Surprise scary scenes in non-horror games?

Any time there are surprise Husks in any of the three Mass Effect games. But especially in 2 when you're visiting the derelict Reaper and it's all Husks (and a few Scions) all the time. Oh good god, the idea of being turned into a cybernetic zombie ... *shudders*

Also, that time in Gears of War (the first one) where you have to bait a Berserker to take out columns to open the ceiling so you can fry it with the Hammer of Dawn. Especially if the person you're playing with has a habit of not paying attention and gets you killed three evenings in a row (*cough*Mr KateSmash*cough*)

Actually, surprise wretches too. Anything that pops out unexpectedly and in very large numbers.

KateSmash said:

Any time there are surprise Husks in any of the three Mass Effect games. But especially in 2 when you're visiting the derelict Reaper and it's all Husks (and a few Scions) all the time. Oh good god, the idea of being turned into a cybernetic zombie ... *shudders*

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I was thinking ME2, also, but more specifically at the Collector base when you find your crew and they start being liquified in those pods.

Opty said:

I was thinking ME2, also, but more specifically at the Collector base when you find your crew and they start being liquified in those pods.

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Which is why I usually make the point to save all of them.

Oh! Add going into any of the Apocrypha books in the Dragonborn DLC for Skyrim. Well, I don't know if it counts since anything visually referencing Lovecraft that heavily is meant to freak you out. Still ... ugh. If I were someone who had nightmares, they'd probably look like Hermaeus Mora's little slice of Oblivion.

How about that piano in Super Mario 64?

From Fallout 3, there was Andale, which definitely gave off some creepy vibes even before you knew what actually happened. Also Vault 106, and the way you hallucinated while there. Especially the part where you read the computer messages to yourself. There was also that one building that was taken straight from a Lovecraft story.

Two others I can think of, Mimi from Super Paper Mario, and Wall Masters from Zelda.

Going old school here, but while playing Secret of Mana back on Super Nintendo, you could see this mysterious face in the water somewhere in the middle of the ocean while flying around on the Flammie. It was really hard to spot, and it didn't serve any purpose, just a random easter egg I suppose. But whenever I happened upon it I always thought... that thing is creepy.

I feel bad reading this thread and the scary games thread. Just about any dark scene in any game gives me the creeps. I get spooked fighting the undead in Fable...

I need to desensitize.

I normally avoid horror games, but I found myself wondering several times while playing Skyrim whether it shouldn't be considered to be partly in the horror genre. I have an aversion to zombie-like things to start with, but when they growl at you from where you can't see them, or look inert until you approach them, ack. Not to mention the traps. Oh, and the game has 3 different kinds of cannibals plus two other humanoid species that eat humans??? *cold sweat*

ArachnePhobia said:

The thread about horror games got me thinking about The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword.

LEVEL SPOILERS

At one point, Link has to search a place called the Ancient Cistern. It's got three floors: a relatively normal middle, which looks like your average LoZ water dungeon. It's got the top floor which is where you have to go to reach the boss. Aaaaand... it's got a lower level, which you can only access by moving a gigantic statue that's otherwise blocking your way.

Now, the lower level in itself is not built from bricks of sunshine. It's dingy, grimy, full of noxious mist, death traps, and the undead. But hey, it's nothing too far removed from what you usually see in Zelda shadow-type places. For the most part, it's actually pretty cool. So, after doing your usual LoZ puzzles around this lower level, Link has to go back to the middle floor.

Except he can't go back the way he came.

However! There is a place nearby where a nice, sturdy rope is hanging. There's a shaft of light from above illuminating it. It's also easy enough to reach... given the heaping pile of bones beneath it. Link can get back up by climbing that!

Except as soon as he begins to climb it those corpses beneath it come to life and start climbing up after him.

And it is... icky. Really icky.

END SPOILERS

So what are some scenes you found in games that weren't horror/meant to be creepy, but turned out that way?

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Speaking of Zelda, how about Ocarina of Time's Kakariko Village's well sidequest? *shudder* I wasn't even playing - was a viewer - and I got nightmares from it. So you arrive at this quiet, beautiful little village. Sun is shining, the people are happy, nothing seems wrong in this serene place. You have your crazy chickens, a nice windmill, and everything is peachy.

Or so you think, until you decide to see what's at the bottom of the well. You get down there and nothing seems eerie yet until you hit that one pile of bones or rags with this note about this "Lens of Truth." Okay, that's weird. You know it's important, but so what?

And then you find out that the walls are not what they seem. You run through them, and soon enough, you find the horror dwelling beneath the well. The same well that the village people get their drinking water from, apparently. Scary flaming Skulltula chasing you around this square room, a bloody torture chamber - the hell? - and oh lovely, a lower level with green water and plants. But a closer look reveals that those aren't plants, but skeletal hands sticking out. Creepy as fuck. Then you get the joy of revisiting the Redeads - scary enough with the royal family tomb - and your boss in this level is Dead Hand. Dead Hand is a scary pale motherfucker who tries to eat you while other pale ghoulish hands sprouting from the ground grab a hold of you. Okaaaay.

