During Lucca Comics & Games 2025, the event’s “Walk of Fame” pays tribute to one of the modern masters of video game horror: Keiichiro Toyama.
He is an author who changed the paradigm of horror in video games.
After starting out at Konami, Toyama rose to prominence with the award-winning videogame Silent Hill (1999)—a project that redefined the horror genre by focusing less on survival or action, and more on psychological anguish and inner fear. With the Siren series (2003), he then explored a horror more rooted in Japanese culture and narrative tension.
More recently, he founded the independent studio Bokeh Game Studio and created bold projects like Slitterhead (November 2024), in which he returns to the origins of “pure horror” contaminating the body, mind, and urban setting.
His style: fear, fragility, and a human protagonist.
Contrary to the stereotype of video games featuring an invincible hero saving the world, Toyama opted for a more realistic and vulnerable figure: the human being with his insecurities, traumas, and fear of failure. He has acknowledged influences ranging from Moebius’s illustrations to the visionary aesthetic of Alejandro Jodorowsky, emphasizing horror not only as an “external monster” but as a reflection of what we are within. This approach has transformed video games into an art form capable of exploring the human psyche and fragility.
It’s rare to hear the creator’s story firsthand who shaped such an influential image of horror video games. The author offers an inside look at the creative process of how ideas, atmospheres, monsters, and narrative tension are born. He allows fans and enthusiasts to look “behind the curtain” of the video game medium, foregrounding the emotional component and fears we carry within. The fact that all this takes place in a context like Lucca – with the unique atmosphere of a historic city and a comic and videogame convention – makes the experience even more evocative.
