History NightmareFuel / AmnesiaRebirth

Frictional Games’ masterpiece has been [[JustForPun rebirthed.]] And it’s just as terrifying as ever.

!Per wiki policy, Administrivia/SpoilersOff applies here and all spoilers are unmarked. Administrivia/YouHaveBeenWarned.

!General

!Main Game

!Promotional Material

** ''Box 17, Card 9'' is camera footage of a man and a woman exploring a cave system. The man briefly stops to investigate a crude shrine made of twigs, mud and branches before moving towards a bend in the tunnel. He hears a distant noise and stops dead in his tracks. Then he hears the ''loud'' [[HellIsThatNoise roar of a Ghoul]] and ''sprints'' back the way he came, the woman [[CameraAbuse throwing the camera down]] as she escapes with him - Ghoul in pursuit.

* Tasi's pregnancy, or rather how unnatural it feels. [[ExpressDelivery The baby seemingly grows months at a time in the span of hours]], and Tasi is [[AdultFear terrified at the though of the baby being something unnatural or flat-out monstrous]] as a result of her being infected with the toxin that turns people into Harvesters.

* Amari is revealed to have contracted the same disease that killed Tasi's first daughter. That's AdultFear incarnate, but it gets worse. The only way to treat this disease is to use ''the substance that comes from immense pain and suffering, Vitae''.

** The Harvester ending is easily the bleakest. Tasi gives up Amari so she can survive her illness under Tihana's care, but is turned into a Harvester and left to wander the empty husk of a world that has long been destroyed by the Shadow while thousands of people are tortured repeatedly for the rest of their lives.

* ''Box 16, Card 5'' is camera footage of a man browsing around a walk-in closet filled with decorative lamp parts and antique junk. When he approaches a brass container used to hold an Orb, the camera starts violently glitching out as ghostly roaring is heard. The operator calls for his friend to find a different camera, complaining that his is "acting up."

* Tasi gives birth to a baby girl, Amari, with the help of the doctor. However, this is done in the middle of the desert in a cave with ''no'' painkillers, while she's tied down to prevent her from losing herself to the Harvester toxin. [[OhCrap And then the doctor ''kidnaps'' her newborn daughter in an attempt to barter with Empress Tihana]].

** The Harvester ending is easily the bleakest. Tasi gives up Amari so she can survive her illness under Tihana's care, but is turned into a Harvester and left to wander the empty husk of a world that has long been destroyed by the Shadow while thousands of people are tortured repeatedly for the rest of their lives.

* The way Ghouls are created. The survivors of the ''Cassandra'' are brought to a sacred oasis by Tihana's spectral form with the promise of survival. The crew are more than happy to oblige and drink from the water, infected with a disease that slowly, ''slowly'' turns them into Ghouls. A transformation that is accelerated by intense stress and fear, which naturally produces a positive feedback loop when they start seeing [[BodyHorror black veins grow across their arms]] and black tendrils [[EyeScream growing out of their eyes.]]

* The protagonist, Tasi Trianon, is apparently named after the real-life Tassili Caves in Algeria, which is home to some of the world’s oldest known examples of prehistoric artwork. Some of the petroglyphs include depictions of figures that look like they came from psychedelic visions and then there are some that [[AncientAstronauts do not look like they came from earth at all.]]
* The Ghouls. Holy shit, the ''Ghouls.'' Withered, mummified [[WasOnceAMan former humans]] that lurk in the darkest recesses of Tin Hinan. Complete with [[NightmareFace black eyes, shredded lips]] and a mouth full of [[MoreTeethThanTheOsmondFamily razor-sharp teeth]] that have convinced people that their victims were killed by cave hyenas. They behave and operate like pack hunters, skittering and skulking around their prey before striking. One of their victims was an entire ''regiment'' of the French Foreign Legion, who they quickly and easily overwhelmed.

