History NightmareFuel / RatchetAndclank

* The Swamp monsters from planet Oozla. We first see one throttling a scientist before fighting Ratchet, while never showing more than two tentacles and an eye stalk. Kinda creepy, but it gets far worse when you face the second one as a BonusBoss. You get into its lair by sliding down a pipe, and then falling, to end up trapped in a dark cavern with no solid ground and no apparent way out. And then the monster reveals itself: A horrific, slug-like ''thing'' (a giant version of the mutant swamp beasts fought throughout the level) with lots and lots of teeth, tentacles, and pincers. It tries to ''eat Ratchet alive'', and if it succeeds, he takes a lot of damage.

** ''Deadlocked'' sees heroes abducted and forced to compete in a reality TV show called [=DreadZone=] where they are forced to compete for their lives against impossible odds. The captured contestants have to fight thousands of enemy forces or each other in order to achieve their freedom and are forced to wear electroshock Deadlock Collars to keep themselves in line. The producers and hosts of the show want as many contestants to die as possible, and if a hero refuses to compete, or tries to escape, then their permanently-affixed Deadlock collar EXPLODES. The owner of DreadZone has been kidnapping dozens of heroes and many have died in his games before Ratchet came along.

* In the HD port of the first ''Ratchet & Clank'' game, due to a graphical error right at the end of the PDA cutscene on Oltanis, Captain Qwark's pupils inexplicably disappear. While it doesn't sound that creepy on it's own, it can be a rather unexpected surprise for new players.
** Similarly, the HD port of ''Deadlocked'' has an error in the first battle's cutscene where the camera clips inside Ratchet's face, and it looks very, very freaky.

* Later into the game is planet Snivelak (the page image), a dark, glowing lava world that is home to the Thugs' headquarters. It could be said that the planet is one of the darkest and scariest locations in the entire series, and it marks the introduction of a severe DifficultySpike, even moreso than the infamous planet Boldan before it.

*** While she thankfully manages to overcome this by the end of the movie and game, Elaris, the new tech whiz for the Galactic Rangers, is shown to be at the same risk of SanitySlippage that Nefarious went through, and it's shown that the [[IgnoredExpert stress and disrespect]] from the other Rangers ''is'' slowly putting a dent in her psyche.

[[AC:Rift Apart]]
* Has [[NightmareFuel/RatchetAndClankRiftApart its own page]].

** ''Going Commando'' involves the Protopet - a genetically-engineered "perfect pet" for children that is actually incredibly violent and attacks anyone on sight. You visit a city that is literally overwhelmed by them, and see numerous [robot] citizens being destroyed. The fact that they can multiply very quickly does not help...

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/snivelak_thugs_8.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350: Welcome to Planet Snivelak.]]

* Has [[NightmareFuel/RatchetAndClankRiftApart its own page]].
* Remember back when Clank insisted how the Dimensionator was too dangerous to use, given its potential to glitch out portals and such? Well, luckily for you, ''Rift Apart'' [[AscendedFridgeHorror shows us the catastrophe that could've happened]] if Tachyon (or Vendra or even Ratchet) kept toying around with it: the dimensions have begun collapsing on one another, and spontaneous portals have begun appearing, forcibly throwing ''everyone'' from our protagonists to the average [=NPC=] across the infinite realms of all creation. [[ParanoiaFuel Imagine you're simply going about your day, only for a strange giant hole to suddenly pop up in front of you without warning, getting sucked in with no way to escape its pull, being thrown into a void with]] '''[[ParanoiaFuel literally no idea]]''' [[ParanoiaFuel of where you'll eventually end up on the other side, seemingly no way of ever getting back home, and no guarantee that you'll even land safely on solid, level ground or end up somewhere without, as just one example,]] '''''[[ParanoiaFuel a giant bloodthristy alien monster out to eat you.]]''''' And then there's the possibility of reality itself collapsing into nothing. It's suddenly a very good thing the Lombaxes kept their Great War technology under lock and key—otherwise this catastrophe could've already happened a '''long''' time ago.
** Listen to Clank's voice during the dimension-hopping montage after the Megalopolis demo: even if it's mostly in his typical "polite but firm" range, you can clearly hear an unusual tinge of urgency and panic in it, almost on the verge of breaking. He's the guy that Ratchet usually looks to for reassurance, and he doesn't even know if this mess can truly be fixed before reality as they know it potentially shatters like glass.
** And at the end of the demo, Ratchet and Clank are forced into a battle with space pirates, and following a split-second explosion on the deck, the two get forcibly separated from one another as Clank is thrown into another portal. Sure, ''we'' know that Clank arrives on the other side safely to find Rivet, but imagine this from Ratchet's perspective-- your best friend has been lost to who-knows-where in a time where the ''entire universe'' is bound to be in a crisis, and there's nothing you can do about it. The fact that Ratchet's also the one [[NiceJobBreakingItHero responsible for causing Nefarious' Dimensionator to bug out and start this catastrophe]] only makes it worse for the poor Lombax.
** The fact that another Dr. Nefarious succeeded in becoming the emperor of the galaxy. And if Rivet's robotic arm is any indication, he sure hasn't been treating it kindly.

