This is based on opinion. Please don't list it on a work's trope example list.
Moment pages are Spoilers Off by default, so all spoilers were removed. Proceed with caution. You Have Been Warned
What? Did you expect the game that has you battling Satan himself to NOT have nightmarish moments? Here are some of the worst:
- The Zakarum Cathedral of Tristram, dark and endless and full of all kinds of monstrosities.
- Load the disc in, and the splash screen gives you a full-body shot of Diablo himself, and plays Evil Laughter to boot.
- The Darkening of Tristram
as described in the Librarius Ex Horadrim from the Diablo I Manual, particularly the vivid description of the possession of young Prince Albrecht by Diablo himself, and the horrific effects it has upon both the poor kid and the surrounding vicinity of the labyrinth. Diablo IIIs retcon of Archbishop Lazarus into a demon worshipper who knew what was down there actually makes it less scary, because in the original game he was a devout follower of the Zakarum faith who was nonetheless corrupted by Diablo's mere presence, losing control of his own body and forced to watch in silent horror as it moved on its own to release the Prime Evil sealed beneath Tristram. - Special mention goes to "The Butcher", a huge, fat demon who has made his residence in Tristram's church. In a tiny room completely filled wall-to-wall with corpses on the second floor of the dungeons. It's a nasty surprise if you decided to investigate this innocuous-looking room (from the outside). He killed a fairly large regiment of soldiers by himself, and he'll probably kill you without a problem, too.
"Ah! Fresh meat!"
- There is a cut introductory cinematic of the Butcher, which showed him hacking the human body and hooking it onto the wall. As you can see, there was a good reason to not include the video into the final version of the game. A modified version of this cinematic acted as [[ the Butcher's character video]] for Heroes of the Storm.
- Hell (levels 13-16) is a horrifying Bleak Level where walls, stairs, and corridors consist of bones, oceans of blood, and is littered with corpses either impaled or hanging on walls. Its level theme doesn't help as it's quite devoid of actual music — being more of a mixture of oppressive drumbeats, incessant scratching, and a Drone of Dread. Welcome to hell, indeed. It's rather telling that the version seen in II, while no less nightmarish, is not as morbid (and visceral) like the first game.
- When it's time to finally confront the Lord of Terror, the final floor is simply called Diablo — and then the loading screen shows a pentagram surrounded by the flames of Hell, and the shadow of the Prime Evil. He knows you're coming, and he's ready to kill you and merely holding back Hell on Earth for the pleasure of doing so.
- Of course there's the ending too, although in particular when you defeat Diablo as a Rogue. Her scream in the final FMV sequence is nothing short of genuinely chilling. It's even more hopeless when you learn that Diablo has possessed your character.
- Even worse, your victory over Diablo may feel a bit hollow when you realize he's possessing Albrecht — weakened, far from his greatest power, and not much of a host. Who is now pale, drained of life and now little more than a corpse on your screen with a gored hole in the front of his head where the Soulstone laid. And he still has enough in him, either by a twisted possession or his body giving out, to have one last breath and stare at you before you jam Diablo's prison in your own head.
- While Diablo II does spell out how little your victory amounted to, even within the game the tone of the closing narration is far from optimistic, as it somberly establishes that you're already suffering from Sanity Slippage and your decision to undertake a pilgrimage is essentially an act of desperation. The way the game just ends after this narration is likely to leave you with a pit of dread in your stomach even if you don't know how things turn out in the sequels.
- The manual tells how Tal Rasha, the leader of the Horadrim, sacrificed himself to contain the soulstone of Baal (which had been shattered, meaning that Baal's essence would eventually be able to escape). Tal Rasha had the shard driven into his heart, and his companions sealed him inside a tomb to wrestle with the spirit of Baal for eternity.
- The poem that enables the "Halls of the Blind" quest reeks of Paranoia Fuel:
I can see what you see not—
When you turn, they will be gone,
Whispering their hidden song.
Then you see what cannot be—
Shadows move where light should be.
Out of darkness, out of mind,
Cast down into the Halls of the Blind.
