[SPOILERS] - Your scariest part of the game

[Fortigurn]

I'd say this one, this one, this one, this one especially, and the trek to Tau.

[Fletcher Christian]

Also, what really stood out and sticked with me up until now was that moment when I looked into the mirror at that Bathroom near the common room/living quarters at Theta. I think that was the first mirror in the entire game that was 1) not broken and thus 2) clickable, wasn't it?

It may seem silly but

Spoiler below!

the reflection gave me the most terrible scare in the entire game, despite knowing full well Simon was a robot. I KNEW that alright. But for some reason I was in no way prepared to have a full-blown homanoid robot stare right back at me. That's when it REALLY settled in.

Gave me instant goosebumps and I actually squeaked and nearly fell off my chair.

[Dundle]

The part with Akers was so bad that I stopped playing the game, and it took a few days to actually start playing it again. The rest of Theta from that point onward was a complete nightmare. That part was pretty scary. But I think what I found to be the scariest part in the game was Tau and trying to avoid Yoshida. Having that thing right on my ass the entire time because it walked so fast was very uncomfortable. Did anyone else notice that in the creature trailer, it didn't walk so quickly, in fact slowly? Wonder if they changed this just to add a difficulty hike. Or maybe I just never saw it walking that slowly.

Did anyone feel like there maybe weren't enough long "safe area" breaks in the game? Delta would be one of these spots in my opinion. From the Theta labs onwards it seemed like almost constant tension just until Phi. Omicron felt semi-safe but was still mostly unnerving.

[PathOS]

To elaborate further on my choices and again give props to Frictional's masterful pacing and building up of tension:

The CURIE - What I loved about this is how so many things come into play here. For one you've already had your first taste of The Jiangshi (aka. Disco-Ball-Head) and he's stalking you. Then you come across the ship and it's totally not like you'd expect, sunk at a 90 degree angle. And you've got to progress all the way up to the top while that thing stalks you every step of the way. Then finally you sabotage the engines and have to run like hell.

Theta - Up until this point, you hadn't really visited a complex that had a large presence of human life in it, with most stations having been abandoned or evacuated (Upsilon was left in silent mode aside from Carl and Amy. Lambda was vacant aside from Catherine. And The CURIE and Delta were long empty). Here you finally arrive at the most populated complex (or what had been) and not only is it deserted, but the black boxes are scattered motionless in the lower levels. Hearing the sounds of Akers and his proxies in the background before facing them was just too good for creepiness.

Omicron - This place was actually pretty messed up. First you arrive and its under quarantine which you know means nothing good in store. Then when you enter your first sight is the headless corpses everywhere. Add in the "still alive" melded corpses to the walls and machinery, Johan Ross creeping you out with his visions and his cryptic messages on the computers, and of course that screaming thing, well, I wanted out of there. Even though it is mostly "safe" for most of the time you're there, I never once felt safe at all.

The Abyss - Pretty much most has been said of this place. While it's very nice going down there initially and seeing the beautiful bioluminescent creatures, once you're there and on the path it's just nerve wracking. And then enemies come at you from the darkness and you lose your way in a cave with spider thingies, only to be blindsided (or actually right in your face) by that evil Angler Fish. Again kudos to Frictional for designing this place and setting it up so well, because we were so used to being underwater by then it was "well, how bad could this place really be?" and boy did we learn fast.

Tau - Claustrophobia to the max in this place, because all the corridors and rooms are so small compared to the previous stations, likely due to the reinforced construction lowering space. And then of course you open that door and waving at you is another freak, and this one doesn't get fooled easily, and then that damned second door is going to open just as slowly as the first...


But yeah, for me everything after Lambda (except Delta) was either tense or unnerving. There definitely were few respite areas afterwards. Only the outside of Omicron felt safe, as inside I was on pins and needles dreading when something was going to appear, and Johan wasn't helping

[SineDeus]

I'm with you GhylTarvoke, i thought the Abyss was crazy cool, i probably spent an hour just looking around at the environment, it's was so realistic. At the same time, the Abyss was extremely intense and i think the most generally "horror" part of the game, but it didn't scare me the most.
I would say the disco-ball head in the CURIE chasing you right after you unplug the engines and the sound design was the scariest. Just the screams from the monsters and creatures, especially the first monster, was simply terrifying

[WALP]

In theta labs (the one where you have to fix the elevator) I had been sneaking around for quite some time. I was not certain how to progress and had tried to break that window that was fractured many times, without success. At this point I was fairly confident that the enemy would only show up for real if I made noise. So when I walked around the corner with an object in my hand ready to give it another go he shocked me quite a bit and I ended up dropping what I was holding and was like "Oh shit". I ran down the corridor and turned left into a dead end, having no idea how far behind me he was. I crouched down hoping I had shacked him off, but the chase dragged out a lot, so I was just sitting there with my eyes against the wall, praying he will not come for me.

---

Judging by the comments around the forum, I'm probably one of the few people who did not find the abyss that scary. While I can understand that others being thrown into a super dark environment, with enemies that can attack from any direction would be kinda terrified, my "dev thinking mind" kinda just switched on down there, telling me that because odds were so bad, the game would now go easy on me. Add to that the fact I had seemingly no relyable way of dealing with these enemies I cant see and have barely anywhere to hide from, meant I just rushed most of the time down there. But while the Abyss was not exactly the scariest part, I still loved it for how intense and confusing it was to go through.

[VaeVictis]

Honestly, this game was less the 'piss my pants' kind of scary and more of an existential kind of terror. The questions it raised in terms of existence were scarier than the monsters, most of whom I would wait impatiently to leave. I actually cried a bit.

[Damascus Rose]

For primal fear, akers was unmatched for me. It scared me the more effectively than any other map in any horror games I've played.

The curie ship with the jiang shi was badass and blew me away.

The screaming lady was the creepiest creature I've ever seen.

The abyss was scary but mostly cool.

Tau was scary as hell at first but the thing just wouldn't leave me alone when I just wanted to explore the station, it was behind me at all times and killed me twice. It ended up just being a pain in the ass even though the character was super cool.


But the real fear was in the story. All of those monsters succeeded in getting my heart racing and adrenaline pumping, but the fear I remembered after was the existential kind. The most powerful/existential moments in the game for me were: waking up in pathos 2, amy, looking at yourself in the mirror, realizing you're a brain scan, the omicron screamer(fits in both categories, this is why it's so good) making a clone of yourself, and the ending.

[Froge]

The ending, when I realized that Simon was an impulsive idiot

The Tau monster was aggressive, which was particularly shocking. But the scariest story part was when I spared Simon 2 and realized that he would wake up in Omicron, alone and clueless.

[Striker]

Honestly, this game was less the 'piss my pants' kind of scary and more of an existential kind of terror. The questions it raised in terms of existence were scarier than the monsters, most of whom I would wait impatiently to leave. I actually cried a bit.

Me too.

Now I feel depressed, lonely, and empty, but enjoying the emotional journey. Any game or movie that can do that has done a great job.

I miss Cat.

Can I replace Siri/Cortana with the Cat Omnitool?