Disturbing details in games

[Mikkaddo]

So, I'm playing Skyrim, (like ya do) and I decide to go after the Dragon Priest masks. Now a lot of you might know that the vast majority of those masks are in quests (one of them toward the end of the main quest, another in the mages guild and so on) but that doesn't really bother me, I like to do all kinds of crap in Elder Scrolls games.

What bothers me is the Raghot questline leading you through a Dragon Cultist stronghold south of Riften (on the big mountain to south of Riften, annoying to get to since you basically have to make 3 loops around the mountain to get to it on or off the road) and as I'm going throuhg, fighting angry ghosts I find myself in a large barracks with skeletons laying on beds. Nothing much wrong with that pretty much every "barrow" is a sort of meadhall meets tomb anyway so that's cool. Then I see an item on one of the beds, little bottle of poison, again, nothing TOO odd about that Skyrim's world is filled with more poison than New Jersey. Then as I'm looking around I notice something, every bed with a skeleton in the Barracks has a bottle of poison on it. Apparently during or toward the end of the Dragon War (when the Dragon Cults realized they were going to lose) they went all mothership cult and killed themselves. I guess Skyrim really earned that M rating!

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

I remember from Silent Hill Origins how every suite in the motel was named after famous suicides (Elvis, Cleopatra, Marilyn, etc.). It obviously was alluding to the suicide of you-know-who but the game doesn't build on these references, nor does it ever focus very much on them. They're just there to see if you bother reading the plaques on the doors.

 

[Evonisia]

In Oblivion you may occasionally find a skeleton slumped against a wall, a rock haven landed on it's pelvis. I think it was done for humour but when I see it I shiver thinking about how painful a death that would be (even if it was a woman).

There's also the weird abundance of "Tragic Endings" in Dead Rising 3, they often have these very visceral deaths or suicide which I found very disturbing just because of how much it fits the tone of the game.

 

[OneCatch]

Crysis 2 has it's moments in terms of the player character being told, in some detail, exactly how much he's been mulched up and how the suit is the only thing keeping him alive.

F.E.A.R is just generally nasty, so this probably doesn't count as a 'detail' per se, but the death of

Spoiler

Douglas Holiday was exceptionally grim:

Also, in the expansion pack, the death of

Spoiler

Chen:

----

In Oblivion you may occasionally find a skeleton slumped against a wall, a rock haven landed on it's pelvis. I think it was done for humour but when I see it I shiver thinking about how painful a death that would be (even if it was a woman).

There was an Easter Egg in Morrowind which had a skeleton half-crushed by a rock, with a note detailing the guy's last words. Signed 'Indy'. Which is halfway between funny and horrifying.

 

[Phasmal]

I remember finding a skeleton in a bath with a toaster in Fallout 3.
I was like `Hah, what's a toaster doing in... here... oh. That's dark.`.
But I did fill up a different bathtub with severed heads in Fallout 3 so I really can't judge.

 

[Pink Gregory]

The game over screen in Trauma Center Second Opinion (wii) basically implies that your character up and disappeared after failing an operation - not killing the patient, mind you, just having to call the senior surgeons in to finish the operation - and everyone who knew him agreed he had no business being a doctor.

Now that's a Game Over.

 

[ultrabiome]

did you ever look at the walls of the lowest levels of the original diablo? men and women naked, sliced up and hanging all-hellraiser style. the resolution wasn't high but was still disturbing.

 

[Muspelheim]

Fallout 3 had a rather good detail right at the start, when you're chucked out of the Vault and into the cavern tunnel that leads to the blast proof vault door.

Right outside the blast door, which is guarded by CCTV cameras, there are some skeletons, still dressed in rags of civilian Pre-War clothing. They are clutching protest signs, saying "We're DYING, assholes!". One simply says "Help us", with the scrawly writing of a weak hand.

That was an appropriate welcome to The Capital Wasteland.

Another detail in Fallout 3 is a shelter hidden underneath a National Guard depot. You open it by tracing the steps of a family who gathered to take refuge inside. Once you unseal it, you're greeted by a radioactive ghoul, surrounded by bones. A journal page inside notes that the father of the family puts them at risk by frequently heading out to explore the nearby ruins.

