English
Noun
mascot horror (uncountable)
- (video games) A subgenre of survival horror, popularized in the mid-2010s, based around children's toys, or characters from children's media ("mascots").
2018 June 11, YuB [pseudonym; Dylan Parker Russell], masteroftrolls1, 2:30:39 from the start, in am i cool yet? (splatoon 2)[1], via YouTube:[masteroftrolls1; chat message:] why do games like granny and baldie's[sic] basics get popular
[YuB; spoken:] Uh, me and my friend John have a theory that it's mascot horror, basically all the games that do well right now—with kids anyways—are the ones that have a mascot: Bendy and the Ink Machine, Baldi's [Basics]—they have a mascot enemy—Five Nights at Freddy's. It's a... They need to have a main character villain that people like and relate to.
2024 April, Kyeong-Seok Seo, Dong-Lyeor Lee, “Analysis of Character Designs Elements in Mascot Horror Genre Game”, in Journal of Knowledge Information Technology and Systems, volume 19, number 2 (overall work in Korean and English), translation of 마스코트 호러 장르 게임의 캐릭터 디자인 요소 분석, →DOI, →ISSN, Abstract, page 227:The purpose of this study is to find out the difference between the 'Mascot Horror' genre and the existing horror game through the attractiveness and horror elements of character design.- [original: 본 연구의 목적은‘마스코트 호러’ 장르와 기존 공포 게임과의 차별성을 캐릭터 디자인의 매력, 공포 요소를 통해 알아내는 것에 있다.]
- Bon yeon'guui mokjeogeun‘maseukoteu horeo’ jangneuwa gijon gongpo geimgwaui chabyeolseong'eul kaerikteo dijainui maeryeok, gongpo yosoreul tonghae aranaeneun geose itda.
2025 January, Xochilt Avila, “Felt, Fur, and Frightful Things. An Autistics Love of Mascot Horro”, in Alex Woodroe, Cameron Howard, editors, The Skull & Laurel, number 2, Tenebrous Press, via Google Books, →ISBN, page 35:The most famous example, and the one that lit the match of the mascot horrror explosion, is undoubtedly Five Nights at Freddy's (or FNaF).
2025 June 16, Tegan Pyke, Ida Martine Gard Rysjedal, “Scary Business: Mascot Horror as Product and Reflection of Platformisation”, in Conference Proceedings of DiGRA 2025: Games at the Crossroads, Digital Games Research Association, →DOI, page 2:Through this analysis, we will identify the transmedia storytelling techniques that mascot horror game developers use to appeal to children and widen their audience, in which YouTube plays a pivotal role.
2025 August 13, “CultureFly Named as Flagship Merchandise Partner for Breakout Roblox Title 'Dandy's World'”, in PR Newswire US[2], PR Newswire, via EBSCO:Created by Qwelver, the game [Dandy's World] blends stylized mascot horror survival with team-based social gameplay.
2025 December 25, Ed Smith, “Fear Effect”, in Edge[3], number 417, via EBSCO, →ISSN, page 66:If Twitch and YouTube Live also hit their strides during the past decade, ‘mascot horror’ has become the perfect streamer game, simple enough that you can easily talk and perform to the camera while playing, and with plenty of conjecture, lore and ‘theorycrafting’ to discuss with your viewers.