History NightmareFuel / MetalGearSolidVThePhantomPain

* From the launch trailer, we see an extended version of the transition of Snake from his ''Ground Zeroes'' form to his "demon" form. It starts with his ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid3'' self, cuts to his ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolidPeaceWalker'' self, then to his ''Ground Zeroes'', post-awakening and demon forms. The demon form is engulfed in flames and we see him with no skin (The current page image), much like he was post-''VideoGame/MetalGear2SolidSnake''. He is then replaced with Skull Face, implying that they're not so different.

* There is one particularly brutal cutscene where Quiet attacks a DD soldier, which escalates into her jamming a knife into his mouth and ''[[TheToothHurts prying out his teeth]]''.

* The puppet soldiers. Just... the puppet soldiers. Basically Soviet or African soldiers infected with the Skulls' parasites. While, probably not as nightmarish as the Skulls, they're still pretty damned creepy, basically being PeoplePuppets controlled by the Skulls. They [[ZombieGait stumble around erratically like zombies]], have blank and lifeless expressions and [[UndeathlyPallor sickly pale]], [[TaintedVeins veiny skin]], and have green orbs flickering around them to indicate mind control, and if you get too close to one, they'll grab you and presumably ''steal your soul'', providing you with [[InstakillMook instant death]]. You can kill them, but that will immediately alert the Skulls to your presence.

* The puppet soldiers. Just... the puppet soldiers. Basically Soviet or African soldiers infected with the Skulls' parasites. While, probably not as nightmarish as the Skulls, they're still pretty damned creepy, basically being PeoplePuppets controlled by the Skulls. They [[ZombieGait stumble around erratically like zombies]], have blank and lifeless expressions and [[UndeathlyPallor sickly pale]], [[TaintedVeins veiny skin]], and have green orbs flickering around them to indicate mind control, and if you get too close to one, they'll grab you and presumably ''steal your soul'', providing you with an insta-kill. You can kill them, but that will immediately alert the Skulls to your presence.
** Also even after Skull Face's death and [[WhatHappenedToTheMouse immediate disappearance of the Skulls]], that's still not the last you see of the soldiers. At one point of the game you're required to complete several side-ops involving rescuing the African children you saved in an earlier mission from various enemy outposts. All of them seem simple enough and everything seems normal, until you get to the fifth child, that is. He's located in Da Smasei Laman, the same outpost where you find the Honey Bee, but once you get there expecting the place to be crawling with enemy guards, you'll find that there is absolutely no one in sight. Upon using D-Dog or having Quiet scout the area, you'll find that there are a whole crowd of guards in one of the caves along with the prisoner. Okay, so they're guarding the child. Strange that they're only in that one place, but ah well. But then you get closer to investigate and notice something off about the guards. They're walking in a strange gait, almost like they're drunk. And then the [[OhCrap "oh shit"]] realization kicks in when you realize that they're all parasite-infected soldiers. While there are fortunately no Skulls around, it would definitely catch a first-time player off-guard and [[NothingIsScarier cause them to fear alerting a Skull to their presence]]. The creepiest part though is that it's never explained where these guards even came from as there are no Skulls around.
*** And that right there is not even the last of them, either. Later on there are several side-ops where you must eliminate wandering puppet soldiers from various bases, and the description confirms that [[AndIMustScream the soldiers are doomed to forever be zombies]] ([[GameplayAndStorySegregation unless you Fulton them that is]]). Adding to the creep factor is the fact that a lot of these soldiers are located inside buildings, forcing you to [[NothingIsScarier maneuver through dark hallways]] to take them out and barely giving you elbow room to avoid their soul-sucking attack.

As the darkest games of the ''Franchise/MetalGear'' franchise, both ''[[VideoGame/MetalGearSolidVGroundZeroes Ground Zeroes]]'' and ''[[VideoGame/MetalGearSolidVThePhantomPain The Phantom Pain]]'' have some A-grade military terror.

* The implications of [[TheReveal Truth: The Man Who Sold the World]] are horrifying once you look back. All throughout the game, the player has watched as Big Boss and Diamond Dogs slowly grow darker and darker, their morals getting progressively grayer. Even at the beginning, there's already a sense of corruption. And from there, things only get worse. At the beginning of the game, you're rescuing animals, saving prisoners, and helping rebels fight invading forces. By the end, you're taking advantage of conflicts to receive missions from both sides, stealing the BigBad's ultimate weapon and leaving him to [[CruelAndUnusualDeath slowly bleed out after you blow off his limbs.]] The entire game is supposedly about watching Big Boss's fall from grace, and that seems to be what you get. And then you're hit with the truth. You were never watching Big Boss turn, because ''it's already happened''. Big Boss didn't do all the morally ambiguous or downright immoral things that happened in this game, he made ''you'' do it on his behalf.

