"Wes Craven's Principles of Fear" was a planned collaboration between Asylum Entertainment and Cyberdreams for the PC meant to release in 1997 during the Halloween season, but this never happened. As its name implies, the game was based on a concept by film director Wes Craven (best known for films such as "A Nightmare on Elm Street," "The People Under the Stairs," and "The Serpent and the Rainbow"), and would have been his first time working on a CD-ROM game. Described as "the ultimate test of nerves", players assumed the role of an individual trapped in a house of darkness and forced to confront the "Seven Mortal Fears": Fear of the Bad Parent, Fear of the Predator, Fear of Immobility, Fear of Falling, Fear of Drowning, Fear of Loss of Self, and Fear of Chaos. Each fear was tested through various challenges, both real and imaginary. For example, spider webs would hinder the player's mobility, nightmares and hallucinations would feed into the fear of chaos, and supernatural stalkers would lead to a death match with the predator. The player's ability to reason with and come to grips with their inner demons would have been crucial to escaping the house.

According to David Mullich, a creative director for Cyberdreams, the goal was to create an action-adventure game that "encompasses all levels of human fear and conflict within a challenging game scenario,", adding: