History NightmareFuel / MassEffect

--->[[spoiler:'''Shepard-Reaper:''' I will lead an army that no one will dare oppose. I will destroy those that threaten the future of the many.]]

[[caption-width:231:That thing's body? Your intestines are its power source.]]

* [[spoiler: Shepard-Reaper]] in the updated control ending is absolutely ''terrifying.''

* Species 37. [[spoiler:The Thorian is a sentient plant that controls minds through Pavlovian MindRape]]. Then you find out that [[spoiler:those that do get infected by Thorian spores slowly rot away while they're still alive, turning into Thorian Creepers]], and promptly lose your lunch. The horror might be somewhat alleviated by the fact that [[spoiler:the [[OneGenderRace asari clones]] it spits out are somehow [[GreenSkinnedSpaceBabe still quite lithe]],]] but [[FridgeLogic then you realize that]] [[spoiler:the fact that this thing can spit out powerful [[MindOverMatter biotics]] at will]] might not be a good thing.

* The literal swarms of Thorian Creepers crouched fetal position on the floor, just ''waiting'' for you to walk closer, before jumping up, '''skipping''' at you, and then just standing in front of you for a moment, swaying slightly, then ''vomiting acid all over you''. The fact that they look like [=ReDeads=] don't help at all. Remember too that they don't all get up when you get close: they're invulnerable while they're inert, but you could be fending off a wave that's swarming from the next room only to realize that you're surrounded by inert creepers...and they're waking up.

** Arguably gets even more terrifying in ME3, with the addition of Nova. The guy Charges into your group, and one of your guys goes flying. But hey, you've got him right where you want him, with a half-dozen of your buddies surrounding him. Then he glows again, and punches the ground, sending out a biotic shockwave that sends everyone around him flying. And then he's Charging again immediately after. He never even bothers with his gun.

** Thankfully, {{Jossed}} via the Extended Cut.

** [[spoiler:[[FridgeHorror Well, I'm never picking that ending ever again]].]]

* From [[http://blog.bioware.com/2012/04/20/concerned-batarians-explain-that-medigel-works-on-them-too-alliance-news-network/ The Alliance News Network]]: While the stuff about even the ''Geth'' getting in on the fun, kicking the Batarians when they're down is somewhat ''hilarious''... there's a little titbit from before that which is truly horrifying. Apparently, most Allied forces aren't bothering to shout warnings to the Batarian soldiers that there's a freaking ''Banshee'' behind them!

* [[spoiler: If you try to shoot the Cataylst; his/its voice will go from [[VoiceOfTheLegion disturbing]] to flat out [[NightmareFuel scary as hell]] as he/it threatens to let the cycle continue.]]

* [[spoiler: In the Extended Cut's Synthesis ending, the energy wave hits a husk attacking an Alliance solider. After the wave passes over, the husk rolls off of the solider, looking confused and bewildered. Implying that the husk has been freed from Reaper control and isn't a mindless killing machine. Meaning it's either a full blank slate in a humanoid form or its regained the memories and personality that it had before being transformed, through torture at the hands of the Reapers/Cerberus, used to kill people. And if it happened to one husk, it's likely to have happened to all of them. Husks, cannibals, marauders, ''banshees,'' '''brutes'''... ALL of them.]]

*** ''Jack''? Think about GRUNT!!! How would ''you'' feel if a giant, hulking beast came charging at you, roaring [[ThisIsSPARTA "I! AM! KROGAAAAAAN!"]] at the top of their lungs? Not to mention that if said beast hits you, he would probably break every bone in your body.

* The literal swarms of Thorian Creepers crouched fetal position on the floor, just ''waiting'' for you to walk closer, before jumping up, '''skipping''' at you, and then just standing in front of you for a moment, swaying slightly, then ''vomiting acid all over you''. The fact that they look like ReDeads don't help at all. Remember too that they don't all get up when you get close: they're invulnerable while they're inert, but you could be fending off a wave that's swarming from the next room only to realize that you're surrounded by inert creepers...and they're waking up.

* Brutes. [[HybridMonster Reaper-engineered hybrids of turians and krogans.]] Leaving aside the fact that we're talking about a cross between a race of SpaceRomans and [[ProudWarriorRaceGuy Proud Warrior Race Guys]]. Leaving aside the fact that their appearance is just [[http://images1.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20120104202658/masseffect/images/9/90/ME3_Brute.png hideously monstrous.]] The most bowel-clenchingly scary part of them is that krogans and turians are incompatable on a protein-level. They can't even eat the same food let alone reproduce. Try to imagine the levels of BodyHorror the Reapers had to inflict upon turians and krogans to produce such an abomination. Knowing how the reapers do business, they were probably alive and screaming when it happened, just like [[spoiler:the colonists on the collector base.]] And then realize that because they're so incompatible, their own bodily fluids are likely killing them. Even if they survive this battle, they won't live to see another day. THAT is what lesser beings are to the reapers. That is what you are. You are a thing. You are something to be used. If you are lucky, if they think you're good enough, you will be dissolved and used to make more of the beings that murdered you. If you are found wanting, they will change you until they can make use of you. They will break all the laws of nature until you no longer exist as you once were, until your every cell is being killed by the act of being alive. And when you are of no use for you, you will die. Say what you want about [[StarTrek The Borg]], at least they don't decide one species is worth more to the collective than any other. Even "you will be assimilated" is better than "you will be our tool."