* In Mission 20 you visit the Ngumba Industrial Zone, also known as "The Devil's House". It's straight out of a horror movie. First off, [[NothingIsScarier there are no guards]]. Then you actually enter the building and discover that something horrible is going on here because the floor is covered in blood, scraps of flesh, and (in one case) a coil of intestines. The place has been converted into a facility used by Cypher to test biological weapons on live human subjects. Soon enough you find dozens of barely-alive children strapped to beds with ''audio cables inserted into their throats''. The conditions are horrible and rats run across the floor. When you find the child you were sent to rescue, he begs you to kill him and end his suffering. And, just to set the scene, there's a green tent just outside the Ngumba Industrial Zone with a radio in it. The radio plays the [=famou=]'''Two Oh Four Eight Six Three'''[=s=] radio conversations from [[VideoGame/SilentHills the P.T. trailer]] that's since been [=remo=]'''Look behind you. I SAID, LOOK BEHIND YOU.'''

-->'''Miller:''' You--he's responsible for... for all of this! Think of all the men... he didn't lose a damn '''thing'''! '''This is the enemy!''' '''AND HE'S HERE ON HIS KNEES!'''

* The '''[[OurGhostsAreDifferent Man on Fire]]''', a literal demon that you are [[BlatantLies kindly]] introduced to just seconds into the game, and only getting worse from there. In a setting where nanomachines can make people into superhuman warriors, cyborg ninjas that can slice through vehicles like butter, and psychics that [[BreakingTheFourthWall demolish the fourth wall]]... the Man on Fire quickly establishes itself as ''the'' [[StoryBreakerPower most powerful]] character in the series, being NighInvulnerable thanks to his supernatural nature and his EnergyAbsorption abilities, which it uses to great effect to decimate '''anything''' in sight coupled its trademark [[PlayingWithFire fire-based attacks]], making a fight against the thing almost impossible. And while [[WeaksauceWeakness water momentarily halts it]], [[ImplacableMan it'll simply come back around the corner sooner or later to try again]]. Not to mention it's after '''YOU''' the entire time, annihilating everything that gets in its way as it chases you down. Which is understandable, seeing as he's a [[ArtificialZombie revived Volgin from]] ''[[VideoGame/MetalGearSolidThreeSnakeEater Snake Eater]]'', [[ArtificialZombie who's been in a vegetative state thanks to the Sorrow]], only leaving his [[RoaringRampageofRevenge rage]] (coupled with the help of Tretij) to build up after Big Boss ruined him, serving as the only reason why he's able to even ''walk'', let alone be the unstoppable nightmare that he is.

* The '''[[OurGhostsAreDifferent Man on Fire]]''', a literal demon that you are [[BlatantLies kindly]] introduced to just seconds into the game, and only getting worse from there. In a setting where nanomachines can make people into superhuman warriors, cyborg ninjas that can slice through vehicles like butter, and psychics that [[BreakingTheFourthWall demolish the fourth wall]]... the Man on Fire quickly establishes itself as ''the'' [[StoryBreakerPower most powerful]] character in the series, being NighInvulnerable thanks to his supernatural nature and his EnergyAbsorption abilities, which it uses to great effect to decimate '''anything''' in sight coupled its trademark [[PlayingWithFire fire-based attacks]], making a fight against the thing almost impossible. And while [[WeaksauceWeakness water momentarily halts it]], [[ImplacableMan it'll simply come back around the corner sooner or later to try again]]. Not to mention it's after '''YOU''' the entire time, annihilating everything that gets in its way as it chases you down. Which is understandable, seeing as he's a [[ArtificialZombie revived Volgin from]] ''[[VideoGame/MetalGearSolid2SnakeEater Snake Eater]]'', [[ArtificialZombie who's been in a vegetative state thanks to the Sorrow]], only leaving his [[RoaringRampageofRevenge rage]] (coupled with the help of Tretij) to build up after Big Boss ruined him, serving as the only reason why he's able to even ''walk'', let alone be the unstoppable nightmare that he is.