May I also mention that you find the Lens of Truth in the well, and that you see some creepy-ass things with that lens that you normally wouldn't see? But the scariest thing about this whole sidequest?

Link is a child. You just sent/played a child going into a nightmarish landscape like that, confronting those horrors.

I never forgot that sidequest. Ever. It still amazes me that OoT got the rating it did. Yikes.

OoT, Twilight Princess, and Wind Waker had their dark moments (Twilight Princess even got a teen rating for them) but nothing tops Majora's Mask for being the darkest Legend of Zelda game.

The happy mask salesman, the moon, and the guy that's being turned into a redead alone are the stuff of nightmares. However, there's one moment in particular that's insanely dark and disturbing: the Deku Butler's son. You know that withered, sad looking tree with the face that you find in the very beginning? Later on, the Deku Butler mentions that Link reminds him of his son, who ran off. I got a feeling I know what happened to his son...

Shadow Dragon said:

OoT, Twilight Princess, and Wind Waker had their dark moments (Twilight Princess even got a teen rating for them) but nothing tops Majora's Mask for being the darkest Legend of Zelda game.

The happy mask salesman, the moon, and the guy that's being turned into a redead alone are the stuff of nightmares. However, there's one moment in particular that's insanely dark and disturbing: the Deku Butler's son. You know that withered, sad looking tree with the face that you find in the very beginning? Later on, the Deku Butler mentions that Link reminds him of his son, who ran off. I got a feeling I know what happened to his son...

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That moon gave me serious anxiety attacks.

sunandshadow said:

I normally avoid horror games, but I found myself wondering several times while playing Skyrim whether it shouldn't be considered to be partly in the horror genre. I have an aversion to zombie-like things to start with, but when they growl at you from where you can't see them, or look inert until you approach them, ack. Not to mention the traps. Oh, and the game has 3 different kinds of cannibals plus two other humanoid species that eat humans??? *cold sweat*

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Ditto. I can't dungeon crawl in that game at night... I have to play it in the daytime. I also don't travel at night cause I'll get eaten! And I hate stumbling on a necromancer tower or a Foresworn keep because they're just filled with creepy body parts all around.

Spoiler: *There was one dungeon... though I don't remember which one, where several prisoners had been huddled in a little cell and burned alive... made me twitchy.*

I think I need a "happy games that are full of bunnehs" thread.

The creepiest I've had in a non-horror game was Fallout 3's Dunwich building - only because I'd read the wiki beforehand. Anticipation of shock and horror (of which I later realized there was none) had me jumping at EVERY damn dark corner and all of the ghouls. In the end, I ran through the place as fast as I could and didn't look back. Spent the rest of that night reminding myself nothing had actually happened...

The paranoia... the paranoia.

The music in the City Of The Ancients (FFVII) still creeps me out today. See also: the bit in the Shinra Building when Jenova gets loose and there's blood everywhere.

KateSmash said:

Any time there are surprise Husks in any of the three Mass Effect games. But especially in 2 when you're visiting the derelict Reaper and it's all Husks (and a few Scions) all the time. Oh good god, the idea of being turned into a cybernetic zombie ... *shudders*

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THIS. Also, the whole concept behind the Broodmothers in Dragon Age is pretty freaking creepy.

crunchyblanket said:

The music in the City Of The Ancients (FFVII) still creeps me out today. See also: the bit in the Shinra Building when Jenova gets loose and there's blood everywhere.

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That bit with the Jenova incident was creepy as hell.

I agree with the ME2 derelict Reaper mission and the FFVII trail of blood section.
Another one isn't really a scene, but more of a general gaming experience; I can't stand games that have water-type missions. The ones where you have to actually swim around in the depths. I played a game when I was younger that had the character get attacked by some insane shark thing every time you swam too far and I've been terrified ever since. -shudders-

sunandshadow said:

I normally avoid horror games, but I found myself wondering several times while playing Skyrim whether it shouldn't be considered to be partly in the horror genre. I have an aversion to zombie-like things to start with, but when they growl at you from where you can't see them, or look inert until you approach them, ack. Not to mention the traps. Oh, and the game has 3 different kinds of cannibals plus two other humanoid species that eat humans??? *cold sweat*

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heza said:

Ditto. I can't dungeon crawl in that game at night... I have to play it in the daytime. I also don't travel at night cause I'll get eaten! And I hate stumbling on a necromancer tower or a Foresworn keep because they're just filled with creepy body parts all around.

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Or how about that bit where you have to climb inside the Night Mother's coffin and eaves drop on Cicero? And then out of the darkness her decomposed face slowly starts to glow as she talks to you...And you can't move!

Personally I love horror games and movies so that particular setpiece was hilarious to me, but it was also very creepy.