** '''Infiltrator:''' Your platoon is walking along their patrol. It's your turn on point. Nothing's really out of the ordinary, but you think you hear a far off gunshot. Confused, you wave your squad forward. Then you hear the sound again, closer - but this time a spray of blood hits you. You turn back to find that two of your men's heads are just ''gone''. You all dive for cover but another of your men dies, shot in the face even as he dove for a rock. But you saw where the shot came from. You turn and open fire as the distant sniper ducks back under cover. Your team coordinates fire on the spot, keeping the damn sniper pinned as you advance towards their position. Then there's the sound of a sniper rifle, and another one of your friends' heads bursts open like a ripe melon. Your men start firing on the new position and you force them to coordinate to keep both of the snipers pinned down. There's another shot and someone else dies and you can't find the sniper. Everyone scatters, firing wildly. Terrified, you and a companion hide in a small rocky alcove, huddling together out of fear. You watch on your HUD as one by one every other member of your patrol goes dark until it's just the two of you. Where's the sniper? How many are there? Then you hear a sharp crack as your friend's neck snaps, and someone suddenly blurs into existence beside you, the barrel of a pistol jammed against the side of your head. To summarize: You and everyone you care about/work with could be killed, and you'd ''never even see who was doing it.'' The {{Predator}} wishes he could be Infiltrator Shepard.

*** Plus the Infiltrator can carry a sniper rifle DESIGNED TO PIERCE TANKS and use it on normal infantry.
*** And if you get the weapon specialization s/he can carry one that will SHATTER THE ARMS of the average human who fires it.

* TwoWords: ''MSV Worthington''. [[spoiler:A drifting, abandoned ship in space housing a brain-dead man by the name of Jacob, on life support systems. Turns out the crew planned on pulling the plug - the only problem being that it did not go that well with Jacob's [[TheForce biotic]], PTSD girlfriend.]]
** The part where [[spoiler:upon hearing the last entry in the Captain's log, which ended in his bloodcurdling scream, Julia suddenly appears and rabidly attacks you]] made it even more disturbing.
*** To make things even worse, you can search every corner of the entire ship prior to hearing the logs and find nothing, not even a trace of where Julia might be. This means that she must've been hiding very well, [[ParanoiaFuel watching your every move the moment you entered the ship]], and trying to anticipate how much of a threat you were to Jacob before madly rushing in and attempting to kill you.
* The [[spoiler:VI on Luna instantly putting up barriers in all doorways after trashing the second processor cluster.]] Even more creepy: The binary code it sends just before it dies? It means "HELP!"
** ''MassEffect2'' reveals that [[spoiler: the VI was actually a sentient Artificial Intelligence. So, you basically killed a sapient being that was just trying to defend itself once the Alliance realised it had become self-aware.]] [[TheTerminator This should sound familiar.]]
*** What's more, in-game information you discover makes you realize that [[spoiler: Cerberus, those goons you're working for, were responsible for hacking the VI and giving it sentience]].
*** MassEffect3 reveals that [[spoiler: EDI used to be that AI.]]
** Or, you know, the quarians.

** And in a way, hauntingly beautiful.

** The first time I went through Ilos, those didn't register. And then I ''saw'' the statues the second time around and had a ".. what the ''fuck''" moment. BodyHorror? Maybe.
** The Collecters are a modified form, so probably not.
*** The Collecter's appearance is very close to actual Protheans, as we finally see them clearly in MassEffect3. Though Javik says his species conquered a lot of other alien civilizations and got them to be a part of their empire to the point of making them call themselves Protheans as well. Maybe the "Prothean" statues seen on Ilos represent a different species that was conquered by actual Protheans.
*** Confirmed. They were the ''Isunannon'', the precursors to the Protheans.

* The sidequest "I Remember Me", available to Colonist background players [[spoiler:where Shepard must talk down a deranged former slave woman.]]
** To make it doubly so, the horrors Talitha describes? What she went through to drive her to the brink of suicide? Shepard was on the same colony the batarians raided and about the only one to escape.
** OK, seriously, none of you noticed how, A.) she was 5-6 years old when she was taken and B.) she mentions that she lay still as they did things to her in the dark, implying to this troper that batarians raped a little girl. Cue this troper [[DisproportionateRetribution killing every batarian]] [[UnfortunateImplications he came across]].
** Have fun with ''Bring Down the Sky'' and the Renegade ending where you can torture the batarian slave leader.
*** YMMV on that one. The Batarian is trying to smash an asteroid into a colony that contains thousands of lives and has already killed at least 2 others. To some, he deserves nothing less than the Renegade options.
* When [[spoiler:[[EldritchAbomination Sovereign]]]] reveals itself.
** Even better if you'd managed to not spoil yourself before then. The music, [[EvilSoundsDeep the voice]], and the slowly building sensation of dread you feel as you realise just what it is you're up against.