** It's also mentioned that there was public opposition among the Otherworlders to the torture process. This means that the process used to be even ''more'' agonizing, and that the current process is the refined one that the population found more palatable; either that, or the process remained constant long enough for the Otherworlders to get desensitized to the suffering. Either option is horrifying.

*** Speaking of that decapitated corpse, guess who that is! It's Jonathan Webber the expedition engineer, who is the first victim of the Ghouls. He was an upbeat and pretty friendly family man, completely eviscerated and left to rot in the baking Algerian heat.

** The aftermath of its true power is also shown in full terrifying glory, having turned the ''entire'' Other World into a shell of what it was, tearing most of its surface to ashes, transforming magicians and alchemists into decayed [[HumanoidAbomination abominations]] and leaving Empress Tihana as the only intelligent being alive there. Unless you count the poor souls tortured to keep ''her'' alive.

* One particular moment gives Tasi the chance to ''torture'' someone to extract Vitae. The visuals are hidden, thank God, but the [[HellIsThatNoise sounds]] are enough to give you a good idea of what you're missing.

* Eventually, Tasi's water breaks. Not long after this, [[FromBadToWorse she is caught in a bear trap and hung upside down]]. While she is found by Yasmin before long, Yasmin is about to fully become a Ghoul and can only get Tasi down and ''put her own leg in the bear trap'' to slow herself down and give Tasi a chance to flee. Yasmin fully loses her sanity moments later and breaks down the door, [[ControllableHelplessness chasing Tasi across the desert sands and screaming at her all the while]]. No matter how far you go or how fast you run, Tasi will be caught. If not for the doctor's intervention, Tasi would have been mauled to death then and there.

* Tasi finally finds her husband, Salim, only to discover that he's been dead for some time. He died alone, afraid and in the dark without the one he loved by his side.
* The entirety of the fortress you explore early on in the game. The entire place is positively ''riddled'' with corpses with various different signs of death. Malnourishment and starvation, [[DrivenToSuicide gunshots to the head]], torn to shreds, [[OffWithHisHead decapitated]], it's absolutely horrific. All in an Ottoman-era fortress repurposed as a French outpost that is slowly collapsing from years of neglect. [[ParanoiaFuel Is that creak of wood just the place settling, or is it something that could rip your throat open?]]
** One section in particular, shown off in the [[https://youtu.be/GqzH7k75t2M opening of the gameplay demo trailer]], is positively seething with horrific sights. For one, the decapitated corpse with blood caking the floor. The Ghoul that's pounding and clawing its way into the room after you. And there's a chance that you'll see one perched on a ledge, watching you before leaping back into the darkness. And when you leave, the door is still ''pounding.''

** Upon escaping the maze, Leon angrily claws at the door, desperate to escape as he berates and screams at Tasi before disappearing off into the dark again.
** When Tasi escapes after he tracks her down again and chases her through some claustrophobic water-filled tunnels, she ends up [[AnArmAndALeg taking his right arm with her as he begs her to stay]]. [[NothingIsScarier We never see him again]].

** The aftermath of its true power is also shown in full terrifying glory, having turned the ''entire'' Other World into a shell of what it was, tearing most of its surface to ashes, transforming magicians and alchemists into decayed [[HumanoidAbomination abominations]] and leaving Empress Tihana as the only intelligent being alive there, possibly beside the torture victims used to keep her alive.
* The fate of Thruston Herbert, the poor man sought glory through the archeological discovery of the Other World, but only ended up locking himself in a EldritchLocation with no way out, no supplies, and no one to tell others about his discovery, just left to starve, alone, in the ruins of a dead world.
* The ruins of Tin Hinan are found alongside ancient Roman structures, often possessing canopic jars, Mycenaean stoneware and fragments of Roman frescoes alongside data storage devices that hold the memories of people as far away as Greece and even Siberia. The servants of Tihana have been abducting and torturing people for their Vitae for a long, long time.

