Action horror

Action horror games are horror games which generally feature much stronger protagonists and action-based gameplay compared to traditional survival horror games, usually through more traditional first or third person shooter mechanics though sometime through melee action mechanics as well.

The games generally take a more linear path than survival horror games and feature fewer labyrinth-like environments, less backtracking, and less inventory management. Puzzle solving is much less prevalent also, though some games still feature some puzzle solving as well.

Though there were previously popular action horror games such as System Shock 2 and The Suffering, the genre mainly gained popularity in the second half of the 2000s after the success of Resident Evil 4, which saw a string of successful action horror franchises such as Dead Space, F.E.A.R. and Left 4 Dead.