** In the game, Ratchet and Clank getting trapped in with the Blargian Snagglebeast in Nebula G34 is scary given the context and a little extra thought. The context is that Ratchet and Clank are utterly ''terrified'' by the monster in front of them. The little extra thought is that it's important to remember that Qwark very likely ''knew'' this is what the Blarg were making, and yet sent these two on a suicide mission just so they could stop hogging his spotlight. And if we're going by the film's timeframe, this is ''well before'' he teamed up with Drek. AdaptationalHeroism only goes so far sometimes.

** Listen to Clank's voice during the dimension-hopping montage after the Megalopolis demo: even if it's mostly in his typical "polite but firm" range, you can clearly hear an unusual tinge of urgency and panic in it, almost on the verge of breaking. He's the guy that Ratchet usually looks to for all the answers, and he has '''no idea''' what the two can do to fix this mess, if they even ''can''. There's no giant clock-machine that can patch up the holes made by this disaster, so he and Ratchet can only ''hope'' they can fix this problem in the long run.
** And at the end of the demo, Ratchet and Clank are forced into a battle with space pirates, and following a split-second explosion on the deck, the two get forcibly separated from one another as Clank is thrown into another portal. Sure, ''we'' know that Clank arrives on the other side safely, but imagine this from Ratchet's perspective—your best friend has been lost to who-knows-where in a time where the ''entire universe'' is bound to be in a crisis, and there's nothing you can do about it.
*** Worse still: it already took ''two years'' for him to consult the IRIS supercomputer, travel across Merdegraw in the ''hopes'' of finding a clue as to where Clank would be, and search the massive Breegus Nebula to tail Nefarious and find Clank somewhere in any trail of breadcrumbs that would be left behind by the doctor. But '''that''' disappearance was due to an organized kidnapping. Now wherever Clank is could be ''literally anywhere'', the Dimensionator is currently lost and ''broken'' as far as they know, and even with the slight chance of them crossing paths, the whole thing could just happen again without warning. We don't yet know how Ratchet reacted once the two were separated, but if any of this is an indication—combined with how ''he's'' the one [[NiceJobBreakingItHero responsible for causing Nefarious' Dimensionator to bug out and cause this catastrophe]]—the poor lombax must be panicking up a sweat right now.
** The implication that Dr. Nefarious (well, ''a'' Dr. Nefarious as far as we know) succeeded in conquering the galaxy. If the robotic arm sported by the new Lombax girl is any indication, he sure hasn't been treating it kindly.

* ''A Crack in Time'' has the Tetramites, swarms of invincible insects that can kill Ratchet in just a few seconds. The only ways to kill them are with the Omniwrench or the Voltan Ivy. Nothing else will kill or even slow them down. Even with the wrench and ivy, the nests which respawn Tetramites are indestructible. There is scary music that plays around them, and if they touch Ratchet, his jump is severely limited, making it hard to escape them. With their invincibility, massive health draining, scary music, and massive numbers, they can be very frightening.

