts between prosocial and antisocial motivational pulls. In so doing they present audiences with a window onto the conflicts inherent in human sociality. Working from this premise, the article analyzes the morally ambiguous protagonist Walter White from the TV series Breaking Bad, complementing the analysis with survey results. The article finally discusses critically the role of moral disengagement in enjoyment of stories with morally ambiguous protagonists. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on evolutionary humanists have had much to say about literature and literary analysis, and less to say about film, television, and especially video games. Topics include the evolutionary work on audiovisual media more frequently originates in psychological studies, the studies typically focus on the media user their media preferences and media-elicited actions and the trend also describes recent publications.