How are feral Ghouls made again..?

 

[Chimpzy_v1legacy]

SWAT 4. Mission 08. Mass child grave.

That is enough.

 

[krazykidd]

Also, I have seen two skeletons holding each other, a gun in one of their hands.

The worst part is some women people find that romantic.

OT: SMT: Digital devil saga. The jailer . Demons love human meat. The Jailer however only eat 14 year old meat. One of the kids that was caught was eaten. He surely wasn't the only one .

[small] Basically, it's not that the jailer only eats meat that has been aged for 14 years, he prefers the meat of 14 year olds.[/small]

 

[Barbas]

I remember wandering around the Capital Wasteland in Fallout 3 and coming up to a radio antenna on a hill. After picking the lock on the chain-link fence gate, I pulled the switch down and powered up the antenna. My Pip-Boy then picked up a nearby HAM radio signal. It was a series of laboured breaths and gurgles. I searched for the source and came to a pipe covered by a grate at the base of the rocky hill. Opening it, I ventured inside to find a hastily-fortified and stocked nuclear shelter that obviously didn't do the job - its original occupant was a feral ghoul, who rushed at me out of the darkness, hissing and clawing. When I shot him down, the radio signal was reduced to white noise.

There are Pulowski Preservation shelters scattered about the ruins of D.C. and outlying settlements. They are little more than a cylinder of metal about the size of a phone booth, with a coin slot and reinforced door. Supposedly, they were intended as a cheap and quick alternative to the great Vaults, although pitifully view of the Pulowski shelters were constructed before the fallout.
Occasionally, you come across one with its ventilation fan long-dead but its 'Occupied' light still flashing intermittently over the door. When you open it, what you usually find inside is the aged, blackened skeleton of its last desperate occupier. The saddest part, however, is the simple instructions printed on the inside wall of the shelter. They help illustrate just how woefully unprepared the populace was for the effects of radiation. The idea was to step in, wait for a few inconvenient hours and then step out again when it was "safe".

 

[Tom_green_day]

Isn't this the whole world-building in Bethesda games? Fallout 3 and Skyrim are #1 and #3 in my top games respectively because of things like that.
Also I remember in Dark Souls there was a place I think called Anor Londo that was a dark and abandoned city. I can't remember why it was that way, but I remember the reason was very gripping and chilling. Obviously not enough to make it memorable though :L
Also read the planet descriptions in the Mass Effect games. Same thing there.

 

[The Rogue Wolf]

OP, there's actually notes around that area that detail what went on, including...

Spoiler

...the fact that it was the last remnants of the Dragon Cult, the leader opted for suicide rather than be brought down by the first Nordic King's troops, and its Chief Alchemist protested the plan and was murdered for her dissent.

 

[MagnumOsprey]

Pokemon is almost notorious for these somewhat out of place, disturbing details. In Pokemon Diamond, Pearl and Platinum in the Canalave library, you'll find a book that tells the story of a man who hunted pokemon until they almost died out. ALl the pokemon left the area and the man was left with nothing. One day he was able to find one pokemon who spoke to him, explained the error of his ways and then retreated into the wilderness. At this point, the man snapped his weapon and lay there with nothing left to live for. (Sort of)

I'll give you one more example, here's a pokedex entry for the pokemon Drifloon from Pokemon Y: These Pokémon are called the "Signpost for Wandering Spirits." Children holding them sometimes vanish.

It looks similar to a balloon, so it makes sense that a child might hang on to it, only to be whisked away and never be seen or heard from again. (Yeah. :/ )

 

[teebeeohh]

Isn't this the whole world-building in Bethesda games? Fallout 3 and Skyrim are #1 and #3 in my top games respectively because of things like that.
Also I remember in Dark Souls there was a place I think called Anor Londo that was a dark and abandoned city. I can't remember why it was that way, but I remember the reason was very gripping and chilling. Obviously not enough to make it memorable though :L
Also read the planet descriptions in the Mass Effect games. Same thing there.

dark souls has new londo that was flooded because the local rulers went crazy (like you do) and after you drain the water you walk around on mountains of bones where people tried to get out.

