Ask a dozen horror fans to describe the first image which pops into their head at the word “horror,” and you’ll get three dozen answers. For many, their answer will be a woman – attire and adjectives varying based on the viewer’s tastes- trapped in some dark and creepy place with a horrible monster looming over her. Whether this terrible manifestation of society’s anxieties will murder the woman in gruesome fashion usually depends on her attire and virtue, how faithful to genre the creator is trying to be, or how far along in the movie or novel the audience are, depending on the piece.
But in the world of survival horror video-games, it often depends more on how much ammo you’ve saved, if you’ve uncovered the right tools, and the themes which the developers are trying to examine. Survival Horror games, where players must navigate dangerous environs filled with dangerous entities while conserving resources and frequently solving puzzles, have been a staple of video games for nearly thirty years, but have stayed modern and relevant, especially in recent years. The newest budding crop includes two titles which stand out not only for their female protagonists, but for the way they factor their protagonist into the narrative.
Female protagonists have been a key element of Survival Horror games. From the very first entry into the world of survival horror, Resident Evil which shared hero-duty between boulder-punching Chris Redfield and Fan-favorite Jill Valentine, Survival Horror entries frequently included strong female characters in active roles in the story, as opposed to just including them for fanservice purposes, and Resident Evil sets the standard. If proof is required, look at the lovely image they made for their 30th anniversary, and the ratio of ladies to "Hunks" (isn't one missing?)
While Resident Evil sets the standard, not every game matches it. Some games exceed it, having only strong female protagonists as the main character, such as Survival Horror hits Parasite Eve, Haunting Grounds, and Tormented Souls (more on that one in a moment) but other games sometimes fall short of it. Some fall afoul of fanservice, and while a little bit of fanservice never hurts (even Resident Evil had some) some games seem to only include female characters for the fanservice, or as one-dimensional love interests. At first blush, Code Violet seems to be the former.
The upcoming Survival Horror title was announced in January as a PlayStation 5 exclusive, and recently debuted a Release Date trailer (which is no longer accurate as the game has been delayed until December to help it stand out, which might have helped another horror game.) shows protagonist Violet Sinclaire fighting her way through herds of dinosaurs in overrun labs and gorgeous jungles. The game certainly seems to draw inspiration from other giants of the genre. Much of the environments and the armband around Violet’s arm, which seems to show players her current health, are reminiscent of Visceral Game’s Dead Space, but Code Violet’s DNA seems strongly linked to the much-beloved Dino Crisis from Survival Horror’s kingpin, Capcom.
With a female protagonist facing down deadly dinos in an isolated, technological setting, many are drawing parallels between Dino Crisis and Code Violet, particularly with Violet’s outfit. One of the most noticeable elements of the game, perhaps the most noticeable after the hordes of dinosaurs, is the skin-tight, curve-hugging outfit Violet wears, which stands out even more given much of the 3rd-person shooter-style perspective places the camera behind Violet, which emphasizes her… behind. Other outfits visible in the trailer’s gameplay are more revealing, ranging from a shoulder-less version of the skin-tight outfit, a unitard, and an Ellen Ripley-esque pair of cotton underwear. And that’s not counting the bonus skins for the deluxe edition, which run from “Sassy” secretary to more salacious outfits.
But within these bonus skins, specifically the non-deluxe pre-order bonuses, lies a promising clue that perhaps Teamkill has more planned for Violet than just being eye-candy as she fights dinosaurs. The “Retro American Bombshell Pinup” has Violet dressed as a 50s pin-up version of a military outfit. It’s not quite as scandalous as the Deluxe bonuses, but still has a strong element of sexuality and femininity, such as special earrings which provide an in-game benefit, which suggests that the developers have put thought into the outfits, and might be using them for purposes besides sex appeal.
And Code Violet’s story synopsis points towards just what those purposes might be. Per the description of the story given on the game’s website and the trailer, Violet is a woman torn from her time and cast into the 25th century, to the colony world of 1-E Aion. The reason for her abduction? Humanity has gone sterile and is abducting surrogates from the past to continue the species. Women take on a different role, and perhaps an objectified one. Three and a half minutes into the gameplay reveal, Violet stumbles upon a stained-glass window reverently depicting a pregnant woman. She has visions of a nursery juxtaposed with various incubation tanks holding dinosaurs and plants. As Players explore the sinister society and dark happenings of the 25th century, Violet’s fashion sense takes on a deeper significance.
