“the essence of that fear may be closer to Clock Tower 2 than Resident Evil, I think. After vision, the second-most important kind of tension I wanted to create was audio.”
Kojima said in 1997 that Metal Gear Solid represents a kind of horror different from Resident Evil, which he described as splatter that creates fear by having zombies lunge at you; in Metal Gear Solid the fear comes from the tension of executing maneuvers and the dread of being discovered, with the essence of that fear closer to Clock Tower 2 than to Resident Evil. He added that, after vision, the second-most important kind of tension he wanted to create was audio, because in survival games the thing that has always given him the most tension is sound — for example, hearing the crunch of dead leaves underfoot without knowing where it is coming from, leaving you with nothing to do but hide.
“When you hear the sound, for example, of dead leaves being crunched underfoot, but you don't know where it's coming from. Nothing else inspires such dread. (laughs) All you can do is hide.”