Follow TV Tropes

Following

Context NightmareFuel / Minecraft

Go To

1%%
2%%
3%%
4%% Examples involving 2b2t or any other server/real person interaction are NOT to be added here.
5%% They have already been cut thrice according to Nightmare Fuel Cleanup due to troping real people, which is against site guidelines.
6%% Editing suspensions will be issued if this continues.
7%%
8%%
9%%
10%% Image removed per Image Pickin' thread: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1636995305014223900
11%% Subsequent thread did not produce a new image: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1650766417022123600
12%% Please start a new thread if you'd like to discuss a new image.
13%%
14%%
15%%
16->''"When did this turn into a horror game?"''
17--> --twomad, commenting about '''''Minecraft''''''s scary parts in [[https://youtu.be/0yN6lfPcxI4?t=68 this video]].
18
19The underground tunnels of ''VideoGame/{{Minecraft}}'' have been compared to ''VideoGame/SystemShock2'' due to their complete isolation, the darkness, and the mindless polygonal [[BodyHorror Body Horrors]]. [[NightmareFuel And there's still more to it]].[[note]]Fun(?) fact: One of the random splashes (those yellow text thingies) in the title screen says "Scary!" because some people think Minecraft is scary.[[/note]]
20
21[[AC: In order for NightmareFuel tabs to survive, a new writing style is going to be used, nicknamed '''Example Lobotomy'''. Basic rules: Just list facts as they are. Don't just say "character X" or "the X scene" (such Administrivia/{{zero context example}}s will be zapped). Spoiler policy to be determined on a case-by-case basis. Italics to be applied to works' names only and not to give emphasis on what tropers say. "X scared me" is already implied by the mere addition of that example by the troper.]]
22
23----
24[[foldercontrol]]
25
26!!General
27[[folder:The World]]
28* The medieval designs of the underwater ruins (coupled with the prospect of how they even got submerged in the first place) really emphasizes just how old these structures are. Now take the drowned into account. They witnessed the fall of a prosperous kingdom, and now, sunken with it on the ocean floor, are cursed to haunt it forever beneath the waves.
29* Spectator Mode. A mode that allows you to fly through blocks. You can even fly underground! Just don't look at yourself too closely in the inventory...[[labelnote:explanation]]Unlike other modes, the window showing the image of your character in the inventory is black. You can just barely see your head...and then you realize there's nothing attached. That's right, Spectator Mode lets you zoom through the world as a disembodied head![[/labelnote]]
30* One of the more strange features of the game is that [[HellIsThatNoise ambient sounds]] play when the player finds - or is just somewhat close to - a very dark area. [[https://minecraft.wiki/w/Ambience Try listening to all 19 tracks if you dare.]]
31** Try exploring a deep cave with all of the sound turned on without getting paranoid, especially if you weren't expecting this level of ambience in an E-rated game to begin with.
32** If you don't think that's fun enough, try unwittingly building your base right on top of a cave system. You get all the foreboding noises without having to leave the "comfort" of your own home. And if you don't want the noises accompanied by monster sounds, the negative Y spaces beneath the bedrock layer work too.
33** Thought the 19 different cave ambient noises (or the 22 underwater ones) weren't enough? As of snapshot 20w15a, the Nether now has 126 of them. They're divided into different groups for each Nether biome: the original Nether Wastes biome has frequent rumbling, sometimes sounding like explosions; the Basalt Deltas has sounds of volcanic ash, rumbles from below due to the setting and even the ticking of a ''Geiger counter''; the Soul Sand Valley features creepy whispers, distant wailing, and occasionally a sound [[ParanoiaFuel resembling the Wither's idle noises]]; and the Crimson Forest contains odd stringy noises and high-pitched chiming. However, the one that takes the cake for sure is the Warped Forest: it's full of glitchy record-scratch-like noises, reversed audio, creepy ringing, very loud creaking in the ground, and rarely, distorted shrieking - there's one sound in particular that's a flat-out [[EvilLaugh demonic laugh]]...
34** As one [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xNhPSwbCeQA&lc=Ugy39Zng7Gs1ThAMebB4AaABAg keen eared [=YouTube=] commenter]] pointed out, you can actually ''hear voices'' if you listen closely enough to the Soul Sand Valley's whispering. Some standout examples:
35--->'''Whisper 3:''' There is no way out.
36--->'''Whisper 4:''' It hurts, it hurts, it hurts.
37--->'''Whisper 5:''' Please help us, this is torture.
38--->'''Whisper 6:''' Please let me out.
39** Even if you're playing on peaceful, the cave noises can still freak you out.
40* Hearing a monster noise out of nowhere, but not knowing where (again).
41** This is taken up to eleven with Ghasts, whose noises can be heard [[ParanoiaFuel as if they are right next to you no matter how far away they are from you.]]
42** It’s even scarier when there are no blockades that could possibly be omitting the monster from your view, yet it still isn’t visible anyway. To illustrate how scary that is, it’s still scary even if the monster is a spider and you hear it during the day.
43* The range at which you can hear a mob is 16 blocks. Now realize the range at which a mob can sense you is 16 blocks; this means that if you can hear it it can find you, and if it finds you you are probably five seconds away from being mobbed by zombies. This can make anyone paranoid of noises in Minecraft.
44** As of Minecraft 1.6, zombies can detect you from 40 blocks away. This means they can see you and start coming for you before you can even hear them, and their vision is not muddled by the darkness of caves or night-time.
45* When walking around an enchanting table the book swivels to follow the player, like a creepy moving eye painting in a haunted house. It's as if players made the Necronomicon instead of a [[DarkIsNotEvil normal helpful item]] that makes surviving easier.
