History NightmareFuel / BatmanArkhamAsylum

[[caption-width-right:345:[[PsychoPsychologist Who]] [[ScaryScarecrows ordered]] [[AfraidOfNeedles the]] ''[[PsychoSerum literal]]'' NightmareFuel?]]

[[caption-width-right:345:Who [[ScaryScarecrows ordered]] [[AfraidOfNeedles the]] ''[[PsychoSerum literal]]'' NightmareFuel?]]

*** And at the end of the sequence, [[spoiler: the Joker shoots Batman in the face, prompting the game to inform you that [[GameOverMan you failed the mission]]. [[FissionMailed Choosing 'Retry' will take you to the next part of the game]], but the moment you see that screen is just terrifying. It probably won't be the first time you see the Game Over screen, but in this instance, you're left feeling utterly helpless since ''you have no idea what you did wrong''.]]

** Also in the morgue? The body of Ra's al Ghul. While it may have been meant to be an easter egg, but it's creepy nonetheless.
*** That's in another morgue, not the one mentioned above, and Ra's al Ghul's corpse is the answer to a riddle, not an easter egg.

* FridgeBrilliance example - what sort of "therapies" would require a patient to be ''that'' robust in order to endure them? Electroshock? Something ''worse?''

* The morgue area, where Batman [[spoiler: falls prey to Scarecrow's literal NightmareFuel and sees Gordon die followed by his dead parents. Scarecrow's redesign is ridiculously creepy in of itself, but when you wear a freaking ''syringe glove'', that's kind of expected. (Yes, we know Freddy Krueger did the pointy-glove thing first. It was creepy then, it's still creepy now.)]]

* As the Dark Knight himself, you must survive a night in the Asylum (which rivals [[BioShock Rapture]] in terms of atmosphere), surrounded by a good portion of his RoguesGallery, to stop a plan sprung by none other than [[MonsterClown the Joker]]...voiced by [[WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries Mark Hamill]], no less. The tone is essentially a hard T-rating. Considering among other things you see a man's spine ''[[BodyHorror rip out of his back]], close-up'', it's frankly astounding it did ''not'' wind up with an M rating.

-->--'''SelfDemonstrating/TheJoker'''

*** Same area, "Liberate Me Ex Inferis." Can be translated as "Save me from Hell." If you saw EventHorizon, this might add some additional creepiness.

* And then you actually have run-ins with the Scarecrow and his fear-inducing toxin. With little more warning than a cough from Batman, you get told off by his zombified parents, relive the night of their murder from the perspective of little Bruce Wayne, and get eerily unusual radio messages. To top it all off, each hallucination culminates in a platforming segment through an area that is part black hole and part SilentHill, evading the killer gaze of a ten story tall Scarecrow. And then, he starts messing with you, the player, directly...

** About the only clue to the hallucinations is Batman coughing. For the last one it follows a creepy voice asking, "Did anyone see the game last night?" That itself is creepy, but it masks the coughing. Then the game freezes and restarts. Even for those aware of the scene it can catch you off guard, first time it's seen until the twisted Bag signal appears, even past where we see Joker driving the Batmobile, it very much looks like the game had crashed. [[FridgeBrilliance Bonus points for the line being something that would cause a crash in a faulty game.]]

* The Chronicles of Arkham. [[spoiler:The Asylum's founder, now existing as a spirit in the walls of his own institution and having degraded into a CompleteMonster ready to lobotomize pre-criminal Harleen, have the killer of his family strapped into an electric chair and slowly fried to death, set Poison Ivy on fire and beat schizophrenics to death to "clean the scum of Gotham City." Granted, none of his victims are exactly angels themselves, but...]]

* The cage for Killer Croc at the bottom of the Sanitorium. It has claw marks and broken steel bars, filled with skeletons, bloodstains, and human bones. Croc makes several comments in his interview tapes about [[ImAHumanitarian eating his victims.]] You do the math.
* [[HaveANiceDeath The game over sequences.]] The Scarecrow and Joker's creepy faces taunting you? Bane breaking your back? [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XClEPRnynR8 Talk about a reason not to fail!]]
** One of Croc's game over sequences actually has him ''[[TheFourthWallWillNotProtectYou devouring the fucking camera.]]''

* If you die via the constricting tentacles Poison Ivy, you go limp, and are ''dragged into the ground''. Christ.

* After you complete the game, you are free to wander around Arkham Island to finish all of the collectible stuff you didn't during the initial story missions. Even after Arkham was cleared of all its escapees, the sheer atmosphere is unnerving enough. What makes it all the worse is the pure desolate emptiness of the place as you wander through it.

