A Study on Spatial Representation in First-person Interactive Horror VR: Focusing on Welcome to Kowloon

This study examined the spatial structure and lighting production characteristics that cause feelings of fear in the production of first-person horror VR content. Among the three archetypes of horror such as the object of threat, the sense of feeling horror, and the act of causing harm, color and spatial form were analyzed through Welcome to Kowloon as the visual characteristics to evoke horror. First-person interactive horror VR used light in dark spaces as a tool to evoke horror and make everything seem unfamiliar, and especially used various colors of artificial lighting to create a climate of fear that feels different. By keeping the distance between walls short and making the alleys and corridors narrow, the virtual space encourages users to move rather than staying or hanging around the spaces. A multilayered labyrinthine structure connected by doors and stairs is created, making spatial cognition difficult, and this allows users to move along the route planned by the developer, although it seems as if they are moving at their own will.