Nightmare Fuel / Deep Rock Galactic

Per wiki policy, Spoilers Off applies here and all spoilers are unmarked. You Have Been Warned.

On Hoxxes IV, the surroundings watch you.

"It's everyone for themselves on Hoxxes, and life is cheap. Whatever foul mind dreamt up these things is truly deranged, though. These invasive larvae will burrow into practically anything biological given half a chance, and will multiply aggressively once they do find a nice nest. Take out the carriers and larvae themselves with extreme prejudice. The stories we've heard from our predecessors on Hoxxes are not for children."

—Miner's Manual description of the Carnivorous Larva

There is a reason that Deep Rock Galactic were the only company insane enough to mine there for so long; dark things lurk beneath the surface of Hoxxes, and though the Dwarves are all utter badasses, even they can freak out from time to time. That should tell you something.

---

• With the game being all about venturing into dark caves to extract precious minerals, naturally there's going to be a lot of dread and unease. Sure, you're a heavily armed Dwarf carrying a variety of weaponry, but it's just you (and up to three others) venturing into the dark depths, where countless bugs wait to dig through the ground and come shrieking for your blood. Your only source of lighting apart from your flashlight is tossing small flares forward, which end up burning out after a short time. Even the Scout's Flare Gun shots don't last forever.
• Just about every mission ends in a Tactical Withdrawal to the Drop Pod before it extracts in a matter of minutes, with or without you. While Molly is nice enough to leave a trail of glowing guideposts behind her as she scurries to the evac point, she can Wall Crawl, you can't — cue non-Scouts having to quickly figure out how to navigate the terrain of a dark cave, while roaring bugs spawn all around you, while the launch countdown is ticking. And if you take one wrong turn, or get distracted at a crucial moment, suddenly Molly's tromping along a different tunnel dozens of meters away from your position, you've lost the trail, and you have no idea how to reach your only ticket out of that cave.
• For those afraid of heights (and even those who aren't), they're going to hate how often large pits spawn in the caves. It's not uncommon to come digging through a wall to access the next room, only to stumble off a cliff and crash down from a huge height. And since Fall Damage is played very straight, that means you're likely to go down on impact. Even the Scout can be subject to this if he can't find anything to use his Grappling Hook on in time.
• You can sometimes find a helmet buried somewhere in the caves, which, when scanned, gives coordinates to a mineral cache and cosmetic item to find. Digging your way there reveals a small space where some Dwarf's armor was left behind. Your player Dwarf understandably is upset that they could only find the fallen comrade's gear, lamenting their demise.
• There are quite a few horrifying ways for the Dwarves to kill the organic enemies, besides the usual "pumped with bullets" or "blown up". There's being burned to death by fire damage (causing organic foes to writhe in agony until they're fully incinerated and reduced to ash), or frozen and shattered. The Driller takes this to another level: besides being capable of burning and freezing masses of enemies, his Corrosive Sludge Pump causes enemies killed by it to outright melt in a rather painful fashion, and his Colette Wave Cooker microwaves them, making them vibrate until they pop.
• The Driller doesn't even need to kill enemies to inflict some horrific effects on them. One of his Colette Wave Cooker's Overclocks is the Blistering Necrosis, which is exactly as pleasant as it sounds. When hitting an organic enemy, it gives a chance to spawn rather unsightly, lumpy cyst-like blisters on them, not unlike a Bulk Detonator's skin. If you're lucky enough, you can affect multiple body parts of a Praetorian or larger enemy with them. Why would you want to cover enemies in blisters? To shoot them, bypassing their armor, until they pop for extra damage, of course! Even the Overclock that makes the microwaves radioactive seems like less of a cruelty than this.
• Most of the various biomes of Hoxxes IV have different flavors of scares:
  • Hoxxes itself is a Death World where the surface is a dead, irradiated wasteland. There's nothing of value there, hence why DRG go digging beneath the surface to get what's underneath.