** Speaking of cameo villains, there's Ra's Al Ghul too. When you get to the morgue, you can see he's in one of the drawers (you just know it's him by the tag on his foot - you never get to see his face). You investigate him to get his profile, and then leave the morgue. Okay. Later when you come back... ''where's the body''? Sure, we know the guy can resurrect, but still, ''damn''.

* Intensive Treatment, [[spoiler: especially the visit after you get the zip wire device. After defeating the enemies in the large hall and disabling a bomb, the doorway to the area where, at the start of the game, Joker was wheeled into Arkham. HOWEVER, things get really creepy from here on in. The screen glitches up and what follows is a return to the beginning of the game REVERSED, with Batman locked up and you playing as the joker. Then the camera switches to a first-person perspective from Batman as Joker shoots him. After that, it turns out to be another Scarecrow sequence, but with 3 copies of Batman, in cells, huddled on the floor, stumbling around and just sitting there. Then you discover BATMAN GNAWING ON A RAT'S DEAD BODY. Dear god...]]

** One part of this sequence that particularly that is particularly disturbing was Batman ''screaming'' "CUT ME FREE!!!!!!!!!" Always calm, cool, and collected ''Batman'' screaming in terror?

** Apparently he's the guy who won a contest that let you get a cameo in the game. Meaning that he's somewhere out there, hopefully acting more sane, at least.

* Special mention to Batman's death by Smilex gas. He coughs and chokes for a while, while the escape prompt blinks at you repeatedly. Ignore this, and you are treated to an image of the Dark Knight slowly collapsing, his coughs devolving into him [[LaughingMad laughing insanely as he dies.]]
* TheStinger. A crate of Titan floating in the river is grabbed by either Scarecrow, Croc or Bane. You've seen what it just did to SelfDemonstrating/TheJoker, now [[BringMyBrownPants go change.]]

** One of Croc's game over sequences actually has him [[TheFourthWallWillNotProtectYou ''devouring the fucking camera.'']]

-->--'''TheJoker'''

*** And if you find his secret office (as seen here [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XxgAn4DkG-k]] you can see what his real objective is (this is also a foreshadow for the second game)

--> '''PA System:''' "Security at level Orange... al... -pha... -pha... [[TheJoker ha-... ha-... ha-... ha-...]]"

* FridgeBrilliance example - what sort of "therapies" would require a patient to be ''that'' robust in order to endure them? Electroshock? Something ''worse?''

** One of Croc's game over sequences actually has him [[TheFourthWallWillNotProtectYou ''devouring the fucking camera.'']]

* Many times you would be in utter silence when the PA system would play its creepy tune before the Joker makes an announcement.

** One part of this sequence that particularly that is particularly disturbing was Batman ''screaming'' "CUT ME FREE!!!!!!!!!" Always calm, cool, and collected ''Batman'' screaming in terror?

* The single patient on the upper floor in the room where Clayface is located. He never gets out. You can't get to him. He's just... there. Panting and slobbering and generally being creepy.
** Apparently he's the guy who won a contest that let you get a cameo in the game. Meaning that he's somewhere out there, hopefully acting more sane, at least.

* Special mention to Batman's death by Smilex gas. He coughs and chokes for a while, while the escape prompt blinks at you repeatedly. Ignore this, and you are treated to an image of the Dark Knight slowly collapsing, his coughs devolving into him [[LaughingMad laughing insanely as he dies.]]
* TheStinger. A crate of Titan floating in the river is grabbed by either Scarecrow, Croc or Bane. You've seen what it just did to TheJoker, now [[BringMyBrownPants go change.]]
* Early in the game when you break out of the facility you're in a big courtyard and can meet some guards and talk to them and learn a bit about them along with some medics by an ambulance near the entrance. A trip through the medical center later and they're all dead.

* This Scarecrow not only seems to come right out of Rapture, he looks so scary that he was used as the page image for this page! The sound you hear now is that of several Tropers simultaneously crapping themselves.

** When batman is [[spoiler: brought into the Asylum on a gurney]], he screams that he's not insane. Just the thought of Batman screaming for mercy is chilling.

** The scariest part about that to me is that before the game glitches out the PA system comes on and a woman says in a monotone voice "Did anyone see the game last night?" First time I heard that I almost pissed myself.

* Special mention to Batman's death by Smilex gas. He coughs and chokes for a while, while the escape prompt blinks at you repeatedly. Ignore this, and you are treated to an image of the Dark Knight slowly collapsing, his coughs devolving into him [[LaughingMad laughing insanely as he dies.]] *shudder* Thank you, Rocksteady, for haunting me with that image forever...
* I don't know why, but in Intensive Treatment, there's a body with a bucket on it's head that, somehow, creeps me out. For some reason, you can't check them, even in detective mode, so you can never see if he's alive or dead. Like Joker's take on Schrodinger's cat, or, more appropriately, Schrodinger's Cat-and-Marzipan-Filled bombs.

