AdventureQuest 3D might be a rather goofy and lighthearted game at its core, but it's not without its scarier and creepier elements.
- Heartwood is the second major zone after Greenguard, and has two major moments:
- Heartwood’s Guardian Tower has some humanoid enemies with roots and plants growing all over them. Then you realize that they were former Guardians, having been corrupted and turned completely mindless by the Nature Orb’s power. The Guardian that is affected by this the worst is none other than the one who utilized the orb, Silvan. A glimpse at her shows that she’s almost completely unrecognizable, save for her skeleton hanging downwards from the massive growth of roots.
- Valerio's questline. Valerio is initially framed as being a man running away from a "spirit of vengeance" known as the Ghost Dog of Whitaker Forest, and he's absolutely desperate to escape by any means. While it ends up being a bit disturbing to realize that someone could be pursued so relentlessly for seemingly no clear reason, it's not that notable given what came before it...at least until the end flips everything upside down: Namely, Valerio's been Dead All Along, and his ghost is being pursued for all of eternity for the crimes he committed while he was alive... The Ghost Dog reveals that the player cannot do anything to stop this, as Valerio's punishment is eternal, and is extremely affable about the matter. To add the cherry on top, not only has his sins long been forgotten by this point due to time, but Valerio is not allowed to remember the truth about his eternal punishment. Which means that he will be begging passing travelers to save him from his fate, but is doomed to be unable to ever escape it...forever. In the relatively spiritual Heartwood storyline as a whole and compared to the more typical fantasy Hallow Void monsters, this story ends up being rather chilling just by the downright horrifying implications, especially for what is essentially a Dungeon sidequest.
- In the Doomwood map, it's revealed that all of the skeletons walking around were Artix's fellow fallen paladins.
- In Boog's Inn, Anne's husband is lying on the ground injured. Morgul reveals he's the victim of a vampire attack, shortly before said victim transforms into a vampire ghoul in front of everyone. The Hero is forced to put him down.
- Both of the Friday the 13th dungeons count. One is in a crashed spaceship with you fighting Shadowscythe aliens, all while Shrade X wanders around and kills you if he finds you. Another is in a nightmare, where the player is in a warped labyrinth littered with traps. Some of these traps include Fleshette’s claws popping out of walls, and a long hallway leading to another one of her claws trying to grab you, while boards spurt out of the walls to try and force you into it.
