History NightmareFuel / Stalker

* Night-time in the Zone. At night, you seem to hear various noises in the distance. Not to mention the terrors that come out of nowhere. Yes, even with night vision goggles. Just sleep. There's absolutely nothing you need to do that's so urgent it can't wait until a less terrifying time.

* Zombie mumbling when not in combat sometimes is pretty clear, like "Soon, I will be back home... Just need to find the way..." There is still something of a person in there, locked in some kind of nightmarish waking dream. Perhaps I will [[MercyKill send you home]], brother-stalker.

** That is, unless you encounter them out in the open fields. If you're outside of their [[Franchise/MetalGear MGS-style]] field of view, they will not attack and you can snipe them from a hopefully safe distance, thereby making their telekinetic ability useless. But if you happen to be in an enclosed, tightly-packed building and you're unfortunate enough to stumble upon them (which, by the way, is going to be inevitable in three particular sidequests in ''Call of Pripyat''), knifing them is the only way to defeat them for good.

[[caption-width-right:350:[[AC:[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-qCvp5mo4Zo Get out of there, S.T.A.L.K.E.R!]]]]]]

[[caption-width-right:350:Blowout soon, fellow Stalker. Oh really? When? [[AC:[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-qCvp5mo4Zo ''NOW''.]]]]]]

** One particularly scary encounter occurs in ''Call of Pripyat''. There is a small cave in the northern part of the first area that can be rather easy to miss, or mistake for one of the fissures nor far away. You go down the dark cave, when suddenly you hear from out of nowhere "'''LEAVE NOW, MAN'''". If you continue on, out stomps a Controller. ''[[ItCanThink Oh shit]].''

* The NightmareFuel in ''S.T.A.L.K.E.R.'' for some doesn't require monsters, just realizing that this is what the end of the world might look like, even though all events of the game are happening within only the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone, which, then again, is slowly expanding and taking over the planet.

* ''S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl''[='=]s Bloodsucker. Based upon appearance alone, these things are pretty damned creepy, as this picture [[http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/dd175/sir_evil2/xr_cs_screen_31_pre.jpg demonstrates]]. But, a combination of secondary characteristics moves them out of creepy and straight into downright terrifying: 1) They scream real loud when they attack you. 2) They are ''hella'' fast. 3) They only come out at night (usually). 4)They are completely invisible with the exception of its eyes and the body's blur effect on surroundings until they attack you. That's right, unless you happen to catch one off guard (which you won't) the only thing you will see is that mother(beep) lunging at your face a split second before it tears you several new ones. If you are very lucky, you might just see their freaking glowing eyes, wandering aimlessly over the landscape in your direction before the attack comes. And the best part? The beginning area is the only area safe form these things, and they can show up anywhere. You'll just be walking along, minding your own business, dodging better equipped Stalkers and the military, when you hear, perhaps the faintest hint of movement. You stop, readying your trusty assault rifle, but no enemy makes itself apparent. You continue to press on towards your objective, when suddenly there is a bloodsucker in your personal space. Cue Bullet Spamming.

** Emissions are twice as horrifying in [[https://youtu.be/-qCvp5mo4Zo Misery]]. A loud alarm will play over the Zone as one starts to approach and shelters such as Skavdosk will shoot flares into the air to warn stalkers of where there is a safe space to hide in. The rest goes as you expect.

[[caption-width-right:350:Blowout soon, fellow Stalker. Oh really? When? [[AC:[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-qCvp5mo4Zo '''NOW'''.]]]]]]

[[caption-width-right:350:Blowout soon fellow Stalker. Oh really? when? [[AC:[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-qCvp5mo4Zo NOW.]]]]]]

* There are few video games which come close to the level of creeping, grinding dread this game and its sequels inspires. The atmosphere of crushing horror is made far worse by the fact it [[NintendoHard holds quite old fashioned views]] about what the average player should be capable of. In other words, it wants you dead. [[EverythingTryingToKillYou Very dead]]. Remember those other [=FPSes=] where you had limitless supplies of ammo which took up no room in your [[BagOfHolding magic bottomless bag]]? No. Remember those games where there'd be some guy who would helpfully fill you in on the [[AttackItsWeakPoint boss's weak point]] before you fought him? No. Remember those games where the people not shooting you spoke the same language as you? Нет. Remember those games where you didn't have to eat, [[CriticalExistenceFailure where being injured was just a reason to be slightly more cautious]], and you could heal by simply walking away and waiting for a bit? No, no, no, no, no.

* Vano is one of the more friendly characters, always smiling and cheerful. In one quest, you need to help him take out some Monolith in a bookstore. As he stands outside the store, he is likely to be attacked by wild animals, so to prevent the quest from failing before you even start, the developers made him invulnerable and had him ignore enemies while he waits for you. How could this become terrifying, you ask? [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=imoMRuVYMFM Look. Look and weep while you still have eyes and a soul]].

** Seriously, these goddamn [[https://steamuserimages-a.akamaihd.net/ugc/867217316771550111/8D9416513D6A1DAC275F9D96521C7D13C98502F9/?imw=1024&imh=576&ima=fit&impolicy=Letterbox&imcolor=%23000000&letterbox=true bear statues]] are ''horrifying''. Compared to the rest of the game, something about them just looks extremely [[UncannyValley off]]. Notice how the mouth seems to have blood on it too. [[LivingStatue What could this possibly imply]], specially in the Zone, where reality is effectively constantly breaking down everyday?

* There are few video game which come close to the level of creeping, grinding dread this game and its sequels inspires. The atmosphere of crushing horror is made far worse by the fact it [[NintendoHard holds quite old fashioned views]] about what the average player should be capable of. In other words, it wants you dead. [[EverythingTryingToKillYou Very dead]]. Remember those other [=FPSes=] where you had limitless supplies of ammo which took up no room in your [[BagOfHolding magic bottomless bag]]? No. Remember those games where there'd be some guy who would helpfully fill you in on the [[AttackItsWeakPoint boss's weak point]] before you fought him? No. Remember those games where the people not shooting you spoke the same language as you? Нет. Remember those games where you didn't have to eat, [[CriticalExistenceFailure where being injured was just a reason to be slightly more cautious]], and you could heal by simply walking away and waiting for a bit? No, no, no, no, no.