* The '''[[OurGhostsAreDifferent Man on Fire]]''', a literal demon that you are [[BlatantLies kindly]] introduced to just seconds into the game, and only getting worse from there. In a setting where nanomachines can make people into superhuman warriors, cyborg ninjas that can slice through vehicles like butter, and psychics that [[BreakingTheFourthWall demolish the fourth wall]]... the Man on Fire quickly establishes itself as ''the'' [[StoryBreakerPower most powerful]] character in the series, being NighInvulnerable thanks to his supernatural nature and his EnergyAbsorption abilities, which it uses to great effect to decimate '''anything''' in sight coupled its trademark [[PlayingWithFire fire-based attacks]], making a fight against the thing almost impossible. And while [[WeaksauceWeakness water momentarily halts it]], [[ImplacableMan it'll simply come back around the corner sooner or later to try again]]. Not to mention it's after '''YOU''' the entire time, annihilating everything that gets in its way as it chases you down. Which is understandable, seeing as he's a [[ArtificialZombie revived Volgin from ''Snake Eater'', who's been in a vegetative state thanks to the Sorrow]], only leaving his [[RoaringRampageofRevenge rage]] (coupled with the help of Tretij) to build up after Big Boss ruined him, serving as the only reason why he's able to even ''walk'', let alone be the unstoppable nightmare that he is.

* In Mission 20 you visit the Ngumba Industrial Zone, also known as "The Devil's House". It's straight out of a horror movie. First off, [[NothingIsScarier there are no guards]]. Then you actually enter the building and discover that something horrible is going on here because the floor is covered in blood, scraps of flesh, and (in one case) a coil of intestines. The place has been converted into a facility used by Cypher to test biological weapons on live human subjects. Soon enough you find dozens of barely-alive children strapped to beds with ''audio cables inserted into their throats''. The conditions are horrible and rats run across the floor. When you find the child you were sent to rescue, he begs you to kill him and end his suffering. And, just to set the scene, there's a green tent just outside the Ngumba Industrial Zone with a radio in it. The radio plays the [=famou=][[AC:''Two Oh Four Eight Six Three'']][=s=] radio conversations from [[VideoGame/SilentHills the P.T. trailer]] that's since been [=remo=][[AC:''Look behind you. I SAID, LOOK BEHIND YOU.'']]
** When the radio says that, ''Snake looks behind him''. And despite the fact that you can rotate the 3rd-person camera so that you can see that there's nothing in the tent with you, you're still half-convinced that something is about to come through the tent wall. [[TheFourthWallWillNotProtectYou And maybe the television.]]

** The worst part? The appearance of the broadcast in this game [[WMG/MetalGearSolidV may imply]] that '''''[[ParanoiaFuel THE TOWN OF SILENT HILL EXISTS IN THE METAL GEAR UNIVERSE.]]''''' Just think for a moment about what that could mean. A town that lures in the broken and guilty, then turns their own nightmares into living horrors...in a world filled with wars, wounded veterans suffering from PTSD, people representing the worst of humanity, and ''actual goddamn psychics.'' One shudders to imagine what Silent Hill would do to a person like Solid Snake...

