Playbook · Horror
Horror Steam capsule art: four directions from your own assets
Creature, paranormal, psychological, co-op horror, survival horror.
Make my horror sheet
First sheet free. Paste a Steam link on the home page instead.
The four directions every horror sheet gets
One panel each, in this order, so the four are built to disagree: commercial, atmospheric, poster, and one swing.
Direction 1
Aggressive Creature Key Art
High-impact co-op horror marketing. Works especially well when the monster itself is a major selling point.
- ·Monster very large in frame, extreme foreground presence, creature can partially leave the frame
- ·Strong facial or silhouette readability, dramatic directional lighting
- ·Dark black, brown, dirty red, muted green, or sickly neutral palette
- ·Big readable logo, strong thumbnail readability, feels dangerous and immediate
- ·Background supports the creature rather than competing with it
Direction 2
Atmospheric Paranormal Horror
Investigation, ghost hunting, haunted locations, slow supernatural dread. Premium paranormal horror, not a zombie shooter.
- ·More negative space, environment matters more
- ·Monster distant, partially hidden, silhouetted, or peeking from darkness
- ·Flashlight beams, doorway silhouettes, fog, reflections, night vision, dim practical lighting
- ·Cooler or more neutral palette, less red, cleaner composition
- ·Title simpler and more elegant. Mood over aggression. Strong sense of 'something is wrong here'
Direction 3
Gritty Horror Poster
Distressed exploitation poster mixed with modern AAA horror key art. Physical, damaged, tactile, intentional.
- ·Heavy texture: scratches, grain, dirty print imperfections, rough borders
- ·Blood-red accents, strong contrast, large poster-like title treatment
- ·Monster or character used as a bold graphic shape
- ·Can feel handmade or screen-printed
- ·Old-horror-poster energy without looking cheap or retro for its own sake
Direction 4
Concept-Driven Premium Horror
The wildcard. A framing idea clearly different from the other three; a fresh pitch, not a remix.
- ·Pick ONE: CCTV feed, night vision, monster in a backlit doorway, player POV with monster barely visible, flash photography, security monitor wall, silhouette behind frosted glass, mirror reflection, creature framed by an EXIT sign
- ·Or: almost entirely black composition with one disturbing focal point, large empty corridor with tiny monster, extreme eye close-up, hand reaching toward camera, split-light composition, police evidence photo, found-footage, analog horror, minimal black-and-white theatrical poster
What the art director is told
The playbook below is the actual guidance the model receives for horror games, minus your brief and assets.
Compositions that work
- Extreme close-up: monster takes 30 to 50 percent of frame
- Left subject, right logo / Right subject, left logo
- Doorway silhouette: creature stands in a bright doorway surrounded by darkness
- Long corridor: environment dominates while creature is small but threatening
- Foreground hand: huge reaching hand creates depth and aggression
- Partial face crop: only half the monster's face visible at the edge
- Hidden in darkness, backlit shape, player POV with flashlight or camera
- Security camera framing with timestamp, scanlines, compression artifacts
- Night vision: dirty monochrome green with blown highlights and digital noise
- Flash photography: harsh camera flash revealing creature suddenly
Lighting
- Single fluorescent ceiling light
- Red EXIT sign spill
- Flashlight beam
- Camera flash
- Moonlight through window
- Dirty practical lights
- Backlit doorway
- Failing overhead lights
- Emergency lighting
- Cold hospital lights
- Warm candlelight against cold surroundings
- Green night vision
- Barely visible rim light
- Do not evenly illuminate the scene. Let parts of the image disappear into darkness.
Palettes, one per panel
- Dirty Crimson: black, dried blood red, brown, muted flesh, bone white
- Paranormal Cold: black, blue-gray, green-gray, pale white, very subtle warm accents
- Monochrome: near black-and-white with one tiny accent color
- Sickly Fluorescent: dirty green, gray, nicotine yellow, cold white
- Fire and Shadow: near black with small warm amber or red practical lighting
- Analog Horror: washed gray, dirty green, faded black, CRT white
Typography
- Tall condensed horror type
- Distressed painted lettering
- Rough white handwritten title
- Clean narrow serif for premium paranormal horror
- Weathered block typography
- Analog/VHS distortion
- Minimal thin uppercase typography
- Heavy blood-red display lettering
Typography to avoid
- Neon
- Chrome
- Overdone bevels
- Generic gaming fonts
- Excessive glow
- Random gothic fonts that do not fit the game
- Tiny unreadable titles
- Logo effects that overpower the artwork
Texture that helps
- Film grain
- Dirt
- Scratches
- Lens grime
- Dust
- Worn print
- Slight chromatic aberration
- Compression noise
- Subtle vignette
- Paper damage
- CRT artifacts
- Paint erosion
Texture that hurts
- Huge fake scratch overlays
- Identical grunge on every concept
- Random blood splatter everywhere
- Noise that destroys clarity
Never
- DO NOT make it look like a 2005 zombie game
- Generic brown shooter grading
- Overdone orange/red lighting everywhere
- Cheap grunge overlays
- Random blood splatter
- Generic zombie poster poses
- Monster centered with title underneath
- Overly muscular or action-oriented creature posing
- Overexposed fire
- Heavy tactical military visuals unless the game calls for it
- Excessive debris, too many props, busy compositions
- Bargain-bin survival horror cover energy. Modern horror marketing is simpler, more controlled, more confident.
Your horror game, four ways, in about a minute.
Built from your own screenshots and logo. Sizes Steam actually uses. No key, no account for the first sheet.