* As the Dark Knight himself, you must survive a night in the Asylum (which rivals [[BioShock Rapture]] in terms of atmosphere), surrounded by a good portion of his RoguesGallery, to stop a plan sprung by none other than [[MonsterClown the Joker]]...voiced by [[WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries Mark Hamill]], no less. Not to mention that the tone is essentially a hard T-rating. Considering among other things you see a man's spine ''[[BodyHorror rip out of his back]], close-up'', it's frankly astounding it did ''not'' wind up with an M rating.

*** It should be noted that Arkham Island's basically a low-level war zone, filled with [[IncrediblyLamePun batshit]] insane inmates, gun-toting nutjobs and several other Bat-rogues--all of whom seem either fear/respect/get gassed by [[BadassBookworm Crane]] enough to let him pass by without question. The ''whole time''. It's damn creepy at best, and a serious [[TookALevelInBadass upgrade]] for the good doctor.

** The scariest part about all this is that [[spoiler:the Chronicle of Arkham is not really the spirit of Amadeus Arkham, but the current Warden believing himself to be the reincarnation of Arkham. All of the references he makes to any Arkham inmates are the super-criminals that Batman has put there, such as Joker, Poison Ivy, and Killer Croc, as well as a sane Harley Quinn (before she joined Joker). The final riddle of the game is to figure out who he is. The last Chronicle you scan is written on the floor of the security station where you rescue the Warden, and it's just a circle with BATMAN written over and over again. His last message is that he wants YOU to continue on his work. Creepy as hell. Also through out the entire asylum there are posters which hint at this seeing them when playing the game a second time is truly eerie. ]]

* In an in-universe example, you ''are'' the NightmareFuel for the Asylum mooks, swinging down from the rafters... cause you're the goddamn Batman. From the nervous chatter that the enemies give out, even when outnumbering and outgunning Batman by six to one, it's clear who's the prey. If not, keep dwindling their numbers and watch them look over their shoulders in jittering fear... and shooting at any small noise (whether provoked by you or not). Hell, just watch as a group of enemies comes towards you. Don't attack them right away. They'll ''hesitate'', until one of them gathers the courage to attack.

* Intensive Treatment, [[spoiler: especially the visit after you get the zip wire device. After defeating the enemies in the large hall and disabling a bomb, the doorway to the area where, at the start of the game, Joker was wheeled into Arkham. HOWEVER, things get really creepy from here on in. The screen glitches up and what follows is a return to the beginning of the game pretty much REVERSED, with Batman locked up and you playing as the joker. Then the camera switches to a first-person perspective from Batman as Joker shoots him. After that, it turns out to be another Scarecrow sequence, but with 3 copies of Batman, in cells, huddled on the floor, stumbling around and just sitting there. Then you discover BATMAN GNAWING ON A RAT'S DEAD BODY. Dear god...]]

* If you have Detective Mode, you can see through the doors. At one point, you can see two bodies dangling in the air, kicking, struggling... until finally they go still. Open the door, and two dead guards are hanging from the ceiling execution-style. Please note that if you don't have Detective Mode on, you won't realize that you were a mere ''thirty seconds'' too late to save them with a well-aimed Batarang.

** In the halls in said Medical Facility you have to go down to save the doctors, there are those weird plastic curtains that hang down. Occasionally, you will see them move without there being anyone to move them. Batman hasn't reached those curtains yet, and they still move even when there's no goons in the hallways left to beat up, so ''who or what is making those curtains move''?

* The perfectly ordinary announcements that come over the PA system before the Joker takes over (especially the ones in the Medical Facility) just make everything else seem that much more hellish. One of the worst occurs at the beginning of the game after Joker gets free and releases all the Blackgate inmates. It starts like a normal security level message, and then devolves into ''[[LaughingMad insane laughter]]''.

* Go back into that sewer/boiler room area in the greenhouse you go through to get to where Poison Ivy is after you find the Titan production facility. If you climb up to a certain point, which you need to do in order to get to most of the riddles, ''[[JumpScare a mutated goon that was part of the Joker's Titan experiment drops out of a pipe]].'' Right in front of you. Panic ensued.

** The perfectly ordinary announcements that come over the PA system in the Medical Facility just make everything else seem that much more hellish. Particularly the ones that start out normally and then devolve into ''[[LaughingMad insane laughter]]''.
--> '''PA System:''' "... Arkham Asylum has -- has -- [[TheJoker ha-... ha-... ha-... ha-...]]"

** The regular tune was bad enough, but when the worn down version plays, it's even more unsettling.

** One of Croc's game over sequences actually has him ''devouring the fucking camera.''