* One particular moment has Tasi potentially ''torture someone''. The visuals are hidden, thank God, but the sounds are enough to give you a good idea of what you're missing.
* The fate of Richard Fairchild. One of the members of your crew, he's a pretty decent guy, and spends most of the story pre/post the start of the actual game being tortured. He's so broken to the point that he, very apologetically, lashes out at his rescuer in desperation, begging for them to take her instead. Consequently, Tasi, taken over by her Ghoul-self, fights back and kills him.

* The Ghouls. Holy shit, the Ghouls. Withered, mummified [[WasOnceAMan former humans]] that lurk in the darkest recesses of Tin Hinan. [[NightmareFace Black eyes, shredded lips]] and a mouth full of [[MoreTeethThanTheOsmondFamily razor-sharp teeth,]] leading people to believe their victims to be the work of cave hyenas. They behave and operate like pack hunters, skittering and skulking around their prey before striking. One of their victims was an entire regiment of the French Foreign Legion, who they quickly and easily overwhelmed.

** The worst part? [[AndIMustScream Some of them have a small portion of their humanity left.]]
* Remember Vitae and how it was [[HumanResources harvested]] from [[PoweredByAForsakenChild the pain of torture victims]] to give Alexander a way home? Now imagine it being used to [[FromBadToWorse power an entire civilization.]]
** There are hanging gibbets that are towed across the Other World on cables like sides of beef. Only in this case, the meat in question is in fact living people to be carted off to torture pods and chambers to be squeezed dry of Vitae and then thrown away like lemon rinds.
** And it’s not just physical pain that’s required to make Vitae - there needs to be emotional pain as well. The people of the Other World exploit this by torturing them, wiping their memories and then filling their minds with their most treasured memories before they are thrust right back into their agony to repeat the cycle until their bodies expire (that is, unless Vitae is also used to keep them alive for an indefinite amount of time, healing their injuries so the process can be perpetually repeated). All of this is done in capsule-like pods where they can be seen and heard writhing in agony. AND THERE ARE THOUSANDS OF THEM. Unending torture is horrific enough, but when that degree of inhumanity is treated as casually as the changing of a battery or lightbulb? That is the stuff of which nightmares are made of.

* Tasi finally finds her husband, Salim, only to discover that he's been dead for some time. He died alone and in the dark without the one he loved by his side.
* The entirety of the fortress you explore early on in the game.
** The entire place is positively ''riddled'' with corpses with various different signs of death. Malnourishment and starvation, [[DrivenToSuicide gunshots to the head]], torn to shreds, [[OffWithHisHead decapitated]], it's absolutely horrific.
** The place is in a state of disrepair from just how old it is combined with the fact that its residents are long dead. [[ParanoiaFuel Is that creak of wood just the place settling, or is it something that could rip your throat open]]?
** One section in particular, shown off in the [[https://youtu.be/GqzH7k75t2M opening of the gameplay demo trailer]], is positively seething with horrific sights. For one, the decapitated corpse with blood caking the floor. The EldritchAbomination that's pounding and clawing its way into the room after you. The fact that, once you get down the stairs, ''there's another one waiting, perched atop a fixture''. And when you leave this area, the door is still being pounded upon.
*** Speaking of that decapitated corpse, guess who that is! It's Jonathan Webber, the expedition engineer, who is the first victim of the Ghouls. He was an upbeat and pretty friendly family man, completely eviscerated and left to rot.
* Your introduction to Leon, one of the group members that has long since been turned into a Harvester, both for how it's done and for what it reveals. In a dark maze, you hit a dead end and have to turn around. From the pitch black darkness, [[JumpScare Leon rushes towards you]] [[ControllableHelplessness and grabs onto you]], before he's taken aback by Tasi's presence and regains his sanity for a brief moment and retreats into the dark as the game of cat-and-mouse begins for real.
** TheReveal that these creatures were once human, as well as the fact that they can still ''think'', is absolutely terrifying.