History NightmareFuel / MaxPayne

* Also, the personality and motivations of [[BigBad Nicole Horne]]. She is [[CompleteMonster completely soulless]] and [[TheSociopath happily does absolutely anything]] to acquire more money and power. By the time the plot ''starts'' she has already crossed ''dozens upon dozens'' of [[MoralEventHorizon Moral Event Horizons]] and she continues to do so throughout the game, doing the most heinous things again and again with absolutely no guilt or conscience whatsoever.

* Also, the personality and motivations of [[BigBad Nicole Horne]]. She is [[CompleteMonster completely soulless]] and [[TheSociopath happily does absolutely anything]] for no other reason than acquiring money and power. By the time the plot ''starts'' she has already crossed ''dozens upon dozens'' of [[MoralEventHorizon Moral Event Horizons]] and she continues to do so throughout the game, doing the most heinous things with seemingly with absolutely no guilt or conscience whatsoever.

* Also, the personality and motivations of [[BigBad Nicole Horne]]. She is [[CompleteMonster completely soulless]] and [[TheSociopath happily does absolutely anything]] for no other reason than acquiring money and power. By the time the plot ''starts'' she has already crossed ''dozens upon dozens'' of [[[MoralEventHorizon Moral Event Horizons]] and she continues to do so throughout the game, doing the most heinous things with seemingly with absolutely no guilt or conscience whatsoever.

* Also, the personality and motivations of [[BigBad Nicole Horne]]. She is [[CompleteMonster completely soulless]] and [[TheSociopath happily does absolutely anything]] for no other reason than acquiring money and power. By the time the plot ''starts'' she has already crossed ''dozens upon dozens'' of MoralEventHorizons and she continues to do so throughout the game, seemingly with absolutely no guilt or conscience whatsoever.

* Also, the motivations of [[BigBad Nicole Horne]], who is [[CompleteMonster completely soulless]] and [[TheSociopath happily does absolutely anything]] for money and power. She puts Max through hell and brings the entire city to it's knees pretty much ForTheEvulz and just to get herself [[IronicEcho "a bit closer to heaven"]].

* Also, the motivations of Nicole Horne, who is pretty much [[CompleteMonster completely soulless]] and would do absolutely anything for money and power. She puts Max through hell and brings the entire city to it's knees pretty much ForTheEvulz and just to get herself [[IronicEcho "a bit closer to heaven"]].

** Ragnarok itself seems to be part of Lupino's twisted operation, as Max says that the even there "[Start] with bondage games and lead to the nasty stuff from there." The band is named [[MeaningfulName "Choosers of the Slain"]], and seeing that backstage Lupino is actually sacrificing people, the [[FridgeHorror band might literally perform this function]]...

* The whole condition of New York City in the game is pretty nightmarish, going beyond the average WretchedHive or CrapsackWorld and into the realm of just being some sort of surreal hellscape. Max even comments himself: "I could see how someone impressionable could get the idea that the end of the world was coming."

* The whole condition of New York City in the game is pretty nightmarish, going beyond the average WretchedHive or CrapsackWorld and into the realm of just being some sort of surreal hellscape.

** And for that matter [[spoiler: The brutal deaths of all the Brancos that Max helplessly fails to save, including his boss and Marcello's sister. They were largely innocent people and they meet nasty early deaths]].

** And for that matter [[spoiler: The brutal deaths of all the Brancos that Max helplessly fails to save, including his boss and Marcello's sister. They were largely innocent people and they meet nasty early deaths.]].

* Brazil is depicted much like NYC in the first game - utterly rotten and corrupt to the core. The whole place is like one huge endless nightmare and every faction seems just as evil as one another. You fight against amateur gangsters from poor slums, and while you'd expect to feel sympathy for their plight...you don't because they're utterly vicious and brutal, with no respect at all for human life. Then you meet a radical Right-wing paramilitary fond of burning people alive and committing arbitrary murder...and many of them are ''off-duty cops''. [[spoiler: Even the official special ops police force employ torture and remorselessly slaughter innocent people to sell their organs for cash]]. If Hell exists anywhere on Earth, the Brazil depicted in MP3 is probably next door to it.

** The Mafia is so brazen and vicious that they gleefully massacre everyone at a subway maintenance station and kill an entire police team who were at a crime scene ''in the middle of the street''.

** And that's not even getting into the mass use of a drug that turns people into [[OmnicidalManiac murderous and suicidal lunatics]].

* The whole condition of New York City in the game is pretty nightmarish, going beyond the average WretchedHive or CrapsackWorld. The thought of living there is anxiety-inducing.

** The Mafia is so brazen and vicious that they rob a bank in the early evening and gleefully massacre everyone at a subway maintenance station.

* The whole condition of New York City in the game is pretty nightmarish, going beyond the average WretchedHive or CrapsackWorld.

** And that's not even getting into the mass use of a drug that turns people into murderous and suicidal lunatics.

** The Twin Peaks parody itself is pretty disturbing, cutting out the kooky and funny bits of that show and keeping the horror elements. The TV is just sat in the middle of a completely dilapidated flat. The main character recounts a split personality experience in a wavering, shaky voice and more creepily still, the dialogue references Max's own suffering. The TV states that the "flamingo" says: [[IronicEcho "The flesh of fallen angels."]] and the protagonist says [[CreepyMonotone "I have no idea what that means."]] Of course, that exact phrase is what the Valkyr junkies said when killing Max's family and [[IronicEcho he is familiar with it]], which makes it all the more surreal. Right after this sentence on the TV we hear a [[TheHellIsThatSound baby screaming]] and the whole sequence ends with the narrator mentioning that he always wakes up...[[ThroughTheEyesOfMadness "strapped to his bed"]].

* The hallways twist and the walls change. THE WALLS CHANGE! It's... wrong.

* Also, the motivations of Nicole Horne, who is pretty much [[CompleteMonster completely soulless]] and would do absolutely anything for money and power. And she's very successful...

** The Twin Peaks parody itself is pretty disturbing, cutting out the kooky and funny bits of that show and keeping the horror elements. The TV is just sat in the middle of a completely dilapidated flat. The main character recounts a split personality experience in a wavering, shaky voice and more creepily still, the dialogue references Max's own suffering. The TV states that the "flamingo" says: [[IronicEcho "The flesh of fallen angels."]] and the protagonist says [[CreepyDissonance "I have no idea what that means."]] Of course, that exact phrase is what the Valkyr junkies said when killing Max's family and [[IronicEcho he is familiar with it]], which makes it all the more surreal. Right after this sentence on the TV we hear a [[WhatTheHellIsThatNoise baby screaming]] and the whole sequence ends with the narrator mentioning that he always wakes up...[[ThroughTheEyesOfMadness "strapped to his bed"]].

** The Twin Peaks parody itself is pretty disturbing, cutting out the kooky and funny bits of that show and keeping the horror elements. The TV is just sat in the middle of a completely dilapidated flat. The main character recounts a split personality experience in a wavering, shaky voice and more creepily still, the dialogue references Max's own suffering. The TV states that the "flamingo" says: "The flesh of fallen angels." and the protagonist says "I have no idea what that means." Of course, that exact phrase is what the Valkyr junkies said when killing Max's family and he is familiar with it, which makes it all the more surreal. Right after this sentence on the TV we hear a baby screaming and the whole sequence ends with the narrator mentioning that he always wakes up..."strapped to his bed".
** In that vein, the extremely surreal and abstract sequence of the second nightmare, where you wake up in Punchinellos burning office, and find yourself confronted with a ringing phone and a paper on the desk. When you answer the phone the first time, its simply gibberish on the other end, but the second time, a voice is begging Max to wake up and remember where he is, while Max still only hears gibberish, as the phone turns into a gun... And the document on the desk respectively tells Max that he's in a video game and a graphic novel. It might seem silly, but in the context, its terrifying. Subconsciously, Max KNOWS he's a simple puppet, and all his suffering is merely to set a backstory for the players.

* There are also minor but significant changes to Max's house that are disturbing too. The picture on the wall in the baby's room changes from a teddy bear with "HUG ME!" in the real scene to "CUDDLES", "HUGGIES" and other such slightly off phrases, as if Max's PTSD and/or Valkyr use is changing what he remembers. And in one dream the child's letter blocks spell out "DEAD".

* If you kill the V junkies their screams will sometimes transition into the sound of a baby crying. The fact that it's the sole bit of MindScrew in a game that's largely straightforward outside of the dream sequences just makes it all the freakier.

* If Max seemed broken in Max Payne 2...it's [[FromBadToWorse even worse]] now. He's a full-blown alcoholic, and once again the years seem to have given him no respite at all. It's like the entire world is his own nightmarish personal Hell.

* Brazil is depicted much like NYC in the first game - utterly rotten and corrupt to the core. The whole place is like one huge endless nightmare and every faction seems just as evil as one another. You fight against amateur gangsters from poor slums, and they're utterly vicious and brutal, with no respect for life. Then you meet an evil radical Right-wing paramilitary fond of burning people alive. [[spoiler: Even the special ops police force are remorseless killers who kill innocent people and sell their organs for cash]]. If Hell exists anywhere on Earth, the Brazil depicted in MP3 is probably next door to it.

* Some of the touches in the dream sequences are just as creepy as in the first game. Throughout the game, adverts are seen for "Gold Touch Brandy". In one dream, a billboard appears for it. Except instead of the smiling woman normally seen in other ads in the game for the drink, Max himself is simply depicted sat next to the huge bottle of alcohol. The brand name is replaced by "SADIM", which is Midas backwards. And the slogan? It simply says: "EVERYONE I TOUCH DIES". Max is so consumed with [[HeroicBSOD mental anguish]] that he sees himself as a curse, a death force that always sees [[AdultFear everyone he loves taken from him, forever]]...

** Perhaps the most disturbing part of the theme park is the final section, which occurs after the protagonist of the show loses his mind and enters "The Next Level" (of madness, presumably). First you walk down streets littered with cartoon corpses of people you have apparently murdered, and the cartoon shop-fronts have now become distorted, monstrous mouths. The electric signs say things like "HEAD INJURY". And then at the very end there's just a long corridor with road signs that alternate between saying "ESCAPE" and "There is no ESCAPE". The path simply ends at a locked door, with stark neon writing above simply saying: "THERE IS NO ESCAPE." It's an oddly stark and chilling portrayal of madness, made even more surreal in that only a collapsed stage wall allows you to ever leave the corridor.

** Vlad's demeanour in that scene is also unnaturally smug and cheery. He's doing something absolutely heartless and psychopathic, yet he seems outright amused as he psychologically tortures Vinnie. It's a nasty window into his apparent true personality, and even if Vinnie had answered correctly, he [[MortonsFork likely would have killed him regardless.]]
* In all but the ending the game [[EarnYourHappyEnding gives you on the hardest difficulty]], [[TearJerker Mona dies]]. Max is on the verge of total mental collapse the whole game, he finds a second true love who is much the same as him...and then she is once against snatched from him in tragic circumstances. Brutal and [[AdultFear haunting]].

* In all but the ending the game [[EarnYourHappyEnding gives you on the hardest difficulty]], [[TearJerker Mona dies]]. Max is on the verge of total mental collapse the whole game, he finds a second true love who is much the same as him...and then she is once against snatched from him in tragic circumstances. Brutal and disturbingly plausible too.

* In all but the ending the game [[EarnYourHappyEnding gives you on the hardest difficulty]], [[TearJerker Mona dies]]. Max is on the verge of total mental collapse the whole game, he finds a second true love who is much the same as him...and then she is once against snatched from him in tragic circumstances. Brutal.

** Perhaps the most disturbing part of the theme park is the final section, which occurs after the protagonist of the show loses his mind and enters "The Next Level" (of madness, presumably). You walk down streets littered with cartoon corpses of people you have apparently murdered. And then there's just a long corridor with road signs that alternate between saying "ESCAPE" and "There is no ESCAPE". The path simply ends at a locked door, with stark neon writing above simply saying: "THERE IS NO ESCAPE." It's an oddly stark and chilling portrayal of madness, made even more surreal in that only a hole in the stage wall allows you to ever leave the corridor...