*** Clank's initial escape is much more scary in the game, given the darker aesthetics and the presence of Victor Von Ion. He's a tiny, sentient little robot who's just been given life ''moments ago'', and his first conscious experience is being chased by a big, scary warbot eager to tear him to scrap.
** In the game, Ratchet and Clank getting trapped in with the Blargian Snagglebeast in Nebula G34 is scary given the context. Aesthetic-wise, the updated graphics give the arena a more hellish look, and you can tell that Ratchet is utterly ''terrified'' by the monster in front of him. But it's also important to remember that Qwark very likely ''knew'' this is what the Blarg were making, and yet sent these two on a suicide mission just so they could stop hogging his spotlight. AdaptationalHeroism only goes so far sometimes.

* Remember back when Clank insisted how the Dimensionator was too dangerous to use, given its potential to glitch out portals and such? Well, luckily for you, ''Rift Apart'' [[AscendedFridgeHorror shows us the catastrophe that could've happened]] if Tachyon (or Vendra or even Ratchet) kept toying around with it: the dimensions have begun collapsing on one another, and spontaneous portals have begun appearing, forcibly throwing ''everyone'' from our protagonists to the average [=NPC=] across the infinite realms of all creation. [[ParanoiaFuel Imagine you're simply going about your day, only for a strange giant hole to suddenly pop up in front of you without warning, getting sucked in with no way to escape its pull, being thrown into a void with]] '''[[ParanoiaFuel literally no idea]]''' [[ParanoiaFuel of where you'll eventually end up on the other side, seemingly no way of ever getting back home, and no guarantee that you'll even land safely on solid, level ground or end up somewhere without, as just one example,]] '''''[[ParanoiaFuel a giant bloodthristy alien monster out to eat you.]]''''' It's suddenly a very good thing the Lombaxes kept their Great War technology under lock and key—otherwise this catastrophe could've already happened a '''long''' time ago.

* In Kortog's Stratus City, they do not hurt you but the way they are just there is unsettling.

--->'''Mission description:''' "All the world's a stage, FIND / And all the men and women merely players, A / They all have their exits and entrances, WAY / And one man is in his time plays many parts, OUT!"

[[AC:Ratchet & Clank (2002)

* Planet Orxon in the first game. Once the homeworld of the Blarg race, the entire planet was reduced to a desolate, radioactive wasteland by Drek as part of his money-swindling scheme. Powerful mutants roam freely, pipes dump chemical waste into what remains of the planet's water sources, and the atmosphere is so toxic that the surface is blanketed in ''green'' fog. Ratchet can't explore at all without the O2 Mask. Appropriately, this planet marks the point where the game [[DifficultySpike stops pulling punches]]; Clank goes on a grueling solo mission through the abandoned factories while Ratchet faces hordes of freakishly tough mutants.
** Even the level's soundtrack ''sounds'' desolate and toxic. Clank's section is no better, with an incredibly foreboding track to go with it.
* The first game has planet Oltanis, a dark, rainy city caught in a perpetual lightning storm, filled with dark alleyways and electric robots with glowing eyes. Previous locations in the game like Batalia were already war-torn, but Oltanis is utterly ''decimated''; the sheer scale of the destruction is horrific. Charred husks of skyscrapers act as lightning rods, robot commandos swarm the streets, and the city is completely devoid of any living creatures except for a single salesman who has gone insane. Sadly Clank cannot leave the ship because of lightning, leaving Ratchet to go and explore the city by HIMSELF, missing some of his most useful maneuvers. The level is widely considered to be [[ThatOneLevel the most difficult in the game.]]
* The unlockable "big head enemies" cheat. Fighting the game's menacing creatures may not be too scary, but just wait until their ugly heads swell to an unnatural size.
* In the HD port of the first Ratchet and Clank, due to a graphical error right at the end of the PDA cutscene on Oltanis, Captain Qwark's pupils inexplicably disappear. While it doesn't sound that creepy on it's own, it can be a rather unexpected surprise for new players.
* Similarly, the HD port of Deadlocked has an error in the first battle's cutscene where the camera clips inside Ratchet's face, and it looks very, very freaky.
* Going Commando has planet Snivelak, a dark, glowing lava world that is home to the Thugs' headquarters. It could be said that the planet is one of the darkest and scariest locations in the entire series, and it marks the introduction of a severe DifficultySpike, even moreso than the infamous planet Boldan before it.
** The Swamp monsters from the same game. We first see one throttling a scientist before fighting Ratchet, while never showing more than two tentacles and an eye stalk. Kinda creepy, but it gets far worse when you face the second one as a BonusBoss. You get into its lair by sliding down a pipe, and then falling, to end up trapped in a dark cavern with no solid ground and no apparent way out. And then the monster reveals itself: A horrific, slug-like ''thing'' (a giant version of the mutant swamp beasts fought throughout the level) with lots and lots of teeth, tentacles, and pincers. It tries to ''eat Ratchet alive'', and if it succeeds, he takes a lot of damage.
** Heck, the swamp planet as a whole. Dark, foreboding, and dotted with nerdish, teddy-bear looking mall employees who are all either eaten or liquified by the local wildlife with no chance of saving them... the planet may be the first real level in the game, but GreenHillZone it ain't.
* ''Up Your Arsenal'', Qwark's Hideout is guarded by [[BossInMooksClothing security robots that look like Qwark]]. As with many enemies their armor falls apart as they take damage, revealing the silver robot beneath the armor. The scary part is that when they fall down, you can't assume they're destroyed. They've lost their legs, but they will drag their torsos across the ground with their hands to try and swipe at you, looking like robotic zombies. And to cap it all off, the Qwark-bots take an ''insane'' amount of punishment before falling, furthering the zombie impression.