* There's something extremely disquieting about the gameplay in this installment of the franchise that really highlights the WarIsHell theme going on in all the games. Actions that could be seen as comical in other games like this are absolutely chilling, due in part to the incredible animations, sound design and feedback. Shooting someone and watching them bleed out is very disturbing, and acts like slitting someones throat or shooting them in the chest with a shotgun can very easily unnerve some players.
** Going lethal in general is quite uncomfortable. While it may feel awesome to lay waste to an outpost, shooting and throwing grenades and bombarding them, it also feels extremely uncomfortable afterwards- the complete silence, coupled with all the smoke and destruction can make you realize just how much damage you did in a short time. Walking out of a base and seeing bodies torn up by gunfire and covered in soot and burns, eyes turned up in their heads and their mouths left agape in horror makes you realize just how easy it is to get PTSD. No wonder Big Boss, Snake and Raiden all suffer from it. The worst part? [[ForeverWar This is the world Big Boss wants--the world where he feels he belongs.]]
** Getting a lethal headshot. [[YourHeadAsplode A powerful enough round will burst the victim's head open like a grape accompanied by a]] '''[[SickeningCrunch SPLURTCH]]'''.
* The escape from the hospital is as creepy and disturbing as any early ''Franchise/SilentHill'' game.
** Aside from the general terror of the Man On Fire [[ImplacableMan relentlessly pursuing you]], the hospital section offers up plenty of terror, from the silent, gas-masked child (presumably Psycho Mantis) who can suddenly appear ''right next to you'', to Quiet's first appearance, silently garrotting a nurse to death and then leaving you unable to help as she murders the kindly doctor who has walked you through waking up, before turning her relentless attention to ''you''. Special mention also goes to Skull Face's XOF troops and their casually butchering the hospital staff, including a horrific encounter where you're trapped between two squads of them in a hallway, like fish in a barrel.
** The pure sadism the [[SociopathicSoldier XOF troopers]] display in the prologue alone is unsettling. To put it lightly, [[TheresNoKillLikeOverKill they stretch out several of the executions by deliberately shooting patients in non vital areas multiple times]] to make them SCREAM before [[KickTheDog gruesomely killing them]] when they are clearly in a position for a clean kill.
* Just the general concept of what Big Boss wakes up to is horrifying. Waking up unable to move, loss of limbs, being haunted by demons, and being hunted by people who want you dead are the subjects of nightmares. And Big Boss has the [[SarcasmMode wonderful luck]] of waking up to all of them ''at the same time''.
** The ControllableHelplessness of the early hospital section is truly frightening without there being any real horror material in there; only able to loosely move your head, the controls sluggish and muted, they did a great job of simulating the inability to do anything.
** Early on, the doctor tending to Snake (the same one Quiet garrotes to death) informs him that among the 108 foreign bodies lodged from the explosion in ''Ground Zeroes'' are ''human bone and teeth.'' With the implications that those were from Paz, meaning he's been carrying pieces of her inside him this entire time. And that in a twisted, literal sense, she is ''always'' close to his heart.
** At one point in the hospital sequence, Snake and Ishmael find themselves in a gated hallway full of innocent, terrified hospital staff and patients. And then the XOF soldiers appear on ''both sides of the hallway'' and massacre everyone around them in horrific, excruciating detail. Later, after hiding out in a room with a tense atmosphere as an XOF soldier patrols around, they resort to FakingTheDead to escape... except the XOF soldiers are [[DoubleTap shooting every corpse they come across]], which creates tension as they approach Snake. But then the Man on Fire appears and [[VillainousRescue prevents them from killing him]]... as if that's any better.
* Miller mutilated by torture, with his right arm removed at the shoulder, his left foot cut off at the ankle, and his eyesight damaged to an unknown extent - a pathetic heap of the man he used to be. While torture sessions in past games were no cake walk, it's horrifying to see torture taken to this extreme where the character's combat career, hell, even just the ability to ''move'' under their own power anymore, is ruined by the extent of their wounds.

* The very fact that Skull Face had a method of easily processing and mass-producing a way to refine/enrich regular nuclear material known commonly by its nickname "Yellow Cake" or "Uranium 235", means that anyone, yes, '''anyone''', including self-built "nation-states" can literally construct their own "build-it-yourself nukes" via his unique parasite-based research, and with Code Talker, the Parasite Specialist that was forcibly used to develop it under threat of his fellow native people dying, [[FateWorseThanDeath or worse]], confirming this method to '''actually work''', meaning this method truly works in that universe, think on that harrowing detail for bit...

* From the launch trailer, we see an extended version of the transition of Snake from his ''Ground Zeroes'' form to his "demon" form. It starts with his ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid3'' self, cuts to his ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolidPeaceWalker'' self, then to his ''Ground Zeroes'', post-awakening and demon forms. The demon form is engulfed in flames and we see him with no skin (The current page image), much like he was post-''VideoGame/MetalGear2SolidSnake''. He is then replaced with Skull Face, implying that they're NotSoDifferent.

-->'''Miller:''' You--he's responsible for...for all of this! Think of all the men...he didn't lose a damn ''thing''! ''This is the enemy!'' '''AND HE'S HERE ON HIS KNEES!'''

* The puppet soldiers. Just...the puppet soldiers. Basically Soviet or African soldiers infected with the Skulls' parasites. While, probably not as nightmarish as the Skulls, they're still pretty damned creepy, basically being PeoplePuppets controlled by the Skulls. They [[ZombieGait stumble around erratically like zombies]], have blank and lifeless expressions and [[UndeathlyPallor sickly pale]], [[TaintedVeins veiny skin]], and have green orbs flickering around them to indicate mind control, and if you get too close to one, they'll grab you and presumably ''steal your soul'', providing you with an insta-kill. You can kill them, but that will immediately alert the Skulls to your presence.

** Kaz's reaction is unnerving as well. When Snake makes the decision to [[CruelMercy set Huey adrift on a life raft]], Miller breaks down, ranting about his crimes and almost ''begging'' Snake to let him kill Huey. There's something so jarring about seeing a normally calm and collected soldier like Miller just...snap.