If this is the case, then the overtly sexy outfits take on a bit of a subtext. The 1950s pinup preorder bonus may be tying the torn-from-her-time Violet to another time period when women were struggling to break free of the idea that their worth lay in their reproductive capabilities. The outfits then play into this, subtly guiding players into an unintentional objectification. If the first thing they notice is Violet’s figure, then perhaps they're falling into the same trap Aion has, which likely led to the chaos and destruction as Violet seeks to understand not only the horrors of what’s happening on Trappist 1-E, but also her identity, which might be expressed through the accessories she wears, as chosen by the players.
Some of this evidence may be circumstantial, but taken all together, this seemingly fan-service-heavy title is showing potential to really dig into some heady themes which are highly relevant to today's society. As players guide Violet through the crumbling infrastructure of the 25th century, dodging ravenous reptiles born of bioengineering mishaps, the darker dangers may be the questions of identity.
Identity is also a key element in Tormented Souls 2, another upcoming Survival Horror title which promises to deliver an intriguing narrative and perhaps showcases how, once one has their identity, it motivates them, but perhaps also introduces new vulnerabilities. Announced in August of 2023, Tormented Souls 2 released a new trailer roughly around the same time as Code Violet this month, and has had a playable demo on Steam since June.
A sequel to a strong survival horror hit, Tormented Souls 2 puts players in the shoes of Caroline Walker, a young woman who must plunge into the murky darkness of a strange town to save her sister. This isn’t the first time Caroline has had to enter the world of survival horror, and it promises to be no less brutal and horrifying the second time.
The trailer begins with Caroline waking up in what seems like a hospital bed with brutal probes embedded in her body. The revealing green scrubs Caroline wears might at first mislead players into thinking her outfits are going to be in the same vein as Code Violet’s, but in truth this intro is harkening back to its predecessor in a way which shows that while she’s a bit more worldly and experienced (and badass,) she not much better off than she was in Tormented Souls.
In Tormented Souls, Caroline arrives at Wildberger hospital after receiving a mysterious photograph, and quickly finds herself waking up in a bathtub with a endotracheal intubation tube and her right eye removed. It’s a harrowing scene, and one of the rare scenes in survival horror gaming which, briefly, includes full nudity. But like with Violet Sinclaire, Caroline’s attire, or lack thereof, is carefully placed to include a vulnerability which heightens the sense of violation in the scene, a sense which is replicated in the scene in Tormented Souls 2.
This violation is only the beginning of Caroline’s problems and her journey. Trapped in a sinister location and facing insanely dangerous creatures with only her trusty nail gun (at first,) Caroline delves into the disturbingly macabre mysteries through a mysterious ability to enter an alternate reality. In doing so, she discovers not only what happened to her and who lured her to the hospital, but also secrets of her past, passing from a vulnerable innocent into a determined seeker.
This violation is only the beginning of Caroline’s problems and her journey. Trapped in a sinister location and facing insanely dangerous creatures with only her trusty nail gun (at first,) Caroline delves into the disturbingly macabre mysteries through a mysterious ability to enter an alternate reality. In doing so, she discovers not only what happened to her and who lured her to the hospital, but also secrets of her past, passing from a vulnerable innocent into a determined seeker. Readers are strongly encouraged to go play the game for themselves to see how that developed.
Now, in Tormented Souls 2, we see Caroline is no longer the naked, vulnerable girl in the bathtub anymore, but a hardened survivor. But the challenges she faces are greater now, and the stakes higher. Anna, her sister she discovered in the previous game, has been taken by a sinister mother superior, and instead of a hospital, Caroline has an entire town to search, full of brain-bending puzzles, lethal foes, and all new mysteries. Her new-found identity is likely going to be tested, and there’s no telling exactly how far she’ll have to go to rescue Anna.
Discovering ones identity can be a key theme in horror. People are constantly questioning who they are and where they fit in, and the anxieties stemming from those questions make perfect material to explore through monster-haunted halls. With Tormented Souls 2 coming out October 23, 2025 (perfect timing for Halloween) and then Code Violet coming out in December, horror fans will have plenty of chances to do so as 2025 comes to a close.