*** In a bit of BlackHumor, one of Megacorp's commercials for the Protopet shows a boy named Billy interacting with the creature. [[DissonantSerenity The narrator blithely prattles on about how happy Billy is,]] oblivious to Billy's terrified screams for help and the way the Protopet is tossing him around like a ragdoll.

*** Deadlocked has the Reapers, a mutant gorilla hedgehog crocodile race.

** ''A Crack in Time'' has [[spoiler:General Azimuth, whose mad determination to undo his past mistakes and risk ''shattering the fabric of time and space'' can be quite horrific after seeing him as a hero for most of the game up until that point]].
** Although it's a GaidenGame, ''Size Matters'' has the Technomites - a vast, microscopic race that is responsible for the development and operation of ''almost all technology in the known universe'', which ends up [[GreenEyedMonster turning against the galaxy]] because they feel that their accomplishments don't garner enough respect. The fact that the enemy is invisible to the naked eye and yet potentially controls every piece of machinery in existence would've allowed the Technomites to be a far more dangerous threat, [[RedHerring if that'd been their plan]].
*** It also doesn't help that the whole thing is a CassandraTruth (at first).
---->'''Ratchet (to Clank):''' "[[PunctuatedForEmphasis There ARE...NO...TECHNOMITES!!]]"
** At one point of ''Size Matters'', Ratchet is captured by the Technomites and sent to a research facility. As he's strapped to the operating table, doctors approach with sharp surgical tools and a ''chainsaw'' before he blanks out and gets sent to the surreal, freakishly difficult Dreamtime level, implied to be Ratchet hallucinating while the Technomites experiment on him.
** The main antagonist of the game, Otto Destruct, planned on using his army of Ratchet clones to kidnap all the smartest beings in the universe and steal their intelligence so that he would become the most intelligent being in all of existence.
* In ''Tools Of Destruction'' there are giant jellyfish in Stratus City, they do not hurt you but the way they are just there is unsettling.
* ''Tools'' has the Mag-Net Launcher, which locks an enemy in place while dealing electrical damage to them. Imagine being stuck in place, incapable of striking back as you are slowly electrocuted to death...
* ''A Crack In Time'' has the Tetramites, swarms of invincible insects that can kill Ratchet in just a few seconds. The only ways to kill them are with the Omniwrench or the Voltan Ivy. Nothing else will kill or even slow them down. Even with the wrench and ivy, the nests which respawn Tetramites are indestructible. There is scary music that plays around them, and if they touch Ratchet, his jump is severely limited, making it hard to escape them. With their invincibility, massive health draining, scary music, and massive numbers, they can be very frightening.
* ''Into the Nexus'' runs on this since it is taking a [[DarkerAndEdgier spookier direction]].
** The Meero Orphanage on Yerek is disturbingly similar to current-day Chernoybl. Plus, in front of it is an endlessly spinning merry-go-round and a disturbing hopscotch court that goes to seven, before reaching a square with a dead expression drawn on the very edge of the cliff. And let's not forget the creepy singing robots that are out front too.