  • The Salt Pits is a region full of, well, salt, that has turned red after a massive underground lake dried up ages ago. The scary part are that there are instant kill crystal spikes jutting from the ceiling that may come suddenly and loudly crashing down if dislodged in some way, and in a swarm where you're firing everywhere, that's likely to happen when you least expect it. There's also the Jump Scare of getting sent flying by a previously unannounced Q'ronar Youngling when you're not paying attention.
    Deep Dive Terminal: "Leave no dwarf behind" is rumored to originate from this region. Anyone who's seen what prolonged exposure to the salts will do understands why.
  • The Sandblasted Corridors region is a Shifting Sand Land where vision-obscuring sandstorms are a regular occurrence, which also slow you down and make you unable to sprint (possibly because of your dwarf trying not to get blown away). The scares however mostly come from the region's unique enemy; the Nayaka Trawler, a shark-like creature that "swims" through the sand at high speed. If it picks you as its target, it will dash into you, grab you, and then pull you along through the level, helpless while you're taken away from teammates and usually straight into the gathering swarm. What’s worse is it will often specifically target those coming to revive its last victim.
  • The Radioactive Exclusion Zone definitely doesn't sound fun. It's a bleached and near-lifeless stretch of tunnels where the radiation has mutated what flora remains, to the point where you can see tumors and eyes on the cave walls in places. The Glyphids aren't immune to the radiation either, with the Exploders and Praetorians having a habit of forming large radioactive auras to wear you down with.
  • The Dense Biozone is described as being dominated by a subterranean rainforest, and it lives up to that comment. Vast stretches of the region are covered in bizarre and often lethal alien flora, and though it can be oddly pretty, it's still unnerving considering the rest of Hoxxes is either dead, disgusting, or some combination. Besides the hazards of exploding plants, you might also see entire caverns filled with Glyphid Swarmer eggs, looking something like a scene from Alien.
  • The Fungus Bogs is another region overgrown with vast amounts of lethal alien flora, ranging from poison gas-spewing mushrooms to fields of highly explosive plants that can be easily set off by stray fire. Already unnerving due to its contrast with the otherwise near-lifeless Hoxxes, it's made even worse by the presence of more Glyphid Eggs, which imply this boggy hellhole is another breeding ground for the Glyphids you face.
  • The Glacial Strata is a Slippy-Slidey Ice World with all sorts of danger. Crevasses can abruptly open up if you so much as step a toe on them, causing a Dwarf to fall in and need to climb back out. Black ice can make you skid and slip. Patches of snow disable your sprint. And finally, blizzards come regularly, removing all visibility while gradually chilling you more and more until you finally freeze in place in time for a swarm to finish you off.
  • The Hollow Bough is a peculiar place. It's a massive Tree Trunk Tour, or maybe it's better to say it was — the terrain is made of Petrified Wood instead of rock, and infested in places with dozens of disgusting maggot-like woodworms to show that this is a dying place. The cause of that death? Invasive and dangerous red, thorny vines that have overtaken the biome. Tangles of smaller vines cut off tunnels, but react to damage by quickly snaking into the walls in an eerie matter, only to slowly undulate their way back into position a few seconds later. If you pause to listen, you can constantly hear the sound of groaning wood and leafy hissing, suggesting that said vines are burrowing deeper into the area all around you. Of special note are the Stabber Vines, blade-tipped vines that will slowly angle towards you with a groaning sound if you draw too close, then thrust forward in a clear attempt to impale you. Destroying all of them makes an unseen something scream out in pain.
  • The Azure Weald, much like the Dense Biozone, is oddly serene and beautiful, but still dangerous. The darkness is partially lit up by glowing neon plants that give it a psychedelic feeling, and while there's no unique weather or enemies here, it's still unnerving, especially since all the animal life's background noise makes it harder to hear the hostile Glyphids coming. One of the ambient creatures here, the Mobula Cave Angel, has a decidedly ugly appearance, complete with craggy hide and perpetually-gaping mouth. Even the Dwarves are unsettled by it.