46* You've just used up most of your tools, and it's getting dark out. You've only a few torches left (perhaps none if you went full out) as you're running from the cave you just finished excavating, and the sky is getting very dark, so you're making a bee-line for the camp/lodging you made yourself... and all too late do you fall down that nearly bottomless pit that is a vertical drop into complete darkness.
47* Before an update disallowed you from sleeping if there are monsters nearby, if you are foolish enough to go to bed where monsters can get you, you'll doze off and go to sleep... only to be immediately woken up by a monster right beside you.
48** After the update, trying to sleep with a monster nearby would display "You can't sleep now, there's monsters nearby." What is terrifying is if you didn't even ''know'' about its presence beforehand.
49* Abandoned Mineshafts. They're deep underground, dark and lonely. Part of them becomes labyrinth-like and easy to get lost in, while hearing the sounds of skeletons, zombies and spiders (regular and cave spiders) clashing against dead silence (except for the occasional ambience). The monsters might be ahead or behind, or they might be beyond a wall somewhere, waiting for mining efforts to free them.
50** Something about their construction is really unsettling too. Cart rails frequently disappear over the edge of what appear to be vertical shafts, except unlike in an actual mine, they don't have a clearly defined top or bottom. Just wooden pillars looming up and dropping away into the darkness...
51*** When first introduced, there was a glitch that caused any new chunks you entered from within a mineshaft to create more of the shaft, [[EldritchLocation when normally that chunk would have contained something else.]]
52* The Beta 1.9 prerelease introduced a lot of new music discs. Most of these are pretty innocent. All except one, which is simply titled "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aLf9lfbI5Kg 11]]". For one thing, it seems to be cracked and broken. For another, it doesn't play music (well, not a lot of music). It plays the sounds of somebody sprinting through stone, dirt, and gravel, stopping to take a breath before running for their lives from [[NothingIsScarier something]] that makes either a barking or roaring sound. Then it suddenly cuts out.
53** WordOfGod is that this disc directly inspired [[EarlyBirdCameo the release of the Warden]] from the 1.19 update
54** Music Disc "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bK6D94UHP6M 13]]". On the outside, it looks like a normal music disc. When you play it however, you are treated to some creepy ambience while strange noises are heard in the background. Like "11", it ends abruptly.
55** Play both 11 and 13 at the same time, and you'll notice they sync well for an even creepier experience.
56** 1.19 adds yet another disturbing music disc, simply titled "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GO2Q7-n5vVY 5]]". It follows a similar vein to "11" and "13" in how disturbing it is. Like the other two there's sounds of footsteps and mining, but at the midpoint transitions to more calm, relaxing music... [[HopeSpot which then cuts out shortly after]]. During the tape there are numerous [[HellIsThatNoise horrifying audio glitches and distortions]] interlaced with more frantic walking and mining noised. The disc ends with the clicking of a sculk sensor, the roar of a Warden, and a final, terrifying distortion of the Warden's howls before an abrupt end.
57*** Worse part is that unlike the other discs, "5" is found only be finding 9 fragmented pieces, stranded in the Sculk-infested Ancient Cities... where the Warden resides.
58*** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=adiDikvBuVA 11, 13, and 5, played together, also have a massively synced-up experience...]] with 5 being by far the longest.
59* [[http://www.geekosystem.com/minecraft-ending-sequence/ From the ending sequence]];
60-->[[ParanoiaFuel Sometimes the player dreamed that it watched words on a screen]].
61* If you jump from a large height in 1.0, you can literally [[SickeningCrunch hear your bones crack]] as you hit the ground.
62* You can write in books if you make a quill to go along with it. If you're playing in multiplayer with some people who have a sick sense of humor, you may come across a broken house with a diary in a chest full of cobwebs, with the diary going through a man's last few days. If you don't know that this isn't a naturally generated structure it can really freak you out.
63** In a similar manner, you may also find that your friend has built a house with a doorbell, coupled with a sign that reads, "Please ring doorbell before entry." You ring the doorbell, expecting it to play two note blocks in a typical doorbell tune, but instead [[JumpScare the door opens and an armour stand equipped with black leather armour and a wither skeleton skull shoots out towards you]]. This gets worse if they used a command block and had it play a loud noise such as an [[HellIsThatNoise Enderman death sound]] upon activation.
64* There are sometimes areas in water that have bubbles swirling. This means there are magma blocks below. They drag players down towards the magma blocks and it's very hard to escape the pull. The bubbles give continuous air but being sucked down to the magma blocks is almost certain death.
65* Chunk errors. A glitch where your world renders incorrectly and you can see a giant hole going through the ground/water/etc. Can be a GoodBadBug, because it can help you locate mineral deposits and lava flows and so on, but you can walk over it and see Zombies, Creepers, Sheep, NPC's, etc. endlessly falling to their doom. Even when it happens to a monster, it's still pretty creepy.
66* As of Minecraft 1.2, wolves, creepers and zombies have been given path-finding abilities, meaning they can go around lava and other hazards and will stalk you.
67* Underground ravines. There is no good level to enter one from. Enter near the top and you're stuck edging along the narrow ledges and praying you don't screw up and fall, and you might not even bother because all the best ore blocks are near the bottom. Enter near the bottom and every creeper that spawns on one of the aforementioned ledges within a reasonable radius will decide to take a flying leap and come join you. And often the fall isn't enough to kill them.
68* The removed void fog. Now imagine being in a ravine where you can't see anything above you and very little ahead of you. Now realize that enemies see you perfectly in the fog...
69* In version 1.2, the zombies gain the ability break doors in Hard Mode, leaving you unable to sleep unless you have a way to stop them getting to you.. Ready for a surprise visit?
70* Sometimes updates will reset your settings, and if you forget to put it back on peaceful you can get ambushed by monsters.