** Tropers have picked this as Satan's voice over Michael Ironside's scary work, that's how powerful it is.
** This troper deliberately has kept a save file right before finding the Cipher so she can have that "conversation" with [[spoiler:Sovereign]] any time she wants a good dose of the chills. And it is a very chilling exchange simply because of how very calm and certain [[spoiler:Sovereign]] is about the fate of the galaxy. The voice also helps. A lot.
* Husks are the reanimated corpses of human beings with their nervous systems replaced with technology. The process is done by ''[[ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice impaling them on a spike]]''. In fact, ''they don't even have to be dead'' to be converted into Husks. The geth (killer robots) don't ''look'' creepy (they have flashlights for heads), but the noise they make when they spot your squad [[strike: made this troper nearly stop playing when he first heard it.]] '''[[HellIsThatNoise HRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH]]''' And then there's Shepard's nightmarish visions of [[spoiler:the Prothean war with the Reapers, which mainly consists of the Protheans getting torn limb from limb by evil cyborgs]].
** Further consider this: [[spoiler:What you are actually watching in those visions is not the destruction of the Protheans per se, but their conversion into the Collectors. There's one side mission in which out of the blue you stumble across another Prothean artifact, which gives you the vision you know inside and out: except this time you are hit with the horrible realisation that one of the figure who is vainly trying to flee has four horizontally arranged eyes which are instantly recognisable. Believe it or not, there is a fate worse than extinction.]]
*** You're not just watching [[spoiler:the Protheans' conversion, either. [[BodyHorror You hear mechanical sawing noises.]] [[FateWorseThanDeath And screaming. Lots of screaming.]]]]
** What makes the Husks even worse? One of their death screeches is the exact same noise that the xenomorphs make from Alien. This troper has watched those movies often enough to recognize it. First time I heard that, I was playing in the dark. With the sound turned way up. Scared me badly enough that I had to turn on the lights in my room for a while.
** Even the Husks' UncannyValley looks and gait (along with their habit of silently running up to people) can make them easily terrifying to see. The first time I saw them, I was freaked out enough to ask a friend who was with me to complete the battle for me, something which I haven't done since I was really little (I'm 24 now, by the way).
* Imagine it. You're peacefully going about your business in the wards of the Citadel when suddenly sirens begin to wail. Completely out of nowhere, unknown, gargantuan starships of unfathomable power emerge and exterminate everything, spreading out across your empire and slaughtering, subjugating or [[spoiler:genetically modifying]] everything you hold dear, then using [[spoiler:the liquefied slurry that used to be your bodies to produce and power more of themselves.]] This is the fate of the Protheans, and innumerable species before them. And it's going to happen again, and again, and again... Seriously, the Reapers themselves are the scariest thing in the game in this troper's opinion.
** Made even worse by several of [[spoiler:Harbinger's]] lines in ''Mass Effect 2'': [[spoiler:"Sentient beings need never fear me." "We are your salvation through destruction." The Reapers believe that they are doing these species a FAVOR.]]
** The ending of the first Prothean message on Ilos springs to mind. [[spoiler:'''''"Cannot be stopped... cannot be STOPPED..."''''']]
** Turned into diesel was the ''lucky'' fate for most of them. The rest [[spoiler: were forcibly mutated into the Collectors.]]
* [[spoiler: The dying asari commando jerking about like a marionette as the Rachni Queen talks through her, or Saren's corpse twitching in the air, screaming as his flesh sloughs off, revealing the metallic skeleton beneath.]]
** That commando isn't dying: she's ''dead''. It's a ''corpse puppet''.
*** The "corpse puppet" never disturbed me as much as Saren's corpse did. Hello BodyHorror.

** Actually, the creepers are NOT infected humans. They're just the Thorian's "children" (it's actually stated somewhere in the Codex, read it for more details). If it were as you say, everyone in the Zhu's Hope colony would've turned a long time ago.

* It was the enormous, shrieking, tentacle-wielding, acid-spitting, crustacean-like rachni that got to this troper.
** Particular mention must go to the fellow in the Hot Labs who tells you to blow up the rachni and get out as fast as possible--[[spoiler:then immediately gets impaled by a rachni warrior that snuck up on him.]] My first thought? "So ''that's'' why this game is rated M . . ."
** Also, Han Olar telling the story of [[spoiler:how he escaped the rachni.]]
** The scariest part is hearing how the rachni in the labs are beyond saving. Essentially, the gist is that [[spoiler:the rachni are a telepathic sentient species. As long as the smaller ones are within telepathic range of the queen, they become intelligent and sentient. If they're outside the queen's range of influence, they go permanently feral. Just thinking about what that must be like, feeling your connection to the queen go, and then your mind following it, is chilling.]]
*** It's even worse then that. Humans need contact with others to stay sane [[spoiler:and so do the rachni. Imagine a human child that has never had anyone hold it, comfort it or even ''talk to it.'' That's the rachni you now face.]]

* The literal swarms of Thorian Creepers crouched fetal position on the floor, just ''waiting'' for you to walk closer, before jumping up, '''skipping''' at you, and then just standing in front of you for a moment, swaying slightly, then ''vomiting acid all over you''. The fact that they look like ReDeads don't help at all.
** Remember too that they don't all get up when you get close: they're invulnerable while they're inert, but you could be fending off a wave that's swarming from the next room only to realize that you're surrounded by inert creepers...and they're waking up.
*** This troper can deal with husks. But the Creepers take the cake for her in UpToEleven in creepy factor. Especially when you hear one moan or whatever and you ''don't know where it is''.
* What about the machine cultists? You hear word that a surveillance team has recently gone missing, you go to check it out. You find their base abandoned and a computer hinting towards a dig site, so you head towards the dig site. [[spoiler:Everyone has been turned into a Husk. The last time this Troper played that mission, he didn't remember the Husks. And he was playing on the hardest difficulty with the pistol (achievement whore). I went in and was immediately set upon by the Husks, and with my measly pistol they were damn hard to kill.I was running backwards, trying desperately to gun down the bastards endlessly coming towards me, I started panicking when I noticed I was the only one shooting but the terror really set in when I collided with the door that had automatically locked behind me, separating me from my team and freedom. They slaughtered me before I could open it. FUCKING. TERRIFYING.]]
** It gets worse in a similar side mission in ''Mass Effect 2''. [[spoiler:While you're out scanning planets for minerals or side missions, you receive an anomalous distress beacon. EDI tells you there's signs of movement, but no organic life, so you assume either rogue robots or geth, so you create your team appropriately to deal with that. WRONG. The landing cinematic shows a "Blink and You'll Miss It" moment of a husk wandering past the entrance, ignoring you. You decide to go back to the Normandy to reform your team appropriately, but the auto-nav makes it fly away, giving you no choice but to press onwards. Once inside, you find a ResidentEvil style file telling you to get the hell out of there, ASAP. That's when the fun begins. Heading deeper into the mines, you find more Husks than the first Mass Effect ever had, and their [[IncendiaryExponent exploding cousins the Abominations]]. Deeper in, you find more files telling of the miners' fates, along with some Husks dropping down from the ceiling, before going through one more mass of Husks to destroy the mines and complete the mission. Did I mention that throughout the whole mission, you hear constant shrieks and moans from the Husks, despite you eradicating every single one of them?]]
*** This troper always assumed that infernal noise to be the first stage of Reaper indoctrination. That certainly motivated me to get the job done and get the hell out of there!