** Beyond a more organic design, the film's version of Dr. Nefarious is also surprisingly less comedic than his canon counterpart, being more FauxAffablyEvil as opposed to his usual hamminess. And after gleefully disposing of Drek, he's plans to ''destroy the entire star system'' just to spite the Galactic Rangers, not caring if he gets caught in the crossfire. Novalis may have been evacuated in time, but that couldn't be pulled off a second time with a disaster this big. And to think that his StartOfDarkness here only happened because Captain Qwark mistreated him as a Galactic Ranger.

* Remember back when Clank stated that the Dimensionator was too dangerous to use, given its potential to glitch out portals and such? Well, luckily for you, ''Rift Apart'' [[AscendedFridgeHorror shows us the catastrophe that could've happened]] if Tachyon (or Vendra or even Ratchet) kept toying around with it: the dimensions have begun collapsing on one another, and spontaneous portals have begun appearing, forcibly throwing everyone from our protagonists to average [=NPCs=] across the infinite realms of all creation. [[ParanoiaFuel Imagine that you're simply going about your day, only for a strange giant hole to suddenly pop up in front of you without warning, sucking you in with no way for you to escape its pull, with you being thrown into a void with]] '''[[ParanoiaFuel literally no idea]]''' [[ParanoiaFuel of where you'll eventually end up on the other side, seemingly no way of ever getting back home, and no guarantee that you'll even land safely on solid, level ground or end up somewhere without, as just one example,]] '''''[[ParanoiaFuel a giant bloodthristy alien monster out to eat you.]]''''' It's suddenly a very good thing that the Lombaxes kept their Great War technology under lock and key—otherwise this catastrophe could've already happened a '''long''' time ago.
** Listen to Clank's voice during the dimension-hopping montage after the Megalopolis demo: even if it's mostly in his typical "polite but firm" range, you can clearly hear an unusual tinge of urgency and panic in it. He's the guy that Ratchet usually looks to for all the answers, and he has '''no idea''' what the two can do to fix this mess, if they even ''can''. There's no giant clock-machine that can patch up the holes made by this disaster, so he and Ratchet can only ''hope'' they can fix this problem in the long run.
** And then at the end of the demo, Ratchet and Clank are forced into a battle with space pirates, and following a split-second explosion on the deck, the two get forcibly separated from one another as Clank is thrown into another portal. Sure, ''we'' know that Clank arrives on the other side safely, but imagine this from Ratchet's perspective—your best friend has been lost to who-knows-where in a time where the ''entire universe'' is bound to be in a crisis, and there's nothing you can do about it.
*** Worse still: it already took ''two years'' for him to consult the IRIS supercomputer, travel across Merdegraw in the ''hopes'' of finding a clue as to where Clank would be, and search the massive Breegus Nebula to tail Nefarious and find Clank somewhere in any trail of breadcrumbs that would be left behind by the doctor. But '''that''' disappearance was due to an organized kidnapping. Now wherever Clank is could be ''literally anywhere'', the Dimensionator is currently lost and ''broken'' as far as they know, and even with the slight chance of them crossing paths, the whole thing could just happen again without warning. We don't yet know how Ratchet reacted once the two were separated, but if any of this is an indication—combined with how ''he's'' the one [[NiceJobBreakingItHero responsible for causing Nefarious' Dimensionator to bug out and cause this catastrophe]]—the poor lombax must be panicking up a sweat right now.

** ''Deadlocked'' sees heroes abducted and forced to compete in a reality TV show called [=DreadZone=] where they are forced to compete for their lives against impossible odds. The producers and hosts of the show want as many contestants to die as possible, and if a hero refuses to compete, or tries to escape, then their permanently-affixed Deadlock collar EXPLODES.

** Beyond a more organic design, Dr. Nefarious is also surprisingly less comedic than his canon counterpart, being more FauxAffablyEvil as opposed to his usual hamminess. And after gleefully disposing of Drek, he's plans to ''destroy the entire star system'' just to spite the Galactic Rangers, not caring if he gets caught in the crossfire. Novalis may have been evacuated in time, but that couldn't be pulled off a second time with a disaster this big. And to think that his StartOfDarkness here only happened because Captain Qwark mistreated him as a Galactic Ranger.