New Vegas has some pretty disturbing stuff wherever the legion left its mark

 

[Dimitriov]

So, I'm playing Skyrim, (like ya do) and I decide to go after the Dragon Priest masks. Now a lot of you might know that the vast majority of those masks are in quests (one of them toward the end of the main quest, another in the mages guild and so on) but that doesn't really bother me, I like to do all kinds of crap in Elder Scrolls games.

What bothers me is the Raghot questline leading you through a Dragon Cultist stronghold south of Riften (on the big mountain to south of Riften, annoying to get to since you basically have to make 3 loops around the mountain to get to it on or off the road) and as I'm going throuhg, fighting angry ghosts I find myself in a large barracks with skeletons laying on beds. Nothing much wrong with that pretty much every "barrow" is a sort of meadhall meets tomb anyway so that's cool. Then I see an item on one of the beds, little bottle of poison, again, nothing TOO odd about that Skyrim's world is filled with more poison than New Jersey. Then as I'm looking around I notice something, every bed with a skeleton in the Barracks has a bottle of poison on it. Apparently during or toward the end of the Dragon War (when the Dragon Cults realized they were going to lose) they went all mothership cult and killed themselves. I guess Skyrim really earned that M rating!

Yeah, the Elderscrolls games are pretty good for sneaking in little things like that. For example I will never forget when I was doing a quest in Morrowind and I had to challenge a Daedra to a fight. He told me: "I will kill you and rape your corpse. Don't worry I'll be gentle."

Too bad for him he was a total pushover

 

[Sniper Team 4]

did you ever look at the walls of the lowest levels of the original diablo? men and women naked, sliced up and hanging all-hellraiser style. the resolution wasn't high but was still disturbing.

I remember that. I remember in Diablo II when you were going through the Harem levels. Those two games had a lot of creepy stuff in them that just added to the atmosphere. Sadly, Diablo III seems to be missing that. Too cartoony I guess?

Mine would have to be the Call of Duty Zombies storyline. At first, it was just, "Oh, let's kill zombies!" but then, when my friends and I started digging into the story and finding the little hidden clues, it got disturbing. My favorite:

In the original Der Riese map for World at War, there is blood smeared all over the walls in a lot of places. No big deal However, in one area, if you stop and look at the smear, you notice that one part of it goes up a lot higher than the other part. In fact, the other part only seems to be about waist high. Then, if you look at the smears, you noticed that they actually look like bodies--a father holding his daughter. You can even see the daughter's face outline. Then you find the radio and you realize what you're looking at: Sam and Maxis' deaths when they were trapped with Fluffy. You can completely miss this if you don't know what to look for.
Sadly, they took this out in the DLC version for Black Ops.

 

[AngryBritishAce]

Well recently I watched this video on a theory of the companion cube from portal that COMPLETELY changed the way I looked at it...

However this is just a theory, so take this with a pinch of salt.

One thing that creeped me out was a quest in Red Dead Redemption. I found this old shack in a swamp area and a sweet old man asks me to gather flowers for his wife. Nothing seemed weird about it at the time (although I kind of guessed what would happen towards the end of gathering the last flower), but when I returned, he opened up his shack and I found the rotting corpse of his wife. While predictable, what really creeped me out was how legitimately oblivious he was to his wife's demise. He sounded so sweet, and happy, and loving... I knew his wife's death must have made him insane with loneliness when he tried to introduce me to a corpse, but the fact he seemed so normal and happy made it me feel sad and sorry for him, while still getting chills all the way up my spine.

 

[cojo965]

Well I haven't played it myself, but Persona 3's outlook on relations between men and women creeps me out. It seems to say that there is no such thing as "just friends" when it comes to this. Every single social link with a female link ends in a relationship, even if said lady isn't human but a machine in the shape of one. Hell at the end of her link it rather heavily implies that what happens is her way of having sex. That's not even mentioning that only one of these really makes any sense and that's Yukari (to me at least). That's not even mentioning what would happen if any of these like ten girlfriends finds out about the other nine, that, would not be pretty. I find that the so called 'friendzone' is something of a harsh reality if you are like me, namely, pressed for friends, but your character in this game is not in that position. They have so many friends that having a girl turn them down wouldn't exactly be particularly hurtful. All I'm saying is that that is not how actual people think.