71* In the 1.3 update, zombie pigmen spawn (albeit rarely) near Nether Portals in the Overworld.
72* The 1.4 "Pretty Scary Update" updated the sounds of mobs. By far the worst is the Endermen. If you anger one, they make a horrific mix of a growl and a scream, and it always sounds as if they're right next to you (Which, thanks to their teleporting ability, they probably will be.) Hearing it is bad enough. Hearing it out of nowhere after looking into a pitch-dark cave is pants-wetting.
73** Their "stare" sound. Dear Notch, their "stare" sound. It combines a sinister growl, static, and what sounds like a plane taking off in the most horrifying way possible. Hearing a recording of it is scary enough. Hearing it in-game is terrifying, especially when you aren't expecting it.
74** 1.4 also changed a lot of the mob noises, so the skeleton's noise is now considerably more rattly, and the creepers now have a hiss that's somehow worse. Plus their explosion is even louder.
75** The Witch. While it spawns in swamp huts and only rarely at night, it's got terrifying potential, with slowness and poison potions to make fighting it even more difficult, with its 26 hit points. Unfortunately, the opportunity for a KarmicDeath is also gone as you can't burn them (they simply drink potions of fire resistance), and you can't drown them (they will drink potions of water breathing). Villagers struck by lightning turn into them.
76*** 1.7 changed it so they no longer spawn just in swamp huts. Your already rendered world is no longer safe. They will spawn everywhere, even caves, and don't burn in sunlight thanks to their hat. Making matters worse is that, prior to 1.9, they didn't even make any sounds, so you couldn't even hear them coming until it was too late.
77* Mob Farms. You can set things up to spawn in such a way that you can gain a lot of materials/XP from dead mobs. While many of these creatures are inherently hostile, some, like Zombie Pigmen, are neutral, and yet you can set up a Rube Goldberg device of doom to murder them in vast quantities.
78* 1.9 added something called a "Skeleton Trap." Approaching a horse will occasionally cause the animal to be struck by lightning, summoning the Minecraft world's take on the HorsemenOfTheApocalypse [[note]]Four skeletons with helmets riding on top of skeleton horses[[/note]]. And considering this could happen at any moment, ParanoiaFuel is created.
79* 1.11 adds the Woodland Mansions, large houses which are the homes of the so-called "Illagers". The [[AxCrazy Vindicator]] is bad enough, but then there's the Evoker, a strange {{Necromancer}}-type mob which spawns weird impish phantoms called Vexes that are almost implacable, and can summon SpikesOfDoom tipped with [[LovecraftianSuperpower jaws]] (!) to bite you from the floor.
80* In some versions, there's a bug that crashes your game, and when you come back everything looks the same. Unless you happen to live near a village. In which case, you'll find as you investigate that all those villagers you happened to be trading or hanging out with are now gone, spirited away, never to be found. Although it's a bug, considering the [[ZombieApocalypse various]] [[EldritchAbomination supernatural]] [[TheLegionsOfHell creatures]] stalking the shadows, it wouldn't be too out of possibility to think they might have had a hand in the population going full Roanoke.
81* Traversing the ocean on boat can invoke TheWorldIsJustAwesome when you're admiring all the scenery around you on the horizon. But get out of the boat and take a dip, and you're treated to nothing but open ocean as far as the eye can see, and you can't even see the bottom. Even with the assistance of a Respiration III enchantment, you're probably not going to be able to reach the depths with enough time to resurface. And you'll occasionally get the Drowned as company.
82* Some of the ambient sounds heard underwater are a bit unsettling, especially "Dark 4". Hearing some of these sounds while swimming or floating in the deep, dark vastness of the ocean can be unpleasant, especially considering the game now has actual underwater threats such as Guardians and Drowned.
83* Even though it isn't a "real" part if the game, the April Fools 2020 update had MANY of the alternate dimensions feature vast fleets of End ships. Where were they going?
84* The Caves and Cliffs update series introduced Deepslate, previously called the aptly-named Grimstone, which begins to replace all the normal stone in caves once you get below y=0 in the new cave systems. It looks darker and more foreboding than regular stone -- if dark caves weren't bad enough, they now get even darker and creepier as you head lower.
85** This may be an unintentional side effect of texture mirroring, but Deepslate will often create patterns that twist and turn when it naturally generates. As a side effect, some of these patterns will even resemble faces embedded in it.
86* The Chiseled Sandstone and the Chiseled Red Sandstone each have a carved image of a [[SuicideAttack Creeper]]'s face and a [[EldritchAbomination Wither]] respectively, it doesn't seem creepy at first until you realize that as some of them appear on naturally-generated structures (especially the Chiseled Sandstone in the Desert Temple), it implies that the Creeper and the Wither [[TimeAbyss had been around long enough for early humans to carve images of them on stone]], and as it's likely that the temples are at least ''centuries'' old, how long had these creatures been around for, and are there more creatures from ancient times still around ''in the present''...?
87* The Wild Update introduces Ancient Cities in the Deep Dark, which are immense ruined underground cities that are absolutely overrun with the Sculk. This is ominous on its own, but it gets worse. The Sculk can spread by way of absorbing the experience points dropped by slain mobs, meaning it basically feeds on death itself. The implication is that somehow, everyone living in these underground structures was massacred by ''something'', and the Sculk overran it as a result.
88** The ambient sound of the Ancient Cities is downright unearthly, with the normal creaks and shrieks of Minecraft cave noises replaced by a deep DroneOfDread which, combined with the tense stealth-crawl nature of Sculk-infested areas, seems purpose-made to put the player on edge the whole time they're down there.
89** The sounds made by the Sculk Sensor and Sculk Shrieker are especially unnerving in the eerily quiet Cities. The Sensor makes an odd scuttling noise that activates other Sculk blocks, and the Shrieker produces a chilling [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin shriek]] that can eventually cause the Warden to rise as well as giving players the terrifying Darkness status effect that almost completely blinds them. Even without the Warden, these blocks are enough for many players to realize that ''Minecraft'' has gone directly into horror game territory.
90** [[https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/minecraftprototypesculk.png One prototype for the Sculk]] was called the Hollow, a spreading corruption made of flesh filled with uneven small holes sure to cause trypophobia. The developers even mentioned that it was [[InvokedTrope specifically based on trypophobia]].
91** Sometimes Ancestry starts playing before any Sculk is visible, and it can be a startling and eerie notification that the Deep Dark or Ancient City is near. Sometimes the alert sound of a sensor is the first thing heard, and then even more caution while digging is necessary.
92* While digging underground, there's a rare chance to find a Fossil, which are skeletal remains of giant creatures - with skulls up to 7 meters longs by 6 meters wide - that died long ago. One has to wonder what caused these behemoths to die in the first place, and what if they were still roaming around in the present?
93[[/folder]]
94
95[[folder:Creatures and animals]]
96
97* The Endermen are possibly the most terrifying of all the original Minecraft monsters, so much so that they have their own folder below.
98* So you're wandering around in the daytime, minding your own business, looking around for enemies, and getting resources. Then you hear the [[HellIsThatNoise dreaded hiss of a Creeper.]]
99** When you wake up, you know that there are Creepers outside in the morning, but not where they may be.
100** Creepers struck by lightning turn into [[https://minecraft.wiki/w/Creeper#Charged_Creeper Charged Creepers]], which are not only scarier, but also have a larger blast radius and deal ''significantly'' more damage — up to '''63 and a half hearts''' worth on Hard, enough to instantly kill you ''even with enchanted armor''. The Minecraft Wiki's advice for dealing with one? [[RunOrDie "Run."]]
101** Creepers are also green and easily jumbled with plants or trees' leaves. Notch would state in interviews that it was, indeed, made to make the Creeper camouflage with them.
102* Spiders can climb walls. This includes the side of your house, castle, or tower. They can climb for as long as they want without becoming tired, so they can potentially reach any height if they follow you for long enough. It's not uncommon for them to cluster in large amounts on top of your house. This can be even worse if you have a glass ceiling. As they walk, they make a horrible slithering noise that makes your skin crawl!
103** They are also very common in caves, especially [[{{jumpscare}} jumping over you with no previous warning]].
104** Cave spiders are like the generic spiders, but smaller, blueish, and much deadlier. Luckily they only spawn in abandoned mineshafts. Unlike the original spider, they can poison you. Becoming poisoned is not a very common feature in Minecraft. Cave spiders are one of the very few physical forces in the game that are capable of inflicting poison damage on the player. This is a good thing, because getting the Poisoned status effect is one of the best ways to ensure death while in a dangerous situation. When you are poisoned, your health bar turns green and you slowly take damage until the poison runs out, or you are left with the smallest amount of health possible; half a heart. Now consider the fact that a cave spider can do this to you every time it bites. Then when you are no longer strong enough to survive any kind of attack, it can bite you again. Good luck killing the cave spider before it kills you, because they are notoriously hard to hit without getting the first shot.
105** Sometimes a player can have a close scrape with death when being poisoned by a cave spider and then successfully killing it. Most likely they will be left at half a heart. If you end up in this situation and see another cave spider (or worse, a skeleton or a creeper) coming towards you, it is already too late.
106** Abandoned mineshafts are filled with cobwebs which are easy to get stuck in; spiders are impervious to them.
107* Sometimes Villagers will just stare down at the ground, their (lack of) neck oddly craning. This usually seems to mean there are mobs under the village, and the Villager somehow knows it. Iron Golems also do this when they detect enemies but can't get to them. It's a little creepy to see a Villager just staring like that. Also, Villagers love building villages [[TooDumbToLive over open cave systems]].
108* Silverfish are tiny critters that look like some kind of hybrid between a real silverfish and a centipede except a hundred times larger. However, this does not make them easier to hit because they are FAST and can crawl into all variations of stone blocks and normal deepslate. A block that has been infested will spawn Silverfish when broken and there is no visual way to differentiate it from its normal counterpart, making the discovery a surprise every time.
109*** To make matters worse, a damaged Silverfish will reveal all the hidden Silverfish nearby. Woe betide you if you harm one in a Stronghold without killing it instantly - chances are that a quarter of the blocks in the area will break, unleashing a swarm onto you. Be wary of creepers too, because they can destroy many infested blocks in a single explosion. Veins of infested stone can also generate underneath the mountain biomes, but are thankfully not as prevalent as they are in Strongholds.
110*** In Java 1.13, Silverfish infested blocks will break instantly when mined, so any accidental clicks in a Stronghold have the potential to be deadly. However, Java 1.17 changed this mechanic so Silverfish blocks no longer instantly break. Instead, they will take half the time to break as normal stone or deepslate. Thank you, Mojang.
111* Zombies used to be one of the very weakest, easily killed monsters in the game. They were a simple and basic enemy with no obvious flair. But they kept being updated to the point where they became a real menace. In Minecraft 1.2, they started breaking down wooden doors and killing Villagers. In Minecraft 1.4, they started wearing armor, holding swords, and turning the Villagers they kill into more zombies. The harshest change came in Minecraft 1.6 when they started doing what zombies do best; swarming and attacking in large numbers. Now they can see you from absurd distances and will start tracking you long before you are aware that they are coming. Zombies can see the player from much further than 16 blocks away. Although it is still easy to kill lone zombies, attacking any zombie is likely to create an increase in the amount of zombies coming after you, especially on harder difficulties.
112** On their own, zombies aren't much of a threat. But if they manage to corner you or come after you in a small, enclosed space, they suddenly seem a lot more threatening.
113** Villagers have a chance to be [[ZombieApocalypse infected by zombies]].
114** As of 1.10, there is a desert subspecies called a Husk which bears resemblance to a mummified corpse and inflicts the Hunger status effect on its victim. The only idle sound it makes is [[VaderBreath heavy, dry breathing.]] Worst of all, unlike normal zombies, they're adapted to live in broad daylight and won't run away for cover, even if they see the sun rise.
115** As of 1.13, there is an aquatic subspecies of zombie called a Drowned. They make a gurgling sound that's a disturbing cross between a Zombie's moan and a choking gurgle as if perpetually drowning, adding to the creepiness factor. Before, you had nothing to fear in the ocean aside from drowning and Guardians; now you have to contend with swarms of undead that swim up from the ocean's many dense kelp forests, making it seem as if they've spawned right on top of you out of nowhere. To make matters worse, they sometimes spawn with tridents, giving them a strong ranged attack (thankfully less accurate than a Skeleton's, but even more painful) that they can use perfectly fine underwater. Even worse? Just like Husks, they can spawn at day on the overworld as long as the light level on the seafloor is dark, then rise to attack you at the surface -- and they won't burn thanks to being in the water since the water will always override the burn status ailment.
116*** Ordinary zombies and Husks can also become Drowned. Before, one could escape a zombie by swimming or sailing across water; the zombie would just bob about slowly or sink to the bottom. Now, if they remain underwater for long enough, they turn into Drowned and swim after you... so you better hope you've already left their aggro radius by the time they turn. They'll never spawn with a trident if this does happen, thankfully, but if they were wearing other armor or weapons prior to the transformation, they'll keep those and potentially prove just as dangerous.
117** Baby zombies. They're a whole lot faster than normal zombies, almost as quick as the player. Prior to 1.13, they didn't burn in sunlight either, so you weren't safe at any time of the day. Seeing one of these (or worse, more than one if you're very unlucky) sprinting after you is enough to make some players book it, especially if they don't have decent armor and weapons yet. The fact they're quite small also means they're more difficult to spot, especially if you're surrounded by tall grass and ferns, they're harder to hit and they can squeeze through one block high gaps. Then there's the very fact that their very existence means that the zombies are either A) [[HarmfulToMinors assimilating]] [[UndeadChild children]] or B) mating as they still somehow retain fully functioning reproductive organs since they appear to possess the ability to be fertile despite being dead. Neither idea is pleasant. And baby villagers can be infected and turned into zombies, too.
118* While the 1.6 update was for the most part heartwarming and awesome with the addition of horses, a DummiedOut kind of horse leads to a kind of zombie horse. It can still be spawned in and is reasonably friendly, but looks nightmarish compared to its living counterparts. There's a skeleton version too which can be spawned, where a lone one appears in a thunderstorm -- and if approached, will get hit by a lightning bolt and replaced by four skeletons in enchanted armor on four skeleton horses!
119* The Guardians make very unsettling, metallic rumbles, sounding almost like a gargantuan beast's approaching footfalls. Hearing noises so clearly underwater, when usually sounds are muffled or non-existent, is more than a little eerie. Like Ghast moans, the Guardian sounds come from everywhere while exploring Monuments. It can, however, wrap around to NightmareRetardant if you hear their ambient sounds outside of water instead... (Because outside of water, [[VocalDissonance they emit adorable squeaking instead of rumbling]]).
120** This isn't the scariest thing Guardians do though, upon approaching their ocean monument, the [[EliteMooks Elder Guardian]] within the base will inflict mining fatigue on you. It isn’t the effect itself that is scary however, as the effect reduces mining power. It's the [[JumpScare transparent model of the elder guardian floating down your screen]] [[HellIsThatNoise emitting an eerie bell-like sound]] as it inflicts this that makes it scary, something that's sure to get at least a jump fromthe unexpecting, and can even give the chills to players who know it's coming.
121* Snapshot 18w07a introduced Phantoms. Saw images of these and assumed they were stingrays per this being the Aquatic Update? You're in for a nasty surprise. They spawn after three in-game days without sleeping or dying, become more likely to spawn with each sleepless night, and only spawn at night or during a thunderstorm. They can spawn in packs of up to four, and they are nasty to fight; they're the first [[AirborneMook hostile Overworld mob that can fly]]--they start in the air, unreachable by swords, and attack by swooping down and biting you. Their attacks are pretty painful to boot, dealing up to six points (3 hearts) of damage to an unarmored player on Normal difficulty, or 9 points (4.5 hearts) on Hard. Thankfully, their attacks are telegraphed and easily countered with a well-aimed arrow. However, if you don't have a bow, it becomes much more tricky to take them out. You need nearly perfect timing (and ideally, a shield) to strike them with your sword, which will be difficult when you have more then one aiming at you. They also have a "Size" tag, implying that they could spawn in various sizes in the official update, and the largest ones are [[https://youtu.be/llrDB5h7B5M?t=1040 massive]]. Fortunately, 18w09a made it so that they despawn come daybreak (and 18w10d made them classified as Undead so that they are affected by the Smite enchantment and burn in sunlight like any other Undead mob instead), as well as removing their previous ability to spawn in The End where you couldn't sleep to keep them at bay. Their damage was also later nerfed in Java Edition to match that of regular Zombies from 1.14 onwards, making them more of a nuisance than a threat. However, their damage remains unchanged in Bedrock even to this day.
122** A player can get too absorbed in exploring or mining and forget to sleep. They're walking along, minding their own business, looking out for monsters other than Phantoms and WHAM! They take damage out of nowhere. The Phantoms swoop down, attack, and immediately return to the air. A player might assume a zombie had silently approached but they don't see or hear anything. And then they look up to see a pair of glowing eyes coming closer and closer. Best to just dig a hole and wait until dawn at that point, as running in panic at seeing them for the first time could make a player fall into a hole or run into other monsters.
123* Update 1.11 added an EvilCounterpartRace of the Villagers called the Illagers. They're they deadliest non-Nether/End mob and are among the toughest enemies in the game, bordering on EliteMook levels of difficulty, and (after the 1.14 update) are capable of staging a raid on their home if players arrive there with a Bad Omen. As if zombie hunts at the dead of night weren't bad enough...
124** How do the raids start you may ask? Well, it starts if you encounter a specific group of Illagers called the [[https://minecraft.wiki/w/Pillager Pillagers]]. They have their own outposts that are typically 100 - 1500 blocks away from villages, and can randomly spawn in any biome in "patrols" and will roam the world, ready to attack you if you attack them or you get too close. If you kill the captain of the patrol (identified by having a big ominous flag on them), you're now stuck with the Bad Omen. Meaning unless you wait around for 100 minutes (roughly 5 in-game days) or drink milk, returning to the village that you're fond of or may have set up base will now be at the mercy of their entire clan.
125** The raids themselves are completely horrifying from the Villagers’ point of view. Imagine you're doing your job with not a care in the world, occasionally going to gather supplies or chat with your fellow Villagers as the kids run around and play, and your Iron Golem peacefully wanders around. Then all of a sudden, that curious stranger who occasionally trades with you comes by, and you hear an ominous horn in the distance. Then you see a pale group of people dressed in strange clothes with a gigantic beast whose faces all look exactly like yours charging into your village, ready to destroy everything you've worked on and '''[[OmnicidalManiac murder you all]]'''.
126** Then there are the [[OurDemonsAreDifferent Vexes]] summoned by the Evokers. They don't look too scary when not attacking (they’re more of an UglyCute), though when they ''do'' attack, they suddenly gain [[RedEyesTakeWarning glowing red eyes]] and [[BodyHorror veins]] all over their bodies. The way the move is strange as they'll fly or float through the air while trying to attack from all directions and their voices are horrifying, as their most common sound is a [[HellIsThatNoise high pitched, loud and distorted giggle]]. Creepiest and just plain [[MindScrew weirdest]] of all though, the Vexes can move through blocks (though thankfully [[GlassCannon not attacks]]) as easily as through air so nowhere is fully safe from them.
127*** Want some FridgeHorror? Vexes look like demons, except that you can go to Hell in Minecraft and the Vexes don't live there. What the heck even are these things and where do they actually come from if they aren't even a Nether mob? They don't seem at all to fit in with the rest of the Minecraft world, especially when taking into account their bizarre IntangibleMan powers and the fact that they have to be summoned (or possibly created) by Evokers and don't appear naturally. They're a bit less scary though now that they have a GoodCounterpart called the allay who appears to be a similar entity but helps the player.
128*** However, the similar appearance, along with the fact that the player can discover allays locked in prisons in [[SupervillainLair woodland mansions]], does indicate that the Illagers may [[BeingTorturedMakesYouEvil corrupt]] the allay and turn them into Vexes.
129* The Wild update (1.19) introduces the Wardens, which wouldn't look too out of place in a horror game. They're massive, sonar-based beasts that dwell underground in the Deep Dark biome near Sculk patches. ''They also take'' '''''30 hit points''''' ''out of your health when not wearing armor.'' ''' That's''' '''''one and a half rows of hearts.''''' The sounds they make will especially make you scared, sounding like low, bellowing howls and clicking noises, as well as its thunderous heartbeats, which hasten as they get more and more hurt.
130** Even worse, if one takes a look at its chest, not only does it appear to be torn open revealing its ribcage, but its "heart" actually resembles three faces screaming in agony. Just what the hell is this thing?
131** Those faces inside the Warden's chest? They look just like the soul particles that come from running on soul sand/soil with Soul Speed boots. The Warden, in one way or another, '''''consumes souls'''''.
132** According to the game devs, the Warden and its home biome, the Deep Dark, will work in conjunction with one another. This implies that in addition to the Warden being able to sense you through hearing, it will likely be able to sense movement using the Sculk growths that naturally generate in the area.
133*** Hell, the Sculk in general are very unnerving. Implied to be some sort of lovecraftian superorganism that infects nearby blocks and turning them into more of itself and summons the Warden if attacked or stepped on with little warning. It's even implied that they reproduce by feeding off a recently killed mob's soul...
134** The reveal of some of the Deep Dark shows that the Wardens are even worse than previously revealed. They have a unique spawn animation in which they rise up through the floor after being summoned by the Sculk, and while they can't see they can smell so even if the player makes no noise the Warden can still find them if they get close enough.
135** [[https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/wardenconceptart.jpg Early concept designs]] of the Warden were even more horrifying to look at than the current one, with uneven holes on their face and body [[BodyHorror making it look like festering flesh]], and one concept art being mostly rotten flesh. Those with trypophobia might want to look away in all cases.
136** The developer's inspiration for the Warden? Creating something that could have been ''[[EarlyBirdCameo the monster responsible for the incident in music disc 11.]]''
137** With most other mobs, pillaring up high or hiding behind a wall will save you. Not with the Warden. If it detects you're out of its reach, its ribcage opens up for a ranged attack that can go through not only walls but also your armor, completely ignoring your protection enchantments and killing you in two hits.
138[[/folder]]
139
140!!Specific
141[[folder:The Endermen and The End]]
142
143* Beta 1.8 added the [[http://i.imgur.com/XEkal.png Endermen]], a terrifying cross between [[Franchise/TheSlenderManMythos Slender Man]] and [[Series/DoctorWho a Weeping Angel]]. When you have one in your sights, it looks right at you, opens its mouth, and starts shaking and smoking. It keeps shaking even when you pause the game.
144** Endermen are able to pick up blocks. Nobody said it'll stop them from picking blocks from your house's walls. Remember it when you wake up with an Enderman right in front of your face. In the Beta version they could make holes in the world itself by moving the indestructible bedrock at the bottom of the map.
145** Looking an Enderman in the eyes will make them go into an UnstoppableRage, turning their attention fully to you and hunting you down, while also emitting a noise that sounds like a groan overlaid with static. And considering that they like to TeleportSpam, they [[ImplacableMan are hard to lose when they are on your tail.]]
146* The Release Candidate gives the Endermen really weird and creepy sounds. You may want to turn your volume down before you kill one. The new teleport sound is also rather creepy as well.
147* [[FloatingContinent The]] [[EldritchLocation End]]. Imagine a world with no stars, no moon or sun, the sky a void made of static noise, no trees, entirely made of a barren, dry stone and [[AlienGeometries weird, obsidian towers]]. No oceans, no villages, no forms of life besides a throng of Endermen mindlessly walking around until they spot you. On top of that, add in a humongous dragon which can spit corrosive acid, heal herself using enigmatic crystals, and [[RealityWarper DELETE ANY MATERIAL NOT NATIVE TO THE END BY TOUCHING IT]]. Once you're inside The End, you [[PointOfNoReturn HAVE]] to kill this beast or die to escape. Let's just say that on [[FinalDeathMode Hardcore mode]], you damn better be carrying enough weaponry and food. By the way, if she hits you in a certain way, she'll send you flying ''dozens of blocks into the air'', doomed for a nigh-unavoidable death on the ground below or worse, in the void, unless you were thoughtful enough to bring potions of Slow Falling beforehand.
148* The 1.4.2 update gave the Ender Dragon her own sounds; actual dragon-like sounds mixed in with bass undertones. Her death sound is especially unnerving to say the least.
149* As of the 1.9 update, you can go to the outer islands, which have a warped forest of purple coral-like [[AlienKudzu Chorus Flowers]], and occasional tree-like cities filled with hostile mobs disguised as blocks. It's easy to get lost and never find the link to the main island with the only exit to the real world if you don't make a trail.
150** These mobs in particular are the clam-like Shulkers. While their appearance is quite plain, and they're not particularly scary on their own, what makes them scary are their ability to make any living thing they shoot with their projectiles levitate uncontrollably. Are you enjoying scaling the towers of the end city? Too bad, because the Shulkers will lift you into the air, out of the nearest open space, and then send you plummeting towards your death far below.
151[[/folder]]
152
153[[folder:The Far Lands]]
154* The (now gone) Far Lands. If you head an impossibly far distance away from your spawn, the world basically goes batshit insane, creating:
155** Bedrock to sky walls of randomly generated, swiss cheese looking, non-natural in any way formations;
156** Strange, three layered planes, one on top of another:
157*** The top, devoid of life, and with most blocks that usually fall (sand, gravel) completely ignoring gravity;
158*** The middle pitch black and filled with mobs which, since you have more or less stepped into the twilight zone, will spawn at a rate so fast that it is literally impossible to kill them fast enough, and
159*** A bottom layer consisting entirely of an ocean filled with squids.
160** And, if you go even farther out, you eventually hit a point where the game stops generating light. Going beyond this (with the help of mods to see) gives you the worst experience off all: nothing.
161*** Sheer cliffs all around, with strange, unnatural looking landmarks, and no mobs, trees, or anything to keep you company. Nothing but sand, dirt, and stone.
162*** The Minecraft Wiki has some lovely images that show the Far Lands twisting blocks out of shape once you get deep enough in them. For a character used to simple, even square shapes like the PlayerCharacter, the MindScrew is probably quadrupled. Oh, and [=MCEdit=] gets distorted by attempting to edit the Far Lands, too - everything related to [[EldritchLocation that region]] is just pure NightmareFuel.
163*** Imagine the player traveling from his neatly ordered, ordinary looking home to this nightmarish land of AlienGeometries. As he travels on, not only is the land strange and wild, but once orderly blocks start jittering, warping and stretching, the few trees that he sees oddly misshapen, deserted villages that are abruptly cut off, sand that will not fall until touched, whereupon they will fall in massive landslides. Reality itself is starting to break down. Then, after miles and miles of worsening madness, the world just... ends.
164*** Even worse when you realize that, from poor Steve's point of view, ''the very fabric of reality is unraveling''.
165*** The "Campfire Tales" skin pack on Pocket Edition includes the "Farlander", who looks like a normal Minecraft human got fused with [[{{Franchise/Pokemon}} Missingno.]], with voxels of her body displaced and floating. And blank white eyes like Herobrine's.
166** Even worse, the Nether also has Far Lands. Take the normal Far Lands, and put it in hell.
167*** (Fortunately) dead. Now you get oceans...and oceans...and oceans... oh and you will fall into "fake chunks" and die. Enjoy!
168*** Now, there's an animated world border instead of fake chunks.
169* If you re-enable the far lands with the Cubic Chunks mod, you can also have them generated on the vertical axis, meaning that they can also generate in the sky and underground! Even worse, the ones underground generate with water instead of air, so just imagine a subterranean ocean that has no bottom...
170** Hell, the ones in the sky are arguably on the same level of NightmareFuel... Imagine flying upwards and then coming across a strange wall of swiss cheese - like formations - like some sort of cosmic horror.
171** The Vertex Far Lands, which can be seen when the Sky or Void Far Lands intersect with the Corner Far Lands, are even stranger than the rest. They vary from worlds to worlds, with some of their known shapes including [[NothingIsScarier nothing at all]] or a strange, infinite cavern full of unnatural-looking edges, or even a mix of the two, cut off by a diagonal.
172[[/folder]]
173
174[[folder:The Nether]]
175* [[EldritchAbomination Ghasts.]] Big, white, house-sized jellyfish-like things, with faces, which have rather pained expressions, and they spit fireballs at you whilst crying. They sound like a crying baby, can be heard from far away.
176** If you look closely at the face and think about it, you can notice that the Ghasts are crying while they try to kill you.
177* Soul Sand. It sinks you in a bit (like [[QuicksandSucks video game quicksand]]) and slows you down. It has screaming faces on it. Put that together and think about why it's called Soul Sand for a moment.
178** Now add in the fact you create Withers with them.
179** As of [[https://www.minecraft.net/en-us/article/minecraft-snapshot-20w11a Snapshot 20w11a]], a new enchantment called “Soul Speed” is introduced, allowing you to move faster on [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Soul Sand]] and Soul Soil. The particles produced, however, reveal something long suspected: that [[SoulJar Soul Sand]] is in-fact made of ACTUAL SOULS. [[FateWorseThanDeath And judging by the screaming expressions of the souls,]] it isn’t a very fun experience for those unfortunate spirits trapped in the sand.
180*** The noises that the souls make are haunting as well. It sounds almost like [[AndIMustScream screaming...]]
181** In addition, whenever Soul Sand is mixed with fire, a kind of blue fire called 'Soul Fire' is created, that is, whenever you are going to use Soul Campfire, Soul Torch or Soul Lantern or even use Flint and Steel in a Soul Soil for decoration , you will literally be burning souls to beautify your buildings.
182* Sometimes you will find a truly massive ocean of lava. All the lavafalls pour into it, creating this great sea of fire. And that's when it sinks in that you are, in fact, standing in {{Hell}}.
183* Add in that netherrack prior to 1.14 was pink, black, and red and the most common resource is bone marrow. EvilIsVisceral indeed.
184** It has been changed to look similar to cobblestone, except the rocks resemble skulls.
185** There's also the fact that it's original name was "bloodstone".
186* What happens if you mine upwards in the Nether? You reach a "ceiling" of bedrock, and if you pass that, a never-ending creepy, red void with [[NothingIsScarier nothing in it... and Ghast cries playing over and over.]]
187* The Wither. An UndeadAbomination with [[MultipleHeadCase three heads]]. It can shoot skulls that inflict a form of poison that can actually kill you. It also can destroy ice and will attack any passive mobs. Luckily, the Wither Boss itself only spawns if you summon it.
188** Even scarier is what the message is for succumbing to this effect; "(name here) has withered away". Oh yeah, and arrows at close range bounce off, and the status effect it inflicts somehow heals it.
189** Because of the mysterious nature of the Wither, many players tried [[ForScience experimenting on it]]. Imagine their shock and horror when they found it [[ImplacableMan literally eats through blocks]], [[NoSell including obsidian]]. And that isn't eating through blocks in the sense of acid or whatever: as far as anyone can tell, the Wither literally devours the world . With a crunching noise and everything. It's as terrifying as it is bizarre. Let's just say, they'll be building with bedrock for further tests.
190** The Wither Skeletons. They are some horrific amalgamation of the Zombie, the Skeleton and the Enderman (three-block tall black skeletons that always wield swords), inflict the Wither status effect, and can kill you within three hits on Normal. Unlike the Wither, they are regular mobs in Nether Fortresses, and they're aggressive. They also rarely drop Wither Skeleton Skulls, used to summon the Wither Boss. Have fun.
191* While Zombified Piglins are normally harmless, if you attack one, all of the ones present in the area will turn hostile and converge on you at once to hit you like a freight train. Even if you have no intention of harming them, they also have no sense of personal space and will gladly walk right up to stare you in the face while you're mining, [[ParanoiaFuel making you paranoid about accidentally hitting one with a stray pickaxe swing.]]
192* There's [[ParanoiaFuel no way of knowing]] where a Nether portal will lead you until you actually step inside. If you're particularly unlucky, you could end up standing inside a Nether portal right above a sea of lava, with no way to explore the rest of the Nether other than returning to the overworld and building another portal in a different location, or very carefully building a bridge from the portal to solid ground. Just hope that there aren't any Ghasts around before attempting the latter.
193* The Nether Update’s Soul Sand Valley is no better when it comes to being a hellish corner of the Nether. Soul Sand and Soul Soil are pretty much all the biome is made of and, as the all new ambience exclusive to that biome [[WhisperingGhosts makes very clear]], the deceased denizens of that place do not rest easy. To add to the horror, [[DemBones Skeletons]] and [[MadBomber Ghasts]] absolutely adore the place, ensuring that just moseying around there for a little stroll means you have to be prepped to the gills for a near-constant shootout.
194** The fact that there are also various above-ground fossils - including ribcages up to 7 meters tall - found throughout the Valley really enforces the desiccated and baren landscape.
195* Dear Notch is the new Nether ambience terrifying. There's creepy whispering in the Soulsand Valleys and eerie static filling the Warped Forests. Not to mention there are tracks titled Help and Here.
196* Maybe you decide to enter the Nether and set yourself up a little camp, some little home-base somewhere you can go to in order to rest and recover. You put down a furnace, a crafting table, then ''the bed''... and it promptly explodes, destroying everything around you and possibly even killing you.
197
198[[/folder]]
199----
200''Sssssssss...'''*BOOM*'''''
201
202'''[[GameOver You died!]]''' -- Score: 0
203
204[[NightmareFuel/{{Minecraft}} (Respawn)]] [[{{VideoGame/Minecraft}} (Title menu)]]

Top