  • And finally, the Magma Core. It's a Lethal Lava Land where geysers of fire and burning terrain are the norm, and the exploding plants from the Fungus Bogs and Dense Biozone also appear here. During missions, there will sometimes be intense quakes, which can and will rip the ground apart to reveal small pits to fall into, like the Glacial Strata. Combine that with terrain that becomes hot and damages you when it's damaged by anything other than a pickaxe, and it's a location that just seems to hate you with every fiber of its being.
  • The icing on top is that it's clear that there's more to Hoxxes IV than what we know so far. There are fossilized remains of enormous xenoforms in places like the Dense Biozone and Sandblasted Corridors, suggesting that the Glyphids weren't always the dominant lifeform. More baffling are the bizarre but obviously crafted "Error Cubes" rarely found in cave walls surrounded by pulsing, glowing spikes, the twisted "Error Helixes" in the Radioactive Exclusion Zone, and the glowing standing stone circles or the anti-gravity pits in the Azure Weald, all of which suggest that this planet was at one point inhabited by intelligent life. Not even your Terrain Scanner can make sense of them, and the lack of information just makes them creepier.
• On Egg Hunt missions, you're tasked with extracting alien eggs buried within large fleshy structures embedded in the walls. As soon as you dig enough to cause the egg to come free, the entire cave groans and shudders as the countless unseen Glyphids seemingly realize what you are doing to their eggs and begin massing into swarms. If those are their eggs; Swarmer eggs look completely different, and the possibility that Egg Hunt missions are scavenging something else's progeny might be even worse.
• Elimination missions involve seeking out Dreadnoughts that are pupating in their cocoons and destroying them before they can potentially grow into something much more dangerous. Dreadnoughts are already bad enough with being boss-tier enemies and taking immense punishment to take down - what could possibly be more dangerous than that?
  • Dreadnoughts in general are terrifying. They're massive, heavily armored Glyphids that can deal immense damage and explode the terrain around them while you try desperately to break their armor and blast their backside. Coupled with the guttural roars and growls they make, it certainly is intense. There is also a low but non-zero chance that they can spawn outside of Elimination missions, and it's always nightmare-inducing when they do.
    Mission Control: Scanner reports significant seismic activity... and it's heading your way. Dig in and prepare.
• Bulk Detonators are what happens if an Exploder somehow survives long enough to mutate into a massive, horrific creature covered in ugly tumors and stretched-out flesh. They attack by releasing fiery shockwaves that are a One-Hit Kill on the higher difficulties, can dig through terrain to come after you, and if slain, do their best to take you with them by exploding in a massive blast radius, vaporizing their immediate surroundings and raining bomblets even further. Even when you can't see them, you'll definitely be aware of their presence when you hear this odd, dark laughter-like sound, along with heavy footfalls. One's arrival is likely to cause players to panic, and only the most steely-nerved team will resist the (lethal) urge to split up and flee.
  • It's rare, but there's the possibility of a Bulk Detonator spawning near you right as you turn around. Guaranteed to cause a few screams. They also have a nasty habit of spawning in side tunnels, and if a swarm was drowning out the sound, your first hint the Bulk is there is when the wall directly next to you collapses like wet cake revealing the behemoth already in killing range.
  • It's worth nothing that even when fighting Dreadnoughts, pinging the enemy will have the Dwarves shouting advice on how to defeat them. But pinging a Bulk Detonator?
    Dwarf: Aw SHITE!! Detonator! Repeat, Detonator!
  • The Unknown Horror, which only appears in missions with the "Haunted Cave" modifier, is a gigantic, ghostly Bulk Detonator that is completely invincible, extremely persistent, and will hunt you the entire mission. There’s absolutely no hiding from it, you just have to keep running and running until you manage to complete all your objectives. The only saving grace is that it does less damage than the regular Bulk Detonator, so there's less chance of it killing you by itself.