** Shit, that mission scared me so badly the first time that I did it that I got separated from my team and died a horrible, horrible death. Even knowing it now on playthroughs, it's ''still'' hard to get through.
* Indoctrination is the worse thing to happen to anyone. Let's take a situation like Benezia's example, assuming the Reaper has an organic commander like Saren. You initially despise him, can't believe you have to put up with him. And as time goes on, you start agreeing with his commands. You sit at his feet, and smile and nod, while he details all his plans of torture and galactic annihilation. Now, imagine after a while, you are now in a glass box hovering above the world, your arms bound but you are still able to move. It hovers over a man or a woman who looks just like you, as s/he walks through a town, slaughtering innocents. Men, women, children, he kills all of them because the man in the angry mechanical cuttlefish says to. And you try so desperately to stop it, to break the glass by throwing yourself into it, but not even a crack appears. You just keep making yourself weaker, the wo/man quickens their step. And then, when you've finally exhausted yourself, s/he stops, and stands. Just stands, and does nothing else. Maybe mumbles some nonsense. And you lie there, bruised and broken, sobbing until the wo/man dies, and you're finally released. ''That'' is the true definition of Hell.
** ...I think I pissed my pants with fear.
** Worse if you consider that, if you aren't like Benezia, you will feel your mind crumbling bit by bit, until you're just a zombie. Imagine every memory, dream, feeling and desire, being slowly erased, while you're unable to do anything except waiting for your mind to be consumed by the void, leaving [[FateWorseThanDeath no]][[AndIMustScream thing]]...
** Remember that hanging around a Reaper is not the only way to get indoctrinated: [[spoiler:Shepard's "paperweight"]] can do it as well.

** ...thanks. You just made Ilos a hundred times worse for me. I love the architecture, but now the planet has extremely creepy vibes.

* While it didn't cause nightmares, the climactic battle of Mass Effect was enough to make this troper shiver after thinking about it. Sovereign ripped the hell out of the Citadel fleet, and fried a bunch of Alliance cruisers personally. ''And it wasn't even '''trying''' for most of the fight.'' It didn't even bother shooting at the Citadel fleet, and the Alliance was in there pounding on it for several minutes before it got irritated enough to start shooting back. Think about it a bit and you realize that, had Sovereign not dismissed its enemies, and fought a little more seriously, it could have ''still won'' despite everything the the Protheans, Shepard, and the Alliance did to try to stop it. To make that a little plainer, you could have done everything right, and ''still lost.''
** Just goes to show you... you are never more vulnerable when you think yourself invincible.
** Well, to be fair, Sovereign actually didn't get pissed until ''after'' you talk Saren into offing himself and then he, well.. sorta does a bit of.. creative reanimation with Saren's body. But it made me go and wonder just how badly things would have gone if he'd been firing from the start. And then you have to sit back and think [[FridgeHorror that there is an entire race of beings at least as powerful as Sovereign waiting out there]]. Brrrr.
*** Soon coming to a planet near you!

** [[NightmareRetardant His spelling was laughably bad.]]

*** Eh. For ThisTroper it was less "Oh my god he's coming for me!" and more "I'd like to see the bastard try!" You ARE [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast Commander Shepard]], after all.
*** Well, he did survive an encounter with you once.
*** True, but that was just because you were too busy chasing Jack.
** The most disturbing part for this troper was that he sent the message from the terminal in the home of his next victims (presumably the current owners of the chests in question) while he lay in wait for them.
** On this troper's most recent playthrough, he realised that you ''do'' meet this inmate on your way to collect Jack - He's the one being beaten by the guard whilst another watches. So a Paragon Shepard can convince the guards to stop beating the inmate, only for the inmate to run off & start killing innocent people; whilst letting Elnora go can lead to her being placed on the "Most Wanted" list, there's no indication that Billy is arrested or even being looked for.
*** That's Bimmy, not Billy. You can see it from the subtitles.
*** Then again, he could have just been misspelling his own name...

** Anyone else feel sorry for Vido, given the way he goes?

** Considering that he pauses a bit first and has a constant extranet connection, he likely just googled it.

*** Legion is 1,183 individual geth conciousness's working as a Gestalt intellect. That Biblical quote fits the context of his existence quite well in this Tropers opinion.

