Minecraft is marketed as a family-friendly sandbox. For most, there is nothing but creativity and joy to behold within its blocky world. With over 600 million active players, Minecraft dominates the gaming industry. However, do not let its charming and adorable claws deceive innocent players. Minecraft is a horror game through and through.
Scouring the internet, gamers will find many a forum post about people being "too scared to play." For a game not intended to be scary by any means, why is this the case? Exactly what makes Minecraft such an effective horror game? Is it scary enough to compete with some of the more well-known horror games out there?
9 A Contrast Between Horror and Not
What off-puts people about Minecraft is its affinity to have a deep contrast between being "cute" and being "creepy." The entire world itself is just unsettling and off enough to raise an eye. Why is everything a block? While the art style often helps the game, sometimes, with higher renders and intense texture mods, the game quickly becomes a little too realistic.
Furthermore, the tone of the game is rarely consistent. From one moment players are peacefully building a watermelon farm and the next, they're moving through the pitch darkness of a cave. It's that contrast in tone that's uncanny and ultimately unsettling. It makes it feel as though there is a dark underbelly to this seemingly saccharine world.
8 Minecraft Has A Chilling Atmosphere
Minecraft has successfully captured a cosmic horror atmosphere most horror games dream they could manage. The visuals, while beautiful, can sometimes be downright terrifying. There's a longing and fear in the air. Steve has to survive. He needs to eat.
To do that, he needs to explore and go into menacing caves with dark corridors. At night, players can barely see two feet in front of themselves without a torch. And we all know there are monsters hiding in that darkness.
7 Alone? Sole Survivor? Who is Steve?
Who is Steve, the player character? Who is Steve in Minecraft? A lot of horrors are to be found within the objective ambiguity behind the character's backstory. There villagers yet, but none that look like Steve. Scattered about the game, there are ruins hidden deep within the forests and caves.
Who built these? Why are they abandoned? According to the "ending", there are even potentially Gods watching the player's every move. Who are they? Are they testing Steve? One question inadvertently leads to another.
6 An Ungodly Number Of Unintentional Jumpscares
Every Minecraft player has been here: they're building a house. It's calm. Place each block down one by one... Everything is fine. Then they hear that horrible hiss from behind as a Creeper explodes sending their character flying and the player flying out of their seat. It's not fun. But frankly, Minecraft has an uncanny ability to lure players into a false sense of security.
Right when players think they are safe and distracted a mob appears out of nowhere to ruin a player's build. And as gamers calm down from their jumpscare, they're always left wondering when the next mob will appear.
5 Disturbing Sound Designs Are Hiding In The Game's Files
Minecraft has some of the most terrifying sound designs of any game. Listen through the various sound effects hidden within the game. Why are there sounds of gears grinding within the cave? Or a distorted scream? Or the wailings the Enderman makes when Steve makes eye contact?
These are just some of the terrifying sounds hidden within the game's files. Why would a non-horror game have these sounds? The haunting noises are simply uncanny and distressing. It leaves players wishes for that in-game soundtrack to come back.
4 Survive Or Die. That's All Players Have To Do.
Minecraft always has gamers on edge because of its survival mechanics. Like any survival horror game, gamers will find themselves managing multiple stats and weapons to fend off the creatures of the night and stay protected day-to-day.
There is nothing more terrifying them venturing far from safety not sure how to get back entirely and knowing everything in the player's inventories could be gone in a second. There is no food anywhere and night is coming soon. Run fast but don't starve. Time is not on the player's side.
3 Players Are Literally Going To Hell
The Nether is Minecraft's Hell. A lava wasteland with deformed pig creatures and the disturbing Wisps who float menacingly through the lava wasteland. It feels like the world gamers have been working in, but so horribly deformed and devoid of life.
Furthermore, it's undeniably dangerous with lava and monsters waiting to destroy everything players own. It takes a brave soul to stay in the Nether longer than needed.
2 Endermen Are SCPs
Is it any surprise that Minecraft's scariest mob is not actually supposed to be in the game? In fact, they are SCP's. The SCP Foundation, for those who don't know, is a secret organization that keeps dangerous anomalies secured, contained, and protected. Endermen are filed under SCP-4335-1.
The site reads as follows: "...reports of the thin, black entities that are capable of picking up blocks were heard from large amounts of players. The O5 Council made contact with Mojang AB, the current developers of Minecraft. The O5 Council decided to intentionally introduce SCP-4335-1 instances into the next update of the game as a new non-anomalous monster. Further information regarding interactions between Mojang and the Foundation is level 5 classified." So not only are there anomalous entities in the game, but Mojang is working for secret foundations?
1 The End Is Too Intense For A Non-Horror Game
Why go to hell when gamers can go to an endless white expanse filled with the game's anomalous creatures? To get here, gamers must complete an ancient ritual to open a demonic portal. To do that, they have to kill a large number of creatures. The End literally involves a sacrifice. ritual to get in.
The entire area lacks most of the terrain and caverns gamers know and love. There's no mining here. The End is empty.