• Cave Leeches. Disgusting "bags of grease" that hang from the ceilings of caves. When you wander underneath them, a long hissing arm descends out of the darkness, and more often then not you only realize it’s about to grab you when it’s already too late to do anything. Once grabbed, it drags you up to the ceiling with a bizarre scream where it’s three other arms begin to shred you, and you’re completely helpless if you don’t have a certain perk (or Bosco isn't with you). At this point you can only hope the person coming to revive you notices your desperately typed warnings in chat, as it will immediately turn it’s attention towards them...
• The Haunted Cave warning is already terrifying enough, but some of the other mission warnings are frightening enough to swear off doing missions with them:
  • Cave Leech Cluster makes an encounter with the already-frightening Cave Leeches a guarantee, and they occur in larger numbers, to boot. This constantly forces you to be on your toes, especially if you're playing solo or in absence of a diligent Scout with their Flare Gun. Catching out a Cave Leech as it attempts to grab you offers no relief, as the next one might be just around the next corner waiting to pull you into its clutches. The creatures also have no qualms with nesting in packs where two or more of them can reach for you at once, and a missed shot or reaction can easily lead to a gruesome doom.
  • Elite Threat sounds rather challenging in a non-scary manner, until you've earned the attention of one of the elite enemies the warning throws at you. Already threatening enemies like the Glyphid Slasher and Praetorian take dozens of bullets to kill, all while they're quickly cutting you to ribbons. Worst of all, the mutator can empower the already fear-inducing Bulk Detonator, giving it a substantial speed boost that forces your team to drop everything they're doing to run from it or die trying. Little else on Hoxxes is as terrifying the rapid thundering of an Elite Bulk Detonator hot on your heels, seconds away from effortlessly crushing you into a fiery paste.
  • Low Oxygen drops you into an environment with unbreathable air, forcing you to periodically regroup at mission-critical equipment to replenish your air and avoid suffocating. The bad part happens when you don't replenish your air enough, at which point a high-pitched warning and your dwarf remind you of the danger that you're in. If you can't reach Molly or a resupply pod in time, the warning gets more and more rapid and your dwarf desperately gasps for air, until you take rapid damage and eventually collapse. You're treated to the disturbing cries of your dwarf realizing how doomed they are and taking their last dying gasps of air, at the mercy of help that may never come.
  • Parasites makes you well-acquainted with the Carnivorous Larva, as described in the page quote. Immediately upon killing another creature, at least one larva erupts from the dead host at surprising speed to chase you down. If they catch up to you, they leap up to your face and attempt to infest you, dealing a chunk of damage and squealing all the while. While the dwarves seem to suffer little long-term effect from their infestation, the same can't be said for the bugs you fight, each and every one of which is ridden with the larvae, host to the writhing worms until they die.
• The elevator plants of the Dense Biozone are harmless, and even helpful, but if you destroy one, they'll let out a terrifying scream, seemingly out of nowhere. It's much more creepy than it sounds, especially since nothing about it is explained.
• The Nemesis is a Rival Corporation robot designed to kill the dwarves, and is extremely efficient. Any dwarf that gets within range is highly likely to fall victim to its grabbing arms, which, not unlike a Cave Leech, will incapacitate and damage them by crushing and electrocuting them until they go down. Even more disturbingly, it has final words to make it sound like it could even be sentient which would be a particularly disturbing possibility... its liability to quote part of Roy Batty's Last Words especially doesn't help this line of thought.
  • There's also its mimicry of dwarven cries for help. The creepiness hits harder when it's a voice you know normally being imitated, creeping ever closer and louder as it repeatedly calls for help...