* [[spoiler:Human-Reaper]]. Take The Terminator exoskeleton, which gave James Cameron nightmares. [[spoiler: Now make it black, change its grin to a demonic look and grow it a thousand feet high]].
** [[spoiler:Oh, and it's [[PoweredByAForsakenChild powered by liquefied humans]].]]
*** [[spoiler:The incarnation of the Human Reaper we see in the games is just the beginning. The Collector Edition art book reveals a few early production sketches and paintings that range from traditional Reaper to human forms. One looks like Sovereign, turned backwards, with a face and exposed brain underneath the cuttlefish crown, with the many tentacles rearranged to look like tiny, malformed limbs. A more human design looked like what can only be described as a gigantic Husk fetus made from running candle wax, three times as big as what we see in the game. Also, what we saw and fought was just a larva in terms of development. Full grown Reapers are all heavily armored behemoths, many times larger than what we faced. The thing in that chamber would have grown, and have gained the equivalent of muscles, flesh, and lots and lots of armor before it was even fit to be "born". Be you unimpressed or already scared shitless by what made the final product, realize that ''it could have been much worse''.]]
* The vorcha, Dear ''god'', the '''VORCHA'''
** Their whole ''kill'em all, KILL'EM ALL,'' '''''KILL'EM ALL!!!!!''''' ChaoticEvil schitck (seriously, they want to kill as many innocents on Omega as possible to help the Collectors) makes you think: they're not trying to save humanity like Saren did, nor are they indoctrinated, they don't even have a grudge like the batarians, they [[TheDarkKnight just want to see the galaxy burn]].
*** Given that they're perceived as being little more than vermin who barely live to see the age of 20 (hard to kill, immune to mass causes of death...yep, space cockroaches), its not surprising. Besides, the AlwaysChaoticEvil [[PlanetOfHats Hat]] they seem to wear is possibly subverted, as there are references to the existence of vorcha miners and engineers. On top of it all, many of those living on Omega are probably poorly educated and extremely distrustful of other races considering the [[ViceCity cutthroat nature of the world]] which they inhabit.
*** Just for instance, one of them says to you, "Tell Gavron we not kill for him today." Captain Gavron ''himself'' tells you that his job is to keep the vorcha "infestation" on Omega under control. There's no quest with it, but it's left heavily implied that Gavron is playing both ends for his own gain: he has the vorcha murder and steal, and he kills the vorcha.
*** I heard the line as "Tell Gavron we not kill anyone today". Meaning they hadn't killed anybody that day and they shouldn't be bothered by the Law.
*** This troper always thought that Gavron was basically ''forcing the vorcha to kill their own'', if they want to be spared his attentions.
*** On Omega, one of the audio ads in the background offers a 3-, 4- or 5-part plan to wipe out your vorcha infestation for good -- all in that cliche, cheery voice of ads everywhere.

** That mission was unsettling enough for this troper...and then I started reading the [[ApocalypticLog log entries]]. For some reason, the line "It's not dead! ''It knows we're inside it!''" just sends shivers down this troper's spine.

*** Not necessarily. The derelict Reaper was merely crippled, and could still operate some systems. Sovereign was blown to pieces - there is a limit to Reaper durability. We shall have to wait and seen.

** That's not nearly as bad as, from that same video log, (and I'm paraphrasing) "I just saw some grey shape out of the corner of my eye, then it disappeared." I thought that log was just a LargeHam until that moment, and then I was royally spooked.
** This tropette just finished her first run through the derelict Reaper ship. Now, silence in an enemy environment has always creeped me out. I knew there were husks waiting for me, but to suddenly hear that low drawn out moan at 4 in the gorram morning while playing in the dark with no one else around? Add in the logs and I just about pissed myself in terror.
** This troper was on her second playthrough, playing as an adept who is the one thing that can decimate husks without a second thought. Putting it on hardcore gives them armor. Every other mission in the game she was able to play through with no problems, no nerves, etc. Come this mission she was shaking, heart rate elevated, just flat out scared despite knowing when and where they normally come from. [[spoiler:In other words... she felt the same way the first steps of indoctrination were sometimes described.]]

** What was terrifying to me was that when Shepard began to repeat what Morinth said in a mono-tone, dead voice. I could almost hear him/her mentally screaming "For the love of God, Samara! Save me!!"
** On that note, this troper found it even more horrifying because the updated graphics in ME2 for when asari do their black-eye thing (we only see Morinth do this without Lair of the Shadow Broker) it looks exactly like the ''demon eyes'' found in [[http://quizilla.teennick.com/user_images/T/TW/TWI/TWIHOST/1223235720_5811_full.jpeg Supernatural.]]

** I [[http://i55.tinypic.com/f20px0.jpg took a picture]] of her facial expression if you decide to [[strike: romance]] screw her (without the black-eye effect, because ''she doesn't need it''). I want to use it as an image macro.

* Delay starting the Suicide Mission and then watch the consequences. [[spoiler:Holy crap, her face is melting!! She's melting!! Aaaa!!]] This troper is long since numb to swearing and comfortable with sexual content, so it wasn't until this point that that the PG18 justification hit home.
** You still see that even if you do hurry, just not on [[spoiler:one of your own crew members]].
** Made even worse by the fact that [[spoiler:you can see your crewmembers' skin starting to slough away as you and your team frantically try to break the pods open. Four words: full-thickness chemical burns.]] This troper had to pause the game for a while after that.
** I remember thinking, "why did the Collectors [[spoiler:keep their prisoners alive and conscious until the very moment of melting]]?" It struck me that it would be simpler to keep them comatose indefinitely. Unless they needed to study their conscious brains for something... ''[[FridgeHorror Holy]] [[AssimilationPlot fucking]] [[AndIMustScream shit]].'' Thereafter, destroying the [[spoiler:Reaper larva]] seemed like the MercyKill of the century.
*** Well, '''that''' is going to make ''Mass Effect 3'' interesting. Are we going to be facing off against hundreds and hundreds of malevolent mechanical constructs, [[spoiler:each of which has been fused together from a civilization's worth of innocent victims]]? Sweet dreams, tropers.
*** Then again, [[AxCrazy some]] are going to be overjoyed at that. When else are you going to get to commit [[spoiler:several billion years' worth of genocide?]]
*** Or, [[YourMileageMayVary depending on how you look at it]], [[spoiler:several billion years' worth of ''[[MercyKill mercy killing]]'']]. * The wreck of the ''Estevanico''...I've always been creeped out by thing like shipwrecks and what-not, but a giant, spooky shell of a space ship, perched precariously over the edge of a cliff? Yikes.
* Listening to Joker's frantic repetition of "oh shit, oh shit, oh shitshitshit..." as [[spoiler:the Collectors swarm through the ''Normandy'' and haul the surviving crew away to a fate potentially worse than death.]] Considering the number of {{Cosmic Horror}}s he's [[DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu shot up]] and [[DidYouJustFlipOffCthulhu flipped off]] over his career, anything that could rattle Joker that badly is some bad juju indeed.
** Except that he did all that ''as a pilot''.
** Subjective. Especially when he nears the core and goes "What the shit?" can be considered a CrowningMomentOfFunny. Then we get this.
--> [[FunnyAneurysmMoment "This is all Joker's fault. What a tool he was.]] [[FridgeHorror I had to spend all day computing pi because he plugged in the Overlord."]]

