Survival horror is a subgenre of horror.
Survival horror in Marloth stories should mostly exist to support Cozy horror.
To be survival horror, a narrative must meet the following requirements.
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In contrast, most horror stories take place in a world where most people live ordinary lives and only heroes and occasional unfortunates have run-ins with horrors
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This is half of the point and appeal of survival horror: to see what ordinary people do when weighed down by extraordinary conditions.
And extraordinary circumstances beyond simply, “There’s a monster, run away!”
Putting a variety of characters under the same pressures to see the contrasting responses
Some characters can be distanced from the survival but it should be because they are extraordinary, not ordinary
The victimization here is being trapped in the horrific world
This rules out narratives where most of the characters willingly throw themselves at the horrors (such as treasure hunters or explorers)
I like to divide survival horror into two sub-genres: