These docs describe 1.3, which is in testing. The version on Fab is 1.1: read its docs.

Horror lives in what the camera won't show you. The shot sits close over the shoulder so the edges of the screen stay dark, it moves only as fast as the player does, and it never feels like someone else is holding it. Then, at the right moment, it helps a scare land.

The camera#

• 1

  Add the camera.

  A Blendable Follow Camera with the Survival Horror preset: 1.4 metres back, tight over the shoulder, for slow and careful movement.

• 2

  Add the shakes.

  A Blendable Shake beside it, Body left empty. The preset brings a walking bob locked to the footsteps and the faintest breath, and no camera operator, so the motion feels like your own steps.

• 3

  Bind aiming.

  Set Aiming from your aim input brings in the style's aim Rig.

• 4

  Squeeze through.

  Put a Camera Preset Volume set to While Inside with Tight Squeeze in every vent and crawlspace: 60 cm back, almost centred, and no more than five degrees either side.

For a camera that never moves by itself, start from Immersive instead: Survival Horror with every automatic follow switched off. The camera only turns when the player turns it, which is what makes a long corridor feel long.

Eyes in the dark#

Unreal's eye adapts all the way to starlight, which is why an unlit room so often looks much like a lit one. Let your horror Rigs keep the dark dark:

• 1

  Allow it.

  Tick Allow Rigs To Control Exposure in project settings.

• 2

  Slow the eye.

  On the style's Rigs, under Post Process, slow the exposure speed for getting brighter and darker, and raise the lowest brightness the eye may adapt to.

• 3

  Walk into a dark room.

  The player is briefly blind, then the room comes up, slowly. Walk back out into the light and it stings.

Post process has the numbers, and what each brightness means.

Scares#

• Make them look. A point of interest with a Look At trigger and Turns To Look turns the player's view towards something as they glance near it. A small Dwell Time makes them look for a moment before it takes hold.
• Make them flinch. A Shake Volume with On Enter plays a shake as the player walks in: something heavy falling upstairs, a door slamming. Its Camera Event can fire a named event for a layer of your own as well.
• Quieten everything first. A point of interest's Ambient Shake Suppression stills the bob and sway as the moment builds, so the next jolt lands.
• Unsettle them. Shake_State_Dizzy swims the world around the character while they stay put on screen. Play it for a poisoning or a vision, and stop it when it passes.

When things go wrong#

• Low health: Shake_State_LowHealth, a heartbeat in the lens and a heavy sway, turned up with Set Shake Scale as health falls.
• Getting grabbed: Shake_Impact_HeavyHit with Play Shake and the direction of the grab, then a Push Handheld of something rougher for the struggle, and Pop Handheld when they break free.

Going further#

• Focus. On the Rig's Lens line, Focus On You keeps the character sharp and lets the dark behind them blur.
• Comfort. Horror players often want less motion, not more. The comfort settings cover it, and none of them lighten the dark.