*** [[spoiler: Joker's never had to look the monsters he's fought in the eye: there's a big difference in horror level between gracefully pirouetting around a missile barrage and hauling your crippled ass past the Cosmic Horror that's slaughtering your shipmates. Also, linked up with EDI's report on the situation, he realizes in startling clarity how boned they really are. Him trying to find refuge in humor at a console is [[SlidingScaleOfComedyAndHorror gallows humor at its best, though]].]]

*** Tali's line sums up the realization better than the wordier descriptions offered by the other party members: -moment of awed silence- "...[[OhMyGods Keelah]]"
*** Made all the more chilling by your squadmates pointing out that the Collectors could stick every man, woman, and child living in the Terminus Systems in those pods and '''still''' have most of them left over. On '''one. Single. Collector. Ship.''' Now recall the Collector Base at the beginning of the suicide mission. Note how small the ship is in comparison to the base and consider how many more must be in there. We only hear of about 3-4 separate Collector ships out and about over the course of the game. That means that for all the havoc the Collectors wreaked on human colonies around the galaxy, ''they were holding back.'' Additionally, the suicide mission implies that [[spoiler:one Collector base = one construction facility for one new Reaper.]] Given the final scenes of the game's ending, how many more bases you suppose there might be?
*** The thing that got this troper for that mission? EDI doesn't detect any life signs inside.
*** There aren't any life signs because they're empty. This is actually ''worse'' than if they were just filled with corpses, if you think about it. How is this worse? [[spoiler:Well, how do you think the Human Reaper fetus got made?]]
**** They're not empty. Look closer. The ones at the beginning are full of corpses.
***** EDI theorizes that the ship and its life-support systems lost power. In other words, hero? [[spoiler: You technically failed to save the colonists anyway.]]
**** Well, you could argue that the Collectors were somehow able to jam EDI's scans. But if they didn't, this means, that, technically, [[spoiler:''Collectors/Protheans no longer count as organic life''.]]
**** When you find the dead Collector [[spoiler:on the Collector Ship]], EDI [[spoiler:determines that the Collectors are Protheans. However, these Protheans show signs of "extensive genetic rewrite," including three missing chromosomes, plus extensive cybernetic modification.]]
**** Consider Mordin's rant. If you [[spoiler:ask him after the mission if he thinks the Collectors can be saved, he says "No glands, replaced by tech. No digestive tract, replaced by tech. ''No souls, replaced by tech!''"]]

** '''Soldier:''' The enemy in front of you is heavily armored and has more weapons than you've ever seen someone carry. You and your platoon start to open fire, but in hardly [[BulletTime a fraction of a second]], the soldier pulls out their assault rifle and sweeps it through the air, firing wildly. You laugh, thinking they've just wasted their ammo, but suddenly there's a number of dull thuds behind you. You don't have to look; your HUD tells you your squad all just flatlined. And Shepard's just finished reloading.
*** It doesn't help that Soldier Shepard is so pumped up with genetic modifications that s/he could probably juggle a small space cruiser. It's a wonder the people you punch still have heads afterward.
*** Soldier with Widow Sniper: The enemy in front of you is heavily armored and has more weapons than you've ever seen someone carry. Before anyone in your platoon touches their trigger, your lieutenant's kinetic barrier and head explodes. You blink and the enemy has already taken cover. Your platoon provides suppressing fire to keep the enemy pinned, but to no avail; in a fraction of a second, the enemy takes aim at YOU with the most big ass sniper you've ever seen, and you last see the deep dark hole that is the sniper's barrel flash with a magnificent blue light...
*** Soldier with [[MoreDakka Revenant]]: The enemy in front of you pulls something large and heavy off of his back. Some of your companions gasp, realising what the weapon is, before he squeezes the trigger, a veritable wall of accelerated rounds cutting into your buddies. No flair, no gun fu, no martial arts, just a single squeeze and your friends are dead. Panicking, you attempt to run for cover, when your enemy seems to speed up, storming towards you before caving your face in with the Light Machine Gun he just killed your buddies with.

*** Arguably gets even more terrifying in ME3, with the addition of Nova. The guy Charges into your group, and one of your guys goes flying. But hey, you've got him right where you want him, with a half-dozen of your buddies surrounding him. Then he glows again, and punches the ground, sending out a biotic shockwave that sends everyone around him flying. And then he's Charging again immediately after. He never even bothers with his gun.