* Vlad's demeanour in that scene is also unnaturally smug and cheery. He's doing something absolutely heartless and psychopathic, yet he seems outright amused as he psychologically tortures Vinnie. It's a nasty window into his apparent true personality, and even if Vinnie had answered correctly, he [[MortonsFork likely would have killed him regardless.]]

* On top of Ragna Rock and Lupino both being super-creepy, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cdIha5Dz07U the boss fight itself]] is [[WakeUpCallBoss a nightmare]]. Unlike the rest of the games bosses, the Finito Brothers, Rico Muerte, the Trio or the Russian gun runner, [[NightmareFuelStationAttendant Jack Lupino]] doesn't have a realistic level of health. The reason? He's hopped up to his eyeballs with Valkyr, and can't even feel pain anymore. Even after the boss fight, Max empties his gun into Lupinos corpse during the cutscene, just to make sure he won't get back up again. This makes a lot of sense once you find out that Valkyr is really [[spoiler: a goverment Super Soldier Serum prototype that was never finished]]. The run-of-the-mill addicts you've fought so far in the game just havent had access to enough of the stuff to get the effect Lupino got.

** Perhaps the most disturbing part of the theme park is the final section, which occurs after the protagonist of the show goes completely insane and enters "The Next Level" (presumably of madness). After walking down streets littered with corpses of people you have apparently killed there's just a long corridor with road signs that alternate between saying "ESCAPE" with an arrow and "There is no escape." The path ends at a locked door, with stark neon writing above simply saying: "THERE IS NO ESCAPE."

* Some of the touches in the dream sequence are just as creepy as in the first game. Throughout the game, adverts are seen for "Gold Touch Brandy". In one dream, a billboard appears for it. Except instead of the smiling woman normally seen in other ads in the game for the drink, Max himself is simply depicted sat next to the huge bottle of alcohol. The brand name is replaced by "SADIM", which is Midas backwards. And the slogan? It simply says: "EVERYONE I TOUCH DIES". Max is so consumed with [[HeroicBSOD mental anguish]] that he sees himself as a curse, a death force that always sees [[AdultFear everyone he loves taken from him, forever]]...

** Perhaps the most disturbing part of the theme park is the final section, which occurs after the protagonist of the show goes completely insane and enters "The Next Level" (presumably of madness). It's just a long corridor with road signs that alternate between saying "ESCAPE" with an arrow and "There is no escape." The path ends at a locked door, with stark neon writing above simply saying: "THERE IS NO ESCAPE."

* Brazil is depicted much like NYC in the first game - utterly rotten and corrupt to the core. The whole place is like one huge endless nightmare and every faction seems just as evil as one another. You fight against amateur gangsters from poor slums, and they're utterly vicious and brutal, with no respect for life. Then you meet an evil radical Right-wing paramilitary fond of burning people alive. [[spoiler: Even the special ops police force are remorseless killers who kill innocent people and sell their organs for cash]]. If Hell is a place on Earth, the Brazil depicted in MP3 is probably pretty close.

* The second game stepped up the Twin Peaks parody from the first into a surreal series called "Address Unknown". The abandoned theme park of the show that's explored in the game is VERY creepy. The story of the show is morbid and insane, and feels like a lampoon of Max's life and mental state. He's even aware of this, commenting that "The joke is less funny when it mirrors your reality.")

* There are also minor but significant changes to Max's house that are disturbing too. The picture on the wall in the baby's room changes from a teddy bear with "HUG ME!" in the real scene to "CUDDLES", "HUGGIES" and other such slightly off phrases, as if Max's PTSD and/or Valkyr use is changing what he remembers. And in one dream the child's letter blocks spell out "D3AD". At one point, if you try to rescue Michelle by cutting through the bedroom en suite bathroom, huge wooden planks nail the door shut...showing Max's guilt that the door was jammed and stopped him from saving her.

* The whole condition of New York City in the game is pretty nightmarish, going beyond the average WretchedHive or CrapsackWorld. The city is completely infested with sleazy corruption, government conspiracy and violent criminals. There's an almost supernatural snow-storm that is ravaging everything like some sort of herald of the apocalypse. The Mafia is so brazen that they rob a bank in the early evening and gleefully massacre everyone at a subway maintenance station. And that's not even getting into the mass use of a drug that turns people into murderous and suicidal lunatics.