• The Rockpox. Dear God, the Rockpox. Originating from an infected meteor being shredded by Hoxxes IV's gravity, the fragments of the meteor carry Plague Hearts that, over time, mature into full Contagion Spikes that infect the area with the Lithophage. If the nickname the Dwarves give it didn't clue you in, a lithophage is a sickness of rock itself. It creates nasty yellow boils across infected surfaces, along with a web of dark reddish-brown "tendrils" across a wider area, and if it catches any Dwarf, they need to struggle free or take damage and be immobilized. Not to mention, the larvae of the Pox will infect old, dead Glyphids and Praetorians (or worse, they weren't dead until it infected them) and turn them into shambling monstrosities that can eat a ton of bullets unless the yellow boils on them are destroyed, which instantly puts them down once all are gone. It's bad enough that the Dwarves mention "Even the Glyphids don't deserve this!".
  • Even after the Contagion Spikes are cleansed, the dark tendrils remain, making for a seriously creepy vibe when you are completing the actual mission objective.
  • When a Dwarf is reaching full Rockpox infection, a heartbeat is audible. While this is normally a bad sign as it is, as that means your HP is low, it's not the same sound. Instead, it's faster and higher-pitched, implying that the Rockpox also has a heartbeat. Sweet dreams, Miners...
  • While in the middle of a mission, you might hear something like a distant explosion, followed by rumbling... and then comes the sirens and Mission Control warning you that one or more meteor fragments are about to hit the cave you're in, giving you just seconds to get out of the impact area before an explosive crash-landing. Worse, during dialogue between the Season 3 story assignment missions, Mission Control speculates that the meteors seem to be deliberately aiming for the planet to spread the contagion, and sure enough, you'll never see a full-sized Lithophage meteor hit an area already under a Lithophage warning.
  • Once you crack open the meteor(s) and deposit one or more Plague Hearts into the MULE, you're treated to an unexpected Jump Scare the next time you go to deposit and see a bunch of Plague Heart tendrils wriggling from the open receptacle, stretching and trying to crawl out of it.
  • Oh, and the Rockpox is on the Space Rig, too. Everywhere. Samples near the Equipment Terminal crawling their way out of their test tubes. Samples snaking out of the fridge by the Abyss Bar, which has been chained shut in a vain attempt to contain it. In an old noodle box under the Equipment Terminal, in the inactive M.U.L.E.s near the forge, in a bucket next to the Deep Dive terminal, growing unchecked near the gravity controls, and even inside the med bay. And nothing is being done to clean that mess up and make sure the stuff is properly contained. Oh, and of course, it can still infect you just like it does during missions if you stand on it long enough.
    • As of Season 4, the situation is even worse. Not only are there large patches of Rockpox growing in the open, most blatantly over the minigun being worked on at the Equipment Terminal, it's now spreading across the exterior of the Space Rig's windows like kudzu, growing in hard vacuum.
  • Mission Control's lines in-between the story missions are pretty dark as well; not only does he confirm infected Glyphids are pretty much in constant agony, but he also lets it slip that the Rockpox has been such a massive threat DRG has been losing entire teams at an alarming rate.
    Mission Control: You did admirably, team. Admirably. But... we... lost three more teams while you were down there. Damn it all to hell...
  • Season 4, Critical Corruption shows the Lithophage situation going From Bad to Worse. Not only has it managed to infect the Mactera Goo Bombers and Naedocyte Breeders, but it has also caused more horrifying mutations in Glyphids, including Acidspitters and Exploders. Then, there's the Corruptors, which are what Plague Hearts have begun evolving into — fully mobile, tentacled horrors with Nigh-Invulnerable shells that spread the Rockpox wherever they go. Even though it still can't infect Dwarves, the Lithophage is becoming so powerful and virulent that it looks determined to devour Hoxxes entirely if it's not stopped.
  • During the second phase of the seasonal assignment missions, Mission Control drops a bombshell that implies that the Lithophage may have realized what poses the greatest threat to it.
    Mission Control: Back in one piece, good work. More bad news, I'm afraid, miners. Space Rig 5 has been struck head-on by a Rockpox meteor fragment. The station fusion core, they, um... all hands are considered lost.

---