** '''Infiltrator:''' Your platoon is walking along their patrol. It's your turn on point. Nothing's really out of the ordinary, but you think you hear a far off gunshot. Confused, you wave your squad forward. Then you hear the sound again, closer - but this time a spray of blood hits you. You turn back to find that two of your men's heads are just ''gone''. You all dive for cover but another of your men dies, shot in the face even as he dove for a rock. But you saw where the shot came from. You turn and open fire as the distant sniper ducks back under cover. Your team coordinates fire on the spot, keeping the damn sniper pinned as you advance towards their position. Then there's the sound of a sniper rifle, and another one of your friends' heads bursts open like a ripe melon. Your men start firing on the new position and you force them to coordinate to keep both of the snipers pinned down. There's another shot and someone else dies and you can't find the sniper. Everyone scatters, firing wildly. Terrified, you and a companion hide in a small rocky alcove, huddling together out of fear. You watch on your HUD as one by one every other member of your patrol goes dark until it's just the two of you. Where's the sniper? How many are there? Then you hear a sharp crack as your friend's neck snaps, and someone suddenly blurs into existence beside you, the barrel of a pistol jammed against the side of your head.
*** To summarize: You and everyone you care about/work with could be killed, and you'd ''never even see who was doing it.'' The {{Predator}} wishes he could be Infiltrator Shepard.

*** This troper's brother plays another way: Imagine you're a merc, guarding a location. You've heard Cerberus may be sending some operatives, but you'd never expect that it'd be Shepard, after all, he died two years ago. So you never see it coming when the black armored Spectre kicks your door down. You immediately take cover and open fire, but your shots aren't having any discernible effect. Shepard walks slowly over to your buddy's position, seemingly oblivious to the pounds and pounds of ammunition being thrown at him. Once he reaches your comrade, he throws a punch and your buddy screams in pain as his ribs are shattered. Another punch silences the scream as your ally's lungs collapse. Turning to another of your teammates, he start slowly walking towards him. Your squadmate tries to run, but Shepard hurls him against the wall, and overtakes him before he can get up. A punch to the head collapses his helmet grotesquely and you never even hear a scream. Then Shepard turns to ''you'' and starts walking slowly closer...

**** Not only that, but if you refuse to back down, you will suffer for your sins. Paragon Shepard will tear apart your unethical research, stop whatever you were doing, and leave you to rot in jail for doing it.
**** [[GoodIsNotSoft "You even think about coming after your brother]] [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome and this bullet will be waiting for you."]]

** Shepard and the ''Normandy'' combined are potentially NightmareFuel for Harbinger. So you're abducting another human colony when this human in battle armor starts killing your troops. Not only is s/he immune to the seeker swarms, but s/he looks ''exactly'' like that Shepard whose ship you blew up two years ago so you wouldn't have to worry about him/her. S/He actually manages to activate the defenses, forcing you to withdraw. Later, you set a trap for him/her. Not only do you confirm that it's Shepard, but you catch a glimpse of his/her ship. It looks like his/her old one - didn't you destroy it? Finally, you're at your home base when that ship attacks. It's almost identical in appearance to the one you destroyed... only twice as big, and packing a lot more firepower. It shrugs off your initial attack before blasting your ship to pieces with what looks like a miniature version of ''Nazara'''s weapon. Finally, Shepard boards your base, takes out your unfinished human Reaper ''on foot'', then destroys the base, along with all your work.
*** In short, you killed this guy, obliterated his ship and scattered his crew throughout the entire galaxy. And it was all just a temporary setback.

*** Worse? You can still hear the husks moaning and screeching ''even during the pause menu''. This troper was terrified that they were [[BreakingTheFourthWall still advancing somehow]] and used the Xbox menu button to ''force'' the game to pause silently.

*** Now think about this. When he says that, he's trying to upload all his memories and programs (which are the actual geth [not the physical form]) and realizing that he's too far away from a mass relay to get everything he has learned and experienced back to his people, which is the most important part of his society, and realizing that all of the over 1000 'people' within him would die there.
** Tali begging and pleading for help in the tunnels. I'm just going to leave her behind and use Kasumi or Legion until I save her\be saved by her at the end.

*** Just to lighten the mood a bit, if you have a thing for a certain character, you can set it up so that [[CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming s/he saves you at the end]].

*** Not so bad when you get stronger. To quote the [[VideoGame/TeamFortress2 Scout]]: "I WILL NEVER. STOP. KILLING YOU."

* The very end: You've blown up a Human-Reaper with weapons meant to kill squishy organics, wiped out the Collectors, and (maybe) given your fallen crew members a hero's funeral. All is well. That is, until you see the thousands of EldritchAbomination mecha-gods fast approaching the edge of the galaxy.
** Which is even worse if [[spoiler:Shepard dies at the end]].

**** I deliberately went back to an old save to check this and, yes, once you know what the "VI" is saying, you ''can'' make it out in what previously seemed to be just unintelligible noise. Brrrr...
***** First time through, I clearly heard it - it wasn't static to me. Sent shivers down my spine.

**** It's no wonder that [[spoiler:shoving your gun in his face]] is considered the ''Paragon'' option.
**** Renegade is maybe a punch, Paragon was the thing said above, and the Paragon interrupt was [[spoiler:GUN WHIPPING SAID PERSON.]]

**** Worse, when you replay it, listen to the VI sounds throughout the levels. At one point, you can hear [[spoiler: "Gavin... please... make it stop!" David is '''BEGGING''' his brother to make it stop, and yet you still have to take David away from Gavin at the end.]]
**** There's another way to interpret that, though... remember how [[spoiler: David has an ability to understand the geth's language? Well, in one-on-one interactions, he's perfectly fine with chatting with them... but then think of ''how many geth he would be hearing simultaneously'' when hooked up directly to their network, along with the fact that they think at the speed of light.]] I think I'd want some quiet after hearing that many [[strike: people]] beings talking rapidly for weeks on end.

*** This troper found the fact that [[spoiler: David was hooked up like that by his own brother]] to be far worse than anything else. Coupled with my being on the Autistic spectrum it really got to me.

** Also, those security cameras with the green lights? That's the VI watching you for the entire mission.
*** Coupled with FridgeHorror for this troper - I realized what the cameras were, and shot each one as I came to it. Then came the reveal, and I realized that what Shepard had essentially been doing was ''blinding someone'', slowly, whilst they could do nothing about it, one eye at a time.
** The part that truly got to this troper was the [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O6h_A-7f8pY&feature=related elevator ride]] down to the final level in the Atlas facility. You get in the elevator not even considering what could happen and the rogue AI takes control of it, violently shaking the elevator up and down like it were a drink mixer, slamming it against the top and bottom of the elevator shaft and screaming at you unintelligibly with that god-awful voice. All while you're completely helpless to stop it; that had this troper utterly terrified.

** This troper was not truly shaken by Project Overlord until the brutal discovery that there is a NonStandardGameOver in wait for anyone foolish enough to get too involved in destroying imaginary geth to [[spoiler:prevent David from finishing his upload.]] I was not really aware of what the VI was trying to do until it succeeded. It's...upsetting, to say the very least.

*** Personally, I'm not sure what's worse: The implication that he raped her, or the fact that he didn't see the "harm" in doing it.
*** This troper didn't think that was a random survivor, but Jacob's father.

* Didn't see this one, but remember the Collector Harbinger berates after Shepard wins? He releases control just in time for it to shoot Harbinger a dirty look, and watch the blast coming to kill it. Though this might be a release, all things considered.
** It's more of a look of 'Daddy? Where are you?' the kind of look a child makes when they've been abandoned before realization fully sets in. Which is all the more horrifying - the Collectors as a species know nothing BUT Indoctrination. They have NEVER in their existence been free.

*** It would look something like [[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/6731833/28/Angels_of_the_Storm this]]

*** Wondering how you make a krogan husk even more terrifying? Give it a turian head.

**** See below - the asari husks ''are'' Ardat-Yakshi. And they're able to use their AY powers to override your nervous system for a OneHitKill.
** Even worse when you consider that some of those Asari husks could easily be ''[[ItGotWorse Ardat-Yakshi]]''. And why not? The Reapers could easily do it ''[[ForTheEvulz for fun]]''.
*** ''They are''. And they are, put simply, ''the'' hardest enemies in the franchise.

** It gets even worse than that, according to some press coverage [[spoiler: if you coax the child out of his hiding place and onto an evacuation shuttle, the shuttle is destroyed during take off, meaning that by trying to be the hero you not only gunned down his huskified parents, but killed the kid as well]]
** This theory is debunked as of the demo, as this all takes place in Vancouver within minutes of the Reapers arriving on Earth, there's no way the husks could be the kid's parents, and the kid [[spoiler:dies no matter what you do]].

*** The worst part about the banshees is the mission they're introduced in. You arrive at a desolate asari monastery in the wake of a missing squad of asari commands, only to find...[[NothingIsScarier Nothing]]...No visible enemies, complete darkness for a time, and the wails of the banshees in the background.
*** This is from a PlayStation 3 player who was the host of a session... I was being asked to host a session in Firebase Reactor (the one with the N7 Fuel Depot), and I set the enemies to Geth. The person who made that request asked to do the map against Reapers. Me, and another player with voice shot him down. Even on Bronze Difficulty, Banshees and Brutes together were enough for me to not do that (they're both terrifying if you don't watch your six and can kill you in about four seconds). Word of advice for who goes against Reapers online: you better have someone who can cover both anti-shield/barrier AND anti-armor for Banshees, or consider you and your team dead.

*** In fairness: [[spoiler: You are probably a brainwashed, cyborgized husk who has been {{Mind Rape}}d into subservience (which is HONF on its own). You probably don't have the ability to feel fear, nor did you join Cerberus willingly.]]

**** Doubles as FridgeHorror when you realize that, just before Priority: Earth, [[spoiler:'''[[InferredHolocaust you can't access any other system.]]''']]

*** That recording is just terrifying. To think if that had to happen to everybody who was [[spoiler: converted into a Cerberus Phantom. By the way Jack screamed whatever they did to her was not gentle nor was it painless. Likely an accelerated indoctrination process to make her loyal and quick n' dirty surgery with control chips, implants, and whatever other horrors they can cook up.]]

*** It actually gets even worse. The farmgirl that she killed, the one called Hillary? [[spoiler: It's Joker's sister]]
**** Actually, it can get even worse than that. Think about it: [[spoiler: Hillary's a hero-worshipper, and her brother's BFF's with Commander Shepard. The asari must ''know'' that Hillary is Joker's sister, even if only because they were together for several days. And when she's in the hospital, she sees you walk by so many times, all the while thinking to herself "I killed your friend's sister." And then what happens? She gets handed a gun, courtesy of none other than Commander Shepard.]]
**** [[FridgeBrilliance Think about it]]: the Huntress starts talking about her experience only when Shepard is in the vicinity: she's not talking to the counselor: [[TearJerker she's confessing to Shepard]]

* Shepard's breathing in the Ardat-Yakshi monastery. You never heard that anywhere else in the game, so I assumed that there was some ''thing'' hidden nearby, just waiting to pounce on me when my back was turned. I only realized my mistake when I sprinted and the breathing got faster.

*** [[ItGotWorse Even worse]], the the most heinous KickTheDog moments can only occur if Sheperd mostly made paragon choices in the previous two games. He just... snapped.